Health, safety, environment and quality

By adopting a Health, Safety, Environment and Quality Policy, Snam is assuming a specific commitment to civil society by recognising the essential value of the principles of protection and prevention. In terms of health, safety, environment and quality, the organisational structure provides for a distinction between the duties of general management, which are centralised within Snam, and the duties of special management, coordination and support for operating units, which are assigned to the individual companies. In particular, the centralised organisational structures ensure the management of expertise, assist the business units in identifying the most efficient technical and organisational solutions, and define, for all companies, the guidelines, methodologies, standards and operating procedures to be applied. They also take care of the definition, implementation and maintenance of management systems, including by means of technical audits. The operating companies maintain an internal organisational structure which allows them to operate with an adequate level of decision-making autonomy.

Management systems

The Snam Group uses specific certified Management Systems with the objective of overseeing the processes and business activities in accordance with the health and safety of workers, environmental protection and the quality of services offered.

During 2012, with the acquisition by Snam, Stogit and GNL Italia of certification of their compliance with the requirements of OHSAS 18001 standards for the management of health and safety of workers, the process, begun in 2010 to certify the entire Snam Group, was completed.

Also in 2012, Italgas was certified for compliance with the requirements of ISO 50001:2011 standards for energy management systems.

As part of the application of company management systems for the HSEQ issues, Snam continually monitors the implementation and efficacy of the related systems, including by regular auditing. In 2012 in particular, 380 inspections were carried out regarding health, safety and environment and quality. The table below sets out in detail the certifications awarded to the various management systems.

MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Health and safety

The protection of health and safety in the workplace is one of Snam’s primary objectives.

In 2012, in addition to the requirements of Legislative Decree 81/08, the “Objective Safety” project, launched at the end of 2010, continued its significant initiatives which aim to act on the culture of the workforce to improve attitudes, behaviour and personal responsibility with regard to health and safety at work.

The “Objective Safety” project was implemented to reduce further the number of incidents and accidents at work, which was also due to unifying and improving the best practices developed by the individual companies. The three initiatives known as “Safety Trophy”, “Zero Accidents Prize” and “Safety Walk” are also part of the project. The first two are aimed at encouraging all employees to adopt safe and responsible behaviour, through a points-based competition with non-monetary prizes (the first mainly involves the personnel of outlying operating sites, while the second is aimed at all personnel). The third, “Safety Walk”, launched for the first time in 2011, aims to engage the entire ownership structure to participate in achieving, effective safety at work through meetings between top management and Snam personnel in their operational activities.

Internal communication and training act to consolidate knowledge and reinforce attention on the issue. Specifically, the selected channels for communication are as follows: the intranet portal, displays stationed at all Snam worksites and a newsletter which provides in-depth information on the issues, risks and tools associated with health and safety in the workplace. The news bulletin, produced in hard copy, is distributed to all personnel of the Snam Group.

The measures implemented in recent years have enabled us to obtain good results both at the group level and for the individual companies, as shown by the trend of the following accident indicators.

The frequency rate of accidents of employees amounted to 1.51 (-32% compared with 2011) and the severity index to 0.06, as in the previous year. There were no fatal accidents in 2012.

ACCIDENTS AT WORK - EMPLOYEE FREQUENCY INDEX*

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* accidents at work resulting in absence of at least one day, per million hours worked

ACCIDENTS AT WORK - EMPLOYEE SEVERITY INDEX*

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* number of working days lost due to accidents at work resulting in absence of at least one day, per thousand hours worked

With regard to safety in connection with contracted labour, special attention was paid to suppliers’ qualifications and, subsequently, to evaluating suppliers through special inspections performed in the work execution phase. Suppliers also increased their involvement in issues of safety through specific awareness meetings.

On this subject, in 2012:

• a workshop called “My safety is your safety” was organised within Snam Rete Gas;
• the Contractors’ Safety Trophy was instituted within Italgas.

These initiatives have helped to develop more dedicated involvement and suppliers’ awareness of these issues, also with regard to the importance assumed by safety indicators within the criteria of qualification and assessment of suppliers.

In 2012, due to a gas leak and a fire from a breakage on a pipeline transportation network, there was one fatal accident involving a contractor’s employee.

ACCIDENTS AT WORK - CONTRACT WORKER FREQUENCY INDEX*

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* number of accidents at work resulting in absence of at least one day, per million hours worked

ACCIDENTS AT WORK - CONTRACT WORKER SEVERITY INDEX*

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* number of working days lost due to accidents at work resulting in absence of at least one day, per thousand hours worked

During the course of the year, the commitment to protect the health of employees was reaffirmed by focusing on continually monitoring risk factors identified in the corporate processes and implementing suitable prevention and protection measures. Work environment inspections were carried out in order to evaluate adequate and appropriate working and environmental conditions and to identify possible measures for prevention or improvement. In 2012 around 272 environmental inspections were carried out.

Activities were continued to support specific health protection initiatives, such as cancer prevention and flu vaccination campaigns, bans on smoking in company workplaces, and on the supply of alcohol in company canteens.

For personnel exposed to specific risk factors we implement regular healthcare surveillance, recording about 2,636 doctor’s visits each year.

Environmental Protection

Protection of the environment is of primary importance during all phases of Snam operations. The criteria and procedures adopted for the location, design, construction and management of the plants meet high environmental protection requirements.

Snam is committed to providing Italy with a daily source of energy, natural gas, which owing to its chemical and physical properties and its ability to be used in highly efficient technologies in various sectors (civil, industrial and thermoelectric), is able to provide a significant contribution to reducing atmospheric emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), particles and sulphur oxides. In fact, using the same amount of energy, the carbon dioxide (CO₂ ) generated by natural gas combustion is 25-30% less than that produced by oil products and 40-50% less than coal.

The more significant environmental aspects of Snam operations are the temporary use of the soil during the construction of new transportation infrastructure and the atmospheric emissions from the use of gas turbines installed in the gas compression stations (transportation and storage).

When laying pipelines, the route is selected from a variety of alternatives according to environmental impact, transportation safety and technical and economic feasibility considerations. In particular, it seeks to avoid or to minimise the passage through areas of significant natural or cultural interest, archaeological areas, geologically unstable areas and inhabited areas where the construction of new dwellings is anticipated. When laying the pipelines, technologies are used that interfere with the surrounding environment as little as possible. Having completed the works, a careful environmental restoration operation is carried out to return the land to its original condition.

During the year, environmental restoration activities mainly concerned the regions of Friuli Venezia Giulia and Sicily. Restoration works were carried out along pipeline sections totalling about 193 km, along with 6 km of reforestation.

During operation, the plants and pipelines periodically undergo inspections and maintenance to ensure very high safety standards. Particular attention is paid to the section of lines that are inspected regularly by vehicles, using helicopters and personnel on foot in order to detect potentially hazardous situations caused, for example, by the works of third parties in the area of the pipelines. Similarly, any land slippage at specific points of the route is also kept under surveillance. The integrity of the pipelines is also inspected by passing devices along them known as “intelligent pigs”, which can detect any faults.

In 2012 around 2,100 km of network were inspected with intelligent pigs and more than 15,000 km using helicopters.

The use of natural gas, which meets almost all of Snam’s energy requirements, allows us to minimise sulphur oxides and particle emissions.

To limit the emissions of nitrogen oxides generated by the gas turbines used in the compression stations, specific programmes have been defined over the years to modify the existing turbines and install new units with low emission combustion (DLE) systems both in the gas compression and storage stations. During the year, the DLE turbines at the storage stations in Settala (TC1) and Sabbioncello (TC1) were commissioned.

The greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere by Snam activities are CO₂ and methane (CH4), a primary component of natural gas. CO₂ is a by-product of the combustion process and is directly associated with fuel combustion, while natural gas emissions, and therefore CH4, derive partly from the normal operation of facilities and partly from the atmospheric emissions due to the connection of new pipelines and maintenance or to accidental events of the transportation and distribution networks.

Snam seeks to minimise its greenhouse gas emissions in its operations by implementing specific containment programmes such as:

• the reduction of natural gas emissions (through the recompression of gas in pipelines, the replacement of pneumatic equipment and the replacement of cast-iron pipes in distribution networks);
• the reduction of power consumption (using specific energy management measures);
• the use of electricity produced from renewable energy sources (through specific purchase contracts and the installation of photovoltaic panels in building construction).

The Snam plants subject to the Emissions Trading Directive (2003/87/EC), which establishes the “emissions market” for greenhouse gases, are: the 11 gas compression stations and one entry point terminal of Snam Rete Gas, seven Stogit gas compression stations and one LNG regasification plant of GNL Italia. In 2012, total CO₂ emissions certified by an accredited body according to the provisions of the competent national authority amounted to 607,148 tonnes, out of a total of 1,001,577 of the annual quota issued by the Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea (positive balance of 394,429 tonnes).

EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME PLANT CO₂ EMISSIONS (tonnes)

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