Occupational Health and Safety

Metlen recognises that the health and safety of employees must be protected constantly and at all times at work. For this reason, it is committed to developing and promoting a strong health and safety culture, in order to be able to guarantee and provide work areas free of relevant risks for all those working with and for the Company. In this direction, in 2022 the Company proceeded with the development of a centralised Occupational Health & Safety Policy covering all its business relationships while being in alignment with its contribution to the achievement of specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 3 & 8) targets, which are relevant to its activity.

Metlen continuously strives, in all its Business Units, to fulfil its commitment to "No Accident and No Occupational Disease at Work", one of its central objectives, while at the same time it is recognised as one of the dominant challenges in the industry. Specifically, the actions that the Company has undertaken, and which constitute fundamental elements of its commitment to health and safety at work include:

• integrating safety into production processes and internal training programmes,
• informing of and analysing accidents, near misses and occupational diseases,
• linking safety results to the remuneration of senior management,
• rigorously selecting and managing contractors,
• conducting continuous quality controls,
• exchanging experiences and benchmarking with leading companies in its relevant fields of activity.

As of December 2022, in the context of Metlen’ reorganization, the Corporate Governance and Sustainable Development General Division has assumed responsibility for Health and Safety issues.

Impacts

Accidents in the workplace, despite the strict framework of rules it applies to prevent fatalities and/or accidents. Increase in the frequency and/or severity of fatalities, accidents or occupational diseases, due to the failure to establish a Health & Safety philosophy in new and/or existing Company activities carried out in new areas, due to existing negative stereotypes and inappropriate work practices that predate the Company's operations.

Improvement of the morale and productivity of human capital and enhancement of decent and quality work, due to the continuous promotion of health in the whole range of production activities, resulting in maintaining, over time, a low rate of accidents and absenteeism and zero rates of occupational diseases.

Continuous improvement of certified accident prevention and health promotion systems throughout the range of production activities, ensuring the social acceptance of the Company’s operation by its local communities, effectively contributing to the reinforcement of the Company’s competitiveness.

Major risks

Metlen, as a company operating in heavy industry, is faced with specific categories of risks in the field of Occupational Health and Safety. The categories of risks faced by the Company are:

1. Indirect or direct accident risks that either create the conditions leading to an accident, including the design functionality, access - evacuation, lighting, and temperature environment of work areas, or lead to an accident or occupational disease due to physical, chemical, and biological factors.
2. Non-accidental risks that relate to organisational, psychological, and ergonomic factors and do not lead to an accident but affect the mental and physical health of employees in the short or long term.

• Establishment of central corporate Health & Safety targets, which are the result of successive working meetings in all the BUs, along with analysis of historical data kept at head office level, on an annual basis until they are reviewed.
• Continuous and long-term monitoring of the objectives of achieving zero fatalities, accidents, and occupational diseases.
• Voluntary implementation of an integrated and certified management system for Occupational Health and Safety (international standard ISO 45001:2018).
• Systematic and continuous efforts to promote and develop a universal corporate Health and Safety culture.
• A clear and unambiguous line of responsibility that starts from Metlen’ Senior Management and General Divisions and reaches the production stages of all Business Units.
• Strict implementation of safety systems and measurements to address these associated risks.
• Adoption of internationally accepted industry standards such as the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) and guidelines of the European Aluminium Association and the International Aluminium Institute.
• Taking preventive actions as a prerequisite for achieving continuous progress and improvement.
• Investigation of work-related accidents and determination of appropriate corrective actions.
• Internal and external inspections.
• The option for employees to step away from working conditions that they believe could cause injury or illness, while protecting them from retaliation, while protecting them from retaliation and identifying, analysing and assessing key Health and Safety risk drivers within the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework.
• An additional private healthcare plan covered by the Company, included in the additional benefits for each employee.
• Continued strengthening and promotion of the mental health of employees and their families, in the framework of the Employee Assistance Program.

Direct employees

• The target of zero fatalities and zero serious occupational diseases was achieved.
• 16 (2022:12) total number of accidents with the corresponding frequency index (Total Recordable Injury Rate - TRIR) being 0,40 (2022:0,33) accidents per 200,000 hours worked, well below the corporate target of 0,6 accidents per 200,000 hours worked.
• 11 (2022:8) total number of recorded accidents with a loss of working time of more than three days with the Lost Time Injury Rate (LTIR) being at 0,27 (2022:0,22) accidents per 200,000 hours worked, below the corporate target of 0,3 accidents per 200.000 hours worked.
• 31% increase of the total number of visits to the clinics compared to 2022.
• 17.002 hours on Health and Safety training.

Indirect employees

• 26 total recorded accidents with frequency rate 0,48 accidents per 200,000 working hours.
• 11 accidents with a loss of working time of more than three days, with a frequency rate of 0.16 accidents per 200,000 working hours.
• 53 employee visits to the medical clinics, employee visits to the medical clinics.
• 62.100 hours on Health and Safety training.