Operational Safety
Safe and favourable environment for employees and customers is a top priority for the Company. Rostelecom has in place an operational control system to ensure sustainable operation of its facilities and compliance with fire regulations and operational and environmental safety laws. The operational control system lowers the risks of fires and fire outbreaks, prevents accidents and injuries at hazardous facilities, and improves the overall environmental impact.
In 2018, we recorded 32 fires and fire outbreaks, down by 64% year-on-year. Over half of all fire incidents (62.5%) occurred through the fault of other entities or individuals in premises leased to or by the Company. The major root causes were identified as non-compliance with electrical installation regulations and failure to observe fire safety precautions for hot work.
| Macroregional Branch | Number of fires in 2016 | Number of fires in 2017 | Fire damage in 2017 (RUB thousand) | Number of fires in 2018 | Fire damage in 2018 (RUB thousand) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centre | 5 | 7 ( 1Fires that occurred through the fault of other entities or individuals in premises leased to or by the Company through the fault of other entities or individuals.) | 497.63 | 7 ( 6Fires that occurred through the fault of other entities or individuals in premises leased to or by the Company through the fault of other entities or individuals.) | 5,462.12 |
| North-West | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 ( 3Fires that occurred through the fault of other entities or individuals in premises leased to or by the Company through the fault of other entities or individuals.) | 0 |
| South | 0 | 1Fires that occurred through the fault of other entities or individuals in premises leased to or by the Company through the fault of other entities or individuals. | 276 | 4 ( 2Fires that occurred through the fault of other entities or individuals in premises leased to or by the Company through the fault of other entities or individuals.) | 384.04 |
| Volga | 4 | 6 ( 2Fires that occurred through the fault of other entities or individuals in premises leased to or by the Company through the fault of other entities or individuals.) | 60.38 | 9 ( 6Fires that occurred through the fault of other entities or individuals in premises leased to or by the Company through the fault of other entities or individuals.) | 246.75 |
| Ural | 4 | 1 | 279.5 | 1 | 587.59 |
| Siberia | 3 | 10 ( 4Fires that occurred through the fault of other entities or individuals in premises leased to or by the Company through the fault of other entities or individuals.) | 1,089.6 | 2 ( 1Fires that occurred through the fault of other entities or individuals in premises leased to or by the Company through the fault of other entities or individuals.) | 2,089.32 |
| Far East | 31 | | 3,486.8 | 5 ( 2Fires that occurred through the fault of other entities or individuals in premises leased to or by the Company through the fault of other entities or individuals.) | 3,450.12 |
| Total | 48 | | 5,689.9 | | 12,219.94 |
In 2018, fire authorities carried out audits of 301 facilities and recommended 715 corrective actions to eliminate the identified gaps. For breach of fire safety regulations, 23 notifications were given, and one entity and 11 officers were fined. The total number of fines was down by 70% year-on-year and notifications were down by 43%, which is a testament to our improved performance on fire prevention. Through our engagement with fire authorities to reclassify facilities to lower hazard categories, the number of facilities inspected in 2018 reduced 2.5 fold to 301 from 761 in 2017.
We continue to upgrade and renovate buildings and install fire protection systems: RUB 163.7 million was spent in 2018 to install these systems at 148 facilities.
All our technology equipment classified as hazardous facilities is registered with Rostekhnadzor (Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia) in accordance with Russian laws. We maintain a licence for operating fire and explosion hazardous facilities of Hazard Classes 1, 2 and 3. The Company has a total of 188 officially registered hazardous facilities, including 87 facilities classified as Hazard Class 3 (gas grids).
All hazardous facilities are insured with annual insurance premiums totalling RUB 1.8 million.
To prevent occupational accidents and incidents and monitor compliance with operational safety regulations, we have set up operational controls over operational safety compliance at hazardous facilities and perform regular audits of our business units. In 2018, we had 677 audits, audited 187 hazardous facilities, and identified 481 violations. All violations were eliminated by the end of 2018.
In 2018, we also renewed contracts with emergency response and rescue teams, updated our accident containment and response action plans, carried out operational safety audits on our facilities, and provided operational safety training and certification to employees across our branches.