ANNUAL REPORT 2011 - DONG Energy

Environment
As an energy company, DONG Energy leaves a significant
mark on the environment. The Group therefore has an obligation
to society to work in a long-term, systematic manner
to limit these impacts. Consideration for the climate and the
environment is being continuously integrated as a natural
part of the Group’s activities and decision-making processes.
DONG Energy has an overall environment policy in which
the Group takes responsibility for minimising its environmental
impact and aims to continually optimise its systems and
processes. The policy is followed up by international certified
management systems in the parts of the business where this
creates value and which entail the highest risks. The environmental
management standard ISO 14001 is applied at all
Danish facilities that generate electricity and heat, in electric-
Staff and organisational risks
Employee safety
For DONG Energy, a stimulating, healthy working environment
coupled with a high level of safety in the workplace is a
prerequisite for operating a responsible and efficient company.
Safety is therefore factored into all the Group’s activities.
Safety awareness is high, and the Group continuously
strives to improve its safety performance through prevention,
training, education and involvement of employees to cement
the culture: “The safe way – or no way”. These initiatives have
resulted in a markedly falling injury frequency in recent years.
Despite this positive development and the lowest injury
frequency in the history of the Group, DONG Energy did not
meet its ambition of zero fatalities in 2011. There were two
accidents at the Group’s subcontractors that led to three fatalities.
DONG Energy takes these extremely seriously.
The Group has therefore increased its focus on the overall
safety plan, including safety at subcontractors, and associated
systems. The new measures include heightened awareness
of the safety culture, with safety being made a clear
managerial priority across DONG Energy. The programme
also comprises development of an e-learning programme
• Group Risk Control is responsible for controlling that
DONG Energy’s financial risks, associated operational
risks, IT risks and strategic risks are identified, measured
and accounted for in accordance with the Group’s guidelines.
Group Risk Control reports to the Chairman of the
Board of Directors’ Audit and Risk Committee.
DONG Energy also has a central risk management function
that continuously monitors the Group’s overall financial
and energy-related risks and ensures the Group applies appropriate
limits for its risk management. The risk management
function reports regularly to DONG Energy’s Finance
Committee, and the Board of Directors’ Audit and Risk
Committee receives a quarterly report on the risks identified
as well as reporting on compliance with guidelines.
ity distribution and in oil and gas activities in the North Sea.
Identification and reduction of potential environmental risks
and social risks is a statutory requirement on large projects,
for example offshore wind farms, power stations and exploration
and production activities. Such EIAs (Environmental
Impact Assessments) help achieve the objective of having a
low environmental impact in all phases – from project planning,
through construction and consumption to disposal
and decommissioning.
DONG Energy works systematically to record, manage
and follow up on environmental incidents. The Group applies
the principle that the severity of an incident should determine
the level of management, and has implemented a
system for risk assessment and systematic follow-up in connection
with incidents.
that all the Group’s employees and suppliers must complete
in 2012. This ensures that DONG Energy’s core values and
safety requirements reach both all the Group’s own employees
and all supplier employees.
attracting and retaining competent employees
DONG Energy competes internationally for the resources
and skills that are to secure its future growth. This applies
especially to the commercial and technical skills in Exploration
& Production and Wind Power and commercial skills
in Energy Markets.
As DONG Energy is still very ’Danish’ in many respects,
difficulties may arise in connection with both recruitment
and retention of international employees.
In a worst case scenario, an inadequate supply of
skilled labour could result in DONG Energy not being able
to implement its planned strategy. To reduce this risk, the
Group has focused in recent years on a variety of activities,
including employer branding, identification of key skills,
talent/skills development and improvement of the conditions
for attracting skilled foreign labour.
Market and credit risks are managed under powers approved
by the Board of Directors which the Executive
Board has delegated via an overall risk policy for DONG
Energy and the individual business areas.
DONG Energy also has an independent central function
that checks all investment proposals before they are submitted
to the management. The function also ensures optimum
focus on value creation in the execution of approved
investments.
Lastly, DONG Energy is committed to ensuring that the
company is a safe workplace and limiting any impacts on
the climate and the environment. These efforts are coordinated
by the corporate function QHSE (quality, health,
safety, environment).
DONG ENERGY DONG ENERGY GROUP ANNUAL REPORT 2011 – manaGEmEnt’s rEviEw 51