Safety

Eni imposes high standards of safety and protection for the staff, plant and territory in which it operates. The focus is always on plant safety, staff training and the approach adopted in the management of the business overall is one of the company's points of strength, as can be seen from the excellent results achieved in recent years.

The main aim of the activities undertaken in the four-year period 2009-2012 remain the reduction in the frequency and severity of injuries and the prevention and mitigation of risks associated with processes. Consequently action is taken along three lines:

• the promotion of a culture of safety (with a focus on process safety),
• new applications of methodologies for the analysis and reduction of risk,
• action in critical sectors (such as contract personnel).

The injury frequency index in 2010 shows that, compared with the previous year and even more with 2008, there was an improvement both for employees and contract staff, which means that for the fourth consecutive year there as been a marked improvement. In particular, the injury frequency index for Eni personnel fell by 9% and that for contract staff by 25.4%.
Unfortunately during 2010 there were two fatalities among Saipem personnel and eight fatalities among contractors (three in the Exploration & Production sector, four at Saipem and one in the Refining & Marketing sector). On 5 November 2010 an aeroplane accident in Pakistan caused the death of 21 Eni staff, of which six were contract workers, as well as the crew. This tragic event is still under investigation, in cooperation with the Pakistani authorities.

On the basis of an analysis of the main accidents over the last decade, including the events in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, a re-engineering process has been launched for the crisis and emergency plans of Eni and the business units. In particular, the new emergency plans will ensure better coordination of communication, legal, security and personnel functions that will be able to take advantage of a system of geo-referencing of the operational assets and fleets in service.

Training is of fundamental importance in consolidating a culture that views safety as a primary value in which to invest with a view to ensuring continuous improvement. Eni engages its personnel and encourages them to achieve objectives of integrity and provides specific training to facilitate conduct aimed at promoting prevention.

In 2010 a workshop for operational specialists in process safety working at sites was organised, along with the Ground Transport Safety initiative, organised with three task forces (road transport, rail transport and pipelines), which involved all of Eni's experts in the field and focused on the definition of best management practice.

The year also saw the continuation of the two-year "Communicating Safety" campaign, launched in December 2009, which involved 100 production sites and management centres in Italy alone, and a total of around 35,000 employees, and which also foresees the support of the Eni intranet site.

The awareness campaign "Leadership in Safety" in the Engineering & Construction sector has involved more than 400 workshops since it was launched (in 2008) and has been extended to the refining area (10 workshops already held in 2010).

In cooperation with Eni Corporate University and ISPESL (Istituto Superiore per la Prevenzione e la Sicurezza del Lavoro), Eni has created a flexible and interactive multimedia online training course for people operating inside office buildings and corporate headquarters. The course enables participants to access the online course from their desk and to learn at their own speed. It involves a number of modules and lasts a total of 3 hours. At the end of each module there are tests to check the level reached. During the entire course a tutor is available to provide technical support.