The safety, health and wellbeing of our employees and contractors is a primary focus for Drax and vital to our continued success.
Our approach and governance for safety, health and wellbeing
Our Group Safety, Health and Wellbeing Policy applies to employees and those working for or on behalf of Drax, and is supported by our OneSafeDrax vision that all colleagues have a role to play in safety for themselves and those they work alongside.
At Drax, we have an established Group Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) Governance Framework. It defines a systematic risk-based approach with clear accountabilities, outlining the minimum HSE requirements with which our business and operations must comply.
The framework covers occupational health and wellbein, occupational safety, process safety, and environment. Business units are required to have in place their own HSE management systems and processes in line with the framework. These are determined locally by the nature of the activities, risks, applicable regulatory regimes, and other factors.
Local Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) performance is regularly reviewed by each management team, with Group HSE performance reviewed quarterly by the Group HSE committee. Findings from an assessment of captured data is reviewed by the Executive Committee and the CEO also reports on that analysis, progress made on initiatives and areas for further action to the Board at each meeting. Additionally, Drax Leadership Team sessions (held monthly) commence with a ‘safety Moment’ section where key safety messages are shared.
Our GHSE Centre of Excellence (C of E) convenes Group and business unit HSE leads. The GHSE C of E meets monthly to share knowledge across the business and aims to drive improvements in HSE through use of best practice.
Additional people data can be found in our ESG Performance Report.
HSE Management Systems and audit
Across the Group we have Safety Management Systems (SMS) in place to promote safe workplaces for our people. Our UK Generation assets have an integrated management system, certified to ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management Systems), ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental Management Systems), and ISO 45001:2018 (Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems). In 2026, our Commercial Business Unit’s SMS achieved crtification to ISO 45001:2018
Our Corporate sites in the UK continue to implement Safety Management Systems to raise awareness and drive continuous improvement in our health and safety culture. Our Pellet Production sites are aligned to one HSE management system across the US and Canada.
Training and raising awareness on safety
At Drax, harm is never an acceptable outcome of doing our work. In 2026 we launched OneSafeDrax Zero Harm which outlines how we come together, towards zero, to achieve our vision of getting everyone home safe and well, every day.
Throughout 2026 OneSafeDrax Zero harm has been embedded within our people including the zero harm mindset which sets out the everyday behaviours we expect from ourselves and each others when work and risk meet. Our zero harm golden rules defines the universal non-negotiable controls that protect us form serious high-consequence harm.
Safety targets and performance
We review our HSE performance regularly and since 2024 both lagging and leading safety indicators have formed part of the group scorecard. We use Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) as our lagging indicator and Near Miss and Hazard Identification Rate (NMHIR) as our leading indicator. Our TRIR in 2025 was 0.33 per 100,000 hours worked (2024: 0.24, 2023: 0.38). NMHIR was 209 per 100,000 hours worked (2024: 168).
We have a process to investigate injury events and near misses, with particular focus on those with a potential to have a higher severity had circumstances been different. These investigations ensure we establish root causes and learn lessons before sharing findings across the organisations where appropriate.
In addition to Group Wide Scorecard targets on safety, business units define local objectives and targets to drive positive safety behaviours locally.
Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR):
Wellbeing
Thrive Together is our approach to supporting colleagues’ mental, physical, social and financial wellbeing. Through specialist support, wellbeing resources and healthy ways of working, we aim to help our people build energy, resilience and balance, enabling them to sustain performance and thrive both at work and beyond it.
Colleague Resource Groups
2023 saw the launch of our first Colleague Resource Groups (CRGs). Through listening to our colleagues, we identified the need for two additional CRGs in 2024. We now have CRGs covering Women, Race and Ethnicity, Accessibility, Parents & Carers, and LGBTQ+, with over 18% of colleagues joining one or more.
In 2026 we retained our Working Families Top 30 UK employers accrediation and continue to work with our CRG groups to ensure colleagues from under-represented groups experience a strong sense of belonging at Drax.
Drax For All
During 2026, we recruited a Group DEI Manager who has been working to design our “Drax For All” strategy, building on the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion progress made over the last 4 years. We continue to work towards building a fair, safe, and inclusive Drax, that better represents the communities in which we operate.
Page updated November 2026
