ITER Safety Day 2025

A holistic vision for safety

22 Sep 2025 - J.M.

ITER’s fifth annual Safety Day was the occasion to promote a global safety philosophy and introduce a revised system of day-to-day safety rules for the worksite.

At least 1,700 people attend the all-day event on Thursday 18 September 2025.

“We cannot discuss the safety of nuclear fusion without being recognized as a world-class safety project,” emphasized Gilles Perrier, ITER’s Head of Safety and Quality, as he welcomed ITER staff and contractors to the Safety Day event on 18 September. “How can we say we are building a virtuous machine if we aren’t virtuous when respecting safety rules and regulations?”

In this spirit, Safety Day was used to publicize the new ITER 9 Life-Saving Rules program for on-site safety and security. Previously, ITER had 12 Golden Rules for Safety Enforcement, but Perrier and his team began revising this program last year to hone it down to 9 rules that are easier to understand and can be more efficiently enforced. (See sidebar.) The new rules were introduced this summer and went into the compliance phase this month.

“These rules are not simply advice, they need to be followed,” insisted ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi during his opening remarks. “It’s very important that we maintain our good safety record and, if anything, that we improve it because our number one priority is simply to return home to our families and friends safely. So, let’s look at this new safety booklet and let’s read it every day.”

Shino Ramachandran, who works as part of the Plant Systems Installation Program, attempts to identify fire hazards in a virtual reality simulation designed by Bureau Veritas as part of training for Rule #2—identifying and isolating sources of electricity in the workplace.

Safety Day has been organized since 2021 as part of an effort to promote a culture of safety, raise awareness about best practices, and reinforce the message that safety is a core value and not just a compliance requirement. ITER’s current safety records show a Lost Time Injury or LTI rate of 4.5—which corresponds to an annual average of 7.4 workers suffering an injury with lost time, per 1,000 employees. This rate is good for the construction sector but there is still room for improvement as compared to other best-in-class industries.

So far in 2025, there have been 20 lost-time incidents at the ITER site. That is slightly higher than the 18 incidents recorded at this same time in 2024, but lower than previous years. Jeremy Guigon-Boyd, the responsible officer for Safety Culture Improvement and Human & Organizational Factors at ITER and the organizer of the Safety Day event, says that although results are improving, it is important to show caution: “Despite the year-on-year decreasing trend, and even if we are doing well compared to the standards of other industries, there is room for improvement. These statistics are more than numbers—they represent people, and we don’t want anybody to suffer an injury.”

ITER's 9 Life-Saving Rules

The new ITER 9 Life-Saving Rules program was introduced in the summer of 2025 and ITER management, with the support of the safety and security team, is now enforcing compliance. The program includes a “three strike” system where a person caught violating a rule three times, such as driving without a seatbelt, working at height unprotected, or working without a required permit, will risk being excluded from working on site. (Download the poster below.)

Rule #1 - Work Authorization: Be sure to have the proper work permit when it is required

Rule #2 - Energy Isolation: Identify and isolate all electricity or other energy sources when working

Rule #3 - Safety Controls: Get authorization before overriding safety controls to complete a task

Rule #4 - Work at Height: Protect yourself and others from falling when working at height

Rule #5 - Lifting: All lifting operations must be well-prepared, communicated, and controlled

Rule #6 - Confined Space: Get the required authorization before entering or working in a confined space

Rule #7 - Fire Prevention: Ignition sources and flammables must be identified and controlled

Rule #8 - Driving: Comply with safe driving regulations by wearing seatbelts, respecting speed limits, etc

Rule #9 - Line of Fire: Always be sure to be out of the way of moving machinery, lifting operations, energy release paths, etc

While 2025 has seen no serious injury at ITER, there have been what are described as “high-potential near misses.” For example, in May 2025, a collision between a 750-tonne crane and a maintenance crane resulted in a piece of equipment falling more than 40 metres to the floor, which could have had severe consequences for team members present in the vicinity of the accident.

Safety Day continues to grow as part of ITER’s holistic vision of safety. In 2024, 30 subcontractors and ITER departments had information booths and 1,700 people attended the event. This year, there were 37 information booths and—despite a strike in France that reduced the number of personnel on site—the attendance was the same. Participants were encouraged to follow a safety trail that put the 9 Life-Saving Rules in the spotlight with activities and demonstrations on working at height, safe lifting practices, and driving responsibly among others.

You can download a poster of ITER's Life-Saving Rules here.

Head of Safety and Quality Gilles Perrier and Director-General Pietro Barabaschi open the Safety Day event by introducing ITER’s new 9 Life-Saving Rules.

Director-General Pietro Barabaschi is the first to sign the Life-Saving Rules commitment panel. “These rules are not simply advice, they need to be followed!”

ITER staff and contractors are invited to follow a safety trail and earn prizes by visiting booths representing the 9 Life-Saving Rules. Virginie Marchal, from the Security & Safety Section, explains how to go about it.

Industrial equipment provider Würth invites attendees to learn ladder safety protocols in accordance with the work-at-height rules on the ITER worksite.

Two employees from the subcontractor 4TCC1 show Safety and Quality Head Gilles Perrier a version of the ITER Life-Saving Rules in Italian.

Handler Gwennael Wartelle and his patrol dog Maïna attend Safety Day to raise awareness about on-site security.

Two adventurous participants try a ride in the roll-over car that was brought by the security team from the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence prefecture (Sécurité Routière 04). The experience is designed to show how dangerous simple unsecured objects can be if they fly around the car during an accident.

At this booth, staffed by the Sécurité Routière 04 team, information about safe driving included demonstrations about the effect that drugs and alcohol can have on alertness and vision.