A new approach to health and safety

The nature of our business has evolved in recent years and we've restructured our uncompromising approach to ensure health and safety remains at the heart of our culture.

We've introduced a new safety, health and environment (SHE) function based on the philosophy that safety and health is an integral part of our everyday work and a line management responsibility. Our new strategy is based on the following building blocks:

Commitment: helping directors and managers demonstrate their commitment through strong, visible management and by encouraging individuals to accept personal responsibility for their safety and health.

Competence: improving the competence of all of our people by effective education and training so they understand the risks, know what is expected of them, and have the confidence to challenge poor behaviour.

Structure: having a clear functional structure with well-defined roles and responsibilities, effective reporting, auditing and consultation systems, policies and standards.

Engagement: working with each of our businesses to agree objectives and solve problems locally, as well as understanding and shaping best practice and striving for continuous improvement.

To validate our approach to health and safety and to drive further performance, we've undertaken a series of external audits conducted by a trial course in 2007. A New Roads and Street Works (NRSWA) refresher programme is underway, which will refresh all craftspeople and project managers who work on highways and remind them of their obligations of working safely and legally. All stakeholders who work under our operation licence will be included in this training. The training concentrates purely on roles and responsibilities on site and includes a training session with the Guide Dog Association.

We have also taken part in the British Safety Council five star audit process at eight of our sites. The audit identified several areas for improvement, but complimented us on our processes, systems and management commitment. We achieved the maximum five star rating at seven of our sites, with the final site just missing this level and achieving a four star rating. The programme of audits will continue into 2008 with our result at 93.8%.

During the past year, there have been three fatal incidents to contractors working on our behalf. We launched formal Panels of Inquiry into each of these tragic events and have put in place actions to ensure that they will be prevented from happening again.

Data Analysis for Safety Health and Environment 2007

Data Analysis for Safety Health and Environment 2007

		2004	2005	2006	2007
Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) per 100,000 hours worked		0.86	0.67	0.52	0.55
Lost Time Injury Frequency (LTIF) per million hours worked (including employees and contractors)		6	4.1	2.9	3.96
Sickness absence (average days lost per full time employee)		9.86	12.11	12.11	12.8
Fatalities		2	0	0	3

Lost Time Injury Frequency (LTIF or number of lost time injury per million hours worked)

We fundamentally believe that all injuries and occupational illnesses can be prevented and that excellence in health and safety drives excellence in business performance. Our aspiration is to have zero injuries.

Each year all of our individual businesses evaluate their activities and set a challenging target to help to drive accident reduction measures. In 2007, we set a LTIF target of 2.5. Unfortunately, the final outcome for the year, at 3.96, (employee and contractors) significantly fell short of this target. We aim for continuous improvement whilst taking into account growth, new acquisitions and major projects. By 2010, our Generation business is targeting world-class performance with a target LTIF of 1.0.

Major injuries

We had two major injuries in December. One of our dumper drivers suffered a broken ankle from falling over whilst getting out of his vehicle. A lorry driver fractured his arm after falling from a curtain sided lorry whilst unloading.