Health and Safety
 

 

 The Chief Executive is the director appointed by the Board to have responsibility for the health, safety and environmental performance of the Group.
  The Group Health and Safety Policy places responsibility for the management of health and safety on the local Business Unit management, who are supported by Group internal control and local external advisers, where necessary.

Each Business Unit has a senior individual designated as being responsible for ensuring the Business Unit conforms to local statutory health and safety regulations as well as Group policy. All Business Units provide employees with a written health and safety policy.
An annual internal report on our health and safety performance is collated from a questionnaire completed by all our Business Units.  With an average workforce of 2,600, the highlights of this report in respect of 2007 are:
  • we had 189 incidents that required on-site First Aid, compared with 246 in 2006

  • we had no fatalities

  • we saw 6 cases of ill health/long term sickness, compared to 3 in 2006

  • we had 33 accidents that required a hospital visit, compared to 32 in 2006
Independent external reviews of the Company’s health and safety performance are conducted annually. Regular designated health and safety awareness training programmes, particularly at our manufacturing sites, are also carried out.  The Group’s health and safety performance and significant risk exposures are reviewed regularly by management and annually by the Board.