Health & safety

The health and safety of our employees and others who may be affected by the Group’s operations remain an integral part of line management responsibility. Each location has designated personnel to ensure that health and safety issues are given proper attention.

The communication of health and safety matters with employees remains core to ensuring that health and safety matters are integral to operations and that standards continue to improve within the Group. There is two-way communication between the operational units, managers and specialists to develop the processes in each of our locations. An example is in our Dundee factory, where there is an “Employee Safety Committee” on every production team to decide how to tackle known issues and to help implement any changes needed. Our Colbond and Fabrics businesses have exchanged employees to carry out internal safety audits.

The Board and Risk Management Committee actively review and monitor detailed statistical performance from each site within the Group and each business, detailing accidents and incidents to identify trends and focus on areas where improvements are required. In some instances, such a review has led to an in-depth health and safety audit at specific sites and on specific machinery involving on-site management and external specialists. Where appropriate, action plans were developed during 2008 from these audits which have already resulted in improvements to accident rates and risk control performance. It is it the intention that these audits will be extended throughout 2009 to all operating sites, including those recently acquired. Details of accidents and incidents are communicated between locations as appropriate in order that preventative action can be taken.

Over the 12 months to June 2009, we incurred only 9.8 lost time accidents for every million man hours.

We have a system of both scheduled extensive health and safety auditing by the group risk manager. An intra-company health and safety auditing system is currently being developed for the group. During 2008, we undertook the following other assessments:

• Fire assessments were conducted throughout all Group locations, in order to meet existing and foreseeable future fire regulations. The assessments of the MTX plants at Lomnice resulted in a number of actions regarding the supply and use of fire-fighting water and the fixed protection of the coating plant. At Fulda, additional fire drench systems were installed during 2008 to a coating line.
• Assessments of the thermal oil systems used extensively throughout the Group were undertaken during the year resulting in a number of improvements to boiler and distribution pipe-work, oil containment and emergency isolation and shutdown procedures. The improvements on oil containment not only significantly reduce potential fire spread risks, but assist in the elimination and control of oil spillage with the production sites.

An assessment of fork-lift truck use is currently underway.

Health and safety issues are also reviewed in a rolling programme of visits to each location by the Group Risk Manager.