Health and safety
Safety performance mixed
Our safety performance in 2015 was mixed, making it imperative that we maintain our objective of ensuring that health and safety remains our number one priority. The majority of our sites have exemplary safety records, but the total number of lost time injuries (LTIs) rose from 19 to 21, half being driver-related, and in August there was a fatality following an engine room fire aboard our marine dredger Arco Avon. Third engineer Tony Jones, aged 63, suffered severe burns and was air-lifted from the vessel but died later in hospital. Our sympathies go to his family, friends and colleagues.
Employee LTIs rose from 10 to 12 and the employee LTI frequency rate of injuries per one million hours worked, which has been adopted as a standard industry indicator, rose from 1.47 to 1.74. The employee LTI severity rate, derived from the total number of days lost, rose from 41.0 to 77.3 as a result of two specific incidents.
Half of the LTIs recorded in 2015 were driver-related so we are focusing a great deal of attention on engaging with this group through our logistics department and directly at production sites. This will be challenging as it involves not only our company and franchised drivers but also a large number of third party hauliers. We will also be engaging with our customers to help improve conditions for drivers on their sites.
Our annual health and safety week was spread over three weeks to increase involvement and impact and covered driver issues, health and wellbeing and the importance of risk assessment. We continue to engage with our work force through safety conversations and encouraging near-hit reporting, both of which increased during the year. We also have regular one-to-one safety discussions with all employees along with comprehensive health and safety training from both in-house specialists and external consultants delivered through monthly conference calls, podcasts and on site discussions supported by our sustainability representative network.
Our contractor selection and control process has been enhanced by an industry-led system which ensures contractors are trained, competent, insured and understand the standards we require. We have also streamlined and improved our site induction process for contractors and visitors.
We continue to invest in occupational health surveillance to detect existing or underlying issues, and provided check-ups – or health MoTs - for our employees.
In October 2015 as part of developing a safer work place, we introduced random and unannounced drugs and alcohol testing at operational sites and offices. This produced a 5.6 per cent failure rate for drugs so we put in place a drugs and alcohol awareness campaign featuring posters and a leaflet to explain the impact and effects of different types of drugs and encourage employees who think they may be at risk to seek help and support.
There was one prosecution during the year. Hanson Packed Products was fined £750,000 at Southwark Crown Court in December after pleading guilty to an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 relating to a failure in the general duty to ensure the safety of employees. The prosecution, which was bought by the Health and Safety Executive, related to the fatal accident involving employee William Ridge at the Dagenham aggregates bagging site in September 2013.
It made specific reference to machinery guarding and the lack of an inspection regime for the packing line.
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Lost time injuries data
Lost time injuries
2010 (baseline)
2013
2014
2015
Employees
21
7
10
12
Contractors
22
16
9
9
Employee severity rate
44.2
54.9
41.0
77.3
Employee frequency rate
2.66
1.08
1.47
1.74
Target: Zero harm
Staff stage safety stand down
The entire Hanson UK business came to a stop for two hours on May 26 for a co-ordinated health and safety stand-down. Read more