Managing health and safety
The Group Health and Safety Manager leads the function and reports directly to the Chief Executive, who is the Board Director responsible for health & safety. Managing corporate risk is a core business objective and the Managing Director of each Divisional Business Unit has full operational responsibility.
We use the British Standard Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (BS OHSAS) 18001 2007, as our health and safety management framework, which is reviewed operationally every quarter.
We are continuing to grow our management of health and safety with a focus on embedding a safety culture through regular training and inspection.
Training
During 2009 training resource was significantly reduced due to the affects of the economic downturn.
However, safety education and training for all employees remains of fundamental importance to our business. We focussed our resources on our Site Managers and introduced a mandatory requirement to pass the Construction Skills Site Manager Safety Training Scheme During 2009, we also implemented two new safety awareness courses for our Site Managers covering confined spaces and construction transport.
| Health and Safety Training of Crest Nicholson Employees |
|---|
| |
2009 |
2008 |
2007 |
| Total training delivered (in days) |
191 |
549 |
415 |
| Average training received by each employee (in days) |
0.42 |
0.93 |
0.54 |
Inspections
Site safety inspections are central to improving health and safety performance. The monitoring reports are a key resource, helping site managers focus their attention where it is most needed. In 2009, NHBC completed 416 site safety inspections with our site managers, which represents an average of nine inspections per active site. This is close to our target of averaging one inspection per month for each active site, but the year saw considerable operational pressure and site re-organisation and rescheduling.
| Site Safety Inspections |
|---|
| |
2009 |
2008 |
2007 |
| Average number of sites |
47 |
57 |
66 |
| Total site inspections completed |
416 |
578 |
706 |
| Average number of inspections per site |
9 |
10 |
11 |
Safety Campaign
According to the Health & Safety Executive, slips and trips are regularly the biggest single cause of reported injuries in the construction industry. In 2009 Crest Nicholson launched the 'Mind Your Step' campaign aimed at reducing the number of injuries resulting from falls at the same level.
Our Campaign Priorities
- Establish and implement good practice on-site standards for Crest Nicholson and its subcontractors.
- Campaign posters combined with pocket cards to highlight information
- Ensure all subcontractors receive a safety briefing focussing on the "fall-at-same level" risks, and how to avoid them – particularly by improving workplace standards.
- Establish and implement a site 'Mind Your Step' safety checklist to improve risk controls.
We achieved all of the above priorities - and a 25% reduction in "fall at same level" incidents was observed during the year – a tribute to our site manager's focus on continuous improvement.
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Our performance.