Health and safety

Organisational arrangements

See the environment section for an outline of the organisational arrangements for managing health and safety.

Performance indicators

Smiths tracks safety performance using the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) methods for lost time incident rate and recordable incident rate which express the number of incidents per 100 employees per year. The US Bureau of Labour publishes industry comparisons each year allowing an approximate benchmark.

As announced in August 2007, Smiths now requires all of its businesses to have a recordable incident rate better than 1.5 (per 100 employees per year) by July 2010.

OHSAS18001

ISO14001 has proven successful in driving continual improvement in environmental matters in Smiths and we now require the closest equivalent for health and safety – OHSAS18001 – at all manufacturing businesses with more than 50 employees. OHSAS18001 requires:

formal risk assessment and hazard identification
legal compliance and assurance
formal organisational arrangements
training and competency
internal audit
management review
external verification.

Some Smiths businesses have already achieved certification and we are therefore able to use this experience to develop a Group-wide programme. Two sites – Trak Microwave, Dundee and Tutco, Cookeville, Tennessee – were selected as pilots for the development of standard materials and understanding of the certification process.

In total we now have 17 facilities, out of a 2010 target of 83, certified to OHSAS18001.

Audit

An audit process has been developed and external auditors retained to conduct legal compliance audits. Facilities to be audited were chosen from across the Group based on size, complexity and past performance and the audits were completed in March, April and May 2008. Each audited site now has a corrective action plan which will be reviewed on site later in 2008. Analysis of the findings from the audits suggests three common areas of weakness: machine guarding, electrical safety and emergency preparedness. These will be the focus of future programmes.

Targeting under-performers

Eight sites with historically weaker performance were selected for additional attention involving:

monthly senior management reviews
performance goals
agreed improvement programmes.

Three of the eight sites have improved their performance sufficiently and alternative sites are currently being considered to replace them.

Safety Technical Workshops

Three safety technical workshops were held in Europe and North America with more than 100 representatives from the major sites in attendance.

The workshops had a shared agenda:

Hazard identification and risk assessment
Legal compliance
Incident investigation
The OHSAS18001 certification process
Smiths resources

Trak Microwave, Dundee, Scotland

Dynamic X-ray inspection methods are used routinely to verify the integrity of solder joints and the internal efficacy of components destined for deep space missions and satellite applications. Operated in a controlled access area, machine interlocks and personal dosemeters ensure radiation exposure is both minimised and continuously monitored.

Tutco, Cookeville, USA

Safety Bingo is an innovative way of raising health and safety awareness in the workplace.

Numbers are posted on the notice board each day and employees check them off on their 'Bingo' cards until there is a winner.

The prize money starts at $50 and increases by $1 for each day without a recordable incident. A winning card completes the game and everyone starts over, but the prize continues to grow by $1 a day unless a recordable incident occurs and sends it back down to $50.

Tutco, Cookeville, USA

Tutco were Smiths first North American facility to achieve certification to OHSAS18001 and their preparation included a comprehensive machine guarding programme.

Data collection and analysis

We invested in a bespoke worldwide data collection and reporting system which was implemented in August 2007 and we now have an enhanced ability to review performance site by site in real time against Group targets.

Performance against targets

Last year we reported on three incidents that resulted in extended hospital stays for the injured parties. We are pleased to report that we have had no incidents of the same severity this year.

Following a concerted effort, driven from the highest levels of the organisation, our safety performance, as measured through recordable incident and lost time incident rates, continues to improve. The improvements are supported by enhanced incident investigation and return to work programmes. The financial year that we have just completed has been the safest on record for Smiths.

We are starting to see other positive indicators. Fines and violations are as low as we can remember. Smiths had no UK employer liability claims in the financial year and US workers’ compensation direct costs are $300,000 lower than last year. These visible and tangible benefits exclude the business costs and personal impacts associated with injury and lost time.

The largest fine received this financial year related to two findings from an OSHA inspection of our Tubular Systems facility in Springfield MA, USA. The combined fine was US$1,487.50. The non-compliances have been corrected.