Shared Responsibility - Npower

WorkplaceSafetyWe are committed to protecting our staff, businesspartners, customers and the public from injuryas well as safeguarding our assets from loss,damage and business disruption.Regrettably during 2003 we saw an unacceptablerise in the number of lost time accidents acrossour operational businesses which led to anincrease in our staff and contractors AccidentFrequency Rate (AFR). Improvement plans arebeing developed at operational site level. As aresult of this increase, a deduction was madeas part of the annual performance and bonusassessment. External benchmarking hasdemonstrated good overall performance and weachieved upper quartile performance. We hadno prosecutions for health and safety this year.Our Pension SchemeWe sponsor the largest Group within theindustry-wide Electricity Supply Pension Scheme(ESPS) and have around 38,000 members (morethan 25,000 of whom are pensioners). We monitorchanges in the membership profile, and listen tothe views of members. We aim to respond to theseviews rather than waiting for legislation to forcechanges. For example, this year we introducedDiscretionary Dependants’ Pensions, where, on thedeath of a member, the Trustees have the discretionto award a pension to an unmarried partner ofeither sex, where there is no legal spouse.In 2003 we relaunched our Benevolent Society whichis a charity created for staff and retired employeesin need of practical, emotional or financial help.We undertook a number of safety improvementinitiatives throughout the company in 2003including:• A ‘Slip and Trip’ programme has been runningin npowerOne throughout 2003. There hasbeen a 4% decrease in the number of slips,trips and falls compared to 2002.• An employee-led behavioural safety teamconcentrates on promoting changes topractices and behaviour, by encouragingmaking the safest option the first choice.• npower are rolling out a revitalising Healthand Safety Awareness review course for allmanagers and team leaders.Peter McLellan, Head of Health and Safety‘We recognise the value of a secure, safe and healthy workingenvironment and have a strong, embedded safety culture.Our company-wide Health, Safety and Security Policy commits usto being progressive and to strive for continuous improvement.’Targets for 2004Deliver objectives from business diversity action plans and demonstrate improvements in diversity across thecompany, based on 2003 benchmarks.Put into action a High Potential Programme to ensure that we have a talented pool of senior managers.Implement initiatives arising from the staff survey, demonstrate improvements and monitor staff satisfaction in key areas.Review use of company values in staff assessment and how values are communicated and demonstrated.27