Corporate Responsibility Report 2008 - Mitie

A safe pairof handsThe health and safety of our people is of principal importancefor us at MITIE. We set high standards and we expect everyoneto play their part in maintaining them. MITIE has a team of over60 dedicated health and safety professionals working in our business,engaged in formal programmes to improve our health and safetyperformance across our business on an ongoing basis.We have been extremely pleasedto see a reduction in the ratesof accidents across MITIE, butrecognise there is always roomfor improvement. That’s whywe’ve enhanced the leadershipof health and safety within MITIEduring the year, and are continuingto extend our company-widecertification programme to thetwo internationally recognisedstandards for health and safetyand environmental management(OHSAS 18001 and ISO 14001). Threefurther MITIE businesses achievedcertification during the year, with94% of the company’s activitiesnow meeting these two standards.Chief Executive’s Quality AwardDuring the year, the Chief Executive’sQuality Award (CEQA) focused onexcellence in health and safety.Each business began by undertakingtheir own employee survey toexplore how their people perceivedhealth and safety managementin their own workplace. Thesesurveys confirmed that we’re doingmany things well and highlighteda number of good opportunitiesto make improvements. Eachbusiness then developed formalimprovement plans building on thesenew ideas, including improvementsin risk assessment methods, internalreporting procedures, theidentification of health and safetytraining needs, and improved riskmanagement communication.The overall winner of the CEQA wasMITIE’s interior fit-out business, for theirformalised approach in improvingWe’ve achieved a lot in2007/08, but the next yearwill see us raising the bareven further as we focuson four key areas:• Senior managementleadership – there will bea new training programmefor senior managementto increase awareness ofhealth and safety issuesand provide them withenhanced tools;• Business managementsystem (BMS) – we’ll beundertaking a review ofour established BMS, toensure it is suitable forour changing workingenvironments, providingus with a sound frameworkfor managing risk;• Health and safetyperformanceimprovement programme– we’re developing asystematic improvementplan for our wholebusiness; and• Operational risk control– we’re improving ourinternal assuranceprogramme with anindependent third partyspecialist auditor.health and safety performance,including revised programmesto address specific risks, a focuson enhanced line managementownership of health and safety,and improved communicationthroughout the organisation. Awardsfor the national and regional winnerswill be presented at the AGM inJuly 2008.As a company of world-class peopledelivering world-class services, wehave an extensive range of trainingprogrammes available to all ourpeople, including over 25 health andsafety training courses. In 2007/08over 2,000 people successfullycompleted a wide range of healthand safety training within MITIE.Over the last year our training wasparticularly focused on addressingkey issues such as working at height,manual handling, and managingroad risk. All of this was undertakenin conjunction with giving our peoplea sound knowledge of the healthand safety basics.The results of our efforts are thereto see. In addition to the positivefeedback we’ve had from ouremployee surveys, we achieved a23% reduction in major injuries duringthe year, with a 22% reduction in thereportable incident rate. Regrettablywe received four enforcementnotices during the year and wehave put in place remedial actionsto address the issues raised andlearn the lessons across the Group.18 MITIE CR Report 2008