Health and safety

We try very hard to reduce injuries in every location and have a clear requirement for continuous improvement. During the year we received 406 visits from safety regulatory authorities, down from the 458 visits last year. We ensure that any findings from regulators are acted upon immediately.

52, a fifth, of our manufacturing sites are certified to an industry standard recognised health and safety management system, such as OHSAS 18001.

In 2011 we invested £38m to improve the working conditions and the safety of equipment.

Our investment included fire prevention equipment and installations, emergency response systems, personal protection equipment, equipment to prevent falls from heights and pedestrian safety measures. We place special focus on construction safety and reducing the risks from moving vehicles.

We monitor carefully the relevant guidance published by the national regulatory authorities as a benchmark and upgrade our safeguards where necessary to meet the latest standards.

Our businesses have continued to develop the robustness of their risk management systems, which include clear objectives and safety improvement targets, effective physical controls, effective management procedures and routine performance monitoring.

Despite the health and safety of our workforce being an absolute priority across the group we regret deeply having to report that there were three work-related fatalities across our global operations during 2011. The deaths of two employees were the result of working in an unsafe atmosphere within a confined space and a road traffic accident on the way to a meeting. The death of a contractor on our site was the result of falling from the top of a vehicle whilst preparing to load it. We alerted all our businesses to these tragedies and re-emphasised the safe working procedures.

These accidents were fully investigated by our internal safety specialists, our directors and senior managers and the external regulatory authorities. All work-related deaths are reported to the group board and local management are held to account for the cause at their site.

This loss of life is entirely unacceptable. We recognise that many of our businesses operate in high hazard environments, such as with heavy machinery, large transport and freight vehicles, confined spaces and working at height. Our approach to risk management is designed to ensure that the risks are assessed, the relevant precautions and work procedures are implemented and that there is strong supervision. It is a key principle that all managers are responsible for the safety of their workforce and for ensuring a safe working environment. Each factory and business has safety managers to advise and facilitate. These principles are embedded throughout our businesses.

2011 saw another year of reduced reportable injuries to our employees falling by a further 6% following a reduction of 15% last year. This is against an increase in the number of employees; a fact which supports the investment the group has continued to make in the strong safety culture of our business.

Achievements:

• nine companies completed a full year without any reportable injuries to employees;

• Ohly in Hamburg was awarded, for the third time, the highest class of award by the Office of Occupational Safety for its exemplary health and safety system; and

• in February, Illovo Sugar’s Merebank site in South Africa reached the milestone of achieving one million working hours without a reportable injury. Merebank was also successfully recertified and audited by the South African Bureau of Standards for its HSE management systems.

While all these sites are recognised for demonstrating good safety risk management, their performance continues to be reviewed and monitored.

We are pleased that 169 of our factories and 172 of the Primark stores achieved a year’s operation without any reportable injuries. 151 factories did not have a serious or lost time injury, which follows 35 factories in 2010 reaching his achievement. 147 Primark stores did not have any lost time injuries in 2011.

Following serious incidents in group businesses and relevant incidents in other businesses the Group Safety and Environment Manager issues a Safety Alert to every group business highlighting the causes and, importantly, the required preventative measures.

Over the last two years, significant attention has been paid by the board, local management teams and our workforce to improving and embedding safety standards. We are pleased to see positive results in terms of reduced numbers of incidents but recognise that we still have more to do and will continue to keep the health and safety of our people and those with whom we work as a business priority.

During 2011, six sites received fines totalling £24,000 ∆ for breaches of safety regulations. All businesses are required to report to the group when and how remedial actions are implemented.

We have a 45% interest in Vivergo Fuels, a joint venture with BP and Dupont to build a major new wheat to bioethanol plant at Saltend. Health and safety is a key priority in the construction of the plant. By September 2010, over two million construction hours had passed without a single injury requiring a day away from work. There are currently over 500 people working in Vivergo to complete the construction and prepare for operation. This record has been recognised by RoSPA of its Silver Award for Occupational Health and Safety.