HEALTH AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE

TRIR - AECI employess

Safety and occupational health performance is expressed as the Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR).

It is gratifying to report that in 2009 AECI achieved its lowest level of employee injuries and illnesses in recent years. The rate of 0,78 is a 7% reduction from the level recorded in the prior reporting period. Notably, almost across the whole Group, contractor incident rates are at significantly lower levels than in recent years.

Regrettably, a contractor fatality occurred during the year when demolition work was underway at Heartland's Potchefstroom site. The fatality was the result of a worker being struck on the back of the neck by a piece of steel plate.

AECI benchmarks itself against an appropriate grouping of international companies, with "zero incidents" being the ultimate target. Given the need for continual improvement, AECI's Executive Committee has adjusted the maximum tolerable level for TRIR for 2010 down to 0,95 from 1,00 in prior years.

The benchmarked TRIR graph presented below has been compiled by an independent consultant from the latest information available from the various companies' websites at the time of writing. These companies were selected on the basis of their operations being similar to those of AECI's businesses. Due to minor variations in reporting formats, the rate was recalculated in certain cases to provide results uniform with the USA's Occupational Safety and Health Administration system of reporting, which is the basis for AECI's own reporting.

Certain of the companies have modified their reporting criteria and some have restructured their business operations. It is not always possible, therefore, to compare rates meaningfully with those reported in previous years.

A noticeable trend is the increase in the number of companies which report incident rates for all workers (both employees and contractors). These include some of the better-performing companies. AECI will report on this basis from 2010.

TRIR PERFORMANCE BY AECI BUSINESS

The employee TRIR for AEL Mining Services (AEL) has returned to 2007's levels of below 0,60, the company's maximum targeted limit, although incident rates for contractors remain slightly higher. Chemical Services (Chemserve) has continued its improving trend, with the employee rate falling from 1,0 to 0,96; the contractors' rate has fallen dramatically from the very high levels of 2008. Employee and contractor incident rates for Heartland are now well within acceptable limits, a significant improvement on the prior year. Incident rates at SANS Technical Fibers (STF), in the USA, are above acceptable limits. It should be noted, however, that the nature of the incidents was not serious, in the main. This notwithstanding, interventions planned for 2010 should result in an improvement.

Benchmarked TRIR

OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESSES

Occupational illness rate - AECI emplyees

The number of occupational illnesses reported in 2009 continued to decline. An employee at SANS Fibres, in Bellville, was diagnosed with asbestosis during his exit medical examination. A case of noise-induced hearing loss was reported at STF.