CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP

sAFEty, HEAltH And EnVIronMEnt (sHE)

Safety and occupational health performance

Safety and occupational health performance is expressed as the TRIR. AECI benchmarks itself against an appropriate grouping of international companies and remains of the opinion that, while zero incidents must be the ultimate target, the interim maximum tolerable level should remain at 1.0 for 2008. Unfortunately the disappointing result of 2007 confirms that the rising trend, since the low achieved in 2003, has not yet been turned around.

The benchmarked TRIR graph presented has been compiled by an independent consultant from the latest information available from the various companies’ websites at the time of writing. 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.

TRIR performance by AECI company

Excellent results were again achieved by AEL. However, high incident rates at Chemserve and SANS Fibres (SANS) impacted negatively on the Group’s overall TRIR. Chemserve’s incident rate for the year rose to 1.64 from 2006’s already high figure of 1.51. The majority of incidents occurred in the first six months, with the performance thereafter indicating that the worsening trend, linked largely to unsafe acts, appears to have been reversed. SANS’s incident rate also increased to 1.63 from last year’s figure of 1.56. The major problems at SANS appear to be linked to the uncertainties and disruptions in the business in 2007.

Incidents and hours from Dulux’s operations, until 1 October 2007 when ownership transferred to ICI plc, have been included in the calculation for the AECI Group figure.

Although the incidents that occurred in 2007 involved a wide range of mechanisms, several causes stand out:

• the nature of much of the Group’s business involves dealing with potentially • hazardous chemicals, including explosive, corrosive and poisonous substances. Whilst automated operations and protective systems can reduce the risk to employees, they cannot eliminate them. Appropriate, proceduralised methods of working should reduce further the number of incidents arising from this cause;
• whilst injuries due to falling may seem unrelated to industry-specific issues, they can be severe. Carelessness remains the main contributory factor for this group of injuries;
• incidents related to moving machinery arise from both static installations such as pump drives, and vehicle-related incidents, usually forklifts. Guarding and procedural systems provide the main forms of risk mitigation, and incidents are usually the result of poor working practices;
• increasingly the Group’s operations are being automated, not least because • this reduces the inherent operational risk to employees. Nevertheless, incidents arising from manual handling remain a significant issue, particularly in those companies with an aging workforce;
• South Africa’s increasingly congested roads, and poor road conditions elsewhere in Africa, lead to a significant risk to the safety of the Group’s employees and contractors. The majority of the Group’s products are transported by road.