Health & safety and employment
Policy
The Group’s policy is to give the greatest importance to the health and safety of its employees and to comply with all relevant legislation and codes of practice relating to employment, health and safety and equal opportunities. In summary, this covers: good quality, safe working environments and facilities for employees and training and development appropriate to each of their roles; not to discriminate in any way; to take a flexible approach towards family responsibilities; to assist employees in establishing an appropriate work/life balance; and to provide a competitive range of quality employee benefits. The Board and senior management are committed to keeping the workforce informed of major events and developments within the Group.
In the design, construction, operation and maintenance of all the plant, equipment and facilities, it is the duty of management to do everything reasonably practical to prevent personal injuries. To this end, management provides personal protective equipment and protective clothing and courses are run regularly for employees.
It is also the duty of every employee to exercise responsibility and to do everything reasonably practicable to prevent injury to himself/herself and others and for the prompt reporting of accidents and potential hazards.
Details of specific responsibilities for health and safety, together with other relevant health and safety information, are displayed on notice boards at each Group location.
Accident statistics are reviewed at each meeting of the Operations Executive, held monthly, and are reported to the main Board directors as part of their monthly management pack. Training is regularly carried out to educate employees on health and safety matters and safe systems of work.
Vitec has low staff turnover and levels of sickness are minimal across the Group. Vitec has an equal opportunities culture with no discrimination of any kind.
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Lino Manfrotto & Co SpA and Vitecgroup Italia SpA hold OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety certification, ISO 9001 Quality and ISO 14001 Environment certification. The companies employ over 500 employees at five manufacturing sites in Italy.
Health and safety training is part of the induction process for new employees. Specific training is given, where relevant, for forklift truck, crane and hoist operation and bottle gas usage as well as fire safety and first aid training. Additional training is given where an employee has a specific role such as responsibility for administering first aid.
The Services Division implemented a drug and alcohol testing programme in 2009 in the Operations Department. The Division recognises its commitment to employees, customers and the public to take reasonable steps to ensure safety in the workplace and in the community.
Risk assessments are in place throughout the Group. Appropriate control measures have been taken to control the risks identified. Assessments are carried out on a regular basis and these assessments are kept under review, particularly when new equipment or machinery is acquired or new processes are introduced.
Accident statistics have been published by the Group for each year since 2002. The table below sets out the position during the last five years. For 2009 we targeted a 10% reduction for the year in accidents. A 38% reduction was achieved in 2009 with accidents reducing from 16 (representing 723 per 100,000 employees) in 2008 to 10 (representing 511 per 100,000 employees) in 2009 (see Note 4 on page 23). There were no fatal accidents during 2009 (2008: nil). A similar targeted reduction has been set for 2010.
| Year |
Accident rate |
Fatalities |
Average number of employees |
| 2005 |
1,040
|
Nil
|
1,538
|
| 2006 |
835
|
Nil
|
1,676
|
| 2007 |
976
|
Nil
|
2,049
|
| 2008 |
723
|
Nil
|
2,214
|
| 2009 |
511 |
Nil |
1,957 |
Note: Accident rate means the number of accidents per38 The Vitec Group plc Annual Report & Accounts 2009
100,000 employees per year leading to absences from work of more than three days.
The Group website’s principal aim is to help investors, potential investors, customers, employees and other stakeholders to better understand the Group and view the wide variety of products available from Group companies – www.vitecgroup.com. Our policy is to keep employees informed on matters relating to their employment and on financial and economic factors affecting the Group. We do this through management briefings by the Group Chief Executive, the Group Finance Director and Divisional Chief Executives, management conferences, through the Group’s website and by internal distribution of press releases and internal announcements. An intranet for the whole Group has been created and is being refined and updated regularly. Combining the various intranets that existed around the Group has enabled our employees to gain better access to information and an improved understanding of our Group and individual business objectives and their roles in achieving them. The Group has operations in many countries and employees speaking many different languages and so, where practical, documents published on our intranet are translated into the relevant languages. We strive to continue and improve this process, and development of the intranet generally, in the future.
Building and developing the skills, competencies, motivation and teamwork of our people is key to achieving our business objectives and to ensuring best practices throughout the Group.
The Group operates in many countries and our employment policies, which are designed to meet local conditions and requirements, are established on the basis of the best practice in each country in which we operate. The wide geographical spread provides some opportunities for employees to work either short term, or on secondment for longer periods of time, at overseas locations.
The Group encourages all employees both in the UK and overseas to participate in the Group’s savings related share option schemes under which options over the Company’s shares are granted to employees who agree to save a set amount each month.
We understand our responsibility as employers under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and we do not discriminate against disabled people. If an employee is, or becomes, disabled during his or her period of employment, we will, if necessary and to the extent possible, adapt the work environment to enable the employee to continue in his or her current position or retrain the employee for duties suited to that employee’s abilities. It continues to be the Group’s policy to consider applications for employment from disabled people on the same basis as other potential employees.
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