Our Performance and Achievements
We actively monitor accidents and compile detailed statistics on a monthly basis at a group level. We report on our incidence of greater than three day accidents, the total number of lost time accidents and the total accident rate.
As part of managing performance and preventing recurrence, we investigate all accidents thoroughly to determine root causes and put in place appropriate preventative and corrective actions. In the section below we report our safety performance data over the period from March 2004 to March 2009 and health performance data for the 2008/09 financial year. Data has been restated to reflect changes in the business, for example divestments and site closure.
Safety Performance
In March 2009 the incidence of greater than three day accidents at Johnson Matthey was calculated as 4.48 per 1,000 employees per year, an increase of 39% compared with 3.22 (restated) in March 2008. The total number of accidents that resulted in lost time was 95, a 40% increase compared to the previous year. During the year, the total accident rate increased by 17% from 8.86 (restated) to 10.39 per 1,000 employees per year. The total lost time accident rate per 100,000 hours worked increased by 33% from 0.40 in 2007/08 to 0.53 in 2008/09.
Annual Accident Rate per 1,000 Employees
In 2008/09 the number of days lost per 1,000 employees per year was 115, an increase of 58% compared with 73 (restated) in 2007/08.
Days Lost per 1,000 Employees per Year
Following steady improvement in our accident statistics in previous years, our performance in 2008/09 has highlighted the need to revitalise Johnson Matthey’s accident prevention processes. The company has recently launched an initiative to introduce ‘EHS Learning Events’ to all facilities to help drive a reduction in the rate of injuries resulting in lost time. An EHS Learning Event would typically occur when opportunities to improve the safety of the workplace are identified or when situations are observed which may necessitate ‘at risk’ behaviour in achieving the required tasks or activities. Employees and long term contractors will be invited to make a brief note of events from which lessons can be learnt. This will provide site managers with a valuable new source of information about elements of the working environment that may lead to injury and employees will gain a sharpened sense of the risks around them. As the system becomes embedded, we are confident this should result in reduced incidence of lost time injuries across the group.
Accident Calculation Definitions
Johnson Matthey’s definition of an accident for the purposes of this report is any acute unplanned event that causes harm to individuals making them unable to attend work on days after the date of the event. Accidents are further subdivided into accidents that result in more than three days work lost and those that cause three or less days to be lost. Accident incidence rates are calculated based on the rate of these accidents per 1,000 employees. The metrics used in this report are described in the Performance Summary.
Health Management Performance
Health improvement planning continues to play a central role to achieve continuous improvement of the health performance of each business. This process is conducted annually and is linked to the sustainable business planning process. Adjustments are made to health programmes to address changing business needs in the coming year and specific activities are planned to promote the longer term health, wellbeing and performance of employees. 75% of businesses reported undertaking a formal health improvement planning process during 2008/09, a reduction compared to 80% in 2007.
There is a corporate system to report the occurrence of occupational illness cases at all sites and guidance is provided on diagnostic criteria to ensure accuracy and consistency of global reporting. The incidence of cases reported during 2008/09 was 5.5 cases per 1,000 employees compared to an incidence rate of 5.8 cases in 2007 (3.5 cases per 1,000 employees for 1st January 2008 to 31st March 2008) and 4.6 cases in 2006.
