| HEALTH, SAFETY & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE |
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The health, safety and environment (HSE) committee
assists the Board to fulfil its corporate governance and
supervision responsibilities relating to the integration of
sound HSE management into all aspects of the Group's
business activity.
The committee evaluates global best practice in HSE
management, the actions taken and the appropriateness
and adequacy of policies and procedures. It reviews
statistical information issued to stakeholders and guides
the Board relating to HSE policy, strategy, leadership and
the management of HSE risks.
The committee consists of three non-executive directors
and the group chief executive and is chaired by
JM McMahon, an independent director. Other
independent members of the committee are SE Funde
and NM Magau. The group executive directors and the
executives responsible for corporate services and HSE
management, attend meetings by invitation. The
committee met formally four times during the year. |
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| TERMS OF REFERENCE |
| The committee's responsibilities include: |
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reviewing and monitoring the framework, strategy,
policies and standards for HSE management |
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monitoring substantive national and international
regulatory and technical developments and practice in
HSE management |
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reviewing compliance by the company, its contractors
and associates with policy, guidelines and appropriate
local and international standards and relevant local
laws in HSE matters |
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monitoring effective risk assessment processes,
medical surveillance requirements and accident
investigation systems |
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reviewing and recommending to the Board for
approval an HSE management system consistent with
international best practice |
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| The committee's terms of reference are reviewed annually
and were approved on 25 April 2007. |
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| SAFETY |
| Fatal accidents |
The committee regrets the eleven fatal accidents
recorded during the year and extends its sympathies to
the bereaved. All the incidents occurred on the Group's
South African sites, and the number is higher than the
ten deaths in the previous year.
There has been a significant increase in the number
of employees under the care of Murray & Roberts
management, and this has contributed to a decrease in
the fatal injury frequency rate (FIFR) to 0,06 per million hours worked. In spite of this decrease, serious accidents
on our worksites remain a concern and further measures
will be implemented to achieve the Group's commitment
to zero disabling incident.
Proactive prevention strategies are being developed,
aimed at instituting mitigation strategies in high risk
incident areas. Independent accident investigations have
been commissioned for all serious accidents to ensure
that the underlying causes are revealed and correct
control measures put in place to ensure that certain
repeat accidents do not occur. |
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| Lost time injury frequency rate |
| The Group's consolidated lost time injury frequency rate
(LTIFR) was 3,01 for the year. This is a decrease of 35%
from the previous period and is in line with the short term
target of less than 3. This target was bettered in two
quarters during the year. |
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| Developments |
The committee reviewed and monitored the progress of
the Stop.Think campaign. This group-wide awareness
campaign engaged executive and middle management
and all employees by means of industrial theatre aligned
to the common goal of collectively striving for zero
disabling incident. Employees were introduced to the
initial concepts of behaviour based safety and various
coaching techniques.
The committee approved the Stop.Think Bill of Rights,
which was implemented to empower employees to act
and work safely, to coach and be coached, to embrace
safety measures afforded to them and to assume
responsibility for their own safety and that of other people
around them.
The Stop.Think campaign will continue the task of
developing a Murray & Roberts health, safety and
environmental culture and will be extended to feature more
creative solutions to health and environmental issues.
Traditional HSE systems and measures complement
Stop.Think and are continually updated and further
embedded. This follows the fundamental review
conducted in 2006 and the preparation of the group HSE
framework which was adopted in August 2006 and
implemented at all Murray & Roberts operating
companies. The Group adopted a more rigorous
reporting protocol of key HSE performance indicators
(lead and lag). More focus was placed on occupational
health and environmental issues to gain an insight to the
exposures faced in these areas. |
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| Achievements |
| Despite some disappointments, there have been
significant HSE achievements this year (based on major
efforts at operational level), including: |
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| • |
Murray & Roberts Middle East achieved 32 million
lost time injury free hours worked on the Dubai
airport contract |
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Two major internal programs were launched to provide
certified (UNISA and National Qualifications Authority
provisionally approved) HSE skills training |
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All operating entities significantly increased the
reporting of HSE issues in accordance with the group
framework |
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There was a better understanding of health and
environmental exposures |
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The total number of injuries incurred by the Group
continued to decrease, despite the increased hours
worked |
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A 35% decrease in the group LTIFR to 3,01, with
12 operating companies able to maintain or reduce
their LTIFR for the year |
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The successful roll out of the Stop.Think campaign to
17 500 employees |
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| HEALTH |
| Occupational health |
A greater focus on occupational health issues was
developed during the year in accordance with the group
HSE framework. Health risk models and key performance
indicators were instituted to better understand health
exposures faced by our employees. The process has
achieved satisfactory progress this year with group
operating companies identifying and recording key
performance indicator information and significant
occupational and societal health risks. A more strategic
focus on interpreting health information and mitigating
these risks will be developed in the year ahead. This is
to be carried out with the aid of the Stop.Think
campaign, management awareness, and specific training
programmes.
Currently, 26% of group operating entities are certified for
OHSAS 18001. Further work to get all operations certified
will be carried out in the new financial year. |
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| Societal health |
Societal health issues remain prevalent within our
operating companies and a group HIV/Aids policy was
developed during the year. The policy provides an overall
management framework for existing individual workplace
policies and will be implemented in the first quarter of the
new financial year. Pre-employment and exit medical
examinations are conducted on all project sites, with
annual examinations carried out at fixed facility
operations. These examinations have highlighted large
numbers of TB, alcohol abuse, and HIV/Aids cases where
voluntary testing has been conducted. Counselling for
these societal issues is provided.
Malaria remains a significant threat for a number of
companies operating beyond South African borders. This
risk has increased with the acquisition of Wade Walker
which operates from a number of project sites in Ghana,
Zambia and DRC. Ongoing awareness and training
programs are facilitated by client intervention at these
sites in order to mitigate the spread of the disease. |
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| Environment |
The principle of zero disabling incident was expanded to
include the impact of Murray & Roberts activities on the
environment, with key performance areas and indicators
applied to each entity. This process is consistent with the
approach to health and safety management, and is
aligned to the group risk framework.
No fines or penalties for major environmental incidents
were recorded in the year. The Group experienced several
other claims in respect of environmental dust and noise
pollution. These occurrences are largely restricted to our
fixed facility sites and are treated seriously. Programmes
are ongoing to ensure that communication with the public
and affected stakeholders is clear and consistent, and
capital expenditure plans have been approved to reduce
all emissions to acceptable levels.
The Group has recently undertaken to measure its carbon
footprint from all activities. This entails setting up a climate
change strategy and framework that is consistent with
the group ambition to achieve a sustainable state of zero
disabling incident from all activities undertaken by Murray
& Roberts operations.
The initial phase will be conducted in the first half of the
new financial year and will determine where the greatest
carbon impacts are located in the Group and establish the
overall carbon footprint. The footprint for the current and
previous financial years will be established. The basis of
recording and reporting information will be in accordance
with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol prepared by the World
Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Thereafter performance measures and realistic improve -
ment targets will be set. Future developments include
expanding system boundaries to include scope 3 (indirect)
emissions, process and product modifications to low
carbon alternatives, benign design solutions, and clean
development mechanism projects. |
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| Michael McMahon |
| Chairman |
Governance