BOC Report and accounts 2005 - Alle jaarverslagen

Social, environmental and ethical performance
29
Lost workday case rate
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 01 02 03 1 04 1 05 1
Total recordable case rate
1.2
0.8
0.4
0 01 02 03 1 04 1 05 1
Passenger car avoidable accidents
per million miles
3
2
1
0 01 02 03 1 04 1 05 1
Truck avoidable accidents
per million miles
3
2
1
0 01 02 03 1 04 1 05 1
Lost workday case rate (LWCR) and
total recordable case rate (TRCR),
excluding Afrox Healthcare
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4 TRCR
0.2 LWCR
0 03 1 04 1 05 1
Controlling process-related risks is of the utmost importance.Any incidents that do occur are thoroughly
investigated and the lessons learned are applied throughout the organisation to minimise the likelihood of
recurrence. Safety lessons are shared throughout the gases industry and BOC continues to participate fully in the
development and application of industry-wide codes.
This year the Group built on the vision, policy and strategy put in place last year when it launched its Safety in
BOC programme. Safety in BOC, which complements and builds upon existing safety systems, standards and tools,
aims to prevent people getting hurt by effecting lasting behavioural and cultural change. It is underpinned by the
principle that safety is not a small part of someone’s job, it is ‘100 per cent of our behaviour, 100 per cent of the
time.’ The aim is to establish a culture whereby each employee thinks instinctively not just about his own safety,
but also about the safety of others, be they colleagues, contractors or members of the community.
The roadmap is the key tool that supports Safety in BOC. It shows the organisation where it is and how it can
move from its current base to world class through a series of well-defined steps and markers. It is a gap analysis
tool that enables a particular department, site or business to assess itself in terms of safety performance, plot year
by year progress on each of the nineteen roadmap components and develop a plan to progress to world class.
During 2005, the roadmap has been formally integrated into safety implementation plans within each of the
businesses, which are in turn included in business planning processes and individual performance contracts.
The focus on leading indicators continued in 2005, allowing the Group to monitor safety performance in
terms of proactive measures being taken as well as lagging indicators measuring past performance. In conjunction
with the roadmap, a series of practical steps were taken during 2005 to help embed safe behaviour and the desired
safety culture. BOC’s business units in Asia and Africa rolled out SiteSafe, a focused approach for implementing the
systems, standards and behaviours inherent in Safety in BOC. SiteSafe included various modules such as LeadSafe
workshops to promote visible leadership among management and ActSafe, a series of ‘safety through
empowerment’ seminars encouraging supervisors and front line employees to recognise unsafe acts and challenge
them through peer-to-peer conversations. During 2006 other business units will use SiteSafe to cascade and
further embed the Safety in BOC principles into the organisation.At a local level, every BOC business unit
throughout the world actively engaged employees through sustained communications, cascade briefings and
training programmes.
Approximately half the major incidents across the Group result from road transport, which is also the main
cause of fatalities. Driver training has always been a high priority at BOC, both for commercial vehicles and
passenger cars. Initiatives include defensive driver training, driver observation and feedback, vehicle design, use of
on-board monitoring technology and anti-rollover and jack-knife training. Last year, the Group appointed a director
of Group transport safety to collaborate with regional counterparts and develop a consistent global strategy for
improving road safety throughout BOC.
In 2005, this appointment has started to deliver new processes and tools to share best operating practice
and achieve sustainable improvements in road transport safety. For example, a new transport audit protocol was
piloted in Asia and a new driver-training model will be ready for implementation in the first quarter of 2006.
A common vehicle incident reporting process was established to aid learning, while a global transport team
of experts met twice in 2005 to prioritise initiatives to prevent fatalities or serious injuries.
Building on the Group’s total ban on making and receiving calls from mobile phones while driving, a major
campaign was launched to promote transport safety and reinforce the wearing of seatbelts.This campaign was
supported by a global transport directive to apply a minimum set of safety standards to all fleet and contractor
vehicles throughout the Group, including a requirement to fit three-point seat belts rather than lap belts where the
latter existed.At Gist, safety rails were introduced for the protection of drivers when coupling tractors to trailers
and stability systems were installed on all high-sided double-decker trailers to reduce the risk of rollover.
In addition to the leading indicators previously mentioned, used to monitor safety performance proactively,
the Group also has four reactive, or lagging, indicators to provide a consistent measure of its workplace and vehicle
safety performance.These are:
• lost workday case rate (LWCR) per 200,000 hours.This includes all accidents resulting in the loss of one
complete day of work, according to best international practice. Many companies only report cases resulting in
three or more lost workdays as deemed reportable under RIDDOR regulations;
• total recordable case rate (TRCR) per 200,000 hours.This includes all LWCRs and medical treatment cases;
• passenger car avoidable accident rate (PCAAR) per million miles;
• truck avoidable accident rate (TAAR) per million miles.
The figures for 2005, which include joint ventures and acquisitions, showed an improvement across all four lagging
indicators.The disposal of Afrox Healthcare in 2005 marked a major change in BOC’s portfolio, as the business
employed over 13,000 people representing around 30 per cent of the total workforce. BOC’s lagging indicators
are shown with and without Afrox Healthcare, giving a basis for future comparison.The chart excluding Afrox
Healthcare gives a clearer indication of underlying improvement, with a 20 per cent improvement in both lost
workday and total recordable case rates since the launch of the Safety in BOC programme two years ago.
1. 2003, 2004 and 2005 safety statistics
include mergers, acquisitions and all joint
ventures. Previous years have not been
restated.