Health & Safety

The importance placed by the Board and management of Tomkins on health and safety matters is driven by the belief and experience that Tomkins' commercial success is tied to strong health and safety performance.

We recognise our responsibilities as a global engineering and manufacturing group and aim to ensure that in the course of our business activities we prioritise the health, safety and welfare of all of our employees. Our aim is to continuously improve our health and safety performance and improve the awareness and training of our employees in health and safety best practice. Our policy, management processes and performance record can be accessed below.

Health, Safety and Environment ("HSE") policy.

Management processes and systems

Given the nature of Tomkins’ operations, health and safety is a top priority for us. Our health and safety policy and processes are predicated on the belief that accidents are preventable. Our key initiatives focus on reducing accidental risk and improving the awareness and training of employees in health and safety matters.

Board accountability

Overall accountability for health and safety lies with the Board. The Board established an HSE Committee in January 2003 with responsibility for setting and proposing amendments to policy and objectives in areas of HSE. Reflecting our commitment to social responsibility, the remit of the HSE Committee was broadened at the end of 2007 to include other CSR matters and renamed the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee. The Committee, which includes the Chief Executive and a non-executive Director as Chairman, meets at least three times a year and the meetings include site visits. This enables the Committee to gain a first hand understanding of the business units’ HSE activities and issues and, vitally, to ensure that the Group’s policy remains comprehensive.

Specialist HSE team

The Committee is supported in its duties by a dedicated group of specialist HSE professionals operating throughout Tomkins. The role of this group is to lead and provide advice on the Group’s health, safety and environmental best practice, standards and processes, to implement measures to protect all associates' occupational health and safety, and to help safeguard the environment in the communities where we operate. The team is instrumental in guiding the operating businesses to achieve the highest levels of HSE standards as well as monitoring and auditing their HSE activities and results to ensure compliance.

Local responsibility

Each operational site is responsible for setting its own HSE action plan, targets and objectives. These are monitored and audited by the HSE team with any inadequacies being rectified by the site’s management. A summary of findings and actions taken is provided quarterly to the CSR Committee for discussion and follow-up.

Information sharing

Additional support is provided through Tomkins HSE intranet website. The site has been accessible to all of Tomkins’ HSE community since 2000 and offers a wide range of information and assistance in areas such as policies, procedures, regulatory checklists and training. We have also run an annual HSE conference since 2000. We believe that information sharing across the Group is highly beneficial and provides quicker access to best management practices for implementation at other sites.

Performance record

Tomkins strives to achieve superior levels of health and safety performance and has been working towards international recognition of its initiatives. Many facilities are implementing the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001 for certification or an equivalent safety management system. The OHSAS standard has been created to allow companies to develop systematic controls relating to their health and safety risks and to seek external accreditation of the health and safety process.

Safety Indices

Trends on accidents within Tomkins’ manufacturing plants and distribution facilities are measured using the United States Occupation Safety and Health Administration standards since the majority of the Group’s operations are based in North America.

Group-wide performance data on the incident rate and any resulting lost days, as well as the severity rate, are tracked in all individual facilities. A target incident rate of 2.0 (meaning 2 reportable incidents per 100 workers over a period of one year) has been set for most of Tomkins' operations and for the remainder, reductions in the incident rate and severity rate from year to year, have been set.

Tomkins Safety Performance graph

The graph shows the safety trend over the past five years. There has been a reduction of nearly 40 per cent in the incident rate since 2003. The target severity rate (average number of lost workdays per 100 employees) has been set at zero and for the five-year period a reduction of over 48 per cent was recorded. Tomkins recognises that a zero severity rate may be difficult to achieve in countries that do not allow return-to-work programmes with light duty restrictions but we continue to devote time and resources to achieve our targets. Providing a safe work environment continues to be our primary objective.