The effective management of Health and Safety standards remains a fundamental and integral part of our business. Indeed, our Accident Incident Rate has remained below the National Accident Incident Rate for the last four years.
Countryside Properties is committed to developing, maintaining and continually improving safe systems and places of work, in order to ensure the continuing health, safety and welfare of the Group's employees and stakeholders. We fully comply with all health and safety legislation and are dedicated to reducing the Group's accident and incident rates to the lowest possible level. During the reporting period the Group was re-certified to the OHSAS 18001:2007 Health and Safety Management standard.
Proactive Approach
The purpose of the Group's Health and Safety Policy is to promote a proactive approach to the prevention of accidents in the workplace. This is achieved by identifying hazards, eliminating foreseeable risk and managing residual risk, whilst providing safe working systems and compliance with all relevant statutory legislation, regulations and codes of practice.
Our Accident Incident Rate (AIR) has fallen and remained below the National AIR for the Construction Industry during the reporting period. The Group's AIR averaged at 771 reportable injury incidents per 100,000 persons employed (846 in 2006), compared with the National AIR of 942. We intend to maintain our accident incident rate below the National benchmark.
During the reporting period there were no Prohibition or Improvement Notices (none in 2006) issued to the Group by the Health and Safety Executive.
Following consultation with the Construction Industry Training Board and the British Safety Council, we are utilising a number of Key Performance Indicators to benchmark our performance and enable us to work towards best practice. The average inspection score across the Group now stands at 87% (2006 - 90%), compared to our target of 80% and the industry's target of 60% which indicates legal compliance. Inspections of all our construction sites by our Health and Safety Officers take place twice monthly. Additionally, all our offices and sales centres are inspected on a quarterly basis.
To promote change to working practices we encourage staff and members of our key supply chain to attend our health and safety specific training courses, wherever relevant. We also provide mandatory site specific health, safety and environmental induction training and toolbox talks for all site based workers.
The Group fully endorses the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS). We are committed to all staff and sub-contractors visiting or working on the Group’s sites being in possession of a CSCS/affiliated card or providing evidence of being registered with the appropriate skills organisations to obtain one. To date 88% (2006 – 91%) of the Group’s employees that require a CSCS card have obtained them. The remaining 12% are new employees in various stages of obtaining their CSCS Cards.
To raise awareness amongst communities of the dangers of construction sites, we continue to engage with schools and colleges to pass on the health, safety and environmental message.
Our Accident Incident Rate has remained below the National Accident Incident Rate for the last four years