In 2001 there were 63 lost time accidents (accidents at our sites resulting in one day or more off work). The data cover employees but not contractors who account for only a small proportion of our workforce. The main causes of accidents were slips, trips and falls and manual handling.

We have collected these data since 1998 and have reduced the frequency of lost time accidents by 31%. We therefore met our target of a 30% reduction between 1998-2001.

We do not collect group-wide data on road accidents, although we have started to monitor data in some areas such as our pharmacies. Although most of our product distribution is carried out by third parties, we directly dispatch products from our pharmacies. In the US we introduced courses for drivers and the number of accidents fell from eight in 2000 to three in 2001.

There were no fatalities on our sites in 2000 or 2001, maintaining our record of zero fatalities since formation of the company.

Examples

• Cork in Ireland ran an intensive manual handling training programme. Following this there were no manual handling injuries during the last quarter of 2001. Accident statistics are now reported and discussed on a monthly basis.
  
  
• Lindesnes in Norway carried out safety assessments in certain operations, and put in place action plans for improvement.
  
  
• Oslo in Norway reduced the frequency of lost time accidents by 50% between 2000 and 2001.
  
  
• Shanghai in China was recognised for ‘Advanced Safety Performance’ by the Chinese authorities. During Chinese Safety Week in May 2001 six teams from different departments took part in a ‘safety knowledge’ competition. The plant distributed safety information to all its departments and held a safety exhibition in the staff canteen.