Health, safety and wellbeing

Why this is important to us

Mouchel makes occupational safety a top priority and has continued to tackle areas of risk within its operations, improving its overall safety culture.

Our approach

Mouchel believes that health and a good work-life balance is essential to retain quality staff. Mouchel's employee assistance programme - available to all UK contracted staff - provides free access to a 24/7 telephone helpdesk, offering guidance, advice and support across a wide range of issues, including personal, health and legal matters. 

Mouchel’s occupational health and safety management system meets the requirements of OHSAS 18001 and is registered to the standard through external verification by Lloyds Register Quality Assurance. This standard provides structure to the way Mouchel plans its health and safety its approach to hazard identification, operational control systems, emergency management training programmes.

The director responsible for health, safety and communications reports to the chief executive. The structure for health and safety in the business comprises a central team – responsible for policy, direction, systems, training, audit and local safety management. A restructuring exercise of Mouchel’s health and safety resources in late 2009 resulted in the creation of a stronger and more effective team, with a greater capacity to influence, advise on and (where necessary) enforce good practice across all areas of the business.

The Group also continues to address workplace stress, providing training, advice and counselling to combat the causes and effects of stress. Managers and HR business partners are trained to spot early signs of stress among team members and to arrange the structure and distribution of work in a way that avoids 'pressure points'.

In addition we operate a Cycle2Work scheme, to support employees who wish to purchase cycles for commuting, and ensure that, where cycling at work is a requirement of the contract, individuals are equipped and trained to work in this way.

Read more about how we are embedding safety culture in the business.

Our performance

In year to 31 July 2011 there were no health and safety prosecutions or enforcement actions raised against the business. Our group-wide accident incidence rate and the number of RIDDOR-reportable injuries have continued to fall - remaining well below the industry averages for our core sectors.

Three-year accident incidence trends

 

	Number reported			Accident Incidence Rate (AIR)1			Benchmark AIR for industry2
	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11
Fatalities	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.6
Major injuries	3	1	0	25	10	0	99
Over-three day injuries	18	20	26	155	192	277	363

 

Footnotes
(1) In accordance with standard HSE reporting, the accident incidence rate (AIR) is calculated using the formula: [number of accidents/number of employees] x 100,000. The number of employees is based on the average headcount for the financial year (11,592 for 2008/9, 10,425 for 2009/10 and 9,402 for 2010/11).
(2) Benchmarks taken from HSE Annual Statistics 2010/11 under RIDDOR - Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations - Rate of Injuries in Great Britain by industry and severity of injury 2010/11: “All Industries” averages.

Employee wellbeing is measured in terms of a company-wide employee sickness rate, which over the last year increased to five days per employee (four days per employee in 2009/10).

To see how we are progressing across the full range of indicators please visit the performance section and view our three-year performance summary.

Progress against our commitments

Exceeding Client expectations
2010/2012 Objectives	Our progress so far	What’s next?
Maintain certification to OHSAS 18001 for all highways and utilities business activities.	We have achieved continued OHSAS 18001 registration for all highways and utilities business activities during the year. In 2011 we also brought a number of independently-certified joint venture partnerships under our Group certificate, including the Impact and Unity Partnerships in the North West.	We will continue to extend the scope of our OHSAS 18001 certification as a result of new business activities and contracts. In 2012 we will work with clients to certify our Local Authority operations with Bournemouth Borough Council and highways technology operations with joint venture partners Thalis.
Roll-out our DrivingMonitor system to all UK staff to assist in addressing company-wide occupational road risk.	The roll-out of our occupational road risk management system has now reached over 80% of employees – who now have access to new interactive online training resources.	We will introduce the second phase of the DrivingMonitor programme, providing more targeted training to high-risk category drivers
Continue to roll-out a behavioural safety programme to reach all employees.	We have completed a programme of senior management ‘safety tours’ and roadshows to raise the profile of behavioural safety and have now delivered IOSH approved safety courses to over X employees.	We will continue to develop our approach to behavioural safety and in the coming year will focus on occupational health issues and the management of site safety and environmental risks.
Commitment: Support a healthy work-life balance
2010/2012 Objectives	Our progress so far	What’s next?
Develop occupational health policies and strategies to address significant areas of occupational health risk.	We have introduced a new occupational health policy and have recently appointed an occupational health provider – Santia – to work with us to develop long-term programmes for employee health issues.	We will work with Santia to develop a clearer understanding of the range of occupational health risks across the business and will launch new campaigns in the coming year, focusing initially on stress management and employee wellbeing.
Identify an occupational health provider to support these strategies.	We have appointed Santia – the UK’s leading provider of health & safety risk management solutions.	See above.
Continue to roll-out our programme around healthy lifestyles through ‘Mouchel Life’.	At a local office level we’ve run a series of health campaigns during the year in support of many local and national charities.	We will incorporate the ‘Mouchel Life healthy lifestyles’ campaign within our new occupational health programme and will publish information on our progress in the New Year.