Safety is of paramount importance for us. The Board reviews performance on a monthly basis, and we look to continually improve our performance to help us reach our goal.
A safe workforce
We report our lost time injury frequency rate, expressed as lost time injuries per 100,000 hours worked, as a key measure that can be compared with other companies. This rate takes into account the number of employees and the hours worked. As well as reporting our lost time injury frequency rate, we also report the number of lost time injuries.
This is the first year we have included parts of the business that were acquired with KeySpan. This increase in the size of the organisation is the reason for an increase in the number of lost time injuries to 140 in 2008/09 compared with 88 in 2007/08 and 97 in 2006/07. KeySpan had a lower level of safety performance than the existing business and this has contributed to the lost time injury frequency rate rising slightly to 0.25 in 2008/09 compared with 0.24 in 2007/08 and 0.24 in 2006/07. If KeySpan had been included in the 2007/08 performance indicators, there would have been 157 lost time injuries with a rate of 0.30. Therefore, on a comparable basis performance has improved.
The results prior to 2007/08 did not include KeySpan and so are not directly comparable. Definitions for lost time injury and lost time injury frequency rate are included in the glossary on page 195.
The principal causes of lost time injuries to our employees are road traffic collisions, musculoskeletal injuries, impact injuries, and slips, trips and falls. Behavioural change initiatives have been targeted in these areas to improve performance.
In our 2009 employee engagement survey, 74% (2008: 71%) of respondents felt confident that safety concerns or issues raised would be addressed. In 2009, 76% (2008: 73%) of respondents also considered that National Grid never compromises safety in order to meet other goals.
Improving the health and well-being of our employees continues to be a major focus for National Grid. For several years we have had a comprehensive occupational health service to deal with work related health issues. We are now extending our approach to look at the health and well-being of our employees in a more holistic way.
As well as the obvious benefits to individuals, there are significant business and societal benefits to having a fit and healthy workforce. In January we launched a new health and well-being strategy to provide a series of innovative initiatives that engage staff and encourage the restoration and maintenance of an individual’s health, function and fitness. An early focus has been cardiovascular risk with screening being offered to UK employees over 45.
Over the year, our sickness absence rate increased to 3.06% compared with 2.46% in 2007/08 and 2.48% in 2006/07. Data prior to 2008/09 does not include KeySpan, so is not directly comparable.