CRH seeks to achieve industry best practice standards of health
and safety. We recognise that this is a critical issue for all of
our stakeholders, particularly for our employees and
contractors.
Health and safety policy
Our health and safety policy, applied across all of the Group
companies, is to:
- Comply, at a minimum, with all applicable
legislation and continually improve our health and safety
stewardship towards industry best practice
- Ensure that our employees and contractors
respect the Group’s health and safety imperatives
- Ensure that our companies provide a healthy
and safe workplace for our employees and contractors, and take due
care of all customers and visitors at our locations
- Require all our company employees and
contractors to work in a safe manner as mandated by law and
industry best practice.
Health and safety management
Health and safety management is a daily priority of line
management. Safety results for the entire Group are closely
monitored by senior management and are reported to the CRH Board on
a monthly basis.
Line management is responsible for ensuring that company health
and safety policies are fully adhered to, and that site managers
and employees, supported by company safety officers, are
trained in health and safety risk analysis and prevention. At the
end of each year, the safety officers also assist the Group
Technical Advisor in carrying out a detailed safety performance
review of all Group Companies, the results of which are reviewed by
the CRH Board.
Where accidents occur they are thoroughly investigated and
corrective action is taken to avoid a recurrence. Lessons learned
are actively shared via Safety Best Practice groups. Experiences on
safety best practice are also shared on an industry-wide basis
through the Cement Sustainability Initiative Health and Safety Task
Force.
Safety performance
Over the last decade, our accident frequency ratio has been halved,
despite strong organic and acquisition-led growth which has almost
trebled our workforce in this period. Our experience is that some
newly acquired companies need considerable inputs to bring them up
to the safety standards of legacy businesses. We have also noted
variations in cultural attitudes towards safety in different
countries, demanding additional management focus in those
countries.
We have found that the most common causes of accidents are
slips, trip and falls, injury by falling and moving objects and
improper manual handling: with additional care and attention by
all, many of these accidents are preventable. Many of our locations
have won high-ranking accolades for excellence and innovation in
safety practices.
Our goal is zero fatalities and zero accidents. Due to the
nature and size of our businesses, these are extremely challenging
goals. We will continue to devote substantial management and
employee time and all the appropriate resources to this area to
progress Group performance towards those targets.
Product Safety
The products delivered by CRH companies, when properly used,
present negligible health risks, and are accompanied by Material
Safety Data Sheets advising on optimal application procedures. The
Group Technical Advisor and internal health and safety specialists
liaise with the relevant industry associations and regulatory
bodies to ensure that all Group companies are aware of and comply
with their obligations in this area.
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