Safety is our top priority
and this starts from the highest levels of our business. We have rigorous policies
and procedures in place to address safety risks and continually improve our
performance, and we embed a safety culture through training, communication and
visible leadership. We want to everyone to go home from work each day safe and
well.
How did we perform in 2022?
Our Annual Injury Incidence Rate (AIIR) of 166 is a 22% reduction on the previous year. This is well below the average for the housebuilding sector and wider construction industry. Around 31% of accidents are slips, trips and falls. Our AIIR for major injuries per 100,000 employees and contractors was 68 (2021: 73). There were no fatalities. The lost-time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) for employees (per one million hours worked) was 1 (2021: 1). For contractors, the LTIFR was 0.9 (2021: 1.35). We monitor employee engagement on safety issues through our performance metrics and employee surveys.
annual injury incidence rate
Reportable injuries per 100,000 employees and contractors
Employee survey - managing health and safety
of employees know how to manage Health and Safety issues in their area of work
Employee survey - health and safety In the workplace
of employees agree that Taylor Wimpey takes Health and Safety in the workplace seriously
Regulatory HSE compliance
There were no safety prosecutions or fines. We received six notices of contraventions from the HSE with a fee for intervention applied.
Roles and responsibilities
Health and safety performance is the first item reviewed at every meeting of our business unit management teams, our Group Management Team and our Board of Directors. Our Head of Health, Safety and Environment reports directly to our Chief Executive.
Directors from our regional businesses review HSE during site visits, including making unannounced spot checks. Production Managers review performance with Site Managers on a monthly basis.
Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Management System
We have a rigorous HSE management system that is based on OHSAS 18001. Key aspects include:
Audit
Our HSE management system is audited by our internal regional HSE Advisers and independent external site HSE Advisers.
External Advisers carry out independent unannounced site inspections at least monthly as well as planned visits.
Health and safety data is verified by the Managing Director for each regional business, validated by our internal HSE Advisers, and cross-checked by external advisers to ensure compliance and accurate reporting.
Clear standards
Our HSE operational manuals and Site HSE Manual cover all relevant safety procedures and are regularly updated. Our manual can be viewed via a mobile or tablet while on site.
Engage and train
Comprehensive HSE training programme including induction, senior management training and annual 1-day refresher training for all production and site management teams.
Interactive workshops for site teams on behavioural safety and tools for managing and communicating safety on site.
Regular HSE newsflashes and memos highlight key issues as well as legal and best practice updates.
Regional and site HSE Advisers assist managers with understanding and implementing our standards.
Improve
We develop Health, Safety and Environment Improvement Plans at Group and regional level.
Monitor
HSE site support teams participate in monitoring and improving site safety.
Unannounced spot checks and regular site safety reviews by regional Directors.
Monthly safety performance review by Production Managers.
GMT and Board level monthly review of safety performance.
Our digital ‘safety observation’ system, SHE Assure for recording good safety behaviour or areas that may need improvement on our sites.
Risk assessment
Every site has an HSE manual which identifies safety risks, assigns roles and responsibilities and sets out how the risk associated with the development is controlled.
Partnering with contractors on safety
Many workers on our sites are employed by our contractors, so we work closely with them on safety. Our approach includes:
Risk assessment, vetting procedures and third party accreditation: We implement vetting and risk assessment procedures to confirm that all contractors have the right knowledge, skills, resources and experience to manage health and safety to our standards. Contractors must obtain third party H&S accreditation to demonstrate they have an adequate HSE management system, training process and risk assessment. External accreditation must be renewed each year. We employ an external organisation SMAS (Safety Management Advisory Services), to support contractors and are at 94.6% compliance in 2022 (2021: 94.9%). We require contractors to check that safety critical workers are medically fit to operate mobile plant.
Our ‘Operative’s Journey’ process: Ensures a consistent approach to safety including our HSE site induction, regular poster campaigns and site safe briefings.
HSE site support teams: Help to monitor and improve site safety. Team members are nominated by the Site Manager and given a blue hat in recognition of their role and to make them visible on site. Operatives can talk to them about HSE issues, concerns or suggestions for improvement.
Some aspects of the build process present particular safety risks and we work with contractors to identify and address these. For example, groundworks - the process of preparing a site for construction– presents a number of significant safety risks relating to excavation and use of heavy plant. We require groundwork supervisors to have completed externally accredited Site Supervisors’ Safety Training and our own bespoke one-day training course before working on our sites. Over 400 groundwork supervisors completed our course in 2022.
Working with suppliers to reduce safety risks
Telehandler safety continues to be a priority and we work with suppliers through our National Telehandler Forum. We are rolling out a ‘telemetry data’ system to monitor operative’s behaviour when driving telehanders on our sites. This will enable us to see whether drivers are applying the correct safety procedures such as wearing a seat belt, driving within our site speed limits, and travelling with the boom elevated, and follow up on any issues identified.
Responding to near misses
As well as monitoring accident data we also pay close attention to near misses and unsafe practices we identify on our sites, and have robust procedures for responding to these.
If a serious near miss or unsafe practice (Category A) is identified on one of our sites, work must stop immediately and cannot recommence until the Managing Director of the regional business has visited the site and confirmed that the issue has been addressed. All Category A incidents are reported to the CEO and GMT within 24 hours. They are also reported to the Board of Directors.
By responding to such incidents and sharing the lessons learned, we can reduce the likelihood of accidents occurring.
Employee and contractor training
We require our contractors to train their employees on H&S and also conduct our own training for site operatives such as our HSE site induction. Training includes:
HSE induction training for all employees and site operatives.
A full day’s health and safety refresher training every year for production and site management teams as well as workshops and briefings.
All new Directors including functional and regional Managing Directors complete senior management HSE training.
Additional training for higher risk roles and activities such as groundworks.
Training for customer service teams to assess for health and safety risks when responding to customer call-outs.
Continuing professional development and training for our regional HSE advisers.
Digital safety passports enable Site Managers to confirm that apprentices, directly employed trade operatives and telehandlers have completed the relevant safety training before starting work on a new site.
Supporting industry safety initiatives
We are a member of the HBF Health and Safety Committee, contribute to the HBF’s Action Plan for Health and Safety, and are members of the British Safety Council.
In 2022, we chaired the HBF Steering Group on Working Near Live Buried Services looking at how to reduce safety risks and prevent service strikes. During 2023 we will further develop this work, establishing a competency framework for dig teams including mandatory training. From 2023 we will require groundworks contractors to become members of The Utility Strike Avoidance Group and sign up to its standards.
We have signed up to the Construction Logistics and Community Safety initiative (CLOCS) and committed to developing our traffic management systems. Our site safety plans now cover safety risks on roads up to one mile from the site entrance and we have run traffic management awareness campaigns.
Safety in Spain
In Spain, we have a comprehensive health and safety management system and internal audit process. Each site is visited at least quarterly by the relevant directors and regular site HSE inspections are carried out by our independent site HSE adviser. We provide health and safety induction training for all new contractors and subcontractors on our sites.
Keeping safety front of mind
We want everyone to keep safety top of mind and to recognise good practice across our business. By calling out good safety behaviour and colleagues and operatives who consistently do the right thing, we can strengthen workplace safety culture, and increase the likelihood that safe behaviour will continue. In 2002, we rolled out a digital ‘safety observation’ system which our senior leaders and business unit management teams are using when visiting our sites to record positive safety performance as well as any concerns or observations. Users can input easily make observations via a mobile phone and in the first few months we have seen excellent engagement and participation. Over time we will be able to use the data collected to support engagement and performance measurement.
