Our record
During the last 12 months, HomeServe has continued to improve its management of health and safety across the business and, wherever possible, to deliver improvements in both areas. Clearly, our health and safety strategy is concerned with ensuring compliance with legal standards. Beyond this legal imperative, however, we aim, where practicable, to investigate and adopt good industry practice and to ensure that this knowledge and expertise is shared across HomeServe.
During the past year, we have proactively engaged our customers, clients and partners about health and safety issues. A clear indicator of the success of this engagement is demonstrated by the fact that we have had limited contact with the enforcing authority during the year. Moreover, no prosecutions have been taken against HomeServe for breaches of health and safety regulations and no other statutory notices have been issued.
Health and safety management
Over recent years, HomeServe has consistently achieved an acceptable safety record via good leadership from the senior management team and by engaging the workforce. As a whole, the Company also continues to expect its operating businesses to ensure compliance with health and safety legislation regardless of the country in which each operates.
The senior team continues to believe in and drive the principle that management must own the health and safety process throughout the Group. This is a key element of our bid to engender a culture of health and safety awareness and practice across the Group. Each of the operating businesses is required to have a specific health and safety policy and a supporting management system that are underpinned by a robust risk assessment process, which reflects the risks within each particular business.
To ensure that senior management is aware of the risks within the business, health and safety performance reports are routinely generated and submitted, the contents of which are reviewed and discussed at Executive Committee and Board levels. Jonathan Simpson-Dent, Chief Financial Officer, has continued to be the Main Board Director responsible for reporting on health and safety, but the Board as a whole remains responsible for health and safety issues across the Group.
We believe that, to be successful in effectively managing health and safety, our management teams must be properly trained. Over the last 18 months, we have significantly invested in the use of proprietary training packages such as 'IOSH Managing Safety' and the 'IOSH Health and Safety for Senior Managers' package to ensure our managers have the correct tools for ensuring health and safety is managed effectively.
This investment in the training of our managers has also laterally improved the competence of our dedicated safety practitioners. Not only are they are able to witness the buy-in that their respective line managers are making to health and safety, but they are also enjoying specific financial support, which is funding their own professional development and competence.
To ensure that health and safety is adequately resourced, each of the operating businesses has access to at least one full-time practitioner and additional support is available from the Group Health and Safety Manager when required.
