1. UK Health & Safety Strategic Management Group (H&SSMG)
Early in the New Year the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) showcased Zurich as an example of "Leadership Excellence" and the Institute of Directors' annual meeting at the Royal Albert Hall included a presentation about the Zurich way of managing Health and Safety. The H&SSMG brings together senior business managers, employee representatives and risk specialists. This committee meets quarterly and leads policy making for Zurich in the UK. Early in 2005, the UK Chief Risk Officer took over responsibility for chairing. During the year the input from business representatives was strengthened by expanding the committee to include senior managers from Global Corporate UK, as well as Dunbar Bank. The group has continued to monitor implementation by the operating units. Health, Safety & Environmental implementation committees have been established at UK corporate centres. The operating units have been encouraged to find suitable ways of engaging with their people in the smaller offices, as well as those working from home. Some input has been made to the Field Staff Committee.
2. Policy statement
The policy statement was formally reviewed by the Chief Executive Officer of UK General Insurance and Shared Services as well as the Chief Executive Officer of UK Life Business. The statement was amended to take account of various organisational changes, primarily the revised UK structure of Life and General.
3. Risk profiling
At the start of the year, the Health, Safety & Environmental Adviser transferred from Security Risk Management into the newly created UK Risk function within European Shared Services. This gave an opportunity to fine tune the risk profiling exercise first conducted in July 2004. The revised risk profile reflected work completed and included revised action plans. Each risk was assigned a reference number and then the relative position was plotted in a matrix with "severity" against "probability". This was used to structure our agenda for 2005.
4. Progress on the top Health & Safety risks
The H&SSMG decided to establish several working groups tackling: terrorist threats, occupational road risk, managing pressure at work and avian/pandemic flu. A summary of progress during 2005 is given below:
Terrorist threats
In the first half of the year Zurich's internal documentation for dealing with bomb threats was completely revised. Home Office and MI5 guidelines were adopted and adapted to address the threat from chemicals, anthrax and dirty bombs. The anti-terrorism working group ran pilot studies at two offices before publication of Health & Safety guidance notes, bomb threat response plan and a bomb threat training pack. By the end of August all our UK locations had made good progress at embedding these new procedures into their local emergency plans. In addition, our procedures were improved by establishing a network of local Incident Response Teams (IRT) throughout the UK. Once the immediate Health and Safety risks are under control, responsibility passes over to business continuity management (BCM) and the appropriate Gold, Silver or Bronze team. The Health & Safety team based in Corporate Real Estate and Facilities Management provided training for IRTs and managers responsible for BCM. In the final quarter of the year, the HR and Internal Communication functions introduced new procedures for keeping employees informed during a crisis, and tracking down anyone who may be unaccounted for because of commuting or business travel. An employee awareness survey was conducted as a quality check on these new arrangements.
Occupational road risk
Zurich Risk Services ran a pilot study to check the effect of banning the use of mobile phones, including hands-free, whilst driving. As a result of this survey the existing policy was modified slightly to allow receipt of incoming calls but giving our people the right to switch off the phone completely if they prefer not to be distracted. Over 3,000 of our people in the UK are entitled to a company car. About 1,800 people have opted out of the lease scheme by taking cash to buy their own car, however, "essential car users" have mostly stayed in the lease scheme since they are required to have an "NCAP4" safety rated car. Following a fleet audit by Zurich Risk Services in 2004 the working group has been implementing a nine-point action plan. The current driving policy and guidance on the company Intranet has again been enhanced. In 2004 every UK employee, who was likely to drive on Zurich business, was required to sign an on-line Motor Declaration covering basic legal and insurance requirements. HR Payroll and Benefits also introduced random licence/insurance checks.
Managing pressure at work
In 2004, the Health & Safety Executive's (HSE) recommended approach to stress risk assessment had been applied in our Customer Services Department in the Life business. Building on this success, the terms of reference for a new working group were expanded to cover "work-life balance". The working group is led by HR and facilitated by UK Risk with involvement from the Company Medical Officer and employee representatives. Several learning points emerging from the first pilot study have helped to set our new strategy. The H&SSMG has approved certain objectives, for example: "To meet the standard currently reached by the top 20% of companies using the HSE's methodology, in at least one SBU and to reach the interim target suggested by the HSE's analysis tool for the UK business as a whole." At year-end the results of an Employee Opinion Survey across all UK employees was being analysed to identify 'hotspots'. In 2006 management teams will develop suitable approaches following up the results of the Employee Opinion Survey.
Avian/pandemic flu
In November the H&SSMG established a working group in anticipation that at some point in the future there may well be implications for our business, employees and customers. The group brings together managers representing every business area. It is chaired by Human Resources and includes other technical specialists such as the Company Medical Officer. The purpose of the group is to anticipate various scenarios and develop plans for sign-off by senior management. The group has a total of ten different work-streams covering such needs as Medical Risk Assessment, HR & People Issues, Business Relationships and Business Continuity Planning. The working group has also dealt with questions raised by employees through the Union of Finance Staff, AMICUS and the Zurich's UK Employee Forum.
5. Monitoring
A fresh programme of audits was conducted at a variety of buildings. In 2005 for the first time, the H&SSMG made awards for good health and safety management, based on the extent to which our buildings comply with the Health and Safety Policy. Accident statistics across our UK locations have been collected since 1988. As much as Zurich strives to eliminate work-related accidents and illness, we have inevitably had some incidents. There were 202 accidents (177 in 2004), although only 16 had to be notified to the HSE (17 in 2004). Each accident was investigated and learning points noted with a view to preventing any recurrence.
6. External reporting
For the third year our annual health & safety report is being disseminated within Zurich as well as through the Corporate Social Responsibility section of http://www.zurich.co.uk/. Zurich is aware of several methods for Health & Safety reporting and benchmarking, for example, we are members of the Safety, Health & Environmental Intra-Industry Benchmarking Association. However, in view of the Health & Safety Executive's endorsement of the "Corporate Health & Safety Performance Index" (CHaSPI), the H&SSMG will be giving serious consideration to joining this in 2006. With the formation of the European Business Unit and European Shared Services, our UK policy and management system will be reviewed during 2006.
Arthur Champion
UK Health, Safety & Environmental Adviser
7/6/06
