Our workplace and people

Keller Safety Framework

The construction industry presents significant safety challenges, particularly in some of our emerging markets, where the safety culture within the industry, and indeed in society at large, is less well developed than in our mature markets. In order to have a consistent approach across the Group and to raise the safety performance of all our businesses to the standard of the best, we have developed a safety framework, which we call our ‘Think Safe, Work Safe, Go Home Safe’ programme. This is a system which links together different aspects of our safety management including our Safety Goal, Principles, Policy and Minimum Standards. Management of every business or operation is responsible for following the Safety Principles and implementing and maintaining the Minimum Safety Standards.

There is still a sense within some parts of our industry that workplace accidents are inevitable and therefore, establishing belief in our ultimate goal of zero injuries and an acceptance that all accidents are preventable requires a change of mindset. We see our safety programme as an ongoing process of changing attitudes and firmly establishing the principle that we are all responsible for correcting unsafe work conditions or unsafe
behaviour; if necessary, at the expense of productivity.

During 2010 a new Safety, Health & Environment Committee was formed, to promote continuous improvement in our health, safety and environmental performance. The Committee, which meets twice a year, is chaired by the Chief Executive and also comprises the Group Finance Director and the heads of the Group’s four
operating divisions.

Safety performance in 2010

Despite our endeavours, it is with great regret that we must report two fatal accidents involving employees at Keller worksites during 2010: one in Spain in July and another in the US in November. These deaths, which had a profound impact on work colleagues and had resonance all around the Group, are the reason why we have to be relentless in our efforts to eliminate work-related accidents. Both have been the subject of detailed internal investigations, one of which is ongoing. As with all serious incident investigations, our policy is to share any lessons learned with other Group businesses and, where applicable, for these to
be acted upon in a timely way.

Turning to our safety statistics for 2010, Keller uses the accident frequency rate (AFR) and accident incident rate (AIR) to track safety performance, where AFR is the number of accidents per 100,000 hours worked and AIR is the number of accidents per 100,000 employees and where ‘accidents’ comprise fatalities, major injuries (as defined by the Health & Safety Executive in the UK) and injuries involving more than three days’ absence. The AFRs and AIRs for 2010 in the table below show that all divisions improved their safety performance by these measures year-on-year.

Changes in the annual Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) and Accident Incident Rate (AIR)

Excludes: Waterway and Nilex, acquired June 2010

Comparisons with industry standards

US

The common safety measure used in the US construction industry is the experience modification rating (EMR). The lower the score, the better the safety record. In 2010, the EMR for KFI was 0.77, which continues to compare well with the industry standard
rating of 1.00.

An alternative safety measure used in the US is the total Recordable Injury Rate (RIR). The 2010 RIRs for our US businesses are shown below, alongside the industry average for 2009 (the most recent), published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All of our US businesses have a lower (better) RIR than the most recently published industry average.

Australia

In Australia, the closest available industry comparator is the construction industry incident rate published at www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au. The preliminary data for 2008/09, the most recent available, shows a rate of 2,180. This rate only reflects occurrences resulting in absence of one week or more, whereas the significantly better 2010 AIR for Keller Australia of 491 reflects a broader category of incidents.

UK

The 2010 average AIR for members of the Federation of Piling Specialists, the most appropriate comparator group for Keller in the UK, was 911, indicating that our UK safety performance in 2010, based on an AIR of 1,519 was worse than the average for our sector of the industry. However, we are encouraged that the AIR rating of our UK business did improve year-on-year (from 1,764 in 2009) and that performance further improved in the second half of 2010, in which only one of an annual total of six reported accidents occurred. We believe that management’s sharp focus on safety in this business will underpin further and sustained improvement.

CEMEA

Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Communities) is working on a programme to give consistency to workplace injury statistics in the European Union. While work towards producing statistics on non-fatal injuries that are comparable across Europe is progressing, such statistics are not yet available. Similar issues arise with regard to national comparator data for our Middle East and Asia regions. In view of this, we are currently unable to provide industry average statistics for the region.

2010 Performance against safety objectives

For 2010, we set two Group-wide safety objectives: (i) to roll out the ‘Think Safe, Work Safe, Go Home Safe’ programme; and (ii) for the businesses to carry out a baseline assessment of their health and safety arrangements and performance.

The new safety programme has been communicated to employees through written communications and local briefing sessions and now forms part of our regular employee induction. All four divisions have undertaken baseline assessments, although one of the four divisions has yet to carry out these assessments at the business level, which it will do during 2011.

2011 Safety objectives

Group-wide safety objectives for 2011, relating to senior managers’ site safety tours and improved near-miss reporting, have been set. In addition, individual objectives have been set for each of our divisions, some examples of which are shown in the box below.

Examples of divisional safety objectives for 2011

• US – review and update the New Hire Safety Orientation programme.
• US – introduce safety newsletters and weekly safety updates throughout all six businesses.
• CEMEA – improved near-miss reporting and analysis.
• CEMEA – improved networking of health and safety professionals.
• Australia – four businesses to achieve AS 4801 – Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (Waterway already has this accreditation).
• Australia – introduction of Safety Awards, with external assessment.
• UK – improve effectiveness of Safety Coaches.
• UK – improve effectiveness of Directors’ Safety Tours.

Being a responsible employer

As a Group, we aim to provide fair employment opportunity to all irrespective of gender, creed, ethnic origin, nationality, sexual orientation, age or disability, whilst not offending, or being insensitive to, the traditions and cultures of countries in which we operate. We believe in treating all employees with dignity and respect and do not tolerate any form of harassment, discrimination or bullying.

Our businesses communicate regularly with their employees using a number of forums and media channels which provide employees with an opportunity to express their views. These include company newsletters, consultative councils, suggestion schemes, electronic messaging as well as informal, company-wide social events.

We are committed to advancement based on merit and the importance of providing training and development opportunities which enable employees to reach their highest potential and increase their contribution to the Group. In addition to technical and competency based training, management training programmes operate in all divisions. For example, Keller UK,which has been an ‘Investors in People’ employer since 2005, has recently expanded its successful management development programme called ‘Keller Futures’ to include three management leadership modules specifically aimed at improving skills, competencies and behaviours of site supervisors, engineers and middle managers.

At the Group level, we run a strategic development programme, through which every two years some 20 to 25 senior managers from around the Group participate in three modules, each lasting one week.