Dear Colleagues,

I am reaching out to you in order to share a concern on the recent increase in the number of injuries across Europe in the last few weeks.

Unfortunately, after a promising start of the year, we have witnessed the number of injuries increase in our cement and materials business. All these injuries could have been avoided, and it merits a pause and reflection about those affected, their families, and the risks to us and our colleagues.

We have made significant improvements in Health and Safety over the last few years, and many of our facilities operate now with Zero injuries regularly. But as the recent spike in incidents remind us, accidents and fatalities are only a risk condition, or a risk behaviour away.

Your leadership and commitment are key to prevent this from becoming a trend in Europe, and act immediately to review the way we are implementing our Health and Safety management system in all our operations, and share an increasing sense of urgency, particularly during the vacation period and unusual warm weather in some locations. Please do and ask all our colleagues to:

• ALWAYS follow the rules and procedures – they are there to protect you!
• ALWAYS challenge unsafe behaviours and conditions – don’t walk past!
• ALWAYS report all near misses and hazards – they are an early warning and could prevent injury!
• ALWAYS Stop and Think – take a few minutes to plan the job before doing it!
• ALWAYS look after yourself and each other – we are a team so let’s keep each other safe!

I appreciate any comment or feedback that might help us improve the health and safety of our colleagues, contractors and general public. Please feel free to reply and I will review them personally with our Health and Safety team.

Best regards,

Sergio

The Safety team has produced a safety stand down guide for all operations to use during the stand down to consider and talk about what we can all do to improve safety.  This can be found on your safety emails from Andy Taylor or in the download section of the UK News website.