Our commitment is reflected in our SHE Policy, which requires the integration of safety considerations into all activities across the company. We regret that during 2007, there were four fatal accidents, three of which were related to driving. In three separate accidents, a sales representative was killed in a collision with another vehicle whilst driving on Company business in Canada, Russia and Austria. Full investigations into the circumstances around these accidents are being carried out. The fourth fatality occurred at our Operations site in Wuxi, China when a maintenance engineer was killed whilst repairing a goods elevator door. A full investigation was conducted and the learning incorporated into a training package that is now being shared across all our Operations sites and other functions, as appropriate. In addition, two vehicle accidents involving AstraZeneca employees, one in Turkey and the other in the Philippines, sadly resulted in the death of two members of the public. Investigations are ongoing. In addition, a US employee who had been injured in a driving accident during 2005 sadly died as a result of his injuries in 2007. We work hard to identify the root causes of any serious accident and use a range of investigation procedures to help us avoid repetition. Learning is shared with management and staff, and our conclusions about underlying causes are used to improve our SHE management systems.
The frequency rate for accidents resulting in fatal and serious injury for AstraZeneca employees increased in 2007 (2.65 per million hours) when compared to 2006 (2.37). While it is difficult to assign a specific cause for this frequency rate increase, we are, through communication, training, and other initiatives designed to reinforce personal commitment to SHE, working hard to ensure improvement in this area during 2008 and beyond. The greatest cause of accidents resulting in fatal and serious injuries to AstraZeneca employees is in the category of ‘vehicle accidents’, accounting for 35% of the total injuries reported. This is closely followed by the category of ‘slipped, tripped and fell on the same level’, accounting for 32% of all injuries. .
The frequency rate for accidents resulting in serious injuries to contractors, working on AstraZeneca sites, also increased in 2007 (3.54) when compared to the whole of 2006 (3.08). The two greatest causes of serious injuries to contractors were in the category of ‘slipped, tripped and fell on the same level’ at 21% followed by ‘injured while handling, lifting and carrying’ at 18%. We continue to work together with our contractors to ensure the same level of safety commitment as we would expect from our own employees.
The overall lack of improvement in our driver safety record, despite our recent efforts, is a major concern for us. The risks associated with driving cannot be eliminated entirely, but they can be actively managed and minimised. Good driving practice and the creation of a safe driving culture are the most effective ways of reducing the risk of accidents, and we are determined to further strengthen our effort in these areas.
During 2007, we began the development of an international framework for the consistent management of driver safety that we plan to complete and launch in early 2008. The framework reinforces the need, and provides the structure for strengthening our commitment in this priority area, whilst still allowing for local interpretation that takes account of the various driving environments (we have some 22,000 drivers in 63 countries around the world). The framework complements and strengthens our ongoing efforts to actively raise the profile of driver safety, particularly among our sales teams – by far the largest group that drive on Company business.
With a sales fleet of around 6,500 vehicles, the US is home to our biggest field force. The philosophy behind our US “Road Scholars” scheme is that driver safety should be managed in the same way as we manage all other aspects of sales, including training consistent with sales coaching models and integration into performance management. The number of traffic violations has fallen by 55% since 2005. However, the number of vehicle-related injuries has increased by around 13%, as a result of significant changes to the geographies covered by the field force. A programme to reverse this increase has been initiated.
In 2007, our International Sales and Marketing Organisation appointed a SHE Director whose top priority is driver safety. During the year, he visited a number of countries, including Brazil and Japan, and areas for discussion included driver safety challenges and how these are being managed at a local level. In Brazil, all our employees who drive on business have training in defensive driving and regular updates on driving-related topics. In Japan, the focus is on newly recruited medical representatives whose driving experience is limited. Analysis of data has shown they are more likely to be involved in an accident than their more established colleagues and therefore significant coaching and regular review is provided for these employees.
We work continuously to improve the way in which we capture local performance data at a global level. However, we faced some challenges to this in 2007, particularly in relation to establishing a consistent definition across 63 countries with differing driving environments. As a result, we are currently unable to provide accurate information for 2007 against the KPI we introduced in 2006 - the number of accidents per million kilometres driven by marketing company employees. However, we are on track to deliver meaningful data for 2008, which will provide the benchmark against which we can measure our relative performance going forward.
| 2007 | 2006 | 2005 |
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| Per million hours | 2.65 | 2.37 | 2.54 |
Causes of accidents with serious and fatal injuries to AstraZeneca employees 2007 | Number | % |
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Vehicle | 112 | 35 |
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Slipped, tripped or fell on the same level | 103 | 32 |
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Injured while handling, lifting or carrying | 20 | 6 |
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Cut | 17 | 5 |
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Hit by moving, flying or falling object | 12 | 4 |
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Contact with or caught in machinery | 11 | 3 |
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Exposure to extreme heat or cold | 11 | 3 |
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Fall from a height | 10 | 3 |
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Hit something fixed or stationary | 7 | 2 |
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Exposure to, or in contact with, a harmful substance | 7 | 2 |
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All other causes | 13 | 4 |
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In some aspects of our research and development, we need to work with biohazardous, or potentially biohazardous materials. Our biosafety risks are associated mainly with three different types of activities; those involving human or animal blood and tissue samples where the risk is associated with infectious agents that may be present; work with naturally occurring pathogens; and work with genetically modified micro-organisms (GMMs), the vast majority of which pose negligible risk to human health.
There is an internationally recognised four-category hazard classification system for pathogens, where Category 4 represents the greatest hazard. The assigned hazard category is based on the severity of the disease caused, the way the disease is transmitted, and the availability of effective preventive and therapeutic measures (such as vaccines and antibiotics). In terms of risks to human health, we carry out no work involving Category 4 but we do work with H5N1 strains of influenza virus and with TB bacilli that are classified in Category 3. We use a number of Category 2 pathogens at some of our sites.
Backed by our Global Biosafety Guideline, standards and operational procedures, we have programmes in place wherever biohazardous materials are handled, to manage the risk. Measures include staff training, control of exposure at source and where appropriate, provision of personal protective equipment and immunisation programmes.
Specific legislation has been enacted in the US and UK to protect against the deliberate misuse of certain pathogens and biological toxins which have the potential to be used in terrorist activity. AstraZeneca fully complies with the security measures required by this legislation, and we are also developing an AstraZeneca Global Biosecurity Procedure that will require appropriate security to be in place for all relevant materials, whether or not there is a specific legal requirement.
AstraZeneca has been active in supporting a number of external activities addressing this issue. In 2007 these included representation on the UK Health and Safety Commission’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Genetic Modification (SACGM) and supporting a European Commission sponsored CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) process which in November resulted in the adoption of a CWA on Laboratory Biorisk Management addressing both biosafety and biosecurity issues. One of our biosafety experts served as Vice-Chair during the Workshop.
A total of 21 fires were reported during 2007, compared to 31 in 2006. All of these fires were small in nature, and no one was injured as a result but we recognise that all fires have a greater potential for harm to people and the business. Despite the reported number of fires continuing to be low, with no significant property damage reported, the threat is ever present and fire risk continues to be actively managed. The objective is to continually reduce the number and impact of fires, through standard risk management techniques and the application of inherent safety principles.
The performance of our systems and procedures is continually reviewed through our integrated SHE auditing process. Independent external auditing is included as part of the ongoing insurance process for the major sites.
The content of this page was externally assured by Bureau Veritas, February 2008
1 “Biosafety” is used to describe the containment principles, technologies and practices that are implemented to prevent the unintentional exposure to biological agents and toxins, or their accidental release while “Biosecurity” is used to describe measures for access control and accountability for use of biological agents and toxins within laboratories, in order to prevent their loss, theft, misuse, diversion of, unauthorized access or intentional unauthorized release.
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