Health & Safety

Policy on Health and Safety

Health and safety is the top priority and DS Smith actively strives for continuous improvement of health and safety in the workplace.

Safety is our highest priority. We aim to provide employees with a safe, productive and rewarding workplace.

The safety of our people remains a cornerstone of our business. We seek to improve our performance continuously as a Group and strive to ensure that our colleagues and the public are kept safe. 

The Group Health, Safety and Environment Director leads the Safety Leadership Team (SLT), which coordinates Group policy and best practice from the various parts of the organisation and further raises the visibility of safety within the organisation. The SLT meets monthly to review major or high potential severity incidents, thus further improving the level of challenge on accident investigation. 

Risk Assessments for health and safety 

Detailed and extensive arrangements maintained for the management of health, safety and environment, product integrity and safety governing all Group operations.

  • Regular Audit Committee reviews specific to the results of internal control reports.
  • Regular reviews of Health and Safety performance at Board meetings including update on the establishment of a Safety Leadership Team and implementation of a Group-wide reporting tool.

Performance monitoring and management of health and safety

Health & Safety audit

The Group conducts safety audits to ensure sites' consistent adherence to safety standards and to investigate possible areas of concern. All accidents and situations that might have resulted in an accident are investigated through techniques of risk assessment and root cause analysis to ensure we all learn from these incidents and take steps to prevent a recurrence.

The Group records all accidents and near misses and investigates these to determine if preventative action is required. This process is led by the Group Health and Safety Director. DS Smith has a global target of "zero accidents".

OHSAS 18001 certification

100% of the Group’s paper mills hold OHSAS 18001 certification. These sites are the largest and potentially the most hazardous in the Group and therefore we have prioritised getting accreditation schemes in place at these facilities. Other Health and Safety accreditations are in place at other facilities and at present, 24% of DS Smith's corrugating operations have a recognised independently certified Health and Safety management system.

Employee training on health and safety standards

It is essential that as a Group, we provide each employee with a safe place to work. Accordingly, all locations are required to abide by local health and safety regulations. The Group also undertakes extensive safety training programmes at all levels of the organisation.

Health and Safety Key Performance Indicators

Lost-time accident rates are published in our Annual Report and Accounts.

Definition: Lost Time Accident (LTA): number of accidents resulting in lost time of one shift or more.
Accident Frequency Rate (AFR): number of LTAs per million hours worked. 

In 2016/17 there were 113 LTAs (Loss Time Accidents) within group operations.

Our key safety measures of LTAs and of AFR have both continued to improve. This has been the result of a programme of continuous improvement and the high priority assigned to safe working practices.

Health and safety is the top priority and DS Smith actively strives for continuous improvement of health and safety in the workplace.

Our long-term target is "zero accidents" and we set our key performance indicators to ensure that we continue towards that goal.