Health and Safety
Approach
We are committed to providing a safe working environment for our employees and maintaining a proactive employee communications strategy to stimulate continuous improvement and promote and develop good health, safety and environmental practices.
Comprehensive health, safety and environmental audits are carried out at all recently acquired businesses and regular update audits are conducted at all other major facilities. The results of the audits and their follow up are monitored by the Laird Technologies Risk Management Committee. Health, safety and environmental training is provided, and reinforced via refresher courses where necessary, to designated employees and focuses on the perceived risk within each business.
2009 Health and Safety achievements
- Laird's facility in San Jose, USA reduced total workplace accident rates by 100% in 2009 vs. 2008, recording zero accidents, on working hours up 35%
- Laird's Chennai, India facility reduced total workplace accident rates by 50% from 0.4/100 employees in 2008 to 0.2/100 employees in 2009, on an increase in working hours of 43%
- Laird's facility in Gothenburg, Sweden reduced total workplace accident rates by 100% in 2009 vs. 2008, recording zero accidents, on working hours up 7%
- Laird's facility in Beijing, China was awarded a Beijing Development Area (BDA) 2009 Best Practice Award for Production Safety. The BDA credited the provision of fluorescent safety armbands to employees travelling to/from work, best practice fire drills and the achievement of the highest score on the BDA-administered Work Safety Supervision
- Laird's Tianjin, China facility received various awards from the local government during the year, including a Safety Management award and a Social Welfare Model of Excellence award
Charity and Community
Approach
The well-being of the communities in which the Group operates is important to its long term development and success.
During the year the Group gave £9,200 to charities (2008, £71,898, which included a donation of £54,263 to the Sichuan earthquake appeal).
Examples of charitable initiatives
- Donation to UK charities including Marie Curie Cancer Care and Mencap
- Support of local food banks with employee food contributions in North America and sponsorship of literacy programmes for individuals learning to speak English and/or enhance their skills
- Employee participation in blood donation drives in Penang, Malaysia and participation in a Salvation Army Open Day to raise funds for the construction of homes providing shelter for local children
- Support for Guide Dogs for the Blind in the UK through the sponsorship of a trainee Guide Dog
- Donation of 22 computers to a school in Sichuan, China which was damaged by the earthquake in 2008
- Organisation of local community events such as a basketball tournament in Shunde, China and Red Cross donation drives in Beijing, China
- Donation of batteries and components with a sales value of $25,000 to build 500 radios for earthquake relief efforts in Haiti in 2010
Environmental
Approach
Laird is committed to pursuing high standards of environmental performance including the maintenance of safe and healthy working environments. Laird’s minimum requirements are for its businesses to comply with local legislation and to operate continuous improvement programmes, to ensure that efficient use is made of all resources, including energy, water and raw materials, that emissions are restricted to within best practice levels and waste is minimised.
Adoption of International Management Systems
2009 has seen further progress in overall performance in the areas of Health, Safety and Environmental management, driven by the continuation of Laird's ISO 14001/OHSAS 18001 integrated Health, Safety and Environmental management system accreditation programme; a joint standard to which twelve Laird facilities are certified, all of which successfully completed re-certification or surveillance audits during the year. Three IMS certified facilities were downsized or closed during the year due to the economic downturn. A further three major facilities are on schedule to achieve Integrated Systems certification in 2010. This is in addition to the majority of Laird's main manufacturing facilities being ISO 9000 and ISO 9001 certified.
2009 Highlights
- Laird's Shanghai, China handset facility installed energy-saving purified water fountains, replacing the need for barrelled water, resulting in savings of $6,000 p.a.
- Laird's Tianjin, China facility received a number of recognitions and awards from local government in 2009, including an award for excellence in environmental management
- Laird's facility in Chennai, India successfully implemented a CIP project designed to eliminate the need for water-based degreasing in certain metal stamping operations. Cost savings to date amount to $54,000 with the future elimination of the need to make an $110,000 investment in degreasing equipment. The project has also reduced water consumption at the facility by 250 KL p.a. and saved 50 KwH per hour in electricity costs. The same facility also works with customers to recycle packaging trays, reels and other materials where possible. Materials are captured at point of use and returned to Laird for re-use, reducing the amount of waste materials and cost to the customer
- Laird's facilities in Beijing and Shunde, China were awarded certificates from major customers during the year for satisfying requirements of their Green Partner and Green Procurement programmes
