Occupational health

The Group is committed to promoting best practice in occupational health and now provides professional expertise through highly regarded out sourced providers. The primary objective of the Group’s occupational health strategy remains a culture of prevention rather than cure.

The strategy maintains four key areas of focus:

• screening and surveillance;
• rehabilitation;
• health promotion; and
• education.

We have demonstrated good progress against our screening and surveillance targets. These are detailed in our report Responsible Operation's, published in April 2007.

791 employees in our operations functions completed the Health Risk assessment pilot programme. The greatest return from this tool was encouraging the majority who were at low risk to maintain their health and wellbeing.

An ‘Owners Handbook’ health manual produced in conjunction with the Men’s Health Forum was issued to all employees in 2007 and 2008. This covered all aspects of general lifestyle and wellbeing for both men and women.

A ‘Know your body metrics’ health promotion campaign was rolled out in 2007 and carried on into 2008 to raise awareness and understanding of cardiovascular risk factors. Over 3,000 employees have been screened at travelling wellness booths. This has been our most successful campaign to date during which 14 per cent were referred onward as the result of cholesterol levels and five per cent for glucose levels.

An anonymous online questionnaire found that the ‘Owners Handbook’ and the ‘Know your body metrics’ booklet were rated as ‘good to excellent’ by more than 80 percent of respondents. Some 45 per cent said they had made beneficial lifestyle changes as a result of the information.

A pilot programme in one of our business units is taking place with the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health based on the successful Australian programme entitled ‘beyond blue’, designed to help managers to identify depression in the workplace by involving them in a series of management training and awareness sessions. A health promotion campaign on sleep and fatigue was also undertaken in the autumn of 2008.