Health and safety

Holcim Singapore is committed to ensuring a safe workplace for all our employees, subcontractors, third parties and visitors. We strive for zero harm and minimum lost time injuries.

We have maintained our record for zero harm for the year 2008. But unfortunately, it was a dismal year for our LTIFR especially when we included third party truck drivers in our assessments. Investigation showed that there was a lack of Safety Mindset on the part of the injured. Our induction and training will now focus on "Personal Risk Assessment". The safety mindset will be kept alive with the continuing rebriefing of the 5 Cardinal rules.

The life saving 5 Cardinal Rules

1. Do not override or interfere with any safety provision nor allow anyone else to override or
interfere with them
2. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) rules applicable to a given task must be adhered to
at all times
3. Isolation and Lockout Procedures must always be followed
4. No person may work if under the influence alcohol or drugs
5. All injuries and incidents must be reported

Fatality Prevention Elements (FPE)
The four FPE (Fatality Prevention Elements) directives from Holcim Group have been implemented. They are Working at Heights, Isolation and Lockout, Vehicle and Traffic Safety and Contractor Safety Management.

A review of the "Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Controls" was first carried out followed by a gaps analysis against the FPE guidelines. Additional controls were then put in place where it is lacking.

For Working at Heights, the "Train the Trainer" course was carried out for the superintendents.
In Isolation and Lockout, the weigh bin pits, where the conveyor starts, are fully guarded with railings and locked. This is in addition to the guards in place at the conveyors. The operators are rebriefed on the Isolation and Lockout procedure. Lockout Stations were also installed to ensure that locks are properly kept and accessible.

On Vehicles and Traffic safety we have clearly demarcated pedestrian paths. On new trucks, a latch was fix to the platform railings on top of the ladder as a fall prevention. At the stockpiles only authorized persons are allowed entry to avoid heavy vehicle and people collision.

Contractor Safety Management is further improved with the added procedure of matching the contractors' competence in providing risks controls to the jobs risks requirements at the evaluation stage. At the project completion the post evaluation is done to assist procurement in deciding if the contractor should remain on the Approved Vendor List. These are in addition to the existing procedures of job risk assessment, contractors briefing and "permit to work".

Safety mindset
The overall safety mindset of the company has improved. This is evident in the increased number of SOTs (Safety Observation Tour) carried out and in the building of new ready mix plants where more safety features are included.
At the Safety Committee outstanding contributors are recognized and presented with a small token.

ISO
We were recertified in 2008 for the three standards ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:1999. Although it is not always a business requirement , the ISO and OHSAS Standards have helped to increase our customers' confidence in our products.

Recently, the Workplace, Safety and Health Council started to promote and to offer recognition of OH&S through its standard " BizSafe" whose partners are composed of leading companies and building contractors. The Council recommends Partners to stipulate "BizSafe" as one of the requirements in their tender documents and to incorporate a certain weightage for "BizSafe" achievement in their tender evaluation. By our implementation of a OH&S management system and being a certified OHSAS 18001 company we have been awarded the "BizSafe" Star. This will give us an additional competitive edge.