Saturday 04 Feb 2012 Share Price: £ 5.96 GBP    Day Volume: 1.2 (in millions)

Health, Safety and Environment

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Cookson regards HS&E matters as mainstream management responsibilities. The Board has overall responsibility for the Cookson HS&E Policy and for monitoring its implementation. Executives and line managers at all levels are directly responsible through the normal management structure for HS&E matters in the operations under their control.

Particular emphasis is focused on the following areas:

• Safety Performance: work related injuries and illnesses
• Regulatory Compliance: compliance with permitted air, water, waste and noise emissions criteria
• Energy Usage: reducing electricity and gas consumed in our operations and hence carbon dioxide (“CO2”) emissions.

The Group’s HS&E policy and related information can be found here.

A reporting system is in place to collect details of all HS&E-related incidents throughout the Group and to produce quarterly reports including the KPIs covering work-related injury and illness rates. These quarterly reports and related performance improvement plans are regularly reviewed by the Chief Executive with divisional management as part of the normal business review cycle.

The Board reviews HS&E performance as a formal agenda item at least once per year including the KPI s covering work-related injury and illness rates and total energy consumption. Any significant incidents are reported to the Chief Executive and the Board as they occur.

Cookson’s larger manufacturing locations are progressively being qualified for certification under ISO 14001, the international standard for environmental management systems. Those facilities handling potentially more hazardous materials are progressively being qualified for certification under the international occupational health and safety management system, OHSAS 18001. Certification to these international standards is not appropriate for all facilities, particularly smaller ones and those with very limited environmental impact.

The Group now has 61 locations certified to ISO 14001 and 34 locations certified to OHSAS 18001.

Safety Performance

Cookson’s goal is zero work-related injuries and illnesses. The principal indicators of occupational safety and health performance that are used are based on the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration recording requirements. Cookson operations world wide report the “days away” incident rate — the number of work-related illnesses or injuries, per 100 employees, that resulted in an employee being absent from work for at least one day. We also track the “recordable” incident rate — the number of work-related injuries and illnesses, per 100 employees, that resulted in medical treatment beyond first aid.

Cookson’s “days away” injury and illness rate has improved steadily. The Group-wide “days away” incident rate has fallen from 3.25 in 2002 to 0.67 in 2009. The Group’s “recordable” incident rate has shown a similar trend, improving to 1.5 in 2009 from greater than 6 in 2002.

Regulatory Compliance

Regulatory actions against Cookson companies have been at a low level for several years. This is indicative of the emphasis on continuous HS&E performance improvement across Cookson in relation to statutory obligations. A small number of enforcement notices were issued to Cookson companies in 2009, including several that assessed minor penalties.

Cookson companies began implementing the European regulation for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (“REACH”) in 2008. Each chemical manufacturing business filed appropriate pre-registrations by the statutory deadline.

Like many manufacturers, some Group companies have potential environmental liabilities because of past operations at their current or former sites. Where remediation is required, we work with external specialists and with government authorities to ensure that remediation is conducted effectively and efficiently.

Reducing Energy Use and CO2 Emissions

Since 2004, Cookson has operated a programme aimed at reducing energy use and hence the associated emissions of CO2. The programme trains employees to understand energy use and conservation principles and introduces energy audits to assist highuse sites in identifying and implementing conservation measures.

The following chart shows Cookson’s electricity and gas consumption over the last six years.

From 2004 to 2007 energy use was reduced markedly as a result of these initiatives, not withstanding growing revenue over the period. In 2008 energy use increased relative to 2007, due to the addition of the Foseco operations, acquired in April 2008. Energy use in 2008, excluding Foseco, is shown on the graph above illustrating further reductions in the rest of the Group. In 2009 gas use fell by 3% (including Foseco) due to the drop in the Group’s revenue. Electricity use remained the same as in 2008, notwithstanding the full year effect of the additional Foseco facilities.