Health and safety

Integrated retail safety team

In 2008 the safety teams that supported the retail operations in Boots The Chemists and Alliance Pharmacy combined and expanded. The new, integrated retail safety team has a number of Regional Safety Advisors based at various locations around the country. This new structure allows us to respond more quickly and effectively to incidents and issues in stores than was previously the case with more centralised structures. The composition of the new team is shown in the posted document—“Retail Safety Team”.

Integrating safety activities

Both Boots The Chemists and Alliance Pharmacy had long-standing safety management systems, safety procedures and arrangements. Although combining our safety teams has been straightforward, integrating all of our safety activities is much more complicated. Currently we have a number of different systems (Boots The Chemists or Alliance Pharmacy) that run in parallel. Over the next year we intend to have a single integrated system. So far we've:

• Developed a new accident/incident reporting, investigation and remedial action tracking system; this system is now used and applied to all stores.
• Developed a new risk assessment system that should prove to be simpler for stores to use than either of the two previous systems, and should also prove to be more effective in directing activities to better control risks. The new system has undergone limited trials and been modified in the light of experience. A limited roll out will take place before the end of 2008, with full roll out across all our stores during 2009. The new system is complemented by a number of risk assessments designed to address issues with specific individuals, including assessments for: young persons, pregnant women, display screen equipment and manual handling assessments for those with relevant medical problems. Further development work on these individual-specific assessments is required (and will need to be linked to what we're doing on training). However, development and implementation should be complete by the end of 2009.
• Established new management structures to monitor: accident performance, the response to accidents/incidents and the response to involvement with the enforcing authorities (see “Safety Structures” below for further detail).
• Developed a new and comprehensive one-day safety training course for all store managers. Although the new course is already being used we have not yet finalised our arrangements for rolling it out across all stores. It is likely that we will plan to train all managers over a 3-year period, starting in April 2009.

Safety structures

To effectively manage Health and Safety across the business, we now have:

• A monthly Retail Safety Performance meeting chaired by the Director of Retail Operations. This meeting comprehensively reviews safety performance (accidents/incidents; fire safety issues; issues raised by the enforcing authorities; the results of internal compliance auditing; and progress implementing remedial actions arising from investigations or interactions with the enforcing authorities). The meeting also identifies matters that require the development of new or modified standards, procedures or policies, as well as providing information for the Retail Safety Steering Group (see below).
• Two safety steering groups, one for retail and one for other parts of the business. The retail safety steering group, chaired by an executive director, monitors the information that comes from the Retail Safety Performance meeting, manages the development of new standards, procedures and policies and is currently developing our Health and Safety plans for the next three years.
• The relationship between the Retail Safety Steering Group, the Retail Safety Performance Meeting, the Board and other parts of the organisation is shown in the posted document — “Safety Structures”.

Safety management system

For many years Boots has been in a Lead Authority Partnership with Highlands Council in Scotland. Lead Authority Partnership schemes (there are about 150 in the UK) were set up in accordance with a protocol issued by the Health and Safety Commission and are intended to help maintain constructive relations between enforcing authorities and (mainly large) employers. A key part of setting up a partnership involves the Enforcing Authority carrying out a Safety Management Review of the partner company’s Health and Safety management system. Since our Health and Safety management system is no longer what it was when our partnership was set up (and is still undergoing significant change), a Safety Management Review is required to stay within the requirements of the Health and Safety Commission’s protocol. We have carried out an internal review (the preliminary results of which have been shared with Highlands Council). A joint review, which will complete the exercise, is intended for late 2009.

Training

Currently safety training is delivered in a number of different ways: face to face; using audio visual material; using booklets on specific topics (e.g. manual handling); or using material posted on our stores intranet. Of these, the intranet material is probably the most widely used and of most general relevance. This material is now being reviewed and an extensively modified set of materials will be available for April 2009. The material (referred to as bite-sized modules) is being revised to make it easier to use and to take into account developments in our standards and procedures. Examples of material in the current format are posted on this website—see “Accident Reporting”, “Escalator Checks” and “ Automatic Door Checks”.

We have also developed material that will be used in an e-learning format (interactive PC based training accessed through the internet). Three modules (Accident Reporting, Slips and Trips) will be available for trials before the end of 2008. The intention thereafter is to produce a comprehensive suite of 10 modules which will be available from April 2009.

Legally reportable accidents