Health and safety

We advise businesses on health and safety law and practice. We have a responsibility, therefore, to match the advice we give to our clients with our own performance. To that end, we have a formal health and safety policy signed by the chief operating officer demonstrating our commitment to maintaining a healthy and safe workplace.

We are committed to training all our people in the key risks affecting their health and safety at work – manual handling, use of display screen equipment, first aid, fire and emergencies.

Health and safety in London

In London, our health and safety committee meets once a quarter, providing each practice area and support department with the opportunity to be consulted, via a representative, on anything the firm does that affects their health and safety. Through the committee, we report to the partnership all accidents, incidents and statutory visits. We investigate all accidents to identify trends and prevent recurrences.

We also have three full-time health and safety professionals with experience and qualifications in all aspects of health and safety risk management. This includes supervising internal construction projects and carrying out risk assessments and audits on a range of topics, including the most recent requirements for assessing fire precautions and working at normal height.

Accident trends

In London, our accident trends continue to vary. We have not achieved our targets of fewer than 24 accidents per year and two or fewer reportable accidents per year, but will continue to aim for this in the next financial year. The office has not had any enforcement notices applied by the local enforcement authority with regards to any health and safety infringements.

Accident trend in London	2002/3	2003/4	2004/5	2005/6	2006/7
Reported accidents	58	67	48	42	57

This is the first time we have reported on our international figures. Nine offices did not supply information. We aim to report in a more comprehensive way in the future.

Accidents reported in our offices	Accidents	Injuries lasting over three days	Head count
London	57	7	2,121
Mainland Europe	20	4	2,896
Asia and Middle East	0	0	358
US	0	0	118
Worldwide	77	11	5,493