We aim to provide excellent service to our customers, to provide a safe working environment for our employees and to create sustainable communities through long term investment.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

The health and safety of our employees and all visitors, contractors and members of the public who visit our places of business is of the utmost importance to us. Our safety culture is underpinned by the application of five strategic health and safety drivers:

• Simplification of safe systems of work,


• Education in safe working techniques for every employee,


• Engineering safety into our equipment and processes,


• Engagement on safety issues and with all employees and


• Enforcement of safe systems of work through monitoring and audit.

Group Health and Safety Policy

The Group has a single Group Health and Safety Policy Statement that applies across all of the business units. This Policy Statement demonstrates our commitment to health and safety and outlines the organisation, resource and arrangements for implementation of the Policy. The Policy is signed and endorsed by the Group Chief Executive, Managing Director Port of Tilbury, Director, Scottish Ports and the Managing Director of the Property division and has been consulted on and is displayed at all business locations.

Group Strategic Health and Safety Plan

A Group Strategic Health and Safety Plan for 2008-2010 was originally presented to the Board in October 2007 and was reviewed by the Directors and senior management at regular intervals for progress against the plan. The plan was completed at the end of 2010 with achievement of all 52 plan objectives. The success of this plan is being built on with the formulation of a new strategic health and safety plan for 2011 –2013. This was communicated to employees during the first quarter of 2011 and will be reported on in subsequent Annual Reports. This plan includes targets and objectives for our occupational health team.

Organisation

Professional support is provided to the business by Health and Safety Managers and their teams within Scottish Port Operations, Port of Tilbury and Nordic. The Group Health and Safety Manager supports the business units and Health and Safety Managers with advice and guidance. The Group Health and Safety Manager reports directly to the Group Chief Executive and reports to the Board of Directors on safety strategies, improvement and performance on a regular basis.

Group Accident/Incident Statistics

When the performance during 2010 is compared with 2009, we have made significant progress in further reducing accidents and incidents across the Group:

• 20% reduction in RIDDOR* reportable personal injury accidents


• 4% reduction in all RIDDOR* reportable accidents/incidents (personal injuries, occupational health reports and dangerous occurrences)


• 13% reduction in all personal injury accidents

Group - Year to Year Comparison
	2009	2010	% change
RIDDOR Personal Injuries	25	20	-20%
All RIDDOR Injuries/Incidents	26	25	-4%
All Personal Accidents	105	91	-13%

^* Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations 1995 (“RIDDOR”)

The Board of Directors set a minimum target of overall reduction in personal accidents of 5% in 2010. This target was achieved and indeed exceeded. 2010 was the fourth year in succession that we have achieved a greater than 10% reduction in personal accidents on the previous year.

Trend Analysis 2003 – 2010 - (includes Nordic from 2007 onwards)

We are particularly proud of the trend of continued significant improvement year on year and we wish to see this to continue:

• 58% reduction in RIDDOR* reportable personal injury accidents


• 48% reduction in all RIDDOR* reportable accidents/incidents (personal injuries, occupational health reports and dangerous occurrences)


• 58% reduction in all personal injury accidents

Group - Year to Year Comparison
	2003	2010	% change
RIDDOR Personal Injuries	48	20	-58%
All RIDDOR Injuries/Incidents	48	25	-48%
All Personal Accidents	217	91	-58%

2010 was the first year that there have been less than 100 personal accidents across the entire Group.

Health and Safety Awards

The British Safety Council (“BSC”) carried out a combined 5 Star Safety and OHSAS 18001:2007 audit in 2010 with a single BSC auditor auditing Scottish Operations and Port of Tilbury. The Ports were successful in maintaining their 5 Star safety status and achieving accreditation to the OHSAS 18001:2007 Safety Standard.

As a result of this achievement Scottish Operations and Port of Tilbury were each invited to apply for a prestigious Sword of Honour Award. Entry to this competition is by invitation only for companies which have achieved a 5 Star Safety Award from BSC and only 40 Swords of Honour are awarded globally each year. Both Scottish Operations and Port of Tilbury were awarded a Sword of Honour. The swords were presented to the Company at an award ceremony in London in November 2010.

NRL continues to be successfully audited by British Standards Institute to the Integrated Management System PAS 99 that incorporates the OHSAS 18001 Safety, ISO 9001 Quality and ISO 14001 Environment Standards.

Ports Group - “Safety First”

As reported last year, we have developed a Group wide safety programme called “Safety First” which is aimed at cultural and behavioural change to further promote safety.

At the heart of the Safety First campaign is our Safety Charter developed in consultation with our employees. The charter has five guiding principles:

• We are committed to working in partnership to achieve the aim of no injuries to anyone at any Forth Ports premises


• We believe that no job is more important than any person's health and safety


• We will never knowingly walk past an unsafe act or condition


• We will demonstrate our commitment to high levels of safety by our own behaviour


• We will establish a culture of tolerance

The campaign is communicated across all operations in the form of accident reduction workshops, poster campaigns, toolbox talks, quarterly newsletter, specific process safety improvement projects and safety suggestion boxes available to all employees.

All staff in the ports operations are also asked to complete safety climate questionnaires. The outputs from the questionnaires help us plan our communications and campaigns to target areas where improvements can be made.

Behavioural safety steering committees have been set up across the Group to help facilitate new and novel ideas being generated by the workforce in improving health and safety. An example was the “Mind Your Step” door stickers placed in major plant equipment door windows. This links to our campaign to reduce accidents from slips, trips and falls.

Safety Forums and Initiatives

Safety Forums took place in 2010 across the Group at Scottish Operations and Tilbury/Nordic with attendance by a cross section of the workforce including Directors, managers, supervisors, Health and Safety representatives and other members of the workforce. The themes for this year were accident reduction, port specific safety improvement projects, safety communication and engagement amongst the workforce and the objectives of the “Safety First” campaigns. At each of the forums an award was presented to the part of the business deemed by the forum to have made a significant contribution to safety improvement by a particular project or accident reduction initiative. The 2010 safety award for Scottish Operations went to the Port of Rosyth and the award in Port of Tilbury went to the Grain & Bulks asset.

Property

During 2010 there were no Health and Safety incidents reportable by our principal contractor to the HSE under the RIDDOR 1995 Regulations on any of our property development sites.

The total accident figure from 2005 – 2010 was 5 (all minor and non-reportable) for all construction project works. This gave an accident frequency rate of 0.69 per 100,000 hours. This compares with an estimated construction sector average of reportable accidents of 1.9 per 100,000 hours.

Ocean Terminal Limited became a Group company at the end of 2009 and a full review of all safety arrangements in place was carried out. A quarterly safety report has been developed and new safety initiatives are being progressed to further enhance safety at the centre.

Industry Engagement

Forth Ports continues to be involved in all of the core activities of Port Skills and Safety, the industry body charged with promoting high standards of health and safety and skills competence. The Managing Director, Port of Tilbury continues to be a member of the PSS management Board and the Group is represented at the Port Safety Steering Group meetings where Health and Safety managers from across the ports' industry meet and share best practice.

The Group continues to progress the safety and training objectives detailed in the industry wide Safer Ports 2 Initiative and fully supports the regional events organised to promote the initiative throughout the industry.

Forth Ports contributed throughout 2010 to the Ports Guidance Notes developed by Port Skills and Safety and the Health and Safety Executive. The launch of these documents took place at an event hosted by the HSE at the Mersey Maritime Museum on 14th January 2011. Senior representatives of the Ports Operators, the MCA, RTA, Department of Transport and Unite the Union were present at the event. Our Group Chief Executive and HSE Chair Judith Hackett were amongst the guest speakers at the event which marked “A Decade of Progress” in reducing accident rates within the Ports Industry.

Monitoring and Audit

The Group continues to use a system of internal and external process safety audits to measure, monitor and demonstrate compliance with all relevant health and safety legislation and internal safety management procedures.

The Group Chief Executive and the Managing Director Port of Tilbury along with the senior management team continue to carry out safety tours at regular intervals to promote safe working practices and engage with employees on safety related issues.

EMPLOYEES

Industrial Relations and Staffing

During the course of the year the Group headcount reduced by 10. At the end of the year the headcount figures were:

Division	As at 31.12.2010
Tilbury	498
Nordic	138
Scotland	479
TOTAL	1,115

We continue to work at ensuring good industrial relations are maintained. There have been no days lost due to industrial disputes since 1989.

Employee Involvement

We continue to hold a group-wide information and consultation forum. The forum allows for matters of mutual interest to be discussed and it is further augmented by the local communication forums and the regular meetings with the recognised trade unions.

Training and Development

A Middle Management Development Programme (MMDP) was implemented in 2010 and 30 Managers (16 from Scottish Operations and 14 from Tilbury) completed the programme in 2010. The next phase of the roll out is planned in early 2011. MMDP is led by senior managers and is linked with the Centre for High Performance Development objectives reported last year for our senior management team. This training has been built upon through the production of personal development plans.

The “must knows” health and safety statutory in-house training programme covered a total of 318 employees during 2010, a total of 47 courses were held. These courses included Appointed Person, Hazard Identification, Working at Heights and Risk Assessor. This is an ongoing programme which will continue in 2011. Two student placements were taken on during 2010 in Operations and Human Resources in Scotland. Working with University of East London and University of Essex, the Port of Tilbury Training Team together with Nordic Recycling organised two funded three-month graduate intern placements with the Nordic Recycling Sales Team. This project provided a structured work experience for the graduates, which proved so successful that in December 2010 the two graduates were invited to join the Sales Team as full time employees.

During the year, one executive director completed the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme.

ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY

Our Commitment to Sustainability and the Environment

The Board of Forth Ports recognises the importance of operating in a responsible manner within the generally accepted principles of sustainable development. This is particularly important as our assets are predominantly ports; infrastructure on the boundary between land and sea. The land and estuaries that we manage are valuable natural assets socially, economically and environmentally. Being a responsible company we continue to review our operations to ensure that we minimise our impact on the environment and operate efficiently. In doing so, we assist the UK and Scottish Governments in their ambitious targets to reduce emissions and work towards limiting human induced climate change, while at the same time being a modern, essential part of the global supply chain.

Across the Group, our key potential environmental and sustainability risks are:

• Climate Change regulation – from the combustion of fuels and the purchasing of energy


• Conservation – all of our facilities are adjacent sites with high levels of environmental protection


• Water pollution – operating near water, and being responsible for commercial traffic travelling on the water, there is potential for an accident to result in water pollution


• Air Quality – emissions from plant and cargo handling


• Waste – many of our activities result in materials that require to be disposed of, ships calling at our facilities are required by law to deposit their waste in our ports


• Local communities – our activities can have the potential to have an impact on local communities, whether actual or perceived

We manage these risks and our performance through our environmental management systems. Senior management attend regular meetings across the business units at which environmental and sustainability aspects are discussed and agreed. At a Group level the key business units are represented by individual senior managers on the Environment Integration Committee, the membership of this committee includes the Group Chief Executive, who in turn briefs the main board on key environmental issues and progress. The Environment Integration Committee has a three year work plan and has issued a new Environment and Sustainability Policy for the Group, signed by the Directors responsible for each division and the Group Chief Executive. The environmental management systems in the Port of Tilbury, Nordic and the Marine Division are all certified ISO14001:2004. Progress continues on the Scottish Ports management system with the Port of Grangemouth expected to achieve certification during 2011 and the Port of Dundee to follow in 2012. During 2010 the decision was taken to formally link energy and environmental functions under one manager with Group responsibility. We anticipate this change will lead to more effective implementation and integration across the business units; driving efficiencies, synergies, project development, environmental and financial benefits.

Climate Change

Climate Change is clearly now a board room issue. By far the majority of the UK’s listed companies accept that human induced climate change is having a significant effect on the global climate and that collective action is required to prevent further acceleration in the rate of change. Our approach to minimising our impact on climate change has been to focus on improving the energy efficiency of our activities and identifying and progressing opportunities for the generation of renewable energy on our estates.

Energy Efficiency

Each business unit across the Group is working on energy efficiency projects. During 2010 we were awarded the Carbon Trust Standard across the entire Forth Ports Group. This was a significant achievement and recognition of the commitment of every member of our workforce during the previous two years. The strategy initially focussed on behavioural approaches and these have delivered significant improvements. We are now moving into a period where some investment will be required to deliver further significant improved efficiencies. Current projects are predominantly focussed on lighting, whether improved controls, such as movement and daylight sensors or new technology, for example LED. A shed lighting trial in Tilbury is nearing the end of the evaluation phase. If the results prove to be as positive as the initial findings suggest, then we will extend this trial across sheds in this and other ports over the next few years. We have set ourselves a target to further improve energy efficiency by 3% over the course of 2011.

Nordic’s environmental credentials impressed the judges at the Kent Business Awards, where the Company won an award for replacing an old and inefficient bale wrapper with a new low energy system which reduced energy costs by 66%. Other initiatives that Nordic have implemented have included reducing the hazardous waste outputs of the company; and saving fuel, carbon and time, by the more efficient and better use of transport, shipping and logistics.

Port of Tilbury won the “Environmental Awareness” award at the Thurrock Business Awards in 2010 in recognition of management and staff incentives to reduce the port’s carbon footprint.

During 2010 we participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project, this was the first time we had done so and were pleased with the scoring of our submission. We intend to participate again this year.

Conservation and the Natural Environment

All of our facilities are adjacent or in close proximity to sites designated as important for conservation. These include local, national, European and international designations for both species and habitats. We have operated in close proximity to these sites for decades and our activities comfortably co-exist with the species that rely on the adjacent habitats. Operating in the coastal zone has its challenges; the coast is expected to be a major area of change in relation to climate change. As previously reported we are funding a Ph.D. at Dundee University to examine relative sea level change in the Forth and Tay, as these areas are less well studied than the Thames. This will assist us with our long term infrastructure planning and climate change adaption plans. Similarly we are funding a Ph.D. at Glasgow University examining the Common Tern colony in the Port of Leith; this is the smallest Special Protection Area in the UK. Gaining a better understanding of the ecology of the colony, its tolerance of disturbance and likely future development in the context of the wider population of the area will provide valuable data which will help to inform our future plans for the port.

As both a Statutory and as a Competent Harbour Authority we have many statutory duties. These include the preparation of oil spill and emergency plans (see below) and the maintenance of safe navigation to and from the facilities within our jurisdiction. The maintenance dredging we undertake has remained largely unchanged since the 1960s. The volumes of material physically dredged fluctuates from time to time depending on the siltation rates at individual locations, this in turn is driven by climatic and marine processes. However during 2010 we began the process of seeking approval for a dredge-disposal operation to re-open Kirkcaldy Harbour, which has been closed to commercial traffic for some time. The project will allow the neighbouring flour mill to import its grain via short sea coasters rather than trucking the grain from various locations in the UK. We received the licence for this project in January 2011 following the submission of a rigorous Best Practical Environmental Options assessment and it will significantly reduce road movements through the centre of Kirkcaldy and secure the future of the mill in the town, whilst also significantly lowering the carbon footprint of the mill’s supply chain.

In Grangemouth, our 2010 dredge disposal licence application was granted for three years, this is one of the first such multi-year licences issued in Scotland and is a major achievement and a model for the future under the new licensing regime which will commence in April 2011.

Water Quality, Pollution Avoidance and Control

As reported in previous years, the Marine Division in Scotland continues to upgrade and exercise the various emergency and spill response plans for our Scottish Ports and Harbour Authority waters. This year the major live play exercise in the Forth was called ‘Black Wood’, the aims of the exercise were to:

• Test the function of the Clearwater Forth Spill Response Plan;


• Test communication;


• Test interfaces with other plans that become invoked with Clearwater Forth;


• Test the command and control function;


• Test the media interface during an incident;


• Test waste management functions and the role of the environment group; and,


• Test the strategic decision making process.

Players in the exercise included the usual participants, particularly the statutory agencies, shipping companies and agents.

All of our plans are regularly reviewed and exercised. Last year we reported that the Port of Tilbury plan was due for review. The plan was reviewed during the year and subsequently tested. During 2011, the Clearwater Forth plan will be reviewed.

Waste Management

During the year NRL took over the contract for the provision of waste services within the Port of Tilbury. This process has created advantages for both Nordic and the Port of Tilbury. There is reduced cost, increased access to professional advice and expertise and improved data provision and tracking. This is part of a drive across the group to reduce the volume of waste to landfill. Similarly in Scotland we have reviewed waste and recycling contracts and have delivered synergies that allowed us to hold the waste management charge to ships calling at our ports at the 2009 levels, despite the increase in landfill tax last April.

Nordic has continued to deliver added value services to customers through working with them to promote recycling and landfill diversion. We are particularly proud of Nordic’s key role in the success of one of their largest customers; Land Securities. Land Securities won the ‘Responsible Waste Management’ category of the ‘Sustainable City Awards’ back in February. Nordic helped Land Securities move from a 21% recycling rate to a 50% recycling rate with the remaining 50% going to produce energy; a zero landfill position.

Community Responsibility, Education and Involvement

Community Engagement

We believe that it is important to engage with local communities where projects we are progressing have an impact on them. An example of this is Forth Energy's renewable energy applications where we have adopted the consultation approach required by the new Scottish Planning Act for major projects despite the consenting system (through the Electricity Act) not requiring such an approach. All of the documentation associated with the consultations, and applications generally are available on the Forth Energy website.

Across a number of ports, but particularly Tilbury, we engage with local schools through the provision of interview training, Young International Trader Awards, other education challenges and work experience. We have also facilitated port tours and presentations to a number of universities across our sites, provided internships and suggested practical student projects. We continue to fund two Ph.D. students at Glasgow and Dundee universities. The Port of Tilbury continues to lead the consortium of universities and further education colleges that manage the East of England Regional Logistics Academy and support the South West Essex Business Education Partnership.

Tilbury has also been working with the Sector Skills Council (Skills for Logistics), Maxim Transport and Unipart Logistics, who have successfully bid for the licence to run a National Skills Academy for the logistics sector in England. Its aim is one of “transforming the sector by increasing awareness, understanding and investment in skills as the route to the development of a more productive, efficient, safe, inclusive and low carbon logistics sector.” Following the successful bid, the Skills Funding Agency agreed a £250,000 funding package to support the business planning stage with delivery in mid 2011.

Port of Tilbury actively supports and assists Thurrock Council through the Thurrock Learning Partnership and the Thurrock Workforce Development Group and have recently become part of the Economic Development Working Group. Other projects have included the support of the 2010 Thurrock’s “Next Top Boss” Project. The basic concept of this project was to bring some of the key Thurrock companies together, to shape a competition that identified and fostered business talent and ambition among young people in Thurrock. It also helped Thurrock Council and the Thames Gateway Development Corporation promote Thurrock and its opportunities.

The Group also makes its land available free of charge for public events. This year these included The Chinese State Circus as part of the Edinburgh Festival, the Leith Festival and the Zapcats powerboat event for the second year in succession.

Charitable Activities

The list of charities that our various businesses are involved with is extensive, however, a small number of these are outlined below. Our involvement varies from donations, through activities to raise funds to the provision of services, time and support. The Company donated land to The Merchant Navy Memorial Trust for the erection of a monument in memory of merchant seamen who have lost their lives in conflict. The memorial was unveiled by HRH The Princess Royal in November. One of the figures in the 6 Times multi-part sculpture work by Antony Gormley sits on one of our piers beside Ocean Terminal. There have been fund raising events such as the two teams from the Marine Department in Scotland that went white water rafting on the River Tummel – raising £3,000 for Seafarers UK. Ocean Terminal supports a number of charities by allowing them space in the Centre to promote the work they do and collect vital funds. In addition, as in previous years during December, the Ocean Terminal management team organised a Charity Gift Wrap stall. Ocean Terminal donates all gift wrap and accessories required. In 2010, charities that took part were:

• SANDS Lothian;


• Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre;


• Marie Curie Cancer Care;


• Save the Children;


• Poppy Scotland;


• Childline (NSPCC); and,


• British Heart Foundation.

Regulatory Engagement

Forth Ports actively engages with government on the impact of proposed legislation. Over the past year this has included the Marine (Scotland) Act and associated secondary legislation, the Carbon Reduction Commitment, Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations in both Scotland and England and prospective legislation relating to third party access to private networks.

Management Involvement

A number of members of the management team hold voluntary positions in organisations, these include:

• Charles Hammond, Group Chief Executive, is Chair of the UK Major Ports Group (UKMPG) and a member of the Scottish Government Energy Advisory Board


• Perry Glading, the Managing Director of the Port of Tilbury, is a Director of Skills for Logistics


• Morag McNeill, the Group Company Secretary, is a Director of the Court of The Edinburgh Academy and a member of the Executive Committee of the Pilots' National Pension Fund


• Captain Bob Baker, the Chief Harbour Master, is a Trustee Director of the Pilots' National Pension Fund, a Council Member for Scotland on the general council for the UK Harbour Masters Association and Member of the Executive of the British Tug Owners Association


• Dr Derek McGlashan, the Environment and Energy Manager, is a Director of the Forth Estuary Forum, Chair of the joint UKMPG and British Ports Association Environment and Policy Group, represents the UKMPG on the Scottish Government’s Marine Strategy Forum and the UK Emissions Trading Group and holds an honorary position at the University of Dundee


• Frank Monaghan, the Group Safety Manager, sat on the Editorial Panel of Port Skills and Safety until the panel was disbanded at the end of 2010.


• Bob Cowan, the Group Financial Accountant, is a member of the Audit Committee of Mercy Corp Scotland


• Simon Harper, Training and Development Manager, is a member of the Board of Governors at Chafford Hundred School and Havering College of Further & Higher Education, he is also a Director of the St Clere’s School Co-operative Learning Community Trust


• Martyn Clark, Harbour Master Forth Outer, is the Chairman of the local Port Welfare Committee for Central & West Scotland of the Merchant Navy Welfare Board


• Derrick Turner, Head of Finance of the Property Division, is a guest lecturer at Napier University


• Ray Clark, Estates Manager, sits on the Board of the Leith Festival Association and on the Water of Leith Action Group Committee

As at 31st March 2011

About Us

• Corporate Social Responsibility
• History

Corporate Social Responsibility

| Sitemap   | Disclaimer  

Forth Ports Limited ©2012