It's twelve months since HSL launched the Safety Climate Tool (SCT) and the last year has seen ringing endorsements from some of the companies that have used it.

The SCT is a 40-question survey that enables employers to assess and address health and safety issues in the workplace. The series of questions can be tailored to help challenge both employers and employees to question their attitude towards health and safety.

Chris Shepherdson, Health, Safety and Environment Manager for United Biscuits, credits the SCT for a drop in major incidents and a reduction in lost hours. He said: "Since we've started using the tool we've had a 36 per cent drop in RIDDOR and lost time accidents, a 50 per cent drop in minor accidents, lost hours are down by 75 per cent and near-miss reporting is up by 75 per cent'.

A Year to Remember for Vale

The SCT has also helped to ensure that 2010 became a year to remember for global mining company Vale, whose Clydach nickel refinery established a record low for work-related injuries - down 20% over the previous year. Perhaps the most impressive thing about this statistic is that for the first time in Vale's 108-year history, none of the injuries represented a lost-time injury. Not a single worker from the 200 full-time employees or 100 contractors who work at the refinery missed work due to a work-related injury.

Chris Thomson, Environment, Health and Safety Manager at the refinery remarked, 'This is an outstanding achievement for us and demonstrates our commitment to the safety of our employees. Measuring the perceptions of our staff to safety was key to understanding where improvements could be made. The challenge now is to sustain this performance and move closer towards our goal of zero harm. I'm sure that the Safety Climate Tool will be instrumental to us achieving this.'

HSL's Products Director, Peter Davies is pleased with how well the tool has been received by industry, he commented, 'It's particularly satisfying to know that the SCT is making a difference in the workplace, even after just one year,' he added 'The tool has demonstrated that HSL's knowledge and expertise is easily transferable and invaluable to industry and we aim to follow on from this success with many more equally useful products'.

Read the United Biscuits Case Study

Read the Vale Case Study