Swire Properties has Safety Management Systems (“SMS”) in place to maintain a healthy and safe work environment and minimise any adverse health and safety impacts arising from our operations. As at 31st December 2021, the SMS in six of our properties in our Hong Kong portfolio and four properties in our Chinese Mainland portfolio comply with the new and more stringent ISO 45001:2018 standard.
Providing a healthy and safe workplace is critical to our continued success. In 2021, we developed strategies to further integrate health and safety considerations into every part of our business. This approach is supported by strong senior management endorsement and oversight. Health and safety issues and performance are regular topics at monthly executive committee meetings, appear on board papers and are discussed at every quarterly board meeting.
The SMS Steering Committees, which are chaired by our Senior Manager, Health & Safety in Hong Kong and the Director of Technical Services and Sustainable Development in the Chinese Mainland, include representatives from each portfolio. The committees meet periodically to monitor and evaluate the Company’s safety performance. Instructions and updates from the SMS Steering Committee are communicated down to the portfolio level, both in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, through each portfolio’s Health and Safety Working Group. These Working Groups are chaired by the portfolio’s General Manager or their alternate and include employee representatives from our technical services and building management teams from each portfolio. They also hold regular meetings to monitor and evaluate the Company’s safety performance.
In accordance with the SMS, all our employees are required to immediately report any workplace hazards to their supervisors. We regularly conduct inspections to identify potential workplace hazards and assess risks. Follow-up actions are then carried out to prevent accidents and maintain safe workplace conditions in our buildings, equipment and facilities. The results of our inspections are reported to the Safety Steering Committee and we monitor the progress of any follow-up actions.
We have also implemented accident investigation programmes to identify the causes of accidents so that we can adopt preventive measures to avoid reoccurrence. Managers of our business units at a supervisory level or above issue accident reports once formal investigations are completed.
In 2021, we also launched “Management Safety Walks”, during which senior employees demonstrate their commitment to improving health and safety by walking around properties to identify any potential hazards. These are complemented by our new “Near-miss and Hazard Reporting System” – an e-platform that allows our employees to report any near-miss incidents or hazardous conditions in their buildings. These reports are essential, as they allow changes to be implemented before incidents and injuries occur.