Occupational Health and Safety ("OHS")
GRI 403
HKEX Aspect B2, KPI B2.3
HKEX Aspect B2, KPI B2.3
We regard health and safety as an indispensable part of our business and have enshrined this in our SD 2030 Strategy and our 2025 and 2030 KPIs. Updated in November 2022, our Health and Safety Policy underpins our commitment to providing and maintaining a healthy and safe environment for all employees, customers, contractors and members of our community during their association with the Company.
Endorsed by the Board and signed by the Chief Executive, the Policy sets the direction on how to achieve our ultimate goal of Zero Harm through demonstrating solid leadership and effective management of occupational health and safety in the planning, design and conduct of all business activities.
The relevant SDG is:
SDG 3
Ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing.
Our Zero Harm Commitment
Zero Harm is a Company-wide commitment to eliminate or mitigate health and safety hazards across our operations, encompassing all our people, regardless of their seniority or level of experience. The commitment requires everyone to go beyond compliance and proactively work on an ongoing basis to create a safe and harm-free working environment for all our stakeholders.
To achieve Zero Harm requires a high level of commitment. It means no fatalities, no injuries and no harm to health as a result of our business activities.
In July 2022, we appointed a Head of Health and Safety, a new position created to further strengthen and drive a health and safety culture, awareness and performance across our operations. The role reports directly to our Chief Executive with a functional reporting line to our Director.
Safety Management Systems
Swire Properties’ Safety Management System (“SMS”) is fully aligned to the ISO 45001:2018 standard, the international standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management. As at 31st December 2022, the SMS across our Hong Kong portfolio and 4 of our 6 Chinese Mainland portfolio are certified under ISO 45001:2018 by Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency and China Quality Certification Centre. In 2022, we extended the ISO 45001:2018 certification to our managed residential portfolio in Hong Kong.
The provision of healthy and safe workplaces is critical to our continued success. In 2022, we developed strategies to further integrate health and safety considerations into every part of our business. This approach is supported by strong leadership and management endorsement and oversight. Health and safety issues and performance are standard agenda items that are presented and discussed at monthly Executive Committee meetings chaired by the Chief Executive, reported in quarterly board papers and reviewed at every board meeting. The Chief Executive is accountable and oversees the implementation of OHS matters. Health and safety performance indicators are also presented to our parent company, Swire Pacific on a quarterly basis.
Employee Engagement and Communication
Effective communication and employee engagement are essential elements of our Zero Harm strategy. In 2022, we strengthened these elements in various ways.
Swire Properties has Safety Management System Steering Committees (SMSSCs) in place in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland. These are chaired by our Head of Health and Safety and include health and safety representatives from each portfolio. The SMSSCs meet quarterly to monitor and evaluate the Company’s safety performance, risks and progress towards targets. Findings and updates from the SMSSCs are communicated down to the portfolio level through each portfolio’s Health and Safety Working Group and human resources department. Similar health and safety coordination meetings are held with representatives from Swire Hotels and Brickell City Centre in Miami on a quarterly basis.
Hazard, Near-miss and Incident Reporting
In 2022, we implemented several improvement initiatives in our hazard, near-miss and incident reporting which, in accordance with SMS procedures, all our employees have a duty to report. While we continue to perform routine safety walks, we also introduced an app-based Near-miss and Hazard Reporting System which allows our employees to report any near-miss incidents or hazardous conditions via their mobile devices. The app not only enables corrective actions to be tracked and implemented faster, it also supports data analysis, making trend analysis and reporting easier.
All workplace injuries are investigated in order to find and eliminate the root cause of the injuries and prevent reoccurrence. In 2022, we extended our investigation criteria to include high potential (“HiPo”) incidents, defined as non-serious injury incidents or near-miss events that have the potential to cause serious injuries or fatalities. A “four-box learning report” is produced which documents the findings for all HiPo incident investigations. These reports include information such as incident descriptions, contributing factors, underlying and root causes, and corrective plans and action plans. These reports are shared with the general managers of our portfolios and disseminated to employees via established communication channels.
We also continued our management safety walks, during which senior employees undertake safety walks around properties to demonstrate leadership commitment as well as to identify potential hazards. In 2022, we introduced joint safety inspections at Two Taikoo Place, which are discussed later in this section.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
Every office in each of our portfolios recognises the importance of ensuring the wellbeing of their employees. As such, our offices have created tailored programmes and campaigns which support mental and physical health in different and locally relevant ways.
We provide information to employees via the Company’s intranet, covering a range of topics relating to healthy work practices and office safety. We also conduct, on request, assessments of our employees’ workstation ergonomics, screen illumination and visual comfort.
In addition, we provide counselling services and learning opportunities through our Employee Assistance Programme, which offers in-person counselling and 24-hour telephone support from relevant professionals. We also host regular events for our employees, such as luncheons and training sessions, to promote physical, mental and emotional wellness and work-life balance. In 2022, we provided around 34,000 hours of health and safety related training.
2022 Health and Safety Performance
We prioritise the health and safety of our employees and pride ourselves on our safety-oriented workplace culture. This year, we maintained a record of zero workplace fatalities and serious or life-altering injuries among our employees and performed well in other health and safety related metrics.
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