Comprehensive standards for health and safety management are defined in a best practice safety manual that focuses on the management and control of common hazards in our operations. 60 hazards and topics are covered ranging from risk assessments, hazardous substances, lone working, safety committees, and travelling on company business. We assess compliance with these guidelines and identify areas for improvement at site level using an internal self-assessment audit tool called AuditMaster™. The audit tool consists of over 300 questions divided into four sections covering:

•	the management of health and safety;
•	risk assessments and documentation;
•	control and protection arrangements; and
•	health and welfare.

95% of our major operations achieved the target we set, to complete at least one audit using AuditMaster™ by the end of December 2003. We will continue to roll out this system across our operations.

Measurement and targets
EHS data is collected on-line from our operations worldwide, aggregated and then checked by the Group EHS function. Data and other EHS information reported externally are also reviewed as part of our external assurance process. As promised, an Independent Assurance Statement was provided for the first time in our 2003 EHS Report.

The following EHS aspects are reported:

•	energy and water use;
•	generation and disposal of waste;
•	climate change (through emissions of greenhouse gases);
•	other emissions to air (ozone depleting substances and volatile organic compounds/solvents);
•	product design for reduced environmental impact;
•	lost time incidents and health and safety performance;
•	fines and prosecutions;
•	environmental investment;
•	contaminated land and remediation; and
•	supply chain management.

We have chosen these areas as indicators as they are relevant to all our operations as a manufacturing and technology group. Performance data for these areas is provided separately from the Annual Report and Accounts via our website.

Establishing meaningful trends in performance is a challenge for the Group, given the diverse profile of our operations, which changes through acquisitions and disposals. We will continue to improve the quality of our data, building on the progress we have made during the year. In 2004, we introduced a single system with common definitions applicable globally for the measurement and reporting of lost time incident data through work-related injury and work-related illness. We expect to report this data in our next EHS report, together with details of any health and safety prosecutions, building on the reporting of environmental enforcement action over the last couple of years.

Five-year reduction targets set against a baseline year of 2001 have been set for the Group as a whole in the areas of greenhouse gas emissions, water use and waste disposal to landfill, expressed per £ million sales. We exceeded our 20% waste reduction target (normalised in tonnes per £ million sales) in 2003, with a total reduction of 45%. The Group EHS Committee is reviewing future waste targets in the light of changes in the Group's composition following last year's disposal of the Polymer business, and improvements in data quality. In addition, the Committee is looking at the scope for further reduction targets in other areas of environment, health and safety. We expect to publish these revised targets in our next EHS report.