Chief Executive's Statement
Our strategy

Health and safety

It is with deepest regret that we report on a fatality that occurred on the Diego Garcia Joint Venture DG21 during a tree felling operation. Atkins has an equity stake of 24.5% in the Joint Venture and we have provided support, including advice on how to further improve the health and safety arrangements.

We set our own challenging targets for health and safety and our performance remains better than the industry average performance as compiled by the HSE Labour Force Survey. We are keen to continue to improve, by expanding our safety leadership programme, and to reduce the number of manual handling accidents which account for 23% of serious accidents in construction. We also actively encourage the reporting of incidents and near-misses as a positive step towards accident prevention.

All of our operations are now covered by OHSAS 18001 and three of our businesses have also received RoSPA awards: Gold for Highways and Transportation, and Design and Engineering Solutions; and Distinction for Asset Management (which was awarded for the 22nd year running).