Health and safety are embedded throughout the organization and each employee has a voice in at least one of the many groups dedicated to the cause. Individual operations have a primary committee responsible for program development and implementation. At larger sites, there are typically several, including managerial, employee, joint union-management, and departmental health and safety committees.

Accountability
Borax employees commit to safety in word and deed. Their commitment includes developing individual safety plans and living by them; mastering safety skills, such as defensive driving techniques; starting all meetings with a safety topic; and, taking part in weekly Safety Management Audits that feature observing, discussing and tracking both safe and potentially unsafe actions and situations. Contractors are held to the same standards.

We are also committed to meeting or exceeding occupational health regulations at every operation. Employees at U.S. operations - representing more than half our workforce - attend at least eight hours of safety training each year as required by law, and another 20 hours or more annually to meet Borax's internal safety standards.

Borax also follows Rio Tinto's Safety Standard for Recording and Reporting Incidents and Injuries which establishes risk identification and management, investigation and reporting procedures. As part of this protocol, Borax investigates all work-related accidents, injuries, illnesses and diseases - as well as all near misses - to determine root causes and corrective actions. Investigations are recorded in our global Incident Tracking and Reporting System, and disseminated broadly so that lessons learned at one site benefit the entire organization.

Internal Performance
In 2003, our workforce suffered no disabling injuries or fatalities. Only four of our more than 1,450 employees experienced an injury that was serious enough to cause them to miss work. In fact, the majority of our operations completed the entire year without any serious injuries.

We measure our performance through our Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR), or the number of serious injuries for every 200,000 hours worked - and All Injury Frequency Rate, which captures the rate for both minor and serious injuries. In 2003, Borax failed to meet its LTIFR target, but exceeded its target for all injuries by achieving a rate of 1.0 cases per 200,000 hours worked.

To put these numbers in context, the U.S. Office of Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that in 2002, the average injury and illness rate (equivalent to AIFR) was 5.3 cases per 200,000 hours worked - or more than five times higher than Borax's. The chart below shows our safety performance over time.

External Performance
Borax also measures its health and safety performance by number of violations of health and safety regulations inside our facilities, and the number of environmental, health and safety incidents affecting the local community. We met our target in 2003.