How we’re performing
The scale of HS2 gives us a unique opportunity to raise health and safety standards across the industry, working with our partners, using evidence-based solutions and harnessing innovation to better protect people.
We’ve introduced performance measures across the programme so we can build on successes and address areas where we can improve. This will promote consistent working and evidence to drive up standards year-on-year.
We publish an annual review detailing progress against our health, safety and wellbeing commitments to date, including case studies and performance information. It is published to provide an update on progress in achieving our Health and Safety Strategy, which continues to put health and safety at the heart of our organisation as we move through peak construction.
We have seen the number of hours worked increase from 62 million in financial year 2022/23 to 65 million in financial year 2023/24. This means we continue to have large numbers of people onsite in high-risk environments.
As with all major construction programmes, health and safety risks increase in line with the volume and intensity of work. In 2020 – 2021, we reviewed our Health and Safety Performance Indicators (HSPIs) and assessed our position through benchmarking against other major programmes and organisations including Crossrail, Thames Tideway, EDF Energy, Openreach, Highways England and the North London Heat and Power Project. We wanted to understand the health and safety measures they report on more fully and this resulted in some changes to HSPI indicators for 2021 – 2022.
We continue our commitment to health and safety by working closely with our supply chain, occupational health and safety leadership forums and working groups to drive best practice in identifying, understanding and managing risk.
Read our Health, Safety and Wellbeing Review 2024 (opens in a new window).
Our Health and Safety Performance
We set out to achieve improved standards in health and safety performance, learning and building on megaprojects that have gone before us and leaving a positive legacy for future projects.
Our Health and Safety Performance Indicators (HSPI) measure six areas including leading and lagging performance, occupational health and wellbeing, training, supervision, engagement and assurance. Each area has its own scoring criteria, but they are all measured on a scale of 0 to 3, categorised as follows:
- Underperforming
- Performing well
- Exceeding target
The average of the six individual HSPIs provides our overall HSPI score, which gives us a programme-wide picture of how we’re managing health and safety performance.
Our programme HSPI target for HS2 started at 1.20 in 2018. In line with our strategic ambition, we have continuously revised and set the bar higher, moving to our target of 2.20. In 2021 – 2022, we missed our target of 2.20.
Despite the level of risk brought about by thousands of people working in high-risk environments, we’ve exceeded our target, achieving a final index of 2.32 against our Health and Safety Performance Index (HSPI) target of 2.20.
We review our Health and Safety Performance Index (HSPI) measures annually. Following the review, we have identified areas to improve some of our measures for 2024/25.
Our performance to date
In 2022 – 2023, 62 million hours were worked – and since 2016, nearly 200 million hours have been worked. We have seen the number of hours worked increase to 65 million in financial year 2023/24. This means we continue to have large numbers of people onsite in high-risk environments.
Against this background, many of our measures are industry leading, such as our Accident Frequency Rate (AFR), and other measures including Injury Weighted Index (IWI), Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) and All Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) show strong performance despite the rapid pace and volume of delivery progress. Our performance across the programme demonstrates our commitment to health and safety.
We always strive to set the bar higher for HS2. As we mobilise further parts of our programme over a geographically wide area, we will not lose focus on our performance.
In the next three years, we predict we’ll work about 200 million hours – the same amount worked in the last eight years on the project.
Our health and safety performance
3.93 Injury Weighted Index
Injury Weighted Index (IWI) rate v Hours worked per year.
0.05 Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) RIDDOR
The AFR (RIDDOR rate) is currently 0.05, which is industry leading.
0.14 Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR)
Our LTIFR is 0.14 which has improved on the previous year rate of 0.16 at the end of March 2023.
0.76 All Accident Frequency Rate (AAFR)
Despite an increase in hours, our All Accident Frequency Rate has remained fairly constant since 2017, with a slight increase in 2023-2024.
0.28 High Potentials (HiPos)
As hours have increased year on year the number of High Potentials has also increased due to workload and risk of activity. This displays a strong reporting culture. High figures in early years are due to low hours worked.
1.37 No harm/no loss (Near miss)
As hours have increased year on year the number of No harm/no loss has increased. Our HiPo rate increased to 0.27 (comprising 178 HiPos) in 2023/24, up from 0.22 (133 HiPos) in 2022/23.