Safety and Security

Our North American companies are represented on the Group Executive Safety Committee which leads Group-wide safety initiatives. Each division in North America follows the structure and workings of the Executive Safety Committee. Each is headed by the President of the Division and reviews safety performance and keeps itself abreast of the initiatives and changes required to drive the improvements in safety performance.

This year we have reduced our injury and vehicle collision rates in all operating companies. In particular First Student has achieved a 41% reduction in passenger injuries and First Vehicle Services has reduced lost time injuries by 36%.

Improvements in North American Operating Company Safety Performance for the period April 2006 - March 2007 compared to the previous 12 months
	First Transit	First Student	First Vehicle Services
All injuries per 1,000 employees per year	-19%	-11%	-29%
Lost time injuries (over 1 day) per 1,000 employees per year	-10%	-24%	-36%
Passenger injuries per million miles	-10%	-41%	n/a*
Vehicle collisions per million miles	-14%	-8%	n/a*

* not applicable

Although there have been no employee or passenger fatalities there have been a small number of third party fatalities associated with the operation of our buses. These occurred in circumstances beyond our control. We deeply regret these incidents and continue to develop our drivers' ability to manage unexpected circumstances via our driver training programmes.

During the year our safety systems in First Student were the subject of an extensive third party audit conducted by Daecher Consulting Group. This involved visits to 44 locations. Their report concluded "... we can say unequivocally that First Student has the highest level of awareness of OSHA regulations and a higher level of compliance than most in the passenger and pupil transportation industry. This is not to say that First Student is perfect or that their efforts are complete. However, we are confident that the improvements that are needed will be accomplished by the Regional and Location Management personnel based on the positive attitudes that we consistently observed during our visits."

Reducing Injuries to Our Employees

The Injury Prevention Programme (IPP) has been a key contributor to improvements in safety performance. The programme promotes safe behaviour and seeks to improve communication on safety issues. It has now been rolled out to all our North American employees.

This has been supported by rolling safety improvement programmes in each operating company.

• First Student continues to invest heavily in driver training which is helping to reduce passenger injuries. It also supports reductions in employee injuries, one third of which occur as a result of collisions. We have developed and implemented improved safety training for our technicians to help reduce occurrence of injuries in the workshops. Monthly 'safety toolbox' talks are delivered to improve awareness and knowledge of workshop safety issues. Each location also conducts a monthly safety facility inspection to identify and reduce hazards in the workplace.
• In First Vehicle Services the move to a regional structure has improved communication on safety issues. Regular communication of safety performance allows sites to rank themselves in relation to their peers. Safety alerts send daily safety messages to sites (these may be general safety tips or lessons to be learnt as a result of incidents). The job hazard analysis process has been strengthened and there is an ongoing programme of safety training conduced by e-mailing topics and safety material to each location on a monthly basis. The company is committed to achieving certification under the OSHA Voluntary Protection Programme (VPP) which promotes improved safety in the workplace.
• First Transit has supported the introduction of IPP with additional training for location managers on post injury investigation techniques. The training enables more accurate assessment of the nature and cause of incidents. The Three Without Trouble campaign continues which challenges locations to operate both accident- and injury-free on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - days that have consistently generated the highest volume of incidents. The campaign has helped the company as a whole to achieve numerous weeks where no injuries occurred during the three-day focus periods.

Bus Passenger Safety

Our commitment to driver training is an important factor in reducing passenger injury rates. The Smith System Defensive Driving training continues to provide the basis for encouraging safer driving habits.

First Student has now trained over 6,500 drivers in the Smith System Advanced Driving module which focuses on the five keys to safe driving. Over 18,000 drivers have completed intersection and foul weather driving modules. Specialised passenger management training modules have also been introduced. More than 20,000 (87%) of drivers and attendants have completed these modules which aim to reduce bullying and improve student behaviour.

We continue to work to ensure sleeping children are not left on our buses. A major step this year has been a commitment to invest in alarm systems which will prevent drivers from leaving the bus until they have checked for sleeping children. The initiative reflects our commitment to ensuring the safety of the children we carry.

First Transit continues to trial Drivecam technology. These forward- and back-facing lenses trigger a camera to record events such as sharp braking. Trials with 464 units at five locations have proven highly successful contributing to reductions in collision rates. There are now plans to install an additional 1,400 units in the coming year.

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