At the core of our organisational culture is a 'safety comes first' philosophy which forms the basis of all of our activities. Our primary goal is zero accidents and injuries. Cathay Pacific and Dragonair share the same goals and this is demonstrated by the adoption and implementation of similar safety policies and procedures.

Key issues raised by stakeholders on Safety

Aircraft safety for passengers and staff. Staff health and safety. Emergency response. Health pandemic response.

Staff safety

There were zero staff fatalities in 2010, and zero serious work-related injuries.

The year 2010 saw a continued emphasis on improving Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) issues, particularly for cabin crew. All new joining crew now complete a module related to OHS as part of their induction training, and a half-day training session on manual handling skills is now an annual event for cabin crew.

OHS performance indicators examining both the rate and severity of injuries are tracked on a monthly basis. Despite all the work being done to improve OHS and reduce crew and staff injury, several indicators of cabin crew injury showed an increase in 2010, with the majority relating to galley services and equipment as well as handling passenger cabin baggage. Despite having successfully reduced rates in the short and long-term injuries among cabin crew, there was an increase of approximately 30% in the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rates (LTIFR) in medium-term injuries amongst cabin crew. In trying to reduce this problem, we are working closely with our work injury rehabilitation provider to better understand the reasons for this increase. A great deal of attention has been focused on reinforcing safe working practices and the risk assessment and redesign of galley supplies, equipment and service protocols to minimise crew injuries. This includes a new working group to better manage cabin baggage and reduce related cabin crew injuries. Since cabin baggage is a key contributor to cabin crew injuries, we have also taken steps to minimise the amount of excess cabin baggage being brought into the aircraft cabin. We are educating our customers on the problems of excess cabin baggage. However, amongst ground staff, we were able to achieve the targeted reduction of 5% in LTIFR.