We take a proactive approach to health and safety at the Sanger Institute to ensure that we provide the best support to our scientists and our colleagues. To enable safe, responsible research and working practices, we identify and control risks and invest in competence and training.

But physical health and safety is only part of the equation of healthy, happy work; we know that psychological health and wellbeing is equally important. To foster a culture of safety and wellbeing, we focus on stress prevention, early support and empowering people to speak up and learn from feedback.

We foster a culture of safety through clear accountability and continuous improvement. We monitor performance using proactive and reactive indicators such as:

• inspections and audits,
• risk assessments,
• mandatory training,
• learning from incidents and near misses.

Our governance and assurance includes regular reporting through leadership and committee oversight, and transparency through our Institute reporting.

Our commitment

At the Wellcome Sanger Institute, we believe excellent science depends on excellent health, safety and wellbeing. We are committed to providing a safe, healthy and supportive environment for our staff, students, visiting researchers, contingent workers, contractors and visitors. We take a proactive approach: identifying, assessing and controlling risks arising from our work; monitoring performance; and continuously improving.

Psychological health and wellbeing

We are committed to psychological health and safety at work. We aim to minimise work-related stress through prevention, early support, and a wellbeing programme that promotes resilience, self-care and a culture where people can speak up and be heard.

Our Governance

Leadership and oversight: Our Institute Director and Board hold ultimate responsibility for health and safety and provide active oversight through regular assurance of performance.

Shared responsibility: Everyone at Sanger has a responsibility to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and that of others, and to follow safe systems of work.

Competence and support: We provide appropriate resources, training and competent advice to support safe, high-quality research and operations.

Occupational Health: Our community has access to Occupational Health support where appropriate.

Consultation and engagement: We consult with employees and stakeholders on health and safety matters, including through employee representation and our Health and Safety Committee.

How we manage risk in a research environment

We identify and control risks associated with our activities, and we review emerging risks as our science and technology evolve. We work closely with Wellcome Genome Campus Limited and campus partners to coordinate safety arrangements for our premises and shared spaces.

Preparedness and emergency response: We maintain arrangements for first aid, incident response and emergency situations (including fire evacuation) and we regularly review readiness.

Learning culture: reporting, investigation and improvement

We encourage reporting of incidents, accidents and near misses so we can learn and prevent harm. Reports are investigated to identify root causes and improve controls to prevent recurrence. We share learning where appropriate to strengthen safety culture and prevent repeat events.

How we measure performance and provide assurance

We monitor both proactive and reactive indicators, such as:

• inspection and audit outcomes
• completion and quality of risk assessments
• incident and near-miss reporting (including hazard observations)
• completion of mandatory health and safety training

Governance reporting: Health and safety performance is regularly reviewed through our governance system, including leadership oversight, committee review and Institute reporting.

Continuous improvement

We maintain an annual health and safety plan that sets priorities and objectives, informed by performance, learning from events, and benchmarking with peer life science institutes. We use this to target improvements that protect people, enable our science and strengthen our culture.