Trinity Mirror is not a multinational nor is it engaged in 'heavy' industry. It is not, therefore, exposed to some of the risks faced by those who operate in developing countries or at the sharp end of environmental exposure. The greatest exposure for the Group would, therefore, be a systems failure that led to a domestic failure of its environmental, health and safety or ethical policies. It is unlikely that a failure in any of these three areas would be catastrophic.

The Board believes that the Company's main exposure would be one of reputational damage. The procedure that the Company employs to control and manage these risks is through a regular review of its standards and systems and through training of relevant employees and managers.

The Company's Standards of Business Conduct are embedded within the culture of the Group. More recently the Company's health and safety policies and systems have been put under review and have been consolidated and codified. More attention is now being paid than in the past to environmental matters.

The Company believes that opportunities in these areas are, similarly, reputational. We believe that there are advantages to being seen as the employer of choice for those entering our industry, that decision having been made on an assessment, amongst many other things, of our corporate social responsibility programmes. Those programmes will also be key in the retention of staff. We also believe that there are obvious commercial advantages from being seen as a socially responsible company.

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