Our people
SAFETY & HEALTH
At Woolworths we are committed to protecting the safety, health and welfare of our employees, customers, contractors, visitors and the community. Safety is a key aspect of our business and underpins all operational activity.
Our vision for safety in Woolworths is zero harm to our people, environment and community and is encapsulated in our Destination Zero program. This program is supported by the following principles:
- We will make safety personal
- No task is so urgent and no service so important that we cannot take time to do it safely
- We will aim to improve the quality of life, now and for future generations
- We are responsible for:
- our own safety and health
- the safety and health of our co-workers, customers, contractors and visitors
- our impact on the environment
- We recognise and promote excellence in safety, health and environmental performance.
We also recognise that the journey to achieve and sustain world-class safety performance has no destination; it continues forever and our aim is to prevent all incidents.
Our performance
Since 2006, we have reduced our Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) by 50%. While we missed our target rate of 13 by 7% in 2009, we reduced the rate by 19% over last year. Our target for 2010 is to achieve an LTIFR of less than 10. Our Short Term Incentive Program for management is linked to our safety performance.
Prosecutions
In 2009, a forklift collided with a high-rise order selector at the Mangere Distribution Centre in New Zealand. The operator of the forklift was struck by the selector's cage and sustained fractures to his ribs. The Department of Labour in New Zealand charged Progressive Enterprise Limited (PEL) with failure to take all practicable steps under the Health, Safety and Environment Act. PEL was fined $50,000.
International SOS (ISOS)
To safeguard our international travellers and expatriates, we have contracted International SOS to provide a duty-of-care program that gives the latest pre-travel information and day-to-day support and advice for emergency response and repatriation. The program was implemented in 2009.
Asbestos management
As part of our asbestos management program, we have a consistent asbestos inspection and removal service and we are implementing a centralized data management system to ensure critical data is captured and maintained.
Internal awards
CEO Safety Award
The 2008 CEO Safety Award was awarded to the Petrol division in Victoria at the Company Conference in August 2008. The award recognizes excellence in safety leadership. Submissions were judged on such criteria as results, innovation, leadership, and winning the hearts and minds of front line staff.
The Petrol division was awarded $100,000 to invest in further safety innovation and improvement strategies. The Logistics division also received the CEO's 'Highly Commended Award' for driving significant improvements in safety performance.
CEO Safety Club
In 2009, Tom McCrorie from Supermarkets and Lawrie Thomas from Logistics received the prestigious CEO Safety Club Award. The award recognises individuals that have made an outstanding contribution to safety.
Safety and Health governance framework
Safety and Health is the responsibility of management and every individual throughout Woolworths and is supported by safety, health and environment personnel who provide specialist advice and program development.
The Board oversees the effectiveness of our safety and health program through its People Policy Committee and through the Woolworths Safety and Health Executive Committee chaired by the CEO. The latter meets monthly to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the safety and health vision, principles, policy, standards, strategy, initiatives, procedures and governance across the group. Woolworths' workforce is represented in formal joint management-worker health and safety committees. Called Safety Teams, these operate at a site or store level and their functions are formalized through charters, procedures and legislative requirements where applicable.
Most of our workforce is covered through the formal agreements which exist with unions. Employee representatives review and approve each division's safety and health procedures manuals.
Agreed policies covered in the manual include, but are not limited to:
- Safety & Health Policy
- Safety Health & Environment Management Planning
- Safety Health & Environment Responsibilities
- Statutory Safety Health & Environment Training
- Safety Health & Environment Issue Resolution
- Internal & External Communication
- Joint Employee and Management Consultation Mechanism
- Risk Management Activities (Personal Protective Equipment, Hazard reporting, Manual Handling, etc)
- Emergency Preparedness and First Aid
- Workplace Inspections
- Incident Reporting and Investigation
- Internal and External Auditing
- Management Review
- SH&E Performance Reporting.
The Safety and Health framework is applicable to Woolworths' activities in all jurisdictions and countries in which we operate including Australia, New Zealand, India, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Education and training
Comprehensive training programs have been developed for safety and health communication, hazard and risk management, incident reporting and analysis and safety leadership.
These include:
- Drive 4 Life (Driver Education)
- Move 4 Life (Manual Handling)
- Safety the Woolworths Way (Leading through Safety).
In addition employees receive training through standard operating procedures where safety requirements are integrated and part of the way we work. We continue to provide access to our lifestyle-based program Drive 4 Life to the family members of employees during promotions and at discounted rates.
Our workforce in Australia and New Zealand has a low risk of exposure to serious diseases such as HIV/AIDS in general and community awareness is high. Education programs run by government and industry are readily available, accordingly the country risk is low.