Health and Safety

At Online Distribution we know that it’s our people that make our company what it is. We care about our employees and visitors, and we take their wellbeing and health and safety seriously at all times.

We promote a culture of safety – our work is never so important that we cannot take the time to do it safely. We are proud that at a minimum, our workplace and employees comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act, all statutory and regulatory standards, applicable Codes of Practice and industry best practice guidelines.

We have put in place effective systems for reducing the risk of personal injury, ill health or even death by:

• identifying potential hazards and managing the associated risks;
• communicating and engaging employees on health and safety matters that affect them;
• accurately reporting and recording our health and safety goals;
• regularly training and upskilling our employees;
• providing up to date safety guidelines for all contractors and visitors to our warehousing facilities;
• dealing with any emergency that may arise in an efficient and controlled manner.

Wellness is a critical aspect of Health and Safety. Everyone at Online Distribution has access to a free confidential counselling service, and we provide health insurance for our permanent employees who have six months or more service.

Everyone gets to contribute and we continuously monitor

We have a National Health and Safety Committee that meets monthly. The membership of this committee is made up of representatives from our warehouses, and a rotation of our senior executive leaders. Committee members are encouraged to bring to the meetings items that have been raised by employees at their sites. They discuss any key health and safety events that may have occurred, review the learnings that came from the investigation process, and propose recommendations for change where necessary.

Daily health and safety toolbox meetings are held at our sites, providing opportunity for two-way communication on health and safety matters. Also, all our sites have an employee login to our web-based health and safety compliance tool, giving employees easy access to report all events (events and observations), and any hazards and improvements they may identify.

Our management team conducts a high-level annual Health and Safety Management System Review, covering 19 different elements of the programme. The review identifies progress made during the year on each category and noting where further changes and improvements can be made in the coming year. The overall score in the 2022 review showed a steady increase in the scores compared to the previous reviews, which aligns with our focus on continuous improvement throughout our Health, Safety and Wellbeing programme. Once the review is completed, we develop and set our annual Health and Safet Goals for the year, which are shared throughout the business.

Once every two years we survey all our warehouse and office employees with our Health and Safety Culture Survey. The survey includes questions on Communicating, Leading, Knowing, Resourcing, Reporting/Learning, and Involving.  We conducted the fifth of these biennial surveys in 2022, and we are pleased to report that the average scores continue to illustrate a positive safety culture exists within the organisation.