Safety initiatives

Key initiatives undertaken during the year are detailed below.

Bunnings

At Bunnings the mental health and wellbeing of team members remains the highest priority. During the year a business-wide psychosocial risk assessment was conducted to better understand the workplace factors that may impact team member mental health and wellbeing. This risk assessment will form the basis of future wellbeing strategy development to ensure that wellbeing interventions are prevention focussed and informed by team members. Leader wellbeing was also a focus with proactive counselling calls offered to leaders in Australia and New Zealand, particularly in regions most impacted by COVID-19. In addition, to empower team members to prioritise wellbeing, a new mental health and wellbeing course was developed, with more than 15,500 team members completing the training since launching in November 2021.

COVID-19 continued to present a risk to team member health and wellbeing throughout the financial year. In March 2022, in partnership with BizHealth, Bunnings team members were offered COVID-19 vaccination booster doses through 75 vaccination hubs, established at centrally located Bunnings stores in Australia. Bunnings also partnered with the Victorian Department of Health to establish 21 vaccination hubs at selected stores across Victoria to encourage community participation in the COVID-19 booster program.

Kmart Group

Kmart Group is committed to improving the health, safety and wellbeing of team members and providing a safe shopping experience for its customers. It implemented a comprehensive COVID-19 risk control strategy in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency that allowed all Kmart Group sites to provide a safe working and shopping environment and comply with evolving government restrictions. Kmart has invested resources and time into the development of critical risk management protocols, specifically for the protection of pedestrians from vehicle interactions, objects falling from heights and situations of customers threatening team members. This program has been an inclusive one of consultation, training, and verification.

Target achieved a ninth consecutive year of improved TRIFR and workers compensation safety performance.

Catch’s implementation of the CatchSAFE Safety Management System (SMS) has ensured a strong focus on continuous improvement and effectiveness of safety standards. The SMS will play a key role in driving the safety strategy into the future.

Officeworks

Officeworks commenced phase one of its Safety Behaviour Program and launched the “Switch On”, two-day workshop. Participants from the Officeworks Leadership Team, Store Operations and Supply Chain teams were trained to develop and maintain a culture of awareness, accountability and courage. Officeworks’ health and wellbeing program, Your Best Life, continued and this year provided team members with tools, resources and initiatives to improve team wellbeing. The Moving Mindz 2.0 eight-week wellbeing challenge inspired more than 2,400 Officeworks team members from across the business to participate in the app-based program, which promoted and tracked daily wellness activities such as sleep, nutrition and exercise. Moving Mindz 2020 received a “highly commended” in the National Safety Awards of Excellence, Best Wellbeing Program category (December 2021) from The National Safety Council of Australia.

Chemicals, Energy and Fertilisers

WesCEF’s operations include the manufacture of hazardous material and as such, manage several inherent High Potential (HiPo) risks – risks that have the potential to cause serious harm or worse. These risks are, in most cases, unable to be controlled via elimination and therefore need comprehensive controls to suitably mitigate the risk. During the financial year, there were 21 HiPo – no control – incidents, compared to 20 for the same period last year. Of the 21 incidents, 15 related to dropped objects, which supports the continued focus in this area. WesCEF continued to expand its HiPo risk management program, including the rollout of critical control checklists and the development of performance standards that allow individual critical controls to be assessed for effectiveness.

WesCEF continues to embed psychological wellbeing as an accepted health and safety principle with its workforce.  This has been achieved by continuing internal mental health online training for all employees, and online external training for supervisors; the introduction of quarterly Wellness webinars; providing resources and information through the WesCEF intranet (Connect); and actively supporting key community events, such as R U OK? Day and Mental Health Week.

Industrial and Safety

With the ongoing challenges of adapting to COVID-19 and the associated impacts on team members, the Industrial and Safety division has invested in strengthening its mental health and wellbeing programs. In addition to welcoming 30 mental health first aiders, Blackwoods grew its Health and Happiness community, Coregas improved its safety interaction program, Greencap delivered psychological health and wellbeing workshops, NZ Safety Blackwoods launched its FeelSAFE program with psychological, physical and financial support for team members, and Workwear Group prepared mental health leader training for launch in 2023. These initiatives are tracking well, with positive engagement and feedback from team members. The division’s focus on mental health and wellbeing programs will be maintained in the coming years.

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