In 2020, Blackwoods conducted a study into its injury trends and identified that most injuries involved soft tissue and were directly associated with manual handling of heavy, long, sharp or awkward products.

To help reduce these injuries, Blackwoods introduced S.A.M. — Stop, Assess, Move — a program to empower team members to make safer choices when undertaking manual handling.

The behavioural-based program asks team members to do a quick mental assessment of a task prior to it being undertaken.

S.A.M. is a simple catchphrase unique to Blackwoods that gives team members ownership of their actions.

Since the program was introduced, Blackwoods has seen a reduction in its total recordable injury frequency rate.

Stories that showcase how S.A.M. was applied are discussed at Blackwoods’ daily pre-starts, team meetings, customer meetings, displayed on workplace noticeboards and broadly circulated to team members.