Post continued to provide a safe and secure work environment for its employees. The incidence of work-related injuries fell by 14.3 per cent, with the lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) falling to a record low of 12 lost-time injuries per million work hours (compared with 14 last year). Post’s consistent focus on workplace safety initiatives and injury prevention and management programs has seen the incidence of workplace injury fall dramatically since the mid-1980s, when the corporate LTIFR was 63.

Post maintained a range of injury prevention and management programs, including the successful rehabilitation and return-to-work program. Other programs that promote workplace safety in a very practical way include Honda Australia Rider Training and a behavioural safety program, B-Safe, for postal delivery staff.

In July 2002, Post received three awards at the annual safety awards held by the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission. The awards were presented for the development of an OH&S auditing calendar for delivery centres, the implementation of a management system that continually monitors OH&S activities in a transport depot and the installation of a conveyor belt that reduces the risk of manual handling injuries in the dock area of a business centre.





Post’s corporate health and wellbeing program, Get a Balanced Life, is designed to enhance productivity and attendance while providing employees with tangible quality-of-life benefits. The program entered its fourth year in 2002–03 and continued to attract interest from other Australian companies and government agencies.

Data from the two staff health risk assessments conducted in 1999 and 2001 showed that the five major health risks for Post staff (alcohol, physical inactivity, mental health, stress and back strain) account for 73 per cent of avoidable costs by contributing to absence, productivity loss and compensation claims. These findings form the basis for Post’s continuing focus on health promotion among staff.

In 2002–03, Post conducted a series of health and wellbeing education programs that focused on the five major staff health risks. The programs involved:

• regular information inserts in staff pay slips
• regular information packages sent to all workplaces
• a freecall Health Resource Centre service providing information and referrals
• a free life-coaching telephone service for staff wanting to make lifestyle changes
• a series of lunchtime health seminars
• a library of health-related books and videos available on loan to all staff.

Post also continued its wide-ranging work–life balance initiatives. In the sixth annual benchmarking study conducted by the consultancy Managing Work|Life Balance, Post was ranked equal first out of 205 organisations for policies that promote work–life balance.


View printer friendly version