Case Study: Strengthening Occupational Health and Safety in the Transport & Logistics Sector

Transport and logistics is a high-risk industry when it comes to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), often impacted by issues related to:

- Manual handling and ergonomic risks in warehouses
- Inadequate safety culture across remote and decentralised sites
- Inconsistencies in compliance between operations
- A lack of awareness regarding OHS compliance requirements
- Driver fatigue
- Shift-related health issues

The company realised that it needed support in improving health and safety aspects due to:

- A sharp rise in vehicle incidents leading to injuries and downtime
- A lack of standardised safety training and hence also incident reporting which complicated putting corrective measures in place
- Receiving Department of Employment and Labour contravention notices at two of its depots
- Recognising poor integration of OHS practices across multiple sites as evidenced during the site inspections

We worked closely with the team to gain a deeper and more holistic understanding of their specific needs beyond the challenges that they outlined initially. Doing so would support them in minimising risks related to aspects which they had not considered yet. A project plan was put in place to ensure that all ran smoothly and that all involved were held accountable for their responsibilities.

Nationwide baseline OHS compliance audits were conducted at each depot. These site-specific compliance audits assessed:

- Warehouse storage practices and compliance
- Extent of correct and safe management of Hazardous Chemical Agents (HCAs)
- First aid capabilities
- Compliance with required OHS signage
- Emergency preparedness
- Depth of staff training
- Adherence to required legal appointments

A report was produced per site, indicating overall compliance and highlighting key focus areas. Based on these, we put a series of mitigations in place to support compliance and to ensure better OHS practices going forward. This included the following:

Standardised OHS management system roll-out:
- Developed an OHS management plan
- Created a Group-wide OHS policy in conjunction with management
- Developed a baseline risk assessment along safe work procedures for high-risk activities for each site
- Supported each depot with assigning a responsible person who became the key contact person at each site

Incident reporting standardisation:
- Developed a standardised incident management procedure
- Supported appointment of incident investigators

Training and capacity building:
- Delivered 'toolbox talks' and refresher training for warehouse teams
- Delivered legal compliance training for managers and supervisors
- Conducted training for first aiders, fire marshals, and OHS representatives across all regions
- Delivered training specifically for incident investigators

The client is a large logistics provider with a team of 150+ employees based at 8 operational depots across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, as well as the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. After implementing the comprehensive OHS management system, the company achieved consistent OHS compliance across all sites, reduced workplace injuries and related costs, improved health and safety awareness, and mitigated the risk of fines and penalties related to non-compliance.