2004-05 Annual Report - Australia Post

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LTIFR
WORKPLACE HEALTH
AND SAFETY
The incidence of work-related
lost-time injuries fell by 5 per cent
this year. The consistent, longterm
improvement in our losttime
injury frequency rate (LTIFR)
continued, reaching a record low
of 9.6 lost-time injuries per million
work hours.
This improvement in our safety
record is the result of our
continued focus on a range of
injury prevention and workplace
safety initiatives, including
defensive driver training for
motorcycle posties, observational
safety training for supervisors,
OH&S auditing, safe equipment
design and workplace-based
safety improvements. During the
year, we introduced upgraded
procedures for the safe operation
of load shifting equipment,
including forklifts, and new
procedures for the safe isolation
of faulty equipment. We also
continued our rehabilitation and
return-to-work programs.
In July 2004, Post was a joint
winner in the “workplace safety
innovative solutions” category at
the annual Safety, Rehabilitation
and Compensation Commission
Safety Awards. The award
recognised a New South Wales
initiative to control the risk of
injury associated with the use of
motorcycles for mail delivery.
Financial year
EMPLOYEE HEALTH
AND WELLBEING
Our employee health and
wellbeing program, Get a
Balanced Life, is designed to offer
tangible quality-of-life benefits for
employees while also delivering
productivity benefits for the
business. This year, the program
focussed on nutrition, physical
activity, sun safety and improving
interpersonal relationship
skills. The program includes a
mail-order lending library and
offers health information in 44
languages. A telephone-based
Health Resource Centre supports
the program with information for
employees and referrals to local
community services and activities.
In recent years, Get a Balanced
Life has evolved to include
partnerships with government
and public health bodies. Since
July 2003, the program has
offered a dedicated telephone
counselling service, in partnership
with Mensline Australia, for
male employees with family
and relationship concerns.
We continued to partner with the
Commonwealth Government’s
Child Support Agency (CSA) in
the Staying Connected program.
The program is designed to help
separated fathers improve their
relationship with their former
partner and stay connected
with their children. Post’s role
in the pilot of the program was
acknowledged when the CSA
won the Prime Minister’s Gold
Award for Excellence in Public
Sector Management for this
program in November 2004.
In an independent evaluation,
program participants reported
improvements in their family life
and their physical and emotional
wellbeing, with 88 per cent of
participants also saying their work
performance had improved.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
AND DIVERSITY
With over 120 nationalities
represented in our workforce,
we recognise that business
performance and productivity
are enhanced when equal
employment opportunity
(EEO) is promoted, diversity is
well managed and individual
differences are valued.
Our new workforce diversity
strategy for 2005–08 has three
key goals:
1 to meet all legislative
obligations under the EEO
(Commonwealth Authorities)
Act 1987
2 to entrench diversity
management as part of
normal business practice
3 to continue to employ diversity
strategies and initiatives
that make our business an
employer of choice and give
us a competitive advantage.
Efforts over the past year
have been directed towards
developing the Diversity @
Post kit (which was launched in
August 2005), which provides
our managers with tools to
integrate diversity into day-to-day
management practices.
We maintained our reputation as
a leader in the area of Indigenous
employment, with the number
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people employed by
Post increasing to 631 this year
(573 last year). This represents
1.8 per cent of our workforce,
compared with 1.6 per cent last
year. The proportion of employees
with disabilities was stable at 9
per cent and the proportion of
employees from non–English
speaking backgrounds increased
to 20.8 per cent.
The representation of women in
our workforce increased slightly
to 38.7 per cent of the total
workforce, and the proportion of
women in senior management
roles increased, with females
now filling 28.0 per cent of all
senior management positions
(27.5 per cent last year). Detailed
information about our EEO
and diversity initiatives can be
found in the Equal Employment
Opportunity Report 2004–05,
available on the Internet at:
auspost.com.au.