Safety initiatives enhance HSV’s commitment to safety

HSV has continued to enhance its focus on prioritising safety with the introduction of several safety initiatives at our worksites.

Our commitment to safety is being well demonstrated at our distribution centres (DCs) at Derrimut and Dandenong South.

At Derrimut DC, as well as setting up the safety board mentioned in our March edition, an increase in scheduled aisle inspections is ensuring any potential hazards are reported and resolved before they become safety incidents.

The Derrimut team has had a strong year with no lost time due to injury. Analysis of any identified hazards, risks and injuries that do occur has enabled the team to pinpoint where additional training, process enhancements or resources are required.

“Many of our structural initiatives have landed, especially in improving traffic safety on site,” says Senior Operations Manager Manny Ioane.

“We have improved the safety of traffic flow by marking entrance points either green or red to show where it is or isn’t safe to drive, we’ve implemented an internal traffic management plan and we’re in the process of developing a traffic management plan for the external yard,” says Manny.

“We have also recently set up a workstation hub, installing barriers to ensure a safe and ergonomic workstation is available for each of the DC team leaders.”

Safety is a major consideration as the Dandenong South DC prepares for its reopening later this year. HSV’s Safety and Logistics teams have built on their insights from two-and-a-half years of operation at Derrimut DC, introducing initiatives to ensure the DC operates at our highest level of safety from day one.

These include increasing beam heights to 1.9 metres to provide a safe clearance when unpacking and stacking goods, extra line markings to ensure pallets are not protruding into aisles and maintaining a four-metre safe distance around all machinery.

With these structural initiatives in place, the team is planning for current and subsequent financial years, with the development of an annual safety calendar mapping out training and areas of focus across the financial year.

Activities are based on risk and assessment and include key lessons and relevant activities for specific times of the year. The calendar focuses on psychological as well as physical safety and involves consultation with DC employees to determine what they would like to focus on in the wellbeing space.

“This plan is a roadmap from a safety and wellbeing perspective for the next 12 months,” Manny says.

“We appreciate that safety is a journey and no matter how well we believe we are doing, we always need to remain vigilant. With this in mind, we will remain focused on building a robust proactive safety culture and a strong platform for FY25 and beyond.”