Case study: How Royal Mail promotes occupational health and safety
Royal Mail is one of the largest employers in the UK, as it employs more than 160,000 people (across the Group). On average, 1 out of every 180 employed people in the UK works for it. Thus, promoting employee health and safety is a key priority for Royal Mail.
This case study is based on the 2014–15 Corporate Responsibility Report by Royal Mail published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate that CSR/ sustainability reporting done responsibly is achieved by identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment and stakeholders and by measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
The health, safety and wellbeing of its employees is a continuous priority for Royal Mail Tweet This!. In order to promote occupational health and safety Royal Mail took action to:
- prevent accidents
- assess risks and learn from incidents
- reduce the risk of confrontation and dog attacks
- investigate fatalities and serious incidents
- support employees’ health and wellbeing
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Royal Mail has identified;
- How Royal Mail proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Royal Mail to promote occupational health and safety
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2014–15 Corporate Responsibility Report Royal Mail identified a range of material issues, such as economic performance, labour/management relations, employee engagement, diversity/equal opportunities. Among these, as one of the UK’s largest employers, employing more than 160,000 people, promoting occupational health and safety stands out as a key material issue for Royal Mail.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Royal Mail engages with:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Customers | · Customer conversations through phone, email, letter and Twitter · Postmen and women engage with customers at point of collections and on deliveries · Sales team of account managers: field, desk, new business and specialists · www.royalmail.com website · Business and consumer customer surveys and focus groups · Customers buy products and services at 10,500 Post Office branches |
| Colleagues | · Weekly Work Time Listening and Learning sessions · JustSayIt (an email link to the CEO) · Royal Mail TV · Intranet and www.myroyalmail.com · Royal Mail’s monthly magazine, Courier, Courier Specials and Newsflashes sent direct to employees’ homes · Postcards, posters and daily and weekly emails sent to business units or individuals’ homes · A programme of ‘town halls’, forums, conferences and on-site engagement with senior managers and leaders across the business |
| Suppliers | · Responsible Procurement Code of Conduct |
| Unions | · Weekly meetings between CWU representatives and frontline operational managers · Daily/ad-hoc meetings · Dedicated specialist industrial relations team regularly consulting with unions |
| Investors
| · Regular financial reporting and disclosures to the market as required by the UK Listing Authority’s (UKLA’s) Disclosure, Transparency and Listing Rules · Investor Relations programme · Annual General Meeting |
| Local communities | · Support Royal Mail’s people in making a difference to local communities · Collaborative working with charity partners |
| Ofcom
| · Regular engagement through reporting, face-to-face meetings and consultation responses · Relationship managed by the Regulation and Compliance departments |
| UK Government | · Royal Mail Group retains a relationship with the Shareholder Executive and meets as required with Government on shareholder matters through the Company Secretary’s department · Day-to-day policy engagement through Royal Mail’s Public Policy and Group Communications departments · Royal Mail Group regularly engages with the BIS, the Treasury, the Home Office and other central Government Departments and the Devolved Administrations on key policy issues as a strategic partner |
| European institutions | · Contributing to consultation exercises · Regular meetings with officials · Providing information or insights where appropriate |
| International stakeholders | · Taking a leading role at the UPU as an elected member of the Postal Operations Council · Raising Royal Mail’s visibility and engagement with EU decision-makers and the wider EU stakeholder community · An elected member of the PostEurop Management Board · Leadership (at Chief Executive level) as a member of the IPC Board · In all organisations, providing leadership and expertise on topics of importance to Royal Mail Group and its stakeholders |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
In 2014, Royal Mail conducted an expanded materiality assessment and engaged with almost 50 stakeholders who represented customers, consumers, employees, Royal Mail’s unions, suppliers, environmental representatives and investors. The materiality assessment, implemented independently by CR experts, took place in three stages:
- Research: To identify and assess its most important issues, Royal Mail reviewed its reports, management and assurance statements and media coverage, also carrying out a comparison with external standards, such as the GRI.
- Gathering stakeholder feedback through surveys and interviews: Royal Mail carried out online surveys and telephone interviews with its stakeholders to evaluate the significance of various issues.
- Stakeholder panel: Royal Mail used a stakeholder panel that included representatives from its key stakeholder groups to investigate its most important issues and identify issues that were possibly not adequately covered.
What actions were taken by Royal Mail to promote occupational health and safety?
In its 2014–15 Corporate Responsibility Report Royal Mail reports that it took the following actions for promoting occupational health and safety:
- Preventing accidents
- 2013-14: Royal Mail’s Do the Right Thing DVD was launched, to set higher behavioural standards for its drivers.
- Royal Mail’s Annual Road Safety Week campaign used Royal Mail TV, to increase awareness of its updated Safe Driving Code of Practice.
- During the autumn and winter months Royal Mail ran its annual Severe Weather Safety Communication Programme, regarding the risks of driving or working outside in difficult weather conditions.
- Royal Mail ran its Slip and Trip campaign, emphasizing the importance of using the proper footwear for different conditions.
- Assessing risks and learning from incidents
- 2014-15: Royal Mail introduced a new Workplace On-site Risk Assessment to ensure that workplace risks were more effectively and consistently dealt with.
- Reducing the risk of confrontation and dog attacks
- June 2014: Royal Mail’s second Dog Awareness Week took place, focusing not only on the issues faced by its postmen and women, but also on the responsibilities of dog owners.
- Royal Mail launched its ‘Customer Dog Card’, requesting support from dog owners in controlling their dogs.
- 2014-15: Royal Mail introduced a new Risk of Confrontation Assessment, regarding the risk of assault from any member of the general public and relevant measures to be taken.
- Investigating fatalities and serious incidents
- Royal Mail works with authorities and conducts its own investigations for each accident.
- Royal Mail has a Fatal and Serious Accident Standard and Protocol, concerning investigation reports and relevant actions.
- The members of Royal Mail’s Group-wide and Regional Business Unit Safety teams undergo specialist training for investigating serious accidents and incidents.
- Supporting employees’ health and wellbeing
- Royal Mail created a task force to investigate and reduce sickness absence.
- October 2014: Royal Mail launched the First Class Mental Health and First Class Support initiatives.
- January 2015: Royal Mail introduced a new case management programme to support employees facing health issues, such as mental health and musculoskeletal problems.
- Royal Mail participates in Business in the Community’s Mental Health Champions Group, in the Time to Change Pledge, to support its employees’ mental wellbeing and fight the mental health stigma in the workplace and, also, in the Target Depression in the Workplace initiative.
Which GRI indicators/Standards have been addressed?
The GRI indicators/Standards addressed in this case are:
1) G4-LA6: Type of injury and rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days, and absenteeism, and total number of work-related fatalities, by region and by gender – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 403-2 Types of injury and rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days, and absenteeism, and number of work-related fatalities
2) G4-LA7: Workers with high incidence or high risk of diseases related to their occupation – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 403-3 Workers with high incidence or high risk of diseases related to their occupation
3) G4-LA8: Health and safety topics covered in formal agreements with trade unions – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 403-4 Health and safety topics covered in formal agreements with trade unions
References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Royal Mail, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) http://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/global-reporting-initiative-gri-g4-guidelines-download-page
3) https://g4.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx
4) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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