Occupational health and safety

Issues of occupational health and safety are most material in our logistics operations. Drivers are at an increased risk of being involved in motor vehicle accidents and are statistically more likely to contract HIV. Our office-based businesses carry an inherently low health and safety risk.

We measure the number of vehicle accidents, number of road injuries, number of road fatalities and vehicle accident and fatality rates per million kilometres travelled (in the transport operations). See the table on page 51 for our performance on these indicators during the year.

Safety is a collective responsibility. Employees and contractors are expected to follow the group’s health and safety policies and procedures while line management is responsible for creating an environment that is conducive to workplace safety. Senior executives, divisional executives and line management are accountable for the group’s safety and health performance and for allocating adequate financial and human resources within their operations to address these matters. Issues of health and safety are reported on regularly at executive and board level. We also report all accidents, injuries and fatalities at Imperial Holdings quarterly board meetings, at executive committee meetings as well as at the social, ethics and sustainability committee meetings.

Health and safety committees collaborate with employees and unions to identify key health and safety risks and make recommendations to management. In order to accurately assess these risks, we report and investigate accidents and other incidents, whether or not they cause bodily injury; suspected and confirmed cases of occupational disease; and any other situation in which there may be an unacceptable risk. Where necessary, we seek external specialist expertise and assistance.

In high-risk operations, issues of health and safely are managed by professionally staffed loss control departments. These businesses, which include those involved in the transportation of hazardous products, have put specific procedures in place to protect employees and the public from exposure to hazardous substances.

Our safety performance for the year	2013			2012
Total Africa logistics kilometres travelled excluding car rental vehicles (million km)	495			487
Total road accidents	1 252			963
Total road injuries (group)	128			123
Total road fatalities (group)	8			10
Accidents per million kilometres	1,99			1,64
Injuries per million kilometres (group)	0,20			0,21
Fatalities per million kilometres (group)	0,01			0,02

Where applicable, employees and contractors undergo health and safety training in line with the specific health and safety risks of each business. In our Africa Logistics division, truck stops have been established on the high-traffic Durban/Johannesburg route and there is an occupational health clinic for employees in Wadeville, where a significant proportion of our transport workforce is concentrated.

Our key occupational health and safety goals are to achieve zero fatalities; reduce the severity rate of incidents; reduce accidents and environmental incidents; and improve sub-contractor management on issues of health and safety.

Addressing the risk of HIV/Aids

The risk of HIV/Aids differs vastly from one business to the next, with drivers in the logistics and transport operations being at the highest risk statistically for contracting the disease. Each division has HIV/Aids policy guidelines in place which protect the rights of employees, educate management on how to deal with infected employees and raise awareness among all staff to slow the spread of the disease. They also outline the procedures to be followed to facilitate voluntary confidential testing and counselling.

In South Africa, Africa Logistics plays a central role in the committee that manages an industry-wide Trucking Wellness Programme and Wellness Fund. The programme and fund were established as a collaborative effort by the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry and unions representing labour and the Road Freight Employers Association.

During the year under review Africa Logistics invested a significant amount in three in-house wellness centres and three roadside wellness centres. The roadside centres offer drivers and sex workers free HIV/Aids awareness and education, STI treatment, condom distribution, voluntary HIV testing and counselling with referrals to appropriate treatment service providers for secondary care and primary healthcare services. Each one is equipped with a training facility and clinic and staffed by a peer educator and registered nursing sister. During the year 10 922 employees were assessed.

The in-house wellness centres are fully equipped clinics with a qualified nursing sister and doctor who visit the clinic from time to time. Plans are in place to extend the in-house programme to four wellness centres in the future.

Africa Logistics also contributes 1% of its wage bill to a wellness fund which is used to treat and care employees that are tested positive for HIV/AIDS. During the year it sent a delegation to the World Aids Conference held in Washington DC in the US to learn more about best practice approaches in dealing with the disease.

Contributing to road safety

The Imperial I-Pledge road safety campaign, launched in the previous year, continued to gain traction. Targeted as much at employees as it is at the broader South African road user, it has garnered 135 000 pledges to date.

Road traffic accidents are the single biggest cause of unnatural death in South Africa and I-Pledge was borne of the belief that we have a leading role to play in bringing about a change in driver behaviour. The campaign takes a “start-at-home” approach, encouraging individuals to assess and change their own bad driving habits.

During the year Europcar continued to sponsor the supply of patrol vehicles to the Department of Transport to boost the resources of the N3 Toll Concession, the South African Police Services in KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State and the Mpumalanga Road Traffic Inspectorate along the toll route between Heidelberg in Gauteng and Cedara in KwaZulu-Natal. This forms part of the company’s involvement as a Friend of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011 – 2020.

During the year the campaign expanded its focus to include schools, child passengers, scholar patrol and “Car Seats for Kids” projects. (see case study on page 53).

CASE STUDY I-Pledge cares for youngest road users During the year Imperial’s I-Pledge campaign focused on protecting South Africa’s youngest road users through a Car Seat for Kids campaign and the extension of its scholar patrol programme. Over 1 500 children lose their lives on South Africa roads every year, largely in pedestrian accidents and as passengers in motor vehicles. However the lack of affordability of child safety seats, coupled with ignorance about seatbelt use is a major contributor to serious injuries and even fatalities among babies and children. During the year I-Pledge partnered with Wheel Well and 94.7 Highveld Stereo to launch the Car Seats for Kids campaign to highlight the importance of child safety. The programme encouraged listeners to donate their second-hand car seats to less fortunate families and collected 700 car seats in the month of October. These were re-upholstered, safety checked and cleaned by Wheel Well. The campaign also continued its work in the Scholar Patrol Improvement Project, which has now reached over 155 primary schools and 99 699 pupils. Each school is treated to a scholar patrol makeover which includes new equipment and reflective gear for the young scholar patrollers as well as refurbished pedestrian crossings. In February 2013, Imperial ran a promotion on 94.7 Highveld Stereo which called on listeners to nominate schools for a scholar patrol makeover. The overwhelming number of nominations received prompted the programme to double its adoption of schools from five to 10. The initiative provided the opportunity to educate younger road users and inspire them to be I-Pledge road safety ambassadors.

Traffic fines

During the year, fines of R6,6 million were paid for non-compliance with traffic legislation. While all due precautions are taken to comply with all road safety regulations, we have a Logistics fleet of over 6 400 and Car Rental fleet of 20 000 cars, we do incur fines from time to time for traffic infringements.