Transport, Postal and Warehousing resource kit

High demands are not always a risk themselves but can be when combined with low control. This can be hard to manage in the sector as workloads and timelines are often driven by external factors like peak holiday periods or route infrastructure updates. Work hours are subject to change at any time based on factors like weather, traffic, accidents or customer/passenger issues.

What it looks like

Increased pressure to meet deadlines

High volume of work, trips or deliveries to complete with short turnaround times, especially during peak seasonal periods or when external circumstances impact travel routes or supply chains.

Low control of work hours and breaks

Shift work, rotating rosters, unpredictable work hours caused by external factors (for example; delays, waiting periods, road conditions, track work or extreme weather) and breaks dictated by logbook hours or passengers, not by the worker themselves.

Long hours and fatigue

Long-haul deliveries, trips or shifts requiring prolonged concentration, tiredness caused by not being able to sleep or rest when it is needed, lessened ability to cope with stress while at work and greater risk of exposure to injuries or near misses with accidents.

What you can do

• Start an open discussion with your workers about their workloads. Seek feedback on what reasonable adjustments you could make to help them better manage their work. For example, allocating more time to complete large/difficult tasks or developing a system to prioritise tasks each shift.
• Adopt a working-hours policy to track, manage and limit excessive work hours.  
• Onboard and train workers in advance of busy periods to ensure enough support is available when workloads start increasing. 
• Talk to workers when developing rosters. Allow them to provide shift preferences and share feedback on the number of workers needed to meet demands. 
• Develop a timely notification system to inform workers of external events as they arise, enabling workers to plan for short notice delays or schedule changes. 
• Make sure to allocate sufficient time for breaks within working hours and ensure workers have access to clean, comfortable facilities for rest.
• Give workers a say in when they take their breaks. For example, provide the option to break anytime within a certain timeslot with flexibility around the number of / length of breaks during this time. Also consider setting a total break time with flexibility around when it is taken.
• Encourage workers to take leave to recover from periods of high demand.
• Provide fatigue management information to all workers and ensure they have access to practical guidance on how to manage fatigue.

Every worker plays a role in ensuring goods are processed and delivered efficiently or passengers are transported smoothly. However everyone's individual contributions towards this goal may not always be recognised or rewarded. In 2021, less than 13% of workers in the sector strongly agreed that they received appropriate rewards and recognition for doing a great job.

What it looks like

Insufficient feedback

Limited measures of success (for example; sole focus on outputs, not recognising other aspects of job performance), inadequate performance feedback or imbalance of employees' efforts with recognition received (for example; pay rates not matching performance/job difficulty, lack of praise for managing challenging situations or consistent good work not acknowledged).

Limited career support

Lack of opportunity for development, underpayment or non-payment for overtime hours and underutilising worker’s skills (nearly a third of people within the sector have vocational education qualifications, yet over half of workers are employed in lower skilled jobs).

What you can do

• Establish policies and practices that acknowledge workers’ efforts and show they are appreciated in a fair and timely way.
• Provide regular feedback on performance. Consider setting up a schedule to ensure each worker receives feedback within a particular timeframe.
• Use performance reviews as a time to provide positive and constructive advice for future performance, including opportunities to discuss skill development.
• Praise workers whenever tasks have been done well or for attributes such as consistency and reliability. It doesn’t always need to be done formally, even a small conversation to recognise someone’s work can make a difference.
• Find ways to reward workers for their skill or effort, not just for their contribution or productivity (for example; offer incentives, which could be monetary or relate to opportunities for advancement, skill development or extra leave time).
• Celebrate team successes, acknowledging individual’s role in the bigger picture.
• Provide workers with opportunities for career development such as mentoring programs or online training courses relevant to worker’s areas of interest.
• Start a rewards program to acknowledge good performance in key priority areas for your business such as commitment to safety, percentage of on-time deliveries or keeping equipment, vehicles or packages in good condition. 

Remote and isolated work can involve being physical and/or socially distant from others. Work in this sector can often take place during traditional times of leisure (holidays, evenings, and weekends) or in remote geographic locations, separating workers from their support networks. This extends to relationships with colleagues as workers in this sector report low feelings of trust amongst workers and feeling less like a community beyond the workplace.

What it looks like

Social isolation

Work that requires a person to be physically or socially distant from others (like family, friends or colleagues) due to the location, time or the nature of work. It could be working on transit routes far from population centres or warehouse shifts outside of ‘normal working hours’. This can leave workers feeling disconnected from others and can put a strain on their social lives or carer responsibilities.

Limited access to support

Working without reliable communication or access to immediate attention from rescue, medical or emergency services. Variable shift times and locations can also make it challenging to attend scheduled appointments or access services with limited open hours or in metropolitan areas.

What you can do

• Establish and maintain frequent communication with remote or isolated workers, to ensure they feel supported and connected in their work.
• Provide communication devices that allow workers to call for help in the event of an emergency in any situation or location (for example; satellite communication systems, personal distress system or radio communications).
• Allocate time within long shift periods for workers to prioritise their health (get exercise, communicate with family or attend medical appointments).
• Develop a check-in process whereby workers are required to contact ‘home base’ at a nominated time during work hours.
• Pair workers with a buddy to check-in and connect with that person on a regular basis. Make sure workers who offer to be someone’s buddy know where they can refer them if they feel that person needs help from support services. 
• Encourage social connection and create opportunities for colleagues to get to know each other. Check out the icare Social Connections Toolkit for advice on how to create a socially connected workplace. 
• Share sector-specific resources to help build connection such as Health in Gear's Share the Load podcast series with stories from drivers across Australia.

Workers in this sector experience some of the highest levels of workplace bullying, with rates above the national average. The sector has one of the highest rates of sexual harassment, with nearly half of all female workers reporting that they experienced workplace sexual harassment in the last five years. The isolating nature of the work could also contribute to workers' risk of being exposed to violence, harassment or bullying.

What it looks like

Bullying

Repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or a group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety. This could come from passengers, customers or colleagues. Workers bullied by their colleagues could be teased, denied access to information, be subject to excessive scrutiny or had their work arrangements set up in a way that deliberately inconveniences them. 

Sexual harassment

Unwelcome sexual advances, comments, propositions, or requests – verbal or physical. This could include inappropriate enquiries about a person’s sex life, sharing sexual material or attempting to coerce a person into any form of sexual activity. Workers in this sector are at risk of experiencing this while working but also on break periods (as rest areas can often be in isolated spaces).

What you can do

• Develop a policy to set the expectations of workplace behaviour and address bullying, discrimination, and harassment.
• Promote the policies internally, consider launching them at a full staff meeting with endorsement from senior management, distribute copies to all workers and display them prominently in workspaces and break areas. Ensure they are accessible to remote workers, workers from different cultural backgrounds, workers with disabilities and those who are new to the workplace.
• Ensure all workers understand their responsibilities to prevent and report incidents of bullying or harassment, ensuring those promoted to management positions understand their additional responsibilities in these areas.  
• Establish clear processes to address bullying or workplace sexual harassment if it occurs, with support for those who report this behaviour and safeguards to ensure that individuals associated with these complaints are not victimised.
• Provide training and resources to workers on how to prevent and manage workplace bullying and sexual harassment.
• Conduct regular reviews to monitor the incidence of harassment or bullying and measure the effectiveness the training, reporting processes and policies in place.
• Identify employees to act as complaint officers, giving workers an option to raise incidents with if they do not feel comfortable approaching their direct supervisor.
• Report serious injury or illness, a death or dangerous incidents to SafeWork NSW. Complete this form to report workplace bullying to SafeWork NSW.

Workers in this sector often have direct contact with the general public, with many relying on them for essential services like food delivery, postal services or transport. This can put sector workers at risk of having aggressive or unreasonable behaviour directed towards them. By working alongside the general public, they are also at risk of witnessing these behaviours between customers or passengers. Workers on the road or on public transport routes can also be exposed to incidents that can result in death or serious injury. This could be one incident or the cumulative impact of incidents over time.

What it looks like

Exposure to serious accidents or events

Witnessing or being part of serious road accidents, train derailments, collisions, near misses, suicides or threats to life. Almost half of all mental illness claims from the transport, postal and warehousing industry are associated with a vehicle accident.

Exposure to violence and harassment

Receiving or witnessing any form of abuse, threats or assaults, either verbal or physical, from passengers, colleagues or members of the public while on the job. Nearly half of all sector workers have witnessed sexual harassment at work. Those who work in isolated, hostile or high-pressure environments or in the vicinity of people who are intoxicated are at a heightened risk of exposure.

What you can do

• Develop a traumatic event management plan to provide guidance on what your workplace should do before, during and after a traumatic event to reduce the risk of harm. Promote the plan with workers so they understand how their workplace will manage and provide support if they experience traumatic events at work.
• Provide additional support and debriefing for workers after exposure to traumatic events, which includes providing referrals to support services as needed.
• Foster supportive working relationships such as a peer support program for workers who have been exposed to traumatic events.
• Build a good work culture where workers feel safe to talk openly about their mental health when they need to. Start building this culture by having conversations with workers who might be doing it tough, check out the R U OK? In Trucks & Sheds resources, designed specifically for this sector. 
• Actively promote your workplace counselling service or Employee Assistance Program (EAP). If you don't have these services in your workplace, there are many free support services, tools and resources available. Share these with your team regularly, so they know where to go if they need support.
• Make small adjustments to support your workers, like changing a person’s work location or offering more flexibility in their work hours, based on what that worker needs. These small changes can make a big difference to someone recovering from injury or illness.