Oliver Matthews

No day has been the same during my first rotation working in Health, Safety & Environment in the Express Parcels division. I work with the regional HSE Manager for Victoria and with 13 sites across Express Parcels (EP) in Vic/Tas there’s always something different which comes up every day. My rotation is very operational and has given me exposure to variety of incidents/issues which sparked a review of SOPs and RAs.

I’m predominantly based at Melbourne Airport, but also get to work at the Port Melbourne site two days a week, over both AM and PM operations. I spend a lot of time on the operational floors, whether I’m conducting training or toolbox talks, developing a Standard Operating Procedure or Risk Analysis (SOP & RA) or having safety conversations to encourage safety to be at the front of everyone’s minds in everything we do.

8:00 AM

I’ve got flexible working times and often start very early or late to work across both AM and PM shifts, but today I leave home with a coffee at 7:30am to get in at 8am.

When I arrive in the office, first thing is to check my emails. I’ll respond to anything which is pressing and flag any other emails as a reminder to respond later. I check my calendar to confirm any meetings I have arranged for today or if I need to prepare for anything in the next few days.

8:30 AM

First thing scheduled for the day is a meeting I have in my work calendar to go through TRAC (Toll Reporting and Compliance) with a manager and their immediate team. I’m showing the team how we use TRAC to properly enter and record safety conversations, report hazards and different types of incidents. I use TRAC every day to review safety stats and oversee entries to ensure they’re completed correctly and sufficiently. This has allowed me to become well versed in using the program and become a trainer.

10:00 AM

Tomorrow afternoon I have a weekly management team meeting at Port Melbourne where I report on the site’s safety performance. I prepare the safety pack for the meeting now and email it to the management team ahead of tomorrow. The pack includes a detailed analysis of the previous week’s statistics and information concerning safety. In the meeting, I’ll present the data and compare the previous week’s performance against KPIs and benchmarks as well as report on any relevant issues and ongoing projects.

10:45 AM

It’s usually around this time when my dependence on coffee strikes again, and I submit to my addiction. I’ll either make myself a one in the office or pop down to the cafeteria and get myself another coffee fix for today.

11:00 AM

I head to my next meeting a bit early to set up as I’m chairing the weekly safety meeting all the branch managers for EP Vic/Tas and the EGM. I present the stats and review the performances for all EP Vic/Tas sites in the previous week. We also discuss safety shares and initiatives and I’ll share information regarding ongoing projects and upcoming focuses for the coming weeks.

12:30 PM

Today I’ve organised to have lunch with some of the other graduates. There are several grads here at Melbourne Airport doing different rotations. We often have lunch together informally but also occasionally schedule a time where we’ll all go out and get lunch together. It’s great opportunity to catch up and see how we’re all going with our respective rotations and see what work we’re doing.

1:00 PM

I head to the operational floor where I’m meeting one of the supervisors who’s helping me develop a SOP for using a new safety step for unloading and loading loose freight. We collaborate so both safety and operational procedures are considered in each step of the process. Consulting the operational team is a crucial part for developing any SOP of RA. 

2:00 PM

Still on the floor, we have a new piece of equipment to assist the operational team to wrap pallets. The aim of new apparatus will be to reduce the manual handling involved in shrink-wrapping freight on pallets. I’ve been trained as a manual handling champion and can train workers on how to demonstrate proper manual handling techniques for the different activities we do on the floor. As part of the trial, I’m working with the operational team to develop an RA for the new equipment and show them the annual handling considerations whilst using it.

2:30 PM

I leave Melbourne Airport and make my way to a customer site not too far away for a site inspection. Last week one of our drivers had an incident there and one of the actions was to assess the site to ensure that there aren’t any H&S concerns. I have a checklist to complete for the inspection, but the main point is to walk through each step our driver takes when picking up from this site to ensure there are no issues with the environment or processes and assign corrective actions where applicable.

4:30 PM

Back at my desk, I’ll have another look through TRAC and see if there are any incidents, hazards or conversations across the EP sites which require adjustment or more information. I’ll send an email to alert and offer help to the responsible supervisors. It’s vital that our TRAC entries are accurate, to ensure our information is consistent and we remain compliant with Toll HSE requirements.

5:00 PM

I’m finished for the day, I’ll head to the gym before going home and get to bed early. Tomorrow I’m headed to Port Melbourne at 5am to observe an unloading process in the AM operations which I’m developing an SOP for.