As a global mail and express company, we operate in over 200 countries in many different types of environments. As a responsible employer, our main priority is to ensure that we operate safely. Our dialogues with our stakeholders indicate that this is also one of their main concerns.

TNT has always focused on embedding a strong safety culture top-down and bottom-up. We recognise that managing health and safety risks cannot be treated in isolation from other company processes and must be seen therefore as an integral part of our activities. As such, managing health and safety is a primary responsibility of all TNT managers; from the most senior executives to first-line supervisors throughout the company. Specific responsibilities for health and safety are delegated company-wide using the cascade principle and these duties are formally recorded in job descriptions.

Our line managers everywhere take responsibility and are accountable for reinforcing and promoting approaches that instil the safe and responsible behaviour of all our employees. They are supported in this by externally-accredited safety management training, tools and systems that are updated constantly to reflect the changing nature of the world in which we operate.

Health and safety across the group

In conjunction with the business unit and country health and safety professionals, divisional social responsibility functions develop employee health-related policies, standards, guidance and tools, reviewing their implementation through internal and external audits. The central and local teams support all TNT Express and Mail sites around the world to achieve company standards, protect the health and safety of our employees and others who may be affected by our activities. The teams develop and implement best-practice programmes and collect, validate, analyse and report health and safety data from all the reporting entities to facilitate evidence-based decision-making.

Since the introduction of the TNT health and safety management systems, we have seen a steady decrease in the number of fatalities. In 2005 there were 19 road traffic fatalities. This fell in 2006 to 14 and in 2007, excluding our major acquisitions, dropped further to 11.

In 2007 with the major acquisitions by our Express division, the number of road traffic fatalities in our own activities and those of our subcontractors jumped to an unacceptable level of 42. We are doing our utmost to ensure that our entire fleet of vehicles is safe and well-maintained and that all our

drivers and subcontracted drivers are fit and qualified to operate their vehicles.

It is TNT’s policy to ensure that all our operations meet our corporate sustainability standards. For health and safety the chosen standard is OHSAS 18001, with most of the business units and countries achieving external certification in 2007. Our new acquisitions will also have to achieve the OHSAS 18001 standard and individual implementation plans have been developed so that they are brought up to the TNT standard as soon as possible. TNT is the first company in our sector to be accredited by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health for its global “Managing Safely” programme.

TNT’s global health and safety programme was introduced in 2003 in both our Mail and Express divisions and is designed to:

  • provide a system for eliminating or minimising risks to employees and others who may be exposed to health and safety risks associated with our activities,
  • identify the relevant legal requirements appropriate to our activities,
  • ensure any other requirements to which the location subscribes are taken into account, including best practice and any local operational restrictions,
  • document all employees health and safety roles and responsibilities,
  • identify and document elements of existing and proposed work activities that present a significant health and safety risk,
  • identify, evaluate and control health and safety risks arising from routine and non-routine activities and workplace facilities,
  • outline how health and safety objectives and management programmes are to be set and monitored to improve performance,
  • outline the documents, procedures and instructions required to implement and maintain the management system,
  • outline the training and competence required to control significant health and safety risks, and
  • facilitate planning, control, monitoring, corrective action, auditing and review to ensure compliance with TNT’s health and safety policies.

Within Express, the TNT Express Management Health and Safety System Framework provides the policies, standards, guidance materials and tools that support and assist the global network of health and safety professionals who manage health and safety within the reporting entities and operational processes.

This framework represents a comprehensive management information system that provides our business with tools for managing all its health and safety responsibilities and measuring its progress through key performance indicators. The management system framework is reviewed as part of the continual improvement process to ensure that standards are maintained and further enhanced.

Our approach to road safety

As we are a transport company, we have a particular responsibility with respect to road safety. Our commitment to road safety is defined as follows:

“TNT is committed to minimising road related accidents and risks by implementing best practice tools and techniques into all its activities. TNT seeks to safeguard its employees, visitors, contractors and other members of the public who may be affected by our activities.

TNT is a global transport company operating thousands of vehicles in local communities around the world. We fully recognise the global challenge relating to road safety and the positive role TNT can play to reduce risks.”

In addition to this policy statement, we commit ourselves to ensuring competent and sufficient resources are in place to implement, maintain and enhance our road safety programmes, and to achieve continuous road safety improvements.

Primary areas of focus:

  • zero tolerance to fatalities,
  • direct on-site support is given to acquisitions in implementing the TNT health and safety management system,
  • continious improvement of road safety management system,
  • certification of our acquisitions to meet the OHSAS 18001 standard,
  • stringent local and divisional/corporate follow-up of any road- or other work-related fatality by arranging a telephone or video conference call organised by the Business Unit/Country Managing Director and attended by the Group Managing Director, Director Customer Experience and Social Responsibility Director within 72 hours of the fatality occurring. The primary objectives of the conference call are:
    • to identify exactly how the fatality occurred,
    • to describe the immediate action taken,
    • to provide an update on the status of the investigation, and
    • to confirm and agree the next steps.
  • within three months the Business Unit/Country Managing Director must formally approve the investigation report to confirm that actions required to prevent a recurrence have been identified and implemented,
  • the stronger focus on reporting compliance is seen as an enabler to diligently eliminate root causes of road or other fatalities and to be able to share best practice quickly and efficiently, and
  • develop a road safety centre of excellence in India through the global road safety partnership and other stakeholders so we can use this model in the other emerging markets.
Download data as excel
2007
Fatal road traffic accidents in TNT 2005 2006 Excluding major acquisitions Major acquisitions
Fatal road traffic accidents with a TNT driver involved 7 3 2 5
Fatal road traffic accidents with a subcontractor driver involved 12 11 9 22
Total number of fatal road traffic accidents 19 14 11 27
38

The 38 accidents resulted in 41 road traffic fatalities (three accidents involved two fatalities) and one workplace fatal accident. Of the 42 fatalities, five were TNT employees, ten were subcontractors and 27 were third parties.

The majority of these fatalities occurred within our Express division’s three major acquisitions in the emerging markets of India, China and South America. Operating in these markets with immature road infrastructures, exponential growth and less stringent government policies on road safety presents us with unique challenges and contributed significantly to the increase in road traffic fatalities, particularly with our subcontracted delivery service.

We are confident that accelerating the implementation of our existing health and safety programmes into the acquisition integration programmes alongside focused management attention will harness effective sustainable solutions, particularly on road safety as described above.

TNT recognises that 2007 was a year in which we came to realise the consequence of operating on a much larger scale in emerging markets with little known infrastructures and safety challenges. 2008 will be the year in which TNT takes the lead in lobbying in some of these geographies such as China and India to improve legislation and infrastructure. We will focus relentlessly on a zero tolerance policy for the loss of human lives on behalf of TNT whether we talk about employees, subcontractors or third parties.