Overview

We believe that investing in the safety, good health and wellbeing of our employees maintains their morale, and builds and improves our competitive advantage through their willingness and motivation to meet our strategic objectives and customer expectations.

Providing a healthy and safe operating environment for our customers, people and stakeholders is always a top priority and never compromised.

Our most prevalent safety risks are in the mechanical workshops where our employees work with machinery and under vehicles. Hazards include working around pits; working at height; slips, trips and falls; and working with chemicals and equipment such as welding and cutting tools. Our warehouses, where racking and storage require high reach cherry pickers, are also high safety risk environments.

In our parts workshops and warehouses, our employees work in close proximity to one another, overseeing each other's work and handling parts, equipment and tools. The stacking of inventory at the correct height, as well as the carrying of items such as batteries, are safety risks that require ongoing vigilance to ensure these activities are conducted safely and with approved standard operating procedures.

Road accidents are the main cause of our workplace fatalities and injuries; where in many instances the risk is beyond our control. Our drivers receive driver training, and limits are in place with regards to the distances they are allowed to travel without a co-driver or stopping overnight. In operations that maintain a delivery fleet, for example Aftermarket Parts, daily vehicle roadworthy safety checks are undertaken and documented.

It is with sadness that we reported two employee road-related fatalities and five third-party road fatalities for the year. During 2022, 25 employees succumbed to COVID-19 complications. 2 813 positive cases of COVID-19 were reported across the Group (South Africa at 1 941, the UK at 743, Australia at 128 and the Rest of Africa had one case). In South Africa, the majority of our employees returned to the office in 2022 following the easing of related restrictions. We offer our deepest condolences to the families, friends and co-workers of our colleagues who lost their lives this year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy psychological toll on our employees, both at home and at work, resulting in an increase in the number of reported mental health concerns and stress cases due to traumatic events and bereavement.