The health and safety of our staff is our number one priority. Our main focus remains the most common types of accidents, which are animal attacks and slips and trips. We have introduced a Dog Awareness Week and campaigns around slips and trips to maintain awareness of these key hazards, and highlight the tools available to reduce the risk of an accident. 

Overall, the number of absences caused by workplace accidents continues to fall as a result of these and other initiatives.

Attendance standards

Agreed with our unions, the attendance procedure is aimed at supporting employees in achieving and maintaining consistently good levels of attendance.
 
If you are unable to attend work due to illness, you must report this to your line manager as soon as possible before the beginning of your shift or usual work start time. 

Employee Assistance Programme

To support our employees’ health and wellbeing, we run a number of health programmes, including our independent and totally confidential Employee Assistance Programme which provides five types of support:

• Counselling
• Legal signposting
• Practical help, e.g. child care, managing debt
• Coaching for managers
• Physical health and wellbeing

Simply call 0345 266 5060 to speak to an expert. Lines are open 24/7. Visit www.myroyalmail.com/wellbeing for more information.

Fitness

The RMG network has 37 on site gyms. Follow this link for more information and to see if there is a gym near you.

For a range of health and wellbeing benefits, including discounted gym memberships and exercise classes as well as the cycle2work scheme, visit My Bundle or access via PSP. If you need help please call 0345 60 60 603.

Healthy working environment

Royal Mail is committed to creating a healthy working environment for all our employees. We have a fully embedded Safety Health and Environment Management System (SHEMS) to ensure our sites meet or exceed statutory requirements for health and safety. The SHEMS covers 11 different elements, including aspects such as lighting levels, noise, air quality, humidity and temperature.

Within the SHE Management System section, you will find the SHE Standards and SHE Instructions, which set out mandatory requirements, and the various responsibilities under those instructions. You will also find materials to support the instructions, primarily guidance and templates. It is everyone's responsibility to ensure that they remain compliant with their SHE responsibilities. The SHEMS Framework document is provided to help ensure that this is done.

We undertake continuous audits of our standards to identify any unsafe conditions for remedial activity and seek external advice where appropriate. For example, should an initial audit show that there is a noise hazard at one of our sites, we will take action with the support of an external competent noise hazard assessor.

Our Building Energy Management Systems allow remote monitoring and control for a large number of our buildings. This ensures appropriate temperature, lighting and ventilation levels for a healthy and safe working environment. We also undertake regular workplace onsite risk assessments to ensure a healthy and safe working environment is achieved. These aspects are key responsibilities of our Facilities Managers. They ensure regular inspection and review by local management.