Postal Delivery Workers Safety

Due to accidents experienced by Australia Post workers, Occupational and Health Safety staff and team leaders have been developing strategies to cater for any situation the staff experience on their routes, and the safest way for them to deliver the mail.

Australia Post delivers all over Australia which is 7.692 million km² to a population of around 25 million with a population density of 3 per km² (8 people per mi²). When compared with the whole continent of Europe (10.18 million km²), with a population of 742 million and population density of 72 per km² (196 people per mi²), the true extent of the Australian postal delivery is realised. Australia has a smaller population when compared to its landmass, and postal workers have to travel further to deliver the mail to fewer people.

Australian Post commenced a national campaign on the 3rd of September 2018, with the aim to increase awareness of the “Australian postie at work” and reduce accidents.

“Australia post report from 2018 accidents is below.

The national statistics for financial year 2018 revealed there were 768 road injuries, 447 dog incidents and 114 relating to reversing cars.

For example, did you know we delivered more than 3 billion items last year and we deliver to 11.9 million delivery points across Australia?

  • Our network includes 15,085 street posting boxes, 7,000 motorbikes, 6,500 delivery vans, 2,600 trucks, 6 airline freighters, 500 facilities and 325 parcel lockers.
  • Our unrivalled retail and delivery networks span the nation. With 4,356 post offices, we have the nation’s most extensive retail footprint – and we are the only company that delivers to all 11.9 million delivery points across Australia.
  • Over 3 billion items delivered annually, with more than 1.3 million parcels being delivered every day.
  • Our peak delivery day was 17 December 2018, when three million parcels were delivered across the country.”

The first image of a “Postie on a motorcycle” and the “Stay Alert! There’s a life riding on it” was developed by a team in one of Australia Post facilities. This was shown in the last MFNL newsletter 127 from March 2019:

Advertised as  the “Bubble Wrap Postie Safety Campaign” by Australia Post, it addressed the 114 postie related motor vehicle accidents.

This was the first in the campaign as:

“in Australia, three posties are injured in motor vehicle accidents every workday. One injury or near-miss is one too many, so we’re asking the public to be alert, slow down and remove distractions when driving.
Top tips to avoid accidents:

  • Put your mobile phone out of reach when driving
  • Slow down when approaching roundabouts
  • Use your mirrors and check your blind spots for motorcycles and cyclists before turning or changing lanes
  • When reversing out of your driveway, toot your horn and move slowly"

The maximum speed limit of the Australian postie motorcycle is 45 km per hour on the road. The speed limit varies in Australian towns & cities, roads & streets from 50 km per hour or 60 km per hour.

The theme of keeping our “posties safe” continued at the start of 2019, when Australia Post came out with “Secure your Dog, For Safe Delivery”:

To date, Australia Post has no end date for this campaign. It will be interesting to see if this campaign reduces the accidents experienced by the “Posties of Australia”.

Thanks need to be extended to Australia Post for providing the reports outlined in this article, and answers to my questions.

 

Written by Australian MFN-member Yvonne van Netten

 

Australian Post has recently ordered 1000 Kyburz 3-wheeled electrical scooters, amongst others to increase the safety of the package delivery workers.

 

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