Europa sets the pace for health and safety in UK logistics

Europa Worldwide Group, one of the UK’s largest independent logistics providers, is prioritising the health and safety of its colleagues and the public, by ensuring that it is a part of its everyday conversation.

A newly established, in-house Health & Safety team are taking responsibility for training, reporting, auditing and overall health and safety awareness. Working closely with the onsite operational teams and taking on board feedback from team members in a ‘you said we did’ format, the sites are reaffirming their commitment to the Health, Safety and Wellbeing of their staff and contractors.

According to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), the transportation and logistics sector is one where the risk of accidents and injuries is higher. Between 2021 and 2023 alone, there were 31 fatal and 29,000 non-fatal injuries at work in sector, 33 per cent of which were due slips, trips or falls. The direct costs of these accidents are significant – whilst the hidden costs to people’s lives are immeasurable.

Europa’s new roaming Health & Safety team are leading the charge and will be based predominantly at the company’s operational sites in Dartford, Birmingham and Corby. The team will oversee Health & Safety across 18 UK and European branches, encompassing approximately 1,000 employees.

As a company committed to delivering a high standard of service, Europa’s new Facilities & Safety Team is next in Europa’s journey for prioritising welfare, care and quality for its employees and customers alike.

It follows the renovation of the company’s training facilities over the last 12 months in Dartford, Birmingham and Corby, the successful integration of the app-based EVOTIX software and several innovative initiatives that shone a spotlight on Health & Safety across the group. In 2023, Europa Warehouse won the Health, Safety and Wellbeing award at the Northampton Logistics Awards.

A cornerstone of the company’s Health & Safety strategy is EVOTIX. This is an app-based tool, originally installed in November 2022, which provides real-time education, monitoring, reporting and analysis of Europa’s health and safety record. The systems makes safety reporting accessible to everyone and informs education and training for the logistics provider.

Jon Margetts, Head of Facilities and Health and Safety Lead, said: “Europa’s company values are centred around working ‘safely and responsibly’. To uphold this promise, we have established our own first in-house Facilities & Safety Team, responsible for driving welfare initiatives, establishing weekly safety audits and championing safe and responsible practice across all UK and European sites.

“The team will oversee a range of initiatives to help Europa maintain its strong health safety and welfare culture which has seen year on year reductions in the number of accidents across our sites. We are utilising our safety platform, EVOTIX, to focus on leading indicators which identify and tackle areas of risk, introducing new Site Induction Programmes, revised Practical User Guides (PUGs) and renewing the internal safety audits.

“The inductions and user-guides are interactive and engaging, and make use of videos, Q&As and case-led practical examples. When paired with our robust Safe Operating Procedures, these set a precedent for people carrying out tasks safely.

“Our newly instated weekly audits uphold our safe and responsible working culture, providing greater visibility over areas for improvement, driving standards and accountability, ensuring compliance with statutory regulations whilst also maintaining core safety practices in line with our ISO 45001 accreditation (the International standard for Health & Safety at Work)”.

The logistics provider, which comprises of Europa Road, Europa Air & Sea and Europa Warehouse, is committed to ongoing training and development of its people. With incentives that help develop a positive culture to reflect the Europa company values. These include the quarterly Safety Bucks and Safety Cup competitions, which reward the individuals and teams working to make a difference to the health, safety and wellbeing of everyone.

Europa will continue to work with consultancy firm Inspire, receiving expert external insight and validation on specific health and safety issues within the transportation and storage sector where Inspire have a depth of experience and knowledge.

The ongoing partnership with Inspire will ensure the new Facilities & Safety Team can tailor its training, in line with industry best practice within the fast-evolving market, bringing health and safety to the forefront of everyday conversations about team welfare.