Woolworths supermarket to cut bonuses for managers after ‘terrible’ workplace deaths

Woolworths has reviewed every piece of equipment in its businesses and has cut the bonuses of senior managers after safety lapses resulted in the deaths of two workers.

In December, 39-year-old contract cleaner Malerato Harrison was killed when she was crushed against a wall by a floor polisher while cleaning a Woolworths store in Newcastle about 5am.

And on June 27, Woolworths employee 35-year-old Basel “Baz” Brikha was killed and two other workers injured after they were hit by pallets when a pallet-stacker was unjammed at a distribution centre in western Sydney.

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Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci faced hard questions about the warehouse death during an earnings call on Wednesday from Bank of America analyst David Arrington, who accused the supermarket giant of having distribution centres that were “a mile behind benchmark” and “nowhere near the level of standard procedure”.

“Forget about productivity — we’re talking about the basic essentials of keeping workers safe. What should we as investors expect?’‘ Arrington said.

“I’m assuming in the least, none of your management team are going to get bonuses this year?”

Banducci said the fatalities were the only two he could remember in 10 years with the company, although there were also two near-misses during the financial year.

He said the death of the contract cleaner was being investigated.

“There’s a lot of extenuating circumstances, but we feel accountable for what happened.”

Woolworths has set up a cleaning service it uses in 76 of its supermarkets so it can manage the equipment and no longer has the pallet-stacker involved in the Sydney accident.

Beyond that, every piece of equipment had been reviewed at Woolworths, because both deaths were equipment-related, Banducci said.

“We’re coming back more broadly on the topic of safety and how we validate all of our safety procedures,” he said.

Banducci said he didn’t think someone’s life could be monetised but, as a starting point, all managers group-wide would have their bonuses reduced by 10 per cent this year.

There could be more consequences as the investigations unfolded, he said, adding the “terrible” deaths overwhelmed all of Woolworth’s positive achievements over the year.