Our global commitment to safety, health and wellbeing
Workplace safety is a core value at Vodafone. We are committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for our employees, contractors, and partners by embedding strong safety practices, risk management, and a culture of accountability. We strive to prevent incidents and promote a safety-first mindset in everything we do, supported with continuous training, clear policies, and proactive monitoring,
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Nothing is more important to us than the safety, health and wellbeing of our customers, communities, employees, and partners. We have a simple global commitment: no one gets hurt.”
Our absolute safety rules
The Vodafone Absolute Rules focus on risks that present the greatest potential for harm for anyone working for or on behalf of Vodafone. The Absolute Rules ensure the correct safe behaviours in high-risk activities in all of our businesses. They remind us what we should ALWAYS do and NEVER do.
WE ALWAYS drive safely and legally; we always wear a seatbelt
WE ALWAYS drive safely and legally; we never use a handheld mobile device when driving
WE ALWAYS drive safely and legally; we always obey the speed limit
WE NEVER work under the influence of alcohol or drugs
WE NEVER carry out work on any electrical equipment unless qualified
WE NEVER undertake any street or underground work activities unless competent to do so
When working at height, ALWAYS wear protective gear, attach a safety harness and use fall protection equipment
When working in the vicinity of power; WE ALWAYS maintain the required safe distance and use the correct insulated equipment
Safety, Health and Wellbeing Framework
Nothing is more important to us than the safety, health, and wellbeing of our customers, communities, employees, and partners. We have a simple global commitment: no one gets hurt. If an incident does occur, we take steps aimed to prevent reoccurrence. Our SHW framework provides a consistent approach to leadership, planning, performance monitoring, governance, and assurance.
Employee
The majority of Vodafone employees have low-risk roles with respect to safety. Safety critical activities such as climbing, driving or working with electricity are performed by a small proportion of Vodafone employees, the majority of such high risk work is completed by our partners in the supply chain.
Health and Wellbeing risks, such as ergonomics or psychosocial risks, affect almost all of our employees. Risk such as occupational road risk, or work at height affect relatively few employees.
Partner
Most of the work activity that carries a high safety risk is carried out by our partners on our behalf. Historically, these risks have accounted for the majority of serious incidents and fatalities that have occurred in Vodafone and in our supply chain.
Any new partner to Vodafone undergoes our partner qualification process to review their capability and performance on safety.
Community
We want to be a good neighbour and play an active role in the communities in which we operate. We recognise our activities to build, operate, and maintain our fixed and mobile networks can result in potential risks to members of these communities.
We always actively try to manage the activities directly within our control by working with our supply chain, and we are constantly looking for opportunities to make improvements in our communities through community safety programmes, road safety campaigns and education.
Our approach to managing key risks
We manage Safety, Health and Wellbeing risks through our Global Framework Policy. This oversees how we monitor and assess risks, set targets, review progress, and report performance. Our Group Executive Committee provide visible and clear leadership over SHW and carry out regular face-to-face safety engagements in line with our Global Framework Policy.
