Super market-leading company Woolworths of Australia Case Study 2022

Running Head: Report
Executive Summary
The case study aims at bringing the ethical issue of Woolworths into limelight. The case is about
the super market-leading company Woolworths of Australia. The supermarket giant has made
ignorance in occupational health and safety at the workplace. The workers of Woolworths have
faced harassment, abuse, and physical violence to such an extent that it has reached an alarming
level. The company has not complied with the Workplace Health and Safety Act (TN). The
breach of that resulted in an accident at the northern area dock of Woolworths. The case has been
demonstrated and the various approaches used for ethical decision-making have been explained.
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Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
History of the organization..............................................................................................................4
Discussion of the case......................................................................................................................4
Argument regarding the Case..........................................................................................................6
Ethical Decision Making Approaches & Theories..........................................................................7
Summary & Conclusion..................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
The report aims at highlighting the ethical dilemmas of Woolworths. Woolworths, a giant, the
supermarket is receiving condemnations and criticisms for the workplace safety violation.
Woolworths workers have faced abuse and harassment to an epidemic level that it has violated
the laws of workers' safety and health. The company has violated the Workplace Health and
Safety Act (TN). The concern has been raised by the World Health Authority regarding the
horrific accident that took place in the northern areas of Australia. The case has been about the
occupational health and safety-related ethical issues on the Woolworths. The issue is prevalent in
Australia. World Health Authority has charged Woolworths for the breach of Section 32 of the
Workplace Health and Safety (Woolworths Group, 2019). They asked the Woolworths to reply
on the ethical issue prevalent. The workers in Australia associated with the Woolworths are
getting affected by abuse and harassment with physical violence along with the incident of
loading dock which has to lead to the death of the worker. The issue needs to be addressed as it
is violating the workplace health and safety norms for the workers of Australia working with
Woolworths. The Woolworths is just a representative of many companies that are practicing
unethical occupational safety and health-related issues in Australia and not complying with the
norms ethically. The physical harassment and abuse to the workers and the violation of safety
norms leading to accidents at the workplace is highly unethical. The breach of that may have
serious consequences for Woolworths or any other company (Tuffield, 2019).
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History of the organization
Woolworths is a giant supermarket in Australia and is one of the biggest supermarket chains
owned by Woolworths Limited. It was established in the year 1924 and its initial store opened in
Sydney Imperial Arcade. Woolworths started its operations with the tagline ‘Every city needs a
Woolworths. They said that every man, woman, and children need a handy place where they can
find good things cheap. Now, this has become the company's team philosophy and values.
Woolworths was founded by Stanley Edward Chatterton, Harold Percival Christmas, Cecil Scott
Waine, Ernest Robert Williams, and George Williams Percival Creed (Lane, 2019).
Woolworths is specialized in selling groceries, which include vegetables, meat, fruit, packaged
products, etc. They also sell magazines, DVDs, baby supplies, household products, etc.
Discussion of the case
The case is about Woolworths’ worker's abuse and harassment that has reached an alarming
level. The occupational health and safety is the pre-requisite that every company should have
provided to its workers as per the Workers' Health and Safety Law. The breach of which if found
guilty has serious consequences and the penalty is to be paid. The workers' safety at the
workplace is being ignored by the Woolworths. The physical abuse, violence, and harassment
against the employees needs to be safeguarded by the employers. Workers of the retail giant has
faced the abuse and physical violence by the customers, the talk for which has been hosted by
The Shop, Distributive, and Allied Employees Association (SDA) along with National Retail
Association and the Australian Retailers Association for tackling the customers' abuse in retail in
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the country (Winter, 2019). 85% of front line workers face physical abuse and 14 % have been
the victim of physical violence. The physical violence and abuse have severely affected the
physical and mental health of the workers that need to be checked. The workers at the
Woolworths got upset with such incidents and wanted security guards for their safety. The staff
of Woolworths Melbourne has faced violent attacks and even the supervisor got the threatening
to get stabbed. Even after such worst conditions, Woolworths has no permanent security guards
and provides security guards only for the petition. The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union
secretary Josh Cullinan has complained that Woolworths being a billionaire company does not
provide a safe working environment to the workers. They cannot afford to have permanent
security guards or CCTV cameras, which is shameful. However, Woolworths has always
committed and had workers' health and safety as part of their core values but no such action is
seen in their deeds (Murphy, 2019).
The case has also thrown the limelight on the breach of Section 32 of the Workers' Health and
Safety Act (TN) done by Woolworths charged by the World Health Authority (WHA) regarding
the dreadful accident that took place in the Northern Territory. The objective of this Act is aimed
at providing a framework that ensures the safety of the workers and workplaces. The basic goal
of the Act is to minimize or eliminate the risks that may arise and harm the safety, health, and
welfare of the employees. A man was killed by the truck driven Glen Cameron Nominees Pty
Ltd subcontractor while sleeping in the Hibiscus Shopping Centre in Leanyer in the loading
dock. WorkSafe NT put allegations on the Woolworths that though they know that the loading
dock has been used by both workers and non-workers still they took no action in the
implementation of the traffic management plan for the elimination or minimization of risks
(Lane, 2019). Even they claimed that Woolworths has failed in providing the site induction to the
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driver and had taken no steps to ensure that Glen has given proper WHS training, instructions or
guidance to its drivers. The case highlighted the failure of Woolworths in the assessment of risks
regarding the use of vehicles covering not only contractors and employees nut also anybody who
can get affected by that particular activity, regardless of the fact of operation and owning of the
used vehicle. Woolworths has failed in the implementation of traffic plans even though they
knew that the loading dock is used frequently by the pedestrians as a short cut and the itinerants
use it as a resting place. NT Work has claimed that Woolworths will have to face the charges due
to their failure in health and safety duty. If the company found guilty they have to pay a huge
penalty of 1.5 billion maximum (Capsim, 2018).
Argument regarding the Case
Woolworths is such a huge name in the supermarkets and retail segment still they have currently
disconnected their safety mission and practices. Woolworths has its operations in the complex
world where the customers are unpredictable, resources are scarce and the service demands are
very competitive. In this global world to meet the customers’ requirements, every organization
needs well-trained and dedicated staff. Being in the top list and maintaining the position is not
that easy. Woolworths should take the necessary steps for safeguarding their workers as the
workers play an important role in the success of the business. Woolworths has ignored the ethical
issues in the organization. There is various evidence that shows Woolworth's ignorance on the
part of workers, which is highly unethical and highly unexpected from the supermarket giant like
Woolworths. The ignorance in the traffic management rules and the safety of the workers at the
workplace is not affordable for the company (Oberg, 2017). It not only lose the confidence of the
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employees with their workplace but also motivates them to choose the way of the workers union.
The security guards and provision of CCV at the workplace are the basic requirements that
Woolworths should provide for maintaining safety and security at the workplace so that workers
could be saved from the customers' abuse and harassment and necessary action can be taken on
time. They should treat their employees as part of an organization and not as nuts and bolts of the
organization. Their occupational health and safety must be given utmost importance.
Woolworth's system should be made such that it can easily determine, learn, monitor and try to
adapt to unexpected conditions and situations to build the safety capacity of the team.
Woolworths’ ignorance in the workplace health and safety has led to the loss of life of the
human that is ethically not acceptable and the mere penalty cannot solve the problem. The
actions should be taken for the mitigation and elimination of the risks associated with workplace
health and safety. Woolworths should keep their words and should show some actions on their
philosophy that no work is that urgent that they do not have time to do it safely. Woolworths as
an employer has some responsibility that they should take for safeguarding the interests of the
employee (Dekker, 2018).
Ethical Decision Making Approaches & Theories
There are various approaches and theories for ethical decision-making. However, in this case,
the theory of the utilitarian and rights approach has been taken into consideration. The Right
approach focuses on respecting the dignity of human beings. In this case, Woolworths has
ignored the human dignity of its workers resulting serious impact on their physical and
psychological health. The Rights Approach concentrates on the moral right of a person to respect
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their choices and the moral duty to respect others exactly (ABC News, 2018). The Rights
approach focuses on empathetic behavior that the Woolworths should have shown for the
occupational health and safety of its employees. Woolworths has not considered its workers'
safety and has avoided their harassment to such an extent that it has reached an epidemic level.
Woolworths has not considered the Utilitarian approach which concentrates on the ability to
predict consequences for the action taken. Woolworths should have understood the consequences
of their failure of the traffic management system and the training and guidance required by the
workers regarding that. Their ignorance has led to the accident at the dock that could have been
prevented if the workers have been addressed properly regarding traffic management.
Woolworths should have acted in a utilitarian manner. Woolworths has not benefited its
employees with fair and just means (Woolworths Limited, 2018). They have ignored the matter
of providing CCTV cameras and full-time security guards for its workers. These are the basic
requirements which if fulfilled can solve the problems of harassment, abuse and physical
violence with the employees by customers and could have provided safety at the workplace to its
employees. If Woolworths have provided the basic safety equipment and training at the
workplace, the accidents that unpredictable could be easily avoided and the workers would have
relieved with the safety and health-related problems at the workplace (Koehn, 2017).
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Summary & Conclusion
Woolworths is a huge supermarket chain in Australia that accounts for almost 80% of a retail
business with Coles. Still, the various ethical dilemmas have been observed in the Woolworths
that has questioned the company on their Workplace Health and Safety Act compliance. The
company has given utmost importance to the safety of its workers and its team. Their philosophy
revolves around the safety of the workers and the due diligence taken by them in doing work to
ensure better safety (O’Brien & Boersma, 2015). Still, the problem of safety cannot be seen in
their actions. Even after the several safety policies made by Woolworths, the practical
applicability of the occupational health and safety is absent. The problem of the workers
regarding safety is ignored at such a level that the occurrence of the accidents can be seen in the
company. One such accident happened at the dock of the Woolworths can be seen. Even after the
continuous issues faced by the workers of the supermarket giant regarding the violence,
harassment, and abuse by customers the safety measures are not taken. Woolworths is such a big
brand and the ethical decision-making regarding the issues is highly expected. It is rightly said
that “Occupational health and safety is crucial for the dignity of the work” (Dobson & Tuffield,
2019).
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References
ABC News, 2018. Woolworths, Victorian subcontractor charged by NT WorkSafe over death of
itinerant man.
Capsim, 2018. Five Ways To Shape Ethical Decisions: Rights Approach, Available at:
https://www.capsim.com/blog/five-ways-shape-ethical-decisions-rights-approach/
Dekker, S., 2018. The Woolworths Experiment, Available at:
https://www.safetydifferently.com/the-woolworths-experiment/
Dobson, M. & Tuffield, R., 2019. Australia: Supermarkets Coles & Woolworths pressured over
alleged exploitation in labour supply chains.
Koehn, E., 2017. Woolworths to pay $650,000 in workplace injury case: Lessons for other
businesses.
Lane, 2019. Australia’s retail and fast food workers face ‘epidemic’ levels of abuse and
harassment, Available at: https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/consumer/2019/07/31/customer-
abuse-epidemic/
Lane, I., 2019. Australia: McDonalds and Woolworths accused of failing to protect workers
against customer abuse.
Murphy, C., 2019. Woolworths loading dock tragedy.
O’Brien, B. & Boersma, M., 2015. Cracking down on migrant workers isn't how to hold
supermarkets to account.
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Oberg, M., 2017. The Woolworths Project: Organisational Report
Tuffield, R., 2019. Coles and Woolworths urged to boycott suppliers linked to the exploitation of
migrant workers.
Winter, B., 2019. Australia: Woolworths loading dock tragedy.
Woolworths Group, 2019. The Woolworths Story: Our history. [Online]
Available at: https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/about-us/The_Woolworths_Story/
How_We_Were_Founded
Woolworths Limited, 2018. Woolworths Holdings Limited: 2018 Good Business Journey Report.
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