From reactive to proactive: How The Warehouse Group cut safety incidents by 60% in two months
- Mar 17
- 5 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
The Warehouse Group x inviol
About The Warehouse Group
The Warehouse Group is one of New Zealand's largest and most iconic retailers, founded by Sir Stephen Tindall in 1982. Operating three beloved Kiwi brands (The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery, and Noel Leeming) the Group serves customers nationwide across hundreds of stores, supported by a large and complex distribution network. Its North Island Distribution Centre is one of the biggest DCs in New Zealand, handling everything from general merchandise and grocery to apparel and technology.
The challenge
"Safety is at the forefront of everything we do at the North Island Dirstribution Centre. It's a huge and complex site with many moving parts." – Vincent Gorham, Continuous Improvement, The Warehouse Group
Large distribution centres are inherently high-risk environments. Forklifts and material handling equipment (MHE) move constantly alongside people. Containers are loaded and unloaded under time pressure. High-traffic inbound and outbound zones create persistent pedestrian-vehicle conflict points.
For The Warehouse Group, the challenge wasn't a lack of safety awareness, it was a lack of visibility. Cameras existed across the site, but they were purely reactive: footage was only reviewed after an incident had already occurred. As Graham Nelson, Head of Continuous Improvement, put it:
"Previously, cameras were reactive. We'd only check footage after incidents. We needed to shift from ambulance-at-the-bottom to prevention-at-the-top."
The Group recognised that data, not gut feel, needed to drive safety decisions. When integrating operations, their team mapped incident data across the DC to identify hotspots, but they needed a tool that could turn those insights into real-time action.
The solution: inviol AI safety platform
The Warehouse Group partnered with inviol to deploy its AI-powered computer vision platform across the North Island DC. inviol connects directly to existing CCTV infrastructure, no new cameras, no complex installations, and monitors continuously for unsafe behaviours, near-misses, and process breakdowns, 24 hours a day.
No new cameras required. The team simply overlaid inviol's AI on their existing CCTV network. Vincent Gorham described the setup as genuinely plug-and-play: collect the device from inviol, connect to the existing network, configure with the IT team, and go live.
Privacy by design. Before rollout, the HR team communicated proactively with unions, team members, and leaders. Footage is automatically face-blurred, ensuring coaching is focused on behaviour and risk, not individuals. Once the team saw that only short, anonymised clips were used, concerns disappeared quickly.
Built for operations teams, not just safety managers. The platform's dashboard is modern and intuitive. Emma Donaldon, North Island Fulfilment Centre Operations Manager, described it as similar to social media platforms in its ease of use. After initial training, Emma was able to train managers herself. Daily event review now just takes 5-10 minutes.
Implementation
From receiving the brief to going live took approximately three weeks, driven in part by board pressure to move quickly. Vincent Gorham personally connected the device on-site:
"From when I was told to when we went live with the trial was about three weeks. I even turned up to the inviol office and hooked up the device myself."
The trial began with eight cameras across key risk areas of the North Island DC, including transport lanes, container loading zones, and high-traffic inbound areas.
Rollout followed a structured change management approach: managers, supervisors, and team leaders were onboarded first, before a wider rollout to team members. Transparency was central, the team was shown exactly how the system worked and reassured that it was about awareness and improvement, not surveillance.
inviol's team provided responsive, flexible support throughout, including on-site training scheduled around the DC's operation hours.
Results
The impact was swift and measurable.
60% reduction in health and safety incidents within two months of going live.
50% fewer safety events were recorded at the North Island Fulfilment Centre within approximately three months.
Beyond the numbers, the platform surfaced risks that would previously have gone unnoticed:
On day one of training, a critical process breakdown was identified and resolved within 24 hours.
In one of the first serious incidents captured, a third-party team member was inside a container as a forklift drove in. inviol flagged the risk immediately, enabling The Warehouse Group to act fast and engage the third-party provider on the same day.
In a high-risk inbound area, repeated MHE-pedestrian proximity events prompted a physical redesign of the zone, moving the grid and segregating people from equipment. The solution came directly from inviol insights.
"In two months we've had a 60% reduction in incidents. It was easy to install, cost efficient, and worked with existing infrastructure." – Graham Nelson, Head of Continuous Improvement & Gorup Fleet
"Since adopting inviol, we've reduced health and safety risks by 60% and had 50% fewer events. It's strengthened culture and awareness." – Emma Donaldon, Operations Manager, North Island Fulfilment Centre
When Graham presented the results and cost to The Warehouse Group's board, their reaction was telling:
"Shareholders and board members were astounded when I showed them, especially with a 60% reduction in health and safety incidents in two months."
Changing the safety culture
Perhaps the most significant shift has been cultural. inviol turned the DC's existing cameras from passive recording devices into active coaching tools.
Short video clips, captured automatically and described by Graham Nelson as similar to "Facebook Reels", are shared with teams on iPads during weekly toolbox sessions. Real events, filmed on-site, spark genuine discussion about what happened and how to improve. The format works across language barriers, making safety communication more inclusive and effective.
"Videos make discussions more impactful. Instead of just talking, we can show real events. It's built stronger conversations and awareness on site." – Emma Donaldon
"It has taken us into the next digital age for safety. We get consumable clips that can be shared with teams, carriers, and third parties." – Graham Nelson
What's next
Buoyed by the trial results, The Warehouse Group has expanded. The team has now rolled inviol out across their DC network.
"The software does what it says, supports our people, and helps leaders protect their teams." – Graham Nelson
100% yes, even with a strong safety culture, inviol highlighted areas for improvement. It's a valuable tool for ongoing development." – Emma Donaldson
About inviol
inviol is a New Zealand-founded AI health and safety platform built for warehouses, industrial sites, manufacturing, and logistics operations. Using existing CCTV, inviol detects unsafe behaviours and near-misses 24/7, turning them into practical coaching moments and clear trend data so teams can act early and lift safety culture across sites and fleets.
