DHL's Gordon Delivers the Goods for REACT

As a DHL employee, Gordon Pursley has been delivering the goods for his company for years, but these days he’s also delivering for REACT as well!

The former Royal Logistics Warrant Officer – who received the Queen’s Volunteer Reserves Medal (QVRM) in the 2018 Birthday Honours’ List - is one of a growing number of Responders whose employers  welcome his involvement with REACT and are happy to not only support him but offer help with services and donations too where they can.

Gordon, who lives in Taunton, Somerset, was in the army for more than 38 years, serving as both a regular and later a reservist. He saw service in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan before finally hanging up his uniform for good in 2019.

“They kicked me out in the end,” jokes Gordon. “Although I was retired I was not quite ready to go yet.

It wasn’t long before the native Glaswegian was moving through in the DHL ranks.

He’s now an IATA/ADR  trainer, teaching the company’s employees how to safely deal with the handling and transportation of dangerous goods both by road and by air,

“I teach them how to work with everything from Lithium batteries and toxic substances to gases and explosives. As you can imagine, it’s a very detailed and intensive course structure, but it’s the industry standard, and anyone joining the company must attend the relevant level of training dependant on his/her job role and must successfully complete that course exam before they’re allowed to carry out their job function,” Gordon explains.

‘On the air regulations there’s 1,000 plus pages containing the legal and safety requirements alone, which a lot of the students find daunting – myself from time to time included! It details everything from how to pack the materials, to labelling, transportation, and how to mix certain loads,” he adds.

Gordon was a perfect fit for the job having worked in the Royal Engineers and Royal Logistic Corps dealing with all sorts of high-pressure situations and delivering training. This eased the move across to doing a similar role within DHL.

He became involved with REACT during the first COVID-19 lockdown.

“I wanted to do something for people during the Pandemic, and I had applied to help out the NHS. However, I didn’t hear back from them and I just happened to be at home watching Breakfast TV and there was an item on about REACT volunteers at a local hospital. It sounded right up my street,” continues Gordon.

Since then, he’s been a Covid “Marshall” with a REACT team at Bristol bus station, worked at the city’s temporary vaccination centre and another in Exeter, responded to help in Accident and Emergency rooms in Worcester, Stoke, and Slough, and been one of the 2022 Commonwealth Games volunteers in Birmingham. Soon, he will be representing REACT on a Multi-Agency Tactical Training Course with Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue.

Responding for REACT whilst working for DHL has proved to be extremely advantageous to both organisations.

“They are happy for me to volunteer. In fact, I think it’s something they would encourage any staff member to do. It boosts morale and gives employees a real sense of purpose and pride,” explains Gordon.

“DHL is also very happy to help REACT out where they can. For example, recently REACT was looking for a van to help transport some donated medical equipment headed to the Ukraine. With internal support, one of the DHL managers at Heathrow was asked if I could use a vehicle for the day! Such was the support, they actually provided a driver to take one of their vans up to Stevenage to collect the donations and take them to Stratford. REACT saved on manpower, fuel costs and hire of a van which was fantastic!” adds Gordon.

He is now keen to look at how the organisations can do more work together.

“DHL already does a lot of charity work through its Foundation, as well as via it’s Disaster Response Team, who provide logistical support at airports during crisis. I want to explore whether I can encourage further links between them and REACT. I am sure there will be a lot of interest on both sides. Obviously, the DHL guys can be quite busy, so it has to be managed. But if they have spare capacity then why not use it,” Gordon points out.

“REACT’s  pool of over 2,000 humanitarian volunteers is at the heart of our charity. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to respond to disasters in the UK and internationally to help the most vulnerable and hardest to reach people,” explains Jade Rolph, REACT’s Director of Partnerships and Fundraising.

“We’re incredibly grateful to DHL, and companies like them, who allow their employees the flexibility to volunteer in such a meaningful way. We know that the sudden and unpredictable nature of disaster brings unique challenges when volunteers are needed at short notice, but this type of volunteering also provides colleagues with a chance to give back in a way which is incredibly valuable and impactful,” adds Jade.

“We’d like to say a big thank you to DHL for supporting their colleagues to become REACT Responders.”

Gordon says he would recommend volunteering for REACT to any of his workmates.

“Compared to a lot of the REACT Responders, I have done relatively little so far. I have completed 12 tasks over the last few years, but when you have a day job it’s difficult to do more. But you get so much back from your efforts. When you work in a hospital, people are so grateful, both medical staff and patients. I was being thanked so many times, it was a little embarrassing, as they are the ones that have the real problems!”

He adds: “DHL’s slogan is Excellence: Simply Delivered. I think that can certainly be applied to REACT as well!”