Health Like Safety

Jerry Banks, Senior SHEQ Manager at FM Conway on our commitment to Health and Safety.

The concept of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 was to provide a framework to ensure that employers controlled the risks and hazards associated with their activities, so as not to cause harm to their employees or others who could be affected by those activities.

For many years, Health and Safety Professionals focused on the safety element, resulting in the development of Safe Systems of Work that prevented injury from significant risks. As a consequence, these Safe Systems of Work would also provide some protection for people from the health issues associated with those activities, without there being a full understanding of what those health concerns were and how they could be fully controlled.

As part of our five year Health and Safety Strategy, we are aiming to address the balance between Health and Safety ensuring that both are considered with equal importance. We will achieve this by providing instruction and information to our Directors, Managers, Supervisors and Operatives on health issues such as Musculoskeletal Disorders, Noise Induced Hearing Loss, Silicosis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, etc, with a specific focus on Mental Health Awareness.

With our recent commitment to ‘Mates in Mind’ including the current ‘Starting the Conversation’ programme, which has been provided to over 500 employees and subcontractors within one month of commencement, we are educating our workforce on Mental Health and providing them with the tools and ability to assist in identifying and dealing with those who might be suffering from Mental Health issues.    

All this whilst continuing and improving our high standard of safety.