Skanska’s mechanical and electrical engineering services business has won the prestigious Construction NewsSpecialist Award 2018 for Health, Safety and Wellbeing Excellence.
The award-winning entry highlighted the strong, positive approach taken by the health and safety team, with support from Skanska UK senior management. Positive outcomes include enhancing the business’s mental health offering, investing in training and providing mobile health, safety and wellbeing support to operatives.
A strong field of entries, submitted from across the sector, ensured the category was keenly contested. According to the judges’ comments, the Skanska team was “demonstrating a mature approach through a raft of health, safety and wellbeing initiatives, [they] scored highly across the board in scooping this award.”
The judges said: “There was also clear evidence that health and safety is being taken seriously from the top of the company right the way through to on-site teams, with mandatory Institution of Occupational Safety and Health safety training for executives and directors.”
In the spirit of collaboration, project directors from Skanska and managing directors from its supply chain meet twice a year to share health and safety initiative results.
The team appointed 40 mental health ambassadors to provide clear points of contact and put in place wider training, including mental health first aid and resilience courses. “Its commitment to tackling mental health was one of the distinguishing factors, and its use of technology, coupled with a mature approach to handling what will always be an ongoing task, was very good,” commented the judges.
The team invested £80,000 on health, safety and wellbeing training in 2017, delivering more than 700 training days for employees. This includes four-hour IFE orientation, supervisory and resilience training packages for managers and site teams, alongside mandatory half-day health, safety and wellbeing update training.
A mobile phone solution was developed, which provides employees, particularly operatives, with access to the company’s best practice procedures, health and safety dilemma scenarios, plus a wellbeing calendar, which features several areas of focus each month to raise awareness.
A Skanska-branded wellbeing van visits every site and helped two employees to discover underlying health issues that were later diagnosed by their doctors.
Gregor Craig, Skanska UK President and CEO, said: “It’s always pleasing to gain external recognition for initiatives to support our people and supply chain partners, and especially so in health and safety. I am particularly pleased that the judges acknowledged the importance of leadership in health and safety culture and performance. Every one of us, at all levels of the business, needs to lead in this very important area.”
Craig Murdoch, Senior Health and Safety Manager, said: “We are really proud to receive this award, which recognises all the fantastic work delivered by so many colleagues across the business who continually improve our health and safety performance. We are really pushing forward and developing our wellbeing programme to support our people.”
The event took place on 8 March at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.
