With 27 million of us going to work every day, the workplace offers a major opportunity to drive health improvement. In this blog, Dame Carol Black, chair of the health at work network, talks about the importance of workplace health and well-being and what’s being done to take up the challenge of health improvement across the construction and civil engineering industry.
Dame Carol was hugely impressed with the example set by the construction of the Olympic Park, which was completed with an excellent safety record. But further, the Olympic Development Authority worked closely with the main contractors Duradiamond to develop health and well-being programmes for all the workers on site. The timely and efficient delivery of the Olympic venues and infrastructure clearly shows the impact that good employee health and well-being has on productivity.
She goes on to talk about how the Responsibility Deal health at work network set up a construction and civil engineering subgroup, with key industry players including Kier Construction, Costain Ltd, Arup, Mount Anvil, The Health & Safety Executive and Duradiamond. This group are now working towards a pledge which offers support to companies in their supply chain and smaller enterprises in promoting health and well-being.