Why the workplace is a great place to improve poor mental health

Why the workplace is a great place to improve poor mental health

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WHY THE WORKPLACE IS A GREAT PLACE TO IMPROVE MENTAL HEALTH

Despite the rise in workplaces increasing their focus on employee mental health (81% increase since the pandemic), 36% of companies still take a more reactive approach, rather than a proactive one.[1]

Did you know that 1 in 6 of us will experience a mental health issue at work this week?  Did you also know that 45% of those experiencing this issue will not let anyone at work know what’s going on? [2]

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This prevalence of mental ill health in the workplace has led to 50% of employees having experienced at least one characteristic of burn out due to greater job demands and expectations, lack of social interaction and lack of boundaries between work and home life and almost half of UK workers (46%) say they’ve worked in recent months despite not feeling physically or mentally well enough to perform their duties. [3]

As well as the human cost of these issues going on untreated, there is a huge financial cost to employers.

Mental ill health costs UK employers approximately £56 billion each year. [3]

  • Annual cost of presenteeism: approx. £28 billion
  • Annual cost of staff turnover: approx. £22 billion
  • Annual cost of absenteeism: approx. £6 billion

 The total annual cost of mental ill health to employers have increased by 25% since 2019.  However, for every £1 spent by employers on mental health interventions, employers could get back £5.30 in reduced absence, presenteeism, and staff turnover. [3]

 The cost of presenteeism is a significant problem. By understanding the impact poor mental health can have on presenteeism, we can ensure a thriving and productive workforce.

Our mental health is constantly changing, and any movement away from mental health towards issues or illnesses can be as debilitating as changes in our physical health. Both impact our ability to do what we could, should, or want to do, and affects our performance at work. Yet mental health issues are often overlooked.

 We want to help you improve both employee engagement and business performance and if mental health is considered in alignment with business goals, it can help companies identify issues early, help them act upon them and reduce their impact, so that people and the organisations they work for, can continue to thrive and be productive.

 There has been extensive research undertaken into the most effective settings for a mental health intervention, and the workplace remains as one of the best. [2]

So now is the time to ask yourself:

  • Does your organisation have a good mental health policy?
  • Do you have well trained, mental health first aiders that can identify those in crisis and help guide them towards support?
  • Would you like to untap the benefits of a healthy workplace?
  • Would you like to create a positive workplace culture?
  • Would you like to be trained so that you are prepared to help others in their time of need?

Our Mental Health First Aid Course and Mental Health Awareness courses can help you unlock the significant social and financial benefits of positive employee mental health. We’ve helped individuals and businesses do this, and we’re also supporting the UK Mental Health Foundation, by collecting donations for their Green Pin badge campaign.

For a full list of our courses, please see our website – https://keyperformancetraining.co.uk/first-aid-training/#

Sources:

[1] CIPD health and wellbeing at work survey (2022)

[2] UK Mental Health Foundation

[3] Deloitte UK Mental Health Report (2022)

[4] CIPD good work index (2022)

Contact us on 01793 975353 or rachel.gearon@keyperformancetraining.co.uk for more information about how we can help or to book your course today.

 

Need more information?

For more information please do get in touch – via our contacts page, email us or just give us a call on 01793 975353

Lisa’s story

Lisa’s story

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Lisa’s story

Here at Key Performance Training, we talk about the risks of driving a forklift truck badly every week.

It’s part of our course material and we often post about the dreadful accidents and incidences involving forklifts to raise awareness of the consequences and the risks associated with the equipment we train on.

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Unfortunately though, thousands of workers are still being injured by them every year and 1 in 5 workplace fatalities were caused by moving vehicles in 2021.

And these statistics are on the rise.

We’d like to share with you the firsthand experience of someone who is living with exactly the consequences – Lisa Ramos.

Lisa was hit by a forklift truck on the 24th March 2006. This is a date that is engraved on her memory forever. Not because it was the date of her only son’s 13th birthday, but because it was the day she became an ‘amputee’. Here, she tells the story of how one tragic moment in time has caused a lifetime of heartache and devastated generations of her family.

Click here to view Lisa’s story – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ccNx0SvNkY

If you’re driving a forklift without proper training, or you supervise people who do, you could be breaking the law, and putting others at risk of serious, life-changing or life-threatening injuries.

For a full list of our courses, please see our website – https://keyperformancetraining.co.uk/ and see how we can help you get the right training to minimise the risks of this happening to someone else.

We thank Lisa for sharing her story with us all.  Today Lisa is a guest speaker at health and safety conferences and employer events, alongside her husband, David Garton. Together, they raise awareness about the hidden costs of workplace accidents and the devasting impact it can have on the family, friends and colleagues of the victim.

Contact us on 01793 975353 or rachel.gearon@keyperformancetraining.co.uk for more information about how we can help or to book your course today.

 

Need more information?

For more information please do get in touch – via our contacts page, email us or just give us a call on 01793 975353

National Forklift Safety Day

National Forklift Safety Day

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National Forklift Safety Day 

Tuesday 13th June is National Forklift Safety Day, and this year’s theme is “Safe Sites Save Lives’.

According to the HSE’s Workplace Fatal Injuries in Great Britain report, published in July 2022, 123 workers were killed in work-related accidents in 2021/22, with around a quarter of these (30) consigned to the Construction sector. The Transportation & Storage sector, which includes Warehousing & Logistics, shows 16 deaths.

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The most common fatal industrial accident constitutes falls from height, accounting for 29 of the total number of deaths in the period. The second most common fatal industrial accident involved people being struck by a moving vehicle, followed by people being struck by a flying/falling object, contact with machinery and then trapped by something collapsing or overturning.

The risks associated with such incidents could be reduced if correct risk assessments are carried out, along with improved operator training and supervision, increased use of safety infrastructure and automation.

“Anyone with a stake in this important industry will recognise the importance of keeping workers safe and we hope National Forklift Safety Day will encourage more organisations to audit their safety protocols to ensure they remain compliant at all times” said David Goss, Technical Director of UKMHA (UK Material Handling Association).

Have you or your drivers had adequate forklift training?  Do you have records to show what training they have had and that it’s in date? Would you be confident that in the event of an incident, you could provide evidence of that training and that it was sufficient and compliant?  Have you had some near misses involving operators driving poorly?

There are lots of training companies and trainers out there offering courses, but the quality of that training can vary greatly. To ensure that any training you invest in is of a high standard and is HSE compliant, then you should use an accredited training company.  Our RTITB accreditation ensures that our training is legally compliant, of a high standard and operators only pass our courses if they are competent to do operate.

We offer a huge range of forklift training courses in our centre, or we can come to you to deliver training at your site.  Please see our forklift training webpage – https://keyperformancetraining.co.uk/flt-courses-rtitb-forklift-training-swindon-and-nationwide-counterbalance-reach-bendi-telescopic/#

If you want to ensure that you or your organisation are compliant and if you take the safety of those who operate on and around forklift trucks seriously, then contact to us about how our accredited training can help you.

Contact us on 01793 975353 or rachel.gearon@keyperformancetraining.co.uk for more information about how we can help or to book your course today.

 

Need more information?

For more information please do get in touch – via our contacts page, email us or just give us a call on 01793 975353

Latest news from the HSE

Latest news from the HSE

News from the HSE

The HSE has fined a company in Birmingham £600,000 after a worker’s leg crushed by a forklift truck.

The man was working for AkzoNobel Packaging Coatings Limited when the incident occurred at the firm’s Birmingham site on Bordesley Green Road on 8 May 2018.

 

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He had been walking across a pedestrian crossing at the site when a forklift truck, being driven by another worker, collided with him, crushing his leg and ankle. The driver did not slow down while approaching the pedestrian crossing and his vision was restricted as the forklift truck was carrying multiple intermediate bulk containers (IBCs).

The injured worker required surgery and skin grafts following the incident.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident found AkzoNobel Packaging Coatings Limited failed to provide an adequate risk assessment nor a safe system of work. There was also a lack of appropriate supervision. This led to the adoption and development of an unsafe custom and practice on site.

AkzoNobel Packaging Coatings Limited, of Wexham Road, Slough, Berkshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £600,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,188.60 at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 3 April 2023.

HSE inspector Marie Wheeler said: “This incident could so easily have been avoided by the employer adequately assessing the risks and ensuring a suitable workplace transport system was implemented with correct management and supervision in place.

“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

If you are operating a forklift truck, you need to be aware of the dangers and be adequately trained on how to operate them safely.  This includes observing your environment, including pedestrians.

Supervisors and managers also need to be aware of the dangers involved their operation and put adequate measures in place to protect their staff and visitors.

We offer a range of RTITB forklift operator training, as well as an online forklift manager course (Managing & Supervising Materials Handling Equipment Operations), so we can help you remain compliant with the law, and help you ensure your staff are protected from unnecessary and avoidable risks.

For more information about our forklift courses, please click here

Contact us on 01793 975353 or david.gearon@keyperformancetraining.co.uk for more information about how we can help.

Need more information?

For more information please do get in touch – via our contacts page, email us or just give us a call on 01793 975353

Mental Health Awareness Week

Mental Health Awareness Week

Did you know it’s Mental Health Awareness week next month?

Running from 15th – 21st May 2023, the week is an annual event, organised by the Mental Health Foundation (the UK’s leading charity on mental health) and the theme for this year is anxiety.

It is designed to encourage us all to think about mental health, tackle stigma, and find out how to create a society that protects our mental wellbeing.

This year, Mental Health Awareness Week coincides with Learning at Work Week 2023, so there is no better time to ensure that you and your business know what to do when someone you know or work with needs your help.

We’re running a Mental Health First Aid course on Wednesday 24th May, which is designed to help employers to provide a positive Mental Health culture within the workplace and to provide learners with comprehensive knowledge on a range of the most common Mental Health conditions and the skills to be able to act should a condition be suspected.

We’re proud to support this cause, because if you’ve ever suffered with your mental health, then you know how important good support is, and good support starts with good training.

For more information about our first aid courses, please see here – https://keyperformancetraining.co.uk/first-aid-training/#

For more information, or to book a course, please contact us on 01793 975353 or rachel.gearon@keyperformancetraining.co.uk.

Swindon Borough Council Fine Local Logistics Firm £125,000

Swindon Borough Council Fine Local Logistics Firm £125,000

Swindon Borough Council have recently fined a multi-national logistics firm from Swindon, after they admitted failing to keep its employees safe.

At a hearing at Swindon Crown Court recently, the company GXO Logistics Services UK, formerly known as XPO, which operates out of the Iceland distribution centre in West Swindon, was fined £125,000 and ordered to pay £80,623 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2 of The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act (1974).

The firm, which employs 130,000 people worldwide – around 700 of which are based in Swindon – was also charged with a RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013) offence for failing to keep Swindon Borough Council informed of accidents at its depot.

GXO took over operations of the site in August 2016 and the court heard how the company then assumed responsibility for its safe running.

Sam Jones, representing Swindon Borough Council, told the court how GXO had failed to maintain the health and safety of its staff upon taking over, resulting in a number of accidents taking place in the months that followed.

The company also failed to report some of the accidents to the local authority within the necessary timescale.

The court heard how GXO failed to ensure that risk assessments and safe systems of work were regularly reviewed to manage and control the risks associated with the movement of vehicles and pedestrians in its warehouses.

This failure contributed to an accident on the site on 23 June 2017, which resulted in one of its employees becoming trapped by a cage when it was hit by a vehicle operating inside the warehouse.

His Honour Judge James Townsend in his summing up described the accident involving the employee as “unpleasant” and emphasised that breaches of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 need to be taken seriously.  He added that employees rely on their employers to put safe systems in place and that GXO had failed to do so. 

Councillor Steve Heyes, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Public Safety, said: “Every employer, no matter how large or small, has a duty of care to its staff and must ensure every single one of its employees is safe within the workplace.

“GXO fell way short of this minimum requirement and I hope this prosecution and large fine serves as a warning to all businesses that they need to take health and safety extremely seriously or we will not hesitate to take action.”

Is your health and safety training up-to-date?  Check out our website for some of the courses we offer. Click here or contact us to see how we can help you remain compliant.

T: 01793 975353
E: david.gearon@keyperformancetraining.co.uk