Balfour Beatty’s A21 project team held their Zero Harm event to a group of 100 people for their Lighthouse Day. The event included site staff, office staff and subcontractors to provide a fun, educational, team-building day whilst encouraging staff to stop and think about both their colleague’s health, safety and well-being.
The activities for the day were managed by Balfour Beatty and some of our subcontractors. These ranged from demonstrations of new technologies, training tools, talks, games, information and entertainment. Food was provided to cater for all, including a hog roast, curry and healthy snacks. In addition, drinks were provided throughout the day ensuring people remained hydrated in the soaring temperatures.
A virtual reality headset was showcased during the day which puts participants in a virtually unsafe environment whilst remaining in safe surroundings. Approximately 25% of the attendees experienced the virtual reality which will keep people safe by removing the need to be on site. The A21 team have since won a Blue Star award for the development of virtual reality, which is awarded by Highways England for new initiatives that are not widely used on other sites.
Mental health has been at the forefront of the media in recent months and we wanted to include this as part of the day. We took the opportunity to utilise our team of Mental Health First Aiders to ensure that all staff are aware of who the first aiders are and to provide conversation starters through use of origami, brain teasers, games and information around mental health.
George Pargeter, Balfour Beatty Project Director for the A21 Tonbridge to Pembury dualling project said, “The Health, Safety and Wellbeing Day is an integral part of our safety culture programme and the drive to achieve Zero Harm. This was a fantastic opportunity to engage with our team, the customer and our supply chain, sharing innovation, knowledge and our approach to protecting everyone involved in the project. I would like to thank everyone who participated making the day a great success and to Lorraine Brown and Ashleigh Shersby who organised the event.”
The supply chain provided a number of prizes for a raffle and all money rasied on the day was donated to the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity. Representatives from the Lighthouse4 Club Charity were also on hand to give out information and raise awareness of the charity’s work to help those in the construction industry who need a helping hand.
The total amount raised was a fantastic £900! A great big thank you goes out to Ashleigh and Lorraine for organising this great day and to everyone that attended and donated so generously.
