Hardstaff Barriers | Taking the ‘Health’ in Health and Safety to the next level

Matt Lambert Posted On January 23, 2019

12 Views

Sponsored · Partner Content – published in partnership with the featured organisation.

Hardstaff Barriers (A division of Hill & Smith Ltd) has trained up some of its people to act as “Mental Health First Aiders” to assist with the mental wellbeing of workers.

Hardstaff Barriers hopes that the presence of the MHFAs will encourage its people and supply chain to seek help if they have existing problems or realise that they are starting to struggle.

They are trained to follow the acronym “ALGEE”, which stands for:

Approach; Assess for Crisis; Assist with Crisis;
Listen and communicate non-judgementally;
Give support and information;
Encourage appropriate professional help;
Encourage other supports.

Campaign posters & videos have been displayed to reinforce the key messages of the initiative and to show who the local MHFAs are in the workforce’s relaxation areas.

Hardstaff Barriers have also provided its workforce with access to an Employee Assistance programme (EAP) App that staff can download to their phones. The EAP is designed to help employees manage and prevent challenges, so they stay healthy at work and home. It covers areas such as work, life, money, health & family.

The move coincided with World Mental Health Day on 10^th October 2018.

The goal of World Mental Health Day is to increase awareness about mental health and the importance of mental health in the overall health of a person. On this day, the idea is to empower people suffering from mental health problems and encourage them to open up about it.

Hardstaff Barriers Service Manager, Kathryn Cooper, said:

“It’s a great step to see the investment in training and raising of awareness to equip our Mental Health First Aiders with skills to deal with potentially fragile situations sensitively and effectively, especially in a sector not known for actively talking about this area of health.”

The goal is for the mental health first aiders and their presence on site will eventually ‘normalise’ the subject of mental health so that it becomes a natural mindset for men and women to seek help if they become overwhelmed by their own personal situation.”