ISG chooses to make mental health a priority

ISG’s new ‘Choose Safe. Choose Health’ programme is being introduced alongside a new UK charity partnership with Mental Health UK and aims to harness the collective power of everyday choices, bringing more awareness of how they affect the safety, and particularly, the health of individuals. 

Going beyond the typical approach to physical safety on sites, this industry-leading programme seeks to provide the tools and conditions necessary to support a culture of empowered people working together towards health and safety, every day.

Reports from the construction industry suggest that health-related issues are 100 times more lethal than safety issues on site and that, in 2018, 55% of construction workers experienced mental health problems.

To address these issues head-on, ISG has created an open, interactive programme which advances health and safety by encouraging people to talk, act and create ideas to improve working conditions across its business. 

Zoe Price, ISG Chief Operating Officer, explains: “Through the development of this health and safety programme, we recognised that health had to be a significant part of our approach moving forward but found that in fact, it was already growing within our business. 

“For years, we have considered health and safety to be about more than reducing accidents – we always think holistically about the wellbeing of the people, environments and communities we work in, every day. 

As an industry, we have to do more to push the mental health and physical health of our staff up the agenda and put power of healthy and safe decision-making squarely in all of our hands.

"‘Choose safe. Choose health.’ does just that.

"This programme is the first of its kind in the industry, it gives us the impetus to focus on health, as well as safety, and enables us to develop processes around occupational health, health and safety leadership and of course, mental health first aid.”