The Costain-Skanska JV at Paddington is currently in the last year of a £450m project which sees the delivery of the largest Crossrail station. Current works involve the testing and commissioning of 15 new escalators, the installation of the glass canopy roof mep works, fit out and connections into the existing grade one listed network rail station and a passageway direct to the Bakerloo line.
Due to the remit and the variety of the works there are dozens of specialist contractors working on the site and there is currently a site workforce of around 550 people which consistently changes to meet the needs of the project.
Bill Hill, CEO of the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity delivered a presentation about the charity’s 24/7 construction industry helpline and outlined the serious issue of mental health and wellbeing within the construction industry. On the day of the presentation, there was full house of workers spanning the length of what will be the new Crossrail ticket hall.
Fiona Power, Senior Health and Safety adviser for the Costain-Skanska JV said, “The project first heard about the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity and its helpline through the Considerate Constructors scheme. From there we ordered our helpline packs to ensure we had posters for our site and helpline cards for all our workforce. One of the most difficult challenges we have is managing and supporting the number of new workers coming on to the project every week. This year alone, we have inducted 600 workers and maintaining our safety culture and values remains our key priority and the Lighthouse Club’s presentation was an excellent opportunity to engage across all areas of the project. Many of the workforce have never worked on a project of this scale and it’s important for us to take advantage of this and make a positive impact. This includes bringing the mental health agenda into the spotlight within our industry and promoting the great services that the charity’s construction industry helpline delivers.
The interest in the charity was phenomenal with many asking questions and requesting more information. Bill’s presentation was the talk of site for the next week. It was excellent to hear the discussions about mental health and wellbeing continue throughout the week. Our project has been raising the profile of mental health and wellbeing over the last two years by ensuring we have fully trained mental health first aiders on site. This in turn has enabled us to deliver mental health awareness sessions to hundreds of people and stress and resilience training for dozens of managers.
We also wanted to support the charity financially so that they can continue to provide their vital helpline services, so as part of our near miss reporting policy we also donated £2280 to a very worthy cause.”
Bill Hill, CEO of the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity said, “We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone at the Costain-Skanska JV team for their participation. By supporting us financially, they are ensuring that we can continue to provide our helpline services. There are around 400 suicides a year in construction and a fifth of all work-related illness is due to stress, anxiety or depression, so it’s vital that there is a safety net for our construction workforce and their families”.
