As we start the new year, we are pleased to bring you our first update of 2020, with a focus on what you told us in your responses to our feedback survey last year.

Many thanks to all those who completed the survey and expressed views about the potential future direction of the HCLG. This provided us with much needed insight into the role of the HCLG and the industry needs and ambitions around health.

The results of the survey were reviewed at a HCLG meeting where we took stock of some of the key headlines and themes, and discussed the implications for our future planning.

Some of the headlines are:

75% of respondents said it is ‘very important’ that the HCLG continues to work on behalf of industry in achieving the vision of ‘By 2025, construction is a leading industry for occupational health, wellbeing and disease prevention’.
79% of respondents said that over the past 4 years, their organisation has placed an increased emphasis on tackling ill health
Dust was cited as the most important area of ill-health to tackle in construction by 50% of respondents, whilst 40% thought mental health was the most important area.
There were many examples shared where you have had successes in tackling health. The one cited the most was around education and awareness raising through campaigns and other initiatives, in particular around mental health. For some, progress is being made in bringing occupational health issues to the fore, discussing them more openly which is increasing understanding, buy-in and support for measures being introduced to address the issues.
Conversely, respondents also listed a range of obstacles still faced in terms of tackling ill health – in particular, changing attitudes and getting people to understand the risks and do things differently is still a challenge, along with time/costs associated with making changes.
In terms of your awareness of the HCLG and what you would like to see more of going forwards, many new members advised that they were not familiar with the HCLG’s past work and suggest a need for a bigger profile, clearer messaging, more visibility and clarity about the HCLG’s role. Some respondents called for more resources including case studies and good practice examples.
Another important point raised by some was around the need for the HCLG to have a strategy for reaching out to SME’s

Next Steps

In terms of next steps, a further ‘strategy’ meeting was held in November to agree the emerging strategy to deliver to our 2025 objectives. One of the key outcomes from this meeting is that we will be working more closely with other organisations and associations to ensure alignment and prevent duplication of efforts, including CONIAC, Build UK, CECA.

A key opportunity will be for us to set out the HCLG position, alongside CONIAC and other organisations , as part of delivering the governments industrial strategy for construction 2025.

You, as members, can look forward to making contributions and sharing experiences and perspectives to flesh out this strategy through forthcomingevents in 2020.

We will keep you informed with regular updates. In addition, we would also like to thank those who offered to share some of your activities and successes as case studies, we will be in touch to take this forward and look to publish new case studies on the HCLG website on a regular basis.

And if you have questions or would like to get in touch to share news about what your organisation is doing to tackle ill-health, can get in touch with us via news@healthinconstruction.co,uk.

We look forward to continuing to work with you in 2020 as we move towards a vision of an industry free from ill-health and disease.

Committing Construction to a Healthier Future

Managing Workplace Health Conference

20-21 November, Belfast

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