Occupational Health
The health and wellbeing of the workforce and stakeholders has been a crucial element in Crossrail’s progress. It is estimated that the UK construction industry reported 31,000 new cases of ill-health in 2012.
Health and wellbeing is a key focus for Crossrail and to raise the bar across the industry, this message has been delivered to its contractor community. Crossrail’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy sets out our vision to improve delivery of related activities across the project.
Download Crossrail Occupational Health Standard
An effective occupational health management programme is one that goes beyond providing a clinical and emergency response service. It extends to proactively:
- Eliminating preventable ill health;
- Limiting exposure to health risk;
- Reducing absence due to work -related illness;
- Rehabilitating workers; and
- Enhancing well-being;
- Promoting standards and good practice; and
- Contributing to and xxx research.
Crossrail aims to prevent work related ill-health and improve individuals’ wellbeing through the delivery of the strategy. Health campaigns such as team challenges and key pieces of health research will leave health legacies, which will benefit the construction industry as a whole.
Health promotion campaigns delivered in 2013 have included:
- Healthy Eating
- Healthy Heart
- Back Care
- Hot and Cold Weather Working
- Resilience
- Sun and Cancer Awareness
Three successful Crossrail-led Target Zero project-wide health campaigns were delivered:
- Dust/Respiratory Health: ‘999 Health Emergency: protect your lungs, they need you’
- Musculo-Skeletal Disorders
- Healthy Team Challenge: ‘fighting fit’ which attracted 200 participants
To ensure appropriate standards in occupational health delivery across the programme are met, Crossrail states that the supply chain can only use occupational health providers that meet the nationally accredited Safe Effective Quality Occupational Health Service (SEQOHS) standard.
Crossrail sets its contractors health-related KPIs which are reported on a monthly basis to ensure health campaigns are being delivered, drug and alcohol tests are undertaken by new starters and compliance with the Constructing Better Health scheme.
Crossrail was instrumental in supporting the Department of Health’s Public Health Responsibility Deal (PHRD) Health at Work for Construction and Civil Engineering Industries, which was launched in October 2013 and has signed up to the PHRD pledges. Crossrail has also contributed to the development of health toolkits to enable SMEs to sign up to PHRD pledges.
To ensure managers are equipped with appropriate skills to support their employees’ health and wellbeing, Crossrail delivers a National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) certificated management training in Health and Wellbeing at Work course.
CONSTRUCTING BETTER HEALTH
Crossrail also requires its Contractors to sign up to Constructing Better Health and implement the Standards.
Crossrail believes that the requirement for contractors to adopt Constructing Better Health Standards will have a long-term impact on the construction industry, which will last long after Crossrail is built.
Download A Subcontractor Guide to Constructing Better Health Membership
Crossrail Assessed Occupational Health Providers
To ensure that the occupational health services used by the supply chain are capable of delivering the exemplary level of health provision required by the Crossrail Occupational Health Standard, all occupational health providers working on Crossrail must be members of the Constructing Better Health Scheme and have achieved the Safe Effective Quality Occupational Health Service Standard (SEQOHS) accreditation.
