20 April 2020
Looking on the bright side
This is a difficult time, but to stay mentally healthy we need to look on the bright side, however hard that sometimes is.
5 March 2020
I'm a qualified mental health first aider now
Nicki writes about her experiences on the MHFA England mental health first aider course: "I loved it, and couldn't wait to go back."
16 October 2019
Touch rugby to help charity
Congratulations to winners Atkins in the Heathrow 'touch rugby world cup' on 16 October which raised £16,500 for construction charity The Lighthouse Club.
9 September 2019
A weekend of charity fundraising
This weekend saw 11 VGC employees (plus two supporters) running a total of 112km for State of Mind Sport. On 7 September Chelsey, Jason, Zena, Emma, Melanie, Patrick, Ellie and Alex (left) tackled 5km of Rough Runner. During the night, Chris, James and Donatas tackled 10km of Nuclear Blackout (the 5km obstacle course twice round).
31 July 2019
SCSS Wellbeing special interest group
Fiona writes: Last week I took part in the launch of the Supply Chain Sustainability School (SCSS) Wellbeing special interest group (SIG). We had a good turnout, including representatives from Highways England, Bouygues, Canary Wharf group, Wates, Danny Sullivan Group, and Liz Holford of the SCSS. Our meeting was hosted by Marshalls and chaired by
16 April 2019
Improve your mental fitness
Guest blog by Dr Phil Cooper of State of Mind Sport: Simple steps to begin to improve your mental fitness 1. You could think about the last time you did something new and how it felt. It’s never too late to learn a new skill or take on a new challenge. Doing it will make
26 March 2019
RoSPA silver award for health and safety
VGC is proud to have achieved a Silver in the internationally-renowned RoSPA Health and Safety Awards. The award recognises VGC’s practices in helping our staff go home safely at the end of every working day. Our entry included our ground-breaking behavioural safety programme, which has been embraced by the construction industry organisations since we first
8 March 2019
Wellbeing at VGC
Fiona writes: As a health and safety adviser, part of my role involves raising awareness of best practice. This expanded in 2018 when I become VGC’s wellbeing champion. I look at what VGC is doing, and what other initiatives we can implement to improve the wellbeing of our staff. Over half of all ill-health working
8 March 2019
A14 IDT health, safety and wellbeing impact day
Ben writes: On 7 March I attended the A14 Integrated Delivery Team health, safety and wellbeing impact day in Peterborough. This was the second impact day on the project. The first day was focused on planning safely – taking time to think about the works we were doing and to reinforce the message to stop
5 March 2018
Excellent Inspire Me workshop
Zena writes: Last Thursday I attended the first Inspire Me workshop. VGC is proud to be an official supporter of the campaign. Most of the workshop attendees were women: a refreshing reverse of the normal gender balance at construction events. Everyone had made a tremendous effort to overcome the weather to attend, and there were very few
24 August 2017
Mental resilience - Northern Hub safety meeting
Graham writes: I attended an excellent Step-up for Safety session earlier this week. It was one of four sessions this week to support health, safety and wellbeing of the workforce run by the Northern Hub Alliance. The hub has had 2.5 million working hours since work began in 2014, and is due to finish at
