Ebb & Flow Corporate -

Putting the ‘H’ back in Health & Safety  

Ebb&Flow have been working with a number of construction giants pre and post Covid-19, to develop, educate and enhance the wellbeing services within their companies.  

We have covered areas such as suicide prevention, provided pre-shift warm up training and one to one sessions covering nutrition for a manual workforce, as well as educational lunch & learns on mindfulness which include guided breathing among a variety of other topics. We also facilitate on-site training courses to reduce the injury rate associated with manual handling and host workshops with approachable psychologists to help reduce the stigma of mental health in construction. We concentrated on a number of the main causes of injury, illness and death in the construction industry to create a collection of tailored projects for our clients, as outlined below:

Suicide

Surprisingly, the number one risk in the construction industry isn’t physical but mental. We are passionate about the need to reduce the stigma of mental health issues in this sector – the evidence speaks for itself and demonstrates how much work there is still to do here. Fact: according to the Office of National Statistics* out of 10,688 people in-work suicides reported from 2011–2015, 1,047 worked in the construction industry, comprising just over 13% of the overall figures and the highest suicide rate of any profession.

*shorturl.at/dgrAN

Working with the Health & Safety Managers we were tasked to deliver talks, educate and equip the workforce with skills from our specialists in this area. Here are a few of the subjects we covered using talks, workshops and webinars

  • Managing Your Mental Health: how to recognise early warning signs and symptoms of a dip in mental wellbeing & how to manage your own thoughts effectively.
  • Harnessing The Power Of Positivity: positive psychology has often been described as ‘the scientific study of what makes life worth living’.
  • Building Resilience Post-Lockdown: understand what gets in the way of developing mental resilience; this session will outline what mindfulness is, introduce practical mediation techniques and explain how to apply them both at work and at home. 
  • We work alongside the Mates in Mind campaign and have specific role models who are trained in suicide first aid to provide group and one to one counselling virtually. We also have a range of podcasts that can be listed on your company intranet for 24/7 access.

Suicide first aid

 

Physical Wellbeing For Manual Labour

Manual materials handling comprise those tasks that involve lifting, holding, carrying, lowering, pushing and pulling materials and material loads. While there are a variety of injury types associated with this subject, the most common is soft tissue damage, i.e. damage to muscles, ligaments, tendons, discs, cartilage etc.

  • We have created a number of construction specific  warm up routines developed by experienced personal trainers hand-in-hand with on-site shift leaders that are easy to follow and most importantly help reduce the injury rate.
  • Additional training and videos are provided to ensure that shift leaders can effectively deliver the warm up routine to the workforce in the absence of the trainer.

Did you know? Lower back pain is the leading cause of disability world-wide (est. 540 million) according to the LANCET.

 

Exhaustion & Stress

While exhaustion itself isn’t generally something that’s attributed as the primary reason for accidents or injuries, it is a factor that underlies many construction site incidents.

  • Working with psychologists, sleep consultants and financial wellness experts we created a 12 part series of Lunch & Learn talks to educate and provide important tools for the workforce to utilise. Each one comes with a downloadable PDF of resources and links. 
  • We deliver weekly Stretch & Restore classes that are live streamed to colleagues online, to help them understand ways to feel the difference in their bodies both mentally and physically. Each class can be recorded and uploaded to the company intranet for those not able to attend live.

 

New Ways Of Working

Millions of people are working from home for the first time due to the coronavirus outbreak. So for those of us with a new regime of working remotely, how do we stay productive and keep our spirits up? Not spending a significant amount of time in an office environment anymore means we’re not getting the positive reinforcement you’d normally rely on from body language and the ‘community vibe’ from being all together in an office.

  • We provide a variety of live wellness classes each week, including yoga for movement and mobility, guided meditation, desk stretch sessions, pilates for bad issues and posture clinics.
  • We host interactive talks from physiotherapists with Q&A sessions, and facilitate wellbeing workshops on quirky topics like ‘Green Fingers’; these help brighten the mood and show those working from home how to improve mental health by growing plants & vegetables at home.
  • We have set up a 4 part beginners guide to yoga; curriculum based to enhance progressive learning which can be offered to your workforce and their families & accessed for free 24/7 via our online wellness platform.

 

Transitioning Back To Work 

It is understandable that people are anxious about returning to work in this climate and we have already seen how employers are likely to face issues in this area specifically. It’s a fearful time, the fear of the unknown and learning new regulations and rules can cause deep stress within the team.

  • We have designed workshops & webinars to educate, advise and guide your workforce on subjects like  How to Thrive in A Post-Covid World and The Business Case For Kindness.
  • We also provide physical online live classes that help overcome anxiety and panic attacks, and our life coaching experts have recorded podcasts and discussion recordings that deal specifically with this topic.

Returning to work after a period of absence

Click here for a summary of Wellness Workshops & Events.