Staff at Terex Farlough, Home of the plants Terex Washing Systems and Terex Recycling Systems have put in place a Health and Wellbeing Action Plan to prioritise the health of their staff.
Terex is a global corporation which manufactures materials processing machinery and aerial work platforms. The Farlough site has recently trained a number of qualified ‘Health Champions’ to roll out the strategy through the free programme ‘Work Well Live Well’ which is available to workplaces across Northern Ireland in all industries.
The programme which is delivered by leading local charity Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke (NICHS) and funded by the Public Health Agency (PHA) aims to help workplaces improve their employees' health and wellbeing through personalised support. NICHS support organisations with carrying out a health and wellbeing survey, developing a bespoke 3-year action plan and strategy for their team as well as providing access to training, webinars, resources and networking opportunities, all completely free of charge.
Amanda Thompson, Health Champion & Senior HSE Advisor at Terex, says, “The Work Well Live Well Programme has been an excellent opportunity to create a Health and Wellbeing strategy based on evidence-based programme that allowed us to get official Health Champions trained. Our Health Champions can now deliver and develop a strategy bespoke for our team members’ needs.”
“Since participating in the programme, our Health Champions have taken part in Health Champion Training, a diabetes awareness session, and a Resilio Hope workshop. NI Chest Heart and Stroke have also delivered a ‘Sleeping Well’ talk on World Sleep Day. This was delivered both via an in person session and via a webinar and received great feedback. Most of us underestimate how important sleep is so this was a great eye-opener. Furthermore, our Health Champions have delivered a press up challenge, popular weekly spin classes on site which allows staff to walk from your workstation straight to the bike, and introduced a sit-stand desk policy.”
“It has allowed the Health Champions to create a calendar of events which is evidence based and really tailored to the Terex Farlough team members’ needs. This has increased engagement, focus on health and team members supporting each other on whatever stage of their health journey they are on.”
“Having a spin class on site has been a highlight, mainly due to its convenience. Most people didn’t think it was possible to deliver this. Also, our press up challenge started with a brief conversation with a couple of employees trying to motivate themselves and turned into a site wide challenge that brightened up a dreary January, a month that many find hard. Team members of all abilities supported each other. At the start of the challenge, some couldn’t complete one press up, but progressed to complete fifty full press-ups. This also resulted in us acquiring another volunteer for the Health Champion team.”
“Our aim is for our team members to know health comes first and for us to continue to develop a working environment where work and good health are integrated seamlessly. We hope this programme will arm our employees and Leadership Team with the tools we need to do this and continue its growth.”
To other businesses considering signing up, Amanda says, “Do it! It is a great programme with many resources and support. Emma and NICHS team are a pleasure to work with.”
Emma McCrudden, Work Well Live Well Programme Manager at Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke says; “As a local charity, our mission is to prevent chest, heart and stroke conditions and support people affected and our vision is a healthy Northern Ireland free from chest, heart and stroke illnesses. We recognise that the workplace is a priority setting for influencing the physical and mental wellbeing of employees and the PHA funded Work Well Live Well programme which we deliver, helps to promote good health in workplaces across Northern Ireland to prevent serious illness in the long term.”
“Terex Farlough is a great example of a workplace which wanted to make a positive change and put staff health first. The initiatives put in place by Terex staff have been a great success and have made a real difference to the health and wellbeing of the team.”
“We are now recruiting new workplaces to take part in the programme and would encourage organisations of all types and sizes to get in touch to find out how Work Well Live Well can help them.”
For more information and to register for Work Well Live Well, visit nichs.org.uk/workwelllivewell
