Mental Health in Manufacturing
Mental Health in Manufacturing
July 2019
Mental illness costs UK businesses around £35 billion every year. A recent Made UK report has indicated that whilst overall sickness absence remains low in the industry, long-term absence has seen its largest rise in five years. Although musculoskeletal conditions have long been seen as the manufacturing industries biggest long-term health problems, stress and mental health disorders are now the main cause of absence for one in four companies with manual workers losing almost twice as many days on average per year than non-manual workers.
Nuaire has long since recognised the importance of mental health awareness in the workplace and is committed to tackling stigma and improve the mental wellbeing of their employees.Having recently engaged St John’s Cymru to deliver a mental health first aid course on behalf of Training in Mind in June, Nuaire now has 20 qualified mental health first aiders across the business. The 2-day course delivered at Nuaire head office in Caerphilly, encouraged attendees to talk openly about mental health, reducing stigma and helping to create a positive work culture.
Tina Williams, Nuaire HR Manager said, ‘Our focus is on promoting good mental health and providing the right support to our employees when they need it most. Training has been a key part of this and thanks to our work with St John’s Ambulance we now have 20 people with the skills they need to better support both their own, and others’ mental health.’
