“Just talk to each other”

Hundreds of workers at the massive Hinkley Point C (HPC) construction site near Bridgwater in Somerset attended a “Wellness Day” run by the HPC Unite branch SW/8257 yesterday (October 7).

The packed day was open to everyone and featured a number of talks along with lots of stalls full of information and advice to support the site’s workforce.

The event was organised by Unite HPC Branch Secretary, Nick Halsall, along with the Unite team of reps. These included Gary Honeyman and Shpetim Terzia who worked a late shift until midnight ensuring that the Jason Waring Hall was ready for action from early in the morning.

Nick started the day by welcoming everyone to the first session, saying that, “We held a Wellness Day last year, and our members asked for this to be repeated. The speakers and sessions are the ones that Unite members suggested and we hope you find them useful.

“Some of the subject matter will be difficult, but please come and have a chat with reps if any of the sessions raise issues you want to discuss. We are all here to support you.”

The first session, which repeated through the day to accommodate different shift patterns was a Mental Health Awareness Workshop with former rugby league player Danny Sculthorpe.

Danny played professionally for some of the top teams in the country, including Wigan Warriors and Castleford Tigers, as well as earning eight England caps.

However in 2010, a prolapsed disc ended his career, leaving Danny devastated and losing his identity, his home, and battling depression that brought him to a car park with pills and alcohol, ready to end his life.

Danny explained his journey, compared the readily accessible treatment for his physical injury with treating mental health issues and talked about how he overcame his struggles with mental illness by talking to people and seeking help. 

Danny said, “It’s not a weakness to say you are struggling, it takes courage to seek help”, adding that “in construction you are ten times more likely to die by suicide than by accident.”

Addressing the room packed full of hi vis clad workers he encouraged them to talk, saying “If things are getting on top of you, no matter where, just speak to someone. I was in a rugby team, but you are all part of a team and if you see a difference in a friend, say it to them – it might just save their life.”

He then highlighted some coping strategies and tips to help yourself as well as encouraging workers to make use of occupational health and trade union Mental Health First Aiders.

Talking after the first session Angie Young, HPC’s Health and Wellbeing Manager, and former nurse welcomed the Unite Wellbeing Day.

Angie said, “We have been doing some great work with the unions. We recently had 1500 men take a prostate cancer test, 70 of them came back with positive results and followed up with their doctors.

“The workers here work hard and play hard and when they get home at weekends the last thing on their mind is visiting their doctor – so we carry out lots of screening at the onsite health centre.”

This includes tests for diabetes and cholesterol, bowel cancer screening and thyroid tests for the women working on the site.

Angie explained that, “From the very beginning the trade unions, like Unite, at Hinkley have been very supportive of everything we do. 

“We send information to the branches and reps and they make sure it is circulated to all their members. We find that this gets far more interest than official emails from the company.”

The next session tackled the grief people feel after suicide. Talking in a personal capacity independent bereavement trainer Josie Jakub explained the changes that survivors go through trying to understand what had happened and investigate what led someone to take their own life.

Josie spoke from personal experience of a partner who had died by suicide, and said that, “Why? Is the question that torments most people, who ask themselves “what could I have done to stop it?” And “what did I miss?”

“However maybe there were just no signs, nothing obvious and nothing for you to spot. It’s not about what we do or say, we can support someone completely and it can still happen.”

Like other speakers Josie said it was important to talk to people to find out what help they need and to be there for them at an incredibly difficult time.

The most crowded session of the day saw a packed listen to Rob Parker from ARA Recovery for All run a session about gambling related harm. 

Rob told his personal story how gambling addiction had taken over his life, affecting his work and relationships before he finally lost his job for stealing to pay for the addiction and was arrested and sentenced for three years. 

A look around nearby Bridgwater shows a concerning number of gambling machines in virtually every pub, and Rob highlighted the particular dangers facing construction workers where gambling can become part of the social culture, overlapping with concerns over mental health, alcohol and stress.

Rob said that figures show that “89% of those working in construction have gambled recently”, and that “gambling ca increase the risk of suicide by almost 15 times.” 

On the positive side, more and more people are signing up to self-exclusion and blocking software to help fight addiction, with 500,000 people downloading the GAMSTOP app.

Other sessions covered areas such as the dangers of mixing alcohol and cocaine – with the UK now seen as the cocaine capital of Europe and heart attacks in the under 40 reaching worryingly high levels.

In between the session workers had a chance to pick up information from a large number of stalls that not only represented the health and wellbeing groups involved in the sessions, but also Unite reps Sarah Guyon and Shannon Roache were kept busy at the Unite Women in Construction, while Stefan-Mihaita Plesa was amongst the reps promoting Unite Young Workers. There was also careers advice from HPC and ARK at Egwood, a charity that creates a safe space to improve mental wellbeing through horticulture and rural crafts. 

There was a chance for members to pick up a Unite t-shirt or beanie, and for those who hadn’t yet joined the union there were membership forms and reps at hand to go through the benefits of joining.

At the end of the day, though tired, everyone felt it was well worthwhile.

Nick said, “We had over 1600 people attend throughout the day. We have negotiated with management to allow interested workers to attend and by repeating some of the sessions we gave the opportunity to those on different shifts to get involved.”

Nick and Unite reps are already thinking of ideas for next year’s Wellbeing Day.

For more information on how Unite is supporting mental health at work go to the United Minds campaign page. 

Below are a selection of photos from the day.

By Keith Hatch

Photos by Mark Thomas