WEPA UK celebrates World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2021

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) marks its World Day for Safety and Health at Work on 28th April each year to promote safe, healthy and decent work around the globe.
With the UK being a founding member of the ILO, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) fully supports the day.

This year’s campaign is centred on how businesses can anticipate, prepare and respond to crises in light of the current global pandemic.
At WEPA UK, the health and safety of all our employees and stakeholders is a fundamental priority for our company – especially during the coronavirus.
We follow stringent health and safety practices to maintain the physical and mental wellbeing of our teams at our Bolton head office and Bridgend paper mill.
All our sites hold ISO 45001 certification for occupational health and safety. This is awarded to companies that are committed to improving employee safety, reducing workplace risks and creating better, safer working conditions.

Health and safety is of the utmost importance to us: we share a collective responsibility to make sure that everybody remains safe within our organisation. This includes employees, contractors, visitors and anyone else affected by our undertaking. 
Ultimately, we strive to provide safe and healthy working conditions that prevent work-related injury and ill-health.

Keeping safe in a global pandemic

The global pandemic has presented significant challenges to our business operations for more than a year now. 
Production demand was exceptionally high, driven by panic buying, so managing this from the initial lockdown to the present day required enormous effort.
Our previous blog demonstrates how we raised our health and safety game to keep people safe and production running during the early stages of COVID-19.
To protect all our on-site staff, we bolstered our already stringent health and safety practices by amending protocols.
This included providing PPE and imposing strict social distancing guidelines for those on shift in Bridgend or in office locations. 

Mental health is also a key priority, especially during this pandemic. We have an on-site occupational health provider who can deal with any health issues and provide free access to a range of support services for all employees and their immediate families.
We continue to function with these robust health and safety protocols in place, addressing the changing situation as it develops. 

Stop, Think and Ask
We regard safety as an integral part of our everyday activities and our paper mill takes a ‘Stop, Think and Ask’ approach to all tasks. 
This means every employee is empowered to take time to consider if a task is safe before carrying it out. If it isn’t, we simply don’t do it and ask our team members for assistance. 
Working together in this way ensures health and safety remains front of mind for everyone, every day. 

A team effort
The health and safety team at WEPA UK comprise a health and safety manager and officer, who work alongside our union-appointed representatives. 
However, it is our belief that everyone within the business symbolically works for the health and safety department. 
By collaborating with each other, and communicating openly, we have become a “Safety First” company. 
Upholding health and safety is our main concern – in fact, all meetings start with any safety-related issues. 
Overall, our positive safety culture has grown over the years and everyone understands its importance.
To mark World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2021, we’d like to thank our staff and stakeholders for continuously helping us to make WEPA UK a secure, responsible place to work.