We are pleased to be ISMA UK's sponsor in their 50th Anniversary year.
ISMA UK, the leading professional body for workplace and personal stress management, wellbeing and performance, was founded 50 years ago in 1974. ISMA UK’s mission is to raise the profile of stress and mental health issues, campaign against the stigma associated with them, whilst promoting resilience and wellbeing. They promote sound knowledge and best practice in stress management across the UK and internationally.
PPWD have become principal sponsor of ISMA UK in their 50th year, which takes in activities such as ISMA UK’s launch of their inaugural Stress Management Awards, the Online Global Stress Summit being held on 6th November during International Stress Awareness Week, and interactive webinars on stress and mental-health related subjects, held at six-weekly intervals during the year.
We are pleased to be the UK and Ireland ambassadors for the One Percent Safer (OPS) Foundation.
Globally 2.93 million workers experience a fatal at work injury per year. PPWD supports the OPS Foundation through the distribution of the OPS book and by representing the organisation at conferences. OPS also forms part of all course and presentation introductions. The Foundation is committed to reducing at work fatal injuries by 1% per year. This would result in 29,000 people that get to go home without harm, instead of ending up dead – each year. 29,000 husbands, wives, partners, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends, and co-workers. 29,000 humans.
Our support of OPS allows the Foundation to fund the training and salary of a Health and Safety manager in Harbu Chulele, Ethiopia. The initial businesses are a pair of startups, namely a brickwork and a bakery, run by a Canadian NGO. The OPS have drafted the performance measures for the manager supervising these businesses. The manager will also undertake schools’ outreach, since the biggest risk to everyone in Harbu Chulele are traffic accidents in a town that has grown from 3,000 to more than 50,000 in a few years and still has lorries driving at 80mph down the main road! Additionally, OPS are also making a grant to affiliate IIRSM membership for some 90 OSH practitioners in Sudan, Egypt and Pakistan. For example, a member in Karachi has gained access to a fire safety course through their membership. Subsequently spending six months teaching fire safety to businesses in the local area.
We have supported Rail Safe Friendly (RSF) through the year via the sponsoring of 90 schools.
The schools are recruited and enrolled in the RSF Learning Live programme. The learning programme covers the dangers of the rail system. It has 3 levels - Bronze, Silver and Gold and has to date recruited just over 3000 schools, which is about 10% of the UK total. Paul Davison, Co-Founder at PPWD, is working on a plan to roll RSF out to all of the Air Training Corps units (1000) in the UK, through the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.
We are signatories of the Mindful Business Charter (MBC).
This organisation is aimed at re-humanising the workplace. Their charter and white paper details how organisations can create a working environment that better accommodates humans. Signatories are obliged to follow the charter and restructure typical stress, anxiety and depression triggering activities.
We are sharing our expertise with the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association.
Paul Davison has supported the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association (BBSA) for several years through the mentoring of the Beijing 2022 Team Leader, and subsequent bid support. He has recently become a non-executive director (NED). His aim is to create a compassionate, sustainable and safe sport for all, by offering an alternate approach and thinking for the Board. Paul sees PPWD’s approach within safety critical sectors as being highly applicable to elite sport. The Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics are now little more than 2 years away and preparations have already begun. Additionally, the BBSA is being restructured and evolved to create a smoother athlete development cycle. An environment which nurtures athletes from the very youngest to those retiring and generates more rounded elite performers.
We deliver risk management to the Royal Air Force Air Cadets.
Paul Davison having been part of the organisation since not long after his 13th birthday, continues to assist the Royal Air Force Air Cadets, most recently as the Central and East Region Performance and Risk Management Officer. Which is in many respects similar to the day job! Bringing a right-brain approach to hazard and risk management, whilst generating a holistic safe activity environment for cadets and staff.
Supporting veterans through Job Oppo.
Job Oppo is an organisation founded by veterans for veterans. It is a service leaver employment community. In addition to podcasts, we support service leavers with advice.
In 2023 we joined Carma Earth
Each PPWD course results in the planting of one tree in the UK and five trees overseas. The UK trees are planted through the Green Task Force. This organisation employs veterans experiencing PTSD, stress and anxiety. The aim is to use nature-based therapy as part of their wider healing plans. The overseas trees are all planted through Veritree in the Mteza mangrove on the Likoni river delta, Kenya.
Creating lasting change through legislation
Through the Workplace Wellbeing Workgroup (WWW), we are working closely with MBC, International SOS and ISMA (UK) to create a Wellbeing industry standard. This set of regulations will reinforce the duty of care that all employees have under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The regulations will set out the control measures for psychosocial factors in the workplace, and incorporate current HSE guidance and ISO 45003 (Psycho-social hazards).