Employees recognised with healthy heart award

DS Smith employees in Fordham are celebrating after receiving a ‘Healthy Heart Mark Bronze Award’ from national charity Heart Research UK (HRUK) for championing the health of its employees.

Working with the charity, the packaging and supply cycle specialist has encouraged employees to think about small changes they can make to improve their health and wellbeing. This has involved one-to-one lifestyle health checks for staff provided by Heart Research UK.

DS Smith is also working closely with Cambridgeshire County Council’s Public Health Team to develop volunteer Fordham Workplace Health Champions. These volunteers, can help, advise and support fellow employees with a range of health issues, such as mental health, healthy eating and smoking cessation. The champions have already gained a Royal Society for Public Health Level 2 award in ‘Understanding Health Improvement’.

Stuart Andersson, Operations Director at DS Smith, said when receiving the award: “We’re honoured to have received this award and it’s the result of lots of hard work from Heart Research UK and DS Smith. It’s also exciting to see our Health Champions developing their knowledge and skills. We really do put the health and well-being of our team at the heart of what we do. Our business continues to grow resulting in the recruitment of additional employees and it’s vital to our business that these new people and our existing staff are happy and healthy in their work and home life too.”

Graham Cox, Managing Director at DS Smith’s Fordham site said: “This is a brilliant initiative that we’re proud to be associated with. For the local healthy heart champions of Fordham to have already been recognised for the work they’re doing is a testament to the hard work that has been put in.”

“Health and safety is extremely important in the packaging and manufacturing industries, but often most of the focus is on safety and not on health. We have a duty of care to our employees and we are committed to supporting initiatives that lead to a healthy and happy workforce. “

DS Smith has launched the Healthy Heart checks across its 31 sites. The Fordham Bronze Award and the site-wide initiative will support DS Smith’s aim to achieve aHealthy Hearts Mark (HHM) employer award next year.

Heart Research UK funds pioneering medical research into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease. The Healthy Heart Mark employer award is an accreditation that shows how an organisation values its workforce and makes positive contributions towards employee health and wellbeing.

To find out more about Heart Research UK and healthy heart initiatives in the workplace visit: http://www.heartresearch.org.uk/