DS Smith puts health at the heart of the company
DS Smith is supporting healthy lifestyle habits among its employees by offering free healthy heart checks across all of its UK Packaging sites.
Working with national charity Heart Research UK, the supply cycle specialist is offering healthy heart checks at its 31 sites – from Livingston to Launceston - providing workers with the opportunity to have their blood pressure, cholesterol levels, BMI and waist measurements checked and ask questions about their lifestyle habits.
Work has already started on delivering heart healthy initiatives including a new football club, improved healthy choices in the cafeteria, lunchtime weight-loss groups and cycling and step challenges.
Members of staff from each site have also volunteered to become Healthy Heart Champions to help drive support and encourage colleagues into making healthier lifestyle changes.
The initiative will support DS Smith’s aim to achieve a Healthy Hearts Mark (HHM) employer award next year.
Brian Wark, HR Director, UK Packaging at DS Smith, said: “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. In fact, this campaign originated from one of our sites and when it proved to be very popular we secured support from the senior team to roll out the programme at all of our locations.
“We’re looking forward to finding new and innovative ways to encourage staff to make positive lifestyle changes.”
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.
Select the link below to find out more about Heart Research UK and heart healthy initiatives in the workplace.