Member Article

The Vita Group takes a day out for safety

On 27th June, The Vita Group held their annual Safety & Wellbeing Day at the Accrington site; the first one since the Covid-19 pandemic.

A core ethos at Vita is that, through teamwork, all injuries are preventable, and safety is always at the heart of everything the company undertakes. Vita actively promotes ‘safety comes first’ and all employees are expected to take a proactive role in safety.

The Safety & Wellbeing event sees production being paused for the day, allowing all colleagues to take part in the activities.

After a warm welcome from Michael Worden, General Manager of Vita Accrington, the 120 colleagues were divided into competing teams for essential safety training and safety-themes enrichment activities. Ian Robb, Vita’s CEO and Stuart Roby, the Divisional Managing Director also both attended to demonstrate their personal commitment to the importance of employee safety.

Site wide training was also completed, with courses on offer that benefited employees for both their work and home environments. The activities included fire extinguisher training, manual handling training and, in recognition of the importance of mental health, a mindfulness session involving pottery painting.

Further activities involved reaction testing and archery. As an extra incentive to make the most of the day, colleagues had an opportunity to win an extra day of annual leave and a range of gift vouchers. Additionally, each team visited different parts of the factory on safety tours, having the chance to look for safety and environmental hazards; the teams were encouraged to offer improvement suggestions.

The day also benefited the local community with employees bringing in donations for a local foodbank.

The day is always well received by all team members and is something the whole site looks forward to each year. At previous events there have been sessions on important health and safety topics such as the safe and effective use of the Heimlich manoeuvre; a skill that one Vita colleague had to use in real life.

Clare Duckworth, Health & Safety Manager, The Vita Group Accrington, said: “At The Vita Group, we put safety at the heart of everything that we do. That is why safety is one of our core values. Today is all about getting the team together; to enjoy some team bonding exercises and activities, whilst also focusing on how we keep our people, and those around them, safe at work.”

“The key message today is safety first. But also, about refreshing and learning new skills. It is those skills that allow us to continue meeting our high safety goals.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Robson .