Over the past three weeks, we welcomed Jason Anker and Sean Toon to our facilities in Peterhead, Aberdeen and Great Yarmouth to provide Behavioural Safety sessions to all employees.
At ASCO we strive for Safety Excellence, therefore it is imperative that everyone is reminded of the potential consequences of not working safely. Many people seem to think that 'accidents always happen to someone else', but this is not the case. Hearing from someone who thought exactly that until a simple accident changed his own, and others, lives forever we were able to further show the importance of safety.
The interactive talks that Jason and Sean gave were not only informative, but extremely thought provoking, emotional and raw.
After briefly talking about his accident, Jason told everyone the in-depth story of how he has been affected both physically, and mentally, from making a decision to go ahead with a job in the workplace that he knew was unsafe. Touching on his family, children and friends, Jason went on to tell us the importance of Safety within the workplace, because if he had just changed a five second decision, he would never have had his accident.
During the sessions, Jason and Sean also touched on the importance of mental health and their own personal struggles with it in the past. Having recently held Mental Health Awareness seminars in the business, it was so beneficial to put even more of a focus on this as it's incredibly important within the workplace. Not many people would think that the state of their mental health could have an affect on their work, but the stories told really put this into perspective for all at ASCO.
The sessions were very well received across all of the bases, with a high level of attendance and engagement throughout. At the end of each session there were many discussions amongst teams, as well as with Jason himself regarding the importance and significance of his presentation. A fantastic 740 personnel attended the sessions across the UK which is equates to 76% of the UK workforce. We will also be rolling this out to the remaining 24% of the UK, as well as all of our international workforce through the DVD pack.
Our Commercial Lead for Northern North Sea, Leona Morgan shared her thoughts on the experience, "Jason's presentation made such an impact and I don't believe there was one person that couldn't relate to his story. It has made me very aware that a simple split-second decision can change not only your own life, but also that of your family, friends and colleagues. It has definitely given me the courage in future to stop the job if I feel it's necessary."
Jason gave some great feedback on his sessions with ASCO, "Some companies just want as many people through, to sign the attendance sheets and seem not that interested in the outcome of the sessions, 'Don't be like me' presentations have such a short term impact in my opinion and I now believe the relationship between safety and wellbeing is such an important subject to discuss. The feedback already has been fantastic and the wellbeing conversations after the sessions were testament to the effect of the presentations over the last couple of weeks. A huge thank you to ASCO Group from me, Abbi and Sean."
Steve Mitchell, Operations & HSSEQ Director at ASCO said, "Jason's life changing story is a stark reminder of the consequence of both physical and mental health related accidents. No-one is immune to having similar life devastating experiences, at ASCO we recognise this, we all live and work with these risks every day. This is one of the many reasons we have Safety Excellence as one of our fundamental obsessions, and its why our values include, Work Safe, Live Safe. We firmly believe in the sanctity of life and pledge to do all we can to preserve quality of life for every person who comes into contact with our business. Jason and Sean's stories were extremely powerful and hard hitting which from the feedback clearly resonated with those attending the sessions. I can't imagine how difficult it must be for Jason and Sean to re-live their experiences daily, its truly admirable that they selflessly do this to prevent others from have similar experiences."