Tarmac open new health and well-being facility

Dedicated occupational health and well-being facility opened at Tarmac’s National Skills and Safety Park

TARMAC have opened a new occupational health and well-being facility at their industry-leading National Skills and Safety Park (NSSP) training facility in Nottinghamshire. Tarmac’s senior vice-president, Peter Buckley, joined colleagues and a group of Tarmac’s Future Leaders to officially open the occupational health facility on Wednesday 26 May.

Created to support Tarmac’s commitment to investing in their people, the Park, located at the company’s active Nether Langwith Quarry, near Mansfield, in Nottinghamshire, provides employees with practical hands-on training for emerging industry talent – including apprentices, graduates and those retraining from other sectors.

The new occupational health and well-being facility is situated in a bespoke building and focuses on physical, interactive and visual learning, and has been designed with the sole purpose of educating and protecting all Tarmac employees.

From demonstrations of the effects of unsafe working practices to explanations about how dust masks can protect colleagues in later years, the building has been creatively and thoughtfully designed to take employees through an interactive occupational health journey. It also offers a dedicated ‘quiet space’ for employees and trainees to focus and relax.

After marking one year since the Park was officially opened by His Royal Highness, Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge, in February last year, the unveiling of the occupational health and well-being facility is another key milestone and comes just before COVID-19 restrictions are planned to be fully lifted in late June.

Commenting at the opening of the health, safety and well-being facility, Peter Buckley said: ‘The health and well-being of Tarmac colleagues is always our number one priority and I'm proud to officially open this unique facility that helps support colleagues from across our business.

‘The Park has already become a valued cornerstone of Tarmac’s safety and training provision and this additional new facility demonstrates our ongoing commitment to further supporting the welfare and safety of our colleagues.’

Graeme Boylen, human resources director at Tarmac, said: ‘Despite 2020’s challenging circumstances, the Park has already supported nearly 700 employees through more than 21,000 face-to-face, virtual classroom and e-learning sessions since its inauguration.

‘After a challenging year, we look forward to many more colleagues benefiting from this unique, state-of-the-art facility, which will further support the capability of our people and working towards a world-class safety culture.’

Peter Buckley joined six of Tarmac’s current Future Leaders – Tarmac’s group of apprentices and graduates – for lunch during his visit to The Park. The facility has already supported 34 graduates from the company’s own accredited Professional Operator Development Programme (PODP) qualification.

Delivered in partnership with Sheffield College, PODP has successfully achieved Employer Provider status, meaning Tarmac can directly deliver these accredited development programmes internally to support colleagues’ ongoing development.