Donations to Mencap deliver much needed support
VolkerWessels UK has already raised over £4000 for the charity Mencap, by taking part in its Safety Challenge. The initiative encourages further hazard, near miss and close call reporting within organisations, whilst raising crucial funds to help Mencap realise its vision.
The idea is simple, each time someone completes a Hazard, Close Call or Near Miss Report (HSE-54), VolkerWessels UK donates £1 to Mencap. The donations have enabled Mencap to deliver workshops that help raise the public's awareness of learning disabilities and support those with learning disabilities find paid employment.
James Aslett, Corporate Development Manager at Mencap, said: "Thank you to all at VolkerWessels UK for your total donations to date and for supporting our safety challenge. We really hope the challenge is making a difference to your organisation as much as your donations are to those that Mencap supports.
Workshops
In Enfield, Mencap is running career workshops for local people with learning disabilities to help them move into paid employment within local businesses. Each workshop costs £500 for 15 people to attend and so far Mencap has created 15 paid jobs.
Mencap has been running ‘Inspire Me' workshops across Greater London, which support young people who have learning disabilities to go out into communities and raise awareness of learning disabilities and challenge attitudes. A really powerful example of this of this is action involves a group going to schools in Enfield to run anti-bullying sessions. At the schools they talked to children about what it's like to have a disability. The ‘Inspire Me' workshops cost £500 each and are delivered to 30 children.
Adrian Shah-Cundy, head of corporate responsibility at VolkerWessels UK, said: "We are pleased to hear of the opportunities that our donations are giving to those local to our offices and sites. The reporting of hazards, close calls and near misses is a proactive and proven methodology in the prevention of accidents.
"VolkerWessels UK already had a great deal of success in this method of safe working, but with the added incentive that we will give £1 to Mencap for every report completed, our employees have really embraced the initiative. We're proud to support Mencap as part of our commitments to the communities in which we work as well as supporting local and national charities."
Mencap
Nine out of ten people with a learning disability say they have experienced some form of bullying in their lives, and often there seems to be nowhere to turn. Mencap works to change laws, challenge prejudice and support those with a learning disability to live their lives as they choose. People with a learning disability deserve to live a life like any other; Mencap exists to ensure this happens, and they rely on the support of companies like VolkerWessels UK to help.