World Day for Safety and Health at Work

April 28th each year sees World Day for Safety and Health in the workplace occur.

Organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) it began in 2003, and each year adopts a different theme. In 2026, that theme is ‘Let’s ensure a healthy psychosocial working environment.”

This will focus on “the psychosocial working environment is defined by how work is designed, organised and managed, and the organisational practices that shape everyday working conditions.”
Psychosocial factors – such as workload and working time, role clarity, autonomy, support, and fair and transparent processes – strongly influence how work is experienced and affect workers’ safety, health and performance.
Dan Watts, Head of Group Health and Safety, shares his thoughts on how this may impact Logson Group and the wider corrugated packaging industry.

Health and Safety at work is a huge focus for the Logson Group and we embrace this in a number of ways that are constantly evolving to meet modern day expectations.

Alongside our core health and safety to keep our teams safe in the workplace we work hard to ensure all aspects of health, safety and wellbeing are attended to as well.

Determining best practices and strategies

Influential in determining these best practices and strategies is the Paper and Board Industry Advisory Committee (PABIAC) a tripartite strategic health and safety delivery partnership for the paper, board and recovered paper industries.

PABIAC has been influential in the health and safety performance with those industries and its most recent strategy (2023 – 2027: It’s in our hands) has the objectives of:

Objective 1: Understanding and integrating human factors into health and safety
Objective 2: Accident and Incident Investigation
Objective 3: Proactive and reactive mental health and wellbeing measures.

Logson Group remains committed to achieving those objectives and recognises the influence of technology and the impact it may have on extending these objectives further to ensure full integration especially with our Group wide ‘We Make It Safe’ vision.

Logson positivity

We Make It Safe was introduced a few years ago and continues to underpin all our health, safety and wellbeing activities and actions within the business.

Three clearly defined objectives allow our policies, strategies and actions to align with those objectives and the wider objectives outlined in PABIAC.

Perhaps the beauty of our objectives is that they allow the business to evolve whilst still keeping the same goals in mind.

Having a greater awareness of how psychosocial factors influence health and safety in our workplace is important.

Keeping teams engaged, productive and empowered and encouraging psychosocial positivity impacts all aspects of workplace health and safety.

This is not a new approach to health and safety. Our world and workplaces continuously evolve, and health and safety should be an industry which anticipates, plans and responds to maximise its positive outcomes.

By working with our teams, adapting as required and using thoughtful change management strategies, we help our employees find workplace positivity which impact on wellbeing.

Delivering high standards

Our health and safety teams apply the PABIAC and We Make it Safe vision in their own sites and have a number of reporting and assessment tools to support this giving a robust and diligent approach to delivering the highest standards of health and safety in all our workplace activities.

Each of our sites has designated health and safety professionals that are trained and qualified in following all necessary requirements and the We Make It Safe vision.

This vision continues to evolve, and we support our teams with all aspects of health, safety and wellbeing through toolbox talks, quarterly health and safety committee meetings and annual focus weeks – this year’s focus is financial wellbeing, showcasing our visionary approach to supporting our colleagues.

For me and the Logson Group, health, safety and wellbeing, including psychosocial factors, are an intrinsic part of all our operations.

By adopting such a broad and holistic approach to all aspects of health and safety will ensure our continued success.