AG Paving & Building Products has hosted its annual 'Safe Day' which focused on physical safety on sites as well as mental wellbeing.

During 'Safe Day' production across each of AG's sites in Fivemiletown, Toome , Carryduff and Pomeroy was suspended to enable its 230 employees to concentrate on this serious subject.

This initiative which is led by CEO, Stephen Acheson and the Health, Safety and Environment team at AG, encourages staff to 'make safety personal' by focusing on the health and safety risks across all AG sites.

Speakers at the event covered everything from emergency first aid, mental resilience, unlocking potential, nutrition and yoga. A number of exhibitors offered employees health checks, hearing checks and advice on physical fitness, skin care and cancer prevention.

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HSEQ Manager, Cathy Maguire, said: "This campaign aimed to focus on the prevention of fatal accidents that are responsible for 94% of deaths in our industry. We need to ensure that all employees, contractors and visitors always leave our premises in the same healthy and safe way in which they arrived. We can only achieve this aim if we each take personal responsibility for safety.

"Whilst SafeDay was a tremendous success that has attracted a lot of very positive feedback across all our sites, our emphasis on health and safety continues all year round. Our staff are encouraged to report any hazards immediately through our 'good catch' programme via our Engage app. We want everyone at AG to always go home safe to their loved ones each day."

CEO, Stephen Acheson added: "Our employee's wellbeing is one of our core values at AG. Safety is essential and must be managed to avoid, reduce or (at the very least) control risk. It is the most crucial investment we can make.

"The objective for AG's SafeDay campaign is to help make safety personal. We want to encourage ‘good catches’ and hazard spotting as part of everyday work practice and run a range of initiatives throughout the year. We have made great progress in improving health and safety practices across the business and will continue to develop this positive culture into the future."

The event also raised money for the Air Ambulance Northern Ireland charity.