Film created by students wins an international safety award

A film created by Walsall College students for Barhale’s mental health campaign has been recognised at the prestigious International Safety Awards.

Barhale, a Walsall-based civil engineering and infrastructure specialist that employs over 800 people across the UK, won the award for its innovative work on mental health issue in the workplace.

During the British Safety Council’s 60th International Safety Awards Gala Dinner, Barhale collected the Mates in Mind Impact Award for promoting positive mental health within the construction industry.

Barhale worked in collaboration with Walsall College’s Performing Arts and Creative Media students to create a number of videos as part of the company’s half-day course ‘Engineering Better Mental Health Management’.

The course helps construction and engineering managers to confidently identify and support colleague’s health concerns.

Recognised by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), the course was praised as outstanding by the external adjudicator, as it is supported and championed by the Humber Foundation NHS Trust.

The course has already been delivered to over one hundred Barhale staff, and a further two hundred will take part in the programme this year.

Jaswant Sembhi, Work-Experience Co-ordinator at Walsall College, said: “We are delighted that the film our students supported Barhale in creating has won such an honorary award. It is a testament to the talent we have at the College and the dedication out students put into developing their skills.

The project was a great opportunity for our Level 3 Creative Media, Media Hair and Make-up and Performing Arts students to gain experience to support the agenda at Barhale.

This project is one of the live briefs we have provided to our students in collaboration with our employers. These briefs ensure that young people gain the real-life work experience they need to develop and enhance their portfolio and in turn, improve their chances of entering the profession they wish to succeed in.”

Joanne Southan, Barhale’s Health and Wellbeing Advisor, said: “Addressing mental health in the workplace ties in with our business strategy, as we recognise the link between good mental health, site safety and work productivity. Feedback from the course has been very positive so far so we are incredibly pleased for not only bringing our core value of caring to life, but also being acknowledged for our work by winning this award.”

For more information about enrolling on a course at Walsall College, please call 01922 657000.

If you’re interested in supporting our work experience programme, please contact Walsall College on businesstrainingsolutions@walsallcollege.ac.uk