Lighthouse Suicide Prevention Campaign Partners with Ford

THE Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity has teamed up with Ford to ‘Make it Visible’ – a new high-visibility campaign using higher-viz safety vests to grab attention and point people in the direction of help when needed.

The UK’s commercial vehicle leader is stepping in to help fight against the fact that as many as two construction workers are lost to suicide every day, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Despite extensive physical safety measures taken to protect workers onsite, construction workers in the UK and Ireland are taking their own lives, unaware of the help and support available.

Make it Visible Campaign

Working with the Lighthouse Club and Balfour Beatty, Ford is actively promoting wellbeing awareness amongst its customers. With Ford accounting for almost one in three new commercial vehicles sold throughout 2021, putting mental safety on an equal footing with physical safety on construction sites, is an important step. By helping to make the support more visible, more workers will be able to seek assistance.

Mandy Dean, Commercial Vehicles Director at Ford, said: “This campaign is hugely important to Ford and highlights the importance of mental wellbeing alongside physical wellbeing on the construction site. As the UK’s best-selling commercial vehicle brand, it is likely the majority of construction workers are Ford customers and operators, so we have a duty to support them.”

Time to Change

The Make it Visible campaign follows on from Ford’s Time to Change launch ‘Elephant in the Transit’ from 2018, building awareness of male suicide and promoting the front seat of a vehicle as a safe space to talk.

This latest initiative sets out to provide counsellors with a means to get to construction sites, and includes onsite posters matching the vest’s colours. These posters will direct workers to a safe place to talk off-site, so more can seek help easily.

Bill Hill, CEO of the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity

Bill Hill CEO of the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be partnering with Ford to deliver the ‘Make it Visible’ campaign. These highly distinguishable vans, will be visiting sites across the country to deliver visible support to the boots on the ground workforce. The vehicles are manned by the Lighthouse Club’s On Site Team who are all Mental Health First Aiders with relatable experiences in the construction industry, and I am convinced that this initiative will have a positive impact on workforce wellbeing and ultimately save lives.”

The Make it Visible campaign launched at this year’s Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham, supported by a fully liveried Transit Custom in matching high-visibility tones. These highly visible vans will provide real support on the ground, transporting Mental Health First Aiders to the sites and workers around the country, with the aim of making it the go-to beacon on the street.

Make it Visible Video

>> Read more about the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity in the news.