B&CE Charitable Trust pledges £25,000 to help tackle ill-health caused by construction work

B&CE Charitable Trust has opened applications for its annual Occupational Health Research Award. 

Now in its third year, the £25,000 grant is available to support research that aims to make a significant difference to the health of construction workers.

Every year, in construction:

• 80,000 workers suffer from illnesses caused or made worse by their work
• 2.3 million working days are lost due to work-related illness (83%) and workplace injury (17%)
• Work-related ill health costs half a billion pounds to society

Barbara Dinsdale, Head of B&CE Charitable Trust, said:

“The construction industry has made great strides in safety over the past 30 years but managing health at work is still a challenge. Too many constructions workers are suffering from illnesses caused by their work that can have a devastating impact on theirs and their families lives. This grant will support vital research to help tackle the issue, and we look forward to receiving this year’s applications”.

Dr Patrick Manu, who is working with the Design for Health Task Group, won the award last year. The grant allowed him to arrange workshops with employees from live projects to investigate the benefits that good construction design can bring.  His work has informed the Department for Health’s SKATE (skills, knowledge, attitude, training and experience) project. 

Dr Patrick Manu, Senior Lecturer in the Management of Projects Group at The University of Manchester, said:

“The B&CE award has been vital to my research.  We are engaging with the industry to enable us to shed light and provide guidance on the importance of good design. The award is complementing my Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council-funded work on design for occupational safety and health organisational capability. B&CE Charitable Trust is playing a significant role in helping to make the construction industry safer; an industry which faces pressing challenges.”

Dr Manu’s project will run from 1st February 2018 to 31st January 2019.

How to apply

Prospective applicants should explain in 1,000-1,500 words how their organisation would use the £25,000 award, with a clear focus on research into occupational health and safety in the construction industry.

Submissions should be sent as a Word document along with any supporting visuals or graphs to charitabletrust@bandce.co.uk

Please note that the maximum attachment size is 5MB. Submissions must reach us by Friday 19 October.

The winner will be notified in late November following a review of the submissions by the Charitable Trust trustees.

Eligibility criteria

• The organisation must be a private, non-governmental research organisation (or company involved in research) which has made, or aims to make, a significant difference to construction workers
• It must be an accredited research organisation operating in the United Kingdom
• The submission should provide appropriate justification for the proposed research, through literature citations, data from other sources or from investigator-generated data
• The submission should set out a clear outcome and the project should aim to make an important scientific contribution to occupational health and safety in the construction industry
• The organisation must have an ongoing relationship with the B&CE Charitable Trust and be able to give regular updates on its work and the use of the monies
• This relationship must be ongoing for at least twelve months from the date the award is granted.

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Notes to editor:

Dr Patrick Manu has recently joined The University of Manchester from the University of the West of England where he commenced his B&CE award.  He is working with a team from Loughborough University, University of the West of England, East Carolina University and the Design for Health Task Group of the Health in Construction Leadership Group.

B&CE’s Charitable Trust was set up in 1991 to give back to the community. To date, it has given out over £3 million, providing financial help for people in need.  More information about B&CE Charitable Trust can be found here.

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For more information, contact:
Samantha Wilding
Communications and Public Affairs Manager
01293 205339
samanthawilding@bandce.co.uk