“People are to be met, not a problem to be solved”
Lisa McKeown, Acting General Manager HSE, Laing O’Rourke
Lisa’s keynote presentation at the OHS Leaders Summit was about aligning the principles of safety differently to do mental health and wellbeing differently.
She spoke about shifting an organisations view of mental health from a bureaucratic responsibility to an ethical responsibility to actively set up the organisation for success, to do this we need to stop measuring mental health with a number and start using people as the centre of the solution, people are to be met, not a problem to be solved. Using a positive approach to mental health and well being creates an opportunity for people to make the most of every day.
Statistic show that 40% of gp appointments today are to talk about mental health and that constrcution workers are 6x more likely to take their own lives than to loose it any other way. This shows the approach to mental health in the work place needs to be approached in a much different manner than other areas of OH&S.
ABOUT LISA MCKEOWN
A Chartered Health and Safety Practitioner with over 20 years’ experience of working in the construction industry across a wide range of sectors and portfolio of projects. A passionate and influential leader who works within teams to build safety resilience and foster a culture based on engagement and trust. Lisa is a highly driven, experienced change and engagement leader practicing safety and mental health and wellbeing differently.
