SIG Roofing has been awarded a certificate for completing the Sun Safe Workplace National Accreditation Programme.
The accreditation was presented to the business by Skcin, a charity focussed on reversing the soaring rates of skin cancer in the UK by educating on the importance of the prevention and early detection of the disease.
In May of this year, SIG Roofing announced its partnership with Skcin to provide support and raise awareness of skin cancer. The team at the roofing merchant backed the initiative as many of its staff and hundreds of its roofer customers are in a high-risk category for the disease due to working many hours outdoors.
Furthermore, the predominance of males in the roofing industry is another concern, as statistics reveal that the incidence of skin cancer is growing at twice the rate in men than women, and men are 69% more likely to die from the disease.
The Sun Safe Workplace programme includes a risk assessment, policy review, and online training for staff. The training covers sun-safe practices, recognition of the early signs of skin cancer, and the importance of conducting regular self-examinations.
A total of 150 staff training courses have now been completed by SIG Roofing employees, both in groups and individually, including staff from all 107 branches nationwide. They are encouraging their roofer customer to take part in the online training, too.
In addition to the work achieving the accreditation, SPF sun cream stations have been installed in each of the SIG Roofing branches to raise awareness for sun protection among staff and hundreds of roofing customers who visit their branches each week.
The stations promote free access to SPF50 sun protection as part of a ‘Take a Squirt’ campaign. Over 10,000 handy-sized sun creams have also been distributed to branches to hand out to roofing customers, and each branch has been merchandised to promote awareness through the Skcin POS and TV screens.
The campaign has involved researching 1,000 active roofing contractors. The results were promoted in trade magazines and across social media channels, reaching an overall following of 27,400. All of these efforts are aimed at raising awareness of the increasing incidence of skin cancer in the UK, particularly among men, and initiating a conversation to educate SIG Roofing staff and customers.
Main image (L-R): Chris Lodge, Managing Director of SIG Roofing, with Kathryn Clifford & Marie Tudor from SKCIN.
