Background

With more than 45 years’ experience, the company delivers water, wastewater, marine and civil infrastructure projects across the UK. Operating in a high-risk and physically demanding sector, AG Wilson faces many of the challenges common within construction, including skills shortages, workforce wellbeing concerns, and increasing expectations around safety and social value.

Recognising the strong link between employee wellbeing, safety performance and business sustainability, AG Wilson has embedded wellbeing into its leadership, governance and operational decision-making. The company’s Managing Director and senior leadership team actively champion wellbeing, ensuring it is treated as a core business priority alongside safety, quality and performance rather than as a standalone initiative.

What AG Wilson did

AG Wilson developed and formalised its “Working Well at AG Wilson” framework, creating a structured and proactive approach to employee wellbeing built around three pillars: Physical Wellbeing, Mental and Psychosocial Wellbeing, and Health Promotion & Prevention. The framework is supported by visible leadership, Health Champions, Mental Health First Aiders, external partnerships and a defined governance process to ensure wellbeing remains embedded throughout the organisation.

To support physical wellbeing, the company delivered bi-annual Safety, Health & Wellbeing Stand Down Days, focusing on prevention-led initiatives such as men’s cancer awareness, on-site skin cancer screening with Cancer Focus NI, occupational health awareness sessions and AED/CPR training. AG Wilson also partnered with local council programmes to encourage physical activity through Couch to 5K, 10K progression programmes and participation in community running events.

For mental and psychosocial wellbeing, AG Wilson partnered with the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity to deliver mental health awareness sessions, while Mental Health First Aiders provided peer support and signposting. Leaders actively participated in wellbeing activities to create a culture where conversations about mental health, stress and neurodiversity are normalised and supported.

The organisation reinforced its preventative approach through annual occupational health surveillance, safety-critical worker assessments, health checks and respiratory protection programmes. By integrating wellbeing into safety management and workforce planning, AG Wilson focused on helping employees stay healthy, remain productive and build long-term resilience both inside and outside the workplace.

Key Impacts and Outcomes

• Mental health awareness sessions achieved strong engagement, receiving average scores of 4.78/5 for raising awareness and 4.67/5 for improving knowledge of available support.
• More than three-quarters of participants reported that mental wellbeing sessions encouraged them to reflect on their own mental health, while wellbeing surveys achieved an 85% response rate, demonstrating high workforce engagement.
• A 2025 employee survey found 83% of staff believed line managers were effective at identifying stress, highlighting the success of leadership-focused wellbeing initiatives.
• Participation in physical wellbeing programmes increased employee confidence and inclusion, with many employees engaging in structured physical activity for the first time and continuing involvement in community events beyond the workplace.
• Five employees volunteered to become Mental Health First Aiders, strengthening peer-support networks and helping build psychological safety across the organisation.
• The company maintained excellent safety outcomes, achieving a Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) of 0.00 and Days Lost IFR of 0.00, with RIDDOR rates performing better than industry benchmark ranges.
• AG Wilson’s leadership-led wellbeing approach received external recognition, winning the 2025 CEF Excellence Award for Health, Safety & Wellbeing and the 2025 Plant & Civil Engineer Health & Safety Award, validating its embedded culture of wellbeing and prevention.

What the judges said

AG Wilson impressed the judges with its strong commitment to the wellbeing of both its employees and the wider community. As a family run business, the company’s core values were clearly reflected in the thoughtful ways they support their people from creating a “home away from home” for staff working in Scotland, to providing a glamping site where employees’ families can visit and stay connected.

The company’s approach fully embodies the Take 5 theme of connection, helping employees to build strong relationships with family, friends and the wider community.  They really showed that it’s the small things that can make the biggest difference to employee wellbeing.