Establishing an industry standard

The Unite general union marked the Mental health awareness week in May 2021 with a roundtable event to discuss how to tackle the growing mental health crisis in road haulage, warehousing and logistics. Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland chaired the event, the first of its kind in the sector, bringing together representatives from employers including Biffa, DHL, Gist and Wincanton, the mental health charity Mates in Mind, and the DfT transport department. It aimed to secure agreement for detailed research into mental health issues and begin work on agreeing an industry standard on how to tackle the problem and support workers who experience mental health challenges.