Smallgrants,reallives:mylatestupdatefromOnePercentSafer

Alongside running Branagh PR, I serve as a Trustee of the One Percent Safer Charitable Foundation. I have been giving my time to the charity for the last six years because I have seen what modest, well-targeted grants can do for workers in places where safety and health support is perhaps hardest to come by. Much of my career has been spent in occupational safety and health communications, including senior roles at the International Institute of Leadership and Safety Culture and IOSH, so this is a cause close to my heart.

The Foundation has just published its latest round-up of impact. Here are some of the highlights. If you are interested in supporting this brilliant charity, please get in touch.

Construction workers in Tamil Nadu

Seasonal construction labourers in India are often overlooked when it comes to safety and health, and the ILO estimates there are around 50,000 construction deaths a year in the country. Our grant to NGO Deepam Trust funded intensive OSH training for village volunteers, who have since set up Construction Labourers and Supervisors Associations in 25 villages. More than 600 people have joined, with membership split equally between men and women. Deepam also worked with the Indian Red Cross to train more than 250 seasonal workers.

One woman who attended put it simply: "We learned that our health is also part of workplace safety and that we should speak up when working conditions are unsafe."

Women-owned businesses in Nairobi

The first stage of a project to bring safety training to 529 women-owned businesses in Kenya is now complete. Kimbo Amazing Women Group has supported female entrepreneurs in Nairobi since 2013. With our grant, safety consultants Nedcare have produced a model safety policy and training manual for the group and trained 15 of its staff and volunteers as trainers. Over the coming months that training will reach businesses ranging from a bakery and dressmakers to nail bars and hairdressers.

An epilepsy charity in Kiambu County

In July we funded health and safety training for 50 staff and volunteers of the Kiserem Epilepsy Foundation (KEF), which provides employment support and raises awareness to fight the stigma associated with epilepsy. Alongside risk assessment and emergency preparedness, the course covered the safe management of epilepsy-related crises. KEF has since formalised its own health and safety procedures.

Young people in Kahawa Soweto

Soweto Youth Initiative (SYI) offers young people in the Nairobi shanty town of Kahawa Soweto vocational training in skills such as baking and sewing. With our funding and help from Kenya's Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services, SYI assessed safety at its training centre and has since put guidelines and training in place for staff and youth representatives. A five-person safety committee now carries out regular inspections.

Programme Manager George Owiso told us: "Your support is helping us build a safer and more supportive working environment."

Six years of safety education in wartime Ukraine

The European Risk Management School in Ukraine, which One Percent Safer helps fund, has completed its sixth year. Every participant submitted their work and completed the programme. Founder Dr Jennet Arshimova said: "People sometimes ask me why we continue providing education in Ukraine during war… Our students (once again) showed me the answer: resilience in its purest form."

This is deeply humbling.

Mentoring the next generation of OSH leaders

This project means a great deal to me given my own years at IILSC and IOSH. Our pilot mentoring programme, developed by my fellow trustees Melih Güneri and Dr Laurie Cure, matched experienced safety leaders with recipients of One Percent Safer bursary memberships of IIRSM in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania.

Mentee Abanum Iruoghene Isakpa was mentored by Stuart Hughes, Past President of IOSH. He described the experience as having "left me with lessons that will continue to shape my career long after our final session."

Why I stay involved

All of these projects started with a small grant and a local partner who knows their community. That is what keeps me giving my time to the Foundation, and I am proud to have played a part in it.

The Foundation's work is funded by donations and sales of the bestselling One Percent Safer book, with a new edition out now. If you would like to get involved, email info@onepercentsafer.com or donate at onepercentsafer.com.