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High blood pressure and waist circumference are two of the highest health risk factors for people working in the forestry industry.

To help motivate staff and contractors to reduce these risk areas, Ernslaw kicked off the KYND health challenge in August last year with Dr.Tom Mullholland, at its annual Health is Safety Breakfasts.

The challenge made an impact right from the start, with a number of people getting a shock to find their blood pressure in particular was much higher than the normal range. This resulted in several individuals going to see their doctor to help get on top of their health, with some starting on meds to help better manage their blood pressure.  Challenge participants used the KYND wellness App to track their progress, with blood pressure monitors and tapes supplied by Ernslaw.

To incentivise participants, a weekend in Kaikoura fishing and skeet shooting for the team with the greatest overall improvement in their blood pressure and waist measurement was up for grabs, and a $2000 Hunting &Fishing gear package for the individual with the greatest overall improvement. To keep the motivation up, every two months, one Ernslaw KYND app user was picked at random to win a Hunting & Fishing gift card, just by using the app.

After nine months of focus and effort, Moutere Logging crew2 (Hariata, Charles, Tru, Todd and Max), based in Karioi Forest near Ohakune, emerged the most improved crew, with Shannon Crombie from McCarthy Transport in Whanganui taking out the individual prize.

James Kerr, Head of Health & Safety at Ernslaw said it wasn’t all about the prizes.

“Having more energy, keeping fit for grandkids, completing a75 day hard health challenge and beating their colleagues were some of the motivations of our winners to keep the focus on improving their health,” says James.

Challenge participants said they ate better, cut back or cutout alcohol, take aways and ‘rubbish’ food, and drank more water as well as being more active through hunting, walking or, in some cases, even getting a personal trainer.

“A lot of focus tends to be put on the safety part of Health& Safety – the stuff that can hurt you now,” says James. “Through our Health is Safety Breakfasts and the KYND challenge, we focus on the health part of Health & Safety – the stuff that affects your physical and mental ability to manage risk now, and can build up and hurt you in the future.

“Rather than the stick approach, with the KYND challenge we put out a decent carrot as motivation and provided support to help our people make a positive change to their health. It has been great to see both our staff and contractors get on board and make the most of that opportunity.”

A big thank you to Anton and the team at Kaikoura Hunting &Fishing for support with prizes, KYND Wellness and the late Dr Tom for setup and technical support and SafeTree for providing access to the KYND app.

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