Staff news and information

Unite/NAECI industrial action at Sellafield

A period of industrial action has been planned by the Unite union for its members covered by the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry and the Construction Industry Joint Council agreements.

This involves contractors involved in civils/construction work on site and covers workers except for apprentices and those in managerial/supervisor and co-ordination roles.

Although Sellafield Ltd is not the employer and therefore not directly involved in the dispute, disruption to the roads approaching the site is expected.

Therefore, wherever practicable and feasible, managers should enable teams to undertake their normal work from a different location, including an off-site office or from home. The rationale for this is to protect availability of critical resources, reduce the potential to impact incident response or delivery, mitigate the disruption when entering or leaving site and minimise the traffic impact on our local community.

Strike details:

  1. The strike action begins at 00:01 on 15 September and is expected to last until 23:59 on Friday 19 September.
  2. Pickets are anticipated at all site gates from 05:00 until 16:00.
  3. Unite have informed Cumbria Police that they intend to hold protest marches to Main, North and Calder Gates. There are no specific times for the marches – they could happen any time between 05:00 and 16:00. If a protest march takes place, then the road used by protestors will be closed to all traffic and vehicles accessing or leaving site will be diverted to other gates.
  4. The action affects the Sellafield site only - there are no pickets at any off-site offices in either Cumbria or Risley.

Impact on travel/transport/site access:

  1. Calder and Main Gate will be open 24/7, as normal. North Gate, WAMAC and Station Gate will be open from 04.30. Gate opening times may be subject to short-term changes to manage traffic flows and changes will be communicated through the electronic road signs. North Gate will close at 16:30 on all weekdays.
  2. Cumbria police will have traffic management measures in place between Yottenfews car park and both Main and North gates.
  3. The road between Blackbeck roundabout and Main Gate may need to be dualled access-only at certain times if necessary to manage traffic flows, but exits will be maintained via North Gate/Calder.  Please only move out to a dual lane or overtake under the instruction of a uniformed police officer to ensure traffic flow issues are kept to a minimum.
  4. If accessing site from the A595 at Calderbridge, be aware that this will only provide access to North Gate and not Main Gate or Yottenfews car park (no right turn to Yottenfews). Access instead via Blackbeck roundabout.
  5. Some Stagecoach bus services may terminate at Yottenfews rather than Main Gate if required to reduce traffic. A limited bus service will be maintained from Yottenfews through to North Gate and the on-site shuttle service is not affected.
  6. The morning Risley bus which normally leaves from Yottenfews (Tues/Weds/Thurs) will instead start from Kangol at the time it would have started from Yottenfews. The Risley-Cumbria bus will still terminate at Main Gate.
  7. Pedestrian turnstiles will remain operational at all gates (access code needed).
  8. There may be some delays to on-site deliveries.
  9. Road safety: drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists all need to be extra vigilant and careful as ‘normal’ traffic flows could change. Wearing hi-viz is more important than ever. Drivers have the right to proceed safely past pickets without engaging with them.
  10. Normal site access arrangements will apply – you will require a valid SOVA to access site and a valid YOVA to access Yottenfews car park before 9am, as per current arrangements.

Expectations on attendance:

  1. Our workplaces will remain open and normal working patterns should continue.
  2. Traffic disruption to site is expected. Therefore, wherever practicable and feasible, managers should enable teams to undertake their normal work from a different location, including an off-site office or from home. The rationale for this is to protect availability of critical resources, reduce the potential to impact incident response or delivery, mitigate the disruption when entering or leaving site and minimise the traffic impact on our local community.
  3. If using an off-site office as an alternative location to site, please use the facilities which are identified ‘hubs’ for the area of the business you support.
  4. Anyone working from home on strike days, must be contactable by line management and make themselves available to return to their normal work location, if required.
  5. Line managers may also request employees to alter start times, in line with their contractual obligations, to meet specific operational requirements.
  6. It is particularly important that we all follow our procedures on absence management. See intranet for guidance.

General guidance:

  1. As always, the safety and security of the site, our workforce, and the local community remain our priority throughout the action.
  2. Whilst we try to put in place contingency arrangements in the areas most impacted by the strike action, we respectfully remind everyone that it’s our personal responsibility to ensure our working environment remains safe, hazard-free and fit-for-purpose.
  3. Please be respectful to colleagues, regardless of their employer, throughout this period of disruption.

How Sellafield can support your welfare

Here are just some of the ways that Sellafield can support your welfare:

  • Access CareFirst, our employee assistance programme – it is available for all employees and your families and includes enhanced external offerings around physical and mental health and wellbeing.
  • For peer support, reach out to one of our 18 employee-led networks.
  • If you need specific arrangements in place to help you at work, speak with your line manager about creating a Reasonable Adjustment Passport.
  • Access our Inclusion hub

Sellafield Employee Assistance Programme

CareFirst, our employee assistance programme, gives every Sellafield employee access to legal advice, money guidance, confidential counselling, information and help sheets and many other services.

Support via CareFirst includes:

  • Expert advisors, trained by Citizens Advice able to provide comprehensive answers and assistance on a wide range of issues which affect daily life.
  • Care First Counsellors: 24/7 support, advice and counselling on any workplace or personal issues. All Care First Counsellors are professionally qualified and accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

To access the programme visit Sharepoint and search for ‘Employee Assistance Programme’.

DigiCare

As part of our Employee Assistance Programme, as a Sellafield employee, you can access the Digicare+ Workplace app.

This provides you with access to:

  • A free annual health check
  • Mental health consultations
  • Nutritional consultations
  • Digital GP service
  • Second medical opinions

See below for details of how to access DigiCare

How Sellafield supports employee mental health

There are several ways that Sellafield can support your mental health as an employee, including:

  • CareFirst, our employee assistance programme
  • Speak to one of our 200+ mental health first aiders
  • Speak to your line manager
  • Access our Inclusion Hub via Sharepoint
  • We urge anyone experiencing mental health issues or suicidal ideation to access support by calling 0800 015 5630.

Sellafield’s Mental Health Champions

Throughout the business we have trained mental health champions. These are employees who:

  • Understand the issues that relate to mental health.
  • Deploy a range of practical skills that can be used on a regular basis, including the ability to spot the signs and symptoms of mental health issues.
  • Interact effectively with people who may be experiencing mental health issues or emotional distress.
  • Guide (with confidence) those who may be suffering mental health issues towards sources of help and appropriate support.
  • Raise awareness and reduce the stigma associated with mental health and promote early intervention enabling more effective recovery and positive mental health.

Sellafield EDI Hub

Employees who have access to the Sellafield Ltd IT network can access our EDI hub. This contains a lot of information, advice and guidance on a range of subjects including mental health.

Mental health charities

Rethink Mental Health has set up an online hub filled with practical support and information for people living with our supporting people with mental illness.

The Mental Health Foundation have a similar site as well as Mind.

BBC News

The BBC have their own mental health guidance pages.

NHS – Thrive Wellbeing App

Thrive Mental Wellbeing is used and recommended by the NHS and is a digital tool for use by individuals and in the workplace for preventing mental health conditions by building resilience.

The app provides support through a range of options as shown below. More details can be found on the Thrive Mental Wellbeing website.

How your colleagues at Sellafield can support your welfare

  • Employee-led networks
  • Mental health first aiders

Employee-led networks

We have 18 employee-led networks who can provide you with support:

  • Armed Forces Network
  • Chronic Illness Peer Support Network
  • Deaf, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus Network
  • Domestic Abuse Contacts
  • Dyslexia Network/Assistive Technology
  • Early Careers Mental Health Support (ECMHS) Network
  • Enduring Mental Health Conditions
  • Family Network
  • Gender Balance Network
  • Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAs) Network
  • Nuclear Autism Support Network
  • oneLGBTQ+ Network
  • REACH Network
  • Sellafield MenoHub
  • SL ADDers (ADHD) Network
  • STAMMA Nuclear
  • Stronger Together Cancer Support Group
  • Workplace Chaplains

Details of how to contact these groups can be found on Sharepoint.

Health app

Every Sellafield Ltd employee can now access new health services through the Digicare+ Workplace app.

This is part of our employee assistance programme and gives every Sellafield employee access to:

  • a free annual health check
  • mental health consultations
  • nutritional consultations
  • digital GP service
  • second medical opinions

The app also links to information about useful NHS services and gym discounts.

The idea is that by having this service, it will help support the health and wellbeing for every employee as we complete our purpose. It will help to prevent ill health with early detection of health-related matters, and the appropriate interventions where needed.

There’s more information and details about the service in the employee brochure below or visit our internal ‘Diversity SharePoint’ page.

Digicare+ employee brochure (PDF, 5.19 MB, 10 pages)

To download the app, follow the guidance below:

  1. download the Aviva DigiCare+ Workplace app from the App Store or Google Play (mobile data charges may apply).
  2. open the app and click ‘Register’.
  3. you should then see the terms and conditions, which you’ll need to accept.
  4. enter your PIN 902551 and click ‘continue’. You’ll be redirected to the ‘registration details’ screen.
  5. on first registration, you’ll be asked to register by confirming the following:
  • email address
  • mobile number (you’ll need to have this device when registering as your verification code will be sent to this number)
  • date of birth
  1. click ‘continue’ to submit the above details. You’ll be sent a 6 digit verification code to the mobile number you previously supplied.
  2. once the mobile verification is complete, you’ll be asked to create a new password.
  3. please enter your personal details to complete your registration to the app.
  4. you can now complete your medical profile.
  5. your registration is now complete and you’ll have access to the app.

Our enterprise strategy

We have now published our latest enterprise strategy.

Within the document, we show how our strategy flows from our manifesto and our purpose, and how we’ve updated our 3 strategic objectives to include sustainability, a focus on pace and the recognition that value is more than just financial.

It also reflects the progress we’ve made on site, as well as the changes in our broader environment and shows how we’ve updated our strategy to reflect that.

We know that showing and explaining the breadth of what we do can be difficult, but the document is designed to make that easier – for our people who are delivering our strategy, and for our communities and stakeholders.

Read our Enterprise Strategy here

We’ve also taken the opportunity to update our company overview video:

Our Purpose

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