Morgan Sindall Construction team member scoops RoSPA award for inspiring women

A Morgan Sindall Construction manager has been recognised with the Inspiring Women in Safety Award by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

Karen Godfrey, regional safety, health and environment (SHE) manager in Morgan Sindall’s Yorkshire and North East team, has been awarded for her continuous efforts in mentoring, motivating and inspiring colleagues in her line of work and beyond.

The accolade is brand new to the RoSPA awards and celebrates individuals who make significant impact in the world of health, safety and wellbeing, as either a source of inspiration to their colleagues, or due to their own individual efforts.

Karen won the award in recognition of her stellar work in both these categories, following a nomination by her managing director Andy Hall for the first inaugural Inspiring Women award. The company annually applies for a RoSPA and has won 12 consecutive gold awards, but this is the first time there’s been an award for women in health and safety.

With little support or mentoring in the early stages of Karen’s career, she’s always been passionate about motivating and empowering her colleagues, whether that relates to discussing mental health issues or career progression.

Karen started off on a two year graduate scheme at Balfour Beatty, working on projects such as Heathrow’s Terminal 5. After quickly establishing her passion for construction she moved to the regional construction arm of the business where she worked for six years as a SHE advisor and progressed on to become SHEQ Manager.

After moving to Yorkshire to start a family, Karen secured a position at Morgan Sindall Construction and has been working in the SHE sector for over 16 years now, championing women in the construction industry every step of the way.

Well-known for her involvement in the mentoring and mental health network at Morgan Sindall Construction and the wider built environment community, Karen has been recognised for the impact she’s having on the future generation and ensuring people are becoming the best health and safety professionals they can be.

Being one of the first volunteers at Morgan Sindall to become a fully qualified mental health first aid instructor, Karen’s passion for improving the wellbeing of colleagues across the industry resulted in her being appointed as mental health lead nationwide.

In her role, Karen’s developed and secured funding for a Mental Health Roadmap across 2021/22, which includes free two-day adult mental health first aid courses at a minimum of 12 courses over 2022, which could help train an additional 192 mental health first aiders within the construction industry.

The roadmap also offers a monthly payment to all mental health first aiders as a thank you for volunteering in such a challenging role. All line managers across the company can also access free mental health awareness training.

As she is chartered by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), and as part of her mentoring responsibilities, Karen currently supports four fellow members of IOSH through their own IOSH journeys while she is also in the process of gaining her fellowship, utilising her experience to help show others the ropes.

Karen said:

Being able to use my time at work to volunteer for things I’m passionate about, as well as pushing other women to step outside the boundaries the sector has created for them is a privilege. To be recognised for doing so only reaffirms to me how lucky I am to be in such a position, and I’m thrilled to be the first!

I look forward to continue inspiring others to take every opportunity they can to get involved and encourage the next generation into the industry and safety profession.”

Andy Hall, managing director at Morgan Sindall North East and Yorkshire, said:

Karen is a role model for what can be achieved as a woman in a male-dominated environment – and we’re grateful for all she is doing to help redress that imbalance. She continues to encourage others to become more visible through her incredible mentoring and support. I’d like to congratulate her on this well-deserved award – we’re very lucky to have her on our team.”

For more information about this news release please contact Tom Carlin at Influential on 07827 957740 or email [email protected].