More than 800 Securitas officers and support staff from across the country will soon be mounting a bike and ‘Cycling to Safety’ when they take part in the company’s charity ‘Tour of Securitas’.
The virtual tour will begin in Edinburgh on Monday, September 8 and, over the following five days, staff across 21 Securitas branches will cycle on static bikes to help raise awareness of safety in the workplace. The initiative also hopes to raise funds for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, RoSPA.
Taking in locations including Gateshead, Liverpool and Derby, the tour will clock up a total of 2,520 miles before finishing at Securitas’ head office in Uxbridge on Friday 12 September.
Securitas’ Chief Operating Officer, Shaun Kennedy, said: “With the sport of cycling very much on the news agenda in the UK, we thought this would be a great time to capture the imagination of our employees to communicate key safety messages and the health benefits of exercise for employees and their families.’ The aim is to encourage a reduction in the number of incidents and accidents occurring in the workplace and improve awareness of health and fitness. The tour will also kick off the launch of our Cycle to Work Campaign.”
RoSPA’s Chief Executive, Tom Mullarkey MBE (the former chief of NSI), said: “As the UK’s family safety charity, we’re determined to provide more and more free practical support to some of the nation’s most vulnerable people. But we can only do this with the financial support of enlightened companies
like Securitas. It’s great that they’re raising awareness about safer behaviour by encouraging staff to cycle ‘statically’ between all their offices. It’s a clever idea to let everyone in the company participate in raising money for charity in any spare few minutes throughout the week, while also helping them to keep fit.
“Accident prevention saves lives and prevents injuries and there are few activities which cannot be done safely. This initiative, while helping people to think about safe cycling, and encouraging them to get out on the road more generally, also promotes a cleaner, greener environment.
“We look forward to developing this relationship with Securitas so that, together, we can reverse a trend that sees accidents cut down more children, young people and young parents in their prime than cancer or heart disease.”
Shaun added: “We’re really grateful to all the staff taking part. It won’t all be hard work as the emphasis is also on having a fun day. There will be prizes for the greatest fundraising achieved and we will also be crowning our ‘Sprint King and Queen’ who will be the fastest sprinters to 500m so it’s sure to get competitive!”
Anyone wishing to donate to the Tour to raise funds for RoSPA can do so by visiting the Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/Securitas-Securitas2/
About RoSPA
RoSPA’s campaigns have resulted in the introduction of the seat belt law in 1983, the ban on the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving in 2003, and, this year, a change in the way that all window blinds across the EU are made in a bid to stop toddlers being accidentally strangled by looped cords.
