Amey celebrates its Highways Heroes

03 Dec 2021

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Amey is delighted that two of its people have been recognised at Safer Highways, Highways Heroes Awards 2021.

Held at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London last night (Thursday, December 2), Jamie Forsyth, Amey’s Wellbeing Coach and Lee McAllister, Area 10 Highways Operative, both took home top awards at the ceremony that recognised excellence in industry peers.

Lee McAllister was recognised for his bravery and quick thinking that saved a member of the public’s life. On the way to collect new football kit for the team that Lee manages, traffic meant that they had to detour. It was while on this detour that Lee noticed a man face-down on the pavement. Lee quickly put his first aid training into practice, putting him in to the recovery position. It was then that Lee noticed that the runner’s heartrate on the man’s fitness watch had flatlined. Lee then immediately rolled the man over and started CPR. Lee continued with CPR until a member of the emergency services attended. Hospital staff that treated the runner informed Lee that he would not have survived if it wasn’t for his quick actions.

Jamie Forsyth, who until recently worked as an Operative on the Staffordshire contract also scooped the top prize at the awards evening, with judges recognising his passion for helping people - getting them to talk openly about their mental health and wellbeing which came from his own management techniques of living with bi-polar.

To make a difference Jamie started his journey training as a Mental Health First Aider (MHFA) on the contract and implemented a range of popular initiatives to get the teams talking and focusing on their own mental health. These included regular wellbeing workshops, live wellbeing events with guest speakers, visits from local NHS nurses and even ran regular food events to promote healthy eating at work. These quickly took off and more channels of communication with the team were adopted allowing them to talk openly about their mental and physical health.

When COVID-19 hit back in March last year, Jamie saw an opportunity to further help people struggling with their mental health, by creating a series of videos that were shared on the contract, across Amey’s internal channels and on Jamie’s professional LinkedIn page.

Allan Shanks, Group HSEQ Director at Amey, said: “Jamie and Lee being recognised at the Highways Heroes Awards, is a fantastic achievement for them both on a professional and personal level. Lee’s quick thinking to use his first aid training he received at Amey to save a life is highly commendable and Jamie’s honest and personal approach to get our frontline teams talking about their physical and mental health is both bold and selfless. I’m incredibly proud of both Jamie and Lee.”

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