Health, Safety and Environment

BT WorkFit 2007

The CWU and Connect are working in partnership with BT on the WorkFit campaign on Cancer awareness. BT’s "Work Fit: Cancer and you" campaign has been drawn up with the support of the Cancer charity Cancerbackup, the UK’s leading cancer information charity.

Each year 250 BT people are newly diagnosed with cancer and another 2,000 of us have overcome the disease and are back working for the company. Different cancers are commoner at different ages but, in general, the risk increases as we get older so that looking across the whole of our lives our chances of developing cancer are one in three and that’s rising. That means that cancer will affect each and every one of us – either because we become ill ourselves or because it strikes a close family member, a friend or a colleague.

Launching on 16 October 2007, an on-line resource covering six key areas will be rolled out over six weeks. This resource will be accessed via links on BT Today. The programme aims to:

• Raise awareness of cancer and debunk some of the myths surrounding it.
• Encourage BT people to take personal responsibility for promoting their health and minimising their cancer risk.
• Emphasise early detection and prevention of cancer in BT people and their families.
• Provide guidance for dealing with cancer in the workplace.

Cancerbackup provides information, understanding and support on any cancer, its treatment and care.

The charity provides a freephone helpline, staffed by cancer nurse specialists; has eight walk-in information centres in England; and produces a comprehensive range of publications (70 booklets and 300 fact sheets), all free to patients and their families, and online on their award-winning web site www.cancerbackup.org.uk.