Local women's safety campaign reaches builders in Ireland

Tuesday 22 February 2022

A local women’s safety campaign has been adopted by a construction company in Ireland which employs more than 1,000 staff.

The BE LADS campaign, founded by Guernseywoman Poppy Murray, has been used to raise awareness with staff of Mace construction company.

This was after the issue of women’s safety became topical following the case of Ashling Murphy, who was murdered while jogging in Tullamore, Co Offaly.

Pictured: BE LADS campaign materials on display at the construction company.

Mace Associate Director of Procurement and Wellbeing Ambassador Nicola Tobin found the BE LADS campaign online and contacted Miss Murray.

“The case of Ashling Murphy raised conversations about women’s safety, so I researched advice I could offer to men in our construction site who were concerned and wanted to help," said Ms Tobin.

"I wanted to offer some easy advice on starting conversations with each other, friends and families.

“The BE LADS campaign really fit what I was looking for because it explained in simple terms what each one of us women wanted to say: that we know it’s not all men.”

Pictured: A BE LADS poster displayed in Mace.

The campaign materials were distributed across the site, shared digitally to trade contractors and were the talking point of wellness conversations within the Mace office.

“We are a construction site with approximately 1,100 workers, predominantly male, so it would have been remiss of us not to try to offer some simple education when we have such a big platform,” said Ms Tobin.

“The BE LADS message was powerful and well received by staff. We had a lot of positive feedback. Most men were simply not aware of the issue or the safety measures women take every time they walk alone.

"It gave a lot of my male colleagues some starting points on conversations to bring home to their children too, which is very important.” 

Pictured: A digital display at Mace in Ireland.

Miss Murray said she was delighted that the campaign had been picked up in Ireland.

“I created the campaign after the case of Sarah Everard, which is sadly far from an isolated incident.

"The recent case of Ashling Murphy brought the issue to the surface again and I completely understand why it sparked conversations about women’s safety in Ireland.

“I launched the campaign in March last year. Since then, it has been added to the Guernsey curriculum for 16 year olds. Now seeing it in Ireland is a testament to the importance of the message and the effectiveness of a simple aid to a complex problem.

"This is a problem for women everywhere and men everywhere can help."  

Pictured: BE LADS is an acronym for a campaign which aims to give advice to men to help women feel safer when walking alone.

The campaign looks set to grow further.

“I have been approached by Governors of UK schools interested in adding the lesson to their curriculum," said Miss Murray.

"I will be working with the Rotary Club to roll out BE LADS to communities across Britain and Ireland.

"I will be presenting it to the Guernsey branch of Soroptimist International this month and the Cannock and District branch will be including it in their International Women’s Day event next month."