Those who enjoy the tranquillity of the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh might not realise quite how much hard work goes into not only maintaining the beautiful plants but also supporting conservation work around the world.

The RBGE has four gardens in Scotland – in Edinburgh, Argyll, the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway – and with links to more than 40 countries, it’s a global leader in plant science and education.

With so much to keep its 245 staff and 180 volunteers busy, the RBGE is keen to ensure that its workforce enjoys a healthy working environment. Having already taken part in the former Scotland’s Health at Work (SHAW) scheme, staff recently began transferring across to the Healthy Working Lives Award Programme.

HR Manager Margaret Gallagher says it became clear early on that there was much to be gained from engaging with staff to find out what support they would like to see to promote health in the workplace.

“We signed up to the SHAW scheme in 2004, and part of that process was developing a health promotion strategy,” she says. “We formed a health promotion group at RBGE with a cross-section of staff from the different divisions. That forum meets regularly and takes forward any initiatives to do with health promotion.

“The morale of the staff has improved a lot – the feedback since we have been on the programme has been very positive. We have introduced annual health fayres where everyone can get an annual health check. These are usually fully booked.

“Staff feel that we care as an employer, and that we are trying to improve their well-being in the workplace. The members of the health promotion group know that they can raise issues and they will be listened to.”

Margaret says that the process of transferring to Healthy Working Lives has been easier than she had thought. She adds: “We got the SHAW Bronze Award in 2006, and we are now in the process of transferring to the Healthy Working Lives Award Programme and we are aiming for Silver. We are not starting from scratch so it made it less complicated than we thought it was going to be.”

With a workforce spread across four sites in Scotland, and comprising many different roles including scientists, horticulturists, educationalists and office-based support staff, the RBGE has a lot of issues to consider in supporting staff health.

“Our staff are spread all over the garden in Edinburgh and three more gardens at Benmore in Argyll, Dawyck in the Borders and Logan in Dumfries and Galloway,” explains Margaret. “The organisation is structured into three divisions – the Science Division, mainly involved in botanical research, the Horticulture Division involved in maintaining the gardens living collections, visitor services and education programmes and the Corporate Services Division.”

This presents a number of issues for staff health and well-being such as safe use of garden tools and chemicals, and protection for workers who are working outside. One recent initiative has involved installing dispensers containing sun cream so that staff can protect themselves against exposure to the sun.

Travel health is also a priority for many staff as the RBGE has strong international links, adds Margaret. “We operate in more than 40 countries in the world, where scientists are helping with conservation work, and there is a big programme in China at the moment.”

The RBGE is now working on a health surveillance project that should support further improvements in the prevention of ill health. “Through working with the Healthy Working Lives team and through our health promotion group, we have surveyed staff to see what they would like us to do,” says Margaret.

“We did our first survey in 2005 and have recently completed our second one. This has allowed us to identify priorities and assist the health promotion group to develop an annual health promotion programme.

“With all of these initiatives going on and working with the Healthy Working Lives model, we have been able to develop from that a health surveillance programme which was rolled out this year for the first time. It is concerned with our priorities for scientific and horticultural staff in terms of prevention. “There are health and safety policies and procedures with risk assessments, but we are going beyond that, for example, by screening horticultural staff working with pesticides.

Margaret says that the Healthy Working Lives Award Programme is also helpful to give a focus for HR departments and the ongoing support from her adviser, Kathryn Sinclair, has been invaluable.

“Initially we found it all a bit overwhelming but Kathryn soon explained it all!”, she laughs. “It really is a straightforward model to follow and if you have got any questions then you can just ask.”