New e-bikes keep health & wellbeing in motion at B. Braun
Staff at Sheffield-based medical company have been using three E-bikes loaned by Sheffield City Council to get around their grounds.
B. Braun Medical Ltd partnered with Inmotion to get involved with the active travel project.
Employees have been using the bikes to travel between the company’s HQ on Brookdale Road and the Technical Services Unit on Thorncliffe Park Estate, reducing the time it takes to get from each site by more than half as it’s estimated to take 20 minutes to walk and five minutes by bike.
Health and Wellbeing Consultant at B. Braun, Andrew Picken, commented: “The bikes provide an active option for colleagues travelling between sites. They are also part of the ongoing ‘cycle to work’ campaign and come equipped with panniers, lights, locks, high visibility vests and helmets.”
B. Braun enlisted Andrew to plan a special Health and Wellbeing Programme suited to staff needs. Andrew chairs an employee-led health and wellbeing group which helps to steer and develop the programme through staff feedback.
Andrew continued: “We have launched a number of initiatives under the programme aiming to make employees more aware of how lifestyle behaviours can influence current and future health, and the new bikes will only advance this further.
“We recently had Japanese colleagues visiting from the NICE Exchange Programme who were able to use the bikes commuting between their lodgings and the site, and other staff members have been using them for occasional commuting too.
“They help employees get from A to B quickly, and when you get to a hill the electric motor kicks in to help you, so you avoid getting too sweaty in business attire.”
Inmotion travel advisor Gail Parkes has been working closely with B. Braun for several months.
She said: “It’s great to see a company like B. Braun embracing sustainable travel as a means of improving day-to-day logistics within their business.
“Increasing numbers of businesses across South Yorkshire are seeing the benefits of sustainable travel alternatives both for their employees and for their everyday business needs.
“If you think your business could benefit from advice about sustainable transport then contact our travel team at travel@inmotion.co.uk”
Inmotion is a partnership between the councils of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield and the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive to implement the Department for Transport’s Sustainable Travel Fund programme in South Yorkshire: http://www.inmotion.co.uk