Bringing Prevention to HS2 Construction: How Balfour Beatty VINCI Delivered Health Checks Across 14 Locations

SISU Health is helping Balfour Beatty VINCI deliver early prevention at scale – achieving a 19% drop in high blood pressure risk, 15% reduction in smoking and thousands of first-time health checks across 14 HS2 sites.

The challenge – Reaching a transient, at-risk workforce

Balfour Beatty VINCI needed a scalable way to prevent illness across 9,000 workers spread over 14 HS2 construction sites – a workforce facing high health risk but limited access to routine checks.

Before the programme, 65% of workers hadn’t had a blood pressure check in the past year, despite construction being a high-risk sector for preventable illness. Long shifts, site mobility and high safety demands meant traditional medical checks simply weren’t reaching people.

BBV needed a reliable way to spot hidden health risks, without pulling workers away from their shifts or increasing pressure on occupational health teams.

Trying to provide face-to-face health checks for thousands of people just wasn’t feasible. We needed a scalable, accessible way to support people’s wellbeing across every site.

 

Tracy Knapp, Occupational Health Wellbeing Lead

The solution – Embedding prevention into everyday life

SISU Health worked with BBV to implement a comprehensive wellbeing solution built around accessibility, engagement and data-led insight.

SISU Health Stations enable workers to complete a confidential health check in minutes – covering blood pressure, BMI, smoking status, heart risk and other key metrics, with instant results on screen.

Each check connects directly to SISU Health’s digital platform, giving workers access to a personalised dashboard, educational content, and signposting to appropriate lifestyle support, mental wellbeing resources or GP referrals.

To reach every site location, SISU Health and BBV implemented a rotation model, moving stations between compounds and remote areas, supported by on-site communications and wellbeing champions. This ensured high engagement without disruption to daily operations.

It’s added real value. People can drop in during their break, see instant results, and track their progress. It shows we care about them as people, not just employees.

The results – Turning data into behaviour change

Since launch, the project has recorded over 3,000 health checks across BBV’s sites, giving thousands of workers access to their own health information – often for the first time.

• 19% reduction in high blood pressure risk
• 15% reduction in smoking across the workforce
• 65% of users hadn’t had a blood pressure check in the past year – now they have
• 16% of participants triggered a GP referral for elevated readings
• 22.7% repeat users, showing strong re-testing behaviour
• 76% overweight or obese, informing targeted nutrition campaigns

We’ve had countless people say they booked a GP appointment after using the machine. That’s exactly the behaviour change we want – it’s saving lives.

Health insights even sparked friendly competition at BBV’s Skills Academy, where workers tracked progress on weight and blood pressure – showing how accessible, data-led tools can motivate lasting change.

Strategic value – Prevention as a business asset

For BBV, the programme aligns directly with its health, safety and wellbeing strategy and supports a resilient, productive workforce.

SISU Health’s anonymised data gives BBV a clear picture of workforce health and its economic impact. Estimated productivity costs highlighted clear ROI:

• £1.3m linked to smoking
• £929k linked to obesity
• £122k linked to high blood pressure

These insights directly shape targeted wellbeing investments, including a new healthy eating campaign across on-site catering, developed using SISU Health data and employee feedback.

This data gives us a bird’s-eye view of workforce health. Without SISU, we wouldn’t have that visibility. Now we can target our campaigns where they’ll make the biggest difference.

By normalising health checks on construction sites and increasing access to prevention, BBV is helping reduce health inequalities among a diverse, transient workforce.

BBV’s success shows how accessible, data-led prevention can transform workforce health – driving engagement, improving outcomes and creating a scalable model for high-risk, hard-to-reach environments.

Bring prevention directly to your team

See how SISU Health can deliver self-service health checks across your sites – helping employees take control of their health while giving you actionable insights to improve wellbeing at scale. Our team can guide you on rotation models, data-driven reporting and practical implementation tailored to high-risk, mobile workforces.

Talk To Our Team