Sustainable solutions provider Garic has claimed to be the first company in its field to commit to providing male incontinence bins for its staff and customers, in partnership with phs.
The Dispose with Dignity campaign launched in February this year is intended to raise awareness of the experience of prostate cancer survivors following their life-saving surgery. One in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, increasing to one in four for people of colour or those with a family history of the disease.
For men that receive treatment, most will experience urinary incontinence as a side effect; some for just a few months, many for a few years or even the remainder of their lives.
A report, co-authored by phs and Prostate Cancer UK, Binning the taboo, revealed that 51% of the men surveyed, of all ages, had experienced symptoms associated with urinary incontinence. This is leaving nearly eight in 10 men anxious to leave the house, including going to work.
Those in particularly manual roles such as in construction, are affected more keenly, due to the nature of their work – and many men end up leaving their roles prematurely or having a more stressful day to day experience when changing their incontinence products.
Garic sales director Neil Page said:
“We are passionate about what we do and how we treat people. We value our colleagues, customers and suppliers, and we believe that every aspect of their experience with us is important.
“At Garic, we’ve been going on a similar journey to that of most of our customers – working hard to increase the diversity of our business. That said, we still have a male dominant workforce and the stats tell us Incontinence is likely to be affecting many members of our team.
“The wellbeing and care of our teams is of utmost importance to us. phs’ research has given us the confidence to provide these facilities to our own teams and to our customers, and as such, know that we will help reduce the anxiety created by this often taboo subject.”
Due to the physical nature of manual roles in construction, the strain on men in these roles can mean that they are more prone to leaking than those in more sedentary professions. This may mean that they need to change their products more often, and be caught without adequate facilities at work causing stress and anxiety.
Garic has completed its initial partnership launch with phs and Prostate Cancer UK, and has rolled out male incontinence bins at each of its depots.
