Friday 26 November 2010

A Safety Consultant's day in London

Cold, early start - off to London on the 05.53 hrs train from Loughborough.
Quick stop off for breakfast at a small cafe near to Paddington Station before meeting a great client with a series of Hotel and Residential properties. A general run through some issues that they are having on one site and then off to visit a series of their more local Residential Property units. A few issues were identified on these sites and some improvements suggested (to ease the burden of record keeping). After that, it was over to Holborn to carry out a Safety Compliance Audit for the Managing Agent at a multi-let office block. Only issue on this site was to improve the control of contractors (which was largely being done well). Then back on the underground and onto the train. Train far too warm - dozed for most of the return journey.

Day over, except for some report writing ...

Another day in London a couple of weeks later
Another cold and early start, but at least the snow and ice was no longer a problem. One thought in my mind - will the student demonstrations of the previous evening create any lingering travel delays.

I met my first client of the day for a quick review of the general safety, welfare and fire safety arrangements of their small office area in a much larger building near to Victoria Station. After that, over to a smart office block near to King's Cross Station to take part in a job interview - working with a client to assist them in several interesting and challenging areas of change in their company. On at a relentless gallop over to Holborn to carry out a safety inspection of the common areas of a multi-let office block before heading home at the end on a gruelling, but interesting, day. Again, the reports need to be written up ...

Immediate Future
Several more early starts and late finishes commuting to London to continue my health and safety consultancy work. Hard work, yes - but also fascinating and fun!

Sunday 21 November 2010

Ten years in business

How time flows over us! I have now been running my own Company for ten years. Over this period, my business has developed and grown. I now work with a wider range of clients than ever before, delivering more services than ever before. Over that time, I have seen changes in health and safety legislation and changes in the way it is perceived and used. Like many consultants I too often find that health and safety is used by some employers as a reason for not doing things. However, I am able to help many of my clients improve their workplace and their productivity while improving aspects of safety. Some clients now even use health and safety as a way to market themselves and to differentiate themselves from others in similiar fields (developing a USP, in marketing speak).

To celebrate the achievement of ten years running my own business, I have added an incentive to new clients - this can be viewed on the website.

The next few years will see the Company develop further, with a greater emphasis on the food safety and on the fire safety aspects of the business.