My Heath and Safety week ahead

Monday - Wednesday
I am delivering a 3-day training course up in Sheffield on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I'll need to use the breaks to make several phone calls to keep the wheels of my Company oiled (fortunately, they turn without too much input from me - Janice and Jamie have really risen to the task this year). I do really enjoy delivering training, but it does take all the time in the day to deliver. I have a consultant (Hagrid) who delivers most of our training courses, but this one needs my touch (or so I believe in a fit of vanity).


Monday (after the event)
So, Monday's training went well: there was a reasonable amount of discussion and plenty of sensible questions. We even derived most of the principles of Sections 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Tomorrow will be a focus on Risk Assessment (practice and principles). I make a few calls at lunchtime and managed to sort out some pieces of work for later in the week - one of these will involve meeting a client on their site very early (about 06:30 hrs) on Thursday as this is the only time we can both meet to carry out his Fire Risk Assessment.


Tuesday (after the event)
Tuesday was an interesting romp through the processes of Risk Assessment - aiming to draw out people's views on how they can do this and how they can help each other. We discussed various tools for making the process easier simplifying some aspects. Reducing the paperwork is very popular! I managed to make a few calls while the group exercises were in progress, but there was little time that was not face-to-face today. When I got home, there was still time to work for an hour or so on the allotment before rain stopped play.


Wednesday (after the event)
Today was the last day of the three day training course. I'm pleased with the way that it went, but I do have some ideas to be introduced during the next similar course (to be run soon). During the course of the day I received a few interesting phone calls. One (which I called back at lunchtime) was an enquiry for some site assistance with a safety project (from a local business). Of special interest from this enquiry was the opportunity to tender for a significant training contract. This came from discussions of further assistance that we could offer by way of supporting this contract. Lucky timing? Fair enough, but you have to capitalise on the chances that come your way and follow up on chance remarks and comments. The other enquiry was simpler: this related to an existing client who is now involved in a second business and has recognised that they are in need of my services. This was an easy sell, but is based on the performance with the first company. Again, an example of making your own luck. Once again, I made it onto the allotment (for about an hour) before heading home to matters and chores of a domestic nature.


Thursday looks set to start with an early morning visit to a local company to carry out a Fire Risk Assessment, following a recent enforcement visit from the local Fire and Rescue service. I then have a short meeting planned with the accountant to review the finished accounts for the previous year. After that, I should be driving over to Nottingham to carry out the first part of a site audit visit. Further details should be coming in on that job on Monday and Tuesday.

Thursday (after the event)

It was indeed an early start with my new local client. The site was generally in very good order and their fire safety arrangements were pretty good. My role, in this case, is mainly to formalise their existing arrangements rather than to make recommendations for improvements. The job in Nottingham was delayed until next Friday. Instead, I spent the afternoon working on making some appointments for a series of jobs that have flooded in. These are a mixture of Safety Audits and Fire Risk Assessments around the country. I also had to work on a significant proposal to provide Training Services into a large local organisation (Loughborough based).

Friday involves a meeting with one of my consultants to work on a new aspect of product delivery (more on that in future blog articles). This may well be followed by another trip over to Nottingham to finish off the site audit work.

Friday (after the event)

The meeting with the consultant went well and we have worked out how to deliver a new service to our clients. The afternoon was spent sorting out some safety issues for other clients (developing risk assessment and method statements, sending a few suitable phrases to assist with tender submissions, etc.).

The above few lines do not look too long, but they do not allow for much time for the other aspects of running my Company. I need to sort out who within my organisation is going to do a 4-6 week placement in a Company in Docklands as Interim Health and Safety Officer. I need to schedule some works for southern Scotland in early June and I need to write two new Safety Training courses.


Meanwhile: Richard continues to work away in London on the Facilities Management projects that are going on down there; John and Brian continue to keep conducting Fire Risk Assessments; and Hagrid has training commitments and Food Safety consultancy to deliver. Ian is working in Glasgow/Edinburgh and Earl has more of the Facilities Management work to do in the West Midlands.


A busy week!