Those who work the safest way- live to see another day !!
Enough of the Cliches, be here all day…. If your looking for solid safety advice, first class safety staff or consultancy assistance give me a call…. 01932 847 509
Keep safety in mind. It will save your behind….. couldn’t resist it !!!
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
Henry David ThoreauTo this end I strive for a greater work life balance and to enhance my success by working independently. Here’s hoping ”Audaces Fortuna Iuvat”
Follow my Progress on Twitter @HSEJo
My company website http://www.jobanks.org.uk or http://www.jobanksrecruit.co.uk
Recruitment Rocks Again!
I’ve been pondering why after 12 long years I still get a huge kick out of the recruitment business. Recruitment has been a tough industry for a number of years now. Considering it’s regularly stressful and that people can often let you down. Its feels like an achievement to survive the pace! Sometimes you work really hard and end up with nothing to show for it and your clients might not want the advice your freely offering.
Sound familiar ?
I’m not bellyaching though, I am lucky, getting jobs for Health & Safety people is kinda cool. It makes people happy & safer, and I like to please. Finding that special candidate for my clients is also rewarding as we in the Health & Safety business have a crucial life saving role in society, its a ‘feel good’ business.
I think all occupations have highs and lows, but what is it that makes us continue? Well, I like my house, so paying the bills is the obvious answer but much deeper than that. I believe you can truly benefit spiritually & mentally from work.
MOST OF THE TIME !!
Keeping our minds active
Work provides self esteem and pride in a job well done
A pat on the back feels good
Monetary reward & bonus spent on great pastimes
Team work and Team banter
Networking & socialising
Collective goals feel good
So the next time I am faced with 50 CV’s on my desk and a difficult assignment. Dan’s refusing to make tea again and an empty biscuit barrel!!
I will remember my mantra…
WORK IS GOOD,
FINDING OTHER PEOPLE WORK IS BETTER,
COMMISSION IS FUEL TO FUND A GREAT LIFESTYLE
Now all you lovely Health & Safety people send me your ‘Hot‘ CV, and help me achieve my goals and targets.
Jo x
Learning to balance risk is an essential life skill
In my humble opinion, teaching Dynamic Risk Assessment in schools and to our children at home could better prepare them for adult life and the challenges they will face growing up in this modern age. It might also give them a healthier, ‘stress free’ life as they can achieve a calmer, clearer perspective and balance probabilities or understand the true value of ”alarming” statistics.
Its a terrible shame that many people have lost all grip of reality when it comes to assessing risks in general life. People are obsessed with fear, and are driven by media images of terrorism, civil war, religious tensions, economic collapse, crime and the ”supposed” dangers of modern living. In reality, we are living longer, we’re fitter, healthier, better fed and have more amenities than ever before. So why the doom mongering?
I have recently been watching ”Spartacus” and the mythical historical ”Game of Thrones” series on TV. This reminded me that through the ages people have always acted improperly when under pressure or able to exert power over others. ”Slavery, sex, crime, violence, illicit drugs, alcohol, politics and betrayal” feature in every episode… ”So what has changed that much, I ask?” In some ways we appear to be slightly more civilised, less violent and more ‘moral’ than our forebears.
Teaching children to weigh up the odds, to look at how their decisions may affect their future life expectancy and life chances must be important. Teenage pregnancy, drug & alcohol issues, crime and educational attainment could all be ”risk managed” by young people themselves. By teaching the ”hierarchy of control” methods to young people we could give them an accurate mental tool to manage their own lives and help others.
Its not complicated, but by learning to assess risk, understand the value of statistical information and weigh up probabilities we would be a step closer to teenage self management. We won’t like some of the outcomes and decisions they reach, and we don’t want parental responsibility to end. However if we embrace risk management as a parenting technique, we are likely to forge better parent child relationships and a young adult capable of making sage decisions when they are out of our earshot or sight. Don’t sweat the little things, and make sure you prepare your kids to make decisions wisely and based on a true understanding of risk principals.
Before I go, incidents and accidents will happen when we least expect them or are least able to deal with them. Just this week I have had one friend injured after being hit by a Golf ball as she drove through a course (odds on that happening, moving target?) and another tragically lose a beloved family pet to a swimming pool accident. Both of these accidents could have been worse, but preventing them altogether would have been extremely difficult.
We cannot prevent all actions, mishaps and oversights but we can make sure our children make decisions based on sound and solid risk management practice. If we can prevent some more tragic & unwanted outcomes this way, then I’m all for it.
RIP Dolly Diamond xxx
If only life was this simple, danger lurks where we can't often see it coming.
Subway Time
Paper cuts, are usually just a nasty painful little blip in our day. Can you imagine having multiple nicks and chips all over your hands, plus scaley extra dry skin for weeks and may be months at a time. (like a torture, by 1000 cuts)
This is the reality for people suffering with occupational dermatitis and skin conditions aggravated or caused by work or social activity.
This all started for me when I was 15 and I worked on a market stall at weekends, selling & arranging fresh flowers. Great job in the summer, but the cold and wet of the winter months was more difficult. I wasn’t sure if it was plunging my hands into cold water regularly that was setting off a reaction in me or certain flowers I was allergic to. I developed sore & inflamed dermatitis, which would take various lengths of time to clear after each weekends work. It was manageable, and better during warmer weather than cold. I should have shares in a certain hand creme company for all the products I bought.
Twenty years and many jobs later, I still get the odd break out of dermatitis especially after decorating, DIY or gardening. The last few years have been particularly bad. Again I can pick out the exact trigger for my worst ever dermatitis attack. I spent 6 months in hospital in 2007/08 when my Son was unwell after being born early at 24 weeks and needed intensive care treatment. Despite being in three very clean, modern and well managed neonatal units my son caught several hospital acquired bugs during his lifesaving treatment. I began to be a bit OCD about handwashing!! Even going over and above the hospital guidelines. In fact I was like a surgeon scrubbing up each and every time I walked in and out of the baby unit. Since this time, my hands have never recovered. I feel massively for the nurses, many of whom I spoke to had terrible hands as a result of the constant handwashing, alcohol gels and latex gloves they must use. Despite the best efforts of soap manufacturers and medical glove suppliers, this problem is not solved for many. My 6 month stint nursing my Son has re-ignited my dermatitis to such an extent that I was asked to show my hands to the soap manufacturing representative at one hospital. The nursing Sister wanted independent proof that the ”gentle” soaps & gels they use do affect staff in a negative way. As you can imagine, the medical professions live with this problem everyday and although not all people are susceptable to occupational dermatitis those that have had to put up with it, gain my every sympathy. The soap company was suprised a daily visitor to the unit was affected so badly and expected it to be a staff only issue. I was not the only Mum to notice and report symptoms.
Dermatitis is tough, and aggravating. It hurts, its sore, you can’t bear the thought of plunging hands into water, cooking is difficult, motor skills are affected and it is miserable. I am not blaming anyone, nor have I an axe to grind with any supplier etc. However I would like to raise the issue as I think it is often trivialised and misunderstood, it is certainly debilitating and a big issue for care & medical staff, food handlers and many other categories of worker.
Hands are vitally important.. So are the people attached to them……
Where would you go??
If I had a space rocket, I could think of a number of people I would send on a one-way trip to the Moon & Stars.
If I had a time machine, I could go back to see the Pyramids being built, watch England win the world cup (66) and spy on my younger self, even offer myself some good advice…
Blue Sky thinking? Brain Storming, Thought Showers !! We all have them Eureka moments, so why do the government seem to be throwing back to the mistakes of the 1980’s??? Have they forgotten? Thatcherites will hate me for saying this?? But don’t you remember how desperate, rotten and bleak things were back then? Government Sleaze, divisions in society and disappearing industries….
I would like to send a load of Politico’s, world leaders and influential celeb’s up in my Time machine to view the mistakes of the past, lets hope learning from History does not become a thing of the past for all of our sakes…..
From George Santayana,
Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Paraphrased by Winston Churchill “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Tommy Cooper Safety Manager being dwarfed by a Tepee on barge
Engineering is cool kids……..
Maybe I’m just getting older, but I think engineering and construction is fascinating, so last week I had a real treat and went up to Harwich to look at the Renewable energy project ”the London Array”. Wow!! Construction and engineering projects don’t get much more complex or impressive. For an Environmentalist and Safety professional, it was like being a kid in a huge candy store! So much to take in and see, huge lifting equipment, boats, barges, working platforms, piling hammers and some seriously impressive toolkits. It takes a team effort to get a massive undertaking like this off of the ground and I was privileged to get an insight into the inner workings of this mammoth project.
I had the pleasure of visiting the site last week to view the climbing
Work Horses of the Sea
& PPE kit used and the safety systems in place and was hugely impressed by the team and scope of the project. Even the sea breeze and inclement weather couldn’t put a shade on the day.
I would like to say a great big thankyou to Tommy Cooper
and all the guys down at the ”London Array”. We very much enjoyed supplying the First Aid at Work, Work at Height & Confined Spaces Safety training on site and thank the guys from Team Safety Services for the excellent training packages (Ellis & Mick nerves of steel, trainers extraordinaire!!). Its great to feel that we have contributed to such an iconic project at the formative stages.
Keep up the good work guys & Keep Safe
Safety Jo xx
Before I start, I must point out that I am not an odious little snooper with a clip board and high handed attitude…WRONG… So Wrong. Everyday of the 12 or more years I’ve worked in Elf ‘n’ safety I have searched for that person. That hapless fool, the ‘one’ who made the whole of the media fall on our collective Health & Safety shoulders and give us grief and ridicule wherever possible.
As a Recruitment & Training Manager I meet and interview creative, vivacious, passionate, driven professionals all the time. Their only fault is managing a difficult task in tricky trading, legal, political or financial circumstances. In the last six weeks I have worked with clients from heavy industry, construction, IT, banking, wind energy, law, local government, property, medicine and agriculture. I have the pleasure in meeting new clients each week, and getting to know others like old friends. Never do I regret my decision to get into this business.
Whether I am organising training for Fire Safety, First Aid, Ergonomics, Work at Height rescue, Breathing Apparatus, Personal Safety, Womens Self defence or Confined Spaces I am a happy girl. Creating bespoke safety training packages for clients with exacting or unique needs is challenging and gives me a chance to collaborate with some of the best trainers and consultants in the industry.
The recruitment aspect of my role, can be a real challenge and getting the right candidate for the client is always a great feeling. Apart from the commission ££ the real reward is helping someone secure a life changing career move or get that glory job they long deserved. My hire’s are all round the world, saving lives, creating prosperity and carrying a beacon for safety and sustainability. I often giggle to myself in the office, Is this work???
So to all the detractors and haters out there, we assert that sensible risk management and thoughtful sustainability is never a bad idea. We will keep on, until we are no longer needed. Till such time as no company or organisation work illegally or compromise worker safety, and till we can relax at night knowing all workers returned home that day unscathed by work practices or forseeable accidents. We can and do make a difference to peoples lives everyday. I’m sounding all Obama I know, but yes we can!!!
I’m proud to say I work in the health and safety industry, its a job that has been a constant stretch of my imagination and resilience. I would encourage new people into the industry at every opportunity. Wherever you work in health & safety you will be sure to find challenges and inspirational people to work with.
Don’t knock it, until you’ve tried it.
I love my bike, safety first as always. Trikes are the way to go. Comfy, visible and great fun for my Son, plus plenty of room for picnic. Shame I didn’t get the electric one, need a bit of effort getting us uphill…
HSE Jo, Recruiter, Training & Consultancy Adviser 
Causation – Let’s understand Accidents and Incidents
This gallery contains 2 photos.
Hi All A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to view a draft of Paul Difford’s soon to be released book “Redressing the Balance – A Commonsense Approach to Causation”. If the draft was anything to go by then … Continue reading →