In this week’s show, Colin chats to Anna Gaughey and Philippa Breckon of Penshaw View, a family-run company delivering high quality health and safety training and consultancy nationwide.

Anna has recently become the first person to become a safety, health and environmental apprentice. Along with Philippa, they discuss the ways in which this new qualification is shaking up the industry, tailoring better-suited skills to individual organisations, and thereby enhancing the effectiveness of H&S across the country.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Many of the qualifications out there are not tailored to each individual workplace. With the apprenticeship, skills and qualifications can be better tailored to each organisation, and the results are remarkable.
• The apprenticeship is very much project-based, and under constant review to ensure the knowledge is the latest available. By employing a one-to-one training method, each candidate can better prepare for the assessment.
• The apprenticeship has opened up new channels of communication, and has rapidly expanded Anna’s knowledge base, leading to a greater sense of confidence. We cannot achieve this element without practical, on-the-job experience.
• Many young people seem to be drawn to the health and safety sector. Seeing the next generation taking such an interest gives hope to the future of safety in the workplace.

BEST MOMENTS

’So far we’ve got a 100% success rate’

‘It’s allowed us, as a business, to grow, and to continue to grow’

‘It’s given me the foot in the door that I never would have got’

‘Health and safety is everyone’s responsibility'

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Penshaw View - https://penshawview.co.uk

Anna Gaughey LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-gaughey-185267153/?originalSubdomain=uk

Philippa Breckon LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/philippa-breckon-0851b481/?originalSubdomain=uk

ABOUT THE HOST

Colin Nottage

‘Making health and safety as important as everything else we do.’

This is the belief that Colin is passionate about and through his consultancy Influential Management Group (IMG) is able to spread into industry. Colin works at a strategic level with company owners and board members. He helps business leaders establish and achieve their health and safety ambitions.

He has developed a number of leading competency improvement programmes that are delivered across industry and his strengths are his ability to take a practical approach to problem-solving and being able to liaise at all levels within an organisation.

Colin also runs a company that vets contractors online and a network that develops and support H&S consultancies to become better businesses.

Colin chairs the Construction Dust Partnership, an industry collaboration directly involving many organisations, including the Health and Safety Executive.

He is a Post Graduate Tutor at Strathclyde University and a highly sought-after health and safety speaker and trainer. He has a Post Graduate Certificate in Safety and Risk management, an engineering degree and is a Chartered Member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).