In this Safety Short, Colin returns from his holiday in Croatia and reflects on the following; 

“How well do you challenge your staff/employees to make sure they take their holiday/paid time off?” 

Colin used to run a team of H&S advisors (almost 30 people at one time!) and he describes the all too common excuses “I am too busy too take holiday!”, that people martyr their PTO, breaks and annual leave; thinking it makes them ‘a hero’ because they haven’t taken the break. 

If you are not organised enough and do not treat the holiday as something that is really important to you as an individual, Colin argues you are making a bad decision (and then what other bad decisions are you making for the business elsewhere?)

You should challenge this; make sure your employees and staff get a chance to take time away from the business and be able to reflect, to get those batteries full again and be ready and refreshed 

“Don’t take ‘being too busy’ as an excuse; It’s not good enough”

HOST BIO 

‘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).