It’s another insightful conversation this week as Colin talks to Phil Redmond of the Institute Of Quarrying and formerly Hanson Aggregates, and who is now with Lehigh Hanson, and whose role is to make sure the company is the best it can possibly be. As such, Phil is supremely knowledgeable about health and safety issues, as well as other concerns and issues that can often hold a company back in terms of progress.

In the second part of their fascinating conversation, Phil and Colin discuss credibility, trust, competence, how to eradicate some of the more significant workplace hazards, and the cultural differences between Phil’s UK and US business life.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• It’s incredibly important to create an environment where people feel comfortable enough to ask for change. Only by embracing the voices that we have trusted to keep our business running, can we truly effect positive change. 

 

• When dissecting the aftermath of a problem, we need to identify the root cause of what went wrong. It could be training, a personal issue, lack of understanding, or an interpretation issue. Only then can we decide upon accountability.

 

• Change is coming swiftly these days, and it’s for the better. Even things like road safety for workers has been drastically improved.

 

• Advances in safety have been rapid. Advances in health, too, are vital, and can only really move forward through constant collaboration and communication.

 

• Phil notes that the positivity in the same industry in the US, and the “can do” nature of the workers and the industry there, are the main things that he would choose to import to the UK if he got the chance.

BEST MOMENTS

’You have to listen to what the business is asking for’

‘We are where we are, but it’s about where we’re going to go with it’

‘I never use the word “blame”'

‘Listening is more important than talking most of the time’

‘We can always learn'   

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Interesting Health And Safety Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/training-competency-creating-effective-plan-process/id1467771449?i=1000452692837 

Phil Redmond LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-redmond-b6136927/?originalSubdomain=uk

Lehigh Hanson - https://www.lehighhanson.com 

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).

Colin talks Stress and Mental health awareness. As part of a Mental Health First Aid England programme Colin witnessed with a client, he saw some fantastic and simple key messages to help relieve stress in yourself and others in the workplace! Colin has summarised most of this information and shared with you as he feels it is important in your business to take care of you and your colleagues mental well-being

 

Coping Strategies and self-care-tips to help protect yourself against stress. This included things to try; and things to avoid!

 

Try!

• Get Moving by doing activities like walking or sports!
• Eat well; Healthy diet, healthy mind!
• Having ‘you’ time; Setting aside time to have fun and indulge yourself (Having ‘you’ time)
• Learning a new skill; Learning a new instrument, language or maybe a trade or useful skill.
• Get Better at Sharing your feelings; its okay to ask for help& support. Don’t be frightened to help yourself.
• Switch off from distractions

Avoid!

• Overdoing it on sugar, caffeine and alcohol
• Overworking; Leave work at work, don’t take it home with you
• Don’t chase perfection; Be it in your own personal life and self image, or maybe work aspirations. Accept who you are and don’t apply excessive pressure on yourself with unrealistic expectations
• Don’t Bottle it up; make sure you don’t bottle up your feelings, positive or negative. Make sure to talk about things and don’t let your feelings build and escalate.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• mhfaengland.org

 

ABOUT 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) 

It’s another insightful conversation this week as Colin talks to Phil Redmond of the Institute Of Quarrying and formerly Hanson Aggregates, and who is now with Lehigh Hanson, and whose role is to make sure the company is the best it can possibly be. As such, Phil is supremely knowledgeable about health and safety issues, as well as other concerns and issues that can often hold a company back in terms of progress.

In the first part of their fascinating conversation, Phil discusses how the industry is moving beyond physical conditions, the biggest changes he’s seen in the last thirty years, and the ways in which Phil and Colin have had a hand in helping the industry to grow and evolve.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• For Phil, the biggest change in health and safety since he began thirty years ago, is the move to be more collaborative between operatives and supervisory managers.

 

• We should always lead by example. When people see positive change occur, they are far more likely to push for positive change themselves.

 

• In all industries, but especially in the quarry industry, you can never entirely eliminate risk. Instead we should see it, embrace it, and try to make it a part of everything we do.

 

• The ability to identify a hazard is a very personal skill. Familiarity is a dangerous buffer sometimes. A person who has worked in an environment for a long time may have become numb to the hazards all around them, and so when risk is determined by someone, it becomes a personal experience.

 

• Communication is critical in the industry, not just in transmitting the hazards of quarrying to the workers, but also to communicate these concerns to the next generation of leaders, who will take the industry onward.

 

• One of the biggest victories scored by the quarrying industry is that the working environment they have shaped and created is attracting new talent of all backgrounds and sexes, meaning that it has become extraordinarily progressive.

BEST MOMENTS

’The industry now is vastly different to the one we started in’

‘Can you imagine us thirty years ago having a conversation about mental health? It just wouldn’t have been on the agenda’

‘It wasn’t that I broke the rules. I was broken as an individual’

‘Many people will put their hands up because they see the outcome of consultation’

‘Experienced; not old!’ 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Interesting Health And Safety Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/training-competency-creating-effective-plan-process/id1467771449?i=1000452692837 

Phil Redmond LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-redmond-b6136927/?originalSubdomain=uk

Lehigh Hanson - https://www.lehighhanson.com 

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).

Not all workplaces will have confined space, but those that have need to have good controls in place for those who need to go into confined spaces to do any maintenance work or repairs. There are a few things you must consider before letting people go into confined spaces such as access, testing the atmosphere and if the area they’re going into is properly isolated so equipment won’t start. You also need to think of the job they are doing. If you’re just going in to do a check, there’s a small chance it will be dangerous, but if you’re going in to do maintenance or something that could affect the atmosphere then there needs to be more control put into place.

Confined space rescue

Confined space rescue is very important but is something that is rarely practised. There are a few things you could consider in order to be prepared. Firstly, have a plan for confined space rescue. Make sure that the people involved in the rescue are trained, competent and have a good understanding of the equipment they will be using. Finally, you need to make sure the equipment available is appropriate for the environment you’re working in.

Review your process
Every company will have a different confined space rescue plan that works best for them. But often, people tend to overlook small details that would actually make the rescue a lot harder. Plans may be done quickly and thought provoking questions may not be asked. This is important to ensure you have looked at the rescue from all angles and worked out what you would do for unique situations. So when doing your plan, ask yourself questions and what you would do in certain situations and then see if the plan is still viable. If it’s not, work out another way to do it. This ensures a safe and appropriate plan is created for any situation.

Look at confined spaces individually
Confined space rescue plans cannot be looked at with a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Each confined space should be reviewed individually and plans should be tailored to that space. Look at the access, look at how you’ll make the rescue, look at where you want to be positioning the rescue equipment, you should ensure individuals taking part are highly trained and finally, you should practice.

Most organisations will have a confined space rescue plan in place, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the most effective one. When going over a rescue plan, it’s important to ensure that in an emergency, you are able to get everyone out quickly and safely without adding extra danger and hazards. How do you ensure your rescue plan is the safest way to react in an emergency?

It’s really important that each confined space has its own rescue plan. Each space will be different and will have different access, will need different equipment and will need the rescue to adapt accordingly. Are all your confined space rescue plans the same or do you tailor them to each individual space?

Control in confined spaces in the workplace is very important. You need to ensure those going into a confined space are in safe working conditions. You need to look at what kind of job the worker will be doing whilst in there. If it’s a quick check, there is minimal risk that something will happen. However, they could be going in to do maintenance or something, where the atmosphere could change so more control, would need to be put in place. What sort of control would you implement in this situation?

ABOUT 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) 

Professor Andrew Sharman is the head of a risk-consultancy, and president of IOSH (The Institute For Occupational Health And Safety). As one of the leading lights in health and safety, Andrew has been instrumental in promoting competency and behavioural safety in the workplace, and has joined Colin today to talk about the challenges he’s faced so far in ensuring we’re all kept safe in our jobs, as well as his vision for the future.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• IOSH has been looking to the future for some time now, utilising a strategy called Work 2022, which leverages on three key points: 

• How practitioners influence people 

• How they enhance the work that’s being done 

• How to collaborate to gain success 

 

• Vision Zero is a proposed strategy to keep all of the world’s employees out of harm’s way whilst at work. The Dupont Corporation founded this principle in the 18th century. 

 

• Zero Harm is the proposed strategy that looks to eliminate work-based injuries by implementing safe work systems. The ffectiveness of this strategy is controversial. 

 

• The Vision Zero concept has seven golden rules: 

• Taking leadership and demonstrating commitment 

• Identifying hazards and controllable risks 

• Setting targets 

• Ensuring safe systems in the workplace 

• Realising the importance of interface 

• Developing competence and improving qualifications 

• Motivation through participation 

 

• Rules and framework are essential, but they must never be weaponised in order to promote safety. It’s far more effective to promote positive development. 

 

• The IOSH competency framework is directly designed to support practitioners with the challenges required, and to aid in the ever-evolving technological landscape. 

 

• While senior leaders committed to improving health and safety, it is the discharging of these commitments that will prove to be the most effective. They need to make sure that promises are fulfilled. 

 

• It's hard to motivate and engage people by simply telling them to comply. Senior leaders must step up and ensure that the workplace can feel the commitment to safety. This will be the biggest driving factor in measure being adopted on a larger scale 

BEST MOMENTS

’This strategy has been borne out of deep thinking about what the future world of work looks like’ 

’To go to work and come home again at the end of the day is a basic human right’ 

‘It’s really great to see passion’ 

’There’s a real shift in the way that information is being shared’ 

‘It’s about listening as much as it is about talking’ 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Interesting Health And Safety Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/training-competency-creating-effective-plan-process/id1467771449?i=1000452692837  

The Institution Of Occupational Health and Safety - https://www.iosh.com 

Dr Andrew Sharman LInkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adsharman/?originalSubdomain=ch 

The Healthy Profit Report - https://www.iosh.com/more/iosh-means-business/healthy-profit/ 

[email protected]

EHS Congress - http://ehscongress.com 

Use the Code INTERESTING at www.fromaccidentstozero.com to receive your special discount as an Interesting Health And Safety Podcast listener 

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). 

 

Recently, whilst running the IOSH Safety Management course, Colin sat back and reflected a little bit on accident investigation case studies discussed.

He noted there were 4 bullet points;

1. Making a safer working environment
2. Improving worker morale
3. Preventing further business disruptions and downtime
4. Developing useful skills & Knowledge that can be applied throughout the organisation

Colin thinks these are all fantastic things every business should be doing all the time, not only when there is an incident.

When there is an incident, there are a lot more people involved; management and even the senior management team join in. Colin wants to know, why aren’t we doing this already rather than only when there’s a problem, or worse a serious incident? Perhaps this could be avoided if we consider these 4 bullet points every day and on every job; not just as resolution to an incident

“Rather than ‘accident investigations’; maybe call them ‘business improvement investigations’?… Because if you’re going to do it when its going well; then you’re going to hopefully find the potential downfalls before they happen”

-Colin Nottage

 

 

ABOUT 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) 

 

 

In today's episode. Colin wants to know;

“Is it ever right that ‘no’ isn’t the right answer? ”

 

Colin recalls of his time in the Shetland islands! Whilst on the Shetland islands, Colin calls back to seeing a team replacing machinery components and how the weather impacted the job at hand. In voicing his concerns to the site manager at the time, Colin asked: “Why are you letting them work out here; the weather is so bad?” To which he received the following reply;

“If we don’t do it, it will never get done; the weather is like this all the time”

You have to work around the environment you are in; it is just another variable in your risk assessment. Delaying could cause work to take weeks to be completed.

Even in harsh environments (be it arid, damp, cold or hot); ‘stuff’ still needs to happen. Maintenance doesn’t sleep and is it really safe to leave it?

 

ABOUT 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) 

 

 

This is a concise and hugely useful guide to assessing, recognising and controlling noise in the workplace. 

Colin shares some great advice and provides a step by step process that will ensure any business can effectively manage and control noise in the workplace. Listen in and find out how you can be effective in controlling noise in your workplace. 

  

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

Undertake a noise assessment 

You can do this with an App – to ascertain a general indication of levels but having an in-depth noise level assessment will help you to understand in detail any areas of concern. 

Who is affected by the noise? 

• It’s not just about the level of noise its also about the length of time people are exposed 
• When the assessment is made any levels must be ‘weighted up’ to take into account the amount of time someone is exposed to the noise level whilst they are in the workplace 
• If the amount of time is calculated then you have accurate information about the level and potential impact. 

Get the right control measures in place to minimise the noise level at the source 

If you cant encapsulate the noise or remove it the person in the area will need to wear some type of hearing protection 

  

BEST MOMENTS 

‘These bring the noise level down by 30 -35 decibels you need to get the right hearing protection for the problem’ 

‘Having clear information so that people can effectively take action’ 

‘In lots of cases, noise assessment reports are put into a drawer and never looked at again’ 

  

ABOUT 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) 

Colin explains how you can set up a system to engage with your team in a positive way so there’s some accountability too. He also discusses the importance of consistently challenging the way things are done or completed within the business.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Do you hold any safety meeting at all? If not then you’re missing an opportunity to give excellent training and have people altogether so you can cover ALL parts of your business.
• When you’re holding a meeting have an agenda. Have people give their top 3 issues and keep a note of the things you’re covering and who’s accountable for which tasks so that the next meeting you can cover what has been done and what hasn’t.
• Ensure if a task isn't completed, keep it on the list until it is so it doesn’t get lost.
• Keep an open and honest environment so you can learn from what’s gone wrong to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
• Consistently challenge the way people do things and view things.
• Always get the reports and feedback from inspections that you’ve had to see how you can change things for the better.
• Talk about what training and development people need in order to progress and improve their own development.
• Keep up to date with legislation so that you can update your systems and processes to work best alongside new laws.

BEST MOMENTS

’Keep track of your tasks so they don’t get lost’

‘There’s loads of learnings when things go wrong’.

‘Things don’t always get solved there and then’.

‘Challenge your systems and procedures’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Interesting Health And Safety Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/training-competency-creating-effective-plan-process/id1467771449?i=1000452692837 

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).

Welcome to Colins Latest Safety Short! Today we are going to discuss Fire Safety! Listen closely to this brief guide. Colin urges you to always seek advice from trained and qualified professionals but offers these tips as a fantastic place to start when discussing Fire safety within the workplace.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 

Get a competent Fire risk assessment (carried out by appropriate personnel). This includes risk assessments specifically for fire safety, but also observations for future risks. This is almost always carried out by a trained professional or professional organisation with the correct certification to do so.

 

Look at the findings of the assessment! Issues such as sources of ignition (electricity, naked flame, heat sources) and fuel (dry materials like wood, foam and paper) for a fire or potential fire hazards

 

Clear guidance for your employees, making sure they understand the obvious and potentially hidden hazards within the workplace (including procedures and preventative measures, as well as redundancy for if/when a fire occurs).

 

Making sure that employees understand their roles when it comes to fire safety! This includes different roles, such as wardens and trained personnel who know how to correctly use fire extinguishers (surprisingly common for many people to not know!). Also, consider who and when certain personnel are required to contact each other and the specific circumstances and measures to ensure this happens.

 

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).