Interview With Jonathan Dempsey

Jonathan Dempsey is the director of Red Laces, a relatively new consultancy focussed on providing strategic delivery, inspections, audits and incident management. Jonathan is an MBA graduate and Fellow Of The International Institute Of Risk And Safety Management, known for his progressive approach to business. In this first of a special two-part conversation, Jonathan discusses the need for disruptive thinking in risk, the operational opportunities in technology, and why the polar ends of all companies need to find more effective ways to communicate in order to minimise risk. KEY TAKEAWAYS Red Laces are empowering businesses to improve profitability through more creative risk solutions, with a focus on people. The perceptions of any business can be in stark contrast from one end of the business to the other. For example, innovation may be a driver at the executive level, but on the ground level, it may almost be invisible. Risk and systems are often reduced to language. But risk is a people activity. Conditions change, and so do people. It needs to be an ever-evolving process that can easily adapt to fit the user and conditions. Brands often assume that their culture pervades all the way through the organisation, But these large firms are often built on acquisitions, and may contain cultures within cultures that still work to legacy standards. Social media and technology types are having a huge effect on the way we engage with our workforce. By embracing the creative opportunities in new platforms, we can better translate our values and core beliefs across organisations. If you’re aiming for compliance, then you’re aiming for “bronze”. However, if you’re aiming for ”silver” then you have a far better chance of exceeding expectations. Red Laces provide a comprehensive, holistic appraisal of the risk in all departments of a business, working alongside all departments, and also taking into account departments such as IT and cyber. BEST MOMENTS ‘We’re helping to demystify risk, but take a more holistic approach to add more value’ ‘What do we hear? What do we see? What do we feel?’ ‘I’m not dancing yet!’ ‘Unless we evolve and innovate, we’re going to be left behind’ ‘Most businesses run on people as the energy’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Interesting Health And Safety Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/training-competency-creating-effective-plan-process/id1467771449?i=1000452692837  Red Laces - https://www.redlaces.co.uk/blank-page-1 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).