Why H&S is Like a Chocolate Biscuit

Chocolate biscuits have been around for years, yet throughout the ages they have been repackaged, remarketed, produced & shaped differently to make them more exciting for us. In this episode of The Interesting Health & Safety Podcast, Colin explains how we have been presented an opportunity to make H&S exciting, to get people hyped up that they can attend work knowing they won’t get hurt!  KEY TAKEAWAYS  If you want to make H&S exciting in your business, get your staff involved, get them to take ownership of their own wellbeing and safety. Communicate clearly with them that you want their work environment to be safe for them, be open and honest with your workforce.   Have simple straight forward rules and procedures for people to follow, don’t make it complicated for them. Help them to help you. Ideally you want people to challenge the procedures to improve on them and do them better!  Be creative! Nobody wants to look at the same 15 year old legislation notice board. Replace them annually, keep up to date with modern technology, change up the format of the design, get some colour involved, and make H&S fun & exciting. Be the change you want to see.   BEST MOMENTS  ‘Once you decide where you want to be in business, be honest with your employees’  ‘The only way you can achieve what you what is by bringing your people with you and bringing their involvement’  ‘If procedure is more than a page long, you got it wrong’  ‘Keep it simple, keep it straight forward’   ‘If you’ve got a business where people want to do things better, then you’ve got a great business’    ‘Give your people the ability to think for themselves and make the right calls’  ABOUT HOST ‘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).