How I’m changing attitudes to safety and health

I’m guilty of never having given much thought to health and safety at work. I am of the generation that didn’t worry about personal protective equipment (PPE) etc. I spent much of my early work life on building sites wearing sandals and shorts, climbing ladders without a harness, safety boots or a hard hat. It never occurred to me that I might suffer an injury or worse.  

Over a period, I changed jobs, discovering the importance of occupational safety and health (OSH). I joined a growing logistics company as an administrator and took a NEBOSH qualification.  

The company purchased an engineering firm, and this is when the real work started. I was learning about equipment, safety and changing perspectives of people who have “always done it like this”, “never had an accident”, etc.  This was a tough one to overcome.

Following redundancy, I took a temporary contract for a pallet solution company to set up procedures and protocols around health and safety. It was a huge learning curve but one that was so worthwhile.

Then I joined a roadmarkings company as a health and safety administrator working in a very busy department.

My watershed moment

I think my attitude changed over the years, particularly through engaging with OSH professionals and understanding the intrinsic value and importance of keeping everyone safe by my actions. 

Taking a qualification certainly opened my eyes to the importance of working safely and so started a journey of ongoing learning. It took a long time to engage with colleagues and for them to understand that safety isn’t just about them, it’s also about colleagues, members of the public and their family.

The importance really came to light when I was engaged to carry out assessments at a business and saw the lack of OSH. Things like poor PPE, especially broken welding masks, fire doors inaccessible and bolted, no guards on machinery. 

Shout out for health

In my current role, I am also a wellbeing lead. Breaking down barriers around mental health and wellbeing is a very important aspect of OSH – ‘we shout safety but whisper health’ has become my mantra. 

In our working environment there are great pressures on our colleagues to work in situations that have a massive impact on them. For me to be able to shout health as loudly as safety is important. 

I have previously led OSH week promotions and endeavour to break down the barriers where I can. We all have barriers to overcome, as so many people still believe they are safe doing things the way they ‘have always done them’ and don’t readily see the need to change.