Experience
If you have already looked at my ‘About’ page, you will have realised that I am not someone who has just read lots of literature and then set himself up to advise others about Health and Safety as a self-styled ‘expert’. My ability to help businesses is based not only on the qualifications and knowledge that I have obtained, but also on solid, practical experience in the application of health and safety to real-life situations. In past years I have been presented with the responsibility not only for the HS&E content, but also for the efficency and effectiveness of many other business activities.
Example Projects
A couple of examples of these type of situations are shown below: The first, was a vast concrete batching project, which actually turned out to be a particularly complex venture – the safety ramifications were quite frankly a nightmare. It was one of the most challenging assignments I have ever managed – safely – and within financial and time constraints. The second, involving the removal of giant letters from a tower, looked simple, but when working at height many things can go wrong. Events such as this require meticulous planning and execution to ensure absolute satisfaction for all concerned
In my role as a practitioner, I am likely to be asked to look at many diverse applications and processes. Some may be construction and will likely be of a control or investigative nature. Some may be audits and preparation of H&S management systems (manuals, training, installation of systems etc). There will likely come enforcement defence, or preparation of methodology statements. All these are hardly photogenic – pictures of me training people or preparing paperwork are less than dynamic, so you can see the difficulty I have in providing pictorial examples of my work. However, at least with the two examples that follow, I can illustrate in some way the scale of projects for which I have been tasked with overall accountability – since, of course, I happened to have my camera to hand in each case!
Concrete Batching Project
This involved the erection of a concrete batching plant, which was on-site for three-weeks. My task was simple (?) Manage all safety aspects for the production of concrete to fill a 180,000 sq ft unit a quarter of a mile away. This involved more than 900 lorry movements in and out – it was completed without as much as a blister to report !
While the outwards deliveries were being made I was also managing the delivery to the plant of sand and cement. No easy task, but correctly managed, these things can go as smooth as silk.
. . . This one did !
The first day and everything starts to arrive…on time !
Here we are in full production.
The weather could have been kinder to us – but we added to the wet-stuff;
it is of course the third component necessary to make concrete.
Yes indeed, water – and I needed plenty of it.
At the peak, I had one of these being filled and leaving every 12 minutes around the clock. There were of course environmental concerns to consider which had been fully acknowledged during the planning stages.
The destination for all this concrete – finally finished.
Plenty of other work to manage at the same time. Talk about multi-tasking !
So after nearly three weeks it was complete – and time to pack up. Slaps on the back all round.
So that was that then. We had worked through the night to catch up on production
when a breakdown of the equipment occurred. The client enjoyed the works finished 24 hours ahead of schedule – accident and incident free. Which at the end of the day is all anyone can ask. Oh! And to come in on time – of course !