Read our conversation with Emma Brennan, health and safety training manager at PETA, about the importance of taking a holistic approach to health and safety. Hear about the forgotten 'health' element of health & safety, how putting a face to health & safety can make more of an impact, and why continuous learning and development is vital for individual safety and business success.
Why do you think it’s important to take a holistic view to health & safety?
In my opinion I think a holistic view to health and safety can offer so many more benefits than just tackling the compliance with legislation or a particular hazard that you’re looking at, as an isolated incident. You hear it all the time, leaders in business talking about culture and performance, and if you view health and safety in a holistic approach, that takes into consideration everybody’s physical and emotional wellbeing, as well as general safety. In business there will be scenarios where you have no choice but to handle what’s in front of you in that moment, but if you include it in all the decisions you make as a business, it has such a greater potential to impact those other elements, employee wellbeing, mental health and things like that.
If you think about the last breakfast briefings that we’ve held, we’ve had Alice Hendy who sadly lost her brother to suicide and she’s created Ripple suicide prevention charity. We’ve had Jason Anker who individually fell from height whilst working, so he’s seen the real impact of a fall, and this year we’ve got Blue Lamp Trust coming in looking at occupational road risk. Those are 3 people who have been impacted by those things, I’m sure if they spoke about their individual scenarios, they would want people to take that lesson on board and have the foresight to consider it proactively rather than reactively. So if we consider all of those elements, that will enable us to impact such a wider thing, as well as complying with legislation, so not just that tick box exercise.
And as an employee, if your employer is considering all these elements at a wider, more strategic level, it shows you that they are committed to you as an individual, you can then also take the steps to make sure that you’re working safely and that your activities impact your peers, your other colleagues as well and it just is a much more well-rounded, beneficial approach.
That’s so interesting that you mentioned about the wellbeing side of things, how traditionally there’s been more focus on the ‘safety’ aspect of health and safety, but what about the ‘health’ side? It’s not just about health and safety being defined by the safety, the health is the employee’s wellbeing, mental health that kind of thing, which is obviously so much more important now in modern times in workplaces, so I think the health of the workforce needs to be considered as part of the whole picture of health and safety, rather than just the safety aspect.
Absolutely, and people talk about it all the time, you know we have learners and delegates come onto our courses and one of the things that we often talk about is health is almost like that secondary thought, whereas safety, “I’m on a safety course”, “I’m going to do a safety qualification”. Obviously with the introduction of mental health first aid courses that has sort of evolved over the recent years, we’re definitely moving in a direction that health is being included more; and recently there’s been updates to guidance that says mental health first aid has to be considered in first aid needs assessments as well, so it’s grouping it together a bit more now but I definitely think we’re at the beginning of that journey, there’s still a long way to go.
I try to encourage people to put a face to health and safety, because when we look at a challenge we’re facing or an activity that we need to complete in our workplace and we’re considering the safety measures that we might need to put into place, it’s very cold, it’s very factual, and then we see people like Jason Anker, we see people like Alice Hendy who sadly lost her brother, if we put faces to that situation, we might just take that extra step or have a wider viewpoint of what we need to do. Certainly from my perspective if I’m looking at a risk assessment and considering something that’s going to be taking place, if I think about a family member or a friend that might be in that situation, I might take that extra step or I might look at it from a different viewpoint rather than that colder approach. Fundamentally we have a moral obligation to keep people healthy and safe as well, not just legally. So we’re driven by that legislation of course, we want to comply, we don’t want to be in court, but we also have a moral obligation as well, to keep our employees safe and well.
So it’s really bringing in that human element to it, which then you could say links with the Human Resources side of things in businesses, health and safety I’m sure is already with health and safety specialists, but actually involving it in terms of the human resources side of things with the wellbeing, mental and even psychological health of people come under it as well.
And again, that ties into that holistic approach and thinking of all aspects, not just that isolated legislation compliance factor. When we talk about risk assessments and when we teach our delegates to do risk assessments, one of the things that is best practice is to include the people that are actually doing the activity. They know what they’re doing, they know what the job is and what the steps are, likewise with mental health and wellbeing, involving HR, involving other people, just brings such a collective viewpoint rather than just ticking that box.
Because otherwise it can seem like health and safety is just the manager’s problem, or that’s just one person’s problem, because for me if I was thinking of health and safety, I’d just think of the lift truck or the first aid teams, and that I’m not really a part of that but actually if you get everyone involved and realise everyone has a part to play, if you take that approach then it becomes more of a mindset rather than just a department.
Definitely, and there are hazards and risks in every environment, there are greater risks in construction, engineering, production, manufacturing, those kind of industry sectors where the consequence of something going wrong can be greater, but somebody that works in finance, health, safety and wellbeing is absolutely a real factor for those also, and it can also be non-work related activities, if you’re going into the kitchen to make a cup of tea there are hazards presenting themselves there as well, so it genuinely applies to everyone. And we want to keep everyone safe and everyone go home at the end of the day.
So moving onto the individual then, expanding safety leadership skills, why should someone feel compelled to do this?
So thinking about the development of the individual then, so to start off with often it’s an awareness level situation so somebody might because they want to comply or the organisation wants to comply they might put an individual onto an introductory level health and safety course or support programme, just to lift up their awareness of that particular subject. From there they might find they have a passion for it, and it could potentially open other doors for them, they can feed into the business and make sure the business is complying as a whole and they as an individual are contributing to that, and if the success of the business grows, then that will provide more experience and opportunity for them as individuals. If you’re working in an environment that places value on people’s health and safety, and you commit to that and develop yourself, that can improve the business and opportunities for you as an individual and your colleagues, and the business as a whole.
So then for the business how would that help, if the individuals are expanding their skillsets in that way what would that do for the business?
It would have a huge impact on the culture of the organisation, and we’ve got so much data that tells us that culture is a huge factor in the success of the business, so you can have the best intentions at the top and you can say we are a legally compliant organisation we are ticking all the boxes, but if we invest in our individuals, they can do that for us to a much greater successful outcome.
How can it benefit people’s productivity?
So sometimes health and safety legislation can seem a bit bureaucratic and a bit red tape, and in some instances it absolutely is, but building that knowledge and skills and qualifications within our workforce allows us to have this skillset to do that in a much more proactive way. So it might be that a piece of legislation states that you need to do x, y and z, and if we take that at face value sometimes it means that our process is extended or becomes more expensive to fulfill. If we’ve got the knowledge, skills and experience around us to look at it from an experienced viewpoint, we can say, “we can comply with that” “we can mitigate that potential risk” but by doing x, y and z it can potentially streamline the process and make us more productive. In addition to that, if we don’t do it, the consequences of such can be so impactful on the business, you know, reputation, insurance costs, people off work so you have to pay their sickness or replacements for them to keep the activity going, so there are so many factors that are impacted if you do it reactively, that by investing in our people, making the knowledge, the skills, the background, the experience to input into that, it can just make the business much more productive as a whole.
How do you think business leaders can encourage a proactive approach to safety within their teams?
So for leaders I think that they can handle it proactively by encouraging their employees to take part in any training or support opportunities that come to them, and then using that skillset so actually applying that in the workplace. So if you’re at the top of your business and you say I’m going to invest in that individual, I’m going to send them on a NEBOSH General Certificate course, fantastic. That person comes back with so much more knowledge that they can apply in the workplace, let’s use that. So rather than just saying “box ticked, we’ve got a NEBOSH General qualified individual in the business, we are complying, we’re going above and beyond” let’s take that knowledge and actually apply that and share it, and then build on that further, and that will inspire other individuals to go into that mindset also. It’ll impact your culture, it’ll impact your productivity, it will just be a positive experience for everybody, so why waste that knowledge?
Why is continuous development in safety leadership important for long-term success? Why should you continue to develop those skills over time?
You only have to look at the world and the rate of development in the world and how we’ve evolved over previous years that’s not going to stop, if anything that’s going to speed up, so it’s very important to stay up to date with that information. The information taught on NEBOSH courses is accurate and relevant to the world as it is now. As things progress, you will need to keep that knowledge up to date, there’ll be new equipment, new processes, there’ll be all sorts of new things available that we need to stay up to speed with, it’s not a one and done situation. Legislation changes twice yearly, sometimes there isn’t anything to update, but it’s very important you stay up to date, it’s never complete, you always have to keep your foot on the pedal.
How does the environmental side of things fit into the maybe more traditional health and safety model that we’re used to?
Well I think historically people became health and safety qualified or they found themselves in a health and safety position, and then as time evolved environmental was sort of grouped into that, and whilst some of the fundamental principles are the same, there are various elements within environmental that need to be approached from a completely different viewpoint. So yes, health, safety and environment is probably best sat together and over recent time we’ve seen that progression with environmental awareness, but the knowledge is still not there. When we speak to our customers, there are lots that have health and safety qualifications that are finding themselves responsible for environmental, that simply don’t have the knowledge or skills to effectively manage environment in the business, so I think it’s definitely worth considering investing in that area, it’s not going anywhere, it’s a hot topic that we really need to address, so let’s bolster that as much as we can alongside the health and safety, likewise with fire and other elements as well.
Please talk a bit about us as a NEBOSH partner and what that means for organisations who train with us.
So we’re a gold learning partner with NEBOSH, we’ve been accredited by them for many years. We offer some certificate level qualifications so the NEBOSH General Certificate, the fire certificate and the environmental certificate. We’ve recently introduced some award-level qualifications so we’ve got the managing stress at work and we’re soon to introduce the environmental awareness so watch this space. Thinking about a delegate experience if they were to book onto a NEBOSH general certificate here, what they would get is an all-inclusive programme, so the fee you see on the website includes everything you’ll need to get through the NEBOSH course including the book, we look after you whilst you’re here as well, so you get a 2 course business lunch, refreshments for your breaks, you get registration for your exams, and then within the course programme itself there are many aspects that we add in such as weekly homework, and we see this as a really valuable asset to the course programme itself.
11 weeks is a long time, so that weekly homework that’s marked and given back to the delegates allows us to identify really early if there are any gaps we need to re-cover, any misunderstandings, or anywhere that someone might be struggling that we need to apply additional help. In addition to that, the NEBOSH exam is not easy to get through, there’s a process that needs to be followed, there are certain formats that need to be followed, so we do 2 mock exams throughout the course, again, marked and fed back to the learners so they can know exactly how they’ve performed, what they might need to look at before the real thing. In addition to that we’re contactable, although the course is delivered by a NEBOSH accredited trainer, we are lucky enough to have a department of health and safety professionals, so week on week if something comes up and if your trainer isn’t available for whatever reason, there are some other health and safety professionals that can help you.
Our NEBOSH courses are currently face to face and we’re gathering market intelligence at the moment to see how we can adapt that if at all, to better meet our delegate demands. We really see the value of being in that classroom and having attended the NEBOSH general certificate many years ago myself, you do genuinely learn as much from each other as you do the trainer. There are lots of different teaching methods within the course itself, all currently face-to-face in the classroom. We’re looking at developing some supplementary materials, some video blogs that we can share with the delegates that they can watch after the course at their own convenience to help supplement their learning.