In the second of a two-part conversation, Colin talks to Simon Bown, formerly in charge of health and safety at Luton airport, and now overseeing safety at Keolis Amey Docklands light railway. It’s an insightful, thought-provoking conversation that’ll inspire and empower all health and safety practitioners.
In part two, Simon and Colin discuss the metrics that Simon uses in order to measure success, why aiming for “Zero” in some cases is desirable, and the ideal future of health and safety in the workplace.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Target Zero and Zero Harm systems are slightly unrealistic, but the zero approach should be pursued in terms of loss-of-life or serious maiming of the workforce. In these cases, zero is, of course, the aim.
One of the most troubling aspects that Simon has noticed, is that in terms of mental health, workers sometimes feel unsupported. Changing this perception is a case of altering a company’s culture.
Traditional safety practices have led us successfully to this point in time. It now takes creative thinking to help move safety on even further.
The aim for the future should be to make specific safety measures almost invisible, in that they become the intrinsic way of working, and do not requires an extra level of jurisdiction or supervision.
BEST MOMENTS
’No business should kill or seriously maim someone’
‘If you made an honest mistake, do you feel like the business would support you?’
‘It’s about leaders, leadership, and how people are leading organisations’
‘What are the craziest things you need to do in order to be successful?'
VALUABLE RESOURCES
The Interesting Health & Safety Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/vn/podcast/the-interesting-health-safety-podcast/id1467771449
Simon Bown LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-bown-a6225a36/?originalSubdomain=uk
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).
