Poor Mental Health at Work!
‘Health & Safety will not get you up in the morning, but it may keep you up at night’
I’ve worked with companies from start up and watched them grow and I’ve gone into businesses with thousands in their team, across multiple sites in the British Isles.
These businesses have 2 things in common with every other business, they all need to be aware of their obligations regarding health and safety and within all of the companies, regardless of size and structure, they’re most valuable asset is the people within those businesses.
My name is Lee Kennedy and I am the most unlikely person to be running a health and safety business. My early professional career began learning how to fire, strip & assemble weapons, blow things up and jump out of aeroplanes and after 8 enjoyable years in the British Army, I left and went into the world of close protection, was the head of security for an international superstar and I worked in hostile environments such as Afghanistan & Iraq.
By far, the most rewarding and challenging job I have ever been involved in is getting people home safely – or health and safety as most people call it.
Starting with WHY!
In April 2012 I was on a rifle range, training Iraqi security trainees in how to fire the AK47 assault rifle. One of the guys had a stoppage to my left, if I hadn’t turned my head the second his empty case extracted from his weapon and it hadn’t hit me in the eye, under my safety glasses, I wouldn’t be writing this blog. That moment changed everything. Due to the wrong diagnosis of a retinal detachment, I lost most of the sight in my left eye and my career in personal security was over.
On reflection, this accident changed my life for the better, because now I use this as my why, I was 38 when I had to change everything and I realised that I could make a difference.
Combining an old passion with a new one!
I have always loved cars, motorbikes and anything with an engine. I decided that working in the automotive industry was what I wanted to do, I like the people in the industry and felt it was an area I could make a difference.
I began working with a friend who was carrying out safety audits in dealerships and body shops and realised there was very little involvement from senior management, safety was just ‘something we have to do’.
Changing the safety culture
I began working with a friend who was carrying out safety audits in dealerships and body shops and realised there was very little involvement from senior management, safety was just ‘something we have to do’.
So, how can we make safety more exciting? I think the reason people are turned off by health and safety is because they feel there is too much to learn.
Like most businesses I have a bookkeeper who takes care of my financial administration and an accountant who looks after the more complicated legal issues relating to the HMRC.
This gives me peace of mind and that is what we do for with the businesses, we help. But this needs to start from the top down and doesn’t need to be complicated.
One of the first things we need to do is to ensure business leaders take ownership of safety, most of them know the penalties but scaring anyone is not likely to get the best results, businesses benefit in many ways from a good safety culture;
- Teams understand the business cares about them and wants to keep them safe.
- They understand you are investing in their safety.
- We educate – health and safety is not a ‘black art’ it is mostly common sense and if it isn’t clear why we are asking a business to do something we explain why in a practical way. People are more receptive to this.
- We empower business owners and managers to understand what needs to be done, so they can practically introduce safety measures that ‘fit’ their business.
It is quite common for companies to have extremely good safety management in certain areas and very little in others, this happens usually when there has been an incident and it has focused the senior management’s attention, unfortunately, this is often due to an accident or an HSE visit.
The safety procedures a business must have in place are;
- If more than 4 employees – a health and safety policy and risk assessments for the processes and tasks that may cause harm for their team.
- A fire risk assessment (unless working from home) any business that has a premises that has team members working or is visited by members of the public.
- Safety induction training.
- Public and Employers Liability insurance.
- A fixed mains electrical certificate.
- A gas safety certificate.
- Fire safety precautions and management – annual fire evacuation drills, testing of fire alarms and emergency lighting all documented and recorded.
- Fire safety and first aid training as well as any safety training related to tasks or processes – manual handling, COSHH, asbestos awareness etc.
In summary then health and safety shouldn’t be viewed as a necessary evil but as public service performed by business owners and managers.
We shouldn’t be managing safety to protect ourselves but to get our teams home safely, every single day.
The question I ask business owners and managers; ‘would you let your son or daughter work here?’
If the answer is no, then why should they let anyone else’s son or daughter risk their safety?
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