Learning never stops - a good day out.

Yesterday my colleague Reece and I attended CIEH's 'H&S and Food Safety Study Day' and both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

We were first made aware of the event through a LinkedIn update via James Hoskin-Goode's profile (https://bit.ly/2gd2bAW) - thanks James.

I think sometimes at events like this, the perception of recruiters can be that we are keen to try and shark our way to business at every opportunity. Conscious of these misconceptions, our focus was purely to learn more about the industries in which our candidates and clients operate in on a day-to-day basis. We certainly left 15 Hatfields (https://bit.ly/2fBOibS) knowing more than what we did when we entered.

Presentations:

1. Anne Godfrey - Chief Executive - CIEH: Anne addressed the audience candidly, making everyone aware of the organisation's aims and objectives over the next coming years and transparently relayed a glimpse of some of the harsh realities that surround membership bodies. It certainly made us realise the good work that the people in CIEH do in addition to some of the commercial pressures that come with the job.
2. Phil Farrington - Head of Food Safety at Harrods - From Conflict to Confit: Phil took us through an enjoyable journey of the transition of working in the RAF to now working at a flagship retailer. Phil shared some of the lessons that he had learnt in his time with the RAF (including catching a 55lb Tuna on a fishing trip!) that he still remembers now. This was a really interesting and engaging presentation that offered an interesting perspective from two seemingly opposite ends of the spectrum.
3. Mark Liddle - Risks in the Transport Chain: Mark highlighted some of the stark statistics surrounding accidents within the transport / logistics industry (most shockingly that there are 5,000 vehicle related workplace accidents per year in the UK). An interesting point that I took from this presentation is how competitive the logistics industry is. As delivery drivers are faced with more and more pressure around making deliveries in a specific time frame, this is creating a dangerous sense of urgency that is resulting in an increased amount of accidents. Mark also introduced idea the non-compulsory footwear rating scheme that measures the safety of footwear in the avoidance of slips trips and falls.
4. Andrew Barwick - TFL - Retiming deliveries: This presentation offered a slice of ingenuity, again, within the logistics / transport market. Retiming deliveries is an already successful scheme that causes a improvement in air quality, a reduction of congestion and an overall reduction in transport related accidents by adjusting the time of deliveries. By retiming deliveries so that they fall outside of hours where there are traffic restrictions / congestion / lack of space, drivers have more freedom / space / time to do things the right way - without compromising their safety. An interesting afterthought of my own - Given how Mark's presentation highlighted the competitive nature of the logistics market and how time pressured drivers are, how much conflict have you had from the big companies in retiming their deliveries? Could this offer one of the companies a competitive advantage by being temporarily off the road?
5. Food Crime - Andy Morling: Not an industry that you would associate with crime, is it? Well Andy offered us a presentation that clearly indicated otherwise. Connotations of crime are usually involve guns, drugs and robbery but Andy informed us of the increase in food crime in the past 5 years. From the infamous horse meat scandal to the imbalances of chemicals in the latest fat burning pills, we were taught about the disparity around what constitutes as food fraud and what would be considered as food crime. - You are what you eat, or are you?
6. Pete Woodhead - Techincal Director - Selden Research Ltd: Next up was Pete who enthused us with some of the frustrations of the disinfectant market. In short, Pete told us about the hoops that have to be jumped through in order to be regulated in the industry. In particular, the complexities around the harmonisation of standards across different European countries. Interestingly, Pete also introduced a new (to Reece and I) 'Precautionary Principle' - a principle that can be summed up as 'if there is uncertainty around the safety of a product, don't use it'. Overall, a really engaging presentation that taught us a lot about the industry from a manufacturers perspective.
7. David Hitching - Primary Authority H&S Work in Relation to the Tyre and Exhaust industry: Firstly, woah! The Youtube video of the exploding tyres! David shared some of the successes that he has had in partnering with a number of market leading tyre and exhaust brands. David shared some examples of successful implementations such as; tyre racking, scissor lift jacks, different signage to name a few. Ending the presentation with a shocking video (https://bit.ly/2eX4z9V)
8. Erica Sheward - Associate Director - Regulatory Delivery: Following the theme of Primary Authorities, Erica informed us of the enabling culture that she is promoting through the coordination of PA partnerships. Erica described her mission as 'minimising business burden' by understanding both the needs and the challenges of the organisations that she coordinates partnerships with to ultimately offer support to businesses through Health and Safety. It is always difficult presenting last after a long day, but Erica's delivery of the presentation was excellent and kept people engaged throughout.

Overall, as non-members we gained an incredible insight in to the Health and Safety / Food Safety industry as well as some of the challenges that derive from being a membership body. It is through this deeper understanding that we are now able to communicate with our candidates and clients with a more clear idea of the industry in which they operate on a day-to-day basis. On behalf of Principal People I would like to thank the CIEH and all of the speakers, audience and volunteers that we spoke to on the day for providing us with an exceptional platform to learn. I very much look forward to attending more events and conferences and I already have my eyes on the Food Study Group Training Seminar on the 23rd November (https://bit.ly/2eCpC6i - you can purchase tickets here).