The problem with Health and Safety
Laura Aucott
Associate Director for HSE Recruitment. Client-facing, focused on networking, building relationships, and helping to make Safety and Recruitment better.
So if you know me, or are connected with me on LinkedIn, you will have heard me talk repeatedly about the power and importance of personal branding in the Safety industry.
It's a favourite subject of mine, and for good reason. As a Health and Safety recruiter I have spent the last 12 years speaking to HSE professionals from all walks of life about what they do, and as a result I know what a fascinating and important industry Safety really is. However the general perception of Safety from most people outside of the industry is still traditionally;
"Health and Safety is boring"
"Health and Safety stops people getting their jobs done"
"Health and Safety is just people with a clipboard"
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Just today, Jeremy Clarkson issued an apology for his recent abhorrent article where he said he was "dreaming of the day when she [Meghan] is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant 'Shame!' and throw lumps of excrement at her". However during his apology, he somehow managed to throw in a dig at Health and Safety, and how it is a dull and uninteresting topic.
(Why he felt the need to include this in his apology I have no idea.)
But this just proves that most people still do not understand why H&S is important, or that it is really is the antithesis of boring!
The power of personal branding not only helps you stand out from a competitive market, and helps you recruit the best talent for your team (drop into one of my talks one time to find out why) but it can help us to change the public perception of Safety, in a big way. The more people we have in the industry shouting from the rooftops about all the good stuff we are doing (the innovation, the new initiatives, the fun) rather than only talking about fines and accidents, the more we can start to control the narrative and change the public perception.
At HSE Recruitment we decided 7 years ago to only share good news via our social media channels, to try and do our part to "make safety better". So I'd love to offer a challenge (to anyone willing to take me up on it) to try and spend the rest of January sharing some of the positive things you have been doing as a Safety professional, in person and on social media, and help us start to change the narrative.
Do you agree? Let me know your thoughts below!
Fire Safety Specialist at D&L Electrical and Fire Protection
2 年As an on site health & safety advisor/manger I like to break down the title health and safety which i believe is two separate subjects and find people take you more seriously and adapt the way they work and in my words my role here is make sure we all go home safe and to our family and Friends adding some psychology into the equation and taking time to meet and greet people in my Personal experience this has got me far better responses from people
SIFA ,SiGeKo , Brandschutzbeauftragter Ausbildung, , OTHM Level 6 safety Diploma., Certified ISO 45001 Lead Auditor , IOSH, OSHA
2 年This is construction (fast progress) speech
MCIOB PCQI CertIOSH - Chartered construction professional -Project H&S Contractor in the Construction & Energy sectors working on behalf of Siemens Energy.
2 年I'm going to say something controversial here. I agree with Clarkson. Not with the content regarding Megan, but he says what's on his mind, no filter. It's a rare skill to do this without thinking, especially in the lefty climate we find ourselves in. Everyone has an opinion and conscious bias of some kind, whether or not we choose to admit it to ourselves..... or others. Clarkson is consistently showing his colours, love or hate him he is who he is, and he's made a mint in the process. He may have shoved a red-hot poker up the arse of his personal branding temporarily but, because of the consistency of his personality, it's not the last we'll hear of him. His point made regarding H&S was entirely true. How can you be vigilant and interesting at the same time? Truth is, you can't. You can roll a turd in glitter, but ultimately it's still a turd. We will always be known as the ones spoiling everyone's fun, no matter how it's dressed up.
Stop, Collaborate and Listen! Pity I can't claim that phrase...
2 年Absolutely correct when you don't explain WHY! Just telling people "Don't do that, you must do this..." bores everyone very quickly and you become the grey boring H&S person who is the company fun sponge. If you use experiences, good reasons and explain why we do x or y, people listen and usually comment that you made the subject personal. Just my humble opinion for what it's worth.
Safety is the reason you are able to do something fun, more than once, because you didn't die the first time around...