Health and Safety Matters - Story 1
We spoke to a number of our learners, asking for their personal stories of how health and safety, its training, and the commitment it instils, helped avoid a near-miss and perhaps helped to save their life and the lives of their colleagues.
What’s the best way to prove training is effective? We believe it’s from hearing first-hand from the people who experience it and apply it to their day-to-day lives.
We spoke to a number of our learners, asking for their personal stories of how health and safety, its training, and the commitment it instils, helped avoid a near-miss and perhaps helped to save their life and the lives of their colleagues.
Here’s what you had to say…
Story #1 Mike Williams, Electrical field Services Engineer
On-site at a National Power Station, as a contractor inside a live sub-station, isn’t a place you want to take any chances with health and safety protocol. I first received my IOSH training in 2010, the first of many qualifications that I now realise have played a vital part in keeping me safe.
I remember my first site induction and the first time I took full ownership of a project As part of a job, I was given the responsibility of implementing the health and safety policy for the project making sure our compliance was up to standard. This included identifying hazards, assessing all the risks at the workplace and investigating all incidents.
I had already submitted a Risk Assessment Method Statement (RAMS), and the necessary health and safety paperwork. When we arrived at the project, we were given the permit to work inside the clearly demarcated ‘safe-zone’.
My health and safety training has taught me not to be complacent and never take instruction at face value. On this particular project, I followed protocol and undertook the second risk assessment, and thank goodness that I did – I spotted something that didn’t look right, the demarcated safe-zone was too close to the live-power and a fatal injury could have occurred.
Of the 6 colleagues for whom I was responsible for that day, I was able to ensure absolutely no serious injury occurred, and no employee needed to claim compensation, and that night we all went home to our loved ones.
Following that incident, an audit of my health and safety protocol was conducted and I scored highly.
I’ve since completed by NEBOSH International General Certificate which has helped me deliver strong safety inductions, toolbox talks, hazard identification and a recognised qualification in assessing risks.
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