The Interesting Health & Safety Podcast

Christmas is a time for children and family, but we must remember to take time out for ourselves. Colin's here with a festive message to remind you all to take good care of yourselves over the festive period, and why it's okay to give yourselves a treat after a most trying year. KEY TAKEAWAYS Colin's own gift to himself this year is a far healthier outlook, having lost over 4 stone. The results ha...

Colin is joined Simon Cassin, a director at OUCH Training, who believe that a safe working environment benefits everyone. Simon joins Colin to discuss the ever-more prescient topic of ethics and morality in the health and safety sector.  KEY TAKEAWAYS In order to truly take safety forward, we must fully consider what it is we believe in. We must question the paradigms. We must question all assumpt...

Just a brief greeting this time to let listeners know that during the Christmas break, the show will be slowing slightly, with one episode per week, until the New Year, when exciting plans are afoot! KEY TAKEAWAYS This years has seen its share of trying moments, but ultimately it has also provided rewarding moments. The show has grown in popularity, and energy is high for 2021! During the Christma...

Colin talks about the chimp we have inside us all, how it can manifest itself in emotional bursts, and how we can tame the beast from time-to-time, especially in the workplace.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Often we react emotionally to a situation, without the element of reason to guide us. This is our raw, primal personality emerging, or our chimp! The moment we feel ourselves becoming upset or emotional, do...

This time round, Colin talks to Tanya Hewitt, a specialist in Human and Organisational Compliance, who has been working with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for many years, and who has recently set up her own consultancy, Beyond Safety Compliance. Tanya discusses the concept of human and organisational compliance and what it truly means, as well as the importance of respecting the voices of...

Colin talks to Jessy Gomes, an award-winning safety leader and member of the IOSH council, with a proven track record of commercial success and development, including management of construction design, health and safety, processes, communications and people. Jessy discusses the importance of challenging the safety sector when it comes to crucial issues such as diversity, especially in the construc...

In this special 150th edition of The Interesting Health And Safety Podcast, Colin takes time to reflect upon the incredible highlights of the last six months. As Colin discusses, even though the world has been turned upside down, there have still been moments of opportunity, and valuable lessons learned from connections made.  KEY TAKEAWAYS Sometimes health and safety is a case of marketing. Perfe...

Colin is joined this time by special guest, Jem Hills, an international keynote speaker, who specialises in helping companies to assess risk in shipping, and who now devotes himself to helping people to be the best versions of themselves. Jem discusses his incredible life and career, the fascinating world of risk assessment on the seas, and the importance of visualising success, setting achievable...

One of the main areas of focus when new staff arrive, is the time taken to instruct them on the health and safety aspects of their role. But as Colin discusses in this week’s show, should we be challenging the need for this instruction at the outset, and how can we improve the experience?  KEY TAKEAWAYS A better approach to inducting new staff, could be to simply ask them to go out into the workpl...

This time, Colin is joined by Ron Gantt, owner and operator of Reflect Consulting Group and the vice-president of SCM Safety, providing safety and health consulting and training to a wide variety of organisations on topics ranging from safety management and leadership, system safety, human performance improvement, and regulatory compliance. Ron discusses the importance of establishing a working en...

Sometimes we focus far too much on the things we haven’t achieved, when we should be talking about the areas in which we’ve found success. In this episode, Colin talks about why, especially when it comes to our safety achievements, we should be taking time out to celebrate the positive effects we have. KEY TAKEAWAYS A success we share is a success that empowers. By lionising our achievements, we e...

After being recently inspired by a volume of philosophy, Colin reflects upon the importance of value over growth, and of quality over quantity, and why we should always base every decision upon ensuring we provide the most value. KEY TAKEAWAYS Solving your clients’ problems, and making sure we add value at every opportunity, should be the number one focus at all times. It’s the same in health and...

With much controversy in today’s safety world regarding the many systems being implemented in order to change the culture of safety, Colin is joined by Dominic Cooper for a wide-ranging, insightful conversation about why the culture of safety needs to change, the principles behind some of safety’s most lauded systems, how the psychology of safety affects the sector, and why any shifts in thinking...

Today’s episode is a decidedly showbiz affair, as Colin talks to Ruth Denyer, the group head of health, safety and insurance risk management at ITV, and soon to take up the safety mantle at Netflix, about the many challenges faced in the creative industries, and how diversity and artistry have an effect upon the decisions made in the entertainment sector when it comes to safety. KEY TAKEAWAYS The...

After recent developments in the news, Colin discusses the need for greater stringency when it comes to fire safety and evaluation in this critical area of every business. KEY TAKEAWAYS In a recent news story, a fire assessment officer was prosecuted for not having the correct qualifications, despite the fact that he had served as a fireman for many years.  Competent, qualified professionals are a...

In this week’s show, Colin talks to author, safety advocate and fellow Safety FM podcast host, Brent Sutton, about his fascinating new book devoted to Learning Teams, and how they can be used to great effect in order to drive improvement and create impact in our own organisations. KEY TAKEAWAYS Safety investigations have the unfortunate duty to put people back into the centre of the event or accid...

There is true power in transparency. After being inspired by others recently, Colin talks this week about how openness, honesty and transparency can empower our organisations. KEY TAKEAWAYS There is real power in creating not just truthfulness, but openness. Having a transparent approach will show this to the world. Negativity deserves to be transparent. We can’t hope to grow and move on from the...

Colin is joined by speaker, coach and podcaster, Andrew Barrett, about the fascinating subject of the ways in which health and safety is managed within high profile industries, and how insurance companies are helping his quest to challenge the issues being found. KEY TAKEAWAYS Leveraging investment is all about finding the similarities between industries and employing proven solutions, allowing fo...

In this episode, Colin shares the ways in which we can empower others to make small, achievable improvements each day, and by doing so, improve our organisations in incredible ways, and how we improve people themselves by employing the same technique. KEY TAKEAWAYS We allow growth to flourish in people if we tell people to make small, achievable improvements each and every day. If all the people i...

Sidney Dekker’s Safety Differently principles cause a stir when they arrived, calling for a halting or pushing back on the bureaucratisation and compliance of work. The movement sees people not as a problem to control, but as a resource to harness. But exactly how do organisations begin to implement such a groundbreaking methodology? In this week’s show, Colin discusses the practical applications...

Consistency breeds trust - that’s the message from Colin this week, as he talks you through why consistency is a value we should all embrace, and how it can help to instil trust in an industry where it’s needed most. KEY TAKEAWAYS The people in our organisations will develop a greater sense of trust and faith with leaders if they feel as though they matter. Spending time with them consistently wil...

The Interesting Health & Safety Podcast has joined the community of shows featured on the new Safety FM broadcasting collective. This week, Colin talks to performance consultant, speaker, safety evangelist, and founder of Safety FM, Jay Allen, about the ambitions for this innovative safety broadcaster, as well as his journey in safety so far, and how he sees the safety sector of today. KEY TAKEAWA...

The Interesting Health And Safety Podcast has become a part of the Safety FM Network, and Colin couldn’t be more delighted to tell you all about how this incredible event has happened, and what the station’s purpose is. KEY TAKEAWAYS Safety FM is a collective of specially curated shows, all based around Safety, that acts as a one stop station for those in the know, and those who want to know more!...

How can we please our customers more?  That’s the question being asked today by Colin, as he examines the ways in which we can not just surpass the expectations of those in the industry, but disrupt the way things are done, and it starts with improving ourselves. KEY TAKEAWAYS Satisfying the needs of our customers is not just a goal, but a requirement, but it requires us as professionals to be ada...

This week, Colin talks to safety consultant, Mark Stallard, the founder and operator of Safety Horizon, one of the leading providers of health and safety training, supporting businesses across the South-West of England. Colin and Mark discuss the importance of “selling” health and safety instead of policing the concept, moving back into normality after the effects of the pandemic and what that mea...