The Interesting Health & Safety Podcast

This week, Colin meets Christian Harris, the founder of Slip Safety Services, experts in slip testing and anti-slip treatments.   Colin and Christian talk about everything from slips and trips to flooring conditions and staircases, in an insightful, informative conversation that everyone will find incredibly useful.   KEY TAKEAWAYS  Slip Safety are a floor maintenance company with two key speciali...

Colin is with Rob Moore ‘The Disruptive Entrepreneur’ and founder of Progressive Property, the UK’s largest property education training business. What people don’t know about Rob is he loves listening to vinyl, won face of Peterborough 1999, was used as a case study with the local council for planning regulations,  and for him, business is a passion and profession merge that he could be doing 18 h...

This week, Colin was privileged to be asked to give a keynote address at the East Midlands Health and Safety Forum event on the subject of dust, most notably respirable crystalline silica, which has been associated with elevated rates of lung cancer, and the measures being used to combat the effects of dust in the quarry industry. Now you can hear Colin’s fascinating keynote address for yourself,...

After surviving a serious accident twenty years ago which left him paralysed, Jason Anker has turned his focus to motivational speaking, so as to help everyone better understand the events surrounding his accident, but also the mindset required to move on and ensure it doesn’t happen in your workplace. In the second part of their conversation, Jason talks about the moving on process, letting go of...

After surviving a serious accident twenty years ago which left him paralysed, Jason Anker has turned his focus to motivational speaking, so as to help everyone better understand the events surrounding his accident, but also the mindset required to move on and ensure it doesn’t happen in your workplace. In the first part of Colin’s interview with Jason, he discusses the accident itself and its afte...

Are you stopping people talking to you, without realising you are stopping people talking to you? It’s very easy to do this by the way you act and communicate but communicating with others is one of the most important things we do. Colin offers some great practical advice about the things you should be taking into account when you communicate with others in the workplace. If you want your business...

This week, Colin chats to former rugby union player and Air force Flying officer Rory Underwood. Many people know of Rory’s illustrious sporting and military careers, but may not also be aware that since leaving both behind him, he has become a renowned management consultant and motivational speaker. In the second part of Colin’s chat with Rory, you’ll hear about Rory’s views on accountability, th...

‘Mix it up and get better interaction with those around the table’ Colin advises on the best ways to organise effective health and safety meetings that impact on the business and ensure ongoing compliance and understanding across the workforce. He takes us step by step through an effective agenda and explains how and why each item is a vital component in an effective approach to health and safety...

This week, Colin chats to former rugby union player and Air force Flying officer Rory Underwood. Many people know of Rory’s illustrious sporting and military careers, but may not also be aware that since leaving both behind him, he has become a renowned management consultant and motivational speaker. In the first part of Colin’s chat with Rory, you’ll hear about his transition between successful c...

In this episode of The Interesting Health and Safety Podcast, Colin discusses Learning vs Punishment when you want to positively improve upon a mistake. Colin has just been with a client, discussing what they do in these kinds of situations. The example described is one of the client's employee’s has been driving a large piece of machinery, aiding the maintenance team moving a barrel of oil. After...

Colin is in conversation with Health and Safety specialist, Ian Manners, of DAC Beachcroft, a lawyer who has been hailed by Legal 500 as the Next Generation Health & Safety Lawyer in the South West in both the 2017 and 2018 editions.  In the second part of Colin’s interview with Ian, the discussion turns to Ian’s ingenious method of risk assessment, the effect of culture upon health and safety, an...

“Around a third of all accidents in the workplace are a result of poor manual handling.” In todays episode Colin briefly covers the sort of things you want to challenge when considering any manual handling around the workplace. Whether it is yourself, an employee or anybody else within your business. Get a provider who works with Make sure they focus on the health affects of poor manual handling G...

Colin is in conversation with Health and Safety specialist, Ian Manners, of DAC Beachcroft, a lawyer who has been hailed by Legal 500 as the Next Generation Health & Safety Lawyer in the South West in both the 2017 and 2018 editions.  In the first part of their fascinating conversation, Ian discusses the ways to drive culture change in business, the responsibilities of directors when it comes to h...

Colin talks today about ‘ditching the numbers’. Colin finds that a lot of businesses when doing risk assessments, get very ‘hung-up’ on the numbers; the likely hood, the severity, the frequency and multiplying them all together. Sometimes, people will manipulate the numbers to fit; they do a risk assessment, rather than assessing the risk. Don’t rely on these numbers and be ignorant of the dangers...

In the second part of Colin’s fascinating discussion with Chris Partridge, the Director of Risk Management for Ferroglobe, Chris talks about the power of pre-start meetings, post-shift meetings, how Ferroglobe goes about dealing with hazardous safety situations, good communication and building societies within companies. KEY TAKEAWAYS Dealing with molten metal at very high temperatures is highly d...

‘We are only human, people do make mistakes’ In this episode Colin is with a live audience at the Institute of Quarrying Safety Day, speaking about being proactive and why business owners and managers need to plan to allow people to make mistakes in a way that doesn’t end up with them being seriously injured or killed. When business owners and managers investigate incidents blame must be put aside...

In this special two-part interview, Colin talks to Chris Partridge, the Director Of Risk Management for Ferroglobe, about the ways in which he handles employee induction, the importance of culture, setting effective objectives, and how Ferroglobe goes about obtaining information from their employees. It’s a fascinating, insightful conversation, so join it now! KEY TAKEAWAYS Ferroglobe’s silicon pr...

It's about treating working at height seriously not giving it a cursory nod’ Every year 4, 000 people suffer serious injury working at height, people often only think working at height is about working on scaffolding and cherry pickers but statistics show that the majority of incidents occur when people are working at a height below 2 metres – the height of a table. In this episode, Colin shares t...

‘Companies spend a lot of money on training but is it the right training?’ In this podcast, Colin explores training and competence. He discusses how to undertake an effective skills gap analysis for your company and what elements are required to ensure effective training and understanding. This podcast is invaluable for those who want to create a good plan and have a good process in place to suppo...

Everyone has their own perception of things and within a business, from the top of the business, things trickle down and often the message can be perceived in the wrong way. Colin explains in this episode how you can prevent information being taken and passed on in the wrong way within a business. This is to ensure that the message that comes right from the top of the business is clearly communica...

In today's short-but-sweet episode, Colin checks-in to discuss reliability. “Look at reliability, rather than safety” Look at your business; challenge and test all aspects, regardless of how well or how bad you may be performing in all areas. Find the weak areas. Colin theorises it is common that problem area’s are also hotspots for failings in health and safety “Don’t treat things in isolation; B...

It’s mostly the teeny-tiniest stuff around us we don’t really give importance and also at times, it’s these stuff that pose much threat and hazard… For example, viruses, bacteria, and even insects can be deadly.  In construction, it’s the accumulation of dust in the workplace that needs attention. This can cause respiratory diseases to those who are involved. As much as possible, we must ensure th...

‘Make sure the controls are there, you are confident in the person undertaking the work and you monitor what is going on’ In this episode, Colin reviews the importance of a ‘permit to work’ and the responsibility that is undertaken by those who issue them. Listen in and make sure you understand the process and use ‘permit to work’ effectively on your work site.   KEY TAKEAWAYS For lesser jobs, per...

In todays episode, Colin wants to talk about rules; How do you introduce rules into the workplace? A lot of businesses have ‘the rules’, often referred to as ‘cardinal’, ‘golden’ or ‘workplace’ rules. There is some legislation that says you have to have these rules in place. Colin doesn’t disagree with these, but challenges you how you think about these rules specifically “because how a lot of peo...

Colin has been all over the place lately. He’s been traveling, working, and talking to some companies around the UK. He also learned a lot from their stories. In fact, one concept he learned from one company, which was operating 24/7 with 4 shifts in one day, was The Wall Of Opportunity.   So, what is The Wall of Opportunity and how can it help you improve your company?  The company was having a h...