Absolute Health and Safety Solutions Ltd - Health and Safety Work Experience

A view from the outside by Tom Penfold

I am a Year 10 Student at Tomlinscote School, and for my work experience I was given a chance to explore something I had never really understood before in my lifetime, Health and Safety.

Many people do not understand the work of a Health and Safety professional and this is why people turn up their noses to one. People do not realise that Health and Safety is for their own good and that it is important to the safety of a company. I came in to my work experience placement with an open mind, to learn about the world in which we work and earn a living, I feel I have learnt more than a lot of people because I know what the work of a Health and Safety professional is and how it is pivotal to the buoyancy of a business.

During my first couple of days I was overwhelmed by the work of Health and Safety, checking for in-date fire extinguishers or searching for combustible materials in a building, all these things I had never really taken into account before. My friends were quick to question my choice in work experience placement but I assured them that what I was doing would help me later in life, which is true, this week I have learnt things that will stay in my memory as I grow older, for example if I wanted to make my own business I could delve into my knowledge of Health and Safety regulations and make my workplace safe and efficient.

I have followed in the footsteps of Paul Bidwell, Managing Director of Absolute Health and Safety Solutions Ltd, and I have learnt the trades of Health of Safety. Unlike most, I am now aware about what a Health and safety professional does. For example I learned the banning of conkers in schools is not because of Health and Safety legislation, it was the perspective of the school management after they conducted a risk assessment, and through fear of possible injury that could lead to a compensation claim – Not because the law said so. This is the sort of idea people get when talking about what Health and Safety do.

I think that the importance of Health and Safety is not advertised enough. I feel it could be taught in schools for example. If the children were made more aware of the situations and scenarios in which they would get in i.e. if they took the batteries out of the smoke detector or if they learnt about combustible substances in the domestic environment, I think people would have a different view on Health and safety and eventually realise that it is for the greater of good and the welfare of a person.

Whilst out on site visits with Paul, I was astounded at the amount of people that took offence to Health and Safety. For example people who would follow us explaining why there was cardboard leaned against a working radiator, a clear breach in Health and Safety regulations, or people that wished to comment on what we were writing down when it was only for the good of the people working in that environment. On another occasion when Paul and I were checking how work equipment was maintained and operated, we were confronted by a rabid man who was sure that if the it wasn’t perfect we would stop people using it or close it down, when really we were just checking to see the quality of the equipment, the amount of chemicals that were used and the way that the chemical waste was disposed of. The fact that people are not sure on what a Health and Safety professional does means that they make up their own opinion, which is often wrong and very misled.

If someone makes up their own mind about the Safety professionals, then they will never come to grips with the fact that they are there to make your workplace safe, for example if a man is severely injured in an accident at work because a piece
of equipment is faulty then they will want something to be done about it, a Health and Safety professional could have checked that piece of equipment and noted it down as unusable because of the inevitable injury of people working on it, this could save a life. If there is a fire because an employee has left a can of flammable substance near an object that is able to ignite for example a printer or a fax machine, and they are injured in the fire they will want to take action, but when a Health and Safety professional comes to that work place and orders the can to be moved people begin to question what the professional is doing and why they want it moved. It is very difficult and often frustrating for people like Paul who have to put up with people who do not understand his work, but Paul showed no sign of being defeated.

Work experience for Health and Safety has really opened my eyes to life in the real world and how hard and stressful working can be. I have also learnt about how Health and safety affects everyone and the ways in which people think Health and Safety is a nuisance but really how radically important it is. If Health and Safety was taught more in schools I feel that people would have a different view on Health and Safety. I came to work experience not knowing much about keeping a room safe, I knew that I should never play with fire, but that was it. This job has shown me that in order to be safe you need many things, for instance a good awareness and the constant question in your head, what if?. It’s things like this that will keep you aware not just for the job but also in everyday life, keeping your self safe and away from danger. Health and Safety made me understand how to keep my self safe and that’s what most people want, to be safe when on their own or to know that the building they are in is safe.

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