Connect Issue 8
15 September 2008
Welcome to the latest issue of Connect
Hello, and welcome to the latest issue of Connect.
As the so-called UK summer comes to a close, the media’s
‘holiday silly season’ seems to have been extended. Newspaper
headline writers have exercised their right to gets things wrong,
and anyone who has dared to raise their head above the parapet to
challenge the media’s stereotype of the profession has been dubbed
a killjoy.
One man who certainly isn’t a killjoy is David Dite. For this
issue’s Spotlight feature, we meet David at
Pinewood Studios before the release of the new James Bond movie to
talk about changing culture on filmsets and about why he gets
looked at as though he’s from another planet.
Planets and stars of a different kind can sometimes be seen
circling Nick Evans’s head. Extreme sports fan Nick contacted us after reading
last issue’s Seriously Fun article to reveal his long list of
injuries from his passion for taekwondo, snowboarding and
biking.
Our 60
second interview features Richard Altoft, consultant for
Richard G Altoft and Associates, who talks about the challenge of
getting senior managers with financial pressures to treat health
and safety seriously.
As well as features, we’ve also got the latest news, including the
HSE’s campaign targeting tradesmen at risk from asbestos
exposure and more on the two Thomas Cook workers who face trial in Greece.
Remember, Connect contains all your branch and group events in
MyNetwork, as well as linking to the full events calendar on the IOSH
website.
I hope you enjoy browsing this issue of Connect. If you have any
comments, or want to be featured in one of our articles, please
drop me a line.
Shaun Gibbons
e-Editor
Seriously fun: black belt in safety
Health and safety professionals don’t like
risks? We think not. In Connect, we’re running Seriously Fun,
Dangerously Safe, to profile the extreme sports and high risk jobs
our members are involved in.
Consultant Nick Evans is an extreme sports fanatic. Whether he’s
tearing down slopes on a snowboard or using his taekwondo skills to
break a stack of paving slabs, he’s experienced risk on many
different levels. After reading last issue’s feature on
off-roading, Nick got in touch with Connect to tell us how
he has serious fun…
Nick’s all for getting away from the health and safety
stereotype. “Boring by profession, boring by pastime,” he smiles.
“People create this idea that we’re dull and will ban anything
possible, but when I show them the video of me
chopping through concrete they soon change their mind! You could
say that it puts a nice spin on sensible health and safety.”
Nick did the usual cycling and skateboarding when he was
younger, but has taken these to new levels with his current
interests. Now at the level of third degree black belt in taekwondo
and soon to take his fourth degree, Nick passes on his knowledge
through classes he teaches.
“I always say that doing sports like these
requires competence. You need to know your limitations and you need
to understand what happens when you fall. I always encourage
agility in my students – this particularly helps when getting out
of a jump properly.”
Whether he’s doing a jump kick or testing the limitations of his
snowboard, he always makes sure that his equipment is in working
order.
“It’s common sense but your kit always needs
to be maintained, and you need to have knowledge of how it all
works. The same applies for any workplace – you need to know about
everything you’re working with to make sure it’s safe.”
Not only does Nick make sure that his equipment is up to
scratch, but also that he uses the right protection.
“Based on my profession, to have my brains
spilling out of my head from not wearing a helmet isn’t the best
idea!”
Despite wearing the correct gear, Nick has had experiences of
accidents and is building up an impressive medical record from his
many injuries.
“I always wear everything I need to, whatever
sport I’m doing, but I’ve had to go to Casualty a few times. I’ve
had split lips and black eyes from getting kicked or elbowed by
someone in taekwondo and I managed to get bruised kidneys from
falling off my bike, but despite having a maintenance contract with
my physiotherapist this doesn’t stop me from wanting to do it. It
just makes me more acute to it, and I learn from whatever
experiences I’ve had.”
Nick applies his professional knowledge to sport. “Dynamic risk
assessment comes into it. Knowing and understanding where you are
and what you’re doing can help you make an informal judgment on
risk control and risk mitigation.”
Understanding the risks involved helps Nick
enjoy himself. “I know the difference between a buzz when it’s a
little bit scary, and when it’s drastically unsafe – and when
you’re at that point you know it’s not good! But experience of
crashing definitely helps as I know what’s about to happen and I
can make a quick judgement call on how best to minimise a bad
injury.”
Nick gets a completely different kind of satisfaction from sport
than with his work. “In taekwondo it’s a great feeling achieving
what others can’t do. Doing a jump spin kick, in the style of the
martial art films, and breaking through a board mid air is a huge
buzz. The adrenaline rush of breaking through is great, but if you
don’t strike through then you might as well be just hitting a brick
wall, literally!”
Factfile:
- Nick Evans has been in health and safety for 11 years and
founded Safewell Limited in 2006
- He is a NEBOSH examiner
- Nick was one of the youngest members of IOSH to receive
Chartered status when it was first granted in 2005
- He has been doing taekwondo since he was 17
Links:
Spotlight: access all areas
Quantum of Solace, the latest Bond film, is
released in the UK next month. Connect went to meet David Dite,
Group Health and Safety Manager, for a look at what goes on behind
the cameras at the world-famous Pinewood Studios…
The name’s Dite. David Dite. He rarely gets shaken or stirred in
the line of duty and, unlike Agent 007, doesn’t have the fate of
the western world resting on his shoulders. He does, however, have
the job of overseeing the health and safety of the Pinewood Studios
Group.
Despite coming into contact with A-list celebrities and being
on-hand behind the cameras on film and television sets, David still
gets a buzz when watching movies at his local cinema.
“I am, and always have been, a film buff,”
David explained as we took a tour of the iconic studios – home not
only to the James Bond films, but the Carry On series too. “None of
the magic has gone just because I was there. It’s quite strange, on
one hand it’s just work when I’m there on set, but when I watch the
film at the cinema I still get enthralled.”
As well as overseeing health and safety at Pinewood, David is
also responsible for both Shepperton and Teddington Studios, making
him a busy man. In fact, the night before Connect met up with him,
David was called out to a fire on a set.
"There was a small fire on one of the
external sets of a production,” he explained. "No-one was harmed
and the systems we have in place meant we were able to detect and
respond to the incident rapidly and effectively.”
David, who’s only a few months away from becoming a Chartered
member, started work in studio operations at Shepperton 20 years
ago. In 2002 the company invited him to look after health and
safety for Shepperton Studios. Now, with a team of three based at
Pinewood and extra staff at the other two sites, David deals with a
wide range of issues.
“Fire and work at height are big issues for
us. Obviously, there’s a lot of production activity with special
effects, pyrotechnics and stunts going on so we have to liaise with
our clients to ensure their standards of safety are in place. All
the independent production companies have their own health and
safety advisors or consultants but it can be difficult to get some
companies who may be used to working in countries where safety
standards are lower to understand what they need to do when working
here.”
One of the most crucial elements of David’s role is the
continued support he receives from the Group’s board of directors
who, he says, have always championed health and safety and
supported the department. “Of course, there are always going
to be problems and conflicts of some kind when you work with
creative people but the support I receive from my bosses is
critical.”
He added: “One of the biggest challenges if
I’m honest is changing the culture. Take the many contractors we
have here on site. They look at me like I’m from the moon when I
ask them for risk assessments or method statements. But, that said,
the culture is changing, little by little.”
Culture change is something David feels passionate about, so
much so he’s organised a free two-day health and safety awareness
conference in October, aimed at people working in TV and film
production.
“In my experience here, people don’t really
tend to think about the things they do in the course of their
day-to-day job. They don’t know what they’re doing wrong. But when
you start to explain things to them, they buy into it and that’s
where the idea of an awareness event came from.”
IOSH, along with the Health and Safety Executive and the
Metropolitan Police, is sponsoring the conference. President-elect
Nattasha Freeman will give a talk about competence in the
workplace, while the Met Police Film Unit will highlight firearms
and filming in the community.
Although the studios have been the location for many famous
films, it’s the James Bond movies that will always be inextricably
linked with Pinewood. In fact, almost everywhere you walk in the
grounds of the studios, you’re reminded of either famous Bond car
chases that were filmed there, or some underwater scenes that were
filmed at Pinewood’s huge outdoor water tank called the Paddock
Tank.
Factfile:
- David is a Graduate Member and a member of the Thames Valley
Branch and the Construction Group
- Pinewood holds 34 stages and 10 television studios
- Quantum of Solace opens in the UK on Friday 31 October
Links:
Richard Altoft, consultant for Richard G
Altoft & Associates, talks to Connect.
What’s the hot issue in your sector right
now?
Finding enough work to fill the diary. Now we’ve stepped into
autumn it gets very quiet.
What’s the most challenging problem you’ve had to
overcome?
Getting senior management who've financial pressures to treat
health and safety seriously.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever had about
working in health and safety?
"Go for it, you’ll fit right in."
What advice would you give to someone starting their
career in health and safety?
Get properly qualified. Health and safety isn’t the place for
half-qualified people.
If you could ban the use of one piece of jargon, what
would it be?
"That’s not for us."
If you weren’t a health and safety practitioner what
would you be?
I’d be a construction manager.
Do you think it’s a good idea that IOSH is sponsoring
this year’s World Conker Championships?
Yes, absolutely. We need that kind of exposure – we’re realistic
so we need others to be realistic with us.
Do you want to be considered for a 60 Second Interview?
Contact the e-Editor.
Quote me
IOSH gets its message
across...
BBC Radio Leicester
President Ray Hurst was interviewed on the station’s breakfast
show about risk, bureaucracy and the IOSH-sponsored World Conker
Championships.
“Children need to be exposed to controlled
risks to be able to recognise real risk as they go through life. So
let’s have a bit of common sense shall we?
“I think that sometimes the form-filling has
taken control rather than pragmatic health and safety advice.
“If everybody was using common sense we
wouldn’t have the same sort of accidents happening time after time
after time. People would be learning and they wouldn’t be repeating
those same mistakes.”
People Management
Ray Hurst has been giving advice to HR professionals worried
about addressing weight issues with staff.
“It’s dangerous to dismiss employees on
health and safety grounds. You should be trying to rehabilitate
them or pre-empt injuries. Employers have plenty of options here,
including providing access to healthy food and subsidising gym
membership. You could also encourage staff to walk, jog or cycle to
work by installing showers in the workplace.”
Human Resources
Ray Hurst talked to Human Resources
magazine about IOSH’s YouGov survey which found
that less than a third of people would blow the whistle on their
boss if health and safety laws were broken.
“Blowing the whistle on employers isn’t
something you do lightly. But if your employer won’t act and you’re
genuinely concerned for your own or others’ safety, it’s certainly
not something you should be afraid of doing.”
Press Association newswire
Health and Safety Executive Chair Judith Hackitt addressed
delegates at IOSH’s recent National Safety Symposium, and slammed
critics who repeatedly concentrate on 'elf and safety' stories.
"There is a need to draw a clear distinction
between real health and safety – stopping people getting
killed – and the nonsense and jobs-worths who shamelessly
use 'elf and safety as an excuse."