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October 13, 2016

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Martin Temple addresses Capita Safety Lecture

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The 25th Capita Safety Lecture took place on Tuesday evening this week, with new HSE chair Martin Temple addressing the audience in his first public speech since taking on the role.

With vibrant compere Gerard Forlin chairing the evening, it promised to be an entertaining evening.

Following an introduction from Geoff Kneen, MD, Capita who iterated that “health and safety is at the forefront of our work and our thoughts”, new HSE chair Martin Temple took to the stage to address the audience on health and safety of the past and what the HSE is doing to improve things in the future.

Martin started by referencing his experiences with farm safety and the death of someone who got caught under a tractor.

He said: “People were standing around saying: ‘He shouldn’t have been doing it that way, he should have done it this way.’

“And I remember thinking, ‘I wish someone had told him that.'”

He explained how health and safety had come so far since 1974 and the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

“We cannot talk the way we did in the 70s,” said Martin. “We must address the health agenda with even more vigour.”

Referring to his triennial review of the HSE in January 2014, Martin explained how he had been impressed by the regulator and had gained a sense that it was “traditional and defensive – rightly so, perhaps at the time”, and he added that “we should be proud of what we do”.

“Health and safety,” he said. “Should be an enabler, not a blocker.”

He said the HSE was “committed to becoming a modern, leading edge regulator” and that work had gone on to revoke or amend lots of legislation, making it much simpler to understand.

Martin spoke about Helping Great Britain Work Well, the HSE’s latest strategy to empower people to engage with health and safety, and keep the momentum going to make gains in safety and give health the same priority.

The six strategic themes: acting together; tackling ill health; managing risk well; supporting small employers; keeping pace with change; and sharing our success, set out a good platform for the future of HSE said Martin.

Next to take to the stage was Leon Smith, the captain of the Davis Cup team, which won the Davis Cup in 2015 for the first time since 1936.

He spoke of his realisation, aged 17, that he wasn’t good enough to make it as a professional tennis player, and so instead turned to coaching, where he took on a young Andy Murray.

His appointment to captain of the Davis Cup team came in 2010 and the backlash from the media was “quick and fast” as he had never played as a top-level player.

Despite this, he set out a clear vision and strategy for his team, ensuring they were better prepared than any other.

“Preparation is in the detail,” he said as he displayed a breakdown of the menu that Andy Murray had to stick to on match-days from the time he woke up in the morning, to when he should be ‘sipping’ water.

The key to success was by bringing in experts – in psychology, wellbeing, nutrition, as well as a expert for the doubles teams – and surrounding himself and the team with people who want the same things as he did.

“A lot of it,” said Leon “Is in saying the right thing at the right time to the right person.”

And that isn’t guesswork. Leon worked with the team and their psychologists to find out what he should be saying to them and when he should be saying it.

By creating a team spirit and empowering and recognising all of his players and all of his staff he was able to create a shared vision and develop core values.

Gerard Forlin summed up the evening, taking questions from the audience and inviting us to recognise the links between creating a vision for health and wellbeing and the drive and commitment shown in elite sportsplayers.

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