SHE and IOSH 2014 practitioner’s diary: ‘we need to learn to listen’

Rhaynukaa Soni GradIOSH, Dip RSA, MIIRSM, works for BFK on the Crossrail project. She gives us her thoughts on day one of the conference and exhibition. 

Read the next IOSH 2014 article: Dr Dominic Cooper: ‘poor leadership is the biggest block to safety’

I have to admit, the main thought running through my head as I made my way to the IOSH 2014 and Safety and Health Expo was: how useful will this event be?

While I haven’t attended the conference or the exhibition previously, I have been to a number of Expo’s. While you go for inspiration and new ideas to take back to site, more often than not, you get the hard sell.

But as I kicked off my heels and settled down to reflect on the day, I was pleasantly surprised at just how informative and inspiring the day had been. So much so that I was really looking forward to the second day of the IOSH Conference.

Having listened to a multitude of speakers in the morning, then taking a wander through the Expo for the rest of the day, I was left both proud of the health and safety sector and inspired as a professional to lead the way.

IOSH president Tim Briggs was saying that exact thing at the opening of the conference. I’d not had the pleasure of hearing him speak before, but I found his thoughts thoroughly echoed mine.  In his introduction, he delivered a message of learning, leadership and inspiration.

He also stressed the importance of recognising, developing and using soft skills — primarily, the ability to listen.  We need to listen to what is being asked of us, and then respond accordingly. As he rightly pointed out, we have one mouth, but we have two ears. His message to share our knowledge, learn and network is something our industry needs to embrace and take forward.

Tim was closely followed by IOSH chief executive Jan Chmiel, who spoke about the importance of inspirational leadership in his opening address.  The question that organisations ask that frustrates him the most is: “Are we compliant?”

They may be compliant, but it doesn’t mean the workforce is necessarily safer. I have come across many company directors and senior management who simply want to ensure they are compliant with legislation, rather than actually ensuring the workforce is well and truly safe. As Mr Chmiel said in his address: legislative compliance is never enough. Reinforcing the message that Mr Briggs delivered, Mr Chmiel stressed the importance of safety professionals leading, innovating and shaping within industry.

Reflecting on how far health and safety legislation has come is always good. However, we must also ask how much more we still have left to do. To do this effectively, we must learn to listen. We must listen, understand concerns, then make sure that we are understood. Only then can we call ourselves effective leaders.

Delegates were able to ask live questions, tweet and vote on questions posed by the chair or panel during the sessions, using their smartphones. For example, delegates were asked how they felt their company viewed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

I was surprised that only 18% felt their company saw CSR as (broadly) only a PR opportunity. I would have expected this figure to be higher, though that may be my natural cynicism.

Feeling thoroughly inspired and ready to take the industry by storm, I took the opportunity to walk around the Expo to see what new and innovative ideas I could take away to use on my site. This inevitably took up the rest of my day.  As well as picking up lots of free bags, literature and various other goodies (pens, USB sticks, stress balls etc), I picked up some good ideas that I will be developing when back at site.

My favorite stand was the National Access and Scaffolding Confederation’s (NASC). NASC was there to promote safer working and it was doing what Mr Briggs and Mr Chmiel had been talking about that morning — sharing knowledge.

Ken Johnson, the technical, health and safety support said that I was free to call him anytime I needed advice.  While commercially, this might not seem a sensible approach, if as a sector we don’t share our learning and good practices, the only people that suffer are ourselves.  It was refreshing to visit a stand that did not involve a hard sell — just a positive exchange of ideas and shared expert knowledge.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.