Ben Warrender, Health and Safety Consultant for BPA Services Ltd, tells SHP why he chose a career in health and safety, and what he thinks is important for those looking to do the same.
I actively chose a career in health and safety after completing my IOSH managing safely course through a previous employer as part of my personal development. I found this to be very interesting and left me wanting to learn more about health and safety, which is exactly what I did.
The other reason I chose a career in health and safety is my belief (which I am sure is all of ours as practitioners) that no person should go to work and not come back at the end of the day, or suffer some form of loss through a work activity. Having experienced this first hand with a family member, I feel that working in health and safety gives me a way to try and improve workplace health and safety and try to prevent this happening to others.
Firstly, I completed my IOSH Managing Safely through a previous employer. This left me wanting to know more about health and safety so I completed my NEBOSH National General Certificate part time at college.After gaining this, I took on more health and safety responsibilities in my job role in terms of risk assessment, safety health and environment plans, advice to colleagues etc.
After a period of illness, I decided that I would pay to do my NEBOSH Diploma and at the same time I would join IOSH as a member and attend my local branch meetings. I hoped that these two plans would help me to gain employment in health and safety and further my knowledge in this area. I am currently half way through studying my diploma and have applied to be a committee member at my local IOSH branch. As a result of joining IOSH, completing my CPD and studying my diploma, I gained employment through contacts I met at my local IOSH Branch and have been working as a health and safety consultant since October 2015.
My Current job role is split into two, with CDM (Construction Design Management Regulations 2015) works and existing client work. Under CDM 2015, I write construction phase plans, pre-construction information, act as a CDM advisor to ensure all parties are aware of their duties, undertake CDM compliance health and safety audits and attending progress meetings.
The other half of my role is around existing clients and ensuring they are compliant with legislation. I provide telephone support to clients and undertake site visits / inspections to try and improve workplace health and safety, producing reports after my visits.
Within my job role I also approve / comment on risk assessment and method statements, write risk assessments, COSHH assessments and method statements.
Understanding legislation relating to health and safety is important for me to be able to carry out my duties properly.
I enjoy visiting different workplaces and learning from these visits that I am exposed to. My role is varied meaning one day I can be attending a CDM completion meeting in London and the next providing support to a client’s hairdressing salon in Whitchurch. Being a consultant exposes me to different challenges, and this helps me to gain more knowledge and experiences in a broad field. It is impossible to know everything, however being a consultant does mean I get to see and learn about a lot of different areas.
I feel the biggest challenges I face as a health and safety professional are my age. As a 26-year-old, I feel I have to work extremely hard to gain the trust and respect that other practitioners may receive from clients in a shorter period of time. I see this as a positive challenge, and It is rewarding when I gain the trust and respect of others.
Another challenge I feel I have to overcome daily is the common mis-conception that ‘The health and safety guy is here to find all we are doing wrong’. It is a challenge to get through to people that we are here for the benefit of the company and individuals such as themselves. I feel it is as important to point out good practice as well as areas needing improvement, to try and break down this idea that we are there to be awkward and put barriers in the way.
I feel a major challenge will be on the importance of occupational health in construction. People generally seem to be aware of the safety side of construction risks and less aware about the occupational risks. There is a long way to go in educating people in construction on occupational health, one of the reasons may be that symptoms and ill health can take many years to develop and so is perceived at the time as less important.
For me, re-educating people on health and safety is most important when trying to get people on board. I appreciate that we potentially haven’t got the time to go through all of the reasons and nitty gritty as to why health and safety should be properly managed, however, if people understand what we are doing and more importantly WHY we are doing what we are doing then I feel they tend to be more compliant and happier to work with you rather than against you.
Join IOSH – this has to be at the top of my list, attending the monthly IOSH meetings has been invaluable for me, networking with health and safety professionals is such a positive. The opportunity to complete a CPD and get your future plans down in writing gives you a realistic plan to follow and achieve.
I would then advise to talk and listen to other practitioners, as health and safety practitioners we are all in the same boat with the same overarching common goal, this means we all want to help each other – so ask questions, and listen.
CV
October 2015 – Present
Health and Safety Consultant – BPA Services Ltd
Working with clients and new CDM 2015 regs.
November 2011 – October 2015
Events Facilitator – The ExtraCare Charitable Trust
Managing a team of 8
April 2008 – October 2011
Activities Co-ordinator – The ExtraCare Charitable Trust
November 2007 – April 2008
Events Assistant – The ExtraCare Charitable Trust
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