Author Bio ▼

Nick Warburton is former editor of SHP Magazine. He is currently working as a freelance journalist and as an account manager at Technical Publicity.
September 4, 2015

Get the SHP newsletter

Daily health and safety news, job alerts and resources

In the line of fire

MoD Crown Copyright

British soldiers often spend long periods of time outside, whether it is undertaking training exercises, fulfilling security duties or participating in ceremonial events. Paul King talks to Nick Warburton about why he’s supporting IOSH’s solar radiation campaign

 

Skin care might not strike SHP readers as an issue that is high on the British Army’s agenda. But for Paul King, who is head of safety for the British Army’s London District, it has become something of a personal crusade.

Based at Horse Guards on Whitehall, the Ministry of Defence civil servant has been keen to highlight the dangers of skin cancer, which can be a significant risk since military personnel spend long hours outside exposed to the sun.

It was when Paul read former RAF weapons technician Peter Jackson’s story in the June Interface (page 22) that he decided to contact SHP to draw attention to his own work and to explain why he is also backing IOSH’s solar radiation campaign.

In the Interface interview, Peter Jackson said he’d been diagnosed with malignant melanoma skin cancer in May 2013. The 59-year-old then went on to admit that during his 30-year career with the RAF, he would often have ‘best tan competitions’ with his colleagues on sunny days and that he was not aware of the risks.

After a life-saving operation to remove the melanoma, the health, safety and logistics manager at Hartpury College in Gloucester told Interface that he tries to make as many people aware of skin cancer risks as he can. Paul was inspired by the story and feels that personal accounts from former military personnel such as this, is the most effective way to influence behaviour in the Armed Forces.

“To the man on the street, or the private in the army, seeing that would ring a bell because they’ll think, ‘That was a guy who was in the military, he was one of us, there’s a picture of him and that’s what’s happened to him’,” he says.

However, Paul’s interest in raising awareness of skin cancer in the army is also a personal one, having lost several family members and close friends to the deadly disease. As a self-described former ‘sun fanatic’ who used to spend hours sunbathing with little or no protection, he traces his own conversion to ‘sun safety’ from an interview on TV with the late actor Paul Eddington, famous for his lead role in Yes, Prime Minister.

“It was the first time I’d seen someone with skin cancer,” he recalls. “We often talk about skin cancer but here he was on national TV. Ever since then, I’ve been really careful and made sure I put plenty of sun cream on and limit the time I spend out. When you see that person who you know or someone that you like, it makes it much more real.”

As head of safety for the British Army’s London District, Paul’s safety duties are incredibly varied but include high-profile ceremonial events such as ‘Trooping of the Colour’ on Horse Guards and VE Day celebrations on Whitehall, not to mention major tourist attractions like the ‘Changing of the Guards’.

Intensive training and adventurous activities are very much part of the army’s working life because soldiers need to keep their fitness levels up, and much of this time is spent outdoors. Then, there are the technicians, equipment providers, safety advisors and others who support the Armed Forces. Many spend long hours out in the sun carrying out important work.

“Safety is very high on the army’s list of priorities and there is a lot of work being put into safety compared to many organisations,” he argues. “Safety is headed up by the chief environmental safety officer, who is a full Colonel and he has a whole team down in Andover. Given his rank, it shows that safety is very important.”

Paul continues: “I just want to work on the safety culture and improve on that, especially when it comes to skin protection. I’ve seen over the years in the army where people have been working outside and you always think, ‘Have they got any protection and how long have they been working outside for?’”

As he points out, the military invests huge sums of money and time into all its soldiers and recognises that it cannot afford to lose such highly skilled individuals.

“It’s not easy to get into something like the Life Guards, the Household Cavalry or the King’s Troop,” he continues.

“They are a valuable asset, so we don’t want to be losing these people once they have been trained – whether it’s equine injuries, skin cancer or people collapsing because of heat exhaustion. We take our duty of care to all members of the Armed Forces very seriously.”

Having also previously worked in the prison service, Paul believes that part of his battle is overcoming the ‘macho culture’ that exists. It’s something that Peter Jackson also highlighted in the Interface interview from his years serving in the RAF.

“When it comes to things like welfare and skin protection, men can be a little bit resistant to that,” continues Paul. “People may not actually say that but underneath I think there is a bit of that going on. A natural reaction would be to say: ‘We can get on with it, we’re tough guys, we don’t need skin protection. We don’t need that extra support’.”

To help drive the skin cancer message home on the ground, Paul is able to draw on the support of two admin and five military staff, who offer safety advice to all the barracks from Windsor in the west to Woolwich in the east.

Using Peter Jackson’s story for a poster campaign, Paul has highlighted the risk of skin cancer through the London District’s intranet and the local commanders have pinned the story on notice boards across the barracks. His safety team has also helped to promote it across the capital.

“Because they are military people, the soldiers relate well to them,” he says. “They are a safety person but in the army. The soldiers see a warrant officer; they don’t necessarily see a safety person. It’s good for the army environment because it does help.”

Higher up the chain of command, Paul emphasises the importance of collaborative working and explains that he works very closely with the district’s chief medical officer to promote not only sun safety but also the importance of drinking water, especially in central London where heat can be a major issue.

“We take a daily wet bulb temperature reading, which goes out to all the units,” he says. “That affects the type of training that they can do and what they need to put into place to make sure the soldiers are safe in terms of their fluid intake.”

Paul says that he attended this year’s Safety & Health Expo where he met up with Deb Products, one of the companies that provide sun cream for the army. The skin care supplier has thrown its support behind his efforts to promote IOSH’s solar radiation campaign across the London District.

On 7 July they took the campaign posters and sun safety information booklets to the Household Cavalry Mountain Regiment’s training camp at Bodney in Norfolk to raise awareness of the risk of skin cancer.

“Awareness is already there but it’s just improving the safety culture and making sure, especially for the younger men and women coming through, that we address that macho culture and get them to use these products and take more care in the sun,” he says.

“I feel that by raising the risk of skin cancer in the London District, and in the ceremonial piece in the army, which is very much the front boots and gets the most publicity, the MoD, which is a huge organisation, will see it as a bigger issue and something that they will look at.”

 

Raising awareness of sun safety at the Household Cavalry Mountain Regiment's training camp in Norfolk. MoD Crown Copyright

Raising awareness of sun safety at the Household Cavalry Mountain Regiment’s training camp in Norfolk. MoD Crown Copyright

Defence people health and wellbeing strategy

Raising awareness of the dangers present in the workplace and of the lifestyle choices people make is the central tenet of the Defence People Health and Wellbeing Strategy, 2015 DIN01-153. Research shows that healthy behaviour and good physical health are associated with enhanced job performance and a reduction in sickness absence.

The Ministry of Defence has a responsibility to provide the physical and psychological environment necessary to maintain a healthy workforce in order to meet defence outputs, not least operational capability, and fulfil its role as an employer.

Climatic injuries are, on the whole, avoidable if the right precautions are taken and Paul’s initiative to promote awareness of the risk of over-exposure to the sun can only help to benefit the individual, the employer and, in the longer term, society.

What makes us susceptible to burnout?

In this episode  of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.

We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.

stress

Related Topics

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments