Helping the Health & Safety Managers
I've attended a number of conferences and events over the past month, it seems to be that time of year. All of them, pleasingly have had a serious focus on lone working and the regular stuff about the risks that such workers face. The audience at a couple of these events were the usual mix of Health & Safety professionals and those responsible for business risks. What was interesting to me though was that there seemed to be a marked change in what they were all there to learn.
In the past, the audience would have been content to learn about risks, the definition of lone working and the types of techniques and technologies that can be deployed to assist. This time though they seemed quite disinterested in this material and there was a definate 'we know all that' type feeling in the air. Talking to people, it seemed to me that the main thing that they wanted to now know about was 'how do I effect change in my organisation'. It was if they felt frustration that they knew what they need to do to improve their lone worker safety but that they were hampered by disinterested departmental and line managers around them.
Some benefitted from having a board member or members who appreciated the importance (often driven by a fear of corporate manslaughter) but even with this, in today's complex and multi-tiered organisations, gripped with a desire to improve revenues and save costs it is often extremely difficult to gain traction and to communicate the benefits effectively.
Those clients we work with know the benefits not just of the solutions we deliver but also of having a consistant and cohesive message that runs throughout their business. The simple fact is that better lone worker safety can lead to improved revenue streams and reduced costs. It also leads to a more productive work force.
I've always maintained that in what Connexion2 does, we should look at things from three perspectives, that of the lone worker, the employer and the Police. I think that in 2010, there is a fourth perspective that we will add that is equally as important and that's the perspective of the manager.
In the past, the audience would have been content to learn about risks, the definition of lone working and the types of techniques and technologies that can be deployed to assist. This time though they seemed quite disinterested in this material and there was a definate 'we know all that' type feeling in the air. Talking to people, it seemed to me that the main thing that they wanted to now know about was 'how do I effect change in my organisation'. It was if they felt frustration that they knew what they need to do to improve their lone worker safety but that they were hampered by disinterested departmental and line managers around them.
Some benefitted from having a board member or members who appreciated the importance (often driven by a fear of corporate manslaughter) but even with this, in today's complex and multi-tiered organisations, gripped with a desire to improve revenues and save costs it is often extremely difficult to gain traction and to communicate the benefits effectively.
Those clients we work with know the benefits not just of the solutions we deliver but also of having a consistant and cohesive message that runs throughout their business. The simple fact is that better lone worker safety can lead to improved revenue streams and reduced costs. It also leads to a more productive work force.
I've always maintained that in what Connexion2 does, we should look at things from three perspectives, that of the lone worker, the employer and the Police. I think that in 2010, there is a fourth perspective that we will add that is equally as important and that's the perspective of the manager.
posted by Craig Swallow at 11:55 AM
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