When I was 18 years old I was knocked off my bicycle in a road traffic accident (or road traffic collision to use the modern parlance). I hit the tarmac quite hard; landing head first and sliding along the ground a bit before coming to a stop. As I lay on my side staring at the sky I could taste salty liquid trickling down my throat. When I turned my head a straw-coloured liquid dripped out of my nose to form a little puddle. That’s when I knew I had a fractured skull. When I tell people about this accident they often ask if I was wearing a helmet. And…
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Global Asbestos Awareness Week 2019
Global Asbestos Awareness week, (1st – 7th April), was established to raise awareness surrounding the illnesses and consequential deaths that asbestos causes. Although it has been banned in the U.K. since 1999, there are over 1.5 million buildings in the UK that may contain asbestos (UKATA, 2019). Buildings erected pre-1999 can have dormant asbestos within their foundations, and can be accidentally disturbed during renovations or repairs. Unfortunately, asbestos is still legal in many countries around the world. What is Asbestos? Asbestos is a term for a group of minerals made of microscopic fibres. If you breathe in these fibres, they can damage your lungs (British Lung Foundation, 2019). Asbestos is…
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How to Write an Effective Environmental Policy Statement
Over the years I’ve seen many environmental policies. Some are good and some, well, not so good. It’s a common task for environmental practitioners to write a policy from scratch, or at least maintain an existing policy. Therefore, I thought it would be helpful to identify good practice when it comes to policy development. An environmental policy statement is a key document that outlines the aims of an organisation with regards to environmental management. It is an expression of the organisation’s top management commitment to high standards of environmental performance. It is advisable in environmental management to use either, good practice guidance or law as criteria for development of controls.…
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NEBOSH Additional Support for Exams Explained
Wondering whether additional support or special considerations are available for NEBOSH Exams? NEBOSH and RRC have a duty to ensure all candidates can take their assessments in a way most appropriate to their personal needs. We do that by making access or Reasonable Adjustments (RA) before an exam. Or alternatively, we ask NEBOSH to grant Special Consideration (SC) to assessment results. For more information, here is the NEBOSH Policy on access arrangements: https://www.nebosh.org.uk/policies-and-procedures/policy-and-procedures-for-access-arrangements-reasonable/ Reasonable Adjustments (RA) If candidates are aware of factors that will affect their performance during exams, RRC can apply for Reasonable Adjustments on their behalf. Any adjustments are agreed before the assessment takes place. Candidates must inform RRC at…
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NEBOSH Health & Safety Leadership Excellence – What Drives People?
I found myself in front of a group of senior execs a few weeks ago talking about the influence that they have on the safety culture of their organisations, and consequently the safety-related behaviours of their workers. The course was the new NEBOSH / HSE Health and Safety Leadership Excellence course. This is an ideas-rich one day introduction to the principles of health and safety leadership. It has a heavy emphasis on human factors and is more concerned with leadership styles and the psychology of decision-making than it is with the nuts and bolts of safety management. I blogged about certain aspects of the course a few months ago (see…
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Five Ways That We Can Recycle More Effectively
Most of us are guilty of not recycling enough, and unfortunately this is a global issue. An issue that is progressively getting worse, and the damage caused is becoming almost irreparable. Society has become accustomed to living a consumer driven lifestyle. Meaning that we buy products with the view of throwing them away once they are no longer of functional use. Although the UK recycling rate is (currently) gradually increasing, since a majority of our environmental laws derive from EU law; there is much scepticism as to whether the UK Government will prioritise recycling once we exit the EU. The UK recycling rate for Waste from Households (WfH; including IBA…
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Mental Health Awareness Within H&S and The Workplace
Health and Safety Workplace Cultures Naturally Mental Health issues can occur throughout all workplaces and industries. Poor mental health can affect any one of us. However, within the Health and Safety industries, there are some environments where raising concern about these issues is difficult. For example, within the Construction Industry there is a workplace culture which draws on ‘’traditional masculinity’’. This culture can be seen across the Health and Safety industries. For instance, Referenced from The SHP Road to Well-Being eBook: ”Referencing Robin Ely of Harvard Business School: Macho Culture is also endangering the workplace by creating a culture where people felt they “had to prove themselves” rather than assess…
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Futurebuild 2019 at The ExCel Centre
What is Futurebuild? The leading built environment event for professionals to meet and learn, be inspired and do business. The exhibition is held at the ExCel London spanning over three days, 5th – 7th March. There is an array of businesses exhibiting within the event, ranging from Siemens to Greenpeace. The focus is on producing sustainable materials, in order to improve our built environment and beyond. The event is interactive, in addition to plenty of stalls to view and explore, there are scheduled discussions you can attend. The discussions focus on various environmental, educational and housing issues. For example, we attended a talk named, The Environment Challenge: How can…
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Historical Parallels – The Great London Smog of 1952
As anyone who has attended a majority of the classroom-based courses that I have delivered will know; I believe a case study from the past can assist in helping students understand the problems of today. This can be a great learning experience. In regards to air pollution, I’m not aware of a better case study than that of The Great London Smog of 1952. The Great London Smog of 1952 The Great London Smog occurred in December 1952 and resulted in the deaths of around 12,000 people, and thousands of people became ill. The smog occurred for a period of 14 days in total. In the UK this case study…
