Feeling the stress?

I was intrigued after discovering 30% of GP appointments are used to discuss mental health problems.  It seems to me we are more stressed as a nation than ever.

It was no surprise to find that stress is blamed for triggering up to 85% of chronic illnesses.I believe that stress has a significant impact on the health of our employees.  Employers must be alive to the risk and do what is practical to improve the wellbeing of their staff. Our own stress expert, Andrew Monaghan suggest a focus on the following three points:  

1. Take a look at your staff.General demeanour is a good indicator of potential problems that will show up in sickness, timekeeping, excuse making, disputes and negative arguments 

2. Make challenge positive. Set goals and personal development plans that fit the individuals’ personality, capability and status in the organisation. This will stimulate motivation, not fear of failure

3. Give your staff a good listening to. It removes the feeling of being a small cog in a large, hurdy gurdy management system and makes people feel important

4. Less volume, more quality

In Japan, 777 people died in one year from death by overwork – it’s called Karoshi. Ask yourself what you are doing to control working hours and encourage recreation time with family and friends 

The three most forgotten safety aspects on construction sites 

You would be surprised by how many construction sites could help minimize risks by just remembering a few commonly forgotten safety aspects.   

Good Order:It goes without saying that every part of a construction site should be kept in good order and in a reasonable state of cleanliness.  Many construction sites can overlook the fact that housekeeping is a legal requirement. Where necessary, the perimeters of the site should also be identified by suitable signage so that the site is readily identifiable, fenced off or both.  

Welfare facilities:
It is essential to provide suitable and sufficient washing facilities, including showers if required, and be provided as readily accessible places. Washing facilities must include a clean supply of hot and cold water, soap or other suitable skin cleansers, towels or other means of drying.  They should also be adjacent to sanitary conveniences and to changing rooms, if provided. Washing rooms must also be sufficiently ventilated, remain clean and kept in an orderly fashion. 

Temperature and weather protection: During working hours, it is vital to ensure the temperature at any indoor place of work is reasonable. Alternatively, every construction site should ensure the health and safety of persons at work outdoors is also accounted for by providing adequate protection from adverse weather conditions, including protective clothing and work equipment.

Extra Inspectors welcome, but more needed:Even though the HSE’s decision to recruit 40 new inspectors is a step in the right direction, I am in agreement that it’s not enough for Britain’s increasing health and safety needs.The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) claimed we are far away from the HSE being adequately resourced to deal with the challenges it faces in the future – and I agree. I feel even though the employment of 40 new inspectors gives the HSE increased resource, there is still a considerable shortfall in what’s needed to fulfill its inspection and enforcement function.  It’s also vital to address the fact that the workforce is rapidly growing with many more risk groups and older and migrant workers. There is also going to be a major increase in construction work – I recently read there are proposals to build three million new homes by 2020 not to mention the building of the Olympic Games venue by 2012.  I strongly believe there are problems too with some of the ageing infrastructure in this country. 40 additional inspectors will not be enough.

Keeping employees safe is about understanding risk and taking appropriate precautions to ensure that process and people work together to limit its impact.

That’s why our business has created powerful training courses for managers and health and safety professionals, who want to take a holistic view of managing health and safety in the workplace.

Paul Darby

Whilst browsing the HSE website recently, I learned that 76 people were killed and 15,840 badly hurt at work in London over the last seven years.

These figures are sobering. Take a look at what’s happening in your area -  the HSE website lists council stastics for every town and city in the UK and the number of people hurt or killed is astounding. It will be of special interest to you if you work in the construction and services industry as these account for more major injuries than any other.

Paul Darby

A meeting with the Operations Board at our London office at which I presented my proposals for our 2007 - 2010 Safety, Health & Environmental Strategy; this is underpinned by annual objectives and targets and an annual improvement plan.

The strategy being the high level ‘vision’ - a road map of where we want to be by 2010, the annual objectives and targets being aimed at the senior management and the day to day, week to week, month to month route of how we are going to achieve the requirements of our strategy and the annual improvement plan being the easy to understand and communicate document aimed at operational staff - after all they are the ones that can and will make the difference so we need to help them by being as clear, concise and supportive as we can.

The meeting went really well with some ‘lively’ and interesting debate taking place, especially around the objectives and targets and the fact that I wanted to introduce harder measures (specifically for the senior management); what gets measured gets done always strikes a chord with me and is a fantastic driver...

We discussed a number of points and really looked proactively to the year ahead and to be working with a visionary team inspires me in my role, senior management backing and support is vital in most roles but especially in safety, health and environmental work.

All the documents have one thing in common namely that they support our drive for improvement and show our commitment to ensuring that we operate without causing harm to any citizens, partners, the public or the environment.

Remember - “ ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS DONE, ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU ALWAYS GOT! !”

Top Tip - read “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team; A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni (ISBN 0787960756 ) as this is a great book for understanding team dynamics whether at work, in sport or other team situation.

I submit my report to the Board for review and will then present to them face to face next week and discuss any pressing issues - especially accidents in the period and remedial action taken.

We will then go on to review progress against company objectives and targets and strategy so all in all it is a very productive meeting and one that is focused on improvement.

Today was the senior management leadership conference and boy was it different!

We started with a warm up exercise - 100 of the company leaders on bongo drums being lead by a musician.

The purpose of this exercise being to illustrate that a lone drum makes a certain impact but when we are all in tune and on the beat the benefits are huge!!! It was a great way to get people to look at team playing.

This warm up was then followed by a number of workshops on communication and how best to relay information within an organisation of our size.........the conclusion being that email does not work!!!!! Face to face contact is by the best and preferred method.

The final session looked at performance and our best performing businesses - with a special award for ‘ Best Contribution to Safety, Health & the Environment 2006 ‘ being given by our Chairman; having our Chairman present the award followed by a speech outlining the Boards commitment to Safety, Health & the Environment was great and really supported me and my team in moving forward.

Remember - "EVERYONE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE WE GET HOME SAFE AND WELL EACH AND EVERY DAY - WE ALL HAVE OUR PART TO PLAY!!"

Visit the website tomorrow for the next installment.

Any one who thinks that working from home is an easy has obviously never done it - you start earlier (almost as soon as you open you eyes) and work later!!!!!

Whilst you obviously have to be self disciplined it is can be easier to work from home when trying to compile reports or when working on more complex - less distractions and hassle from the ‘time bandits’ - you know the ones they sneak up to you and say “have you got a minute” this then becomes ten, then an hour and they leave you with more work than you previously had and less time to do it in!!

I am currently developing our leading indicators - I am trying to move away from the traditional negative lagging indicators that show what was done wrong to measuring and reporting on what was done right e.g. accident frequency rate (AFR) or accident free days (negative - v - positive).

Whilst there is clearly a need to measure performance we should focus on continuous improvement and look to the future as opposed to becoming obsessed on what happened in the past.

Remember - "BE PROACTIVE - BUILD YOUR OWN POSITIVE FUTURE!!"

Visit the website tomorrow for the next installment.

Funny how different Heathrow airport looks at 6.20am - hardly different at all in fact!!! Still mad busy and full of stressed out looking ‘executives’ phones in each hand and ‘Blackberries’ (the handheld computer not the fruit!) buzzing away!

I had a team meeting in Newcastle today to discuss our new improved management system the ‘ Safety, Health & Environmental Toolkit ‘and the proposals for rolling it out, starting from early February.

I have some great guys (and gals’) in my team and they all have something special they can add, it is important that we let people have their say and make their contributions. All too often peoples great ideas can be overlooked because the one that shouts loudest gets heard.

Remember - "LISTEN, LISTEN AND LISTEN SOME MORE - TWO EARS - ONE MOUTH USE THEM IN PROPORTION!!"

Visit the website tomorrow for the next installment

This weeks blog is essential for those of who who are thinking of working in the health & safety industry.

The content has been provided by Shaun Davis, our first "guest blogger",Group Director of Safety, Health & Environment at Rok Plc. Shaun has been with Rok for nearly a year previously working for Balfour Beatty for 8 years prior.

A Chartered Safety & Health Practitioner with many qualifications. He currently has a team of 18, consisting of 3 regional safety, health and environmental leaders, environmental specialist, a special projects manager and 13 advisors which are spread nationwide.

His day to day work is extremely varied and finds him at any of their UK wide offices, involved in meetings, performance reviews, training, coaching, mentoring or any other number of Safety, Health & Environmental related activities.

Welcome to the Pivotal Performance Web log, otherwise known as a blog. A blog is a user generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in reverse chronical order.

Our blog will provide commentary or news on particular subjects that we feel are relevant to our customers, or the industries that we work within.

You as readers will have the ability to leave comments and suggestions and it is hoped that the site will be beneficial to all of our customers and we would welcome feedback from you all.

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