AROUND THE CLOCK
AROUND THE CLOCK 1.
What are your main responsibilities?
My main responsibilities at CHAS include researching and designing new products aligned with regulatory compliance within the health and safety field as well as enhancing CHAS’s existing offering. I also work with
CHAS business partners to ensure that information and documentation supplied is compliant, correct and as expected by CHAS. As well as this, I represent CHAS at various industry forums to ensure we are both visible and fully versed with initiatives and changes.
2.
How did you get into the industry? This is a question that I get asked frequently. Like
a lot of health and safety professionals, I did not leave school thinking I would become involved in health and safety. In short, I shared an office with a health and safety officer who at the time was looking for a trainee. I accepted and the rest is history. Construction is also in my blood, my grandfather was a painter and decorator; my father is a plasterer and my brother also works in health and safety in construction.
3.
What did you do before this job? Prior to joining CHAS I spent eighteen and a half
years with Redrow Homes, the national housebuilder. From 2013 I was Redrow’s Director of Health and Safety. I have spent a total of 31 years working within the construction sector, the majority of which has been in the field of health and safety.
4.
What do you do in a typical day? Depending on meeting schedules, I tend to start
the day by catching up with industry news via the relevant industry journals. I then focus on current projects that the CHAS Product Team are working on and specifically those that fall under the compliance banner as well as any allocated actions from other projects.
A day can involve: research, catching up with third-party business partners, production of product development plans, supporting Business Development and Franchise teams, answering general health and safety related queries, coordinating SSIP queries as well as organising and directing project team meetings.
5.
What’s your most memorable or proudest work moment?
This is a tough one. I could say obtaining Chartered 50
6. 7.
In each issue we catch up with a health & safety professional to find out about their varied work/life balance. This month we caught up with David Ford, Health & Safety Lead at CHAS, to find out what his normal day entails.
status with the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), being promoted to Director at my former employer and of course joining the recently formed Product Team at CHAS, all of which are proud moments.
Memorable in a different way was being the sole defence witness for a workplace fatality trial at Crown Court. That is an experience that I will never forget.
What’s the best part of your job? Working in a great team who communicate on a
regular basis and understand the aims and objectives of what the business is looking to achieve. Meeting like- minded people who want to solve problems or improve the way we work. It’s also satisfying to see contractors use the CHAS assessment process to enhance what they do and build their businesses.
What’s the worst part of your job? For me it has got be taking minutes of meetings.
If you are driving a meeting it can be difficult to actively participate and take notes to produce minutes. Thankfully some people are good at it – a special mention to my colleague Anna Shillitoe.
8. 9.
Do you have any advice for anyone starting out in the industry?
Take your time to find a role that you enjoy. Never be afraid to ask a question or disagree. Be engaging to the people you meet, grow your network and try to take a positive from bad situations. Never stop learning and work hard and play hard.
How do you like to unwind? I am a people person and I am lucky to have a
great network of friends and family. I love to socialise and catch up with them during normal times. I also like a game of tennis and walking, as well as growing my network on LinkedIn. No individual knows everything and it’s good to have a network who you can call upon for advice or just to run something past them.
10.
What career would you like if you weren’t doing this?
I would have loved to have been a tennis coach, but I think my knees are past it now. In fairness I love what I have done in my career. We all have times when things aren’t going so well and frustrations, but I love engaging with contractors and people to hopefully get them to understand why we should be doing things in a certain way, the safe way.
www.chas.co.uk www.tomorrowshs.com
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