I HAVE A NEW H&S/SHEQ JOB my first move whilst being in a H&S role - what should be my priority for the first 90/100days ? what would you do?
juts trying to get a plan together so i can hit the ground running.
review of procedures,
incident stats,
last management review
GAp audit?
any expert help would be appreciated i have a plan but what would the experts on here recommend?
thanks
T
Update: taken a new job hopefully confidence and positivity will return with new challenge - scary though leaving current place after 16 years (6 years H&S !)
(previous signature: was motivated once ..................... searching to get it back ! )
Talk to people!
Find out what they like / don't like, what they feel about H&S, etc.
Get a feel for the culture.
Yes you can you do the procedural and system reviews to find the gaps, but actually getting a feel for the culture is really important because it will be totally different from company to company, even branch to branch and office to office in bigger companies.
'Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough that they don't want to!' - Richard Branson
Talk to the people and learn the jobs that way.
Then when you do have to review procedures you can see where things don't marry up and question appropriately.
It depends on what authority you have to do things. No point going in expecting to do xy and z if you're not allowed to. So spend the first few days understanding your roll, finding out what is expected of you and what level of authority you have. - The number one biggest issue I have in health and safety is not being given the authority to affect change.
That said, there are things you can do as standard. You mentioned reviewing procedures. No, LEARN the procedures. If you go straight to the review stage you may find they do things differently to what you are used to and you will want to change things. Good way to annoy people. So learn the procedures first, see if what they are doing works, hey, it might be a better procedure to what you have been doing. Once you've learnt what they do, then you can review it.
If you learn alongside the staff thats a great way to get to know them and for them to see you know what you are talking about rather than just coming in, interrogating them and then telling them to change they way they've been doing something for the last 10 years.
If they have audits, read past ones. See whats going on. Are they improving, are things staying the same, are they getting worse? It will give you a feel for the culture in the place. Do they have minutes of meetings? read them, are they useful or just going through the motions to tick a box? do they have appointed reps? speak with them. Is their an external contractor? introduce yourself and see what their concerns are.
Check up on training records. Are they complete, are they readily accessible should someone ask to see them.
Check up on maintenance records. Are they sufficient, up to date and readily accessible?
When no one is looking, pull the fire alarm, see what happens........... I dare ya. (kidding) But ask to see a fire drill in action, dont let them fob you off with just induction training. You need to know what the alarm sounds like anyway, so read the procedure and observe a drill.
Will it be on site or wfh initially? On site, share lots of hand sanitizer, wander around, get to know the team and the job, I like the NHS idea and write your name on your mask... from your fist memos, you’re likely to be a known entity that they might remember, rather than that unknown bod hidden in the HSE office. That look and listen time, I’m sure, will help formulate the next stages.
my first move whilst being in a H&S role - what should be my priority for the first 90/100days ? what would you do?
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