I was invited to visit Shire Homes to look at their health and safety systems and assist with a construction phase plan for a group of barns that they were converting for a client.

After a conversation with directors Mike and Ryan, I had a look around the site and talked to the workers there. I took the information that I had been given and drafted a full health and safety policy. The policy statement was drafted using quotes from the conversations, and the procedures were all based on what was existing on site or discussed and agreed.

The next important stage was to work through the policy line by line with Mike and Ryan to edit and make sure that it was accurate and would be followed.

When I asked about risk assessments, I was handed a file full of printed sheets with lots of neat assessments in multiple colours. It was obvious that this was not a well-used document. I asked what it said, and Mike explained that the last consultant had handed it to them, and they didn’t know the contents. I explained the method of task assessment that I use, and was pleased when Mike responded,  “That’s good. It is the way that I think through a job.” Mike now uses the task assessments regularly and also gets other staff to sit with him at the end of the work day to plan the next day’s work.

I continue to work with Shire Homes on a number of projects and deliver training as required.

We have been working with James for a few years now. We started using James because he understood what we do and did not just come and tell us off. He still tells us if we are wrong but he does it so that we almost end up accusing ourselves, I don’t know how he does that. The documents that he supplies us with are easy to use and make sense. He knows all of the lads and will come and join us for a brew and a banter when on site.

Ryan Morris, Shire Homes

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