What does a day in the life look like for a Health & Safety Consultant like me?
To be honest, it can vary so much depending on the day! Whether I am on a job site interacting with crews, in an office reviewing documents or jetting off to my next destination, there’s always something happening.
Life On Site
A lot of my time is spent on site. This can be for a multitude of reasons whether it’s at a small company assessing potential safety risks and working with a small crew to put in place proper protocols, or at a large site for a multinational company managing an established Health & Safety Committee. One thing is always the same in that it keeps me on my toes!
Another aspect of life on site is that I am often holding meetings with crews. As I am often one of the only women on a job site this can be a daunting task – not one for the faint of heart! It helps that I have years of experience and a confidence in my knowledge (plus a good sense of humour never hurts) and I always come prepared. Having command of a room filled with a variety of people from all walks of life to either instruct or lead a team in a subject like health & safety is interesting to say the least. Be ready to get straight to the point and let the crew know you are there as a resource to help keep them safe. Nobody wants to have time lost or worse due to a workplace incident.
Contract Work
My line of work is on a contract-basis. This means I can be at a location for just a day or for long periods of time, depending on the services rendered by a company. Sometimes it involves being on site to conduct a workplace incident investigation, usually on behalf of a WorkSafe governing body, other times I am in a location helping to develop standard safety procedures for a new company, which can last much longer.
Working in Health & Safety is a passion of mine, and I believe it is part of my job to impart some of that passion to the people I work for and work with. If everyone takes an active role in Workplace Health & Safety, everyone benefits!
The Other Side of Glamorous
As one might guess, working in trades is not known for being a “glamorous” profession. It sometimes entails getting your hands dirty and meeting people on their own levels. This is often a job that brings me out to remote locations with some pretty bare-bones accommodation. I believe my humble upbringing in a largely working-class area allows me to find the beauty in every situation, and being a Maritimer always is a great ice-breaker since most of us have been blessed with a great sense of humour and the gift of gab!