Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 23RD - 29TH NOVEMBER 2018 | 21 Operations & Assets Views from the speakers 1. Mental health. The mental wellbeing of employees is as important as physical health in the modern workplace. 2. Technology. Technology is a key driver, with companies using the latest developments in augmented reality to create a more secure working environment. 3. Data. Utilities are creating new, centralised ways to store employee data. 4. Innovation. Much has improved but "hard lessons" have been learnt along the way. 5. Changing the conversation. Treating employees as the adults they are has helped companies further their health and safety message and reiterate its importance. Key takeaways Karl Simons, chief health, safety and security officer at Thames Water "Risk visualisation is the key to setting any agenda that you have." Geoff Earl, director of safety, health and environment at Northern Powergrid "The most powerful leadership tool is your own personal example." wellbeing and security Richard Rogers said com- panies need to have "adult-to-adult" conversations with employees over things such as changes to their personal protective equipment – a method he says is proving successful for Severn Trent. Whereas before, all employees had to wear a hi- visibility jacket, gloves, appropriate footwear and a helmet whenever they set foot on site, the com- pany realised this was not always practical and so changed the policy accordingly. "What we have seen so far is quite a bit of acceptance from busi- nesses that it does take quite a long time to change things like this. Even though the admin took five minutes, the conversation, explanation and cul- tural side took a lot longer," said Rogers. Throughout the day companies were keen to emphasise the journey they had made in putting in place processes to keep their staff safe. While in the past there was the main focus of looking aer the physical well being of staff, companies in the energy and utility sector have realised that psy- chological wellbeing is of paramount importance too. This was clearly demonstrated at this year's conference. Derek Field health, safety and environment strategy manager for Northern Gas Networks "Getting people to do the right things can be really hard. It's normally a balancing act, time versus risk." Richard Rogers, head of health, safety, wellbeing and security, Severn Trent Water "Safety performance and risk perception are critical to the cultural journey we are going on." Caroline McLeod, group head of occupational health at Kier Group "If you have an occupational health nurse on site she is not there to save lives, so beware."

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