Hello everyone. I'm Dr Andrew Sharman, IOSH President. I hope that you
and those close to you are keeping well during these unsettling times.
Covid-19 remains at the centre of most things we do, doesn't it?
It influences our planning and decision making
and it seems to me that it has become as much a part of our environments
as the weather. Clearly, we're now living in a Covid-world, coexisting
with a virus that spreads, spikes and subsides
among populations and communities in bewildering ways.
And it's influenced by the vagaries of human behaviour.
So, I'm buoyed by the fact that OSH professionals
continue to enable vital work activities in Covid-secure ways, showing ingenuity
skill and determination. It's a feature of our
profession many have witnessed since the onset of
this pandemic. With your competencies and expertise,
work environments and patterns can, and should be,
safer and more controlled than many homes
and communal spaces. It's thanks to the great work that
you do which IOSH is supporting in every way it can
that we're able to retain, recover and regain
functioning systems and services. Covid has brought OSH to the fore in
many businesses around the world. As leaders turn to
OSH specialists for solid guidance this brings about a great opportunity
for us to step up and to shine. We're moving forward and building our
credibility, creating solutions and leading by
example. It's a never-before seen chance for you
and us to demonstrate our value our abilities and the foundations we lay
every day to enable safe, healthy, productive working lives and
businesses. So are you taking every one of these
opportunities to influence progress in the workplace?
You may have heard me say several times that leadership is
everything we do and everything we don't do.
We need to make sure that we are walking the talk
every moment of every day and making our thoughts and
actions really count. Now is your time to lead.
Over many months now I've engaged widely with IOSH members
and non-members around the world. Having spoken to 41 of our 44 branches now and
talked with thousands of members and OSH
professionals around the world I know we're all
feeling the same mixture of emotions and ideas right now -
apprehension, anxiety, fear, nervousness, excitement, opportunity. We're all in the
same boat. So my question is which way do we want
to go and how well will we row together.
This pandemic has allowed many OSH folks to talk about
what has often been the silent 'H' in H&S, 'Health'. In a short space of time we've
become trusted partners for leaders of organisations around the
world so it's vital that we maintain this trust and credibility
and extend our influence beyond Covid and across other work-related health
issues in the way that the IOSH No Time To Lose
campaign has done with occupational cancer,
firmly locking down H&S as a senior leadership prerogative.
In the excellent conversations I've had during my weekly
'let's talk safety' coffee-time chats with fellow OSH professionals around the
world, we're doing those online, some insights and principles have
emerged and these might help with how you
communicate engage and influence positive
change. So here's a few that I thought might be worth sharing.
First, we need to stay consistent with our positions and guidance based on the
very best information and evidence available. Next, don't
overwhelm people with information and detail.
Be concise, be clear too, there should be no ambiguity in what we say.
Make goals obvious, everyone must return to work safely.
Be the source of reliable, trusted information and support so that
folks come back to you again and again for more.
And keep your eyes on the whole picture. And also outside of work remember
that your workers have families and friends that they care for and that
they're thinking of. If you'd like to join these weekly
discussions online with me, just connect with me on LinkedIn and
we'll get you an invitation.
So, until next time, be safe, go well and finally, continue to stay positive.
You and we have what it takes to succeed. Until next
time, bye for now.