NAME: Natalie Crawford
COMPANY/REGION: Redrow Group Services Ltd
JOB TITLE: Assistant Health and Safety Manager
DEPARTMENT: Health and Safety
WHAT DOES YOUR DEPARTMENT DO?
The health and safety department at Redrow provides advice and support to all areas of the business, enabling our activities to be carried out in a safe and healthy manner.
WHAT DO YOU DO ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS?
It’s a difficult one this one – my day can be out on site, inspecting work areas, entering accidents on a central database, carrying out risk assessments on a young person or expectant mother, drawing up Fire Risk Assessments, Office audits, training site managers and other members of staff, meeting with contractors or the HSE, providing advice on a specific project such as a deep excavation, carrying out a DSE assessment, talking to school children, carrying out a contractor competence audit etc etc!!!
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
It means something to make a difference and as a team we have done that, the safety culture at Redrow has completely changed over the last five years and one benefit of this is that our accident statistics have reduced by around 50% over the last 4 years and it feels good to be working towards the end goal of 0 accidents.The job is varied, I like the combination of desk and outside work. The people who work in construction are unique, there is a feeling of ‘we can do it’ and at the end of the day you are contributing to the future of the country, leaving behind a legacy of well designed, well constructed homes for future generations.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS CAREER?
I have to admit – I think it chose me. I did fall into it a bit, I had always been interested in health and safety, but never quite sure how to go about it, so when the opportunity came to move into the area with Redrow I grabbed it.
WHAT QUALIFICATIONS DID YOU NEED TO GET THIS JOB?
I completed my NEBOSH General Certificate in Safety and Health, my Nottingham Trent University Diploma in Safety, Health and Environmental Management and my British Safety Council Environmental Diploma.
IS THERE ANY PARTICULAR ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE A GRADUATE OR TRAINEE LOOKING FOR A JOB IN YOUR WORK AREA?
For my role in particular I think you can’t beat some on the ground experience so if you can volunteer as a labourer for the week, or shadow a contracts manager, or spend a day with a site manager then do it. It will really give you an insight into what you can do and what needs to be done.