Fitting out London's finest buildings
We spoke to Tom Drew to find out what it’s like being the go-to person on health & safety at Brown & Carroll.
I usually leave at about 6.30am if I’m heading to the office. Having to contend with the M25 can make for an unpredictable journey.
Hopefully I’m in the office for 8am, so I can begin checking if any RAMS came in overnight. RAMS are risk assessment message statements. They’re usually submitted in advance, but sometimes they can be sent last minute. I check the RAMS to see if anything needs to be actioned straight away. We don’t want a project to be held up on site.
I’m heading down to our factory floor this morning to do an induction with a contractor. It’s important that anyone coming into the factory follows our health & safety requirements. Whether they’re staying for a couple of hours or a couple of weeks, they have to be briefed.
Back up to my desk to get the risk assessment documents together for a new project. I’ll base the health & safety requirements on the project drawings we have. Once the site is open, further changes can happen, but initial risk assessment docs have to be submitted.
When I’m in the office, my colleague and I make a real effort to go out for a walk. It’s really important for me that I get away from my desk (and screen) for some fresh air. After a walk, we’ll sit and have lunch before work resumes.
Yes, it’s part of the reason I really love the job. I like the variety of not always being sat at a desk. After lunch today I’m driving into London to visit one of our sites. My role is the day-to-day management of the on-site health and safety team, so I’ll speak to the H&S Advisor about anything that needs addressing. Then, I’m going to spend an hour delivering a Toolbox Talk on manual handling. We have some new people on site so it’s really important.
Before I leave, I attend the site management meeting. It’s a chance for me, and my peers from the other contractors involved, to discuss any health & safety aspects of the project. At every stage of the project, we need to make sure that we’re keeping our people and everyone on the site safe. As you can imagine, COVID is still a part of our agenda, as are mental health and wellbeing.
I keep everything crossed there are no hold-ups at the Dartford Crossing. Hopefully I’m home by 6.15pm. I have an 11-month-old, so getting home to see him before he falls asleep is always great.
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