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Scuba Safety – echo3education’s Nikki Shares Lessons in Risk Management
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been supporting echo3 remotely while holidaying on the beautiful island of Mauritius. I’ve been treating myself to some scuba diving and, as most things tend to do due to the nature of our business, it has made me reflect on the health and safety lessons learned.
Currently, I’m a recreational scuba diver – I have a basic understanding of the fundamental skills but, should things go wrong at 18 metres below the Indian Ocean’s surface, I’m largely reliant on my more knowledgeable Dive Master to avert potential catastrophe and a possible trip to the bottom of Davey Jones’ locker.
Usually when I scuba, my dive buddies are holiday divers just like me. But today my dive buddy was Tony. Tony dives for fun, just like me, but Tony really knows his stuff. Instead of simply putting his faith in someone else to sort things out if he finds himself in deep water (pardon the pun), Tony has done his homework. Tony has studied diving in detail and understands the science of scuba. If a problem arises, Tony can fix it. In fact, with Tony’s superior knowledge and understanding, the potential for problems is minimised. In other words, compared to me and my surface level understanding, the risk for Tony is low.
Parallels can be drawn here between Tony’s scuba prowess and the way a business manages its health and safety.
An organisation could ensure that all employees meet minimum standards by engaging in basic HSE training – either face-to-face or online. However, ultimate responsibility for staff safety falls to the health and safety manager – the Dive Master of the outfit – who is armed with superior knowledge and understanding. It is their duty to ensure that all prerequisite HSE regulations are being met and that staff are executing their duties safely. But, is this the most effective way to minimise risk?
Think about the company that empowers all its employees to be Tonys – the company that educates staff to a depth that takes them beyond HSE fundamentals, that increases their understanding of how to manage risk and how to deal with hazards. This is the company where risk management is woven through the very fabric of the organisation and where the likelihood of risk is low – for everyone.
Tony increased his dive knowledge through a blend of theory and practice. A company can ensure its employees have robust HSE K&U through the provision of a carefully planned and executed training programme.
At echo3education, we support businesses in achieving this by tailoring bespoke suites of online training to address industry-specific HSE needs and legislative requirements. Companies can host this online training themselves in-house on their own LMS (Learner Management System), although most prefer to give staff access via echo3’s LMS. A strength of online training, of course, is that learner engagement and achievement can be tracked, something else echo3 can take care of, ensuring that you know at all times how far along the line each employee is to becoming a fully-fledged HSE Tony.
In fact, you could think of echo3education as the PADI of the HSE world. 🙂
Now, I think I just have time for one more pina colada before leaving this tropical paradise and flying back to echo3 headquarters. If you want to find out more about how echo3education can help you achieve your HSE requirements, or simply want to see more photos of my scuba adventures, drop me a line at nikki@lucyketcham.com.
Communication Skills | Delegation Skills | First Aid at Work | Health & Safety For Managers | Move More at Work
Tony manages the IT consultancy IS Software | https://www.issoftware.co.uk