Rather than being baffled or put off by health and safety
legislation, a trust which helps young adults with
learning difficulties find work has found embracing the
associated challenges has helped its business thrive
Rather than being baffled or put off by health and safety
legislation, a trust which helps young adults with
learning difficulties find work has found embracing the
associated challenges has helped its business thrive
Acollege that helps to get 16-25
year olds with learning
difficulties into work within
three years might not be the most
obvious place to find health and safety
issues at its core.
But since focusing on its health and safety
compliance, the Petty Pool Trust charity
has gone from strength to strength. Not
only does the charity now turn over £1m
a year but it also gets 68 per cent of its
students into employment compared to a
national benchmark of 7 per cent. On top
of that, Ofsted has given the college an
'outstanding' grade 1 rating and the trust
has obtained the Investors in People Gold
standard, making it one of only 19
organisations in the north of England to
achieve the award.
When Peter Evans MBE joined the
Petty Pool Trust as chief executive he
found that ensuring the facility continued
to comply with changing laws was taking
up a lot of executive staff's time - time
that he wanted to devote to building on
the trust's nationwide reputation for
delivering quality services to users with
needs.
There are three main reasons that
health and safety became a bigger focus
for the trust. Firstly because its outdoor
centre was increasing the amount of
activities that students were taking part in,
including abseiling, zip wire work,
orienteering, climbing, and riding on a
model railway. Secondly because there
had been significant changes to legislation
which required organisations to show that
they were meeting all health and safety
criteria. And thirdly because the centre
was being used by hundreds of
organisations, companies and schools
which meant there could be 200 people
on site at any one time. Clearly, it was
vital that all legal certifications were
always up to date.
Peter says: "Not only did we have
many thousands of people using the
outdoor centre throughout the year but
our students were doing exciting
activities like whizzing along at 30 mph
30 feet up on a zip wire. Our priority is
their safety, of course, and we have
always ensured that, but the new
legislation meant that we had to be able
to prove our compliance at any given
time and that meant a potential
administrative headache."
He continues: "All students and staff
and everyone who visits here need to feel
that their safety is assured at all times and
that they are able to operate in a safe,
fully tested environment. Our certificates
prove this and ensure everybody has
comfort and peace of mind."
To help deliver this peace of mind, Peter
called on the services of Bibby Consulting
& Support, specialist in employment law
and health and safety legislation. When the
health and safety law changed for
corporate manslaughter, Bibby designed a
training programme that brought all trust
staff bang up to date.
As well as health and safety advice,
Bibby Consulting & Support helped Petty
Pool to keep up to date with employment
law and meet all its legal obligations.
More importantly, however, by ensuring
he is meeting every employees' needs
correctly, Peter has been able to improve
people performance and turn compliance
with employment law into a competitive
advantage.
Describing the service provided by
Bibby Consulting & Support as "terrific",
Peter says: "It just makes you sleep easier,
knowing there's a 24 hour support
helpline for you and your managers. We
now have an annual inspection with a
report showing if there's anything that
needs actioning. I can honestly say that
we have had zero issues but it's great to
have that professional backing and to
know that all your contracts are legal at
any given time."
Michael Slade, managing director of
Bibby Consulting & Support, comments:
"The safety of students and the safety of
staff are massively important at Petty
Pool but with changes in legislation it can
be difficult to keep up. We took away the
headache of worrying about complying
with all sorts of employment and health
and safety laws and allowed the trust to
concentrate on doing what it does best -
improve the lives of young people with
needs and make them ready for the world
of work."