The ATT Safety Leadership Podcast

Ahead of the opening of a new ATT immersive training centre for SSE (Scottish + Southern Energy), Director at ATT Adam Christopher travels to the Pitlochry Dam and Visitor Centre where he meets Gillian O’Reilly, the Head of Heritage and Community Programmes for SSE. Gillian tells Adam about the history of hydropower in the area and why training centres have a long connection to SSE’s work in Perthshire.

Dr Ollie Folayan is a chemical process engineer with Aberdeen-based consultancy Optimus and a visiting Professor at the University of Dundee. In 2007, he and his sister founded the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE-UK) to attract and retain BME talent into the industry. Ollie talks to ATT Director Adam Christopher about leadership, changing hearts and minds and his experience at Thrive.

Adam visits UK Construction Week at the Excel Centre in London to talk to people in the industry about what safety means to them and how our emotions impact on our behaviour in the workplace and how we absorb and act on important safety lessons. Paul, a paver ground worker, believes there should be more care and consideration on site; Sarah Meek, Managing Director of the mental health charity Mates in Mind, thinks that when people connect emotionally in safety training, they engage better; and Denise Farquharson, Safety Development and Culture Engagement Officer for HS2, advocates for emotional intelligence as a critical safety skill.

In this episode, we investigate why active learning might be a key resource for people in hazardous industries to retain vital information and stay safe. Adam speaks with Dr Natasha Sigala, Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, about neurocognitive patterns and memory structures or, put more simply, how story-telling makes us remember better. https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p256526-natasha-sigala

ATT are back with part two of the discussion on construction's mental health crisis, this time focusing on tangible solutions offered by groundworker, mental health advocate and campaigner, Steve Kerslake, who shares his own experience of mental health issues, and Kerry McLeod from leading mental health charity, Mind. HSE's ‘Core Standards’ framework is suitable for employers of all sizes: https://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/mental-health.htm Trigger warning: this episode deals with discussions around suicide and mental health struggles, so please listen with care. Resources for additional support visit: Samaritans.org Mind.org.uk *Mates in Mind

Three-quarters of deaths by suicide in the UK are men; in the construction industry men are three times more likely to take their own lives than those working in other sectors*, in fact there is a higher rate of suicide in construction than any other UK industry. In the first of two episodes, ATT asks why poor mental health persists in the construction industry, who is responsible and what are employers doing to safeguard the wellbeing of their workers. ATT co-director, Adam Christopher’s guests include Ian Burnham Programme Delivery Manager, Northern line extension - TFL, and Rhoda Smith HR Generalist for Tideway. Trigger warning: this episode deals with discussions around suicide and mental health struggles, so please listen with care. Resources for additional support visit: Samaritans.org Mind.org.uk *Mates in Mind The clips used in this episode are from Jamie Busby at the GMT Union and Paddy (the Baddy) Pimblett from BT Sports

What is hi-vis clothing for? Who needs to wear it? Why don’t people wear it? Self-confessed hi-vis geek Adam Christopher explores the social and psychological complexities of one of the simplest, but most effective health and safety measures to keep safe in high-risk work environments. Adam’s guests include Health, Safety and Wellbeing Director at Align, Neil Hancox, Civil Engineering Apprentice, Leena Begum and Constantine Martinov, a slinger signaller on the Thames Tideway Tunnelling project.

Young people account for nearly two-thirds of job losses* since the start of the pandemic, while a report published by the National Youth Agency and Youth Employment UK* demonstrated that “without a fundamental change in how young people are supported, far too many will be left behind”. We investigate the benefits of supporting disadvantaged young people into the construction and infrastructure industries and the potential impact on industry, young people, and their wider communities. In part two of this mini-series on young people in construction, we talk to employers, a charity organisation and some young people themselves to discuss how we can support disadvantaged young people with getting into the industry. Featured guests are Lee Davies, Programme Director for HS2 at Costain Group, Carol Lynch, CEO of Construction Youth Trust, and two of Cementation Skanska’s youngest employees, 22-year-old Ike Adobe and 25-year-old Keeron Williams. Our contributors highlight the rewards that come from reducing barriers into the construction industry, for young people and organisations alike. From diversity of thought in the workplace, to communities being involved in the regeneration of deprived areas, we explore the value that can come from creating equal opportunities for young, disadvantaged, and diverse people. * Source 1: Office for National Statistics: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/march2021 Source 2: National Youth Agency: https://backend.nya2.joltrouter.net/wp-content/uploads/1013-NYA-employment-report-Digital-Final-version-1.pdf *Source 3: Commons Library: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05871/