Who are you:
Hello, I am Michael Simpson, Head of Health and Safety. I have been working in Health and Safety for over 15 years. I have extensive experience gained from Leisure and Tourism, The Charity Sector, Social Housing and Financial sectors.
Summarise your role:
I have many interesting key objectives within our Trust setting, but my main purpose is to ensure foremost that our employees, patients and site visitors are safe. I also support and advise the Trust with discharging its statutory duties and gauge the effectiveness with legal, ethical and moral compliance. I also love supporting and encouraging the health and safety team and People and Culture Division as a member of the Senior Leadership Team.
What do you find challenging about your role:
The risk profile of our Trust is immense and the diversity of potential hazards of healthcare is unlike any sector I have experienced. The speed and pace the Trust must operate at to keep everything running took some time to acclimatise to.
What do you find rewarding:
Our people; it’s a real honour and privilege to work alongside colleagues who generally care so much about what they do and who they help. I am particularly pleased to see our work and achievements being shared across NHSE and national publications such as our Green Plan initiatives for a new Sharps disposal process that drastically reduced injuries and waste, and increased use of digital to reduce paper waste and streamline our processes to allow colleagues more time to focus on patient care.
I do what I do to satisfy a deep internal desire to help people, I enjoy interacting with colleagues and enjoy when I see or hear how changes are helping them feel better or be better whilst at work. I enjoy the snacks here and the genuine caring nature of everyone.
What do you enjoy outside of work:
Camping, BBQ, AI and tinkering with computers and Poppy, our one-year-old, super-hungry-all-the-time-Labrador, who also loves BBQs.
I was a school governor and currently support the South East branch of IOSH as an executive committee member and mentor, giving back to the Health and Safety sector is very rewarding.