What the Royal Navy Taught Me About Risk Management and Health and Safety

Before health and safety became my career, there was the Royal Navy.

Looking at an old photograph from my time in the Navy, most people would probably see someone enjoying the sunshine and having a laugh.

I see something different.

I see the training, the preparation, the high-risk operations and the responsibility that comes with knowing that when something goes wrong at sea, you can't simply wait for someone else to arrive and sort it out.

At sea, there are no blue lights on the horizon if something goes wrong.

The crew are the firefighters.

The crew are the emergency responders.

The crew are the damage control team.

Every exercise, procedure and drill exists for one reason: to prepare for the day you hope never comes.

Those lessons have stayed with me.

Risk Management Starts Before Something Goes Wrong

One of the biggest lessons I took from the Royal Navy is that good risk management is proactive.

You don't wait for an incident before deciding that a hazard needs attention.

You identify what could go wrong, understand the potential consequences and put controls in place before someone gets hurt.

That principle applies just as much to a workplace as it does to a ship.

Whether you're dealing with machinery, vehicles, work at height, contractors, chemicals or everyday workplace activities, the basic approach remains the same.

• What could cause harm?
• Who could be affected?
• What controls are already in place?
• Are those controls actually effective?
• What needs to change?

A risk assessment is useful, but only when it reflects what is actually happening in the workplace.

A beautifully written document doesn't make a workplace safe if the controls described on the page aren't being followed in reality.

The Importance of Hazard Identification

You can't manage a risk you haven't identified.

That sounds obvious, but effective hazard identification isn't always about finding something dramatic.

Sometimes it's the small things.

A damaged piece of equipment.

An obstructed access route.

Poor housekeeping.

An unsafe working practice that has gradually become normal.

A control that exists on paper but isn't being used.

This is why getting out of the office and onto the workplace matters.

Talk to people.

Get out on site.

Look at what's actually happening.

Ask questions.

Observe the work rather than simply relying on what the procedure says should be happening.

The people doing the work often know where the real problems are.

Controls Need to Work in the Real World

Another lesson from the Navy is that procedures and controls need to be practical.

When you're dealing with an emergency, there isn't much value in having a procedure that looks impressive but isn't understood, isn't available or can't realistically be followed.

The same applies in civilian workplaces.

Health and safety systems can become complicated very quickly.

We can end up with procedures, forms, inspections, reports, registers, action trackers and risk assessments covering almost every activity.

All of those things can have value.

But the purpose of the system should always come back to the same question:

**Is it helping us control risk?**

If the answer is no, we need to ask why.

Safety Leadership Is About More Than Policies

Good safety leadership isn't simply about having the right policy sitting in a document management system.

It's about what leaders do when they see something that isn't right.

Do they ask questions?

Do they listen to employees?

Do they take concerns seriously?

Do they act when something needs fixing?

Do people feel comfortable raising a problem before it becomes an incident?

These things have a significant impact on safety culture.

People quickly notice whether health and safety is something an organisation genuinely takes seriously or simply something that needs to be demonstrated during an audit.

Leadership doesn't have to mean standing in front of a room giving a safety presentation.

Sometimes it's simply walking around the workplace, speaking to someone and asking:

"How are things actually going?"

Technology Has Changed. The Fundamentals Haven't.

Health and safety has changed considerably since my time in the Royal Navy.

We now have technology that can help with reporting, inspections, risk assessments, document management and data analysis.

That's a good thing.

But technology shouldn't replace the fundamentals of good health and safety.

We still need people talking to people.

We still need competent people getting out onto the workplace.

We still need hazards identified.

We still need risks assessed.

We still need controls implemented and checked.

And we still need people willing to challenge something when it isn't right.

The purpose of technology should be to support those activities, not distract us from them.

Use Technology to Give HSE Professionals Time Back

This is one of the reasons I built ISO Comply AI.

I don't believe technology should make health and safety more complicated.

Quite the opposite.

If technology can take away some of the repetitive administrative work, that gives HSE professionals more time to do the things that actually require people.

• Talk to workers.
• Visit the workplace.
• Identify hazards.
• Understand the risks.
• Follow up actions.
• Build relationships.
• Improve safety.

ISO Comply AI brings together tools designed to help with some of that workload.

**ISO Gap Analysis** allows organisations to upload their documentation and quickly identify where they stand against ISO 45001 requirements.

**Workplace Inspections** allow you to talk through what you see, capture findings and photographs, and turn those findings into clear actions without spending hours writing everything up afterwards.

The technology isn't the safety system.

It's there to support the people responsible for making workplaces safer.

The Fundamentals Still Matter

Looking back at that photograph from the Suez Canal, I probably wasn't thinking about risk management or safety leadership at the time.

I was just enjoying the moment.

But some of the lessons from those years have stayed with me.

The workplace may have changed.

The technology may have changed.

The systems may have changed.

But the fundamentals haven't.

**Identify the hazard.**

**Understand the risk.**

**Put effective controls in place.**

**Check that they work.**

And don't wait for an incident to tell you something needs to change.

Some lessons stay with you for life.

Take the Next Step

Technology should make health and safety simpler, not more complicated.

If you'd like to spend less time on repetitive HSE administration and more time focusing on the workplace, take a look at ISO Comply AI.

**It's free to try.**

**Try ISO Comply AI**