Case Studies

Jo, as she’s known to her friends and colleagues, is a Health and Safety Co-ordinator at the Nuffield Health Hospital in Brentwood, Essex. She took on the role a few years ago when a colleague retired. Jo had a bit of experience of health and safety from a previous job at a Day Centre, working with people with learning disabilities. She’d been sent on a basic trade union health and safety course after expressing an interest or “opening her big mouth” as she puts it.

However, health and safety is not all that Jo does at the hospital. She is also an Operating Department Practitioner (ODP). An ODP works in operating theatres and as Jo explains, with a grin: “Our predominant role is to assist in putting people to sleep, and then if they’re good we wake them up again.”

Around 12 years ago, and following a brief spell as an auxiliary nurse, Jo began her two year course to qualify as an ODP. As well as gaining experience in theatre, Jo trained in Accident and Emergency and Intensive Care Units; to not only assist consultant surgeons, but to learn about things like airway management.

“So my working week these days sees me wearing two different uniforms,” says Jo. “One is my ODP theatre scrubs, while the other is my health and safety suit.”

Nuffield Health is keen to maintain high health and safety standards. In fact it has introduced a policy requiring its health and safety personnel to gain at least a NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety. Nuffield Health is accredited to deliver the NEBOSH National General Certificate courses in-house to its employees.

Jo, together with several of her colleagues from other hospitals around the country, passed her NEBOSH National General Certificate at the beginning of this year. She says the qualification helped her greatly with legal aspects, but more than that it gave her more confidence.

“People recognise NEBOSH. We’ve been having refurbishment work done recently and I’ve had to clamp down a bit on some of the contractors. The NEBOSH National General Certificate has given me so much more confidence and clout to be honest.”

Jo is proud of both her ODP and health and safety roles. She appreciates the immense value of protecting people from harm. She has seen first hand the impact accidents can have. Jo has worked in busy burns units and has also travelled to India twice to support charities such as the Smile Train and Sylvia Wright Trust. This year, she travelled to Bangladesh with a consultant colleague and theatre nurse to work in A&E and help out with operations.

“Everywhere I go I see just how critical health and safety is,” she told us. “Simple failures can have devastating impacts and its vital people everywhere understand and appreciate its importance.”

Well said Jo. Keep up the good work.