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Whats the average life span of a H&S Professional? (Friday Thread)
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In the profession or in life...? ;)
Scott
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I've been alive for nearly 40 years......
I've been in health & safety for about 13 years.....
I think I might have been professional for about 5 minutes once! ;-)
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I've been at it 20 years. Some days seems like alot longer. As long as I keep getting paid I will keep going.
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I can see some complex formula emerging here, with factors including (a) skin thickness and (b) forehead strength.
(a) determines how long you can go on whilst Daily Wail slings and arrows and man-in-the-pub "elf n'safety' ridicule are hurled your way;
(b) a more obvious factor, determining just how long the individual can go on banging his head against the same brick wall before suffering life-threatening injury.
I would suggest that unlike 'life, the Universe and everything' the answer in this case is > 42.
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I was once told 8 years was the average
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As we are often seen as the messenger, and prone to being shot, I am surprised that we aren't something of an endangered species! Perhaps we are!
I suggest suitable ballistic protection to improve longevity!
There is a Friday thread after all.
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Been in it since 1996 - 16yrs.
Aiming for 3yrs in Norway, starting very soon - very good dosh - £1000k day, pay the mortgage off etc.
Then seriously thinking of doing something else.
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£1000K a day? I think there's an added K there, even the Norwegians don't get £5,000,000 a week; you have to be a professional footballer to get that,
John
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Stick me down for half a day will ya!
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Would you agree that a footballer, worth his salt, could play in in any position on the field equally well, given the time ? eg. if David B was required to play in another position, due to the injury of the regular positioned player, would David let the side down ?
Similarly, would a safety professional, duly recognised as such, be able to fulfill his obligations in any safety related field, given the time ?
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£260,000,000 a year
x 3 = £780,000,000
Must be a biiiig mortgage :)
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I have had an inclination that I'm under paid.
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JJ Prendergast wrote:Been in it since 1996 - 16yrs.
Aiming for 3yrs in Norway, starting very soon - very good dosh - £1000k day, pay the mortgage off etc.
Then seriously thinking of doing something else.
Very nice. Who are you working for?
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I f I got paid that much I wouldn't have started this thread!
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Became TechSP back in '99. Was involved in H&S since '97. Became MIOSH in 2005 and CMIOSH in same year (from memory). Got by Fellowship to Royal Geographical Society (FRGS) in 2007, risk management in expedition logisitics, and hoping aournd 2015 I'll get my Chartered Geographers (CGeog) status.
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That figure is before tax though...
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JJ Prendergast wrote:
Then seriously thinking of doing something else.
I'd start investing and grab a few buy-to-lets to keep you going!
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I like Ron’s idea of a formula, but what do you do if you enter all the variables specific to you and find you have lived two years longer than you should?
A) Quit while your ahead
B) Carry on and reclassify work as an extreme sport
C) Risk another few years in Norway, then buy Norway
D) Get the men in white coats to come and get you, so you can retire in your very own padded cell.
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Yeah sorry - an extra unrequired 'k'
Neverthless anticipating retirement in from h&s in about 3yrs time.
Even allowing for Norwegian taxes/travel and renting a flat - still expecting a good profit to enable retirement from h&s in 3yrs
Can't wait
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To answer the question posed in the thread title, the average is between 70 and 80 years - same as for most people apparently in the UK.
Still on a serious note, after retirement from full-time work of any sort, I understand from various sources that people can increase their longevity by having a mixture of hobbies, interests and activities in order to try to keep their brains and bodies active. There seems to be some truth in this: Over the years I've known or heard of a number of people who were devoted to their jobs/occupations and then died of boredom within a year or two after retiring because they didn't fill the mental/physical/social vacuum they experienced after retiring.
Several years ago I jestingly mentioned to an occupational physician friend that I once saw a tee-shirt bearing the phrase "Is work an occupational disease?!!". He swiftly replied no and explained that various research projects had found that being occupied, whether in paid or unpaid activities, was important for the wellbeing of most people. By contrast, unemployed people who stayed at home and did little except watch TV are significantly more prone than employed people to physical and mental ill-health, especially if they also have limited social interaction with others.
As for the lifespan of this thread, the title also includes 'Friday'. Therefore, I reckon a day or so, possibly several, is the likely lifespan before it gets locked!!!!! :-(
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All things considered though Graham, early retirement would be a risk I'm happy to take (the earlier the better!)
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I can certainly think of far better ways to spend my time than doing h&s ...
I was a little dissapointed that I have yet again been over looked for the England cricket captain slot earlier in the week, for example ....
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JJ Prendergast wrote:Yeah sorry - an extra unrequired 'k'
Neverthless anticipating retirement in from h&s in about 3yrs time.
Even allowing for Norwegian taxes/travel and renting a flat - still expecting a good profit to enable retirement from h&s in 3yrs
Can't wait
So you have shortened your lifespan in H&S but what else will you do? The ways things are going in this country any profit will soon be eaten away but of course you will always have the option to go somewhere else and to come back and earn hods more on the back of H&S. Good luck to you. Sounds like a plan to me.
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Ron
Even with enforced retirement due to health still had 30 odd years + / - vat. The best part was seeing the mighty fall at times. Now I enjoy myself annoying mere establishment such as PCTs, NHS trusts, central and local Govt Departments, and any other body who drops the manure on the disabled as well as recalcitrant employers in whatever capacity.
Retirement, of a sort, frees you not to fear comebacks on you or your employer. You can get your red hat out and enjoy the lack of head banging because somebody else has to take the worry and you can just criticise, whiich by the way is very easy to do.
Unfortunately the zeal for others and their condition only dies with the body. The true practitioner never expires but keeps on maturing until that point.
Bob
(retired, but only from earning money)
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With plenty of interests and pursuits to keep me occupied (too many according to my missus) I've had no regrets so far since taking voluntary early retirement as a late fiftysomething back in March this year. Also, nobody else working who worked for my employer and knew I was going tried to dissuade me from leaving, so I certainly wasn't indispensable in the work I did. Some people might even have cheered when they learned that I was going!
Talking of the missus, she's currently out at work and expects to find I've made good progress with a roof re-coating project by the time she returns home, so I'd better crack on with it rather than squander any more time for now on this forum! :-)
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Graham Bullough wrote:nobody else working who worked for my employer and knew I was going tried to dissuade me from leaving
Bet they've already saved a fortune in replacement keyboards! ;-)
(only jesting Graham but couldn't resist)
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chris42 wrote:I like Ron’s idea of a formula, but what do you do if you enter all the variables specific to you and find you have lived two years longer than you should?
A) Quit while your ahead
B) Carry on and reclassify work as an extreme sport
C) Risk another few years in Norway, then buy Norway
D) Get the men in white coats to come and get you, so you can retire in your very own padded cell.
phargreaves04 wrote:I was once told 8 years was the average
13 out of 44. Looks like I'm on borrowed time....
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First H&S appointment was in 1976. Informed IOSH that I was retiring in 2010 - 34 years on the job. Approaching 70 now and definitely past my "best before" date so I'm getting in lots of gardening time.
Must go, have to change the chain on the chain saw so I can finish destroying the neighbour's hedge.
They don't like it up 'em !
Merv
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Merv
You are now in your Best After Date!!!!
Bob
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sean wrote:Whats the average life span of a H&S Professional?
Surely it depends on whether or not you
a) Love your job
b) Save lives
c) Hate your job
Enjoy the last couple of hours of this particular Friday.
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Work as a H&S professional whilst there's £ in it, thats the life span.
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Safety Smurf - no offence taken. I think my final tally of battered keyboards was 5, or perhaps it was 6 - would you believe it?! By the way, "would you believe it?" can be a handy textual alternative to a smiley symbol :-) to indicate that something was written in jest and/or not necessarily true.
On a related note, when a lawyer says in court or elsewhere "my client tells me...", it's apparently meant to indicate to other lawyers, etc. that the lawyer doesn't believe what the client has told him. Even so, the lawyer has to relay what the client has said because it's part of his/her remit as the client's representative!
Merv - How's your autobiographical action film "Life of Merv"progressing - or have you forgotten about it from the "Worst job or task you have ever done" thread back in May/June? If any additional actors or extras are needed, please let me know as the pay would help to supplement my pension! Also, as I'm somewhat aesthetically challenged (ugly) I'd be better suited for the part of a villain or, failing that, say one of the men in the uranium mine during the friendly civil war!
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Hi Graham,
A per pros the "life story" : Reminiscing the other day about worst airline experiences reminded me of the time we landed sideways at Eindhoven airport. But also reminded me of the time I was forced (forced !) to spend another 3 days in a five star hotel in Niamey (yes there is one, the Sofitel, overlooks the Niger river) (same hotel once denied having my reservation. Apparently I had been booked in to Miami by mistake)
Our return 747 to Paris (twice weekly) had been "borrowed" by a French politician in a hurry ti get back to his mistress. So they said. Had to tough it out.
it reallyreally was a hard life. Believe me.
Merv
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Merv
Thanks - Your enforced sojourn in a five star hotel sounds like another scene for the film. For the sake of authenticity, will the film have French-speaking actors and English sub-titles where appropriate?
ScottB
Out of curiosity, did you happen to acquire your vicious looking emblem (avatar?) by axe-ident?!!!
:-)
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If being in a fire brigade counts as H&S I started in 1966 and still in H&S.
Work that one out
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Firesafety101 - If you joined the fire brigade at about age 18, I guess that you are almost a mid-sexagenarian. More importantly, on the basis that working for a fire brigade counts as H&S in its wider context, perhaps you can state without contradiction that you have helped to save lives! :-)
Merv - Consider the fortune to be made from having your film adapted through dubbing or sub-titling for screening in many other countries. When Rowan Atkinson had a slot during the entertainment at the Olympic Games Opening Night, the TV commentator explained that he was known worldwide because his "Mr Bean" film/s had been shown in numerous countries. If "Mr Bean" can be so successful, surely there's hope for "Life of Merv" with its mix of humour, pathos, conflict, intrigue, etc. :-)
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As a sub-question, I wonder what's the average life of a Friday thread? Perhaps a prize for the last poster before the mods wake up.
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David - usually between 1 and 3 days. Some survive a bit longer if they happen to pass under the moderatorial 'radar', and thereafter some of them simply disappear!!!! :-)
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Whats the average life span of a H&S Professional? (Friday Thread)
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