Hi, I've got to pitch a 10 min presentation at an interview for a local authority this week. The presentation is on H&S advisor's problems maintaining standards when advising managers during times of austerity. I figure I can pitch plenty of "text book" at them but does anyone have any practical adivce for me please, topic specific? I know similar problems exist throughout private and public sector but I don't want to stray too far if possible. Many thanks for reading

Thanks, you've glanced briefly on what I have already built up from assumption, training would be an initial easy target regarding resource allocation, but the broader problems of cutbacks I imagine include loosing key and often experienced staff. I have 3 friends all in LA's 1(retired) and he gave me a real life account which was a great insight. Thanks for the reply and anyone else keep them coming

As a employee in the commercial sector ( our company lives or dies on our profitability, no bail out from the taxpayer), it always amazes me that those funded by the taxpayer can wiggle out of their statuary responsibilities by saying they are hard up. If we did that we would be accused of putting profit before lives

Hmmmmmmmm! Although LAS are essentially directly funded by the tax payer, (incidentally, of course the private sector is also funded by tax payers) there is no 'bail out' or 'wriggle out'. There are plenty of LA criminal cases, probably a disproportionate number of LA civil cases, and those with sufficient experience will know that LAS are often 'targeted' by the HSE. If you think that LAs can wriggle out of their responsibilities because they claim that they are 'hard up', then you are sadly mistaken. Sadly of course, many organisations DO put profit before health and safety; there are any number of examples of that.

Adale The challenges for the public sector are very similar to the private sector. Your work will be influenced by any number of factors, not only your managers and senior management team, but by an increasingly demanding public, public perception and of course the elected member. Oh, and both managers and members being concerned about the public perception, in particular anything that is either negative or perceived to be negative. You should know that most (all) Las have for some years been undergoing a significant number of changes mainly driven by central government and the need to drive down costs, make savings, increase efficiency, work smarter, work leaner. Many are sharing their services with other authorities, delivering services through private contractors or by operating an ‘arm’s length’ organisation. Many staff are taking on increased responsibilities and workloads Some authorities are concentrating on delivering statutory services, and reducing the delivery on ‘concessionary’ services. The constant challenge is now, do we need to do this, if so can we do it leaner? Less steps, less people, less time (unfortunately time IS money) What this means is that many managers will have a number of different, and dare I say potentially conflicting priorities from a number of different sources. So in some respects the overall result of these ‘austerity’ measures is that health and safety may be seen to be little more than an unnecessary distraction to them, and something that you should be doing. Safetygirl makes an interesting point and that is that H&S can be very reactive and that his isn’t the best use of resource. Working in health and safety in the public sector has been described by one ‘safety officer’ as like ‘plaiting fog’. Depending on the LA and your position within it, you may find that you have your finger in a considerable number of pies, and some pretty challenging situations. The following may help: Make sure that managers (and if possible members) understand ‘risk’. This may seem obvious but trust me, even some senior managers and many members don’t Develop and support a simple process that will help to identify and prioritise the key risks Create a risk log of significant risks Set proportionate sensible, achievable targets Support and assist (beware many managers will attempt to ‘devolve’ their responsibility to……..you Can you share services with other neighbouring authorities to share the work and/or the health and safety aspects of it And lastly, be prepared to be creative, imaginative and resourceful I hope somewhere among my ramblings you’ll find something useful

Adale how was the presentation? Did you get the job?