It’s remarkable how much workplace health and safety has evolved. Back in the mid to late 80s when I started in the OOH industry, the approach was incredibly basic. Safety advice amounted to a casual reminder to be careful on a ladder or to watch out for cables when digging – and that was it! No hi-viz, no training, not even safety boots were standard.
I have vivid memories of turning up near Clapham Junction, grabbing our ladders, and casually walking across live train lines to service those massive triple 96-sheet billboards for British Transport Advertising. Trackside safety training? Lookouts ? Permits? Written risk assessments? Completely alien concepts.
Working for Network Rail in the Eastern region also had its moments. We’d literally check the train timetable before stretching an extension lead across the tracks to power a drill at a remote station. I still chuckle (nervously) remembering the time an unexpected train turned our single lead into three ! And using the tracks as a shortcut, rather than the footbridge, was just what you did. Apparently, an orange hi-viz made you invisible to any authorities who might be around. One colleague even used his hi-viz as a free pass on his commute from Woolwich to Wimbledon – people just assumed he was a railway worker!
Then came November 18th, 1987, around 7:25 PM. The King’s Cross fire, sparked by a carelessly discarded cigarette under a wooden escalator, spiralled out of control due to a shocking combination of factors: smoking still allowed underground, woefully inadequate training and PPE, and no proper evacuation plan. The subsequent inquiry, with its 150+ recommendations for change, was, I believe, the catalyst for the health and safety revolution we know today.
It took a while, probably until the mid to late 90s, for the OOH industry to really wake up to this shift towards H&S.
Now, it’s standard for companies to have either a dedicated team of H&S professionals or access to qualified advisors. While I’m not even sure if safety records existed back then, the improvements in safety within the industry are undeniable. Maybe it’s simply that better training and safer working practices have created a work environment where everyone genuinely feels more safe whilst going about their day to day working life
Regardless of the precise reasons, health and safety is now a permanent fixture. Embracing it is crucial for ensuring the well-being of employees and anyone affected by our work, guaranteeing they return home safely each day.
This commitment to H&S is something we at Phoenix Adbuild take incredibly seriously. Despite being just over a year old, we operate with a deep understanding of our responsibilities and are continuously pushing ourselves to enhance our H&S training and the implementation of effective procedures. This week, our dedication has been recognised with a significant milestone: thanks to the expert guidance of our in-house safety team, we have achieved Safe Contractor accreditation at the Gold level! We are excited to build on this success and move forward with an even stronger focus on safety.