Year of the what?...

Some might be wondering why this is called year of the mountains. We all have goals and targets to reach and most of them or achievable and some not so. The some that are 'some not so' are actually achievable if you put your mind to them and are prepared to put that little bit extra effort into making it all happen.

My mountains this year are diverse, some are actual mountains and some or them other mountains. The actual mountains are the ones that I will be snowboarding down in 3 days time in Les Deux Alpes. The summer mountain is the one I will be throwing myself down on a mountain bike, and the third mountain is the one to do with work which I will be throwing myself against.

I begin a new career within the company I work for as a Health and Safety coach sometime in the middle of February. I will be working at an Energy from Waste plant coaching employees on the shop floor and management about Health and Safety. My Interest in H&S started many years ago as a safety representative where we were the 'new breed' of safety reps in an ever changing and expanding company. Being involved in many aspects of being a representative I was involved and witnessed how the company was changing and the way operations had then become more safety minded. Having that small knowledge in me within the first year or so planted the safety seed.

As I worked my way up through work from being a site operative/rep to a team leader I began to implement my own way of dealing with issues at work that no one would notice or had not been trained to notice or rectify like us reps had. From being a team leader/rep I completed more courses along with my NEBOSH General Certificate which I passed. I remember finding out that I had passed whilst on a lads holiday camping in Glentress, mountain biking and competing in the annual Team TTT 

wheelbarrow event. More on Team TTT later on.

I applied for  a few H&S jobs within the company and even knowing that I would not be a perfect candidate for some of them I put in for them anyway to gain experience. 

There was a time in 2010 when two jobs came up: Health and Safety Coach at the EfW and a Site Supervisor at a local Transfer Station. Weighing up the options I took the latter job concluding to myself that I could make more of a difference being a Supervisor implementing my own procedures rather than being a coach and having no responsibilities. I think that decision could have came back to haunt me but didn't as I did make many changes and implement new procedures at the Transfer Station and made a massive difference to the way people work there with the help of a dedicated few who where keen to dance with me throughout my years there.

I think being at North Tyneside matured that seed that was planted as a safety rep many years ago and made me realise what I wanted to be when I grew up.

This brings me onto my next mountain which is to complete my NEBOSH Diploma that I will be taking in Occupational Safety and Health. 

I'm hoping with my new job role in H&S and in the Energy from Waste plant will help me climb this next mountain of completing my Diploma.

My only hope is that at the top of that mountain there is either a snowboard or a bike to come back down on.