One of those days
I should have known that despite my planning my evening was going to go wrong when a meeting with my boss, about how we were going to present something to one of our European Directors over ran by half an hour. This meant my meeting with our bean counter (sorry, management accountant) was put back and so I was an hour late when I left to go to Burnley.
For those of you that don’t know the M6 northbound from Birmingham very well, there are two parts of it you don’t even entertain going on after 4 in the afternoon – the bit from Brum to Cannock and the stretch between Stoke and the M62. I left at 4.20pm and had to go through both car parks.
While stuck on the bloody M6 I started to fantasise about what I might have for dinner and having gone though an imaginary menu in my head by the time I turn right at Preston I’ve settled on a big old mixed grill.
Eight o’clock I arrive at the hotel and, on the final approach to it, I got the feeling all of us get who travel with work get – is this place going to be a rat hole? And you have to put your faith in the person who booked for you (thankfully my boss’ PA is a legend and didn’t disappoint this time, well it was clean, fairly modern with a big bed and pub near by and within budget!).
So having checked in, grabbed my laptop and internet dongle thingy I head for the bar, order my pint and mixed grill (steak cooked ‘medium’) and find a nice quiet corner to do some more lengthy emails that you can’t do very easily on the smartphone I have.
Boot the laptop up, wait 10 minutes for the thing to finish its start up scripts. Put my mobile broadband dongle in and wait for it to get a signal then connect. Half of my pint’s gone by now.
Just as I’m about to double click on my email icon, the signal drops and I have to reconnect. Eventually I open my email, well I say open it, I double click the icon to open it. You see it’s an internet based email which means I end up waiting another 10 minutes for the blue bar in the bottom right hand corner of the page to fill the box telling me the page has fully downloaded.
When the bar is almost there, my mixed grill arrives I think my lucks in as the waitress asks ‘Is there anything I get you darling?’ Darling? Barmaids use that word but waitresses? Not in the restaurants I go to! Then I realise all the waiting staff talk like that, I make a mental note to mention to Sue (boss’ PA) that this place has gone from 4 to 3 out of 5 rating. I order another pint.
Hoorary! My inbox is at last displayed and whilst chasing my steak round the plate (for those of you that might in the future order a steak cooked to ‘medium’ in Burnley, their ‘medium’ is practically still alive, I’m talking blood dripping – I’d had enough of everything by then so didn’t complain).
I crack on and read the 12 emails people I have sent me from 4.20 to 5pm, I hit reply to the first and start my 8-minute wait for the page to load. When the gammon, eggs and chips have gone I decide to cancel the electronic paint drying session and call the people in the morning and talk them through my thoughts on the stuff they’d sent me.
Then it struck me the digital revolution and paper free office, is great and all but people just don’t talk anymore. And us safety types are just as guilty. I admit sometimes it’s easier to send a ‘bad news email’ rather than calling the person to tell them but actually for me that’s the cowards way out.
I’ve always believed that safety is about engaging people – maybe even talking with emotion and passion about the topic too, that would be a novel experience for some of the people in our profession (yes I mean you with the clipboard and cagoule). Where do you get that with an email?
OK you have to put some stuff in writing I get that, so I’m starting a petition to bring back the memo. Anyone who wants to had their support please sign below!
EurOSHM Richard Byrne
BSc (Hons), CMIOSH, MIIRSM, AIMEA
rjbyrne@hotmail.co.uk
Richard Byrne is group head of health, safety and technical services at ATS Euromaster and has a first-class combined honours degree in ergonomics and health and safety management, along with 10 years’ broad health, safety and environmental experience. He is a chartered member of IOSH, a member of IIRSM and an associate member of IEMA, and also holds EurOSHM status.
