Mr Mark Cosford
Overview
Creating Safety is a group for forward-thinking individuals & businesses who need common-sense information about H&S without hindering their business journey.
The group provides easy-to-follow online and in situ behavioural safety advice/training, as well as health and safety advice/training designed to engage and keep your staff safe.
Investigating accidents and poor safety performance is all well and good and is definitely the right thing to do but how often have you thought about creating a safe environment for your employees to work in as well as looking at what went wrong?
Mark Cosford is a chartered health and safety professional with over 10 years of experience in successfully helping businesses achieve safer working conditions & environments using a common-sense behavioural based safety led approach designed to improve safety performance and overall engagement.
Mark has over 30 years of leadership & management experience gained from service within the Royal Navy, retail, manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, distribution and safety backgrounds/sectors.
As well as providing online support, Mark can work with you to promote a behavioural based safety approach to work, help you understand why your employees behave the way they do and how to improve your safety performance so your business creates a safer working environment with increased engagement rather than experiencing accidents.
Mark can provide general health and safety advice, training, audits or bespoke behavioural safety courses for your business designed to create engagement, improve staff retention and morale as well as help reduce accidents.
Mark suffers from Tinnitus (noise-induced hearing loss issue) the name for hearing noises that are not caused by an outside source. This has been caused by exposure in a previous role prior to becoming a health and safety professional making Mark an ideal speaker to talk about coping mechanisms in and out of work with this debilitating condition. His experiences and thoughts may also proactively encourage your workforce to wear hearing protection in noisy environments as well as general P.P.E adherence where required.
Specialisms
Industry | Years Experience |
---|---|
Warehousing | 15 |
Armed forces | 11 |
Food and drink manufacture | 10 |
Recycling | 4 |
Manufacturing | 6 |
Retail | 8 |
Topic | Years Experience |
---|---|
Leadership | 25 |
Transport (workplace) | 20 |
Stress | 5 |
Expectant mothers | 10 |
Business benefits | 15 |
Human factors | 5 |
Risk management | 10 |
Setting an example | 20 |
Violence (workplace) | 5 |
Services
Fees
To be arranged with the client.
Bespoke Training
Behavioural safety training
Risk assessment training
Inspections
I can carry out site health and safety audits/inspections tailored to the client's requirements.
Investigations
I offer accident investigation training to enable clients to carry out their own investigations.
Behavioural Safety Training
I can introduce behavioural safety training/understanding for clients ranging from shopfloor right through to the board level. This is designed to increase engagement, promote leadership and reduce accidents.
Tinnitus talks
Mark suffers from Tinnitus (noise-induced hearing loss issue) the name for hearing noises that are not caused by an outside source. This has been caused by exposure in a previous role prior to becoming a health and safety professional making Mark an ideal speaker to talk about coping mechanisms in and out of work with this debilitating condition. His experiences and thoughts may also proactively encourage your workforce to wear hearing protection in noisy environments as well as general P.P.E adherence where required.
General safety / culture advice
I can liaise with clients electronically to give advice, I also post via social media on Facebook regular general safety tips and behavioural safety tips designed to engage the workforce and reduce accidents.
Work History
Role | From - To | Job Title / Description |
---|---|---|
Head of Health & Safety | 05.2021 - today | Gap analysis of x2 sites to ascertain legal and company compliance. Mentoring a member of staff to become a safety advisor. Compiles a monthly board report to the board and senior stakeholders. Introduced near-miss reporting. Introduced accident investigation reporting & training. Collates accident and near-miss data to focus on areas requiring improvement. Introduced culture awareness and engagement programmes to managers and colleagues. Introduced and developed policies and procedures pertaining to health, safety, and the environment. Produced new safe systems of work and toolbox talks for all key subject matter and processes. Presented findings and safety improvement strategies to senior management. Promoted and undertook positive change management involving all key stakeholders. Introduced leadership training skills to the next generation of management. Written, promoted, and trained various health and safety training programmes to a variety of colleagues including fire safety, accident investigation, manual handling, and inductions. Conducted route cause analysis for site incidents and accidents. Promoted change management throughout the business gaining the ‘buy in’ of senior management. Written, introduced, and led behavioural safety courses for the site senior leadership team. Strategy development for department/business improvement. |
Senior Safety Specialist | 03.2020 - 04.2021 | Introduced culture awareness and engagement programmes to managers and colleagues. Developed leadership skills to the next generation of management. Written, promoted, and trained various health and safety training programmes to a variety of colleagues including fire safety, accident investigation, manual handling, and inductions. Presented findings and safety improvement strategies to senior management. Trained key leaders in accident investigation and undertaking risk assessments to identify root causes of accidents and control hazards and risks. Acted as site safety leader in the absence of the head of H.S.E.Q Manager. Conducted route cause analysis for site incidents and accidents. Promoted change management throughout the business gaining the ‘buy in’ of senior management. Mentored x2 safety specialists. Written introduced and led behavioural safety courses for site senior leadership team. Produced new safe systems of work and toolbox talks for all key subject matter and processes. |
EHS Manager | 05.2018 - 02.2020 | Responsible for introducing a health, safety, and environmental management system. Gap analysis and a 3-year plan devised to become legally compliant. Worked with other company sites in Holland & the Republic of Ireland to become legally compliant as well as continuous improvement strategies. Collated accident and near-miss data to focus on areas requiring improvement. Introduced culture awareness and engagement programmes to managers and colleagues. Trained key leaders in accident investigation and undertaking risk assessments to identify root causes of accidents and control hazards and risks. Introduced and developed policies and procedures pertaining to health, safety, and the environment. Produced new safe systems of work and toolbox talks for all key subject matter and processes. Presented findings and safety improvement strategies to senior management. Promoted and undertook positive change management involving all key stakeholders. Wrote, promoted, and trained various health and safety training programmes to a variety of colleagues including fire safety, manual handling, and inductions. Introduced drug and alcohol random testing into the business. Developed leadership skills for the next generation of management. Worked with local government in clean air initiatives. Line managed a departmental safety specialist. |
SHEQ Advisor / Manager | 09.2012 - 04.2018 | Promoted from within after four years as an advisor. Maintained health and safety management systems, policies, and procedures. Facilitated cultural awareness and engagement programmes with company colleagues. Conducted health, safety, environmental and quality inspections at all sites to identify any company non-conformances or areas not legally compliant. Presented findings from health, safety, environmental and quality audits, and other site performance data to senior management including members of the board on a tri-annual basis. Developed existing and new safe systems of work for a variety of tasks to provide colleagues with a safe way of working. Produced regular toolbox talks on a variety of subjects designed to promote engagement throughout the business on a wide range of health and safety subjects. Produced a wide variety of risk assessments including general, manual handling, workplace transport, personal protective equipment, first aid, new and expectant mother, and lone working risk assessments as well as instructing and offering guidance to team leaders and managers in the undertaking and completion of these assessments all designed to identify, reduce, and control risks within their workplace. Trained colleagues in a wide variety of health and safety subject matter including, safe manual handling, accident investigation training, risk assessment completion and fire marshall training. Acted as the company representative for external UKAS accredited ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS18001 audits. Promoted change management throughout the business gaining the ‘buy in’ of senior management. Facilitated new employees Safety, Health, Environmental and Quality inductions when they joined the company. |
Health and Safety Officer | 06.2010 - 08.2012 | Periodically reviewed health and safety policies and procedures to re-affirm their adequacy and applicability in line with the specific needs of the business. Conducted safety audits and accident investigations and reporting as required and maintained a central file for all safety statistics. Conducted safety inspections and walked through all departments liaising with management for appropriate action, as necessary. Established and continuously improved quarterly health and safety meetings liaising personally with colleagues via toolbox talks on any training needs or issues that were identified. Conducted in-house training on fire prevention, falling from height and P.P.E wearing compliance (including R.P.E). Worked and liaised with the environment agency and the health and safety executive as and when required. Wrote and introduced all safe systems of work into the business including training colleagues in their meaning and ensuring full understanding. |
Membership of Professional Bodies
Professional Body | Membership | Member since | OSHCR Eligible Since |
---|---|---|---|
IOSH | Chartered Member (CMIOSH) | 12.2011 |
Qualifications
Accrediting Institute | Type | Qualification | Date passed |
---|---|---|---|
City & Guilds | Diploma | NVQ Level 5 Diploma in Occupational Health & Safety Practice | 12.2014 |
NEBOSH | Certificate | NEBOSH General Certificate | 07.2009 |
IOSH | Other | Behavioural Safety Leadership | 03.2020 |