This was just one of the sobering questions that were posed to a packed room of facilities management professionals, from across the South West, that attended the recent Quarterly Training Day on Legislation and Compliance.

The day comprised high quality speakers with a huge wealth of knowledge – providing delegates with essential legislative updates, reasons why safety is paramount and tips how to deliver compliance.

The day opened with a thought-provoking and participatory talk by Quentin Emery from RyderMarshSharman on Safety Culture and how recognising human factors and behaviours in the workplace can hint at initiatives to reduce risk.

Sally Roff, Partner at DAC Beachcroft spoke about asbestos, what our legal duties are and how we can demonstrate compliance with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.

The third session was delivered by the sponsors of the day; NHS Property Services. The West Midlands team gave an insightful and frank account of the challenges they face managing compliance across such a complex estate and their aspirations for the future.

Bow ties might not be the first thing you think of when considering risk management, but following Paul McCulloch’s presentation, from CGE, delegates were put well in the picture. Bow ties are visual representations of the risks we deal with, giving an overview of multi-plausible scenarios in a single snapshot.

Dale Collins, Partner at Browne Jacobsen asked delegates to consider whether they could afford not to manage contractors. It was a powerful session in which he described the format of an inquest and thankfully, explained the measures to be taken to avoid them.

Do you feel safe when you work alone? Do you think your employer has a duty of care when you work alone? How can you be safe working alone? These were just three of the questions asked by Nicole Vazquez of Worthwhile Training who facilitated a fantastic and lively workshop on lone working which gave the delegates a lot of food for thought on the risks of working alone and the policies and procedures that should be in place should you employ lone workers. It’s more complicated than you may think!

The event attracted over 80 attendees who raised £130 for the Chairman’s charity and who gave fantastic feedback including ‘The quality and variety of all speakers was excellent. Thanks for setting up a great event yet again’.