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Practice meets perfect
May/June 2023 issue

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Off duty

David Phillips CMIOSH Safety, health and environmental manager, Grŵp Llandrillo Menai

Open-access content Thursday 22nd June 2017
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

david_phillips_cmiosh-wilderness-survival-expert

I've always enjoyed teaching and my day job has crossed over a lot with what I do outside work. After starting my career as a chef, I moved to training young chefs at college, specifically in wild food and butchery. I made the move to safety and health via food safety.

I've been running the bushcraft courses for five years. I used to bore people about it at tea breaks and sometimes they would come and walk with me. So I ran a couple of forage walks for chefs and it went from there.

Most of us are remote from our wild heritage. Someone might walk their dog in the woods, but when they do they're mostly looking at the ground. I train people to look into the woods. You might be stung by nettles, but it doesn't last long and then you'll realise that nettles make some of the best rope in the world. We've become detached -- we've got our mobile phones, our computers. The courses take people away from those things. Last month, I had a group who were unsure about eating shellfish. We collected 10 kg of seafood and cooked it and they said it was the best seafood they'd had in their lives.

One night on a course with mostly in-college staff we had wild goat curry. I shot the goat myself (legally), and we boned the legs, cooked and ate it. It's a challenging, tough meat, but they loved it. One of the group was a keen cyclist and he asked whether I could make the curry again -- for 120 cyclists. I think more people know about the goat curry than about me!

Lots of the people I work with come on my courses. I had some colleagues from the travel and tourism department -- many of whom have worked for airways -- turn up for the course with wheeled suitcases! They loved it, and many keep coming back.

I have also had managers do courses. They have to be quite competitive at work, but when I take them out to the wilderness they become pussycats. I notice that I become much more approachable at work to people who have been on courses with me.

The value I get from running courses is seeing people blossom. I've been working at the college for 30 years and most people don't see me as a chef, because they joined after I gave up teaching. But when you're sitting with people at 5 am watching the dawn, it changes perceptions. When their faces light up as I demonstrate how to start a fire with flint and steel, it makes my day.

I do all the risk assessments for the courses. Some instructors I know haven't much idea how to construct a risk assessment, so I help them out with those and writing policies.

When you're sitting with people at 5 am watching the dawn, it changes perceptions

When I have a department at work that's difficult to crack, I invite them out. Within two weeks of taking one health-and-safety-averse department on an overnight trip, I received a risk assessment from them. Now they've become one of my best departments. The course helped break down barriers. I'm not the guy who says, "No, you can't do that". When staff present a problem they often have a solution too. I might tweak it or make suggestions, but it's coming from them.

Anyone can do my courses. The youngest child who's been on one was 12 -- they came with their father -- and the oldest people have been in their 70s. There are lots of good bushcraft schools about -- there are some cowboys, so look for qualifications -- and all schools will offer a starter course. It's a cheap hobby. I specialise in coastal bushcraft, natural remedies and wild food; others do woodcraft and navigation. The subject is vast.

On the first night, most people just stare at the fire. The stress flows away and the next day they're really motivated. It's doable, and it's safe, but if you don't enjoy it enough that's fine. I have some people who say, "That was fun, but never again!"

You may also be interested in...

 Marvin Owen CMIOSH, director, MBO Safety Services

Thursday 20th July 2017
Aikido is a Japanese martial art. It’s not about competition; it’s really all about self-defence, and that suits me much better than boxing and kickboxing. You’re not there to gain medals – you’re there to learn to defend yourself against attack.I stopped practising aikido at about 25, but I got back into it four years ago. The reason I restarted was mainly to do with general fitness. When I took it up again I’d just turned 40 and I felt as though I needed to start doing something. A local class had started near me and it sounded good so I went along.
Open-access content

 Error on trial

Tuesday 20th June 2017
In most other areas of endeavour we learn from triumphs, but in safety the focus is often on disaster. We are knowledgeable enough to realise that we cannot simply blame the end user, but we still try to unpick long, causal chains of errors – of end users, of senior management, of designers – seeing human error as something to be designed, managed or reinforced out of an organisation.
Open-access content

 Table talk: training and technology

Wednesday 28th June 2017
Effective OSH training is critical, not least because it contributes to helping to ensure employees are competent, yet there remain many pitfalls at the delivery stage. We brought together three experienced representatives from OSH training providers to discuss present and future training challenges with IOSH Magazine’s deputy editor.
Open-access content

 IOSH 2017 conference preview - part 1

Friday 21st July 2017
   Lawrence Waterman Managing partner, Park Health and SafetyWhy should people attend IOSH 2017?
Open-access content

 Working through: diabetes

Monday 26th June 2017
Since 1996, the number of people living with diabetes in the UK has more than doubled; one person is diagnosed every two minutes. According to Diabetes UK’s latest estimates, almost 3.5 million adults have been diagnosed with the condition, while it remains undiagnosed in more than one million others.
Open-access content
Sue Hemming (centre) from the CPS arrives at Parr Hall, where she announced that charges would be brought | Image credit: ©Andrew McCaren/LNP/REX/Shutterstock

 Six charged over Hillsborough stadium crush

Wednesday 28th June 2017
Sue Hemming, head of the special crime and counter-terrorism division at the CPS, informed the victims' relatives of the decision at a private meeting in Warrington, Cheshire, this morning (28 June). She announced that David Duckenfield, the former chief superintendent of South Yorkshire Police (SYP) who was the match commander on the day of the disaster, has been charged with the manslaughter by gross negligence of 95 fans.
Open-access content
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