Retirement

Some say retirement comes to us all. However, I suspect the Government would quite like retirement age to suffer the same fate as our taxes and be subject to a little “fiscal drag.” By the time some of the candidates I have trained over the years reach my milestone, the retirement age may well have crept into the 70s!

It isn’t age that has finally beaten me, but a lack of lubrication in the right hip. Unfortunately, I have apparently outgrown the parameters for an operation and, due to my oversized limbs, I am not considered suitable for a replacement. Yes — I am too fat!

Joking aside, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my customers for allowing me to play a small part in their operating safety programmes over the years. I have genuinely enjoyed every course, every workplace and, most importantly, meeting the people I have had the privilege of training.

I hope that, even though I have usually only been a small part of your working life for a relatively short time, I have managed to make the training memorable — and perhaps even a little interesting. Safety messages, whether they relate to a large piece of plant or a small piece of equipment, can sometimes be a bit dry and, dare I say, occasionally rather obvious. But they are important, and getting people to understand why those messages matter has always been one of the most rewarding parts of the job.

Over the last couple of years, I have also tried to contribute a little further to safety within the small but important world of HIAB operation. As part of that effort, I have developed a safety app for daily checks, which I hope will continue to make a useful contribution to safer HIAB operation long after I have finally hung up my training boots.

So, as I head into retirement, I would simply like to say thank you to everyone I have worked with, trained and met along the way.

It has been an interesting, rewarding — and at times entertaining — journey.

Stay safe, look after yourselves, and keep doing those checks!

“Big“ H