What it takes to get HomeSafe

20th December 2017

When the Homesafe concept was first discussed, and Plymouth only just chosen as the pilot site, the prospect of rolling out Homesafe seemed so distant that I rarely gave any thought to the process involved.

As the weeks progressed and the hard work by many began to take shape it was increasingly clear that the pilot trial at Plymouth was going to be challenging, educational, time consuming, and fun, but most of all inspiring. I’ll come back to inspiring later...

Sitting through many conference calls and attending meetings did not convey, to me at least, the enormity of the pilot and what it truly means to test run a project on this scale. From arranging suitable locations, translators, staff availability (whilst keeping the MRF running), learning the training material, liaising with consultants, leading two training sessions per day (whilst being observed by the consultants who wrote the training material) has certainly kept me out of mischief for the last few weeks!

Ultimately though, the pilot has been, in my view, very successful. If the purpose of the pilot was to test the materials, gauge the engagement of the employees and test the suitability of the learning program then it has achieved what it set out to do. The pilot has had issues, why wouldn’t it, and often rewrites have been needed in the final hours before the training sessions begun. However, by the time the pilot ended many lessons have been learnt that will ensure the roll out across Pennon will be successful.

Inspiring? What has become clear to me, and the Homesafe team, is that the team at Plymouth have fully embraced the training and given the best of themselves during every session. It is truly inspiring how many of the team, Viridor and agency staff, have given it their best shot with humour, seriousness and dedication to learn as much as possible. After all it is everyone’s safety that counts and this message has come through loud and clear during the Homesafe pilot.