Payment in kind

I was paid this week. For doing a risk assessment. A bottle of wine and a card, signed by the management committee of the local hall. But actually, the best payment of all was walking into the hall and seeing the new fire notices, emergency lighting and smoke alarms; seeing that the toilet doors had been shortened so as not to jam on the mat and block the fire escape; opening cupboards in the kitchen and finding they hadn’t been re-filled with open packets of food. And the people doing this work are all volunteers. My risk assessment had been the basis of their summer refurbishment. A council official’s visit overlapped with mine, and she was impressed by what they had done, and by the fact they had such a detailed assessment. Obviously, in the long run I’d like to get paid for doing risk assessments, but rather than spending the day staring at the recruitment pages I’d really recommend job hunters get out there and help voluntary organisations like this. It’s given me more confidence for the next job interview, and something recent and concrete to talk about when I’m there. And the thought that perhaps one small part of the world is just a little bit safer because of something you’ve done is surely why we all got into this business?

The need for voluntary organisations to carry out risk assessments was covered in 'Health and Safety for volunteering employees'.