Connecting frontline voices to safety systems: How our safety rep training has enhanced engagement at Scottish Autism
Consulting employees on health and safety is more than a regulatory requirement - it’s a cornerstone of strong organisational safety culture. Safety representatives play an essential role in bridging the gap between frontline experience and strategic decision-making, helping organisations strengthen both engagement and performance.
For Scottish Autism, this partnership between staff and management is crucial to delivering safe, person-centred services across diverse settings. Health and Safety Manager, Adrian Tinson, recently completed RoSPA’s Safety Representatives training course alongside several of the organisation’s health and safety representatives to deepen his understanding of how to better support and empower the organisation’s network of safety reps. This case study explores his motivations, his experience on the course and the potential impact it can have on the organisation.
Why did you decide to take the Safety Reps course?
“My role is to support safe, effective services across a wide range of settings, including supported living, outreach and community-based support”, says Adrian. “That involves developing and maintaining our health and safety management systems, providing advice to managers and staff, overseeing incident reporting and investigation, and supporting the organisation to meet its legal duties. A big part of the role is also working with colleagues to make sure safety approaches are practical, proportionate and support the people we work with to live as independently as possible.
“I was keen to strengthen how we support and engage our health and safety representatives. Taking part in the training alongside reps was particularly helpful in understanding their perspective. They play a key role in connecting frontline staff with organisational safety systems, and I wanted to ensure I had a solid understanding of their role, rights and how best to enable them to be effective. The course felt like a good opportunity to step back and look at that from a different perspective.”
What did you think of the course?
“I found the course useful, particularly in reinforcing the importance of consultation and the practical role that safety representatives can play in improving workplace safety. It wasn’t just about legislation - it helped bring the role to life in a practical way. The most useful aspect for me was understanding how to better support reps to be confident, visible and engaged in day-to-day safety conversations.
“I would recommend training with RoSPA. The course was clear, well-structured and grounded in real-world application rather than just theory. It’s accessible for people at different levels of experience and provides practical insights that can be applied straight away in the workplace.”
How has studying the Safety Reps course impacted on your work and on your organisation?
“The main impact has been on how I approach engagement with our health and safety representatives. It’s helped shape how we are starting to think about developing our reps’ network and thinking about clearer roles, better communication routes and more meaningful involvement in safety discussions.
“For the organisation, the benefit is in strengthening that connection between frontline staff and our health and safety systems. When reps feel confident and supported, it helps create a more open and proactive safety culture, which ultimately benefits both staff and the people we support.”
Adrian’s experience demonstrates how investing in Safety Representative training can strengthen not only individual confidence, but organisational culture as a whole. If you are looking to understand the pivotal role of safety representatives and gain practical skills to enhance workplace safety, our one-day Safety Representatives training course can be delivered via virtual classroom or in-company.
Find out more at: www.rospa.com/shop/health-and-safety-courses/roles-and-responsibilities/safety-representatives