Liam Hook is the Head of Health and Safety for Meridian Trust. He’s been with us since January 2023 and brings with him a rich spectrum of expertise and experience. As an ex-professional footballer, Liam understands the meaning of discipline and high-performance, making him perfectly placed to drive our Health and Safety agenda as we continue to grow.
Liam, tell us about your career background?
I was at a large manufacturing company for 11 years in health and safety management (working my way up to senior management, overseeing multiple sites). Prior to that, I was a professional footballer for Nottingham Forest for five years. Playing sport at an elite level gave me some important life skills, but throughout my football career, I knew that it was important to have a ‘plan b’ for life after football. I trained to be a personal trainer, but eventually had the opportunity to move into the Health and Safety industry and I’m really glad that I did! It’s a really dynamic and rewarding sector to work in. I’m also studying for my Occupational Health and Safety Practice degree, which I will complete in the next two years.
What are your early impressions of Meridian Trust?
The first thing that struck me was how great the people are, which I’m sure is why it’s such a successful organisation! People across the trust are welcoming, communicative and supportive. People seem to be in tune with each other, even across departments. It’s been great to discover how receptive people are to Health and Safety.
What does your role entail?
Working with the Estates teams and schools to truly understand the importance of Health and Safety and embedding good practice across the entire Trust. Once people understand the ‘why’ then we can get their engagement in any change we implement.
I will be supporting schools and individuals at all levels, so I want to be a familiar face and presence. A key part of my job is working with the estates teams and site managers to build our training and development programmes and embed our new software system.
Without data, we can’t progress, so our new Health and Safety software system (called ‘I am compliant’) will greatly impact how we prioritise our efforts and move forward effectively.
What are your priorities for this role?
Initially, it was important to understand the baseline health and safety standard across the Trust. Now, my focus is on embedding the right mindset around Health and Safety so that we can be more proactive (rather than reactive) in our thinking and operations.
Since starting the role, I’ve been on the road, visiting all the schools across the Trust and getting to know them and their site teams. Over the next 18 months, I’ll be continuing my conversations and embedding the culture. My mantra is that Health and Safety shouldn’t be a chore – it should be a core value of any successful business or institution.
What are your ambitions for this role?
My aim is for the Trust to achieve ‘Safety Excellence’ and be accredited to ISO 45001. This isn’t going to happen overnight. It’s a three-to-five-year plan, using a phased approach to ensure that we have the right culture, processes and documentation in place for the long term.
I’ll be continuing to work with the Estates Teams and individual schools and I want colleagues to see me as a support service that they can come to with any concerns. We’re in this together and I will help them deal with any issues.
How might colleagues find out more about Health and Safety?
We’ve recently introduced our ‘Health and Safety committees’ across the trust schools, so I’d urge people to find out who their school representative is (as a starting point). I’d be delighted to hear from anyone who wants to get more involved in these working groups. Bringing our core principles to life across the entire trust is so important.
I’m working closely with Martin Hair (Estates Director of Meridian Trust) to understand how we can deliver more opportunities and training workshops for our colleagues. We’re in a transition period, but once we have our new software system in place, we’ll be better equipped to do this.
Whare are your hobbies outside of work?
I’m lucky enough to still play semi-professional football (even though my body is increasingly begging for me to hang my boots up!) and I generally love to keep fit. I hope to hand over the footballing reins to my 2-year-old son one day! I also enjoy the occasional game of golf but most importantly, I love to spend time with my family.