Say Hello to Christina Browne, our Health & Safety Manager. She works alongside the Property Services team to keep our homes safe and compliant for the people who live and work at Consensus, as well as providing direct support and advice to anyone who needs to talk about health and safety. Before joining Consensus two years ago, Christina worked in prison services and was excited to be able to make a difference to even more people – even though a lot of her work relates to laws and standards, she always says the most important part of her role is remembering that she is keeping peoples loved ones safe every day.
Even though Health & Safety might not seem like the most exciting topic, Christina absolutely LOVES IT! Creating a culture around her work where anyone can feel comfortable to ask questions, where audit nerves are a thing of the past, and where teams look forward to learning new things, in a safe space, and working together to ensure we continue to make the right choices for the people we support. Because they are at the centre of everything we do here, and that couldn’t be more accurate in the case of Christina’s day-to-day, ensuring the company complies with all legislation and regulations – keeping everyone safe and healthy.
What makes Christina special to her colleagues is her sense of humour, charisma and, well… she’s a little bit wacky (in all the right ways). She helps us understand Health and Safety in a way that makes sense to us – whatever our role – and provides the tools and skills to improve compliance and the knowledge of how to do that properly, without the jargon. Although when we asked Christina how she thought her colleagues would describe her, she said “5 stars, highly recommend”… *Insert Awkward Silence Here *
Moving swiftly on, let’s hear more from Christina herself.
An interesting fact:
“I have ADHD and I was inspired to learn about my own diagnosis from working alongside professionals at Consensus who have both knowledge and passion in this field.”
Best advice you’ve been given:
“Sometimes you’ve got to pull your own seat up to the table and let people know that you are here.”
A unique skill:
“In my spare time I am a painter and musician. My talents know no bounds!”
“I’m sure it seems like an obvious answer but it’s true – the people I work with. Fundamentally, we are all here because we care about people. We care about our colleagues and peers, we care about the people we support and we care about getting it right for them. Within Health & Safety we always talk about how important culture is and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing first hand how much people want positive change, and the willingness people have to try new changes and put the work in to improve things for our people.”
“When you think of a Health & Safety Manager visiting your place of work, you think of someone walking around with a clipboard and a very stern face – I want to break that stereotype. I don’t want people to be nervous if I show up for an audit, I want them to know we’re on the same team and we want the same thing. Health & Safety shouldn’t be complicated, or hard to understand, it should be a universal thing that we can all learn from together. I hope that by making what I do more accessible, it not only inspires people to improve their own safety standards but makes me a better manager that people can trust and approach.”
“Honestly my favourite memories have been of the amazing people living at our services who have welcomed me into their home, supported my work and asked questions – and always offered me plenty of cups of tea along the way. I’ll treasure the memories I’ve made here forever.
Oh, and I’m also very proud of this pumpkin I made.”
