At Safety Forward, good health and safety advice comes from people who understand real workplaces. In this People Behind Safety Forward profile, we introduce Andy Maxwell, our Technical Lead, whose practical approach is shaped by ten years of factory-floor experience.
Andy did not plan a career in health and safety. After working as a glue sprayer in manufacturing, furlough during Covid gave him the push to study. He went on to achieve NEBOSH and NCRQ Level 3 qualifications before Safety Forward gave him the opportunity to build his consultancy career.
Today, Andy sees his role as being a shield for clients, not a police officer. His focus is on keeping people safe, helping businesses make sensible decisions and finding practical solutions that work in the real world.
Read on to meet the person behind the advice.
Meet Andy Maxwell, Technical Lead at Safety Forward
Health and safety consultancy is personal. The best advice comes from people who listen, understand the workplace and know how to make safety practical. Andy Maxwell brings all of that to his role as Technical Lead at Safety Forward.
From factory floor to health and safety consultancy
Andy’s route into health and safety was not planned. After leaving school and completing his A-levels, he spent ten years as a glue sprayer in a factory. The work involved three shifts, full protective equipment, ovens running at 70°C and days when the factory floor reached 40°C.
When Covid furlough changed his routine, Andy decided to study. He passed his NEBOSH qualification and NCRQ Level 3, then worked hard to gain practical experience. After months of unpaid shadowing with another health and safety team, Safety Forward gave him the opportunity he needed. Since then, he has grown into a confident and valued consultant.
Practical advice that helps people stay safe
Andy does not see himself as “the person who stops work”. He knows that a checklist on its own rarely prevents harm. What makes the difference is the right advice, at the right time, in a form a business can actually use. As Andy puts it: “If I can stop one person’s back from getting hurt, that’s what I like.”
He’s also quick to credit the people he works with. He speaks to most of his clients more than he speaks to his own team, and he says he picks up new perspectives from them all the time. Many of the people he’s on site with, in his words, are “flipping brilliant” at what they do, and he takes away as much from them as he gives. He’s genuinely inspired by how good some of them are, and by the way they interact. He singles out Sarah Sharp at Chloros, a client he’s worked with for years, as someone he’s constantly learning from: “She’s got a master’s degree in chemistry. She does all of the compliance, all the health and safety. And she just absolutely nails everything that she does… I think she’s absolutely wonderful.”
A practical approach to health and safety consultancy
Confident, personable and practical, Andy sees himself as a shield for clients. He is there to help businesses protect their people, manage risk and make sensible commercial decisions. He describes consultancy as being like an octopus, with a limb in every pot: you need to understand operations, finances, the working environment and the people, not simply recite regulations.
That practical mindset shapes his client relationships. Andy stays in regular contact with the businesses he supports, takes time to understand how they work and focuses on improvements that are achievable as well as compliant. His view is simple: if advice is too theoretical, it can slow a business down. The aim is to make safety work in practice.
What Andy has learned about good safety advice
Andy has learned that good health and safety advice means understanding what a business can realistically take on now, while still knowing when to challenge. His experience inside manufacturing showed him what happens when priorities point the wrong way. That has made him direct, clear and willing to push back when something matters.
Life outside work
Away from client sites, Andy is a devoted dad. His three-year-old son starts preschool this year, at the same primary school Andy himself went to. He’s a lifelong Aston Villa fan, and his office is stacked wall-to-wall with collectables. He’s been collecting Pokémon cards and other memorabilia since he was about ten years old.
Why Andy’s experience matters to Safety Forward clients
When clients work with Safety Forward, they are not just buying a document, audit or inspection. They are working with consultants who take time to understand the business, explain things clearly and provide practical health and safety advice that supports safer, better-run workplaces.
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