The Craftsman talks to former REME Corporal Karl Simons OBE

Karl Simons

Karl served 13 years in the REME. He has over 30 years of employment experience, having worked across all continents and in numerous safety critical industries including defence, oil, gas, minerals, rail, roads, construction and utilities.

He is an Electrical & Mechanical Engineer, holds a Post Graduate Master’s degree in Environmental Management, Safety & Health, is a Chartered Occupational Safety & Health Practitioner, a Member of the Institute of Directors and a member of the Society of Leadership Fellows at Windsor Castle.

Karl’s advice is regularly sought by Government, and he has been appointed as Advisor to the Prime Ministers Cabinet Office for the UK Government. He is a lecturer at the University of Cambridge and holds a position as Non-Executive Director on the Board of the international organisation ‘Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor’.

In 2020 Karl was awarded an OBE by HM The Queen for Services to Mental Health Policy and in 2019 was voted ‘The Most Influential Person in Health & Safety’ by the 600,000 global readers of SHP

So Karl when and for how long did you serve?

I began life at Arborfield in September of 1990, seems like an eternity ago now, but I still remember some key moments like leaving Swansea for the first time at just 17 with a very emotional Father at the platform, arriving at the Train station and suddenly hearing someone starting to bark commands at me and of course going through 13 weeks of hell with my fellow recruits from across the UK.

After 13 years, most of which were served overseas in Germany and the Balkans, my latter years were in the UK. My Wife and I finally decided we wanted to have children and thus it was time to move into civvy street. At 30 years old the Army was all I knew so the thoughts of the big exit was very scary indeed after so long.

How

was the transition at the time?

The transition didn’t go too well at all. It was great to have a year’s notice period, during which I was offered a promotion to stay in, however my mind was made up. There was a resettlement programme at the time but in truth it was pretty awful right enough, the good thing though was the Army provided money to do some courses so I knew I wanted to continue protecting people in some form and I decided to undertake my NEBOSH General Certificate which is a foundation level course in Health & Safety. I recall at that time the Army was just beginning to move us in the Mechanical Engineering workshops onto some very basic electronic systems for our daily job cards, so it was a transitional period on many fronts, but I had only heard about the term Health & Safety mentioned on a few minor occasions.

Where did you start?

Following a tonne of applications sent out I had four job interviews, an Undertaker, the AA, the Police Force and a Health & Safety Officer for a construction company. Well, I was told I was too smiley and happy to be in the Undertaking business and the AA was fine but it was shift work which I was trying to avoid and the Police was always a back-up option, but I received an offer for the H&S Officer job which is the one I really wanted so accepted immediately and went for it. I recall taking a pay cut from my existing Corporal wages of £26k per annum down to £18k due to lack of experience; which was a real struggle given we had bought our first house at £78k in Glasgow and I was faced with a mortgage, and all household bills in full for the first time. But my lovely Wife and I we managed and were happy together beginning our journey into our civilian life.

Any advice for REME personnel beginning that transition journey?

Absolutely, get set up well before you leave, whilst you have an Army wage and the security it provides. Don’t leave everything till the moment you leave as borrowing money is tough. Also research so that you use your resettlement money wisely. And finally, follow your dreams, this may sound odd but figure out what you want to do, then do the right courses in it and secure a job doing it. Your military training will then kick in and your ability to stand out and do well will be evident to any employer; as it was for me.

So explain what’s happened since the early transitioning days?

It’s been quite a ride, but I guess in the early days I knew my ability to climb the corporate ladder quickly would come from two things, firstly me having the courage to move jobs and secondly becoming more qualified.

I spoke with my employer and was really happy that they agreed to fund my University course which was an undergraduate programme in Health, Safety & Environmental Management at the University of West of Scotland. I was amazed at the time, but now have come to realise that employers are very happy to fund degree and post grad courses.

It’s not to be taken lightly though, as whilst beginning a new career in a new role, having children and going to University twice a week was incredibly heavy going. Fast forward six years though and I walked out with an undergrad and post graduate Master’s Degree with Distinction, which I am still amazed at now looking back. I wasn’t afraid to move around and went from construction to Rail and then I was offered a position in the Middle East, so with the kids at 1 and 3-year-old, Amanda my Wife and I packed everything up and moved to Oman. I worked and we lived in the desert for six years in countries like Oman, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia; the work was incredible but tough on the family and I recall the day Amanda said “I’m going home, you join us when you can.” At the time I was offered an opportunity to move into Oil and Gas, so took on a mobile role looking after seven countries across the world including Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, India, the Philippines, Qatar and the UAE. The job was overwhelming and incredible as I was exposed to working in the mining Industry of New Caledonia, in refineries and on oil & gas rigs of the Philippines, in steel foundries across India, on the ferries of Sydney, the busses of Adelaide, on railways across the nullable plains of Australia, in electricity plants in New Zealand. However, being an electronic Dad for seven out of eight weeks at a time was the toughest part of that two years of my life as I missed my family terribly.

So tell about the recognition by HM Queen Elizabeth II

This came following what has been an incredible decade working in the London as Group H&S Director at Thames Water. The role was extremely challenging as the Water sector is very intense due to the aging infrastructure. However very early on I realised from all my experience gained working with so many diverse teams that the link between physical injury and psychological health was intrinsic and couldn’t be broken. However, this was being missed by organisations and certainly leadership teams nationwide

I set about in the very early days building a team that would take the company into a very different direction than others traditionally were going in. Articulating this to the Executive at the time needed to be done in a very different way too, however my military training had always taught me that taking calculated risks was the right thing to do if you needed to get results in a challenging environment, so I wasn’t afraid to do just that. During my time at Thames, I presented Mental Health in Business to circa 500 external organisational leadership teams in many different sectors. This wasn’t part of the day job, but I felt it was important to share the learnings and outcomes we were achieving in the organisation.

I also started to share what we were doing with those in Government and began building relationship with those in influential positions within the House of Lords and House of Commons undertaking many presentations and discussions, which culminated in finally getting in front of the Health Secretary and then Prime Minister to show how Government could begin making a substantial change in the way business went about their approach towards mental health management.

In September 2020 I received a note explaining the then Prime Minister had recommended me to her Majesty the Queen for award of an OBE for Services to Mental Health Policy, which I was truly floored by and was incredibly humbling indeed.

Any final words for REME Soldiers reading this?

I loved my time in the Military, so cherish it as the memories never leave you and I still laugh when I think of all the crazy things we got up to in the fun 1990’s; which I shan’t mention in text for obvious reasons, but I still love reminiscing over a beer. I’m a regular at the Union Jack Club in London as I base myself from there for work regularly when in London, and I’d recommend to any soldier to definitely visit there if you’re staying in London as it is great value for money and the atmosphere is always good fun. Finally, I believe the training, culture and leadership skills developed in the Military are extremely transferrable and will stand any soldier in great stead for their journey in civvy street, as it did me.

Thanks for allowing me to share my brief story and to those of you for reading it.

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