Resettlement success

Forces: Army

Marc A - LCpl

"I designed a presentation and then got out on sites to coach the lads there about risk and my experiences as a sniper. I’ve been all over the UK delivering presentations - It's something that I’m really passionate about."

Cape is an international leader in the provision of essential industrial services principally to the energy and mineral resources infrastructure sectors. Here, Cape introduces Marc Allert, a former LCpl who Served 9 years in the Army, and now works with Cape on pioneering the use of Virtual Reality (VR) technology.

When Marc Allert came along to an interview, his interesting background caught the eye of the Managing Director, who asked him to join Cape in a new role. “I’d been in Iraq for six months, and was in the Army for nine years in total. I went on to train recruits up at RRC Catterick,” says Marc. “When I came in to see the MD, he said he would like me to develop the role of Risk Coach."

"I designed a presentation and then got out on sites to coach the lads there about risk and my experiences as a sniper. They told me they wanted to find something a bit different for me and to come at safety from a different angle. It’s really gone from there and over the last two years particularly, I’ve been all over the UK delivering presentations. It is something that I’m really passionate about."

So how can Marc’s experience of war zones help to keep people working on our sites safe?

“I talk about the perception of risk, and having respect for any hazardous working environment,” says Marc. “When people are working in an environment for a long time then their perception of risk is lowered, and they lose respect for the hazards that they face every day. I talk about complacency, and my experience of serving in Iraq – how, if after two or three months have gone by and nothing has happened then people stop cleaning their rifles, don’t wear their helmets in vehicles, or start booking holidays and so on. Then they’re going down the same road they’ve been down before and then suddenly they come under fire. My point is to ask why it always takes something to go wrong before people just do what they’re supposed to as part of their job."

Marc has seized the opportunity of working with Cape with both hands, and says the feedback he’s had from teams on site and from senior management has been fantastic.



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