‘You can do things in a better way once you embrace risk management’
A double first — 17 June is Safety Rocks UK Motorsport Safety Day, and this year, on 17 June, Safety Rocks launches Essential Risk Management in Motorsport, the first course of its kind.
Peter Hodgkinson, former head of build and head of employee engagement at Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team, explains why this course is essential for anyone working in motorsport.
The F1 perspective
Peter, you spent many years at the very top of motorsport. What did safety and risk management look like at that level, and how embedded was it into the day-to-day culture of the operation?
At first, it was seen as an ‘add-on’ — something you paid lip service to — but as the team focused on improving our performance in all areas, it became part of that natural development process. Health and safety became an enabler for us to do difficult, challenging things without hurting the human being, because the human being is your greatest resource.
At Mercedes, health and safety went from being one bloke who did it in his spare time to a department of five or six, and 20% of their working week was spent looking at risk assessments, making sure things were up to date. For example, if we had a new steering rack and had concerns about pressure testing, we asked whether we had the right kit to do it safely. Health and safety is not a ‘nice to have’ anymore. It’s just part of the job.
The human cost of getting it wrong
In a high-performance F1 environment, the consequences of failure (whether mechanical or procedural) can be catastrophic. Why is a structured approach to risk management so important?
There’s a lot of procedural documentation in every racing team, no matter where you are on the grid. So why not apply the same logic to people and keeping people safe? Just because it says ‘motor racing is dangerous’ on the ticket, that’s not a licence to do what you want. You have to apply the same logic that you would use with a car to health and safety and managing that risk. It’s a no-brainer. It’s also a performance advantage. You can do things in a better way once you embrace risk management because you think about things in greater depth. Thinking about the risk to the human, not just a technical challenge, means you will think about doing things in a better, efficient, safer and more logical way.
From F1 to the wider motorsport community
What do you think the grassroots and junior formula paddocks could learn from how elite teams approach risk?
Where you set the standard is down to you as an organisation. It doesn’t matter whether it’s F1 or grassroots racing; the leadership of the team sets the standard, and you’ve got to work towards excellence. Ask what you need to do to achieve excellence, and work at those things bit by bit in a prioritised, structured process, just as we would do when running a racing car.
Why this course matters
The NEBOSH-Verified Essential Risk Management in Motorsport Course launching on 17 June 2026 is specifically designed for the motorsport environment. Why does having a qualification built around the unique risks of motorsport matter more than simply applying tick-box training?
If you want your team to be excellent in everything it does, the importance the team management places on employee safety is vital. I would want to make sure that every member of my team was signed up to this. This is no longer an option. I want them to go ahead and get this qualification, because it’s so important in this modern world we live in — especially when we’re coming along with the EV side of the sport. You can see petrol, you can smell petrol, you can touch petrol, but the only time you know electricity is going wrong is when you’re on the floor.
Anything we can do to reduce risk is important. The value of this qualification is plain to see. We’re not going to hurt people. We’re going to do everything we can to ensure we’re safe, compliant and operating within the regulations and the law at all times.
If you treat training as a tick-box exercise, it will come back to bite you, and somebody will get hurt. You’ll realise you just paid lip-service to it and now there’s a person from the Health and Safety Executive paying you a visit. And trust me, no one wants that.
Leadership and safety culture
You’ve spoken extensively in the past about the importance of a continuous improvement mindset, the idea that everyone striving to be just a little better every day compounds into something extraordinary. How does that philosophy apply to managing risk?
Continuous improvement is not trying to do everything at once. The same applies to health and safety. You work at it slowly. You go through it. But the most important thing is to tell the story to everyone who’s involved. As leaders, if we don’t tell the story to our teams, the mechanics, the truckies and everybody who works in the organisation, people will make up their own stories around health and safety. It’s important that we tell the health and safety story: what’s in it for employees and why they need to be a part of this cultural shift. Teams are nothing more than a reflection of their leader. The leader sets a standard. The leader defines how the team behaves and is seen by others.
And finally…
For a team manager, organiser or engineer in motorsport wondering whether to invest time and budget in formal risk management training, what would you say to them, and why would you point them specifically towards Safety Rocks?
Why wouldn’t you do it? This is your organisation’s performance advantage. Health and safety should be part of the fabric of your team.
I remember the outcry when we said if you work in the workshops at Mercedes, if you’re working in the garage during your Grand Prix weekend, you’re wearing safety shoes. The number of injuries avoided because of the introduction of simple safety shoes… how do you put a price on that? It’s the same with hearing protection. Sticking your fingers in your ears is not the answer. I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t do this; as human beings, our first duty of care is to each other.
There’s always going to be risk in everything that we do. How do you think about it, identify it, manage it and minimise it to the lowest point possible? Transparency in information-sharing across the paddock around health and safety should happen as a matter of course, so everybody in that paddock can be safe. That’s absolutely critical.
Why choose Safety Rocks? Because here’s a company that’s investing heavily in the safety and motorsport, a really specific field. There’s no one out there doing it.
This is tailored to the motorsport environment. Finally, we’ve got an organisation that’s seen the opportunity to take a sport with a lot of risk and to try to make it better and safer for the people who work in it, and also for the spectators and for everyone who attends an event.
You should be able to go to an event or turn up to work every day with the knowledge that someone has thought about the actions that you are taking, and to ensure that they’re safe.
Course specifications
NEBOSH-verified
Essential Risk Management in Motorsport
This one-day course provides a practical and insightful introduction to risk management principles tailored specifically for the motorsport industry. Participants will explore key foundations, cultural challenges and actionable solutions to enhance safety across all levels of motorsport operations.
Course takeaways
- an understanding of the key reasons to manage risk in motorsport
- an introduction to the key legal requirements that apply to the unique motorsport environment
- the knowledge to identify health and safety risks unique to motorsport environments
- the skills to apply and integrate safety principles alongside industry-specific regulations and standards
- the know-how to undertake a suitable and sufficient risk assessment
- the skills to start to develop a basic safety management system
Delivered in-person or online or Truly Tailored®, — whichever works for your organisation.
Book now: 01223 491485 or info@safetyrocks.co.uk