Built for PASMA: Chris Smith
We sat with Chris Smith to learn about his journey in the tower industry and his role as PASMA’s head of audit services and professional standards.
Chris’s career in the access industry began in 1990 when he took on a job as a van driver for Turner Access, a PASMA member based in Glasgow.
His journey into the tower industry, however, wasn’t planned out. "When I left school, I started working in my stepfather's butcher shop," Chris recalls. "I was 15, working six and a half days a week." Seeking additional income, he took on a part-time job as a lifeguard. "Money wasn't great in either of the jobs, but being a lifeguard gave me the interaction that probably helped me later on when I became an instructor."
In 1990, changing shopping habits saw customers switch to getting everything they needed in the big supermarkets. With business down in the butcher shop, Chris needed to look elsewhere for new opportunities. He heard that Turner Access was looking for a van driver. "I went in for an interview, which was my first introduction to who is now PASMA’s managing director, Peter Bennett (before his OBE days) who was their General Manager," he says.
The interview was brief. "He asked me, 'Can you drive? Do you have a clean driving licence?' Then he asked, 'Where do you see yourself being in five years?' I quite tongue-in-cheek said, 'Well, if I'm not doing your job, I won't be far behind you.' So, he said, 'When can you start?'"
Chris began delivering aluminium scaffold to customers around the West of Scotland that same year. "I thought this job was wonderful," he remembers. "It was glorious weather; I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, driving down the coast." As the seasons changed, so did the weather, but Chris's enthusiasm didn't wane. "It didn't faze me. I thought the job was great. I loved being out on the road."
Chris quickly moved up the ranks within Turner Access. After stints managing the yard in the Edinburgh and Glasgow depots, he transitioned into sales by the mid-1990s. "They needed someone to work in sales, and I thought, 'Well, I can do that; I'll give that a go.'" His role involved driving around to sites trying to sell and rent mobile access towers. "It was a move, a progression from lifting and laying aluminium towers," he says.
In 1994, Chris left Turner Access to work for another access supplier, where he qualified as a PASMA and IPAF training instructor. "At the company I was working for they said, 'How do you fancy going through to become a trainer?' So, I did that in '94," he explains. In 1996, Peter Bennett, who had since become a director at Turner Access, approached Chris and asked him to go back. "It took a bit of persuasion, but obviously, money talks," Chris laughs. "I was unveiled as the new trainer in '96 for Turner Access."
Under Chris's guidance, PASMA training at Turner Access grew significantly. "We went from maybe doing one course a week to at some points delivering a course every day," he recalls. His expertise took him around the world, delivering training in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Gibraltar and even Ascension Island, right in the middle of the Atlantic. "It was a great experience," he says of his international work. "We were training local labour and directly employed labour, sometimes with the help of an interpreter."
After some significant business changes at Turner Access, Chris decided to go freelance. "I became a freelance trainer from 2003 until 2007," he says. "I was travelling every week to deliver accredited training courses—the majority was in the UK, but on the odd occasion, I would head across to Ireland. It was good because I had quite a lot of variety, visiting a lot of places and working for a number of training centres."
In 2007, both PASMA and IPAF approached Chris to become an auditor on a freelance basis. "I thought, you know what, that sounds like a challenge, something I'd like to accept," he reflects. His role expanded to include international auditing and approving new training centres in the Middle East, South Africa and Southeast Asia.
Off to train the world
In 1994, Chris left Turner Access to work for another access supplier, where he qualified as a PASMA and IPAF training instructor. "At the company I was working for they said, 'How do you fancy going through to become a trainer?' So, I did that in '94," he explains. In 1996, Peter Bennett, who had since become a director at Turner Access, approached Chris and asked him to go back. "It took a bit of persuasion, but obviously, money talks," Chris laughs. "I was unveiled as the new trainer in '96 for Turner Access."
Under Chris's guidance, PASMA training at Turner Access grew significantly. "We went from maybe doing one course a week to at some points delivering a course every day," he recalls. His expertise took him around the world, delivering training in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Gibraltar and even Ascension Island, right in the middle of the Atlantic. "It was a great experience," he says of his international work. "We were training local labour and directly employed labour, sometimes with the help of an interpreter."
After some significant business changes at Turner Access, Chris decided to go freelance. "I became a freelance trainer from 2003 until 2007," he says. "I was travelling every week to deliver accredited training courses—the majority was in the UK, but on the odd occasion, I would head across to Ireland. It was good because I had quite a lot of variety, visiting a lot of places and working for a number of training centres."
In 2007, both PASMA and IPAF approached Chris to become an auditor on a freelance basis. "I thought, you know what, that sounds like a challenge, something I'd like to accept," he reflects. His role expanded to include international auditing and approving new training centres in the Middle East, South Africa and Southeast Asia.
Homecoming
By 2019, after over a decade as a trusted freelancer, Chris was invited to join PASMA full-time by Peter Bennett OBE, now PASMA’s managing director. "It wasn't a difficult decision to make," Chris admits. "I've known Peter for a number of years, and when someone like him asks you to come on board full-time, it was an easy decision." He adds, "Peter has always been a great guide, a great mentor through work and personal life." At PASMA, Chris has had the opportunity to put a career’s-worth of tower knowledge to work. After all, the association is the natural home for tower industry professionals with this much experience and passion for advancing safety and helping people. As head of audit services and professional standards, he not only oversees the audit team but carries out member audits too. Most recently, he oversaw the implementation of hirer/dealer audits, ensuring members in this category also comply with industry safety standards and PASMA’s membership criteria. As manager of the training committee, Chris has contributed to the development of new and existing PASMA training courses. "Since 2019, we’ve updated the Towers for Users and Towers for Managers courses,” he says. “Then, we created additional courses for towers on stairs, cantilevers, linked, bridged and large deck towers." He is particularly proud of the collaborative nature of this work, both in-house (with PASMA’s head of training administration and delivery, Karen O’Neill, and lead auditor, George Lopez) and alongside training members. "There's a lot of passion in our training committee. And it's quite diverse, which is great." Most recently, Chris has welcomed an additional two regional auditors to the team. “A stronger team means we can provide greater assurance and support for members to meet the high-quality audit services they expect”. Reflecting on his almost 35-year journey in the access industry, Chris says, "I think the most fulfilling part is contributing to improving safety. We're not here to find fault; we're here to support and keep people safe at height. That's always been my approach."
Built for PASMA: Chris Smith is part of a series of profiles on PASMA staff members’ breadth of tower knowledge, originally developed for the association’s 50th anniversary history zone exhibits.
