When the safety guide fit in your back pocket.
Tony Murphy — our Executive Chairman — recently unearthed a folded paper booklet from 2008. We thought you should see it.
A bit of context first. Clifford Watkins founded the plumbing business in 1962, working out of Kent for local house builders. His son Wyn joined as an installer, took over in the 1970s, and ran the company — from his lounge at first — through the growth years that took us into purpose-built Ramsgate premises in 1989. Watkins is still privately owned by the family today.
A few weeks back, Tony was clearing out a cupboard at the Ramsgate office and pulled out a folded paper booklet. Photocopied. Hand-illustrated. Comic Sans throughout. The cover read "SITE SAFETY GUIDE — Rev—Apr 08" — the version Watkins issued to every operative seventeen years ago, slipped into pockets, kept in every site container.
It’s a beautiful little artefact. The illustrations are pure 2008. The tone is direct, friendly, slightly cheeky. The contact info lists Wyn Watkins — the founder’s son — as Safety Manager, on the same Ramsgate phone number we use today (01843 852277, in case you were wondering). And every single principle in it — every page, every panel — is still the basis of how we do safety in 2026.
Have a flick through →
Drag the corners to flip pages, or use the viewer controls. Want a copy? Download the original PDF.
Eighteen years between the two columns.
The look has changed beyond recognition. The intent — not so much.
Photocopied folded paper booklet, hand-illustrated.
Interactive web tools, on every device, anywhere.
"Copies always available in our Site Container — if not please ASK."
A bookmarkable URL on every operative's phone.
Annual revision. The "Rev — Apr 08" on the cover was a big deal.
Updated whenever a regulation changes. The Knowledge Hub is always current.
Watkins plumbing & mechanical operatives.
Anyone in UK construction H&S who finds us via Google.
"Speak to your Supervisor. Or Wyn Watkins, Safety Manager, on 01843 852277."
Same number. Same approach. Different phone.
Four lines from the booklet — all still true.
Accident avoidance is OUR No 1 Priority.
The booklet’s opening line. Still the right answer to the question "what matters most on site?". Eighteen years on, every consultant we hire and every apprentice we train is taught this same first principle.
Take 5. Take a moment before starting any task.
Modern H&S calls it "Take 5", "Stop & Think", "Pre-task Brief". Whatever you call it, it’s the single most effective intervention in safety culture — and it costs nothing.
Do not carry out any work for which you have not been properly trained.
The 2008 line is identical to the 2026 line. Competence-based working sits behind every CDM regulation, every CSCS card, every CITB ticket.
When you see a hazard, what will you do to ensure it causes no harm to you or others?
Stop-work authority isn’t a modern invention — the 2008 booklet put it on every operative. The Hierarchy of Control formalises it; the question still starts the same way.
From Clifford to Tony — sixty years, one phone number.
The 2008 booklet sits roughly in the middle of a story that’s been running, and is still running, in the same family.
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1962
Clifford Watkins
Founds the plumbing business in Kent, working for local house builders.
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1970s
Wyn Watkins
Clifford’s son takes over. Office is run from Wyn’s lounge. The company grows steadily.
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1989
Move to Ramsgate
National house-builder contracts. Purpose-built Ramsgate premises — still our HQ today.
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2008
The booklet you just read
Wyn Watkins, by then Safety Manager, issues the folded paper site safety guide.
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Today
Tony Murphy & the Watkins family
Executive Chairman Tony Murphy finds the booklet. Still privately owned by the Watkins family. Same phone, sharper tools.
Three generations of leadership. One phone number. The next time someone tells us H&S is "different now" — we’ve got a folded paper booklet from 2008 that politely disagrees.