About Andy
Health and safety and wellbeing is about people, not paperwork.
I’m Andy Bishop. I’ve spent my life around risk. Twenty two years in the British Army, in explosive demolition, counter terrorist search and military engineering, followed by years in health and safety across manufacturing, aerospace and construction. I understand risk from the inside, not from a textbook.
I also live with bipolar disorder, I was diagnosed in 2008. So I know what it’s like to carry something heavy and not have the permission to put it down. That’s the other half of what I bring to Human Angle.
My Background
I’ve been on site and in training rooms for a diverse range of companies and organisations across the UK and Ireland. That grounding taught me that good health. safety and wellbeing isn’t about catching people out, it’s about helping people understand risk, feel able to raise concerns, and get home safely at the end of the day.
Why wellbeing matters to me
I’ve lost close friends to suicide. I’ve carried coffins for men who should still be here. I’ve stood while an eight year old boy watched his father’s coffin lowered into the ground, whimpering “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.” I’ve physically pulled a young woman back from the wrong side of a bridge. And there was a time in my own life when I nearly became one of those statistics myself.
I don’t say any of that for effect. I say it because pretending these things don’t happen on building sites and in offices is exactly how people end up suffering alone. Honest conversations don’t fix everything, but they help people feel less alone, spot the signs sooner, and understand that asking for help is a strength, not a weakness.
“People do not need more jargon. They need support that makes sense and conversations that feel safe to have.”
What Human Angle stands for
- Practical advice that works in the real world
- Health and safety that keeps people at the centre
- Training that respects people’s time and experience
- Honest conversations about wellbeing and mental health
- Support that is clear, proportionate and straightforward
ManGang
I founded ManGang, a Hampshire based men’s peer support community, with one simple job: giving men somewhere to talk before things get too heavy. We meet every Wednesday evening across Southampton, Eastleigh, Winchester and Romsey, plus a Saturday walk and talk. Human Angle and ManGang are two sides of the same coin. One is my day job, the other is where I put what I’ve learned into practice.
When I’m not talking
I write. Poetry mostly, short bits of prose too. Not to impress anyone, never to publish, just to get things out of my head and onto a page when saying them out loud feels too hard.
It’s been properly therapeutic, and it’s part of why I believe there’s more than one way to have the conversation.
I also find stillness riding motorbikes!
