Helping businesses create Healthy, Safe, Secure, and Sustainable buildings. I specialise in fire safety and sustainability tools to protect lives, ensure compliance, and promote resilient, eco-friendly spaces
When Change Isn’t Always Sweet: A Tale of the Purple One (and a Fire Safety Lesson) Change can be good, right? It keeps us innovating, improving, moving forward. But sometimes, change can leave us scratching our heads—or worse, reaching for another tin of chocolates in disappointment. Take the Quality Street Purple One, for instance. For decades, it’s been a festive favourite, cherished for its rich caramel, iconic Brazil nut, and that distinctive oval shape. But it’s had a makeover. The Purple One is now… round. Sure, it might seem like a small tweak. But as fans unwrap their chocolates, they’re noticing something is off. That distinctive shape, that extra bite of Brazil nut—gone. Could the new design be about cost-saving, streamlining production with uniform shapes? Perhaps. But in trying to optimise, it feels like something special got left behind. And here’s the connection to #firesafety. In engineering (whether it’s chocolates or #construction), small changes to save costs can have big, unintended consequences. Re-engineering something—like removing a fire door to make a space “flow better” or cutting corners on materials to trim the budget—might seem harmless at first. But when you strip away critical safeguards, you compromise safety, integrity, and ultimately trust. It’s the same for our beloved Purple One. While standardising its shape might streamline production, it’s cost them their emotional connection with customers. In business—and in safety—when you change something, you must weigh the risks against the rewards. Because cutting corners might save a bit now, but it could cost you far more later. This festive season, I’ll be savouring an alternative to the “old-school” Purple Ones and reflecting on this simple lesson: innovation is great, but don’t lose sight of what matters most—whether it’s customer loyalty or safety standards. Miniature heroes it is then. But wait, what's happened to the height of the double decker? its now a single decker. Here we go again. What do you think? Have you ever experienced a project where value engineering backfired? Book me in for a call about how I can be your #fire #riskmanagement partner. #buildingsafety #protectinglives #healthybuildings
