NORTH-EAST businesses can ensure continued growth by creating a culture of safety at the heart of efforts to attract and retain staff. That is the view of Mark Tartaglia, HSEQ manager at eGroup, a leading provider of integrated services to the construction and oil and gas industries.
He believes that, through working with personnel at all levels, the company is not only educating people about their own roles and responsibilities but increasing awareness of how these impact upon others through the roll-out of key initiatives.
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Mark was previously operations director at an HSEQ consultancy, where he worked with clients to deliver health, safety, environmental and quality principles and ensure continual improvement across all aspects of their respective businesses.
He said: “Having recently joined eGroup, I am excited about the challenge to build upon the strong foundations already in place here and foster a culture of openness where safety is paramount. Operating in high-risk industries, such as construction and oil and gas, our team is well-versed in the importance of safe working practices and compliance.”
eGroup is spread out across an 18-acre site in Kintore, and with staff working on clients’ sites across the country, this can present certain challenges and opportunities from a health and safety perspective.
Mark has led the introduction of the ‘Golden Rules’ initiative that he believes will vastly improve safety culture. Based on HSE standards, the ‘Golden Rules’ are a set of 10 core areas that affect personal safety and are used to communicate critical requirements to employees in all operations; ranging from working at height and driving safely, to confined spaces and handling chemicals.
Part of his remit is to change employees’ mindsets through greater standardisation and learning from practices that have proven successful in one part of the business and rolling these out group-wide; ensuring they are a core part of everyone’s job.
Mark added: “Another initiative we are introducing to further help prevent accidents at eGroup is the new Intervention System, which allows all employees to record and highlight any unsafe activities. Most importantly, this tool empowers staff to stop work if they have any concerns over safety.
“Safety is a vital part of our culture at eGroup. But for this to be truly successful we need to make sure that these values are properly embedded right across the company. Ultimately, our priority is to ensure that everyone gets home safely and in good health at the end of every working day.”
Based at the Midmill Industrial Estate, Kintore, eGroup provides integrated services to the construction and oil and gas industries. With four specialist divisions operating under one banner, it boasts an array of services including surface preparation and specialist coatings, structural steel fabrication, wall/roof cladding and non-destructive testing.
