Elliott - Meet our new Head of SHEQ

At Elliott, we’re proud of our quality & standards we maintain for the construction industry and regularly audit teams to maintain and improve our market leading position. We are committed to continuously improving our health and safety standards as well as our Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ) procedures as Elliott serves a wide range of clients with a different range of requirements and expectations, which we meet with our wide range of solutions.

It’s important to attain and maintain leading industry standards and accreditations to provide our customers with absolute confidence. In order to keep up with the high demand of the construction industry, we are taking the next steps in improving our SHEQ procedures.

We sat down with our new Head of SHEQ, Benn Holt, to find out about his new role at Elliott.

What does your role entail?

There a 4 key elements to my role which are:

• Ensuring the business remains compliant with relevant statutory duties
• Supporting the teams to deal with all SHEQ related incidents
• Monitoring and reporting on business performance with the aim of having continuous improvement
• Working with my own team so that the above is achieved and so they themselves are supported.

One of my objectives for the business, however, will be trying to drive real leadership into the business so that culturally we can grow into an organisation where high SHEQ standards become the natural behaviours for all Elliott employees.

What does a typical day look like as head of sheq?

As I’m relatively new to Elliott I am still getting to know how it runs and the people who work here so there is still a portion of my time moving throughout the various locations and functions. Primarily though, my days are spent supporting my team, working on my improvement plans and dealing with any SHEQ concerns which come across my desk.

What drew you to a career at elliott?

Elliott offered a lot of opportunities for me to work in areas where I haven’t had much experience, such as factory environments and transport management. At the time of my interview which has since been confirmed with conversations with the leaders at Elliott, I was told that the company is looking to take the next steps for SHEQ improvements and that they understand there is work to be done but are equal and supportive of the task. For a SHEQ professional this is an encouraging thing to hear and for me exactly the sort of challenge I was after.

Where have your previous roles been and how has it prepared you for working at elliott?

I come from a purely construction background having completed my bricklaying apprenticeship at an early age and subsequently moving into HSE just over 10 years ago. Since starting in an HSE role I have continuously grown with training and experience and have worked across all of the construction industry sectors. My roles have ranged from onsite HSE advisor to regional HSE management with a portfolio that includes £450m+ London high rises to power station conversions to redevelopments of large-scale city shopping precincts. All of this has helped me grow into a professional who both knows the legal side of my role and the challenges that a business faces when trying to simply improve its own culture.

How does this role differ from your other work?

I have been surprised at the amount of work and the pace at which the depots operate at to satisfy the customer requirements. I am equally impressed with the amount that each part of the business relies on the other and the need for constant connectivity to ensure the organisation succeeds.

Everything we do at Elliott is driven by our focus on working 100% safe. Our dedicated Health & Safety Management Team regularly carry out risk assessments to ensure safe working procedures. To find out more about Health & Safety at Elliott and our accreditations, click here.

posted by Elliott