At Kolina, health and safety excellence is a key part of how we operate every day and plays a central role in why we are able to build such long term relationships with our customers.

How do we approach health and safety?

Health and safety is our number one priority to ensure we protect our employees, subcontractors and customers as well as anyone involved with or impacted by our work. We’re  proactive at all times, encouraging our employees to believe in our Safety First ethos.  This empowers them to stop work and report an issue if they feel it’s not safe. Safety First is a set of guidelines every employee commits to adhering to at all times.

Training is a core part of our approach. All our colleagues are trained to high health and safety standards, giving them the ability to assess the risks, introduce the necessary controls and work safely at all times. As a minimum, all our Engineers complete the IOSH Managing Safely qualification plus lone working, manual handling and working at height training.

In addition, Hand Arm Vibration assessments are carried out on all power tools used within the company.  In line with Control of Vibration Regulations 2005, colleagues are provided with a full register and calculations for all equipment.  Our Safety First ethos ensures that any training needs are met to maintain correct standards and regular Health Surveillance reviews take place for all staff.

We have NEBOSH Occupational Health and Safety qualified staff who oversee all health and safety issues throughout the company. We conduct site specific assessments that highlight all hazards and risks in the environment to ensure suitable and sufficient controls are in place to allow work to be carried out in a safe manner.

How is our approach evolving in 2020?

Kolina’s strong health and safety culture has provided us with the ideal foundations to meet the challenges of working in a world coping with COVID-19. Our dedicated teams have worked hard to meet the needs of all our clients through these difficult times. To keep our engineers on the road while ensuring complete safety of our people, customers’ teams and the public, we have adapted and introduced new measures and procedures. This included new COVID-19 risk assessments and controls to ensure we maintained the highest levels of safety.

How does this set us apart in our sector?

Safety is an essential part of the operation of any site and customers need to be assured that anyone visiting their premises will comply with all safety guidelines. We communicate our commitment to safety with each project or maintenance contract we undertake. We also work, with clients and other contractors to continuously improve our approach.

Our underlying principles haven’t changed. Every employee is expected to consider the risks and if they feel it’s unsafe to start or continue work they are empowered to stop and alert relevant people. Our success during these difficult times has been, in part, a result of having the right culture in place already. Our teams have not had to adopt an entirely new approach but simply apply their training to a new potential risk.

Health and safety is at the core of everything we do here at Kolina, from the design and construction of Electrocoagulation treatment units to regular maintenance checks.