The health and safety division of an award-winning HR consultancy is celebrating its first full year of servicing clients as it aspires for continued growth.
Dominic Greenwood heads up the health and safety department of HR Solutions and has played an integral part in taking the section from a standing start to boasting more than 20 clients in less than 12 months.
Despite helping the company to launch the new services during the pandemic last August, Dominic was unfazed and determined to make a success of his task.
Dominic said: “Our greatest achievement so far has to be making the division financially viable from a standing start.
“Launching in the midst of the pandemic meant that there were some tricky times but having the confidence of the board and CEO has helped to get to this point.”
Just 12 months down the line, recruitment is underway for another new health and safety consultant to work alongside Dominic and there are plans for a second new starter by the end of the year – a health and safety advisor – so the Health and Safety team will start 2022 as a trio.
HR Solutions offers a range of professional services to more than 450 SME clients. After identifying that Health and Safety was an additional area its current clients required support with, the company took the decision to launch the division to meet customer demand – which has paid dividends.
Dominic and the team are continually increasing the companies’ portfolio of health and safety clients while further expanding the services HR Solutions has to offer, including more training courses for the construction and hospitality industries. Dominic aims to have 25 clients by the end of the summer and wants to increase visibility locally.
Dominic said: “We are a one-stop-shop for health and safety to de-risk a business and support with anything health and safety related, from training to site services to audits to just being on the end of a phone.
“The feedback we have received has been hugely positive. Like our other services, we personalise our packages to meet the exact needs of our customers.
“I want clients to see us as being part of their team. We are very people orientated and company centric. Anybody in the company can contact me if they have a health and safety problem or query.
“It’s fantastic to be involved with a team and implementing processes, then helping them to review and update them.”
Dominic comes from a career background in the leisure and fitness sector and has previously been a lifeguard, tennis coach and gym manager before spending nine years as the health, safety and training lead for Energie Fitness.
He moved to HR Solutions to share his knowledge and skills with the wider business community, and he didn’t disappoint.
The technical health and safety consultant has continually added to his own skill set so he has been able to provide the right and relevant training and services for his clients.
Dominic said: “There’s a number of industries I’m working with which has made me think about my own training and competency. I’ve really embraced the change and the difference in clients and training I’ve had to do to match their needs.
“I’ve just enrolled on a level 6 occupational health and safety diploma and my ultimate ambition is to become a chartered IOSH member – I’m a technical consultant at the moment – as I feel it would give clients and prospective clients more confidence.”
HR Solutions offers two different health and safety packages depending on the client’s needs.
Essential Plus offers Dominic as your company’s health and safety manager, working remotely, including up to 12 on site visits per year. A massive 70% of HR Solution’s current clients have taken this option so that they have someone visible and contactable in the workplace.
The alternative option is the Essential package, which offers a very similar service but without the face-to-face visits.
In the past year, Dominic has written well over 100 policies, risk assessments and check sheets and while his early webinars were presented to around 10 people, they are now attracting over 100 viewers each time.
He hosted training sessions in person in September, November, February and May, in line with Covid rules and restrictions, in safeguarding, mental health and first aid – all subjects that require face to face learning, says Dominic.
“I think people need to learn from people,” he said. “You need to do fire training and first aid in person, in order for the training to be effective.
“A lot of industries I’m working with didn’t close during the lockdowns – it was mainly business as usual for construction and manufacturing.”
But with all the uncertainty that the Covid crisis has brought to business, Dominic has seen a massive uptake in mental health training.
He said: “Companies are really embracing mental health training for staff and we are very happy to be involved in that. I think the pandemic has exacerbated it massively. People have lost their jobs, their loved ones and have felt unsafe returning to work. Mental health awareness and training is vital in dealing with these issues.
“I’ve been teaching mental health training for two years and I’ve led more training courses in the past three months than in the last two years put together. I don’t think that will change soon. Companies are realising that their senior leaders need to be qualified to identify workers who may have problems and might need to talk to somebody, which is brilliant.”
For more information, go to www.hrsolutions-uk.com.
