Based in Doon, Co Limerick, Cooga Safety Services Group (CSSG) offers the complete package to help clients fulfil Health & Safety requirements. Building Ireland touched base with its Managing Director Helena Ryan recently to learn all about what is a thriving business.
These are busy times at Cooga Safety Services Group and its owner and founder Helena Ryan hopes to keep things that way right through 2021.
Established in July 2012, the company employs eight full-time staff and provides a Health & Safety Consultancy Service which is second to none.
Helena Ryan herself has more than 20 years’ experience working as a Health & Safety Consultant in the Construction Industry.
Building Ireland caught up with the Co. Tipperary native in the early part of 2021 to find out more about her business ventures.
“We have eight working here full-time and a number of sub-contractors,” Helena outlined.
“We provide a consultancy service, training and specialise in Safe-T for companies, we currently have over 20 companies registered with the CIF and they are audited on a yearly basis.
“We do Safety Officer Placement across the country from Construction, Event Management and Pharmaceutical. We also supply Safety Officers across Europe for the Pharm Industry. We audit contractors on weekly/monthly basis as per their business requirements.
“We complete various training from Manual Handling, Patient Handling on site and Virtual, Work at Height Courses for both employee and Instructors, MEWP, CSCS Courses, Chemical Awareness, HACCP various levels & Abrasive Wheels, Infection Prevention & Control, Covid-19 First Aid, PHECC & FAR Courses where we work with Ross Mannion, George McDermott & Hugh Devine.
“We are all Mental Health First Aiders and work with companies regarding Mental Health Awareness across all our sites. We have a Doctor on board Deborah Mannion, in conjunction with her husband Ross, they complete inhouse Health Assessment’s.
“We also train people in Confined Space, Fire Training & Risk Assessments, RTITB Forklift Training, Pallet Truck, Roller & Gantry Crane Training. We do Pat Testing, GA1 Certification, Certify Slings & Chains. We also supply companies with fire extinguishers and harnesses.
“We have also taken on the Role of PSDP in conjunction with Paul Flynn Consulting Engineer and PSCS for various clients across the country.
“Paperwork wise we complete Health & Safety Pack for Site, we do AF2 notifications for New Builds, Health & Safety Plans, Health & Safety Statements, Method Statements & Risk Assessments, Inductions, Temporary Works Design for Scaffolding & Traffic Management Plans.”
CSSG also provides services in Lawnmower Training, Chainsaws, CPC Training and Truck Driving Training. The company also has expertise when it comes to Quad Bike Training, as Helena explained:
“Noel Guinan that works with us here is a leading expert in quad bike training and works with the HSA at their tent every year at the Ploughing Championships.”
She continued: “The work ranges from local Hunts, Event Management, Farmers, Roads Works, Factories, Airports, Ports, Main Contractor Construction, Formwork & Paving.
“We work for all trades – from Main Contractor, Civils, ATEX, Mechanical & Electrical.”
The company has seen significant growth over the years and, looking back on its origins, it seems that Health & Safety is something which Helena and her family were destined to become immersed in.
As it stands, half a dozen of her family members are qualified in Health & Safety, as Helena pointed out.
“My aunt had qualified in Health & Safety in UL, she said that it was a course that I would enjoy so I started the course in UL in 2001 the following year my brother and cousin joined me.
“So, we’re all qualified in Health & Safety now. All in all, there are six of us in the extended family that have qualified.”
Last year was one of the busiest years yet for Cooga Safety Services Group despite the Covid-19 pandemic and the first of three Level 5 lockdowns arriving in the second week of March.
Helena and her team down in Doon managed to stay busy throughout it and continue to be busy well into 2021.
“Business was actually good in 2020 and during the first lockdown every company that we work with had to get their Safety Documents updated and employees trained regarding Covid-19,” she said.
“We were busy in that we were working so much with the pharmaceuticals and Essential Services.
“It’s terrible for other people and the mental health thing is a big thing for us. My motto is ‘treat people as you would like want to be treated yourself’ and we try and make sure to do that here.
“We’re there to work with them, the men and women on the ground. No person is 100 percent, we’re all human.”
Next year will see Cooga Safety Services Group marking a decade in business, so what has been the secret to success for the company to date?
According to Helena, providing clients with a quality service on a consistent basis goes a long way in this game.
“I think it’s because we have a good system in place and we’ve built our reputation here all through word of mouth,” she said.
“We work a lot with the CIF and they’d audit us something like 20 times a year, so I’m constantly improving documents.”
This past summer saw Helena Ryan picking up a Business All-Star Accreditation as a Thought Leader at the 2020 All-Ireland Business All-Stars.
The All-Ireland Business All-Stars are a national body which is responsible for accrediting Best-in-Class Irish businesses, convening the All-Ireland Business Summit and Awards.
Describing it as “a nice honour”, Helena earned the award after having successfully navigated three rounds of auditing which proved her performance, trust and customer-centricity.
The auditing process left the organisers in no doubt as to the Cooga Safety Services Group MD’S suitability for Business All-Star accreditation and her inclusion in The Register of Irish Business Excellence (TRIBE).
It’s not the first time Helena’s work has been recognised on a national scale either.
In September 2019, she joined RTE’s ‘DIY SOS: The Big Build Ireland’ television programme as Health & Safety Advisor. “We’d a phenomenal team on board and I don’t mind being on TV at all because I don’t see the cameras. You’d be constantly concentrating on the work in front of you and the people,” she said.
As part of the Purple Shirts team, Helena is now set to feature on every episode with her team. Looking towards the coming months, she hopes that Cooga Safety Services Group can stay as busy as it has been over the past 12 months or so.
Above all though, she is keen for the company’s clients to stay safe in these unprecedented times.
“We want to keep every person that works with us safe because that’s the key thing above everything else, to keep people safe,” Helena concluded.
Cooga Safety Services Group (CSSG)
Cooga Upper,
Doon,
Co Limerick
Mobile: 087 6822 050
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, May, Vol 7 No 5
