The 28th National Irish Safety Organisation / Northern Ireland Safety Group (NISO/NISG) Annual Safety Awards took place on 11 October 2019 at a special ceremony in Galway. It was a night to remember for The Elliott Group and its Health & Safety Manager Matthew O’Dowd.
Highly valued and regarded among Health & Safety professionals through the island of Ireland, winning a NISO / NISG Award demonstrates the positive and proactive culture of safety management that exists within the winners.
The County Cavan headquartered Elliott Group had cause for celebration on the night as they were named as the regional winners for the North East.
The Elliott Family is steeped in a tradition of construction dating back to the 1920s. They are very proud to have worked with government and private clients in all sectors of their industry together with a wide spectrum of the professional consultants in the industry.
They take pride in their reputation and in an industry that is as diverse as it is challenging; they always put their clients and the project first.
The company’s Health & Safety Manager Matthew O’Dowd was responsible for compiling the submission for the Awards and outlined what the recognition meant to him and his colleagues.
“We were delighted to be honest. It was only the second year that we entered the NISO awards and we were absolutely thrilled to get the Regional Award for the North East.
“My role involved putting the submission together to get us over the line. We had to have back-up and evidence from sites in place. From that point of view, the NISO/NISG is a very fair submission. It deals in records and signatures, not waffle and generic info.
“The awards are geared towards the practical and day to day stuff, what lads are doing to promote Health & Safety on sites. It’s not just a box ticking exercise.”
Matthew added: “Last year we received a distinction award so it’s a great step for the Group in terms of progression and validation of what we are doing in Health & Safety. It’s recognition of our work and demonstrates to our staff that we are not doing it for the sake of doing it.”
With 20 years’ experience under his belt, Matthew joined the Elliott Group two years and his job is made a lot easier by the support he receives from Managing Director Darragh Elliott.
“Health & Safety starts at the very top with Darragh. When I first met him a couple of years back, it took me 10 minutes to realise this is the place for me primarily because of his buy-in and attitude towards Health & Safety. I knew there would be no barriers to what I wanted to do. I had his full support and the support of directors, Noel Elliott and Ray Fallon, from Day 1 and that feeds down to the rest of the staff.
“It’s critical to have buy-in from management and the people who look after sites – project managers and site managers. Without them on board it doesn’t works. They are expected to have their own records and controls in place from that point of view. That gave me a chance to pull records together to put into submission. Its’ all about communication.
“My job is to give the personnel on our sites the tools and knowledge so they can manage the sites themselves from a Health & Safety point of view. Every site has its own safety officer and administrative officer but, ultimately, it’s down to everyone on site.
“A lot of emphasis is placed on our daily white board meetings which takes place first thing in the morning on each site. As well as our own personnel, it includes a representative from each sub-contractor that is working on the site. Out of that we get what we call a ‘Safe Start’. There’s then a safety talk with all operatives outlining what the plan for the day is.
“That’s a vital part of our day as everyone knows what’s going on and there are no solo runs.”
The Elliott Group currently has approximately 100 direct employees on its payroll across its operation in Ireland and the UK. Their team of construction managers and tradesmen together with our loyal and capable supply chain have been involved in some of the most prestigious projects on the island of Ireland and the UK.
Their ethos is that companies don’t build; people build and their team have the credentials and the passion to meet the most challenging of projects head on.
They operate in the Healthcare, Commercial, Conservation, Apartments, Hotel and Leisure, IT, Life Sciences and Manufacturing, Housing, Retail, Education, Fitout, Warehouse and Logistics and Civils sectors.
The Group’s proven track record and award recognition in Health & Safety gives their loyal client base much needed peace of mind.
“We were one of the first company’s in Ireland to bring in a scheme called ‘Considerate Constructors’. That code is the cornerstone of how we engage with our clients and our neighbours.
“We put our head above the parapet in the spirit of collaboration. We get all the issues and all the risks out in the open and confront them rather than shy away from them. That is very much the culture and ethos within the Group,” Matthew concluded.
Elliott Group,
Station House,
Cavan,
Co. Cavan,
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +353 (0)49 4331066
Website: www.elliottgroup.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, April 2020, Vol 6 No 2
