There was double delight for Tritech at the 2024 National Irish Safety Organisation / Northern Ireland Safety Group (NISO / NISG) Safety Awards for the second year in-a-row when the leading mechanical, electrical and maintenance contractor won Higher Distinction and Consistent High Achiever Awards.
Celebrating 25 years building engineering partnerships, Tritech was one of the big winners at the annual All-Ireland Safety Awards which took place in the Great Southern Hotel, Killarney on October 11 last. The back-to-back success recognises the Group’s unwavering commitment to achieving the highest possible standards of Health & Safety in the workplace.
“For Tritech, this is a great achievement,” Group EHS Manager Shareleen Jansen Van Vuuren enthuses.
“It showcases the dedication and growth of the business and also portrays the engagement of employees, contractors and high-end stakeholders towards our EHS goals and targets we set for a greater, safer and maintained workplace.
“For the EHS team, it validates their importance within the company structure and the roles they play on site and among our valued employees. It gives them a sense of belonging and having a purpose within the industry. For myself as EHS Manager who has been involved in the construction industry for 16 years, it gives me great pride to know that I have a rock solid and trusting team with the ability to achieve such high-level accomplishments.
“Our QEHS Director Peter Keane places his full trust in our amazing team and has firm involvement and thorough engagement to ensure we all align with the business strategies and objectives. It’s more than just ensuring legislation is applied on site; it’s about a greater purpose of ensuring no life is lost and you go home every day the way you reported for duty. It’s about being part of a whole, belonging to the Tritech family.”
Shareleen continues: “We will keep striving for higher standards in the future and will upkeep our standards to the highest degree to ensure that our employees, clients and contractors receive the ultimate performance when it comes to Health, Safety and Welfare on projects where we engage.”
The NISO / NISG Awards were established in 1992 with just 20 entries and have grown to become Ireland’s premier safety awards. The Awards scheme recognises achievement in Health & Safety Management Systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement. The Awards are also a way of auditing company’s Health & Safety Management Systems and finding out how well they’re performing against other companies within the construction sector.
To achieve a NISO Health & Safety Award, companies have to submit information and examples of how Health & Safety is managed on a day-to-day basis in the following areas: Health & Safety Management, Hazard Identification & Risk Management, Implementation and Operation of Health & Safety Policies and Procedures, Health & Safety Communication and Consultation, Proactive Health & Safety Management, Occupational Health & Hygiene, Workplace Health & Wellbeing, Health & Safety Training, Reactive Health & Safety Management, Emergency Preparedness and Response, and Work-Related Vehicle Safety, including Driving for Work.
Tritech’s comprehensive Awards submission was compiled by Shareleen with the support of Senior EHS Advisors Ruth Hayes and Chris Bomfim, EHS Advisors Simone Becker, Fareed Ahmed, Jason Murphy and Daniel Amahala as well as Junior EHS Advisor Sinéad Daly.
For the past two years, Tritech’s EHS team has focused strongly on the different levels of engagement throughout the business and with contractors.
“We have placed a key focus on how to improve engagement from higher management levels down and initiated development through advanced EHS training for our Board of Directors, Contracts and Project Managers,” Shareleen explains.
“We have introduced various new engagement elements such as principal walks, key performance leaderboards, subcontractor reviews and initiatives to improve EHS engagement and involvement through all aspects.
“We have also improved our incident and accident stats by 200% from 2022 and maintain a record of zero-reportable accidents for the past year. This highlights a truly dedicated EHS culture in the business and indicates that employees are taking responsibility for their own safety and wellbeing as well.
“Furthermore, we have on-boarded Skillko as our training software programme where we have integrated our RAMS and training. This has lowered time spent on functions where EHS advisors can now have more on site interaction and involvement.”
Tritech runs a number of initiatives throughout the year which enable it to achieve continuous improvement of its Health & Safety system and to improve engagement with employees. These include:
· 20 second scans. This is a process where employees scan a QR code, evaluate their area for 20 seconds and highlight risk in same before proceeding with works. This has been an invaluable tool in assisting with lowering incidents and accidents on site.
· Monthly Pizza Thursdays see employees on a selected site get a lunchtime pizza to promote communication among the team. This also forms part of Tritech’s mental health approach so that employees don’t become isolated within the workplace and embrace the bigger picture of a supporting team on site.
· In the past year, Tritech has trained up eight mental health first aiders to ensure that it maintains a system that is open to employees in need of mental health assistance.
· Tritech’s monthly KPI board drives its sites, management and employees to perform at their best to secure the EHS Site of the Year Award.
· The Group has also introduced LEAN within its sites in the drive for greater sustainability. This is an all-round system that will ensure a greener future within Tritech.
Led by Managing Director Joe Delaney and employing 210 people who are supported and supplemented by the same tried and trusted subcontractors, Tritech is a mechanical, electrical and maintenance contractor that was founded in 1999 and is continually evaluating new products, technologies and innovative solutions in service execution so as to exceed expectations while delivering quality and value.
The Dublin-based contractor has invested heavily in both its staff and technology to ensure it continually improves its services and that its teams have the skills, expertise and technical resources necessary to efficiently take your project from start to finish.
Tritech takes all elements of Safety, Quality & Environmental extremely seriously and is committed to ensuring the Safety, Health and Welfare of all employees, contractors and others affected by its activities. Its QEHS System is internationally accredited to ISO9001, ISO45001 and ISO14001. These standards provide the framework for Tritech’s commitment to continuous improvement.
Here’s to the next 25 years of this multi award-winning operation!
Tritech
Clonlara House,
Clonlara Road
Baldonnell Business Park,
Dublin 22 D22 E973
Telephone: 01 413 1000
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.tritech.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, March 2025, Vol 11 No 3
