New head of health and safety appointed to key role in Lanes Group

 

Lanes Group’s Utilities Division has appointed Andrew MacCuish to be its Head of Health, Safety Quality and Environment.

Andrew will lead on HSQE strategy and operational management for the division, primarily involving its wastewater network maintenance contract with Thames Water.

Lanes Utilities Managing Director Conrad Ashby said: “We have created this new role to reflect the growing demands on a larger HSQE team. I am delighted with Andrew’s appointment, and the energy and enthusiasm he brings to the team.

“His leadership in this business-critical area is fundamental to our success. I look forward to working with Andrew on creating and implementing a safer working environment and improving the well-being of our people.”

Andrew said: “Lanes Group has a reputation for setting high health and safety standards and being an innovation leader in the utilities sector.

“My aim is to build on that success and continue to develop HSQE systems that ensure our staff, customers and wider public are safe and can have utmost confidence in our services.

“This is an exciting and exacting role, and I am looking forward to building on past success. The atmosphere in the Lanes’ Thames Water operation is excellent. They want to be safe and to be the best, but they know there is a need for continuous improvement. No-one is resting on their laurels.”

Key elements of Lanes Utilities’ HSQE strategy will be to establish continual improvement while maintaining basic and fundamental health and safety principles, ensuring best practice is applied, and listening to the views of staff, which is fundamental to supporting workplace safety.

Andrew began working life in Merchant Navy, then trained as a marine engineer with Maersk Line before moving into manufacturing engineering, where he began to develop his expertise in health and safety.

Before joining Lanes Group’s Thames Water operation based at Slough, in Berkshire, he had been Safety, Health, Environment and Quality Manager for John O’Connor (GM) Ltd, the UK’s largest independent grounds maintenance provider.

He said: “I will be working with a very good team of health and safety professionals, and a very positive management team. A key aim over the next 12 months is to focus on building the wellbeing of our workforce.

“There is growing awareness that psychological wellbeing and personal health is critical, as well as physical safety.

“We want our staff to come to work happy, and go home having gained more knowledge that allows them to do their jobs more safely, to a higher standard, and with greater personal satisfaction.”

Lanes Utilities has won a number of awards for its approach to health and safety, both within Thames Water and nationally, including the Construction News Health and Safety Excellence Award.

Lanes Group is Thames Water’s sole wastewater network maintenance provider. It maintains a 110,000 km sewer network on behalf of 14 million Thames Water customers, completing around 1,000 jobs every day, 600 emergency call-outs.

To do this, Lanes employs 986 staff, 431 of them blockage engineers, and operates a fleet of more than 400 vehicles.