More than 130 health, safety and environment professionals from across the UK and Ireland have attended a major industry event, held in Jersey for the first time.
Jersey Electricity (JE) played host to the 33rd Energy Networks Association’s (ENA) annual Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) Management conference which was held at the Radisson. The ENA represents companies and utilities responsible for operating the energy networks in the UK and Ireland.
Eminent industry professionals from leading utility organisations including the National Grid Electricity Distribution, Northern Ireland Electricity Networks, Society of Occupational Medicine and Scottish Power shared their expertise with delegates.
Locally, Elaine Harbour, Director of Jersey’s Health & Safety Inspectorate joined Chris Ambler, CEO of Jersey Electricity, Mark Preece, JE’s COO and Ross Muir, JE’s Head of Health, Safety and Sustainability on the stage. Ross, who sits on the ENA’s SHE organising committee, was instrumental in bringing this year’s conference to Jersey. The event is hosted in different member locations each year.
The audience also heard from two of JE’s new apprentices, Tito Ornelas and Cody O’Gorman, about their experience of health and safety at JE, highlighting the importance of teaching these principles from the very beginning of the engineers’ careers.
Chris Ambler, JE’s CEO, added: “Health and safety professionals have a critical enabling role in ensuring that energy partners can safely deliver the networks that we need to sustainably power our communities as we look towards a net zero future. The pace of change within the industry was palpable and there was a real buzz of excitement for the challenge ahead.
“From the many conversations I had, delegates thoroughly enjoyed the event and were impressed with the Island, many having never visited before and many staying on to enjoy some time off here over the weekend. It was a great opportunity to showcase Jersey and Jersey Electricity and welcome industry professionals in our centenary year.”
Lawrence Slade, CEO, ENA, which represents the UK’s energy network operators said: “This year’s conference brought so many people together to discuss the latest ideas in promoting the health, safety, and welfare of our workforce, our partners and customers.
“This year’s theme was ‘Building Future SHE Performance’ and I think the huge range of emerging best practice and practical solutions shared at the event will help all attendees to improve their outcomes over the year ahead. Thank you again to Jersey Electricity for hosting such an important event.”
Ross Muir said: “It was fantastic to see so many industry peers gathering to share best practice, experiences and raise standards within our sector. Safety is intrinsic to everything we do at JE, we have robust standards and practices that are well embedded within our organisation to ensure all colleagues can work safely and effectively without compromise. The SHE event was really inspiring and all delegates took away plenty of learnings to apply to their own businesses.”
Pictured: Tito Ornelas, Chris Ambler and Cody O’Gorman
