A leading North-east recycling company has made a key management appointment to bolster its safety procedures due to its continued growth.
Keenan Recycling, which transforms food and garden waste into BSI accredited compost at its New Deer base in Aberdeenshire, has appointed George Chalmers to the role of health and safety manager to oversee the company’s adherence to relevant regulations and legislation.
Since the introduction of the Waste (Scotland) Regulations in January 2014, the firm has seen its client list triple from 600 to 1800 and now processes more than 60,000 tonnes of waste at its award-winning site.
As a result of this rapid growth, the firm required a dedicated health and safety professional to oversee all procedures and ensure the business stays in line with the most up to date legislation.
Mr Chalmers, who lives close to New Deer in the Buchan countryside, was educated at Bankhead Academy in Aberdeen and joins Keenan Recycling with more than 25 years experience in the industrial sector having previously worked for a large logistics company.
He said: “My day to day role mainly involves managing risk, training members of staff, and making sure the facility is operated in a safe manner. Other elements involve risk assessments and method statements as well as continually monitoring legislation to ensure we are always one step ahead of any changes to the rules.
“Due to the nature of the business the staff are regularly carrying out tasks which could be seen as hazardous and there is always heavy machinery moving around the yard, which all require protocols to be in place to ensure all workers are safe at work.
Keenan Recycling, technical director, Gregor Keenan, said: “Historically, health and safety has always been something that could be handled by the existing management team, however as the company has grown and taken on more and more staff it was decided that a dedicated health and safety manager was required.
“George joins us with a wealth of experience and knowledge of health and safety procedures and will definitely be an asset to our business and invaluable in keeping our staff safe at all times.”
The specialist organics firm, which currently processes more than 60,000 tonnes of organic waste per year at its award-winning facility, has significantly invested in its specialist fleet of lorries in the last year, and uses bespoke low emission vehicles to collect an additional 2000 tonnes of waste per year.