ESS Ecology are celebrating after securing high scores during a recent audit.

The firm, which has been working on and offshore since 1995 and 2001 respectively, has continued to evolve its management systems to match the demands of its projects, clients and industry regulators.

Its early involvement with initiatives such as the Renewable UK Lessons Learned Database and Offshore Marine Energy Health & Safety Accord have further reinforced the Company's safety culture, expert knowledge and project management capabilities.

ESS Ecology has maintained its position as an industry leader with respect to QHSE, and as of November 2012, these management systems have been externally accredited to three international standards; ISO 9001 (Quality), ISO 14001 (Environment) and OHSAS 18001 (Health & Safety). The audit was carried out by independent certification body ISOQAR, and included a detailed audit of processes and documentation at ESS Ecology's office, as well as a site visit to observe the Company's QHSE systems being applied in the field.


In response to requests from clients, the company recently upgraded its Achilles Utilities Vendor Data Base (UVDB) assessment from the questionnaire-based Verify A to a more thorough visit-based B1 audit. The audit, conducted in August 2013, involved an external auditor visiting the ESS Ecology office in Edinburgh and conducting a thorough review of all QHSE management systems, as well as conducting staff interviews regarding the effectiveness of these systems. Following this, the auditor accompanied a field team to a local site to assess to verify that ESS Ecology's QHSE policies and procedures were applied correctly and comprehensively during fieldwork.

Following the office audit and site visit, ESS Ecology scoring 98.5% (average of office and site scores) for Health & Safety, and 99% for Environmental and Quality Management Systems. The outcome of the preparation for the audit, as well as the audit itself, has further improved ESS Ecology's management systems.

(JP/CD)