Congratulations to Chantal Austin on her promotion to quality and compliance manager.
Chantal first joined VGC for work experience in our HR department in 2014. Later that year she became a full-time member of staff as a VGC Personnel recruitment resourcer.
In 2015 she moved to the health, safety, quality and environment team (HSQE), as an HSQE co-ordinator. She was promoted 18 months later to the position of HSQE adviser. She conducted health and safety audits on site as well as from the office, helping our teams to maintain high safety standards. As she explained in her video interview, she enjoyed the varied work this role involved.
She has now been promoted to quality and compliance manager.
Focusing on efficiency
Chantal led our latest Achilles gold one-day audit to retain our achieve Building Confidence accreditation. This confirms that VGC complies with UK health and safety legislation and the CDM (construction, design and management) regulations. Chief executive Laurence Mckidd thanked everyone who had worked on preparing for the audit, saying: “The auditor was particularly complimentary about HSQE adviser Chantal Austin. They praised how efficient she was in producing the relevant paperwork, and her knowledge of our systems.”
As well as continuing to lead our external audits, in her new role she will focus on reviewing our business management system. These make sure we run our company in the most efficient way, and monitor our contractors in line with our supplier approval process. She will also work on our carbon strategy.
Chantal says: “I’m looking forward to helping create our strategy to align with 2050 target for net zero. I’ll implement internal audit procedures for VGC businesses. I will be involved in designing programmes that help us to improve compliance rates, and streamlining and formalising our processes.
“I’ll also be reporting to VGC’s senior management, identifying trends and opportunities for continued improvement across many aspects of our business. That’s an exciting prospect.”
Training for success
Chantal gained her internal auditor qualification in September 2016. She went on the following year to pass the NEBOSH (National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health) exam, which allowed her to become a Tech IOSH (Institution of Occupational Safety and Health) member.
She is currently enrolled in the IEMA (Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment) Certificate in Environmental Management, focusing on carbon strategy. At the end of this course Chantal will have IEMA Practitioner membership. The IEMA course is designed in part to help students share knowledge of environmental principles with colleagues, suppliers and clients.
As well as studying for external qualifications, Chantal has completed the VGC Academy core, intermediate and leadership modules.
“Chantal’s success is proof that hard work and a consistent approach to learning pay off,” said Terry Dutton Wells, non-executive director. “I have been so impressed with her work on our audits to ISO standards 9001 (quality), 45001 (safety), 14001 (environment) and 50001 (energy). This promotion is very well-deserved.”
