Energi Cable Services has grown rapidly in recent years, primarily from customer referrals. Following several early offshore projects, the company quickly earnt a name for itself in delivering excellent support services offshore. As with any fast-growing business, Energi faced challenges as it scaled up.
“We don’t put anybody onto a client site without everything being in order and them having their training and certification up to date. That means, as the business gets bigger, you need to have the proper systems in place,” says Joy Dean, Training and Resources Manager at Energi.
“Our small leadership team had a meeting when we all looked at the system and we all agreed HandsHQ was right for us.”
“When I joined the business to manage training and recruitment, the training management was in a bit of a pickle to be honest. It wasn’t easy to find the relevant files and, during COVID-19, some of the certificates had been allowed to expire.” Prior to HandsHQ, this task would have taken Joy around 20 minutes to complete, whereas now, with HandsHQ, it only takes her 5 minutes.
“I’ve never worked without a database before,” continues Joy. “And as soon as I joined, I had to allocate staffing resources to a project. Without adequate training records, that was more difficult than it needed to be. I said, “I need to have a database!”
As soon as the business recognised the need to improve training management, the leadership team began looking for suitable systems. They came across Training Register from HandsHQ, an easy-to-use, web-based solution that makes it easy for companies to replace their Excel training matrix, keep training records, evidence, and training needs analysis all in one place, to simply demonstrate training compliance to auditors and never miss another training expiry date.
“Our small leadership team had a meeting when we all looked at the system and we all agreed HandsHQ was right for us,” recalls Joy.
Following that decision, Energi began using HandsHQ Training Register in December 2020. Joy immediately felt the improvement.
“Health and safety is the main consideration of this company,” says Joy. “We’re putting our staff into potentially hazardous environments – especially when they are offshore. And in the power industry, a problem could be fatal. I take that very seriously, so it’s important that all the staff have the right training and certification and that it is kept fully up to date.”
“HandsHQ keeps the individual staff members updated about the status of their own certifications and if anything is coming up for renewal.”
As well as Joy having a clear overview of the status of all training, HandsHQ Training Register also alerts Energi’s staff so they remain informed.
“HandsHQ keeps the individual staff members updated about the status of their own certifications and if anything is coming up for renewal,” explains Joy. “We had a meeting with all our engineers and jointers who don’t often come into the office to let them know what to expect. Now they receive updates on their mobile phones.”
Joy has kept strict control over who can use the system. She and the health and safety manager can update records, while other managers have view-only access. This way, Joy maintains good quality control over the data in the system.
“I’ve been quite protective of it really!” Joy admits, although she says, “The other good thing about Training Register is that ability for other team members to go in and check records. If I’m not in for any reason, people can still easily find out the status of all certificates for every member of staff.”
This instant visibility of certifications has another major benefit for both Joy and the business. She explains, “When people come to me to ask who has the appropriate certifications for a particular job, it’s easy to find people who match the requirements.”
Joy no longer needs to trawl through lots of certifications or an ill-kept Excel spreadsheet to try to find the answers she needs, which took her 10-20 minutes prior to having HandsHQ. Now, the information is immediately available in Training Register.
“Training Register is very, very good. It’s so much easier,” says Joy. “If something is good, I will recommend it and if it’s not good I won’t. I’ve already recommended HandsHQ.”
Energi Cable Services provides specialist solutions for the high- voltage power cable systems of transmission and distribution electricity network operators. From its offices in Chelmsford, UK, Energi provides sales, installation, jointing and support services across Europe, the Middle East, China, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
The company’s specialist engineers work both onshore and offshore to install, repair and service oil-filled cable systems, fluid-filled cable systems and gas-filled cable systems and are known for the high-quality work and rapid response times.