What drew you to working for EMS Asbestos? 

I’ve worked for EMS for so long it’s all a vague memory!

I started with the asbestos surveying as as top gap, but soon realised it suited me well. I love travelling all over the country and seeing new buildings. It’s always a buzz to survey a big unit with complex construction, or hidden rooms that people don’t even know exist. I’ve seen some amazing sites, from heavy industry through to hospitals, crematoriums, historic castles and derelict lunatic asylums.

I also love doing regular work for clients, where you get to know the people that work on a site, and the site itself, really well. We have some lovely long term clients and it’s always a pleasure to go back year on year to do reinspections or consultancy work as required. Now I spend less time on site and more time managing our quality and technical systems, including auditing of staff to make sure we are meeting the high standards we set for ourselves.

What EMS Asbestos Do Best

I would say providing a bespoke service to our clients, and being highly flexible to their requirements, including providing emergency cover when required.

What are EMS Asbestos's Strengths?

We have consistent high standards and a real depth of construction and product knowledge in the company, both from an analytical and surveying angle. All our current air analysts are also trained surveyors and have many years of experience working both prior to, and post asbestos removal. Our in house surveyors are trained to ‘think outside the box’ from day 1, surveying methodically alongside thinking laterally as to why a product is present and where else it may be within a unit.

Having an in house laboratory is also a huge strength; we can push through urgent samples for clients at very short notice, for example.

Holding this wide level of knowledge and experience allows us to provide a comprehensive service to any client’s asbestos needs.

‍

What is EMS's USP?

We are now a medium sized business, but we still treat our clients with the same focus and care as when we were a tiny start-up. We have the capacity to service our national clients and provide out of hours cover if needed. I think we always try our hardest to provide flexibility for our clients, and for our staff too.

What is your aspiration for EMS Asbestos and your own development?

I would love for the asbestos team to continue doing what it is doing, as our current staff are just brilliant. To aid this, since taking over, I have started regular online meetings to bring the site staff  together more often. The one thing about being a surveyor/analyst is that you are often out on the road alone. Often the staff will go weeks without physically seeing the others and it can be hard to maintain that ‘family feel’ of a small company. It is amazing how many unusual items or situations our staff see, and it is such good practice to share these, so we can all learn from them. We have amazing technology nowadays, with the ability to video call from a mobile phone. This makes so regular 20 minute toolbox talks and catch up meetings a possibility, even with staff literally scattered from Northern Scotland to the tip of Cornwall and beyond.

‍