Compass Appoints Head of Training Division

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Johnny Catchpole as the Head of Training Division at Compass Environmental Consultancy.

An experienced trainer, Johnny has over 10 years experience working in the environmental sector with particular emphasis around spillage response and management.

Johnny Catchpole - our newly appointed Head of Training!

As Head of our Training Division, Johnny will deliver our existing range of spill training courses to our customers. He will work with the business and our training partner, Darcy Spillcare, to further develop our training offering.

“We are all excited to have Johnny on board with us here at Compass at an exciting time in our growth to help deliver and further expand our spill responder training and Driver CPC courses.”

— Stewart Ower, Managing Director

“It’s fantastic to be starting with the Compass team and I relish the challenge ahead. I look forward to meeting as many of our training customers as possible over the next few months.”

— Johnny Catchpole, Head of Training Division

Compass and Darcy Spillcare Launch New Spill Training Venture!

Stewart Ower - Compass & Richard Proctor - Darcy

Together with Darcy Spillcare, Compass are proud to announce the launch of a new spill training venture - Responder.

Responder is a collaboration between two of the UK’s leading spill experts:

Compass Environmental Consultancy are involved in the management of spillages on a daily basis and provide spill training to professional response companies.

As the UK’s leading manufacturer of spill kit and equipment, Darcy Spillcare’s products have been trusted by responders to effectively deal with spillage incidents for over 50 years.

Together under the Responder brand, Compass and Darcy have partnered to deliver a compelling training initiative that is designed for all levels of spill responder.

Spill First Responder and the subsequent Train the Trainer course are an ideal solution for companies who wish to develop their in-house spill response capabilities. These half-day courses, which can be delivered at the customers premises, investigate spillages on hardstandings, within bunds and drainage systems.

 For companies offering a professional spill response service, the Advanced Spill Responder course provides a great balance in theory and practical based learning. After a morning classroom session investigating real-life and recent spillage scenarios, delegates put their learning into practice with two hands-on exercises – a spillage on hardstanding and a spillage in freshwater. This course is run on select dates throughout the year at the Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh.

 Tactical Spill Responder sits as the most technical course in the Responder spill training programme. Aimed at team leaders and those dealing with spills on a daily basis, this course pits delegates against four practical scenarios of differing nature and material spilt. Each scenario is played out in its entirety, from initial instruction all the way through to the incident debrief – testing and challenging delegates on their actions every step of the way! By the end of this course, delegates will have more of an understanding of their own spill capabilities and developed the mindset of a Tactical Spill Responder. This course is run at a specialist facility in Cheltenham and is delivered on select dates throughout the year.

To find out more about the courses on offer, click on one of the images below:

“We are delighted to be working with Richard and the team at Darcy. This joint venture is a unique collaboration between experts in spill kit manufacturing and practical deployment which makes for a compelling commercial spill responder training offering.

Course delegates get the full experience of examining recent spillage incidents where we can pass on our knowledge and practical experience.

The Responder brand extends the range of spill responder training courses on offer to match all levels of requirement. We are looking forward to promoting a delivering the Responder suite of spill training courses.”

— Stewart Ower, Managing Director, Compass

“The bringing together of expertise in product and spill clean up through the experience of Darcy Spillcare and Compass Environmental is very exciting and will bring real benefit to our customers ensuring safe and efficient spill clean up and pollution prevention.

I am delighted to be able to expand the course offerings with 2 new courses through this partnership, enabling individuals and companies to expand on there capabilities and reduce risks associated with handling all liquids.”

— Richard Proctor, Managing Director, Darcy Group

All of our Responder courses on offer are available to book now - to find out more information or to book your space get in touch with the team using the details below to discuss your training requirements!

Compass Achieve Constructionline Gold & Acclaim SSIP Accreditation!

We are pleased to announce that Compass has achieved the highest level of accreditation under Constructionline and Acclaim. Our team have been working hard to build a robust health and safety management system that can match the demands of these accreditations.

 Gaining Constructionline Gold and Acclaim SSIP Accreditation opens up more opportunities for Compass to work alongside local authorities and other public sector organisations to deliver works.

“Compass takes health and safety compliance very seriously, and the health and safety of our team, clients and everyone we interact with is always of paramount importance to us.  That’s why we decided to develop and implement a formal health and safety management system which has led to further improvement in the health and safety culture within our business.

  Accreditation of our management system was the next natural step, and by achieving Constructionline Gold and Acclaim SSIP accreditations our clients can be assured that our management system meets a recognised and highly respected standard within the industry.””

— Matthew Thomas, Operations Director

Having recently been through the accreditation process, we’d be happy to help guide others through the journey - if you’re interested please contact Matt Thomas using the button below.

Compass - A Word from Stewart Ower, Managing Director

At the end of a year and the beginning of a new one it is timely to reflect on our business, its successes, challenges and opportunities. 

Project Delivery Manager, Ryan Oak, out in the field!

Compass Environmental Consultancy has now been trading for 5 ½ years and has been selective in our approach to business, providing services only where we have deep expertise and experience. Early 2022 saw the company grow as we welcomed Ryan Oak to the newly created position of Project Delivery Manager in anticipation of growth within the commercial projects area of our business.

Watch this space!

 Our Oilshield insurance and risk management scheme is rapidly approaching our 100th client! The real proof of the pudding is the 98% client retention rate, our clients like what we are offering and our friendly family approach to business. Working with our insurance partners Evergreen and Aviva, we have built on the foundations laid by Oilshield to develop “Tankershield”, a brand-new insurance scheme for businesses operating bulk liquid tankers, watch this space...

 In 2022 the Compass team have challenged themselves and further developed their technical skills and capabilities with Matt Thomas achieving GradIOSH status and Harry Ower obtaining his commercial drone pilot licence and Associate membership of IEMA.

 Tom Ower has promoted our capabilities and services through the production of high quality marketing materials and social media content.  Having this in-house capability has been enabled us to be nimble and responsive, the dynamic nature of our business keeps him very busy indeed. We are approaching 1500 followers on LinkedIn.

 Helen has prudently and cheerfully steered our financial course to yet another record year for profitable growth, thank you.

 As Chairman of the International Spill Accreditation Scheme, working with the Board, we have successfully overhauled, merged, expanded and relaunched the ISAS accreditation scheme and associated website.  The membership is growing, regulators have re-engaged, endorsed the scheme and commercial opportunities are presenting themselves to ISAS accredited operations. We have ourselves become ISAS accredited Spill Managers and Consultants.

 Our commercial spill responder training programme has been rebranded as part of a joint venture with Darcy Spillcare.  The success has been tremendous, we trained well over 1000 delegates last year at their own premises or at one of our specialist training facilities and have bookings well into 2023.

 We have very recently launched our HSE Solutions package, providing commercial and technical support to HSE professionals in industry.

 We have become an approved Driver CPC training centre and will be offering training to our Oilshield clients in 2023.

 Just before Christmas we obtained Constructionline (Gold) accreditation, a fantastic achievement and recognition of the high standards of operation within the business.  The accreditation will help unlock some more of the commercial project opportunities we have been exploring.

 It has been hard work, lots of early mornings and travelling around to all corners of the UK, but we have met some lovely people who have been very pleased with our services. Each day I have the privilege of working with family and close colleagues. So, when I take a moment to reflect on what we have achieved, in these difficult economic times, I am delighted, impressed and very proud.  When I look forward from this point, I am energised and excited by the tremendous opportunities which lie ahead.

 Thank you to my family, colleagues, customers, strategic partners and friends of the business, here’s to a fantastic 2023 for all of us!

Our latest IEMA Member!

Compass are pleased to announce that Harry Ower has been accepted as an Associate Member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA).

Harry is the latest member of the Compass team to pass through this course, which provides a comprehensive introduction to sustainable practice. He looks forward to applying what he has learnt into his daily work - well done Harry!

Compass Pumpkin Champion Crowned! 🎃

Earlier this year, we gave each of the team a packet of pumpkin seeds with the objective of growing the biggest pumpkin by Halloween!

Each participant approached this task with their own unique strategy - with the first challenge being deciding when exactly to plant their seeds!

The winner (Matthew Thomas) & runner-up (Harry Ower)

Matt Thomas was first in the ground, wanting his pumpkin to weather the harsh Telford conditions early on so that it could withstand anything thrown at it.

The mind games began as the rest of the team tried to convince Matt he had gone to ground too early. Weeks went by without anyone else planting their seeds, until Ryan Oak succumbed to the pressure shortly followed by Harry, Stewart and Helen.

Tom, convinced that a late Winter frost was just around the corner waited until July before throwing his seeds into the ground and hoping for the best. A call that would ultimately lead to his downfall in the competition.

Shortly after, Ryan announced himself out of the running with the death of his only sprout. Some of the team became concerned after seeing photos emerge of Matt’s progress and decided to club together in an attempt to stop him from running away with this year’s competition. Harry, Stewart and Helen united to get behind one pumpkin that could topple Matt off the top spot. Tom, whose leaves had emerged stuck to his guns and continued on solo - another call that would ultimately lead to his downfall in the competition.

Coming into the home stretch and with just 3 pumpkins left the team started to put in extra hours to ensure the upkeep of their yield, ahead of the final weigh in on 31st October.

Figuring out how to weigh the champions pumpkin!

The day has finally come and we have crowned our winner! Pipping Harry, Stewart and Helen to the post was Matthew Thomas! His pumpkin weighed an astonishing 42kg! Speaking shortly after being crowned, Matt said:

“Winning the Compass Pumpkin Competition has been an ambition of mine ever since Stewart gave me a packet of seeds back in April. Many hours of research and nurture have been dedicated to achieving maximum pumpkin growth, and I think all would agree that the rewards are obvious. This will go down as one of my greatest achievements. ”

— Matthew Thomas, Compass Pumpkin Champion 2022

The final results are as follows:

1) Matthew Thomas - 42kg

2) Harry - 2kg

3) Tom - his pumpkin turned out to be a weed

4) Ryan Oak - failed to germinate

5) Stewart & Helen - failed to pollinate

Compass Driver CPC Approved!

We are delighted to announce that Compass Environmental Consultancy is now a Driver CPC approved centre!

In the very near future, Compass will be able to deliver driver training courses to our Oilshield clients that will contribute to drivers requirement of 35 hours minimum of CPC over a 5 year period.

“This is a significant step when it comes to adding value to our Oilshield product. Our safe delivery and spill response training delivered to date has been extremely well received by our clients who will now benefit further from this exciting development and broadening of our offering. ”

— Stewart Ower, Managing Director

We will ensure to keep you updated on our progress in the coming weeks!

Matthew Thomas - Health & Safety Extraordinaire!

We want to congratulate our very own Matthew Thomas for recently being rewarded his Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety Practice!

Matt has been working through a number of modules that will help him to promote a positive health and safety culture within our company and to our customers. Thank you for helping us keep safe Matt!

“A fantastic achievement - health & safety is at the heart of every business operation and we welcome the improvement and changes Matt has implemented here at Compass as his studies have progressed.”

— Stewart Ower

Out and About!

No two weeks are ever the same at Compass!

Last week, the team were out in full force working on different projects & initiatives. Highlights include:

• Presenting the UKIFDA Green Award to Oil 4 Wales

• Delivering our Advanced Spill Responder course to spill response professionals at The Fire Service College

• Managing a 1,000 litre oil spill in Leicestershire

• Delivering driver training to our Oilshield clients in Yorkshire

• Overnight spill remediation at an air crash site

• Attended the Road Transport Exhibition in Warwickshire to look at Tankershield opportunities

Great to see the team working right across our disciplines and sites right across the UK!

Who knows what this week will bring! That’s what makes it exciting!

UKIFDA EXPO 2022 Round Up!

The team at Compass recently exhibited at the annual UKIFDA EXPO in Liverpool! We joined together with members from Evergreen Insurance Services and Aviva to present our Oilshield Insurance & Risk Management solution for liquid fuel distributors.

Argent Energy’s Jordan Roberts receiving his prize for winning this year’s Run the Gauntlet Competition.

We had a great time meeting familiar and new faces over the two-day event after a 3-year hiatus from having a physical exhibition. Our Run the Gauntlet competition made a bold return for this year’s show, with the Oilshield driver room poster (pictured below) coming to life in the form of an arcade game. Players were challenged to safely navigate the delivery driver through various hazards to reach the oil tank at the end without causing a spillage – after holding off fierce competition, Jordan Roberts from Argent Energy was crowned the winner with a staggering score of 301 metres. For his efforts, Jordan won an Alexa-powered coffee machine!

Caroline Donati (Aviva/Oilshield) presenting Colin Owens from Oil 4 Wales with this year’s UKIFDA Green Award - sponsored by Oilshield.

 Jordan was not the only winner this year – Oilshield once again sponsored the UKIFDA Green Award which was presented at the UKIFDA Awards dinner. Oil 4 Wales, soon to be Green 4 Wales, came away as this year’s green champions with their impressive clean growth strategy.

 Of course, the EXPO wouldn’t have been complete without some sort of team-building activity in the form of… axe throwing?!? After plenty of practice, the team took part in a shoot-out competition to decide a victor. Having not hit a single target throughout the entire practice session, our very own Matt Thomas came into his own, achieving a nearly perfect score in the competition to come out on top.

 After a successful show, we paid a visit to the Cavern Club to enjoy some much-needed Beatles nostalgia!

 We look forward to exhibiting again at the next UKIFDA EXPO!