Employee Spotlight: October 2021
October 29, 2021Immaculate Venance shortlisted for AfriSAFE award
Immaculate Venance, SHEQ Manager at RSK Tanzania, has been shortlisted for the AfriSAFE Awards 2021. The annual awards celebrate the โbest of health, safety, security and wellbeingโ across the continent and recognise individual and organisational commitments to furthering health and safety in their industries. Representing a diverse range of professional industries from construction to manufacturing, the Africa Safety Award for Excellence (AfriSAFE) presents awards to nominees in 19 categories and is sponsored by the UK Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).
The Professional of the Year category, for which Immaculate is shortlisted, acknowledges the achievements of individuals in the HSSE space โwhose enthusiasm, knowledge and driveโ have made a valuable contribution to their workplacesโ health, safety, wellbeing and security. Immaculateโs commitment to the Stop, Think, Act and Review (STAR) safety protocol for ensuring safe working environments and practices was recognised by the awards panel. Implementing the STAR procedure ensured a safe working environment for Immaculate and her colleagues. Stopping unsafe work, and working together to develop a safe process, ensured the safety of colleagues and contractors on their projects.
Congratulations to Immaculate on her nomination!

Chartership successes for Geosciences and Structural Soils
It has been a bumper end to the summer for our geosciences professionals, as an impressive five staff members were awarded chartership in September.
Kirsty Summers, Principal Geo-Environmental Consultant, and Saskia Richards, Senior Geo-Environmental Engineer in the RSK Geosciences Derby team, are both now registered as Chartered Environmentalists after successfully achieving chartership with the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES). Following the preparation of professional reports to demonstrate they had met the required competencies, both chose to attend a chartership workshop run by IES that gave further clarity and support with their reports before a formal interview. This is a thoroughly deserved recognition of their hard work and a fantastic achievement.
Emma Hobbs and Roseanna Bloxham, senior geo-environmental engineers at RSK Geosciences, and Catherine Tame, Senior Geo-Environmental Engineer at Structural Soils, have all successfully achieved chartered status with the Geological Society. Catherine and Roseanna have been elected Chartered Geologists, whereas Emma has achieved Chartered Scientist status.
Emma has been with the Manchester-based geosciences team for the last seven years and has been working towards her chartership for the last four. Roseanna has been with the Hemel Hempstead-based geosciences team since 2011 and, more recently, started work with RGM Environment in South Africa. Roseanna has been working on her chartership for the last three years with support and assistance from mentor Ray Watson. Catherine is part of the for Structural Soils major projects team, based in the Tonbridge office, and was previously with RSK Geosciences for several years. Achieving chartered status has been a long-term goal for Catherine, especially after finishing her PhD last year.
On achieving her chartership, Emma said, โI have been working towards becoming chartered with the Geological Society for almost 4 years. Following maternity leave, I felt a renewed motivation and put in the hours to complete the application form and finally finish writing my personal statement. After much preparation for the interview and with the support and assistance of colleagues at RSK, I obtained my goal of becoming a Chartered Scientist. It was a long and sometimes arduous process, but it was well worth it. I would recommend to younger colleagues who wish to become chartered that they start the process earlier rather than later as there are a lot of aspects to consider.โ
Roseanna said of her achievement, โThe initial process of putting together the application was an exciting challenge. The process of going through past projects and training was an eye-opener to see how much we learn post-university. I had the initial aim of achieving chartership in 2019 but kept pushing this target back owing to work commitments. My advice to anyone wanting to obtain a chartered status is do not put it off; you should always make time to achieve your goals.โ
Congratulations to Kirsty, Saskia, Catherine, Emma and Roseanna on achieving their charterships!
Kirsty Summers Saskia Richards Emma Hobbs Roseanna Bloxham
Award wins at the CIEEM Awards 2021
Paola Reason, Director, and Mark Lang, Associate Director ofย RSK Biocensus have won, respectively, an award and a commendation in the Member of the Year category at this yearโs Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) Awards. The Member of the Year Award is presented to individuals who have shown a strong commitment to protecting and enhancing the natural world through their work.
Presented on 19 October, Paola won the award for her work on developing ecological assessment guidance where surveying had been directly affected by COVID-19 restrictions. Paolaโs work on the project was central to the development of the new CIEEM guidance to find safe ways of working amid the restrictions. In addition, as a recognised bat specialist with 30 years of experience, Paola has also been hard at work alongside Stephanie Wray, Managing Director at Nature Positive, co-authoring significant national guidelines on bat mitigation on behalf of CIEEM. She recently gave one of our First Thursday webinars on these guidelines; if you missed the presentation, you can find it here.
Mark is an expert ornithologist with more than 20 yearsโ experience of conducting bird surveys. He received his commendation for his voluntary work as an assessor for the institute: Mark assesses applications to the CIEEM for Chartered Ecologist and Chartered Environmentalist status, as well as providing policy advice and training for ecologists.
The awards day also recognised new fellows of the CIEEM, and three of the four collecting their fellowship certificates were RSK Biocensus directors Paola, Tim Hounsome and Jon Davies.
Congratulations Paola and Mark on your awards, and Paola, Tim and Jon on your fellowships!

๐ณ๏ธโ๐ RSK is proud to stand alongside members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community.
๐ People deserve to be their authentic selves and love freely without fear.
You can read Graeme and Abigail's full stories next week in RSK insights. Keep an eye on our social media for more information.
#rskfamily #pride #pridemonth #loveislove #lgbtq
๐ธ #selfiesonsite ๐คณ
Ryan Dunderdale, Senior Surveyor at Central Alliance, providing technical support and on-site training to datum plate install teams down in Bristol.
Want to join our team? View our latest opportunities ๐ www.rskgroup.com/careers
#RSKgroup #behindthescenes #meettheteam #RSKfamily #RSKonsite #engineering #construction
๐ In the June edition of our #employeespotlight, we spoke with with Rosie Pearce at Stephenson Halliday and Carmen Snowdon at WRc Group to find out about their recent achievements ๐
๐ Congratulations to you both!
Click the link in our bio to find out more!
#rskfamily #employeeapprecitation #team #landscapeinstitute #instituteofwater #architecture
"If you donโt feel valued, represented and respected in your workplace, then inevitably your #wellbeing will suffer.โ
๐ In our latest edition of #ADayInTheLife, we spoke with Ellen Lapworth-Maisey, Wellbeing, #Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager at RSK โ a fascinating position that helps to create an inclusive and empowering #culture for all RSK staff.
Click the link in bio to learn more!
#RSKGroup #RSKfamily #diversity #inclusion #mentalhealth
๐ธ #selfiesonsite ๐คณ
Some pictures of the Envireau Water staff on site.
Want to join our team? View our latest opportunities ๐ www.rskgroup.com/careers
#RSKgroup #behindthescenes #meettheteam #RSKfamily #RSKonsite #waterindustry #construction
๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐
#RSKSteps came to an end on Tuesday 31 May after a month of stepping adventures.
๐๐ป ๐ป๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐:
โ๏ธ1449 participants
โ๏ธ332,268,416 steps
โ๏ธยฃ1500 raised for our chosen charity, MIND!
Read more about this fantastic challenge in our bio!
#RSKGroup #RSKfamily #wellbeing #health #mentalhealth #walking
#RSKEvents
๐ Join Dirk Van Look and Chris Hughes on our webinar all about #PFAS โ perfluoroalkyl substances, which are both human-made and known to be harmful to humans.
๐ก We will showcase real-life examples to demonstrate how RSK is responding and developing capabilities to assess these emerging #contaminants.
Find out more and register now in our bio!
#RSKGroup #RSKfamily #PFAScontaminants #foreverchemicals #chemicals
๐ In light of #PrideMonth, we are sharing information about how to become a better ally. #Pride offers a sense of solidarity and a platform for expression.
Keep an eye out for our upcoming posts!
#RSKGroup #rskfamily #LGBT #LGBTQ+ #inclusion #diversity #LGBTally #Pride2022
๐ข RSK is pleased to announce it has further expanded its presence in Ireland by acquiring one of the most reputable tree care companies in the country.
๐ณ Dermot Casey Tree Care was founded in the 1970s by Managing Director Dermot Casey and is one of the most highly regarded tree surgery companies in Ireland, with more than 50 years of experience.
Find out more in our bio!
#RSKGroup #RSKfamily #treecare #landscape #treesurgery #landscaping #nature