Spotlight On: Jodie Innes, HSEQ Group Manager, AMP

Jodie Innes has her sights set on AMP achieving a zero-harm culture by implementing the very best health, safety, environment and quality standards across the Group.

Just six months into the role, Jodie is establishing the management system framework to ensure that HSEQ is everyone’s priority and responsibility. Jodie discusses her career path to date and the professional journey she has embarked on to help AMP achieve its HSEQ goals.

How did you get into this field?

I got into the HSEQ field around 12 years ago now, pretty much straight from university where I studied environmental chemistry.

Through word of mouth, I found out that the local aluminium smelter in Fort William was looking for an environmental summer student. I got the placement which led to a trainee role focussing on health, safety and environment. At the time the smelter was owned by the global company Rio Tinto, so it was a great opportunity to develop with lots of internal training available and travel around Europe.

What attracted you to the role at AMP?

I was looking for a new challenge and I reached out to HWEnergy (which is now part of AMP), to see if they had any opportunities and this role came up.

What attracted me was starting AMP on a journey to embed a consistent, standardised approach to HSEQ across the Group. It represented an opportunity to mould and create an HSEQ management system and zero harm culture with the full support of the senior leadership team. In this respect my role could make a real difference and that was definitely an attractive proposition.

What are the most interesting and challenging parts of the role?

The logistics are challenging, especially in the pandemic. We have people and teams based all around the UK. I have not had the opportunity to visit many sites yet due to COVID-19. I am very much looking forward to visiting more sites as soon as possible to meet people and get a feel for the safety practices adopted.

Very often health and safety is thought of as a standard alone function or team when in fact it is the exact opposite, it is everybody’s responsibility. My goal is to support and coach our people to take ownership for their own safety and that of the colleagues around them to drive a zero-harm culture.

How important is HSEQ to AMP?

HSEQ is an integral part of AMP’s strategic objectives including the ESG (environmental, social & governance) framework. The importance placed on improving our HSEQ performance cascades down from the senior leadership team. This was reflected by our directors recently completing a HSEQ senior leadership course, which was led by SSG Training & Consulting.

HSEQ is part of more or less everything because it touches every area of the business. From a reputational point of view, it is important for customers and investors. For our people, it is an absolute priority that they stay safe while at work and for the environment, we want to protect it from any harm.

We have recently invested and are in the process of implementing Intelex, an HSEQ software programme which will enables us to report hazards and incidents and to manage audits across the Group in one central online platform. I really feel this will be transformational and am very excited for it to go live in the next couple of months.

What are your HSEQ goals for AMP?

My aim is for AMP to achieve an accredited HSEQ management system within the next 18 months or so. This will help us increase productivity, ensure our products are of good quality and reassure customers that when we go to their sites that we will perform to the highest HSEQ standards.

I’m currently working on an action plan to help us achieve this goal. As part of this, we recently launched some Golden Rules which provide clear guiding principles for us all to follow to keep ourselves and others safe and free from harm.

Once we gain accreditation, it doesn’t just stop there. HSEQ is all about continuous improvement – finding better ways of doing things, reducing risk as much as we can and finding better ways of managing our environmental impact.

Why do customers look for best practices in HSEQ?

Increasingly customers want to do business with companies who have adopted an ESG framework which has HSEQ management embedded within it. At AMP our customers are using renewables to meet their own HSEQ targets and improve their environmental performance, so we feel it is imperative we mirror this by implementing best practices in HSEQ to ensure we meet their site requirements.

From a quality perspective, our customers want to feel reassured that they are doing business with a reputable company. They want us to be able to demonstrate that we have good standards for supply chain management and product quality – this includes having processes in place for buying products including having a set criteria for how we source materials. This is particularly important to the larger organisations we work with who want to feel confident that we are complying with recognised standards.

What do you like to do to switch off from work?

Working full time and having two young children means I have to make the most of any free time I get! I enjoy running and mountain biking and we are lucky living where we do in the Scottish Highlands – it’s a beautiful area with lots of outdoor activities.

In normal circumstances, we like to spend time socialising with friends and family. I’m very much looking forward to being able to do that again hopefully sometime soon.