Turning H&S compliance into added value for staff and business
H&H Group is delighted to announce the appointment of Mark Panczak as Health, Safety & Welfare Manager.
The appointment underlines the commitment at H&H Group to continue to evolve the H&S culture and processes. Based at the H&H head office in Carlisle, Mark will be tasked with delivering the next level of strategic Health & Safety Management systems and processes across the Group’s five businesses.
His role includes developing and implementing training and continuous improvement plans for every member of staff involved at every level in the Group’s wide range of activities, from livestock marketing and auctioneering, commercial print and digital marketing, insurance, residential property agency and land management consultancy.
“This is a key appointment for the Group’s continued development,” says Group CEO, Richard Rankin, “and we’re confident that the positive impact Mark will make as our new Health, Safety & Welfare Manager will be enormous. In many areas of our businesses our people are operating in high-risk environments, and Mark’s most important responsibility is to help safeguard their health and wellbeing. He has an excellent track record of bringing a fresh, practical approach to what is often perceived simply as a regulatory duty.
“Mark’s approach and the new methods and processes he will introduce demonstrate how improving health and safety processes and practices can not only reduce risk and raise standards of health, wellbeing, and mental health, but also increase job satisfaction, efficiency and productivity. His remit is to make compliance add value to our people’s working lives and to our business, and we’re absolutely delighted he’s joined the Group in this essential role.”
Mark brings with him a highly unusual combination of expertise and experience in two key areas of the Group’s operations: agriculture and manufacturing. Born and educated near Annan, after leaving school Mark initially joined the police, but soon moved into agriculture on a self-employed basis. He then joined Arla Foods as an apprentice dairy technologist, whilst at the same time completing a degree in Dairy Technology. During his eight years, he worked his way up to become Health & Safety Specialist for the company’s Lockerbie site which processes a total of 1.7 million litres of milk a day. In this role he was responsible for the health and safety management of 250 employees.
In his new position, 32-year-old Mark is bringing all that experience to bear on H&H Group’s mission to make health and safety central to their future.
“The welfare of the staff right across the business is absolutely paramount, and I am so impressed with how prominent this is here in the H&H Group ethos. The management teams understand how important it is to support the health and welfare of every member of our working community, including mental health which is a growing challenge particularly in many areas of our rural industries.
“My role is principally to develop the most effective systems and procedures to ensure compliance, and to deliver the best training and education to help everybody understand how they play their part in this process. Our aim is to instill a culture of 100% compliance across all areas in which we operate, and the key to success lies in bringing everybody with us, helping staff to understand why this is so important and how it benefits their lives.
“This is going to be an exciting and fascinating privilege for me to use my skills and experience to support everyone within the business to help make a real difference in such a progressive rural enterprise as the H&H Group."