Jay Vekaria from Arcus Solutions, a facilities management and engineering services provider has become the only Asian from the UK this year, to be featured in Health and Safety at Work magazine’s listing of “40 under 40” achievers.
In a campaign to celebrate all the positive advancements in health and safety since 1978 – the year Health and Safety at Work launched – the magazine began a search for 40 leading health and safety practitioners representing the best of the younger generation. Around 160 safety specialists put themselves forward, ranging from professionals making their mark at the beginning of their careers, to mid-career practitioners with significant achievements under their belt. While more than half the entrants were working in the UK, there were also entries from Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, India, Singapore and countries across Africa.
The judges included Philip White, the HSE’s head of regulation, leading health and safety lawyer Steffan Groch, and Tania Barker and Liam Mihell of NEBOSH represented the campaign’s sponsor. The successful 40 have been profiled in a special article on Health and Safety at Work’s website, and in the January issue of the magazine.
As head of health and safety at Arcus Solutions, a facilities management and engineering services provider with many clients in the retail sector, Vekaria has collaborated with training providers to create a safety course in which site engineers were judged on their risk assessment capabilities. More than 250 people passed the course, gaining the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health’s Foundation Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health.
He developed a behavioural safety programme that included showing employees a video of their reactions to a safety drama commissioned by Arcus. The programme was a contributor to staff registering a 96% engagement rate with safety in an Arcus opinion survey.
Vekaria, who holds an MSc in risk management, has now switched from health and safety to operations management “to truly appreciate how well controls are applied on the other side of the business” and is now responsible for 300 Sainsbury’s convenience stores.
