At WCS, we value our people above all else. The work our colleagues do determines the outcome for clients and partners, so it’s important we recognise the value they bring.
We don’t just aim to employ the best staff; our organisation strongly advocates continually arming its professionals with training and skills. Regular training enhances job satisfaction, gives people fresh insight, and equips them with the skillset to get the job done right.
Demonstrating excellence
We are proud to be able to provide a superior level of training to our staff through the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Training Scheme. The ICE offers our teams accredited qualifications globally respected and highly valued in our industry. These credentials are a distinguished professional accolade and a hallmark of a technician’s or engineer’s professional status.
Membership Development Officers at ICE have recently given lectures well attended by WCS staff. Whether a Technician, Incorporated Engineer, or Chartered Engineer, we’re always looking to propel people forward and talks like these are the perfect complement to their Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
Company standards
All our operations and procedures fall under ISO standards. This global body works to ensure companies across the world work towards greater consistency in quality and procedure.
Specifically, we have the following ISO accreditations:
- ISO 9001: The internationally accepted benchmark for quality management systems (QMS), ISO 9001 offers a policy and set of tenets that provide a sound basis for the management of an organisation.
- ISO 14001: The international standard for environmental management systems (EMS) this framework helps to control environmental aspects, reduce impacts and ensure legal compliance.
- ISO 45001: The international standard for health and safety at work, ISO 45001 enables provision of safe and healthy workplaces by preventing injury and ill health, as well as by proactive improvement of occupational health and safety performance.
Being officially approved by the Railway Industry Supplier Qualification Scheme (RISQS) shows that we are a proficient provider of engineering infrastructure services. This organisation helps infrastructure businesses address supply chain risk issues.
Although many of these accreditations are minimum standards for businesses like ours looking to operate and compete in our chosen sectors, in many ways we go beyond the minimum; for example, our Professional Indemnity Insurance, amounting to £10 million, allows us to compete on a level playing field with much larger companies. For clients who specify that level of cover, we can offer the same level of insurance as bigger firms but with the enhanced flexibility and responsiveness that a medium-sized organisation can bring.
Investing in talent
Our managerial team regularly hold Performance Management meetings, where colleagues can talk openly about their career progression and any training requirements. WCS provides extra coaching to any colleague who feels they could achieve more by training further in a particular aspect of their role.
We’re also supportive when staff members suggest a course they would like to study that could enhance their career; for example, when a new manager at WCS wanted to undergo training in Human Resources. The development gained from the additional learning makes it mutually beneficial.
Across our offices, some colleagues work part-time whilst undertaking further university study. We accommodate this blend of learning and working because we believe investing in people is key to staying innovative and competitive in a dynamic market.
Engineers at WCS attend site as often as necessary to get the information needed for first-class design solutions. We believe our skilled colleagues shouldn’t be stuck at a desk relying on received information; we’ll travel to site as often as required to ensure our designs truly meet the brief.
Keeping on track
To ensure our people are properly equipped to carry out their roles to the best of their abilities, we keep track of their personal training and accreditations. Here’s a list of some of the competence categories we have in our training matrix:
- First Aid
- Mental Health First Aid
- Rail Sentinel Membership
- Medical
- LUL Industry Common Induction
- Personal Track Safety
- Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS)
- Temporary Works Coordinator
- Confined Space
- CDM training
- Safety Harness – Awareness
- Further Education
- Professional Qualifications
Working safely
Our work in the rail sector sees our engineers given Personal Track Safety accreditations on their Network Rail Sentinel cards that are scanned onsite to check authorisation. These cards also help prevent error through fatigue by refusing entry on site to anyone who’s worked over 12 hours.
The issue of safety is an integral part of our company culture. During our weekly team meeting we have ‘Safety Moments’ where we discuss a safety-related item or incident from the news or from our own experience that’s occurred during the week.
The discussion serves to remind the whole team that safety comes first, and we operate with the philosophy ‘if in doubt, check it out.’ Longer discussions on safety might involve the analysis of recent accidents, where we discuss how better design might have prevented them.
It’s who we are
WCS’ ongoing commitment to employees’ development – tied to our values – articulates how we view our people. We have the expertise on board to develop world-class technical solutions and we’ll continue to provide unbeatable training, so our team are equipped to confront the design challenges of today with informed ingenuity.
For information on how WCS’ world-class engineers can meet your requirements, contact us here.