About Plus Safety
Our philosophy at Plus Safety is that Health and
Safety is a serious business. We recognise it is not
your business, it’s ours. Your business is in
manufacturing, logistics, construction, leisure etc. and
that is where you excel.
However, in addition to strong moral and financial
reasons for ensuring a safe workplace, we all have a
legal duty to protect the health and wellbeing of staff
and others. At Plus Safety we pride ourselves in
providing good sound advice to meet lawful requirements,
with a practical and realistic approach. Plus Safety
provides the advice and support you need to ensure your
Health and Safety system is an integral part of your
business, and that your working practices and processes
are fundamentally safe.
The company is owned by Eric and Sue Kos.
 Eric
W Kos BA, TechIOSH, AIIRSM
Eric began his career in industry, working in production
management for 22 years, which included polymer and
rubber processing, manufacturing including ‘clean’
environments, telecommunications, and waste re-cycling.
During this time Eric continued with his studies and
gained a degree in business studies.
In 2001 he established Virtuous Cycle, and a contract
was secured with Groundwork. In 2002 the company changed
its name to VC Business Consultants to better reflect
the nature of the business. VC Business Consultants
worked with Groundwork on government-backed initiatives
to support small to medium enterprises. Initially, the
work was primarily related to environmental matters but
it was soon extended into health and safety. This
followed an initiative by the Health and Safety
Executive called Workplace Health Connect, which aimed
to reduce absence levels through effective health and
safety management.
This was a major project which lasted 2 years and
covered a wide range of clients from various sectors.
This experience gave Eric a clear insight to the
problems experienced by many SMEs and he identified a gap in
service provision. During this time Eric took the
British Safety Council Level 6 Diploma in Occupational
Safety and Health.
Many companies visited by Eric had a nicely-bound and
well-produced Health and Safety Manual which had been
produced at
significant cost to the company. However, the content of the
Manual was often excessive and bureaucratic and many
companies were not actually applying the principles and
procedures which it contained. As a result, many
companies were not complying with their legal
requirements, although their H&S Manual stated that they
did. As well as jeopardising the health and safety of
their staff and others, this left them vulnerable to
claims. Eric recognised that these companies needed help
to integrate their policies and procedures into their
working practices and business ethos, and decided to
focus his own business on providing more practical
support to help his clients achieve this. The business
was re-named Plus Safety.
At Plus Safety we believe in working together with
clients and take pride in providing practical,
cost-effective and bespoke solutions to health and
safety matters, ensuring the business needs are lawfully
met and sustained into the future. We provide training
for managers to equip them with the under-lying health
and safety knowledge required by their roles, and coach
them in the implementation of all health and safety
controls.
As a result of client referrals, Plus Safety continued
to expand. Recognising a tough economic environment and
that many businesses were cutting back on training
budgets, Eric introduced on-line health and safety
training in 2009 providing a broad selection of courses
at realistic and competitive prices. This has now become
such an asset and benefits to clients, it has now become
a stand alone business unit with its own
bespoke website.
 Sue Kos MCIPD
Sue’s experience of commissioning and administering
training in several organisations has provided her with
an in-sight to the needs and problems of clients.
Sue graduated into the Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development (then known as The Institute of
Personnel and Development) in 1993 and has since worked
as a HR practitioner in both private and
public sectors. She has always worked closely with
health and safety officers in all of the organisations
where she worked, and has a good working knowledge of
health and safety matters. She has passed the IOSH
‘Managing Safely’ course and has significant experience
of managing sickness absence, accident investigation and
the defence of employer liability claims.
Sue joined the business in 2010 to provide the
additional support required to meet the needs of the
expanding business. Sue’s role is to manage the
day-to-day business in addition to providing advice to
clients on human resource issues and arranging all
training. |
