To Tick A Box, Or To Save A Life?

Sometimes, qualifying for accreditations, such as OHSAS 18001, can deliver tangible benefits – as Workshop Technician Trudi Beet testifies in the latest of our articles about Coinadrink’s ‘Long Service Club’ members.
In a recent blog post, Coinadrink MD Roger Williams considered accreditations and their value to the business. ‘Take ISO for example’, Roger wrote. ‘Some companies take the view that accreditations are an unnecessary distraction, mere ‘boxes that must be ticked’.’
Roger believes that external audits reassure our customers that we’re taking our responsibilities as a supplier and as an employer seriously. ‘We can point people towards our various accreditations and say to them, ‘don’t take our word for it…’, Roger says.
Sometimes, though, qualifying for accreditations, such as OHSAS 18001, can have unforeseen consequences…
Training Comes Into Its Own
Julie Bills is our QESH Manager, the person in charge of Quality, Environment, Safety and Health and she recalls vividly the moment when the training she undertook as part of the company’s accreditation for OHSAS 18001 came into its own.
‘The story began when one of our Workshop Technicians, Trudi Beet, (that’s her in the picture), was off-site at a customer’s, carrying out a service call’, Julie said. ‘Then, she started to feel unwell. She called the office to say she was experiencing problems and asked if we could get someone out to help her; so, with a colleague, I set off…’
A Popular Team Member
Trudi joined the company in March 1989 and she was a popular team member. She’d been a seamstress before being introduced to Coinadrink by Norma Graham. (You can read Norma’s story here). Norma’s dad and Trudi’s Grandad were brothers.  Her career with Coinadrink began on the vans as a route operator. Then, she moved into the service team as a maintenance engineer, before joining the team in the workshop and providing holiday cover for engineers. The thought that something awful might have happened to her rocked everybody.
‘When we arrived on site, it became obvious that Trudi was exhibiting signs of a stroke’, Julie said. It’s a nightmare scenario for most of us: faced with a situation that could easily be life-threatening, what would we do?’ ‘As luck would have it, Roger had decided to go for the OHSAS 18001 standard and to accomplish that, a number of employees had to train to become first aiders, and I was one of them’, Julie said.
It Had Indeed Been A Stroke…
An ambulance was called and while they waited for it to arrive, Julie remained with Trudi, held her hand and tried to reassure her. ‘It was confirmed that it had indeed been a stroke’, Julie said. ‘It had left her largely unaffected and we were so optimistic for her.’
Unfortunately, there was a twist to come, in the form of a second stroke. This time, Trudi wasn’t so lucky. Her speech and some of her movements were affected. ‘We were all hopeful she’d come back to work’ Julie said. ‘Trudi had been at Coinadrink for so long that getting back to her daily routine was her goal; her focus through the difficult rehabilitation process she had to go through.’
So we helped her back to work as best we could. Trudi returned to us in phases, until her fitness levels were good enough for her to take on the physical demands of working fulltime. These days, though, you’ll always find her in the work shop. ‘My days of providing holiday cover on the road are over’, she says.
‘It was funny, strange, surreal.’
‘It was an amazing coincidence that, thanks to the requirements of OHSAS 18001, I had been trained as a first-aider in time to be of assistance to Trudi’, Julie said. ‘Not that I was called upon to do anything ‘medical’: the main thing was that I didn’t panic. I knew how to ‘read the signs’ and I knew what to do next.’ Julie pauses for a moment: ‘It doesn’t bear thinking about, really…’
Trudi remembers that fateful day only too well: ‘I can’t explain it. It was funny, strange, surreal. I only realised that something was badly wrong when I saw Julie’s face.’
It was after the second stroke that Trudi slumped to her lowest ebb. ‘It was horrible’, she says. ‘I was scared. This time, it was life-changing. I found myself dependent on family to help me and my concentration totally changed.  If it wasn’t for Coinadrink, I don’t think I’d’ve been able to get another job…’
A Happy Ending
We’ve said it before: at Coinadrink, we don’t go after accreditations simply to impress a potential customer. If we did, our customers would see through that anyway. We welcome external audits because they help us to run our business better. As Roger wrote: ‘the accreditations that we’re proud to display on our stationery, our literature and on-line are not just pretty badges: rather, they’re proof of the effectiveness of the work we’re doing constantly, behind the scenes, to make Coinadrink a better supplier, a better employer and a better company to do business with.’
And if you’re ever in any doubt about that, just think of Trudi. It wasn’t a pretty badge that came to her aid in her hour of need, it was the skills and the professionalism that the badge represented…