Greener Ealing

Greener Ealing Ltd (GEL) was founded in July 2020 as a local authority company (LAC) to be Ealing Council’s new waste and recycling contractor. These services were brought back under the council’s control following the end of its contract with a previous supplier. GEL is a wholly owned subsidiary of The London Borough of Ealing and was set up to deliver high-quality sustainable waste, recycling, street cleansing, grounds maintenance and associated services on behalf of the council, the residents who live in the borough of Ealing and other service users in the borough.

GEL aims to be recognised as one of the leading environmental services providers in London by delivering significant and lasting improvements to the quality of services, making Ealing a desirable place to live, work and visit. It employs around 350 people.

In March 2020, as GEL prepared to launch, it began to work with Info Exchange to create digital risk management systems to meet their specific needs.

The challenge

As a new, standalone organisation serving more than 350,000 residents, GEL needed to implement effective systems quickly to support their employees and make sure they could deliver the service customers expected.

The first requirement was a risk management system to record any accidents involving its employees and vehicles to help it identify trends and mitigate against future potential accidents. This was particularly important as GEL is responsible for weekly waste collections, along with other waste management services in the borough.

GEL were also keen to invest in their people to achieve their ambition of becoming a leader in the waste management field.  Alongside ensuring employees were up to date with the training required for their jobs, they wanted them to take pride in their roles and come up with ideas to improve the operation. They wanted to elevate how employees viewed their roles and appreciate the skills and knowledge required to do them well, dispelling the notion they were “just” waste management operatives.

GEL was also keen to make as many processes as possible digital, removing the need for time-consuming inefficient paperwork. They wanted employees to have what they needed to do their job safely and effectively at their fingertips.

The solution

From the first meeting in March 2020, GEL began working with Info Exchange to tailor its software to meet Greener Ealing’s specific requirements and create a tailored event-logging system, branded Greener Ealing. A strong understanding was quickly established between the two organisations, and this new system was up and running by July 2020.

To make sure as many risk events were captured as possible, remote access forms were introduced so operatives can log anything easily and quickly while they are out and about. They can also log incidents by street name, so any that any high-risk areas can be quickly identified, and safety improvements implemented rapidly.

A training matrix has been built, capturing all training requirements across the whole organisation. This flags when training is needed, making sure employees have all their certificates up to date. Everything is logged centrally, so no information is lost. This system supports the Training Academy that has been set up by GEL, playing a vital part in upskilling the workforce and raising the level of employee engagement.

As the relationship between GEL and Info Exchange has proved to be so beneficial, more systems have continued to be added. The Stocks and Assets system was introduced at the end of 2021. This allows employees to order their own equipment, as and when they need it. Previously, they were required to fill out a paper form and wait for that to be processed. This is a completely new system for Info Exchange, based entirely on GEL’s specific requirements, demonstrating the level of collaboration and trust that has been built up.