How Ecologia transformed training management and compliance with HandsHQ’s Training Register

Challenges

Ecologia’s field teams engage in a wide range of activities, ranging from contaminated land investigation (drilling, excavation and remediation) domestic property services, which is surrounded by significant hazards, such as but not limited to:

• Overhead and buried services such as gas, water, and electrical lines
• High-risk hazardous substances, both below and above ground
• Work at height & in confined spaces
• Work in and near water
• Heavy plant and machinery, etc.

Initially, training needs were managed using spreadsheets, which worked while the team was small. As the business grew, training complexity increased, and the manual processes became inadequate.

This created risks of missed training, reactive compliance efforts, and potential delays to project resource deployment, which in turn detrimented the satisfaction of our valued clients.

Managing training manually also consumed excessive admin time, resulting in lower data integrity and increased stress across the team.

“HandsHQ has become a very important framework of our business operations.”

Andy Kemp, SHEQ Business Partner at Ecologia, knew the business needed a more robust and intelligent way to manage training to ensure safety, compliance, and operational efficiency.

Ecologia’s high-risk activities require strict compliance with safety training and certification. The need for a digital solution became clear as manual methods became unsustainable.

After researching online, Andy found HandsHQ’s Training Register, an easy-to-use digital tool for managing training requirements, tracking employee certifications, and automating compliance tasks. The training matrix capabilities allow Ecologia to define required training by role, team, or location, streamlining individual and group training planning.

With Training Register, Andy and his team now manage a live and accessible training matrix for the workforce, accessible anywhere in the world!

The automation of reminders for expiries and upcoming training needs has dramatically reduced the administrative burden, while improving data accuracy and audit readiness.

“We’ve reinvented our capabilities and efficiencies using Training Register. The time we used to spend micromanaging spreadsheets is now reinvested into meaningful workforce development and safety assurance.”

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Results

“Compliance and training audits are passing with flying colours and auditor smiles!”

With HandsHQ, Ecologia saved an estimated 65% of training administration time. The system highlighted gaps in training data and empowered the team to build a customised career succession framework, mapping seven different progression paths across roles. Training Register now supports daily operations, helping project and line managers easily monitor and plan training across all sites.

Ecologia's parent company in Italy and ISO auditors have recognised the improvement in training visibility, document integrity, and operational readiness.

HandsHQ supports Ecologia’s compliance with ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, and other industry-specific certifications by making training and competence data accessible with a few clicks.

“We actually enjoy managing training now! As opposed to manual data management and endless documents/spreadsheets.”

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Looking ahead

“HandsHQ, where have you been all my life?”

Ecologia plans to integrate HandsHQ with their operational planning systems, enabling project managers to allocate trained and competent staff more efficiently. The custom-built career framework continues to evolve, and the business is exploring new opportunities to use HandsHQ to strengthen client relationships and support tender submissions.