Blog post: PSS visit to Port of Dover

PSS Health, Safety and Culture Lead Jen Maddison and Health, Safety and Environment Technician Apprentice Umayya Rahman visited the Port of Dover to meet and discuss operational and environmental awareness with their teams.

They were met with Vicki Beatty, Head of SHEQ, and Megan Turner, Environment and Sustainability Manager, who gave an informative overview of the port’s operations and recent projects.

Umayya spent the day with Emily Boniface, Environment Advisor, and the rest of the Environment Team, and was shown different sites across the port. She explained the environmental teams roles and responsibilities, including their weekly sea and land quality surveys, and reserves for protected species. The opportunity also led to much discussion around environmental activity and sustainability, involving topics such as recycling, biodiversity and invasive species, and how environmental data was gathered within ports. Umayya then took part in their sea quality surveys and helped gather data from all of their sites on aquatic pH and oxygen levels.

Following from this, Umayya also attended a meeting focusing on the construction criteria of the BREEAM Awards, involving discussions on how the project of infilling the dock prioritises ecological value, and questions on how this process worked.

It was interesting to see the different types of surveys and operations carried out with environmental responsibility and sustainability prioritised, and to hear about the port’s unique advances, for example, the fact that the Port of Dover is among the UK ports where seahorses have been sighted. Particularly for the port sector, there has been a drive in meeting a high standard of environmental protection, and it was encouraging to see how the port celebrated biodiversity paired with the competence of their environmental team. It prompted discussion on how meeting these standards can often be a challenge, and often overshadowed by health and safety matters. One of the solutions to this is implementing environmental awareness within current safety culture, and this can even be enforced through small steps such as engaging with other teams and residents in actively complying with steps like recycling and separating waste correctly.

Undoubtedly, compliance in environmental initiatives and regulations faces the constraints of time and resources, however the Port of Dover highlighted that despite this, a proactive stance should be taken in making ports greener, from data gathering to being the first port in the UK with cranes operating on HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil), made of 100% renewable materials.

Thank you to the Port of Dover for hosting PSS for the enjoyable and educational trip!

Getting out and meeting members and highlighting the important work they do, is a vital part of PSS’s work. To organise a tour of your port, please get in touch.