Business Profile: Acres Consultancy Services Ltd

Contact: Ann Bradley
Business: Acres Consultancy Services Ltd
Email: ann@acresconsultancyservices.com
M: 07866410105

Business Profile: Acres Consultancy Services Ltd

Can you describe your business?

We offer safety services to small and new businesses at competitive rates. Maintaining health and safety in the workplace is a legal requirement for all businesses with five or more employees. Companies of this size rarely have the resources or know-how necessary to handle it themselves, while seeking professional help can be extremely costly. We aim to help small businesses compile the documentation they need such as safety policies, risk assessments and method statements to meet legal requirements. We also provide group based training to help businesses ensure their employees are fully competent in areas such as manual handling and food safety. Our online training portal offers a wide range of safety courses relevant to a range of industries. Further information on these can be found on our website www.thinkactbesafe.co.uk. On May 12 we have our first behavioural safety day. This is a workshop and learning event aimed at changing behaviour and workplace culture. We use a company, ‘Theatre at Work’ to help explain the human factors involved in workplace safety. Using plays as live, interactive case studies illustrates how even the smallest action can have major consequences when it comes to workplace safety. If you’d like further information about this please email.

Why did you start your own business?

Having worked as a teacher for many years I wanted to pursue a new challenge now that my family are older. Having completed a NEBOSH general certificate in workplace health and safety I felt it was an area where I could utilise the skills and experience I had gained in the classroom. After talking to local business owners I felt there was an opening in the Omagh area for a safety consultancy service catering to the needs of small companies and organisations. I particularly enjoy training and we are aiming to develop the business further over the next six to 12 months to expand the courses we can offer.

What are the best things about running your own business?

The biggest benefit of running my own business is the flexibility that comes with it enabling me to work from wherever I want and setting my own hours. We have provided services to a range of businesses such as ecologists, construction workers and forestry services. As someone who thrives on being creative and learning something new I enjoy the challenge this offers. It’s also nice as a small business to interact personally with customers on a one-to-one basis.

What are the main challenges facing the business?

New businesses don’t have it easy when it comes to funding, managing cashflow is a day to day challenge, along with this we are trying to develop a client base which can be difficult but we are working hard on this and hopefully the fruits of our labour will show through time.

What advice would you give to someone starting a business?

I think that we are not running long enough to be giving too much advice but the one thing I would say is that you are better regretting something you’ve done rather than something you had wanted to do! Give it a go and I’m sure it will work out.

Can you describe your experience of running a business in three words or less?

Embrace the challenge!