Internationally recognised emergency response specialists Evolution Risk Assurance (ERA) has appointed Alan Harrison as Operations Director (Europe) to develop and strengthen its relationships across the continent.
The Hartlepool-based technology and risk management company focused on delivering emergency preparedness solutions to its clients has seen substantial growth over the last 12 months – and envisages a 100 per cent further increase in turnover during 2021.
Mr Harrison will now look to lead ERA through its next stage of expansion, having previously held senior positions during 26 years in emergency response and management. Further roles will be created in the coming months as ERA brings new technology-based products online and opens other offices in regions such as Asia Pacific and Gulf Coast Countries.
The 50-year-old, who spent 20 years working in the local authority fire service before moving into consultancy within the high hazard industry, is looking forward to helping ERA continue its pattern of growth as it moves into the post COVID-19 era.
Mr Harrison said: “A big part of the reason I have joined ERA is the opportunity to build relationships with people as we continue to grow because of the desire for immersive technologies and mixed reality human performance development.
“We see our future clients as partners and we want them to buy into our journey, just as other leading petrochemical and oil and gas companies have already done across the world.
“We are looking at digitalisation, efficiency, improving technical skills and soft skills utilising new technologies that not only provide cost efficiencies but actually complement traditional face to face learning within a blended learning approach.
“My strategic aim is to facilitate our continued organic growth and ensure we have the systems and processes to meet client expectations.
“We are developing solutions for a post-Covid business environment and we will be utilising my depth of experience in various high hazard sectors, such as nuclear, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, manufacturing and chemical.”
ERA already has offices in London and the United States and plans to announce a fourth base in the UAE soon.
Mr Harrison’s appointment comes at a time when ERA has also appointed an Operations Director for the Asia-Pacific region due to continued growth in the area.
Kevin Boffy, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of ERA, said: “Our appointment of Alan highlights our intention to continue to grow in the UK and Europe, Alan understands the core principles of ERA of quality and continual improvement and will ensure that these principles are embedded within our day-to-day service provision.
“Alan is joining the business in order to widen our offering, oversee our expansion into process safety and the development of leadership and soft skills for supervisory and leadership teams. We feel the way Alan works is the way ERA does business, ethically and with an emphasis on high quality service provision above all.
“Alan is one of a number of appointments we will make during Q1. We will make appointments at operational level but also at board level.”
ERA has seen success through integrated emerging digital technologies having previously travelled the globe delivering face-to-face emergency response and crisis management training. ERA also has a new line of software applications that are utilised to manage risk, staff competence and the remote management of large-scale emergencies.
It now blends Augmented and Virtual Reality to deliver unique online training systems to meet the personal development needs of some of the world’s biggest energy companies such as BP and Shell.
For further information check out www.evolutionriskassurance.com