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ELS - supporting the community and the environment
You have probably seen them working on the side of the road, mowing and weeding in Northern Tasmania. They are the team at Equity Labour Services (ELS) – a vegetation management, litter collection and cleaning business with a difference. ELS trains and finds work for people who – due to a range of disabilities – face barriers to gaining and retaining employment.
ELS started out on 1999 with one wheelie-bin cleaning contract. They have grown to become Tasmania’s largest commercial curb side grass cutting and vegetation control business. ELS are a division of WISE Employment, Tasmania’s largest disability open employment service. ELS are a rare blend: a successful social enterprise and a thriving commercial business, in one.
ELS Manager, Harvey Gardner, is passionate about providing a quality service and helping people to overcome their barriers.
“We’ll get the job done in a timely, efficient and professional manner,” he said.
“By choosing ELS you not only get the job done – you make a real difference to the community; by assisting those who need help to find and maintain employment.”
Having a productive and injury-free workforce is vitally important to ELS, so Occupational Health and Safety is a critical issue. All staff are trained in safe equipment handling and operation, as well as safe work practices.
ELS are also committed to protecting the environment. The service has recently acquired a SCS4400 Series console direct injection spray unit for commercial weed spraying. Instead of having to carry around large amounts of chemicals, the team now carries 2000L of water instead and a much smaller quantity of chemicals. The chemicals are mixed with the water as they start spraying. It is the first unit in Australia fitted for commercial spraying.
Harvey believes the equipment will add a number of benefits to ELS, their employees and the environment.
“It increases our productivity and cuts down on the guesswork on the amount of chemicals we need to use,” he said.
“It is also great from an OH&S point of view because our employees don’t have to carry around so much chemical – so we’ve cut down the risk to our employees.”
This is all in line with ELS’s approach to safety which is simply this:
no job is so urgent that is cannot be done safely.
The professionalism of ELS’s weed-spraying service is reflected in the fact that the DPIWE Spray Drifts Complaints and Enquiries Unit have never had to investigate a complaint against our company. Harvey is proud of ELS’s safety record.
“Our Environmental and Safety Systems ensure our clients get their job completed on time without environmental damage or the risk of personal injury to staff or the general public,” he said.
“We want to keep growing ELS so we can create more employment opportunities for our clients.”
“You see a difference in a lot of clients where they have been introverted and they have come out of their shell, working and supporting themselves again.”
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