We are committed to continuous review and development to meet the changing needs of our Clients, and provide the most contemporary and comprehensive range of services, no matter how challenging the project may first appear.
Quality, Health, Safety and Environmental Management
The provision of a quality service and reduction of risk has always been integral to all our site investigation operations whether it is collection of field data, laboratory testing, reporting or providing technical advice.
Our rigorous approach to ensuring the highest operational safety, environmental and quality performance of all our operations is demonstrated through our accredited management systems.
We operate registered management systems ISO 9001: 2008, ISO 14001: 2004 and OHAS 45001: 2018. These systems are externally audited annually by the BSI, with ongoing internal audits and reviews of all our activities undertaken on a rolling monthly basis.
We are also accredited under the SMAS Worksafe, ConstructionLine and SafeContractor schemes.
The Company holds membership of the following professional bodies; Association of Consulting Engineers, British Safety Council, Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists (AGS), British Drilling Association (BDA) and Contaminated Land: Applications in Real Environments (CL:AIRE).
Copies of our policy statements can be found with the download section of our website.
Training & Qualifications
On employment all our staff are given formal training to ensure they have the experience and knowledge to carry out works in accordance with BS 5930 “Code of Practice for Ground Investigations” and BS10175 “Code of Practice for Investigation of Potentially Contaminated Sites” and that they are competent in logging of soils and rocks to the relevant British Standards. Additional training with regard to the use of CAT and Genny (cable location devices), Asbestos Awareness, Site Safety, First Aid, and Fire and Emergency procedures is also provided. We also believe it is important for all staff to appreciate and have a basic understanding of geotechnical laboratory testing, with training undertaken within our in-house laboratory.
The qualifications and accreditation of our employees, at all grades, helps demonstrate their competence and professional nature, and so is strongly supported by Southern Testing.
All drilling staff are trained and experienced and have obtained or are working towards NVQ’s in Land Drilling; either as Lead Driller or Drilling Support Operative.
Field technicians are actively encouraged to work towards obtaining qualifications such as HNC in Civil Engineering and laboratory technicians are NVQ qualified.
Technical staff hold appropriate professional membership of the following: Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), Geological Society (GeolSoc), Institution of Environmental Science (IES) and Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) .
We have implemented a training scheme for our graduate engineers based broadly on the requirements set out in the Geological Society Engineering Group “Training Guide for Engineering Geologists”, with the objective being to provide suitable and appropriate training for engineering geologists within the Company, to not only enhance their ability to carry out their work, but also provide a sound basis for validation for Chartership and encourage overall career development and to eventually provide competent persons to oversee remedial works and add value. We also also encourage post-Chartership accreditation through support of applications to attain accreditations such as European Geologist (EurGeol), Registered Ground Engineering Professional (RoGEP) and Specialist in Land Condition (SiLC).
Community Involvement
Southern Testing has been providing work experience and placements through our links with the local community, schools, colleges and universities for over 30 years. We have initiated schemes to encourage the study of sustainability in engineering, with staff visits, presentations and work experience programmes ranging from a few weeks through to covering college or university holiday periods. We have also provided training support to a number of our Clients by providing offsite additional training to their own graduate training scheme.
In the wider ground engineering community, we administer and fund the charitable “Don Keeble Trust” established to provide funding for UK and overseas students studying for a second degree related to geotechnical or environmental engineering.
We are also active in the charity field, financially supporting a number of local charities on a regular basis and participating in several staff-led fund-raising activities and recycling schemes that directly benefit the local community.