Expertise

Tessa Rossi joined us recently as a GMP specialist to enhance our support to our life sciences clients. Our marketing team caught up with Tessa to learn about her role and how her strong passion for Microbiology drives the essential work she does.

What intrigued you about this science-based career and why you choose this path?

I have loved science, specifically biology, since my childhood years. This love and passion grew as I decided to pursue a degree with dual majors in genetics and microbiology. Since the first day of the microbiology course in my first year, I was simply mesmerised by how quickly microbes adapt and how these invisible beings are more numerous than anything else on planet Earth. I am just fascinated by the complexity of biology, by how something that we cannot even see can have such a significant role in every aspect of our lives, and how our understanding of these small organisms can allow us to change our world completely and ultimately save lives.

Tell us about your journey that led you to Bidvest Noonan.

After I completed my master’s degree I was fortunate to get an opportunity as a research scientist in a fast-growing medical device company in South Africa. In a brief period of time, I learned so much regarding the regulations governing the design and development of medical devices, the rigorous testing required for these products, and the requirements to ensure that quality products are delivered to patients. What really stood out to me in this role was how multi-faceted it was, with my daily tasks ranging from working with the design engineers to compiling regulatory documentation to manufacturing and testing the products. I became the lead research scientist and was able to work with a great group of fellow scientists to provide truly innovative solutions to our clients. It was truly such an interesting starting point and it awakened in me a very keen interest specifically in the life science industry. 

After moving to Ireland, I started a position as a QC microbiologist at a biotechnology company. As the site was still very new at the time it was a very fast-paced environment that offered great learning opportunities and required constant adapting to the rapidly changing environment and daily testing requirements. 

I was already aware of the significant role and presence that Bidvest Noonan has in the life science industry and have seen them in action at pharmaceutical sites. I was therefore very keenly interested in the innovative and high-quality services that they offer to their clients and I was really keen to see how the knowledge and experience I gained from my previous roles could add value to the business and contribute to this ever-changing field.

GMP Specialism is critical in the Life Sciences sector; Tell us about your role at Bidvest Noonan?

As a GMP Specialist, my daily activities range from compiling GMP training to doing site visits, to doing research on solutions to challenges that arise daily across the various sites that we are involved with. A crucial part of my role is to ensure that all our staff understand GMP principles and practices and are fully GMP compliant before they even start with any of their duties in GMP environments. This includes ensuring that our procedures, practices, and services are also in line with the most up-to-date regulatory guidelines and requirements. I am also involved with visiting various sites to fully understand their processes and procedures and to determine how we can optimise our contribution to providing the highest quality service delivery to our various clients accordingly. As the life science industry is constantly busy and changing, there are always challenging arising and I embrace the opportunity to research potential solutions to cleaning, GMP regulatory queries, and other service delivery challenges that allow us to offer scientifically sound, informed solutions and innovations to our clients.

The service that we provide is absolutely essential, and as such, I consider my role as an incredibly important one to ensure not only that our business is providing the best possible service, but to allow staff to understand the importance of their daily tasks and ultimately providing our clients with the certainty that they can trust us to make their product quality and safety our number one priority in every single task we undertake. 

What do you enjoy most about the job?

What I enjoy most about my job is that I get to apply my knowledge about and passion for microbiology and GMP to real world, essential applications and practices every single day. 

I love that I get to work with so many different facilities and people, learn from them, and also provide them with a different insight into what we do. One of the highlights so far has definitely been the development of the GMP training programme, but I can honestly say that I learn something daily and that it is great to work in a business with such diverse expertise and such a desire to be the best.

You seem to be really passionate about microbiology. How does it reflect on your role?

My passion for microbiology and my thorough understanding of GMP requirements allow me to offer unique insight into the services our company offers. I have a keen desire to always keep learning and to stay up to date with the latest developments in my field. I am therefore determined to constantly keep adapting training, procedures, and practices to the latest requirements and to provide clients with innovative approaches to optimise our service delivery that is supported by the latest technological and scientific developments, advancements, and data. My enthusiasm and ability to work in fast-paced, high-pressure environments will allow me to really make the most of this role.

It has been an unusual year for the Life Sciences sector. How has the pandemic impacted your team and what does the future look like in the sector?

Every single person has been affected by Covid-19 to some extent or another. It has certainly affected the life sciences sector very significantly – hospitals most of all. It has also affected other GMP environments that had to adapt to using fewer personnel, circulating personnel in a safe way, and most importantly increasing some safety measures to keep the virus out of these critical environments. 

The majority of these measures have always been in place in GMP areas, but the current circumstances resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic have certainly highlighted the importance of these measures and have significantly increased the awareness of safety procedures. Within the life science industry, various companies had to rethink their personnel monitoring and control strategies to limit the spread of the virus. Gowning requirements had to be increased in some cases to ensure protection of the environment against the virus (e.g. the use of face masks in areas where it may not previously have been a requirement). 

Personally, I believe that many of these measures will last well into the future, as it has almost forced improved safety and contamination control even more than what previous control measures may have done. It has also made personnel more aware of how their actions affect not only their own safety but also the safety of those around them and maintaining this awareness is definitely essential in the ongoing contamination control and safe execution of tasks in the life science industry.

Helen Emerson, our H&S Incident Prevention Executive, told us about her role in the risk and compliance team and safety community. Helen shared how working together we use data-driven insights and expertise to continuously improve our safety performance.

Emma Rahim, HR Director for our Facilities Solutions business unit, is an experienced HR professional with a strong track record in building high-performance teams, improving productivity, and ensuring compliance. Emma shares with us the principles that have helped forge her successful career.

“Push your boundaries beyond the ordinary; be that “extra” in “extraordinary.”

In the years before the pandemic, cleaning teams were often unnoticed as they quietly went about their work. In some sectors such as Life Sciences and Agri-foods, cleaning has always been critical and essential to business continuity. In many other industries cleaning less likely to be considered in a risk management strategy.

The pandemic has transformed perceptions about cleaning services. Management teams want to show their investment in cleaning to reassure their people that workplaces are both clean and safe. As a result of this, today, businesses want their cleaning teams to more visible.

We are living in a world where cleaning is more valued and prioritised than ever before. This brings added pressure on the industry to continuously offer more dynamic and efficient solutions. However, the industry has proven itself to be equal to this challenge. In recent years, we have seen the implementation of new cleaning strategies, the introduction of specialist sanitisers and chemicals, and new technologies.

At Bidvest Noonan, we stepped up our training programmes to ensure our people are ready to lead the way today and in the future. There is a great quote from author Roy. T. Bennett that says to “push your boundaries beyond the ordinary; be that “extra” in “extraordinary””. I believe our cleaning teams are that extra. The work they do is extraordinary.

We have also made big investments in our structures and resources to support our clients, and we continuously invest in innovation. Earlier this year, Bidvest Noonan launched Edge, our new innovation programme. The programme was designed to enable us to innovate faster and share ideas and lessons across our group. Edge is helping us to evaluate solutions across a wide range of domains, ranging from robotics to green cleaning solutions.

The growing demand for greener cleaning solutions has also become a driving force in our industry. More and more companies employ cleaner chemicals and products with a lower carbon footprint. At Bidvest Noonan, this been a motivation for many years. We champion environmentally-friendly products and practices and recently signed a pledge to cut our carbon emissions dramatically.

These changes are helping our industry to grow and develop. I have every confidence that it will continue on its strong trajectory. It will continue to serve our economy and communities and to provide stable employment and opportunities for all the dedicated people who have committed themselves to the industry.

Jo Nicholson, HR Director for our Security Solutions business unit, is a valued member of our UK team. She has extensive experience in building, developing, and leading successful teams. She helps improve productivity and compliance for our business every day. As part of our success factors series, Jo shared with us the principles that have helped forge her successful career.

Darren Martin has built highly successful and award-winning security teams. He is an industry expert with experience in protecting large and prestigious clients. We asked Darren to share his thoughts on leadership, training, and technology trends in the security sector today.

What has been your journey to becoming a Strategic Account Manager at Bidvest Noonan?

I started my security career seventeen years ago as a Security Officer, and over a short period of time I developed a strong skillset in loss prevention and risk management. By the age of 22, I had already progressed to the position of Security Manager for one of the largest luxury department stores in Ireland.

This client facing role helped me to further enhance my skills in leadership, people management, effective communication and problem solving. One of the most important things that I learned early on in my career, was that it is imperative you are a person of high integrity, and that the most successful relationships you will have with clients and colleagues are built on trust.

In my five years working in operations, I have been very lucky to have enjoyed success working in partnership with some of the best-known retailers on the high street, the largest luxury department stores and destination shopping centres, as well as popular tourist attractions and multinational corporations.

The security industry is constantly changing, especially after COVID-19. What skills do you think are most important for security professionals nowadays?

Since the start of the pandemic, the security industry has had to rapidly adapt to changing conditions. The role of the Security Officer has evolved from a uniformed deterrent at the entrance, to an ambassador for the business they represent. By showing empathy, using strong communication and customer service skills, the security professional can support the customer journey, enhance their experience, all while advising of the current safety protocols in place.

We have also seen a shift in the way that the security professional uses technology by having to incorporate occupancy counting, temperature checking and contact tracing efforts as part of their daily duties.

And for leadership? What are the essential traits for successful management in security?

I would have to say that being self-motivated, an effective communicator and people orientated are all essential traits to being successful. It is vital to be able to motivate and empower your team members, if you can enlarge their vision, insight and understanding then this is the best way for a team to build momentum and achieve their goals.

How a company can go about ‘upskilling’ its current security teams?

We are always looking for new ways to upskill our security teams. Examples of this include the roll out of a suicide awareness training programme at the start of the year, regular scenario testing events with our colleague Mark Hobden, and most recently providing access to our officers, supervisors and managers to new recognised security and risk management training programmes through our partnership with ISRM.

In my opinion Continuous Professional Development is a personal choice, and one that is very important to me in my role. I completed the Level 6 Diploma for Certified Security Management Professionals last year, and recently completed a Level 5 certificate in Corporate Risk & Crisis Management. It is vital to keep up to date with emerging global risks and threats, as well as mitigating factors and new ways of working.

What trends do you expect to see in the security sector in 2021 and beyond?

I expect to continue to see the security sector catching up with its use of artificial intelligence, this will have a real positive impact on the way that surveillance is used. Operators will become more efficient and proactive by moving to an event-based way of working, rather than continuous manual monitoring.

Companies will continue to move towards remote security solutions as they combine new technologies with traditional manned guarding techniques. Security Officers are being equipped with added tools to enable them to do their jobs more effectively. These include video analytics software for alarm detection, drones for perimeter protection and quicker response, as well as mobile monitoring solutions.

Digital transformation will continue to be a driver of change in business by allowing us to collaborate more efficiently and deliver better value. Security leaders will need to be prepared for the additional risks that this will present. Personal data will continue to be an attractive target for hackers and there will be an increase in the frequency and severity of cybersecurity incidents, particularly ransomware and phishing attacks.