Callum Maxwell, our Business Development Manager – Renewables, recently spent time with the OGV Group taking part in a “Let’s Talk Transition” video podcast. As Global Offshore Wind 2024 opens, the interview has gone live. In it, Callum talks about his route into the renewables sector, joining Proserv and the development and capabilities of our step change holistic subsea cable monitoring system ECG™. To watch the podcast, please click below.
Original 106 FM provided terrific coverage of our first day out on the roads as 600 Miles for Minds started its journey south. From Breakfast with Claire and Pete, right through the day, we updated the listeners via interviews from several of our team. Here, our VP, QHSE Simon Harvey and the man behind the whole idea, Bradley Savoldelli, give their views on progress, the challenging weather and what our campaign is all about.
These interviews are reproduced with the kind permission of Original 106 FM.
Ahead of the start of our 600 Miles for Minds charity cycling event today, our CEO Davis Larssen provided an interview to the Original 106 FM Breakfast with Claire and Pete, where Davis discusses everything from our great charity event 600 Miles for Minds to the hazards of chafing! Davis also talks about the team’s feelings ahead of this major challenge.
This interview is reproduced with the kind permission of Original 106 FM.
Our bid to raise vital funds for two leading charities, Mental Health UK and SAMH, alongside awareness for looking after our mental health by sharing anxieties and seeking support, as part of our 600 Miles for Minds campaign, has really been moving ahead. At the start of the month, Global Underwater Hub kindly featured our upcoming cycling event on June 7th in its latest news magazine and dedicated a page to the challenge and the reasons behind it.
This article is reproduced with the kind permission of GUH. To read it online, please click here.
Platform Energy & Technology Review has featured several double-page features of some of our news stories over recent months from new appointments around the world to major contract wins in the Gulf of Mexico. The publication has spotlighted our strategy to grow our business in Stavanger and Qatar via key senior appointments, as well as our tie-up with sand and erosion monitoring, analytics and management experts SMS and success for our technology innovation in the US with Trendsetter Engineering.
These articles are reproduced with the kind permission of Platform Energy & Technology Review. To read them online, please click here.
Paul Cook, our Vice President, Renewables has provided a two-page feature thought leader to the latest copy of the US based marine science publication ECO Magazine. The opinion piece focuses on the progress of the ScotWind leasing round, conducted by Crown Estates Scotland in 2022, as these vast and transformative offshore wind developments take early steps forward. Paul pinpoints how their successful rollout is essential to accelerating the likelihood of Scotland meeting its Net Zero emissions goals by 2045. Paul also references our step change ECG™ holistic cable monitoring system that can provide great support to these future offshore wind farms by enabling real-time condition monitoring of cable assets to mitigate failures and faults, enhance power generation capabilities and extend life.
This article is reproduced with the kind permission of ECO Magazine. To read the article online, please click here.
Davis Larssen asks the energy sector to get behind the company’s major charity drive to shine a light on mental health awareness.
Davis Larssen, CEO of global controls technology company Proserv, has called on fellow industry partners and stakeholders to support his team’s mental health charity initiative, featuring a 600-mile cycle ride this summer, saying that “behind the anticipation and the physical challenge lies an issue that our sector, and business more widely, must not ignore.”
Proserv and its technology partner, Synaptec, a Glasgow based power system monitoring specialist, have come together to form a team of more than 30 cyclists to ride 600 miles in six days this June. The group will set out from Proserv’s HQ in Westhill, Aberdeen on June 7th, arriving at its Controls Centre of Excellence in Great Yarmouth on June 12th.
The goal is to raise a target of £100,000 to be shared between two leading mental health charities, Mental Health UK and Mind. Some of Proserv’s participants are flying in from around the globe to take part and Larssen himself will be in the saddle to contribute to the fund-raising effort.
The idea was originally conceived by Bradley Savoldelli, one of Proserv’s team based at Greenbank in Aberdeen, and Larssen says the aim was to devise an event that would capture the imagination and encourage donations for a subject needing wider attention and awareness.
“This will be a taxing physical challenge but we need to turn a spotlight on to an issue that every business needs to embrace openly and transparently, not only in the energy industry but across every other sector.
“Many individuals and families live with the impacts of mental health anxieties and stresses every day – they can be hugely debilitating and particularly when there is no support available, in the worst case scenario, can lead to tragic yet often completely avoidable outcomes.”
Larssen points to statistics compiled this year by Mental Health UK that reveal one in four adults feel unable to manage stress and pressure in their lives.
“Studies show mental health struggles are a major factor in work-related illnesses and younger people tend to be more likely to ‘bottle up’ their feelings and try to avoid talking about them. So, accessible support networks must be clearly and readily in place within every organisation whenever someone feels they need that vital extra help or connection.”
A survey released last week by Mind points to continued stigma associated with opening up about mental health problems, with more than 50% of people questioned thinking there is still significant shame attached to such issues. Proserv consciously first revealed its upcoming campaign on Mind’s Time to Talk Day on February 1st.
Simon Harvey, the company’s Vice President, QHSE, is another taking part and he believes bringing awareness to mental wellbeing and encouraging discussion is fundamental to Proserv’s campaign.
“We first established support frameworks in the UK some years ago and have extended this around our entire global business. The phrase ‘it’s okay to not be okay’ is absolutely right and people must reach out when they feel troubled or under stress.
“Raising a hefty sum for these well-deserving charities would be a great outcome but getting the message out that talking, opening up and sharing concerns are so crucial is perhaps even more important. That is a core objective of why we are doing this.”
A report in late 2023 by King’s College, London highlighted that nearly two-thirds of the UK’s population has experienced negative mental health impacts due to the cost of living crisis and Larssen believes the energy industry can also create an extra level of anxiety for those working within it.
“The past few years, with COVID-19 and the economic landscape, have understandably challenged people up and down the UK, and beyond. Our sector has typically been one where there can be volatility and uncertainty, while individuals are often working far away from home and their familiar support networks.
“Collectively as an industry, we have a responsibility to do what we can to safeguard the mental wellbeing of our talented teams around the globe. So, we are openly asking energy sector colleagues, partners and stakeholders to come forward, engage with and help our initiative to underline the critical need to support positive mental health in our workforce.”
To donate to Proserv’s fundraising campaign, please click here. To find out more about available sponsorship packages, please email communications@proserv.com.
Our ambitious and exciting 600 Miles for Minds cycling challenge to raise money for two leading and vital mental health charities Mental Health UK and Mind has received a smart two-page feature in the latest Platform Energy & Technology Review. The news story highlights the background to this event taking place over six days from June 7th as a team of cyclists from both Proserv and our technology partner Synaptec, coming together from around the world, rides from our Global HQ in Westhill, Aberdeen down to our Centre of Excellence in Great Yarmouth, covering 600 miles in the process.
To donate much-needed funds to this important and worthy cause, please follow this link:
https://www.givewheel.com/fundraising/2192/600-miles-for-minds/
This article is reproduced with the kind permission of Platform Magazine. To read it online, please click here.
Earlier this year, the Energy Industries Council featured our new Sampling Service Centre in Malaysia in its monthly Inside Energy title. The centre has been established alongside our authorised representative in the country, SMS, a sand and erosion monitoring, analytics and management expert. It is strategically located at SMS’s facility in Kemaman Supply Base (KSB), Terengganu, Malaysia. With this new Sampling Service Centre, Malaysian clients can now access and procure Proserv’s solutions locally, bringing substantial time savings and significantly alleviating logistical complexities and costs. As the authorised representative of Proserv in Malaysia, SMS also stands as the exclusive, trusted party for servicing and maintaining Proserv’s sampling fleet with its extensive range of rental equipment including sampling cylinders, mini separators and sand injection calibration packages.
This article is reproduced with the kind permission of the EIC. To read it online, please click here.
Event will see 32 participants cycling from Proserv’s HQ in Aberdeen to its Centre of Excellence in Great Yarmouth to raise funds for Mental Health UK and Mind.
Global controls technology company Proserv and fellow Scotland based power system monitoring specialist Synaptec have come together to undertake a gruelling physical challenge in early June to spotlight the importance of mental wellbeing, generate greater awareness and discussion of this topic and raise significant funds for two leading UK charities – Mental Health UK and Mind.
The 600-mile event featuring 32 cyclists, with 28 from Proserv and four from Synaptec, will set off from Proserv House in Westhill, Aberdeen on June 7th and will roll into Proserv’s Centre of Excellence in Great Yarmouth some six days later on June 12th, hopefully raising £100,000 in the process.
The participants will average an impressive 100 miles per day and will come together from as far afield as Trondheim in Norway and Abu Dhabi in the UAE. A cross-section of employees will take part, with representatives from engineering, business development, finance, operations, project management and seven members of Proserv’s senior management team including CEO, Davis Larssen.
The inspiration for this bold and imaginative event initially came from Proserv’s Aberdeen based Projects & Engineering Manager Bradley Savoldelli:
“The idea just took shape naturally. Proserv has always sought to raise money for local charities and support wider good causes and I am part of the internal group that helps create and promote these activities.
“I was actually cycling home one day and thought – you know, what about an epic cycling challenge to bring colleagues together across the country which would be fun yet challenging and most importantly would raise money for vital mental health organisations.”
He added that cycling allows him personally not only to do something physically healthy but to “zone out for a few hours from my day-to-day responsibilities and to direct my focus on the distance, and the satisfying achievement, ahead”.
Bradley Savoldelli is one of a number involved in Proserv and Synaptec’s 600 Miles for Minds initiative that has been motivated by seeing the impacts of mental health issues on family or friends.
Simon Harvey, Proserv’s Vice President, Quality, Health, Safety and Environment, can often be found on two wheels along the highways and byways around the company’s Great Yarmouth Centre of Excellence and he was one of the first to sign up. But, aside from the anticipation of undertaking the 600-mile test, he also has clear reasons for his commitment to this challenge:
“I am delighted to be part of the organising committee for 600 Miles for Minds. I would always jump at the chance to compete in a charity cycling fundraiser as the activity can be such a great promoter of mental and physical wellbeing. But there is a critically important issue at the heart of this event.
“We recognise and prioritise positive mental health at Proserv as much as we can, and we continually encourage the benefits of talking to someone, reaching out and sharing any problem or anxiety. Being able to speak about how we are feeling can potentially make a powerful difference.”
Proserv and Synaptec revealed initial details of this cycle ride earlier this month on Mind’s Time to Talk Day, a national drive to accelerate and promote dialogue around mental health.
Many of the 32 cyclists are hard at work putting in the training miles in preparation for June’s six-day marathon. One of those is Senior Software Engineer at Synaptec Morris Kelly, who observed:
“Supporting mental health is such a worthwhile aim, and such an important issue. It’s a cause close to me, which immediately prompted me to say yes to the event. All wellbeing, particularly mental, needs to be protected. Anything we can do to shine a light on this topic, and to raise much-needed funds at the same time, is excellent. The 600-mile cycle ride will be a tough challenge, but I’m already deep into training and looking forward to it.”
Proserv’s CEO Davis Larssen added:
“This is a great initiative and I am proud of the team that has come together to organise this. Mental health issues can affect anyone and there can be a variety of triggers. So, encouraging people to know they are not alone and that help and assistance are readily available is critical. Come June 12th, I may be a little sore but knowing we have helped these essential charities will more than compensate!”
To donate, follow training progress and access further dedicated rider pages, please click here.