Answering the Call
Global Responders Group has emerged as a leading provider of integrated risk management solutions, its responsive, adaptive network of expertise able to satisfy any client’s Crisis Management and QHSE needs
The responsive, adaptive approach to building crisis management and QHSE resilience
On April 20, 2010, the world was rocked by a catastrophic oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Deepwater Horizon accident, recognised as the largest marine oil spill in history, spread over 150,000 square kilometres of water and left a devastating trail of environmental and economic damage in its wake.
Although an extreme example, the incident highlights the value of robust, uncompromising standards in quality, health, safety and environment (QHSE) management. The spill cost BP billions overnight, with the damage still being counted to this day.
John Coates was an Emergency Manager with BP in Azerbaijan at the time, and saw the monumental impact the disaster had on the company’s fiscal and reputational standing.
Today, Coates heads up his own firm dealing exclusively in risk management, serving as Chief Officer of Global Responders Group (GRG), having founded the organisation in 2014. “Why did I set this up?” he asks. “It was down to my experience with crisis management and QHSE contractors while I was working in oil and gas – I knew it could be done better. I knew my experience was perfectly suited to starting a consultancy that was based solely on experienced operators. This is what makes GRG different – our specialists are all required to have in-depth, hands-on experience, this is the only way to offer a client sound advice and service - that experience base which we founded the company on.
“Taking short-cuts, failing to adhere to regulations (if they exist) and being blasé about safety and security standards, not only places people at risk, it can kill them. QHSE standards are written for a reason – they set the
baseline standard that industry and/ or governments expect operations to adhere to. In addition to that baseline standard, we are helping proactive companies to incorporate human factors from a safety point into their safety management systems.
“What Deepwater Horizon showed is that you cannot afford to take safety for granted. Accidents hit reputations and brands, and reputations and brands hit the bottom line. Our job is to make our clients benefit from and appreciate this relationship.”
RESILIENT, RESPONSIVE
And this is where GRG comes in.
Now firmly established in the crisis management and QHSE field, Coates admits he has had to ride on what he describes as a rocky road to this
point, the oil price crash of late 2015 providing an acute challenge which forced GRG to diversify into new markets and activities.
Though painful, the company has emerged stronger as a result.
GRG now stands as an expert risk management partner for organisations engaged in a wide variety of commercial endeavours worldwide, from oil and gas operators and transport and logistics companies to industrial firms and office-based enterprises.
Headquartered in Texas and with bases in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, GRG’s solutions are risk-based and specific to each client’s individual needs, a onestop shop for all crisis management and QHSE consultancy.
New to the GRG Team, Brad Coulter has been brought in to expand the one-stop shop further still. Now serving as Security and Southeast Asia Manager, the opportunity to join forces with Coates was too good to refuse.
“I recently joined GRG because of the diversity of the work it undertakes, the expertise that is within the company and the areas for which it operates, globally,” he says. “It is one of the few organisations in the world where the diversity of my skills aligned perfectly.
“We can do everything from crisis and incident management, emergency response, technical services, detailed security services and training in all of the aforementioned. No two workdays are the same; the variety of skills our experts bring to each client is unsurpassed in the industry.”
Indeed, GRG’s services are categorised into five key areas: emergency response; crisis and incident management; manpower and resources; technical HSE support; and corporate services, with Coulter’s security division being the latest addition to the portfolio and the sixth service line. A key component across all six service lines is training clients’ staff on how to implement the plans and risk mitigations, closing the loop on the end to end service.
“The new service ranges from a bespoke kidnap and ransom support for a client’s employee in a remote part of the region, to providing a turnkey security department, fully equipped and manned, in another part of the region,” Coulter explains.
“In the form of a single contractor, GRG’s core focus is on providing end to end holistic and fit for purpose solutions,” adds Coates. “This solutionbased approach shows our clients how to manage and reduce their risk.