Irish Coast Guard Achieves Great Place to Work Award for Second Time

The Irish Coast Guard has achieved a Great Place to Work (GPTW) award for the second time in a row, after the organisation implemented a series of key reforms in recent years.

The Coast Guard first partnered with the Great Place to Work Institute in 2019 to develop and implement a programme to improve satisfaction and engagement levels among staff and volunteers.

The accreditation process was based on anonymous feedback to the \’Trust Index & Culture Assessment\’, which was made available to over 1,000 volunteers and staff within the Coast Guard. The Department of Transport division first achieved the Certification in 2021.

The five themes within the survey include Credibility, Respect and Fairness – which measure trust in management – and Pride and Camaraderie, which assess members’ feelings about their role and their colleagues.

The results of the 2022 survey showed an overall satisfaction score of 75% across all questions, a 5% improvement since the first survey in 2019.

In addition to receiving the GPTW award, the Coast Guard also recently achieved accreditation to ISO 45001 by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI).

ISO 45001 is an international standard for management systems of occupational health and safety at work.

The Coast Guard has been updating and renewing its Safety Management Systems (SMS) over the past number of years as part of its ongoing reform programme.

Benefits associated with achievement of ISO 45001 certification include fewer work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths, improvement of workplace morale, safety and performance, physical and mental well-being and improvement of managerial oversight and assurance.

Speaking on these two achievements, Minister of State with special responsibility for the Coast Guard, Jack Chambers, said, “in 2022, the Irish Coast Guard celebrated its 200th anniversary and I am delighted that it has now achieved certification as a Great Place to Work – a very special year for the Coast Guard. These achievements demonstrate the Coast Guard’s commitment to supporting all staff – full-time and volunteers and providing a safe environment in what can be challenging circumstances.”