Adapting Global Data Centers to New EHS Requirements

The client, a global tech company, had been in the business of making data centers for their own use for many years. Their European design teams brought to their attention new requirements that operational EHS elements be considered during the design phase. The client decided that this should be rolled out to other regions as well. They reached out wanting to have a full-time embedded person with EHS  experience, as well as relevant engineering experience or education. The desire was for someone that they would not need to train extensively in engineering or EHS, as the training to get up to speed with their design methodology and workflow was already fairly involved. The client needed someone who would have some oversight but also could work both independently and alongside the contracted engineering design firms the client had on board for each project. This resource would also need to be able to work on many projects simultaneously and manage many different deadlines.   

Antea Group found a resource internally that had relevant engineering experience, as well as EHS skills and expertise. This person entered into a RaaS, or Resource as a Service, role for the client. This is a program that Antea Group  uses to embed people full or part time with a client, while not incurring the risk or cost of hiring a new person directly for the client. That resource is supervised directly by the client, and builds a relationship with them, learning “on the job”, and molding into the role to help them with their needs without an intermediary or delay.   

In this case, much of what the client needed was someone to attend more design meetings than the existing resources could handle, while also being capable enough to conduct the bulk of the work without direct supervision. The client also needed someone who was savvy with their suite of applications and good at learning on the fly. Antea Group was able to find them this resource and provided over a year of service for the client.  

The resource assigned to the client was able to work on dozens of projects in their assignment, providing much needed assistance. The resource became a part of a small team of people within the client, working for projects all over the United States, and a few internationally. All data center projects were completed to the client’s satisfaction, and many crucial design elements were identified and resolved before construction. This achieved the main goal of safety by design; to find potential safety and environmental risks, and design them out where possible, and design in robust engineering controls where they can’t be.  

This project also resulted in Antea Group becoming more aware of safety by design, how it is being applied in the tech industry, and how to start strategizing how to provide that sort of support as part of its suite of services.