At the age of 24, Rick Boelens stumbled into the world of company emergency response (BHV) quite by chance. From his attic room, he set up 101BHV.nl, with external instructors delivering the training courses whilst Rick himself took care of planning, sales and certification. Eight years later, 101BHV.nl has already been named the best training provider in the Netherlands, buses carrying its own instructors travel across the country, and the company expects significant growth in the near future.
“We want to give first aiders the knowledge, skills and confidence to provide first aid immediately,” says Rick. And it seems to be working. It started small. “I was good with websites and came into contact with in-house first aid through a mutual acquaintance. That’s where my passion for providing people with a safe environment originated. It’s particularly great that they can do it themselves,” explains Rick.
"Over the years, we added an office with its own training centre. The Planning & Customer Relations department handles the initial contact with the client and schedules all training sessions. 101BHV.nl’s own certified instructors are based across the country, giving us nationwide coverage. The instructors travel in their own buses, taking all the necessary training materials to the client. This includes CPR manikins, fire extinguishers and more.”
Providing safety
When an employer decides to provide safety training for their staff, 101BHV.nl can offer an emergency response course on-site or at a training centre. This covers first aid, fainting, CPR, what to do in the event of a cardiac arrest, right through to the recovery position. But also fire safety. Because what is the safe thing to do in which situation?
The courses combine theory and practice. For this reason, the company now also sells related products, such as fire blankets and AED devices, which are supplied from its own stock.
And since safety plays such a vital role, maintenance and servicing of fire-fighting equipment are also part of the range of services offered by 101BHV.nl. Finally, the consultancy arm is also becoming increasingly important. This includes drawing up risk assessments (RI&E) and evacuation plans.
Relieving the burden on staff
The instructors drive all over the Netherlands in Fiat Doblos. Great cars with plenty of space for all the necessary equipment. And because Rick’s main aim is to take the pressure off his staff, a journey logging system was installed. “I don’t want the drivers to have to worry about keeping track of mileage and addresses. There are much more efficient solutions for that.” And for that reason, a GPS journey log has been in place from day one. This means everything is fully sorted if the tax authorities ask for mileage records; it’s ideal to have in the event of theft and provides greater insight.
The future
Although 101BHV.nl is now a wonderful company, the journey to get there is perhaps even more rewarding than the destination, says Rick. “In 2015, we won the award for ‘Best Training Provider – Small’ in the Health & Safety category. That was a real sign that we were heading in the right direction.” And for that reason, the company aims to have grown by another 20 per cent by the end of the year.
In the future, every vehicle will certainly be fitted with TrackJack.”
Sometimes trainees still ring us about CPR or a small fire. “Then we hear that they were able to take action during an incident, that they had the confidence and knew what to do. That’s what we do it for every day!”
