In this edition, we are excited to present Roy Hendrix, who is our QESH manager working out of Customs Support Venlo, in the Netherlands. Roy works with our teams to optimise our procedures relating to quality, environment, safety, and health.
Join us as Roy shares his experience with Customs Support.
Who are you?
Hi, my name is Roy Hendrix and I am 34 years old. I was born and raised in Steyl, a small monastery village on the Maas in Limburg, in the South of the Netherlands. This village is known for its monasteries, which still attract many tourists throughout the year.
I currently live near the Maas in Tegelen, on the edge of Steyl. I live there with my wife Josine and our daughter Lynn.
I began working with the team here in Venlo since 2011 – before joined the Customs Support Group. I started as a gas measurement expert, and became the QESH manager after developing a Quality Management System (QMS) with the team here.
What does a QESH-manager do?
I try to shape Customs Support's corporate policy in the areas of quality, environment, safety and health. What this means is I continuously look to optimise our processes, identify and evaluate occupational risks, carry out internal audits, supervise external audits, investigate complaints and implement corrective and preventive measures for all kinds of issues.
The biggest challenge of all this work is actually to always find the right balance between the legal frameworks and what fits practically, but the safety and health of my colleagues always comes first!
Sometimes I also get involved in improving the operational information facilities between Customs Support and our clients.
What does your typical working day look like?
There isn’t a typical working day, as such, but most of the time I am investigating new legislation, analysing risks in processes, and keeping everyone up to date with new rules. I also carry out internal audits to investigate whether our quality management system is still sufficient as things change.
What do you like most about your role?
I like to help people to improve their own work processes and also to get them to make the change to our processes in a good way. Sometimes, we are set in the way we work and that can be a hard habit to break. I like to help people out of their bubble.
My work is also very goal oriented and I love that. My goal is to continually improve and map all our processes in the same way – to connect them and to see one smoothly running organisation where all processes follow-up on each other.
What do you like to do when you're not at work, and how does that influence your work skills?
Outside of work, I enjoy going out for a run or cycling. I also love playing with our daughter and seeing her development – it’s so worthwhile for us. We once received a book for our daughter with beautiful sayings and I will never forget one: “We teach you the time and you teach us how to forget the time.”
In addition to exercising and enjoying time with the family, we also love spending time with friends. We regularly have drinks or a party with friends and I also love attending a football match with friends, where a visit to the local pub cannot be missed!
What is the most important thing that a client should look for in a customs partner?
Reliability and connection with the people. We need to have processes in place that are right, and also need to be here to support our clients in a personal way.
You work with the Europe Wide Network. If you were to visit an office location of Customs Support, which city would you like to go to and why?
I love the German culture and I would like to go to Berlin to see all the buildings and experience the city.
