Sask. safety training and testing company expanding during the pandemic

REGINA -

A Saskatchewan-based company has quickly adapted to offer rapid testing for COVID-19 in the province, which is helping it expand to other areas of the country.

Registered nurse Shirley Galloway has been offering health, safety, security and emergency management services from through her company Nobel HSSE in Oxbow for the past 24 years.

She started dabbling in occupational health work after moving to the area from Winnipeg with her partner.

“When I first offered this, there was nothing. There was one safety person in Estevan,” said Shirley, the president of Nobel HSSE.

Nobel has since added a safety division and an emergency medical division. It employs nurses and offers a wide-range of training courses and testing services, but has been kept busy throughout the pandemic doing rapid testing for COVID-19 at the Saskatoon airport and any other clients in need.

Saskatoon wasn’t a part of the companies immediate plans, but its now looking at offering more services in the area.

“We have plans of opening an office in Thunder Bay, which is underway, Saskatoon, Regina and Calgary,” she said.

REGINA EXPANSION

Galloway’s son Ryan Galloway has been working with customers in Regina since Nobel opened an office in October. The office offers training services, but Ryan has been most recently busy with establishing rapid testing services at places like Regina Catholic Schools.

“It’s been really cool. The school testing was kind of the first time personally I’ve dealt with a public service,” said Ryan, the operations manager for Nobel.

Ryan said COVID-19 has slowed down some aspects of the business, but being in Regina permanently is helping.

“It gives us an opportunity to facilitate our services in a bigger catchment area being a little more centrally located,” he said.

The company was also recently designated as a 100 per cent woman owned business. It is something Shirley believes has sometimes been a reason why her company is not chosen for certain jobs.

“There’s been challenges. I don’t offend easily, you know?” she said.

Nobel has a total of 18 staff. The core of the company is always the Galloway family, made up of Ryan, Shirley and her partner Jim.