Ep. 7: Building a Safer Future: The Story of Storemasta with CEO Caleb Urquhart

Join hosts Patrick Gee and Mel Hampton in a captivating conversation with Caleb Urquhart, CEO of Storemasta, as they unravel the remarkable journey behind one of Australia's leading providers of dangerous goods storage solutions. From humble beginnings to becoming an industry powerhouse, Caleb shares insights into Storemasta's origin story and its unwavering commitment to reducing risk and enhancing safety in workplaces across the nation.

Key Discussion Points:

1. The Genesis of Storemasta:
   • Discover how Storemasta evolved from a family-owned venture into a renowned brand dedicated to providing innovative solutions for the safe storage and handling of dangerous goods.
2. Driving Values and Commitments:
   • Explore Storemasta's core values and unwavering commitment to Australian manufacturing, quality assurance, and exceeding industry standards to deliver exceptional safety outcomes.
3. A Journey of Hands-On Experience:
   • Gain insights into Caleb's personal journey within Storemasta, from working on the factory floor to assuming leadership roles, and how hands-on experience has shaped his leadership approach.
4. Innovative Solutions for Emerging Risks:
   • Learn how Storemasta stays ahead of the curve by anticipating and addressing emerging risks, such as advancements in technology and the rise of lithium-ion batteries, through proactive solutions and continuous innovation.
5. Empowering Organizations for a Safer Tomorrow:
   • Explore Storemasta's holistic approach to safety, including empowering organizations with knowledge, training, and practical solutions to proactively manage risks and enhance workplace safety.

Why Tune In?

• Uncover the captivating story behind Storemasta's rise to prominence and its unwavering commitment to safety, quality, and innovation.
• Gain valuable insights into the future of dangerous goods management and how Storemasta is leading the charge in addressing emerging risks and ensuring a safer workplace for all.
• Discover the personal journey of Caleb Urquhart and his unique perspective on leadership, safety, and the pivotal role of Australian manufacturing in building a safer future.

Additional Resources:           www.storemasta.com.au

• Connect with Storemasta on social media or via email to engage with Caleb Urquhart and learn more about Storemasta's innovative solutions for dangerous goods storage.
• Stay tuned for the next episode, where Caleb Urquhart joins Patrick and Mel to delve into the risks associated with lithium-ion batteries and practical strategies for risk reduction.

Listen Now: Don't miss this insightful episode as Caleb Urquhart shares the inspiring story of Storemasta and offers valuable perspectives on the future of workplace safety and risk management. Whether you're a safety professional, industry leader, or simply passionate about building a safer tomorrow, this episode offers profound insights and actionable strategies for enhancing workplace safety.

Thank you for joining us on this enlightening journey into the heart of Storemasta's mission and vision for a safer workplace. Stay tuned for more engaging conversations and valuable insights in our upcoming episodes.

Transcript

Pat: Hello and welcome to the Chemical Safety at Work podcast. I'm Patrick Gee and with me today is Mel Hampton, as always.  

Mel: Hello, everyone.  

Pat: And we're also being joined by a special guest here. That's our CEO, Caleb Urquhart. Is that how you pronounce it?  

Caleb: Urquhart. Yeah.  

Pat: Yeah. Okay great. 

Pat: Caleb, thanks for joining us today. 

Caleb: G’day Pat, g’day Mel. Thanks for having me today. It's good to be here. 

Mel: You probably never imagined ten years ago or so when you joined the team that you'd be recording a podcast today. 

Caleb: No, not at all. But it's great. A great new way of getting behind the brand, Storemasta, and conveying what we do, what we do for industry, but more importantly, how we can help and how we do help reduce risk and improve efficiencies for industry. 

It's, it's a new way, but it's not a new thing that we're doing. Yeah. We've been committed to helping organisations for many years now, and this is just another step on the journey. 

Pat: In this episode, we wanted to just dive in a little bit about the background of Storemasta, the company, how it started and the direction that we're on, and a little bit about yourself as well. 

But can you tell us, first, about the origin story of the company?  

Caleb: Yeah, certainly. So, it started around 30 years ago. My father, David, started the company. He was working in construction at the time, and they used to build industrial facilities for different companies, including the ag industry, and often got asked to build or include storage systems in there, in their builds, in their projects. 

And so, they did. And that was the sheet metal side of things. David is a sheetie, by trade. And then they started getting into the safety side of things, this is the early 90s, and got involved with, through family connections, around supporting large mine sites with some safety storage. So dangerous goods storage cabinets, sheet metal dangerous goods storage cabinets, and there was a need at the time and especially with some of the gaps in the market in the early 90s around providing an Australian made product instead of imported.  

And that was really an opportunity that he saw, yeah, to develop that side of the business into its own brand. Yep. From there, there was some partnerships created, national partnerships with some resellers, a distribution network, a strong distribution network and from those early days, it was really our foundation as to helping organizations and the first sales consulting was an ex-schoolteacher. 

So that was really that method of selling was about explaining the risks and how to reduce those risks. And so that's been foundational since day one. Yeah. And from there, the product range diversified and increased to include larger outdoor storage units, and all manufactured in South Australia, southeast, South Australia. So, Mount Gambier, a little country town. 

And early 2000s we moved to Tasmania. Family moved. Moved to Burnie and brought the production facility with us and haven't looked back and kept at it. Tell us just a little bit about where the company is now and how it's developed into a more complete offering. Yeah, sure. So, we've always been about making it easy and providing the right solution. 

And so, you follow that pathway, it develops more than just a box. So, sheet metal foundation, background, but always at the core of that has been reducing risk and making it easy to comply. And providing the right solution means that if we didn't have it at the time, we worked hard to get it right, develop it, and bring something to the market that hadn't been brought to market before. 

And that's really what's developed us to where we are today, where we are that renowned brand that helps organisations, global organisations, in their holistic approach to reducing risk. We don't just supply a box. We're not just a bunch of sheeties knocking out boxes or importing them. We have a holistic approach to helping organizations, and that's what drives us every day. 

Pat: Yep. 

Mel: So, you've been with the company for a few years now? You know, started off, I guess, on the factory floor and moved through to sales and then management. Can you tell us a little bit more about your journey?  

Caleb: Sure. it's been a good journey. A bit over a decade now, but I used to work here every spare minute of my school life. And that helped me, create an understanding. Especially in the industry and hands on experience. And when I joined the company, I was heavily involved in that area of the business. So, procurement, purchasing, production management, coordination. And at the time, we were growing strongly. And so, then I moved into sales, customer service. 

And from there more into operations after that to continue to support the growth. And then throughout the last few years, sort of try to take that lead... It's a bit dodgy to say that isn't it. more of a leadership role, to help deliver the growth for the brand and, and take it further. It's good. Not, many CEOs get an opportunity to work in every area of the business before they get to lead the business. 

Pat: Can you tell me a bit about how that's kind of influenced the way you can lead the company?  

Caleb: I think it's pivotal that that hands on experience throughout all areas of the organization is had because then it provides an understanding, and it helps understand what the levers are for growth and what the bottlenecks are. So and so on our growth pathway, executing our strategy. Every area of the business is affected and needs its own strategy to deliver the growth. And having a rounded approach, a spherical approach I like to call it, having a spherical approach to the business helps ensure that we have solid foundations, and we can move forward on them. So, we don't just rest on them. Yeah.  

Pat: What's Storemasta focusing on right now to deliver for clients in the dangerous goods safety space? 

Caleb: Storemasta right now is committed to our value proposition, which is helping organisations reduce risk and improve efficiencies in the storage and handling of dangerous goods and hazardous substances. So, where that takes us and is taking us is into looking at what is around the corner. For companies in today's world. It's a fast-paced environment. It's a dynamic environment, especially in the industrial sector. 

Manufacturing, mining and we are looking at what are the emerging risks? What are the emerging trends in the industry? What, as technologies advanced going back, say, five to eight years, we sort of thought, right-o, technology is advancing. That's going to bring about, a reduction in hazardous materials because we're going to work out ways to do the same thing, but without, dangerous goods and be able to eliminate that hazard or the risk of chemicals because of the advancement in technologies. 

But what we've seen is that the opposite has happened. As technologies have advanced, products have become more advanced and they've become more, high performing. So higher performing products and catalysts and therefore often what we're seeing is, higher risk. So, temperature sensitive, very tight parameters around stability of chemical and more volatility around the environment that they’re stored in. 

And so, what that means is we're adapting, we've designed solutions, we’re developing solutions to cope with that advancement. And that is where we are focusing. And we've also got new emerging technologies and emerged technologies around energy. So new energy storage and things such as lithium-ion batteries. There’s a lot about them. And that is a real-world problem. 

So, when we say we help organisations, that's more than just manufacturing a solution, but through our methodology, we partner with organizations to provide them with the tools as well that they need. So, the knowledge, the resources, the checklists, the tools that they need to identify their risks as well as sustain and maintain a reduced risk on site. So that's knowledge, that's training, that's awareness and empowering frontline employees on sites around what they're dealing with and how to minimize risk. 

Mel: So, tell us about manufacturing in Tasmania. what does that look like and what does it mean for Storemasta?  

Caleb: Yep. So, manufacturing in Tasmania. We’re 100% committed to it. We're an Australian family-owned business and we’re strongly committed to Australian manufacturing. And we've got a large investment in our facility and are really pushing the boundaries on the fourth industrial revolution - industry 4.0, it’s a bit of a buzzword, but it is a reality around the technology that's available now to advance our quality. Our safety and our quality, as well as air velocity, and therefore it cost. So, that's about us being a sustainable manufacturer and being one that's here for generations to come. And that's the way we've invested and that's our mindset and we will continue to invest is in that strong, stable footprint of Australian made products. And what that does is that obviously provides for the local community, but it also provides for our customers that ongoing support. So, we're here and we'll always be here to support them with whatever they've invested in that we've provided. So, we're not just a fly-by-nighter; here one day and gone the next. We're invested deeply to be here for the long term and sustainably so. And I think that's the best way and that's really what it's about. It’s about building a future as well for the oncoming generation. 

Mel: Yeah. What does that mean quality wise.  

Caleb: So how that affects our customer and delivers value is having control of end-to-end process all under the same roof. We have design, innovation and supply chain and production right through R&D and built-in QA processes. 

ISO 9001 certified and that ensures that we have sound management and quality management principles instilled into our operations so that our customers receive something that they can trust.  

Mel: That's great.  

Pat: What does ISO 9001 mean? 

Caleb: ISO 90010 - That's an internationally recognised quality certification. And that is an external auditor, or an external body provides that certification based on an annual audit. 

And every three years we get a re-certification audit around our processes and around our procedures. And it's all about quality. So, ISO 9001 is quality assurance certification. Yep. So, it's independently audited and verified. 

Mel: And so, regarding meeting the Australian Standards for storing dangerous goods, how do we bring that into our processes every day? 

Caleb: The Australian Standards is the foundation of what we do. All our designs and our product are designed according to the Australian Standards and having all that, the process of design and engineering and manufacturing in-house gives us complete control over compliance to the standards. And so, the standards, the design criteria and requirements in the Australian Standards are really instilled into every stage of development of our products, and that is what our quality assurance processes are built on. 

How are we designing and then manufacturing according to those Australian Standards. But what we like to do and what we do well is, we go above and beyond those standards. So, we help organisations comply, but we help them also reduce their risk practically. So sometimes compliance isn't practical and sometimes compliance isn't efficient. Therefore, it's not creating sustainable solutions. 

But having in-house design and in-house innovation helps us create compliant solutions but go beyond that and create solutions that are compliant but also efficient and sustainable for companies to comply.  

Mel: That's great. And it's also about having our in-house knowledge, our consultants, they have a good in-depth understanding of the Australian Standards, how they apply that with different situations for all our clients as well. 

Caleb: Absolutely, exactly. And that's foundational. That understanding and that knowledge of the Australian Standards, but also the knowledge of Australian industry and, Australian operations and operational awareness. So having that operational background, that operational awareness and understanding helps us deliver solutions that work. The right solution. 

Pat: Okay, what do you think the future of dangerous goods management looks like for businesses in Australia and internationally, I guess?  

Caleb: It's a good question. I think the future is about being on the front foot and having more visibility, more awareness of what's happening, across facilities in relation to dangerous goods and how people are interacting with them. 

And so, what that looks like for Storemasta around our solutions is about giving safety managers as well as operational managers, the insights and visibility as to what's happening on site and the real time risk. So are our operators being exposed. How often are they being exposed to these hazardous materials? Where are they being used in the operations, what quantities there. 

And therefore, that's providing a forward view of what our risk is so that we can proactively manage risk because so often in our lives, risk is managed reactively. And so, what the future looks like for Storemasta and for Australian industry, I think is being proactive and having the insights, having visibility into damaged goods, damaged goods, storage facilities and then how they are integrated into our operations so that we can be proactive with our risk. 

Pat: Well, yeah. Thanks for joining us today, Caleb. thanks for all your insights and, telling the story of Storm Master and your own journey with the company and where if things are going, for the listeners, if you have any more questions for Caleb or anything you'd like to know, you can shoot us a message, 

shoot as an email, find us on social media and he'll be more than happy to answer those for you. 

Mel: Caleb's going to be joining us on the next episode, which is regarding lithium-ion batteries and their risks and, how to reduce those as well. So, stay tuned for that. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you next time. 

Mel: Thank you.  

Caleb: Thank you.