Arcadis’ international transfer program celebrates 500th Quest

26 september 2015

500th Quest - Arcadis - Lovinkaan 500th Quest 281

September marked an impressive milestone for Arcadis’ international transfer program, Quest. David Trudel, Project Leader at the Swiss environmental services company BMG Engineering AG (acquired by Arcadis in 2012), was the 500th Quest participant. He was also the first from Switzerland to apply for the program.

Quest is an international transfer program that offers Arcadians the opportunity to exchange their knowledge and expertise with fellow colleagues for the duration of one week. The program was launched in 2008 and developed by Lovinklaan Foundation as a way to connect Arcadians across the globe, and to facilitate teamwork, networking, career development and globalisation.

From September 20 to 26, David worked from the Chelmsford (USA) Arcadis office, deepening his knowledge and expertise in the field of human risk assessment. Brian Magee, National Expert at the Chelmsford office: “During his Quest, David learned how human health and ecological risk assessment is performed in the U.S. Throughout Europe, quantitative risk assessment in the manner we perform it in the U.S. is not typically performed for contaminated sites. However, Swiss laws and regulations call for quantitative risk assessment, similar to the U.S. laws and regulations.”

David’s goal was to take back his learnings and insights to Zurich in order to build and grow the business in this specific area. What did David bring to the Chelmsford office? “Swiss chocolate!”, David jokingly says, and then adds: “I briefed the local staff on the role of risk assessment in contaminated site investigations and clean-ups in Switzerland and shared the methods and procedures that are used here. I also informed the team about the services provided by our in-house aquatic toxicology laboratory.”

How does Sheri Shoemaker, Quest Project Manager, look back on 500 Quests? “Proudly! This program is totally employee driven. Having reached the 500 Quest mark tells me we are reaching the staff and facilitating connections. This is exactly why the program was developed. Not many companies allow employees to travel to another country to facilitate making the connection. We are very fortunate to have Lovinklaan as an Arcadis partner, to help us achieve our goals across the globe.”

Quest is a unique opportunity that allows Arcadians to create and foster their own internal career development, partnering, knowledge sharing, and teamwork. Lovinklaan Foundation pays for the travel and accommodation costs and compensates expenses for the host company.

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