Get in Touch
How?
Best way is by email.
I’m not the best at answering my mobile but send a text message if you prefer.
I promise I will get back to you.
My Story
My name is Robert Askew (but everyone calls me Bob).
The picture was taken at my last year at college (1967!) along with my fellow graduates.
Born and bred in Yorkshire, I trained in Leeds to become an Environmental Health Officer and held a variety of positions including working in Leeds in the inner city slums before being promoted to a specialist Food Safety Officer position.
In this job I was tasked with inspecting all the major hotels and restaurants and cafes in the inner city plus checking imported foods at the inland port container base.
As a complete contrast I later worked for some years in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland before deciding to emigrate to New Zealand with my family in the late 1970’s.
Since 2008 I was the Senior Environmental Health Officer with Nelson City Council. This is a position with a wide range of duties but mostly involved in food safety. In 2017 I ‘retired’ from Nelson but since then have done several consultancy contracts with for independent recognised verifiers, other Councils and the Ministry for Primary Industries.
Although my background and professional qualifications have been in Environmental Health, I have held a number of other positions with Councils in the Nelson/Tasman Area including Resource Management and Senior Management Positions.
I have Statutory Qualifications to work as an Environmental Health Officer in New Zealand and also have post graduate qualifications in a variety of associated disciplines including Public Health, Air Quality and Advanced Auditing Skills.
Again looking for something that was completely different and challenging I signed up with the New Zealand Red Cross for deployment as an overseas delegate. It took several months and some intense training to finally be accepted for work with Red Cross.
So I abandoned a ‘normal’ working life during the mid-1990’s and I undertook a number of missions as a Water Sanitation Engineer for the International Federation of the Red Cross.
I also was engaged for missions with OXFAM and UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees).
Why I Get Up In The Morning
To provide you with outstanding food safety learning programmes tools and resources based on my years of experience as a Environmental Health Officer, Food Act Officer and Verifier, Food Safety Consultant and as an On-Line Food Safety training provider.
My training methods are specifically designed to make learning easy and attainable at minimal cost both in time and money and I back this all up with free resources and help.
I do NOT do any of this just to make money. It’s a passion and a joy. My reward is when I get feedback from those I have helped.
Einstein expressed it in this way: “Do not try to become a person of success but try to become a person of value.”