Welcome to the July issue of the AGS Magazine.

In this edition, we are really pleased to announce that our Early Careers Video: Discovering a Rewarding Career in the Geo-Industry is now finished. Industry representatives are welcome to use this video to promote the industry within schools and universities. There is a link to the video in the magazine.

Also in this edition we present the Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Industry accident statitics for 2023. This is the second year the AGS have gathered data and we are pleased that we saw a 127% increase in organisations providing data to us. I reiterate the message in the article, that we all need to review our current practices and challenge unsafe conditions, planning and behaviours. It’s also important that our early careers practitioners are empowered to do the same. We want our members to stay safe and return home at the end of the day.

I hope you find the article ‘thoughts from the regulatory front line’, useful. This article is the first part of a two-part series developed by the SiLC Professional &Technical Panel (PTP) regarding the standard of land contamination reports submitted through the planning system. Many of the observations are consistent with my own experience as a regulator.

Also in this edition, we explore the term ‘geoengineering’ and a summary of the GBA conference is provided.

Finally, I hope some of you will be able to join us for some of our events. Looking ahead, we are holding an EDI themed webinar on 25^th September discussing various initiatives and campaigns which have made a lasting impact for our workforce and consider what the next steps may look like for our industry. In November we have an in-person event in Manchester exploring a range of topics considering the impact and effect of groundwater during all stages of the design and construction process.