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In the late 1980s, Derek Gardner took what he’d learned as Principal EHO at Leicester City Council and started ESB. His approach was refreshingly simple: shake hands on a plan, do the work and leave people better prepared than you found them. Word spread because the support was practical and the results held up under inspection.
ESB was founded by Derek Gardner and his wife Kim, after Derek's time as Principal Environmental Health Officer at Leicester City Council. They set up a consultancy that did safety the simple way: meet people where they are, shake hands on a plan, then do what you said you would do. That spirit still guides us today.
As ESB grew, its work expanded beyond food safety to support clients with health and safety, fire safety, training and incident response.
The team stayed close to the realities of each operation: giving people clear advice, practical routines and evidence they could rely on. That approach helped ESB support both independent businesses and larger groups as their requirements became more complex.
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Ben Gardner joined the family business and learned its work from the ground up, building on the practical approach established by his parents, Derek and Kim.
As ESB developed its presence beyond its Leicestershire roots, it opened a commercial office. The business combined Derek’s environmental health experience with a growing understanding of what clients needed across different sites and sectors: straightforward advice, dependable support and standards that worked in practice.
In May 2018, Ben Gardner became CEO of ESB after launching Navitas, which covers online training and Digital Food Safety. The ESB Compliance platform moved under Navitas to create the unified environment we know today.
Derek’s foundations guide the way we work, and the next generation has added digital know-how and multi-site experience. The promise hasn’t changed: practical support you can use this week, not a thick file that gathers dust.
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The changing demands of 2020 brought fresh pressure to already busy teams. ESB continued to help clients interpret requirements, put workable controls in place and keep people informed as circumstances changed.
The experience reinforced the value of practical guidance and consistent processes, while showing how important it was for organisations to have a clear view of standards across their operations.
ESB continues to build on its family foundations, bringing independent expertise, practical consultancy and digital tools together. Its focus is on helping clients see where action is needed, support their teams and maintain consistent standards as their operations evolve. The aim remains familiar: make safety easier to understand, easier to manage and more effective in everyday practice.
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