Our courses are back and available for booking. After much discussion and requests from our customers, these will be classroom based. We will be back at St Johns Innovation Centre as before.

There will be a few changes, for your safety and ours.

Please read through carefully and if you have any questions please get in touch.

• Face coverings are to be worn in the public spaces of the conference centre. If delegates opt to wear them in the classroom, we will support that.

• We will sanitise all touchpoints on our arrival.

• Hand sanitiser will be provided, please use this on arrival to the classroom.

• You will be provided with electronic versions of handouts. Individual course booklets will be provided. There will not be any shared equipment.

• Numbers will be limited to ensure that 2m can be maintained between each delegate.

• Lunch will be provided in SJIC Bistro inline with their COVID secure arrangements.

• A quick health questionnaire will be completed on the day.

Most importantly, anyone with symptoms is not to attend - that is a temperature and/or changes to their sense of smell or taste, and or a dry persistent cough.

If you need to rebook due to COVID19 please contact us asap. Bookings can be cancelled or transferred however fees may be incurred. Unfortunately, due to the size of the business this cannot be avoided but we will always endeavour to help. For further details please see our cancellation policy.

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Getting back to work and COVID-19 compliance

As the Government looks to slowly start getting us back to work - there will be (and already are) many questions on what individual companies should do.

The general guidance that has been issued is very helpful but may not cover your individual requirements and anxieties. Consider whether you need additional help to determine what is necessary for your business.

Next Steps

All companies have a duty of care to look after their employees’ health. The Health & Safety Executive and Local Authorities will be looking to undertake random inspections to ensure the Risks from COVID-19 have been assessed and are being controlled by businesses.

Before returning, ensure your assessment is complete and the new way of working has been agreed and communicated with your workforce. Nobody wants to see their business, their employees, their families or their customers impacted by this disease. Communication will be key to prevent misinformation and promote sustainable safe and efficient working.

COVID Secure

All risk assessment findings need to be communicated. Furthermore, there is a Government Certificate to sign and display to show you have sufficiently addressed the concerns that COVID-19 raises. Businesses are urged to consider sharing the findings of their assessment on their website and, where you have over 50 employees this will be expected.

Getting Help

If you require any help or guidance in these strange times, we continue to work and are available to help with COVID-19 compliance. We are currently involved with various clients in producing procedures and business specific risk assessments. With our background in laboratory containment facilities and knowledge of biological hazards this is where our heart lies.

We are not just reserved for laboratories. We have been working hard with new and old customers alike in offices, maintenance services, self-employed whom work in other people’s properties and construction businesses. If you need any assistance, please feel free to reach out on 01223 265622 or Doates@healthsafetyworks.co.uk 

Links to Guidance

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19

https://www.hse.gov.uk/news/working-safely-during-coronavirus-outbreak.htm

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In honour of World Mental Health Day we have pulled together some of our top tips for maintaining mental wellbeing in the workplace....

Our toolbox talk, our take five, the pre or post task brief (whatever you wish to call it) has been drawn up to encourage you, us and everybody to simply talk.

Set aside some time, have a brew with your team and run through it. The only way to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health conditions is to make it part of the norm. Let people see that its ok not to be ok all of the time, and that there are things that can be done to tackle those niggling feelings or thoughts. Be that through changes at work or at home.

We have aimed our Tool Box Talk at maintaining Mental Wellbeing at work and controlling Work Related Stress, but the reality is, it can be used anywhere. Mental health conditions can affect us any time and any place. Perhaps through taking 5 we'll all find a new strategy, or identify some gaps to fill, in which we can learn from or pass on to others.

Our Toolbox Talk is available for download by clicking the link. Save a copy locally and for real impact why not include details of your own management strategies, plans or support networks?

Lets all do something today, and everyday, to try and improve things.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hvy87qri5ewvhck/AAD5VC6xPqUI9uAxgiZNBOAva?dl=0

Enjoy,
The HSW Family

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We've got that October feeling. This autumn we are offering our remaining course spaces at discounted rates...

IOSH COSHH for laboratories @£300 per person.

IOSH Laboratory safety @ £700 per person.

IOSH Managing Safely @ £500 per person.

All of our open courses are held at St Johns Innovation Centre Cambridge.

All courses are kept to a maximum of 10 people so as not to water down the content or experience. We believe in quality over quantity when it comes to working withh you. And we believe it shows!

To find out more, please call us on 01223 265622 or 01502 446488

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This afternoon finds us helping a few of our customers prep their annual reports and generally discussing annual review.

As always this prompts us to look at the UK and encourage incorporating national trends and learnings into reviews and plans for the upcoming year. Whilst its always best to target your work and tailor your plan to your specific needs, its also good to learn from other industries and sectors. Looking at trends, using key information to identify any gaps or actions needed to bolster any current control measures.

The HSE have kindly, as always, released the statistics in a super easy to use summary, have a look and see whether there is anything you can learn from – it can’t hurt right? http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/overall/hssh1718.pdf

So why complete an annual Review or Report?

Learning, embracing and improving - think back to plan, do, check, act.

Businesses know their systems and their activities. They’ve done their planning, they are doing their doing and it’s all going well. It’s at this stage that it’s important to take stock and reflect - check and Act. All too often, we become so busy with the day to day running we may miss weaknesses or gaps that need addressing. As part of the annual review, reflect on your plan, your doing and then act accordingly.  Remember – even small businesses can benefit from some reflection time! It can be completely informal. Its about whatever works for you.

When reviewing think about:

Reviewing your performance

Make sure that your plan has been implemented – don’t just think documentation. Gain feedback from all different levels of the business. Who knows better than your employees, committee members or audit teams.

Think about how your projects, sale or general operations delivered for the year? Have you seen some bumps, or has it all been smooth?

 Have your audits or inspections uncovered issues or lots of best practice? Are you reaching legal compliance? think about and review how well the main risks are being controlled and if you are achieving your aims. If you feel like its failing in places, can you pin point anything - it may be hard but think about whether this is because of the system you have, behaviours or management?

Use your investigations. Hopefully you investigate the causes of significant accidents, incidents or near misses – look at what has occurred, and try to learn, are there trends? What could your business do in 2019/20 to change things.

Act

Learn from the accidents and incidents, ill-health data, errors and relevant experience of other businesses. No one is perfect, so make use of all relevant and comparable stories.

Revisit plans, policy documents and risk assessments to see if they need updating, if they don’t, then brilliant! If they do, set your company SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time) based targets.

We always find this review and level of honesty with yourselves will help you flourish. Remember that even well designed and established systems sometimes need tweaks.

And remember, it doesnt need to be long and arduous - break it down. Make it work for you. No one is expecting a small business to produce a lengthy review document, just be sure that you  have reflected, know the issues (if there are any) and what you will be doing going forward.

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