In my role as Admin. Manager here at Sureteam I see lots of evaluation forms.  The particular question that always elicits a strong response is not regarding the course, nor the trainer, nor the exam.  No, more often than not the question that gets a comment is ‘Please rate the venue’ and so like Goldilocks it’s never just right – it’s too hot, too cold, too large, too crowded and if there’s food on offer that’s a whole new set of responses.   We do like our creature comforts don’t we?

But I just wanted to share with you a bit of feedback about our first aid trainer.  One candidate not being satisfied with awarding ‘Excellents’ all round, also added “Penny is fab!” – can’t argue with that really, can you.

So if you’ve ever been on a First Aid course that’s left you feeling you need medical attention for boredom come and see what we offer.  CIEH Level 2 Emergency First Aid at Work courses can be held at your premises or are run in Tetbury on the last Wednesday of every month.

Have a safe day.

Eileen

Thought this was worth letting people know about hse we let our clients know and some choose to doit as it is just easier for them, but our larger clients think twice.

Be safe

Peter Hodgson

Today I saw a crocodile.

A bright, shiny, fluorescent crocodile …

… of children from the Primary School, wending its way through the streets of Tetbury.

All kitted out in their hi-visibility jackets – being seen, being safe.

Health and Safety solutions aren’t complicated, they can be as easy as ABC – ask a child next time you see one.

Have a safe day.

Eileen

If candidates contact me in the office following their exam there are only two questions they ask – ‘Have I passed?’ and ‘When will I receive my Certificate?’.  Well, good news!  Sureteam have now been invited to become a Premium Registered Centre by the CIEH (you may have noticed the new gold logo on our emails).

Not only does this strengthen our long-standing relationship with the CIEH so we can continue to deliver first class training to you – but we get your results in seven days too.  So no more worrying and waiting – work hard, pass the exam and that Certificate will be on your office wall before you know it.

Have a safe day,

Eileen

At a business meeting the other day, a few people asked the point around why use Sureteam rather than other providers out there.  Well, we could give you all the normal reasons such as good service and finding ways to develop a solution (let you do what you want to safely) but these are what we expect.  So, why Sureteam.  Why not listen to what BAE Mission have to say?  One of our major clients tells us why they stay with Sureteam.

Be Safe

Peter Hodgson

I like to be practical when I’m working with clients whether I am training them or finding solutions to everyday problems, so it was a natural progression for me to extend my own CIEH training recently to include the practical side of Manual Handling training. I now train the whole programme for the CIEH – accredited Level 2 Principles and Practice of Manual Handling, taking candidates through the theory and than putting that knowledge into practice in their workplace settings.
I teach practical skills to keep people as safe as possible – and it’s not just about keeping your back straight!

Sian MacGowan

Fellowship achieved with lots of hard but enjoyable work – finally I have been accepted as a Fellow of the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM) and also accepted onto the Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR).  So again we at Sureteam can show our professional development within the field of Health and safety. Clients can be assured that we will be able to support them with the right answers and practical solutions for the jobs that they do. Be safe.

Peter Hodgson

Well after some long hours studying many subjects around the industrial accident investigation process, I finally sat my exams in November of 2011 and have now passed the finals to achieve this certification. What does that mean for you as clients?  Well we can help you understand more the process of good accident investigations, as well as helping you move towards better programmes in behavioural safety, which is going to be paramount in keeping your people safe at work. So we are looking at how we can apply what has been learnt and assist clients more in these areas. Also whilst on the course we had our minds stretched – sounds painful but we had the opportunity to attend the Institute of Industrial  Accident Investigators fellowship lectures where talks were given on many elements of this subject and one in particular which will make all Health and Safety professionals sit up and think about causation.  Be safe.

Peter Hodgson

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working on an upgrade to our website.  We want to make it easier for people to find out about us and what we have to offer.  At the same time, we want to ensure that you can quickly find information relevant to your industry.

During April, we’ll be sharing case studies, tips and advice, details of courses and more, with a view to making it easier for you to be sure you’ve got your health and safety covered.

In the meantime, here’s our MD Peter Hodgson with some thoughts on what health and safety really means to businesses.

At last we can breathe a sigh of relief with the HSE again talking sense regards H&S, with the Royal Wedding wanting to be celebrated by many people we can see they are offering some common sense approaches as to HOW. Follow the link to these if you are running one as they make good sense and are easy to do. As I always say, do anything you like just do it safely, be safe. Peter.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/news/royal-wedding/index.htm

Last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix in Spa was one of the most entertaining races I’ve watched and it got me thinking. Formula 1 racing is one of the most dangerous sports in the world – or is it?  

May 13th is the day my Mum was born but it is also the day in 1960 when the first Formula One race took place. It was all about speed and excitement, thrills and spills. There were many accidents and little consideration for driver safety with no helmets, no medical back-up or safety measures.  

From the early 60′s when the sport became really popular, safety started to be a feature. Engine sizes were reduced, flag signals came in and drivers had to wear helmets. Since then, there has been a steady progression towards safer cars, safer tracks and safer procedures. Millions of fans worldwide remain passionate about their driver heros and constructors.  I always thought Graham Hill was very debonair! 

So F1 is still one of the most dangerous sports in the world but we rarely see deaths or life threatening injuries such as the accident in which Nikki Lauda nearly lost his life, despite seeing spectacular crashes that drivers often now walk away from. Could this be because of the implementation of the much quoted phrase, as far as is reasonably practicable, a key phrase in modern Healthy and Safety? 

Michael Schumacher tests a new helmet and the new Mercedes F1 car

The obvious risks in the sport are avoided or reduced through the use of the hierachy of control! Technological advances have increased car safety, tyre safety and personal protective equipment. Cars are set up for specific drivers. Track safety is increased with better surfaces, crash barriers, marshals, medical backup and safety cars. There are rules and regulations and safe systems of work and above all, everyone is highly trained and competent to do their jobs. Some people argue that the excitement has been taken out of the sport because of all this but for me, it is still there and the drivers get to go home! 

So this most exciting of sports hasn’t been banned because no one was willing to work out how to do it safely. It is possible to keep that sence of danger that we all enjoy watching. Ok they have a lot of money to spend on ensuring safety is paramount but they thought it was worth spending it! It would be great if more people took that approach instead of acting like the fun police! As my MD says, ‘You can do anything you like as long as you do it safely’ 

Sian MacGowan PhD, MIIRSM 

Business Development Director

If you had to choose, would you spend money on health and safety training for staff or

 hiring H&S consultants, or both?

Take poll:

http://polls.linkedin.com/p/100574/ykrwy

Well there I was sat with a friend mussing over the quality of service that we had just received from a supplier and it dawned on me that we have always felt a pride in delivering a high level of service, always tried to meet the expectations of the client (by agreeing up front where possible). My friend then said well we every man and his dog says that to clients so how you are different. Now that got me thinking, how can I differentiate as a small company and the quality standards ISO 9000:2008 seemed to be the answer, but they are not easy to achieve without systems and procedures etc. Well what we thought would be loads of work was not as we are already accredited training centre for the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) we already do most of what was required, so the journey began.
Well some eight months later we have achieved accreditation to the quality system ISO 9001:2008 and boy are we pleased. But guess what we still have to ensure that day in and day out we deliver what is required and well you guessed it we now have the process control to really manage and prove we do what we say and if we don’t we sort it.
So I said, well I could go on and maybe that is another blog but quality in a state of economic uncertainty is really important to us, we cannot afford to be cheap or lose sight of standards,
be safe and get some quality in your life, especailly when things are tight

Peter Hodgson DipSM DipEM MIIRSM AIEMA
Managing Director

www.sureteam.co.uk 

The media love to talk about compliance and red tape in relation to small businesses. While there may be some truth in it I think it means many people think health and safety is much more complex than it really is.

H&S really is about nothing more than making sure people are safe at work. It puts systems and processes around assessing and managing risk – something we do every day when we drive, cook a meal, cross the road or loads of other activities.

For example, if you run a machine shop then obviously you want to minimise risk by making sure staff are trained, the equipment is kept safe and working properly, and any injuries that do happen are dealt with and reviewed to make sure they don’t happen again. All this is the job of the H&S policy and the procedures you put in place, but unfortunately people don’t often see it like that.

The other day I was running a workshop for a client in the health sector and to be honest I think many were wondering what H&S had to do with them. As we talked about risks and the mechanics of managing them you could see lightbulbs going on – suddenly the incident and accident reports stopped being about “extra work”, and started being about how you keep a workplace safe.

The trick to getting on top of your H&S is about having sensible policies that everyone buys into. A competent advisor can do this with a minimum of fuss – and potentially save you a huge headache in the long run. We shouldn’t allow the media to colour our views – we should find out for ourselves!

Sian MacGowan

We hear  lots about how organisations need  ’policies’.  Firstly, if you have less than 5 employees, you don’t need a written health and safety policy but you still need to adhere to the basic principles stated in it – so you might as well write one!

To help people who are new to the area, this blog aims to give you  a quick overview of what one actually looks like! A  H&S policy is the document that tells the world how you’re going to manage your health and safety. It doesn’t have to be long, but it should contain the following:

• Your ‘statement of intent’ – in which you say what you’re going to do and how you are going to do it (shouldn’t really be more than one side of A4!)
• It says who is responsible for what and where the budget will come from  – every business has a budget for the important stuff and  health and safety is important - it needn’t cost an arm and a leg  but it should be sufficient for your type of business.
• It says what will happen in different scenarios – eg first aid, fire, driving, lone working, risk assessments, accident reporting and so on

That’s essentially what is in a policy but attached to the H&S policy (and made available to all staff) are the nuts and bolts of health and safety such as risk assessments – these are key documants that identify what the significant hazards are in our businesses and how we control them – such as working with computers, dealing with chemicals, lone working, working at height.

A H&S policy is a dynamic document which needs to be kept updated (at least once a year) to reflect any changes in the business and how it operates. The key to success with your policy is – KIS your health and safety policy!  – Keep it simple and  understandable – so that everyone buys in to it.

If you need any advice on writing a policy please get in touch.

Sian MacGowan