OUR BLOG 

 
Below are a number of posts containing useful tips and insights from the Directors of Auxil Limited, acknowledged industry experts and trusted advisors in the fields of Health & Safety and Human Resources, which will hopefully trigger some thoughts or ideas. 
 
Why not join the conversation? We would love to hear your views… 

Posts tagged “Auxil”

As the UK narrowly avoids a recession, many employers are still recruiting, with many having hard-to-fill vacancies, 2 in 5 employers (42%) report having problems filling vacancies, particularly within education and healthcare. 
This situation is expected to continue for the next 6 months. With the Office for National Statistics reporting 1.1 million vacancies in December 2022 to February 2023. 
 
To combat these recruitment problems employers have responded by upskilling more existing staff and raising wages. Average pay growth for the private sector is reported as being 6.9% (ONS). In the future, employers are also looking to improve job quality, this may include offering better contracts, for example, guaranteed hours, improving work-life balance through offering flexibility, improving relationships at work, introducing wellbeing programmes, improving benefits offered 
As the construction industry starts to become somewhat normal again across the UK, Building will resume, however a lot more building’s will be gracing the sky rather than stretching across the way. 
According to a report by New London Architecture, there are 525 new planned high-rise buildings with 20+ floors, for London alone. 
This will increase the problem Health and Safety professionals face and how to consistently operate safe workings at height. 
 
So, what is working at height? 
According to the HSE, working at height is defined as; work in any place where, if precautions were not taken, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury. 
You are working at height if you: 
• work above ground/floor level 
• could fall from an edge, through an opening or fragile surface or 
• could fall from ground level into an opening in a floor or a hole in the ground 
According to the HSE (in their Asbestos Related Diseases Statistics published in November 2020) over 5,000 deaths per year are being caused by Asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. 
What is Asbestos? 
Asbestos is a mineral that was mined for and used heavily in the construction/manufacturing industry following World War II, largely used in insulation, and building materials. This was due to its properties such as being a good thermal insulator, a good electrical insulator, minimal chemical reactions as well as being relatively fireproof. All these attributed made asbestos one of the best building materials. The only downside to Asbestos which was not widely known at the time was that once these Asbestos containing material are broken, the fibres they release are deadly once breathed in. 
What makes Asbestos so dangerous? 
When Asbestos containing materials or ACMs are broken or start to break-down they release exceedingly small fibres into the air, some looks like string others look like needles. 
Many businesses are changing their focus, expanding or contracting their activities and rethinking their products and services and how they deliver them. This is particularly so during times of significant uncertainty, for example following the Covid 19 pandemic and the vote by the UK to leave the EU. In this context, businesses need to introduce and manage change to achieve objectives, whilst maintaining the commitment of their people, as well as ensuring that business continues as usual. 
Yet research shows that most change initiatives fail to get their intended outcomes and may even limit business potential. The effects of not managing change effectively can be devastating, so it’s important that business owners understand the issues and techniques to support effective change. So, with this in mind we have put together a number of points to help with implementing business change during challenging time. 
 
Fire accidents are one of the most common accidents that can happen around you. In fact, it causes more deaths than other types of accidents, and a lot of it is due to lack of preparedness. 
Fires do not have to be deadly, if you know the early signs of a possible accidents and the associated fire safety measures you must take to protect yourself and more importantly everyone else on the premise. 
Below are some things that will prepare you for a fire accident in your premises, so loss of lives and property is minimal; 
Install smoke detectors outside every sleeping area and on every additional level of your premises. These can be linked or non-linked detectors, this should be stated in your fire risk assessment, 
Keep a log of all smoke detectors, their date of purchase, last service date, monthly test date and its results, and other pertinent information because in most cases, smoke detectors give you the first sign of a fire accident. Keep all smoke detector tests and service dates in your fire logbook, 
CDM stands for Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015 and not Cadbury’s Dairy Milk! 
CDM 2015 applies to all construction work which means the carrying out of any building, civil engineering or engineering construction work. 
Who are the duty Holders under the CDM 2015 regulations? 
1. Clients are organisations or individuals for whom a commercial construction project is carried out and have control of the decisions relating to the build. They must; 
a. Appoint a Principal Designer and Principal Contractor in writing or accept their duties themselves and assess their competence; 
b. ensure an F10 notification is submitted to the HSE, if the project is over 500 person days or over 30 days with more than 20 persons on site at any one time; 
c. Ensure suitable welfare facilities are in place from day 1 of construction 
d. provide Pre-Construction Information (PCI) to every designer and contractor appointed 
e. before the construction phase begins, a Construction Phase Plan (CPP) is in place 
f. a Health and Safety File for the project is prepared when construction is complete 
Milestones are great, especially for businesses. It means you’ve achieved a goal and something’s going right. 
This month we are celebrating a very special milestone as we are turning 5 years old, and we wanted to mark this occasion with a blogpost dedicated to how we have grown from a small idea to the thriving local business we are today. 
 
The thing with starting your own business is that you literally don’t know what you don’t know. It’s easy to head off, all gung-ho, into the entrepreneurial world but sticking at it through good times and the tough times takes strength and determination about your business’s potential success. Its hours of hard work! 
From a one-man band to a team of dedicated consultants, Auxil Ltd has come leaps and bounds from where we began. But we couldn’t have got to where we are today without you, our customers. 

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