Posted on the 13th of February 2012
Everyone looked lovely in bright red, wearing hearts, one member of staff even wearing a red wig – well done Mel! Our directors, David and Bradley, wore red roses in their lapels and bought each of us a red rose – even presenting one to Sebastian and to our newest member of staff – Joel – we’re not quite sure what he made of being given a red rose on his first week here!
Nic was just like our very own Nigella – in the kitchen whipping up some delicious cakes and biscuits, of course all in the Valentine theme - red and heart-shaped. They were scrumptious. Thanks Nic!
The excitement was palpable when the raffle tickets were drawn – lots of lovely prizes, flowers, wine, chocolate with roses donated by Sandhurst Flowers.
Jackie did a brilliant job of organising the day – not only did we have a lot of fun here but the day also raises money for the Fountain Centre in the St Luke’s cancer unit at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford.
A great day and we raised £115 for the Fountain Centre.
Posted on the 31st of January 2012
iHasco are delighted to announce our 200,000th Trainee - and this is what he said...
Well put together .Easy to follow.
The Study enabled the student to follow the instructions in a step by step educational programme at his or her own pace.The course content was well laid out.Information was easily read and was visually effective.Each section was backed up by written notes that helped firm up information that had been delivered in that particular section.
January 2012 - Jim Maguire, Caerphilly County Borough Council, Gwent
Posted on the 23rd of January 2012
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 are about to change!
From 6th April 2012 (subject to Parliamentary approval) you will no longer report ‘over three day injuries’, instead you will report ‘over seven day incapacitation’ (not including the day the accident happened). You will still need to keep a record of over three day injuries, but no longer report them to RIDDOR.
New guidance explaining the changes should be available soon on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website.
Posted on the 12th of January 2012
Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron spoke out against the ‘”excessive health and safety culture that has become an albatross around the neck of British businesses” This was at his first public engagement of the year, in Maidenhead at a meeting of small business managers. He attacked the “culture of fear” that many small and medium businesses have about health and safety, partly coming from the widespread “litigious situation” which often causes them to pay for claims they know they would win, rather than pay out large sums to lawyers - the ‘no-win, no-fee’ type deals.
We live in a time where we always need to find someone to blame, someone to sue, someone to pay; hopefully part of the Prime Minister’s new plan will be to encourage employees to look to themselves to improve, to impress upon individuals the need to take responsibility for their own actions, to encourage a sensible training regime in companies, clearly showing that each person has a responsibility to their colleagues.
Training programmes from The Interactive Health and Safety Company (iHasco) are specifically aimed at employees – the training encourages individuals to take responsibility for themselves and those around them. There are obvious times and situations where an employer is at fault, where they are the only ones that can take steps to prevent accident, illness and injury; but there are also many incidents which are simply down to individuals. In the latter case what is needed is training which encourages each person to take more care, to be more proactive and be more aware of what they are doing and how their actions or omissions can impact on themselves and those around them; and that’s what iHasco training provides.
Reaction from H&S officials and managers condemning the Prime Minister’s words was swift, and on first read they do indeed sound brutal and far-reaching, but do we really believe Mr Cameron intends to compromise British health and safety?
Britain has an excellent health and safety ethos - one of the best in the world. Since the Health and Safety at Work Act was passed and came into force in 1974 there has been an 82% reduction of fatal injuries to employees; and reported non-fatal injuries to employees have fallen by 76% (statistics from the Health and Safety Executive). Since the Act came into force it has been continually developed and updated to take into account changes in technology, practices and lifestyles and remained up-to-date. Workplace accident and injury continue to drop – the statistics from the health and safety executive (HSE) show that the number of reported injuries has fallen in nine of the last ten years, with average annual falls of 3% over the decade (statistics from RIDDOR – The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences).
Mr Cameron said “You’ve got to look at the quantity of rules, and we’re cutting them back and you’ve got to look at the way they are enforced, and we’re making sure that is more reasonable”.
Most intelligent people will be in favour of a simplification of the rules and a reduction in litigious claims, as long as it doesn’t go hand-in-hand with a reduction in health and safety measures being taken and an increase in accidents and injury.
It’s important that health and safety is not considered a burden.
It’s important that the accident and injury statistics keep going down, that Mr Cameron’s plans do not reduce the importance of health and safety at work and that reducing the number of rules does not mean cutting corners in safety and training. Rules should not be cut to a point where accident and injury start to rise and workplace safety is compromised.
After all it’s in a company’s best interests to have a fit and happy staff. When workers are ill or injured at work companies incur both direct and indirect costs – replacement staff, lost production, reduced morale.
We await the full plans with interest!
Posted on the 9th of January 2012
If you’ve ever wondered who you are talking to, or who an email or letter has come from…
…now you can find out!
It’s in the About Us section of our website click on the Our Staff dropdown; or to go straight there click on see iHasco staff!
Each of us has written a little bit about what we do at work, and outside work. And some of us have even included a secret about another member of staff!
All customers are looked after by an account manager – if you don’t know who your account manager is, just call and we’ll tell you.
