How are lemons, lemonade and business continuity planning connected? Our System and Process Director, Stuart Upton shares his views. “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”, it’s a proverbial phrase to encourage us to think positively in the face of adversity. In other words, if something negative happens (the lemons representing sourness or something difficult) and you do something about … Read More
Can you record a disciplinary hearing?
To ensure that you have a verbatim record of a disciplinary hearing you could record the meeting on an electronic device instead of taking handwritten notes. But, beware you can’t automatically record a disciplinary (or any other) hearing on an electronic device. You must seek the employees express and prior consent to the recording before the meeting begins. If they … Read More
Managing World Cup fever
Between the 14 June and 15 July 2018, some of your staff will be gripped by World Cup fever. What problems could this create and how can you manage them effectively? The match fixtures are on various days between 14 June and the 15 July 2018. This time round the World Cup could cause several problems for employers as many … Read More
Employee called a “whinger” wins £26,000
The Department for Working Pensions (DWP) has been ordered to pay a disabled employee £26,000. What did bosses at the DWP do which enabled this employee to claim a sizable amount of compensation? In April 2018, there were several interesting media reports about Barrie Caulcutt’s (C) success at a tribunal. C, who is employed by the DWP as a Jobcentre … Read More
Presenteeism and Leavism – more jargon or a serious concern for wellbeing at work?
Presenteeism is a term used to describe the phenomenon of people coming into work when they are unwell. While leaveism refers to people using allocated time off e.g. annual leave to work, or working outside contracted hours. The levels of presenteeism and leaveism were looked at in a recent survey by the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development). The … Read More
How to obtain quality fire safety products and services
If you were responsible for fire safety for your organisation and you needed some advice perhaps to carry out a fire risk assessment or to obtain the right fire safety equipment for your premises, where would you go? There is a large volume of information available on the internet, most of it is reliable and accurate, but how can you … Read More
Mobile cranes and the new road-worthiness rules
Following changes to EU directives new rules came into force on 20th May 2018 which remove or modify previous exemptions from the requirement for annual roadworthiness tests for several categories of vehicle including specialised heavy vehicles, such as cranes, based on a HGV chassis. The Construction Plant Association (CPA) have now published a technical information note explaining the new requirements … Read More
Extra flexibility for landlords’ gas safety checks
Gas safety regulations place duties on landlords to ensure gas appliances, fittings and flues provided for tenants’ use are safe. Part of this includes making sure that an annual safety check is carried out on each gas appliance or flue and that tenants are issued with a copy of the latest safety check record. Originally the regulations required landlords to … Read More
Same licence, bigger van
The UK Government has made various commitments to reducing pollution and the emissions of greenhouse gasses. Part of this commitment includes encouraging the use of low emission vehicles. One issue that has been identified as potentially discouraging the take up of such vehicle is the additional weight of the powertrains of alternatively fuelled vehicles and the consequent effect this has … Read More
PIB Risk Management releases an introductory film
PIB Group recently launched PIB Risk Management, a new venture which merged two of its existing businesses, Sigerson Associates and Ford Risk Management. Following the launch of the new venture, the PIB Risk Management team have produced a short film to provide a detailed overview of the business along with a chance to meet some of the team.