The Workplace Health Expert Committee (WHEC) is an HSE independent expert scientific committee providing advice to HSE about the scientific and medical evidence on workplace health issues. Source link
PwC in court over Colonial Bank audit; BHP, Lenovo, Cisco and Santander UK also in the news A round up of some of the week’s most significant corporate events and news stories. US court told PwC cut corners in Colonial audit Control+C, Control+V. The keyboard shortcuts came into focus in
30,084 new apprenticeships have been pledged by employers as part of National Apprenticeship Week 2016 (14 – 18 March). From Greene King committing to hiring 10,000 apprentices (up from 2,000 in 2015), Microsoft and partners announcing plans to recruit 4,500, BT pledging 1,000, Deloitte 200 and Kwik Fit 150,
According to a survey carried out by the Considerate Constructors Scheme, 35 per cent of the 1,300 construction workers surveyed had worked alongside people under the influence. It found that 65 per cent of workers had never been tested for drugs and alcohol, with 59 per cent raising concerns about
OFTEC welcomes fall in heating oil theft Published: 01 September, 2016 OFTEC has welcomed research which reveals that heating oil is no longer one of the top five most commonly stolen items in rural areas of the UK. The NFU Mutual Rural Crime Report 2016 shows that the overall cost
Professor Murray Fraser of The Bartlett School of Architecture has been appointed as General Editor of the 21st edition of Sir Banister Fletcher’s A History of Architecture. The ‘all new’ edition of this classic work takes on a revised title – Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture – and
The Workplace Health Expert Committee (WHEC) is an HSE independent expert scientific committee providing advice to HSE about the scientific and medical evidence on workplace health issues. Source link
PwC in court over Colonial Bank audit; BHP, Lenovo, Cisco and Santander UK also in the news A round up of some of the week’s most significant corporate events and news stories. US court told PwC cut corners in Colonial audit Control+C, Control+V. The keyboard shortcuts came into focus in a Miami court this week, as PwC stood accused of cutting corners in its audit of Colonial Bank, once the seventh largest in the US. There were billions of dollars of losses for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation when Colonial went bust in 2009. PwC had signed off on six years of financial statements from Alabama-based Colonial, which was brought down by its close relationship with Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, a defunct mortgage underwriter. TBW left big holes in Colonial’s accounts by running up huge loans secured against assets that did not exist. The plaintiffs, acting on behalf of TBW’s bankruptcy trustee, are seeking $5.5bn plus punitive damages, in the biggest ever trial of an audit firm. They claim that PwC was in a position to catch and stop the fraud but missed multiple red flags; PwC has countered that no auditor can reasonably be expected to catch a well-organised and determined fraud. In court this week a jury was shown a 2006 document in which a PwC representative — an intern — assigned to identify assets pledged as collateral reported back that she “felt” the collateral was “adequate.” The same report the following year, signed off by more senior staff, contained the same paragraph. “It’s crazy,” said Steven Thomas, lead trial lawyer. “Saying they “feel” the collateral was adequate really meant they had a belief that was true. But they just copied and pasted what an intern wrote from the prior year.” The trial is expected to run for another three or four weeks. But even if the case gets bogged down in years of appeal and settlement talks, it could have big implications for the way audit firms carry out their assignments. Mr Thomas noted that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the watchdog for the industry in the US, is keeping a close eye on the outcome. “If we can keep pushing the issue, we think it’ll make a difference in the US and elsewhere,” he said. Cisco problems run deep as it seeks to change direction The problems are not always in the numbers. Cisco might have beaten earnings expectations and met analysts’ estimates on revenue in the fourth quarter when it reported on Wednesday — but it was clear from its earnings call that the network equipment maker is living in troubled times, writes Hannah Kuchler in San Francisco. ©Reuters The Silicon Valley company is experiencing a structural shift to “software-defined networking” that has allowed more competitors into its market and pushed it to seek profits in new areas, from cyber security to data analytics. To do this, it announced plans to cut 5,500 jobs, a full 7 per cent of its global workforce, from its slower growing business and to plough the savings into new investments and acquisitions. Cisco has also warned of a “challenging macro environment”, with some customers delaying major purchases. Chuck Robbins, Cisco chief executive, said the EU referendum had “real impact” in the UK and he called for clarity on how the Brexit process would actually work. Finally, Cisco has to be wary about the leak from Shadow Brokers, a hacker group that claims to have obtained internal tools used by the US National Security Agency, one of which was a flaw in a Cisco product deployed in companies worldwide. After the Edward Snowden leaks in 2013, then Cisco chief executive John Chambers came out fighting, asking President Barack Obama to stop the NSA from hacking into his equipment. So far, after this leak, Cisco has fixed the flaw but not yet made a stand. Worst year for BHP Billiton after Samarco dam collapse BHP Billiton reported its worst ever annual loss after a year of financial turmoil and a mine accident in Brazil that killed 19 people, writes Pilita Clark in London. The Anglo Australian group recorded a net loss of $6.4bn after more than $7bn of impairment charges, some related to the November dam collapse at Samarco, an iron ore miner BHP owns jointly with Brazil’s Vale. ©AFP A Brazilian dam burst and a slide in commodity prices have led to an 81% year on year contraction in BHP Billiton’s profit Andrew Mackenzie, chief executive of the world’s most valuable mining company, acknowledged that he and the group were still coming to terms with the accident, which had led to “huge suffering”. The company also recorded $4.9bn of writedowns, after tax, on its US shale investments, part of an oil business it started developing before crude prices began to plummet in 2014. The company, like other miners, was broadly hit by sliding commodity prices, especially in the last months of 2015. It said it would pay a final dividend of 14 cents per share, making an annual dividend of 30 cents, down 75 per cent compared with the previous year. Average prices for its output during the year fell between 17 per cent for coal and 43 per cent for oil, compared with the previous 12 months. Mr Mackenzie said he expected commodity prices to remain “low and volatile” in the short and medium term but they were no longer in “free fall”. He suggested BHP could generate more cash this year after productivity gains and cost cuts. The underlying performance was “strong and getting stronger”, he said. ● Related Lombard note: BHP’s mini-Macondo disaster Lenovo hopes smartphone push will offset PC decline A decade after Lenovo bought IBM’s personal computer business, propelling itself to the top ranks of the global PC industry, it is hoping to do the same in the smartphone sector, writes Tom Mitchell in Beijing. ©Getty It is a critical transition for the Chinese group, as PC sales stagnate and consumers turn to
30,084 new apprenticeships have been pledged by employers as part of National Apprenticeship Week 2016 (14 – 18 March). From Greene King committing to hiring 10,000 apprentices (up from 2,000 in 2015), Microsoft and partners announcing plans to recruit 4,500, BT pledging 1,000, Deloitte 200 and Kwik Fit 150, pledges have been made by hundreds of businesses around the country. Other companies that have pledged new apprenticeships include BMW, Virgin Media and British Airways. Traineeships, which give young people the work preparation training, English, maths and work experience needed to get an apprenticeship or other job, also got a boost during the week with employers large and small, including Halfords Ltd and Chelmsford JCP pledging 1,770 traineeship positions. Skills minister, Nick Boles, said: “This week I’ve travelled the country meeting apprentices doing the most incredible jobs, from cooking mussels at Rick Stein’s restaurant to fixing helicopters for the Royal Navy. “Apprenticeships offer working people the jobs and training they need to build a great career. An apprenticeship really can take you anywhere. “Employers have pledged more than 30,000 new apprenticeships this week. That means over 30,000 more life changing opportunities for working people.” Now in its ninth year, National Apprenticeship Week is designed to celebrate apprenticeships and the positive impact they have on individuals, businesses and the wider economy. The overarching theme for 2016 was to show how individuals and businesses can achieve their ambitions of ‘rising to the top’ through apprenticeships. Source link
According to a survey carried out by the Considerate Constructors Scheme, 35 per cent of the 1,300 construction workers surveyed had worked alongside people under the influence. It found that 65 per cent of workers had never been tested for drugs and alcohol, with 59 per cent raising concerns about the impact of drugs and alcohol on the industry. A quarter said drugs and alcohol had led to increased tiredness at work, while 19 per cent said it had affected their productiveness. The Considerate Constructors Scheme has now called on the industry to take action on the issue and has launched a new initiative called Spotlight On to tackle the problem. Survey breakdown 65 per cent have never been tested for drugs and alcohol 39 per cent admitted the issue of drugs or alcohol could be better tackled in their workplace 35 per cent have noticed their colleagues under the influence of drugs and alcohol 25 per cent agreed drugs or alcohol affected them at work through tiredness 23 per cent agreed it affected them through decreased attention during work 19 per cent agreed the affects made them less productive at work Contractors including Bowmer & Kirkland, Interserve and Sisk currently run schemes that carry out random testing and give talks on the effects of drugs, but Considerate Contractors chief executive Edward Hardy said more can be done. “Maintaining a safe working environment is of the utmost importance for any employer; this not only applies to the workforce, but also the surrounding public and anybody else who may be affected,” he said. “It is clear action must be taken across the industry to ensure workforce safety, health and wellbeing on sites and in companies throughout the UK.” Source link
OFTEC welcomes fall in heating oil theft Published: 01 September, 2016 OFTEC has welcomed research which reveals that heating oil is no longer one of the top five most commonly stolen items in rural areas of the UK. The NFU Mutual Rural Crime Report 2016 shows that the overall cost of thefts from rural homes decreased to £6.2m in 2015, down from £7.1m the previous year, and whilst heating oil and diesel were the third most frequently targeted items in 2014, fuel does not feature in the 2015 top five. Paul Rose, OFTEC chief executive, said: “It’s encouraging to see that heating oil is no longer a key target for criminals in rural areas. This trend has quite likely been influenced by the sustained fall in heating oil prices we have seen over recent times, meaning oil is not the expensive commodity it once was. “The report findings also suggest that homeowners may have become wise to the threat posed by thieves and adopted the simple security measures that make heating oil a less attractive target. These include locks, screening, security lighting and fuel level alarms.” Despite small increases in cost since the beginning of the year, heating oil remains around 50% cheaper than when prices peaked in Spring 2013. Latest figures from the Sutherland Tables show oil is still by far the cheapest of all major home heating fuels. It is currently 31% cheaper to heat an average three-bedroom home in Great Britain with an oil condensing boiler than with mains gas, the second cheapest option; 52% less expensive than with an LPG condensing boiler and 56% cheaper than electric storage heaters. Source link
Professor Murray Fraser of The Bartlett School of Architecture has been appointed as General Editor of the 21st edition of Sir Banister Fletcher’s A History of Architecture. The ‘all new’ edition of this classic work takes on a revised title – Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture – and will be published in print and online formats by Bloomsbury Publishing in late 2017. Reflecting the significant shifts in perspective since its first publication, the change of title heralds a truly globalised approach to architectural history, and marks this distinguished book’s 120th anniversary. ‘No one before has tried to write such an extensive history of architecture using expert contributors from all around the world’, notes Professor Fraser. ‘We are delighted to be setting a new benchmark in this regard’. Bloomsbury Publishing, the University of London and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) have taken this opportunity to completely re-think, re-write and re-structure this new edition to make it the world’s foremost resource on architectural history, one that excites existing and new readers, and makes ancient Mesopotamian or Romanesque architecture as fascinating to them as that of Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry or Norman Foster. The project’s aim is to make Banister Fletcher the internationally recognised brand name for innovative architectural history, thereby helping to expand knowledge about architecture. The volume will be close to a million words in length and will feature contributions from over 100 distinguished scholars worldwide. When published, it will comprise the finest and most extensive history of architecture in the English language, or indeed in any language. Murray Fraser is an architect and architectural historian/theorist who is Professor of Architecture and Global Culture within the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, UK, widely regarded as one of the world’s best architectural schools. ENDS Notes to editors: About the Bartlett School of Architecture The Bartlett School of Architecture is part of The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment. It was established in 1841 and is UCL’s world-leading centre for education and research in architecture. It has been voted the best school of architecture in the UK for twelve years in a row by the Architect’s Journal. This year has seen the School take the top spot in the Guardian League tables and the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment has been ranked second in the world in the international QS rankings. Located in the heart of London, the School is at the forefront of international research and teaching, encompassing interdisciplinary collaboration and methodologies. www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture @BartlettArchUCL Murray Fraser biography Murray Fraser is Professor of Architecture and Global Culture at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, as well as Vice-Dean of Research for The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment. He has published extensively on design, architectural history and theory, urbanism, post-colonialism and cultural studies. His book, Architecture and the ‘Special Relationship’ (Routledge, 2007) won the 2008 RIBA President’s Award for Outstanding University-Located Research and the 2008 Bruno Zevi Prize from the International Committee of Architectural Critics. Edited books include Architecture and Globalisation in the Persian Gulf Region and Design Research in Architecture (both Ashgate, 2013). Previously he co-created the online Archigram Archival Project, shortlisted for the 2010 RIBA President’s Research Awards, and chaired the RIBA’s Research and Innovation Group. He is Editor-in-Chief of the ARENA Journal of Architectural Research (AJAR) and now General Editor of the new 21st edition of Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture (Bloomsbury, forthcoming). About the University of London The University of London is a federal University and is one of the oldest, largest and most diverse universities in the UK. Established by Royal Charter in 1836, the University is recognised globally as a world leader in Higher Education. It consists of 17 self-governing Colleges of outstanding reputation – including UCL, of which The Bartlett School of Architecture is part – together with a number of prestigious central academic bodies and activities. Learn more about the University of London at www.london.ac.uk About RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) champions better buildings, communities and the environment through architecture and our members. The RIBA has one of the world’s finest architecture collections, including the world’s largest collection of drawings by Andrea Palladio, works by Inigo Jones, Christopher Wren, Pugin and others, a collection of printed books dating back to 1478 and the largest holding of architectural photographs in the world. www.architecture.com @RIBA About Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury’s academic division publishes over 1,100 titles a year, with a strong presence in the Visual Arts and Humanities & Social Sciences. With the acquisition of Fairchild Books and AVA Publishing, Bloomsbury now offers a range of titles within architecture and landscape architecture for students, early career professionals, practising architects and designers. We will also be launching a major digital product, the Bloomsbury Architecture Library, in 2017. Bloomsbury is dedicated to publishing the very best writing in the fields of architecture, urbanism, interior design and landscape. www.bloomsbury.com/architecture @BloomsburyAcad Posted on Monday 12th October 2015 Source link
