20 June 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Veolia Environmental Services has been fined £750,000 after it was found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The waste and energy management services provider was also ordered to pay £11,981 in costs after a worker was crushed to death
Plumbers and solicitors worst for online customer service Published: 27 April, 2016 Plumbers, solicitors and online marketing businesses come bottom of the list for online customer service, while hotels and B&Bs come out top, according to new research by online search platform Intently.co. The team analysed data from over 16,000
Siemens Building Technologies extends its leadership in smart buildings by acquiring Building Robotics Inc., the creator of Comfy® • Comfy is a leading digital workplace app, creating more personalized and responsive workplaces while providing analytics for efficient building operations • Sold as software-as-a-service, Comfy will extend the cloud portfolio of
The Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), an explorative preview program, has been launched by SimScale, the provider of the world’s first cloud-based engineering simulation solution. The program is a solver developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States Department of Commerce, in cooperation with VTT
Story Homes, the award-winning housebuilder, has revealed its ‘Home of the Year’, which is a house type that reflects current buying trends and insights. The chosen house type is the four-bedroom detached ‘Taunton’, which features across Story Homes’ developments in Cumbria, the North East and the North West. The reasons
A Scottish Government consultation paper on Landlord Registration has received a response from SELECT, the campaigning body for the electrotechnical trade in Scotland. The association has called for more stringent controls over the vital electrical inspection and testing performed by private landlords prior to registration. “Private landlord registration has been
20 June 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Veolia Environmental Services has been fined £750,000 after it was found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The waste and energy management services provider was also ordered to pay £11,981 in costs after a worker was crushed to death by a refuse collection vehicle. Preston Crown Court heard that, on 17 May 2014, during a refurbishment task at John Fowler and Son Limited in Chorley, an operative using the controls within the vehicle’s cab closed the tailgate on Rick Calsen, who was at the rear of the vehicle, fatally crushing him to death. Veolia, in addition to John Fowler and Son Limited, pleaded guilty. The latter was fined £65,000 and ordered to pay £12,443 in costs. The investigation from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the injury occurred due to a “poor system of work” and John Fowler and Son, which it explained “derived from a lack of a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks”. HSE also said Veolia failed in its inspection regime, which did not systematically review the functionality of a designed safety function in the vehicle. The vehicle was supplied with in-cab controls, where it ‘should not have been possible’ for the tailgate to completely close. The investigation found that the switch had become faulty. After the hearing, HSE inspector Rohan Lye said: “This tragic incident was entirely preventable. “It is important for organisations to maintain safety critical devices so they function correctly. Additionally, if a company utilises a system of work which does not rely on the effectiveness of that safety device, but then employs a contractor to work on the machine, there should be an effectively communicated handover so both are aware of any limitations and how the machine could function. “Veolia’s failure to include the functionality of a manufacturer-stated safety critical device on its RCVs (refuse collection vehicles) in its maintenance regimes resulted in an inability to relay information to any third party about its presence and condition. Therefore it exposed non-employees to unnecessary risk and ultimately contributed to this appalling loss of life. “Similarly, John Fowler and Son’s failure to implement a safe system of work for the maintenance of the RCV meant that any of its employees were exposed to the same risk. The lack of an adequate assessment of the risks of working around RCVs enabled the hazard of the non-functioning switch to materialise in the worst possible manner.” Other recent fines include British Telecom plc, which was fined £500,000 after an engineer fell seven metres from a loft in London, sustaining severe back injuries. The HSE’s investigation found that the employee was working alone and there was inadequate planning of work taking place. BT was also ordered to pay costs of £98,913.51. John Pointon and Sons Limited, a food waste disposal and recycling business, was also fined £250,000 after three employees were affected by toxic gases at an animal waste facility in Stoke-on-Trent. Source link
Plumbers and solicitors worst for online customer service Published: 27 April, 2016 Plumbers, solicitors and online marketing businesses come bottom of the list for online customer service, while hotels and B&Bs come out top, according to new research by online search platform Intently.co. The team analysed data from over 16,000 service providers covering 160 business sectors to find out which professions offer the best online consumer experience. The average response rate for plumbers was just 11% – this means that a customer would need to contact around 10 plumbers in order to get a single response. In contrast, the top performers were hotels and accommodation services with 33%, and cosmetic surgery companies coming in with 32%. All the emails sent to these businesses were requests for work to be undertaken, so service providers should have been motivated to respond quickly. “These results are very revealing and show us the business sectors that really need to up their game into today’s online marketplace,” said Intently’s chief executive officer, Neil Harris. “Home Services includes builders, plumbers and electricians and, just as is the case in the offline world, trying to contact these providers online can be frustrating.” Worst five industries for customer service: 1. Technology Services e.g. web design and development, SEO services, online marketing and social media (5%) 2. Delivery Services e.g. couriers, flower delivery (11%) 3. Home Services e.g. plumbers, builders and electricians (15%) 4. Vehicle Maintenance e.g. car servicing and tyre replacement (15%) 5. Legal Services e.g. solicitors and lawyers (16%) Best five industries for customer service: 1. Holiday accommodation and services e.g. hotels, B&Bs and self catering cottages (33%)? 2. Cosmetic Surgery (32%) 3. Pet Services e.g. dog grooming, dog walking, kennels and catteries (28%) 4. Beauty Services e.g. beauticians, hair and make up artists (26%) 5. Venue Services (25%) Intently http://intently.co is an online consumer services marketplace. Source link
Siemens Building Technologies extends its leadership in smart buildings by acquiring Building Robotics Inc., the creator of Comfy® • Comfy is a leading digital workplace app, creating more personalized and responsive workplaces while providing analytics for efficient building operations • Sold as software-as-a-service, Comfy will extend the cloud portfolio of Siemens Building Technologies • Transaction expected to close in the third quarter of 2018 Siemens Building Technologies Division is setting a further milestone in smart building solutions by acquiring Building Robotics Inc., a market leader in the fast growing digital workplace experience app domain. Headquartered in Oakland, California, the start-up achieved its leadership position by developing a simple-to-use app that enables people to take control of their environment. Building Robotics, Inc. is best known by the name of its core product, Comfy. Building Robotics Inc. will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Siemens Industry Inc. and continue to operate as a vendor-agnostic platform provider. The two co-founders CEO Andrew Krioukov and CTO Stephen Dawson-Haggerty will remain in their current position in the management team of Building Robotics Inc. Both parties have agreed not to disclose any figures. Closing is expected in the third quarter of 2018. “This move further strengthens our leadership position in smart buildings,” said Matthias Rebellius, CEO of Siemens Building Technologies. “With the Comfy app we will bring a consumer-like experience to commercial buildings that simplifies the interaction with buildings to increase employee productivity and engagement.” Through the Comfy app, Siemens Building Technologies will connect people, places and systems to create amazing workplace experiences – putting people in the center of a building. Comfy directly integrates with existing building automation, IT networks and IoT systems to provide on-demand control and smart automation, all within a single intuitive app. At a time when smart technology is becoming a must-have in the office, employees can use the app to make immediate changes in temperature and lighting, book rooms and desks, and provide feedback on their space. “Comfy has successfully redefined the way people interact with their workplaces,” said Andrew Krioukov, CEO and co-founder of Building Robotics Inc. “By joining Siemens, the global leader in total building solutions, we open up greater opportunities to accelerate the development of new functionalities, grow the open protocol ecosystem, and reach more people around the world.” Founded in 2012, the Comfy team leverages expertise in machine learning, UX design and enterprise service to develop software solutions for building operators and occupants. The start-up has leading enterprise customers in major markets such as the US, Australia, Singapore and India. This press release and further material is available at www.siemens.com/press/building-robotics For further information on the Building Technologies Division, please see www.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies For information on #CreatingPerfectPlaces, please see Landing Page: www.siemens.com/perfect-places and Twitter: www.twitter.com/SiemensBT. For further information on Building Robotics, please see www.comfyapp.com
The Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), an explorative preview program, has been launched by SimScale, the provider of the world’s first cloud-based engineering simulation solution. The program is a solver developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States Department of Commerce, in cooperation with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The aim of FDS is to solve practical fire problems in fire protection engineering, while at the same time providing a tool to study fundamental fire dynamics and combustion. FDS has been created as a response to many customers requesting a program that combines the maturity and reliability of FDS for modelling fire and smoke with the convenience and scalability of SimScale’s cloud-based simulation infrastructure. Most of these customers include AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) companies that work on projects that require performance-based design, fire reconstruction, test planning, compliance with fire-related codes and standards, dispersion, calculation of smoke venting systems or indoor air quality. “SimScale’s CFD capabilities that are in production today, along with its seamless deployment, collaboration functionality, and scalability, have made it the tool of choice for many AEC companies. SimScale already helps these companies—including ARUP, WSP, Aqseptence Group among others—tackle engineering projects in the space of thermal comfort, industrial ventilation, building wind loads and pedestrian comfort. The request from these customers to extend SimScale’s feature set to also cover fire and smoke scenarios seems like a natural next step for our development,” said David Heiny, CEO and co-founder of SimScale. The FDS preview program will explore and validate an offering of a simple workflow-driven interface for quick and robust modeling and visualization of complex fire scenarios in buildings, particularly parking garages and tunnels. Interested engineers and companies can apply for the program giving them a chance to shape the future workflow and user interface of the FDS integration, while in the meantime having their fire management-related simulation projects solved by SimScale’s engineers.
Story Homes, the award-winning housebuilder, has revealed its ‘Home of the Year’, which is a house type that reflects current buying trends and insights. The chosen house type is the four-bedroom detached ‘Taunton’, which features across Story Homes’ developments in Cumbria, the North East and the North West. The reasons behind the property’s popularity with buyers include its external appearance and open, spacious layout. The ‘Taunton’ features four bedrooms, lounge with bay window, hallway with skylight, and open plan kitchen/dining area spanning the width of the house. Bi-fold doors lead to a paved patio and fully turfed rear garden. “All of the homes we design and build are carefully thought out and regularly reviewed to ensure that they are fit for purpose and meet the needs of today’s buyers, yet are still attractive and stylish in their look and feel,” said Andrew Hewson, Head of Group Design at Story Homes. The ‘Taunton’ measures nearly 1,600 sq ft, providing spacious accommodation that has been designed to offer flexibility for all families. By designing a property with four bedrooms, open plan kitchen/dining area rather than a formal dining room, and a traditional exterior appearance combined with contemporary interiors, Story Homes’ team of designers have ensured that this house type meets the requirements of a wide variety of buyers. Recent research from ZPG has shown that ease of maintenance is a key consideration among time-poor buyers, who cited this as the top advantage of new homes, while choosing your own colours and finishes was voted as the third main advantage. Aspects such as the turfed gardens and integrated kitchens in the ‘Taunton’ allow residents to move in without having to carry out any work, and options such as choosing the colour and finish of kitchen cupboards and worktops mean that the interior can be personalised upfront. “The ‘Taunton’ is a great example of how our experts have worked together to create a home that ticks all the boxes. It is consistently a best-seller across our developments and we have a number of ‘Taunton’ show homes, as we know that it is a house type that many people want to look around,” said Andrew. “We are delighted to announce our Home of the Year 2018 and we look forward to sharing ideas and images to show how the space can be used, interior inspiration and real examples of how our customers have made their ‘Taunton’ their own,” he concluded.
A Scottish Government consultation paper on Landlord Registration has received a response from SELECT, the campaigning body for the electrotechnical trade in Scotland. The association has called for more stringent controls over the vital electrical inspection and testing performed by private landlords prior to registration. “Private landlord registration has been mandatory since 2004 and a robust application process is critical to keep the people of Scotland safe in privately rented accommodation,” said Darrell Matthews, Managing Director of SELECT. “Our members operate to the highest standards of electrical installation and testing and firmly believe that the government should hold private landlords to the same exacting standards.” The consultation proposes to expand the “prescribed information” that landlords have to provide when letting a property. The proposal, as worded in the consultation, is that landlords provide information that “a property meets the specific requirements relating to gas, electrical, and carbon monoxide safety.” SELECT’s response is that landlords should be required to submit written evidence that they have has electrical inspection and testing undertaken and that fire, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are fitted and operational. “The current Prescribed Information makes no requirement on the landlord to declare the safety of the property being rented, so any change to this is a welcome improvement,” said Darrell Matthews. “We believe that this is an excellent opportunity for the Scottish Government to put the safety of renters foremost, and ensure that properties being rented by private landlords have electrical installations of the highest standard.” SELECT, Scotland’s largest trade association, has over 1250 member companies who collective turnover is around £1 billion and provide employment for 15,000 people. Its member companies also account for over 90% of all electrical installation work carried out in Scotland.
