The educational partner of Health & Safety North 2016, The British Safety Council, has prepared a comprehensive seminar programme for the Health & Safety North 2016 event on October 12 – 13 2016, in Bolton. The event will return to Bolton Arena and this year will include two interactive workshops which will give participants ‘hands on involvement’ in the sessions. Health and Safety North 2016 is a two day event centred on an exhibition that includes a free to attend seminar programme curated by the British Safety Council. It is a chance for leading trade bodies, distributors, manufacturers, training providers and consultants in the health and safety sector to showcase their services and expertise. The British Safety Council’s seminar programme will provide a platform for local business managers and owners in the North West to hear from and engage with leading experts in health and safety and network with a series of business managers and practitioners. The highlight of this year’s programme will be two interactive workshops that will give the delegates experience of managing a stressful situation in ‘real-life’ scenarios where positive health and safety behaviour is required. On October 12, Shaun Curry and Harry Gallagher, from training providers Macnaughton Mcgregor, will host a scenario based session during which participants will be told of a serious incident which has taken place and presented with an ‘active’ scenario that they can take part in. The audience will then be given the chance to question both individuals, influence their behaviour and ultimately change the potential outcome of the situation. In the second interactive workshop, held on the 13th October, Mark Davies, managing director at consultancy 7Futures, will draw on his experience of working with elite performers, sports personalities and the military, by demonstrating how to manage stressful situations without compromising people’s health and wellbeing.

Wood and coal fuel specialist, Logs Direct, has issued a warning of an impending flue epidemic during Chimney Fire Safety Week (September 5 to 11). Logs Direct says that Brits have been overtaken by ‘logmania’ over the last few years and in January 2006 it was reported that the last 12 months had seen a 20% rise in the sale of wood burning stoves, while HETAS reported a 60% increase in the number of wood burners over the last seven year period. The company added that although people are showing a trend towards burning wood, there are far too few homeowners and hospitality providers having to get to grips with how to burn wood. This puts a significant proportion of wood burning homes and establishments at risk of a chimney fire, which affects 5,000 properties in Britain every year. It partly puts this down to an innate desire for British people to be wood seeking hunter gatherers, foraging for wood, raiding skips and most of all buying unseasoned, ‘wet’ logs from timber suppliers and farm gates. Although these may appear dry, the ‘wet’ reference comes from the fact that, on felling, their water content can be as high as 80pc. For a log to burn efficiently, the water content should only be 20pc or lower, which means that logs need to be left to dry, in the right climatic and storage conditions, for as long as two summers and a winter, if they are a hardwood such as oak, beech, hornbeam and sycamore. Even conifers and hard growing broadleaves such as ash, birch and and poplar need to be seasoned for one spring and one summer. This means that anyone buying wood from farm and country suppliers, and wishing to use it immediately, should seek assurance that the wood has been seasoned properly.

An exciting and brand new apprenticeship training centre has been built to help resolve the skills shortage in high technology and engineering firms. The Oxford Advanced Skills at Culham Science Centre is situated just outside Oxford and will eventually train 125 young people each year. The facility is a joint venture between the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and other major employers. The centre will commence work this month and will be managed by leading training provider JTL. Former UKAEA apprentice David Martin is sponsoring the project and will lead Oxford Advanced Skills to raise the quality and standard of local apprenticeships through employer led training. The new site will give employers in Oxfordshire’s high tech sector ‘work ready’ trainees’, laboratory technicians and apprentice engineers by providing apprentices skills and self-discipline through workplace training. The centre will provide further value by working closely with local businesses, which will enable them to directly input into the qualification to make sure that the training provides the apprentices that local businesses require. In terms of non-profit endeavour, all funds are to be invested to deliver training and to ensure the highest quality. UKAEA’s Chief Operating Officer, David Martin, said: “With the support of high tech sector companies in the area, Oxford Advanced Skills will help resolve the critical skills shortages we are currently experiencing. “This venture highlights how seriously we take the need for exceptional quality young people making it into the workforce in this area. JTL has huge experience in providing work-based learning across England and Wales. “With over 6,000 apprentices currently working towards qualifications with them in the building services engineering sector.” Meanwhile, JTL Chief Executive, Jon Graham, said that these are exciting times for apprentices in the Oxford area. He added that the company has been working in Oxfordshire for many years but decided recently that in order to be able to provide the quality of training that young people deserved we needed to launch our own training facilities.

The Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) has extended ADEY’s accreditation for its training and conference centre. The water treatment manufacturing firm’s facility was first given the accolade two years ago and this latest accreditation will extend its Approved Training Centre status for two further years. ADEY Professional Heating Solutions first opened the facility three years ago after a £1 million investment and the refurbishment of its two acre head office site in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The 7,000 sq ft site provides an internal and external conference and meeting venue, along with space to host advanced and supervised training on the firm’s leading range of magnetic filters and premium MC+ chemicals. National President of the CIPHE, Paul Williams, presented ADEY Chief Executive Officer John Vaughan with the plaque. Williams commented: “To have such a fantastic training venue on site is a real string to ADEY’s bow. We place great emphasis on training at the CIPHE and it’s clear that it’s something ADEY is passionate about too, whether that’s supporting youngsters just entering the trade or more established installers.” Meanwhile, Vaughan said that ADEY is delighted to have its Training and Conference Centre recognised by CIPHE once again. He added: “We’ve hosted a huge variety of events over the last three years including the finals of the HIP UK Heating Apprentice of the Year competition, training sessions for boiler manufacturers, installer events and seminars. It’s been a valuable addition to our head office and is a great way to continue to showcase ADEY as we’ve grown.” The Training and Conference Centre is a venue used by both ADEY and its industry partners, and also houses a boardroom, training and demonstration rooms, 100 seat auditoriums and a test rig laboratory. CIPHE recently appointed Paul Harmer as the company’s new Technical Director, who will work on some exciting new initiatives to support the institute’s technical development.

Alcumus is set to merge its health and safety accreditation scheme ‘ContractorPlus’ into its market leading ‘SafeContractor’ scheme, which will simplify the amount of health and safety assessment programmes available to both clients and contractors. The merger will see benefits for both clients and contractors of the scheme, including cost savings resulting from only needing to join one scheme, less paperwork and administration and a larger amount of contractors visible to a greater number of clients. SafeContractor is the fastest growing health and safety accreditation scheme in the UK and has taken another major step towards becoming an industry leader in accreditation services as a result of the merger. Former members of ContractorPlus will also now be able to enjoy the advantages on offer by the SafeContractor member benefits package. As well as health and safety expertise, the SafeContractor scheme also adds value to all contractors with a package full of trade discounts and preferential rates on services that support their business. Included in the recent additions to this package area ccess to domestic work across the UK via Rated People, competitive insurance products from Towergate Insurance and discounted car hire services provided by Nexus. The official launch for the SafeContractor merger is 4th October 2016, for further information visit www.SafeContractor.com. Alcumus is a market-leading provider of technology-enabled compliance risk management, certification and accreditation services, supporting both UK and International with a wide range of risk management services, including web based information management solutions, UKAS accredited certification services, contractor accreditation, health & safety inspection and consultancy, workplace monitoring services, training and HR consultancy. In April this year, Alcumus announced the launch of its SME specialised standards internal audit tool. The scheme is intended for the 99% of UK firms who are either micro businesses or have fewer than 30 employees, the new platform will allow them to boost performance – and get on with their real jobs.