isoqsltd-blog

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ISO Quality Services Limited attend the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group Annual Dinner & Awards 2013

On Thursday 18th April 2013 ISO employees Jennifer Appleton, Operations Director and Chantall Herbert, Business Development Executive were lucky enough to have the chance to attend the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group Annual Dinner & Awards 2013.

The annual Dinner and awards evening was held at the International Convention Centre (ICC) Birmingham and is the most prestigious event in the business calendar. This year the event attracted over 800 delegates to the ICC. This year the annual event was even more special to the Chamber of Commerce, as they celebrate its 200 year anniversary in 2013.

This black tie dinner attracted key influences, decision makers, business owners and senior managers from a wide range of business sectors and sizes. The well-established keynote event has been the largest cross-sector business dinner in the region for several years.

For this special evening we were invited to be in the company of Steve Brittan, President Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Lord Michael Heseltine who was the speaker for the evening. As a Cabinet minister, Lord Heseltine was involved in both the Thatcher and Major governments and has proved a staunch advocate of Birmingham and the Chamber of Commerce. He has been extremely forceful in his belief that Chambers should have a lead role in galvanising the support of other business organisation.

We entered the prize draw on the evening for the Charity of the event, Little Hearts Matter who had arranged some fabulous prizes to be won, including a 4-ball on the PGA golf course at the Belfry, a place on a 5 day Leadership course. The charity offers support and information to and represents the needs of the children and families following a diagnosis of a single ventricle heart disease or a child only having half a heart. We will be fund raising for Little Hearts Matter in May by having a cake and onesie day!

For more information on the charity visit www.lhm.org.uk/

As well as being party to powerful speeches, a charity prize draw, a beautiful 3 course meal, we were lucky enough to see 8 businesses presented with their awards for the evening which included:

Excellence in International Business

Excellence in Customer Service

Excellence in People Development

Excellence in Contributing to the Community

Excellence in Environmental Management

Excellence in Innovation

Future Face of Business

President’s Award

For more details on being part of this prestigious event next year or to see why the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce would be beneficial to you and your business, visit http://www.birmingham-chamber.com/Membership/Why-chamber.aspx

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ISO 9001 Update Announced

It has been announced that the ISO 9001:2008 will be updated in 2015. This will make integration with other ISO standards much easier. Stay tuned and we will keep you posted on more news when it becomes available.

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D is for Document Control, E is for Efficiency, F is for Financial Reward

Document Control is ensuring that the most current version is in use by issuing a document with a reference and issue number so that the correct version of the document is used at all times.

By having a Quality Management system in place, this creates improved internal efficiencies as everyone is running to the standard in the work place, for example using the Document Control as listed above.

By having the ISO Management standards in place, in time, if your standard is proactively used should give you a form of financial reward. Would you like to save time in filling in Tender requests? Would you like to save time & money improving internal efficiencies? How about using ISO for your Marketing strategy, could it elevate you above your competitors?

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Building firm sentenced after employee falls to his death

A building firm and one of its directors have been sentenced after an employee fell 15 metres to his death in an empty water storage tank in Macclesfield. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the company and day to day Director following an investigation into the death of an employee on 14 August 2008.

Liverpool Crown Court heard on 8 April 2013 that the 45-year-old from Liverpool and a colleague had started work at the farm, three days earlier. They had been constructing brick manhole chambers above the circular tank, approximately 7.5 metres in diameter, which had been installed to collect flood water.

A HSE investigation found they had not been given sufficient information or a risk assessment for the job, and were not given any advice about working above the storage tank by their employer. The director responsible for the day-to-day running of the company visited the site the day before the incident and saw both men working over the exposed openings in the tank. However, he took no action to put safety measures in place.

On the day of the incident, the deceased’s colleague had gone to collect a saw but when he turned back around he could no longer see his colleague. His body was found at the bottom of the storage tank. The company, which is in administration, and the Director pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of workers. The company of Wilmslow received a nominal fine of £50 and was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £24,974. The Director of Chorley was fined £30,000 with no costs.

James, one of the brothers of the deceased, said:

“My brother was the glue that held us together after the loss of our parents. He is missed so much that it hurts. Every day I say to myself he should be here with us where he is loved so much. It should have been old age that took him away but it was not.”

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Kevin Jones said:

“He sadly lost his life because his employer didn’t give any thought to his safety as he worked above a 15-metre deep tank. There were several ways the work could have been carried out safely, such as using a harness, installing a guardrail around the opening, or providing temporary covers. However, the Company is question and the Director chose none of these. This case shows how health and safety when working at height doesn’t just affect work being carried out at the top of buildings. The risks are just as great at lower levels if there’s the potential for someone to fall a distance likely to cause serious injury.”

Falls from height are the biggest cause of workplace deaths in the construction industry. Information on preventing falls is available atwww.hse.gov.uk/falls

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Congratulations to our Newly Certificated Clients

EPC UK

EPC UK is a leading provider of Energy Performance Certificates throughout the UK and are based in Sheffield. They have achieved there ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Standard. The company offers a fast, friendly and honest service. Whether it’s a Commercial EPC in London or a Domestic EPC in Sheffield you need look no further than EPC UK.

Their extensive experience of Energy Assessing means we ensure that you can be confident knowing that your buildings’ Energy ratings are correct. They expect the use of the certificate to widen in the future increasing the importance of achieving a correct Energy rating for your building. For information on how they may be able to provide their services to your business visit – http://www.epc-uk.co.uk

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Congratulations to Our Newly Certificated Clients

Netcetera Limited

Netcetera Limited were formed in 1996 are based in the Isle of Man. They have achieved there ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management Standard with us. They have previously achieved ISO 9001:2008 Quality & ISO 27001:2005 Information Security Management Standards.

The company is one of Europe’s leading Web Hosting service providers, with customers in over 75 countries worldwide. As the premier provider of Datacentre Co-location, Cloud Hosting, Dedicated Servers and Managed Web Hosting Services in the UK, Netcetera offers an array of services designed to more effectively manage IT infrastructures.

Their state-of-the-art data centre environment enables the company to offer your business enterprise level co-location and hosted solutions. For more information on Netcetera and how they may be able to help your business – http://www.netcetera.co.uk

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Updated National Minimum Wage Rates Announced

Each year the Government release details of the new national minimum wages that come into force later this year, specifically on 1st October 2013.

The below information details the new hourly rates applicable to the different age groups of workers:

Group

21+       £6.31 (New Rate)  £6.19 (Old Rate)

18-20    £5.03(New Rate) £4.98 (Old Rate)

16-17    £3.72 (New Rate) £3.68 (Old Rate)

Apprentices £2.68 (New Rate) £2.65 (Old Rate)

Accommodation Offset £4.91/day (New Rate) £4.82/day (Old Rate)

Employers are encouraged to start to budget now for these increases that will be effective later in the year.

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Networking Events we are attending through May – June 2013

The Clarke Associates’ Social Media Breakfast

Date: 21.05.13 Cost: Free Venue: The Old School House, Chapel Lane, Wythall, Birmingham, B47 6JX Website: http://www.clarke-associates.co.uk Contact: karen-s@clarke-associates.co.uk

Chamber ‘Steam’ Networking

Date: 22.05.2013 Cost: £15.00 for Non-Members – £10.00 for Members Venue: Tyseley Locomotive Works, 670 Warwick Road, Tyseley, Birmingham, B11 2HL Contact: http://www.birmingham-chamber.com/BCCG/Events/EventDetails.aspx?event=3803

Networking with the Neighbours

Date: 23.05.13 Cost: £8.33 for Non-Members – Free for Members Venue: Woodland Grange Conference Centre, Old Milverton Lane, Leamington Spa, CV32 6RN Contact: http://www.birmingham-chamber.com/BCCG/Events/EventDetails.aspx?event=3701

Birmingham Chamber Expo

Date: 06.06.13 Time: 10:00 – 15:00 Cost: £10.00 for Non-Members – Free for Members Venue: Drayton Manor Theme Park, Near Tamworth, Staffordshire, B78 3TW Contact – http://www.birmingham-chamber.com/BCCG/Events/EventDetails.aspx?event=3798

The Business Show

Date & Time: Thursday 6th June 10am – 6pm & Friday 7th June 10am – 5pm Cost: Register for free tickets – https://tickets.prysmgroup.co.uk/gbbs/77/?BGS3TBS29 Venue: ExCeL London, Royal Victoria Dock, London, E16 1XL Contact: http://www.greatbritishbusinessshow.co.uk/

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Onesie Day & The Big Hearted Bake…..Little Hearts really do Matter

Yesterday, Tuesday 13th May was our annual Fundraising day!

We had a Onesie wearing, cake eating day, where ISO QSL members of staff raised money for Little Hearts Matter.

Little Hearts Matter offers support and information, and raises awareness of those affected when a child has only half a heart, due to conditions such as Complex Pulmonary Atresia, Tricuspid Atresia, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) or Double Inlet or Outlet Ventricle (Univentricular Heart).  Little Hearts Matter was originally set up in 1994 at the request of parents of children who had a life threatening diagnosis of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.  There are approximately 200 children diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome each year, but there are a further 400 diagnosed with other single ventricle conditions.

More Information on the charity, how to donate or  to apply for a fund-raising pack can be found at http://www.lhm.org.uk/

Our annual fun raising day for Little Hearts Matter started with all the staff donning onesies for the day!

We then had a visit from Tracy who runs her own business called Naturally Exuberant who gave us a seminar, on ‘food’ in particular the 12 Habit Club, 80/20 Rule,  Brain Chemicals, the foods we eat and how they can affect us.  With a little help from ‘the Shield’, ‘Batman’ & ‘The Joker’  we learnt what hormones within the body are good fat burners/fat storer’s.

Tracy’s presentation was incredibly interesting, and really makes you think if you change just little things in your diet, what a difference it can make to you and the way you feel.  Tracy is definitely passionate about her work and that really shows!  If you are looking to do an internal staff meeting focused on the well being of your employees – then contact Tracy for an informative, fun & vibrant experience http://www.the12habits.co.uk/

   Lunchtime meant cake time…….9 cakes to be judged, scored and eaten with a winner announced.  We paid £3 to enter our cakes into the competition, where the cakes were scored out of 10 on appearance, taste and morishness.  The cakes were Key Lime Cheesecake, Baked Cheesecake topped with meringue, Apple Cake, Chocolate Biscuit Cake, Chocolate Cookies, Victoria Sponge, Carrot Cake, Double Chocolate Cheesecake & White Chocolate Raspberry Muffins.

Scores were counted, and announced as:

1st – Key Lime Cheesecake

2nd – Chocolate Biscuit Cake

3rd – White Chocolate & Raspberry Muffins

In total £90.00 was raised for Little Hearts Matter – we raised enough for 9 antenatal pack to recently diagnosed parents, at a time they are completely devastated, terrified and confused.  The pack allows them to understand what the condition is and hear from other parents about their experiences, giving them the information to make an informed decision.

What fund raising day are you planning to hold?

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Sign up to environmental updates!

Keep up to date with the latest information from the Environment Agency and sign up for the business environmental updates, the link is as follows: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/news/139117.aspx simply insert your details in the spaces on the right hand side of the page.

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Newly Created Partnership for Cyber Liability Insurance

With businesses reliant on data and vulnerable to accidental or malicious losses Cyber liability insurance should be an essential part of their risk management. Historically Cyber Insurance has been seen for just the ‘bigger’ companies; however with premiums from just £400, Cyber Liability Insurance is now affordable for SME’s through Worcester based Insurance Consultants Sutcliffe and Co.

Cyber liability insurance can cover:

Loss, damage or corruption of own data and third party data

Business interruption / Lost income

Forensic costs

Legal defence costs and financial penalties by regulators

Reputational & public relations costs

Cyber extortion

Notification costs and credit monitoring

We are pleased to confirm that ISO Quality Services has created a partnership with Sutcliffe and Co so that our clients who currently run to an ISO 27001 Information Security Management System will obtain a reduction on the cost of this Insurance (underwritten by AIG Insurance).

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Did You Know?

Most organisations shred less than half of all documents containing sensitive or confidential information before disposal?

Only 33% of organisations that have been recently surveyed collect documents from each office area for centralized in-house shredding? This means that employees are getting exposed to confidential or sensitive information, which is not meant for their viewing, while doing in-house shredding or simply disposing materials.

It can take just 7 days for a newspaper to go through the recycling process, transformed into recycled newsprint which is used to make the majority of Britain’s national daily newspapers.

It takes 48 full grown trees to make roughly 500 rolls of toilet paper. It approximately takes 384 trees to make the toilet paper that one man will use in his lifetime

If you would like to find out how to protect the security of the data in your business or how to destroy confidential matter in a secure way why not visithttp://www.isoqsltd.com/iso-certification/iso-27001/orhttp://www.isoqsltd.com/iso-certification/bs-en-15713/to see how we would be able to help you achieve this in your business.

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Sponsorship renewed for ‘Chamber Maximise Your Membership’ Events

We are pleased to confirm that ISO Quality Services will continue to sponsor all Birmingham Chamber’s ‘Maximise Your Membership’ events until March 2014.

“There is a great synergy working with Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and we are delighted to renew our sponsorship for these events for a third year” commented ISO Quality Services Director, Jennifer Appleton. “we enjoy the events and have subsequently worked with a number of members in helping them achieve ISO certification”.

Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group Events Director, Henrik Court, said “we are very pleased to continue working with ISO Quality Services, they are a great team of people to work with and this association has proven to be mutually beneficial”.

ISO Quality Services has also extended its Event Partner agreement with the chamber, showing our further commitment to raising our profile in the West Midlands area.

If you interested to find out how Chamber membership can help your business contact the Birmingham Chamber on 0121 454 6171.

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Covert recordings by employees

In the London Borough of Lewisham, an employee sought to rely on 39 hours of covert recordings, via the help of a Dictaphone in order to support her discrimination claim. She alleged that the employer’s notes of disciplinary and other meetings were either inaccurate or falsified.

Although the application to admit the evidence was refused because neither the original recordings nor the transcripts had been made available, the EAT confirmed that such recordings were not inadmissible simply because the way in which they had been obtained was distasteful.

So what should you do as an employer in this situation?

Clearly if an employer discovers that covert recoding is occurring, the matter should be immediately addressed.

Conduct such as this by an employee could be held to have destroyed the relationship of trust and confidence in itself and if an employee lies about making recordings, this could be used in relation to the employee’s credibility.

For more information on Employment Law or Health & Safety News visit B.I.G Business Services www.bigbusinessservices.com

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ISO 9001 Update Announced

It has been announced that the ISO 9001:2008 will be updated in 2015. This will make integration with other ISO standards much easier. Stay tuned and we will keep you posted on more news when it becomes available.

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A is for Audit; B is for British Standards; C is for Continual Improvement

Audit is a review (or a check) of the management system and its compulsory elements. It is a snapshot of the activities that a company undertakes that prove compliance to the standard at the time of the audit.

British Standards are the standards produced by BSI Group which is incorporated under a Royal Charter, the objective of which to set up standards of quality for goods and services, and prepare and promote the general adoption of British Standards and schedules in connection there with and from time to time to revise, alter and amend such standards and schedules as experience and circumstances require

Continual Improvement is an on-going effort to improve products, services or processes by the business.

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Firm fined for putting workers’ lives at risk

A Durham recycling firm has been fined for putting workers’ lives at risk after two machines were found to have vital safety mechanisms deliberately disabled.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out an unannounced inspection at the  premises.

Darlington Magistrates’ Court heard today (2 April) that inspectors found there had been deliberate bypassing and disrepair of several machine guards on two baling machines, which were used to compress material such as cardboard and cans for recycling.

Prohibition Notices were served stopping all work on the two machines. The company was also served with an Improvement Notice requiring implementation of a routine guard checking procedure to ensure interlocks and emergency stops were working correctly.

HSE found a total of eight serious faults on the two machines, including the deliberate bypassing of key control systems to allow access to the compaction chambers, and damage to one of the emergency stops on a feed conveyor.

The court was told that as a result of the failings employees had been put at risk of serious and potentially fatal injury over a number of months.

The company was fined a total of £27,200 (£13,600 for each offence) and ordered to pay £4,802 in costs after pleading guilty to two breaches of Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

After the hearing, an HSE inspector said:

“The dangers associated with operating baling machines are well-known in the waste and recycling industry, as is the history of serious and fatal injuries resulting from their use.

These are tremendously powerful machines with a number of mechanical moving parts that have the potential to cause serious harm. Appropriate safeguarding of these machines is extremely important and should include all operations including blockage clearance.

The two baling machines inspected were found to have a significant number of fundamental safety features disabled, a situation the company’s management was aware of.

The standards found at the site were unacceptable. Fortunately no-one was injured by the machines, but this prosecution should act as a wakeup call to companies who do not have a robust safety management system or who put profit before safety.”

The combined fatal and major injury rate in waste and recycling is more than four times the average across all industries.

More information about the safe use of machinery can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery/puwer.htm