Wishing all our Customers a happy Easter.
Please note our office will be closed from Friday 15th April at 1pm, we will reopen on Monday 25th at 8.30am.
MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2020
Mental Health Awareness Week takes place from 18th -24th May 2020 and the theme this year is Kindness.
Each day we will be putting some resources on our page to help everyone, so be sure to check back each day!!
Today's resource is the 'Kindness Matters Guide'
You may recognise the expression “it is better to give than receive”, but did you know this is backed up by research?
People who are kind and compassionate see clear benefits to their wellbeing and happiness. They may even live longer. Kindness can also help reduce stress and improve our emotional wellbeing.
We all have so much going on in our lives - including competing strains and stresses – not to mention the current Coronavirus Pandemic. This can see kindness pushed to one side, in favour of what is urgent or trending now.
It can be easy to signal kindness by posting online and following a trend, but harder to commit to kindness in our daily words and actions.
But if we take the time to be kind to other people, we can reap the emotional dividends. It can really make a difference and especially for people who are vulnerable or struggling.
Now is the time to re-imagine a kinder society that better protects our mental health.
Kindness could be built into business decisions, government policy and official systems in a way that supports everyone’s mental health and also reduces discrimination and inequality.-But that can start by individual commitments to showing kindness in our words and our actions.
We have written this guide to show the positive impact helping others can have on your own mental health, including some tips and suggestions to inspire you.
So, take a few minutes, have a read and think about doing something kind for a friend or a stranger today.
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week/kindness-matters-guide
HBSC HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS
Please note our Office will be closed from Friday 12th July to Friday 19th July inclusive. We will reopen on Monday 22nd July.
If your enquiry is urgent, please leave a message on our mobile no 075 9763 8419 and a Member of Staff will get back to you.
Wishing all our Clients a lovely Holiday.
Mental Health Awareness Week 13th -19th May 2019
Mental Health Awareness Week takes place 13-19 May 2019. The theme this year is Body Image - How we think and feel about our bodies
HBSC are proud to be supporting Mental Health Awareness Week.
More information is available at
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week
#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek
Time to Talk Day Thursday 7th February 2019
Time to Talk Day 2019 is taking place on Thursday 7 February. However you do it, make a conversation about mental health.
Mental health problems affect one in four of us, yet people are still afraid to talk about it. Time to Talk Day encourages everyone to talk about mental health.
This year’s Time to Talk Day is all about bringing together the right ingredients, to have a conversation about mental health. Whether that’s tea, biscuits and close friends or a room full of people challenging mental health stigma, we want you to get talking.
However you do it, make sure you have a conversation about mental health this Time to Talk Day.
Tips for Talking about Mental Health
1. ASK QUESTIONS AND LISTEN
Asking questions can give the person space to express how they’re feeling and what they’re going through, and it will help you to understand their experience better. Try to ask questions that are open and not leading or judgemental – such as “how does that affect you” or “what does it feel like?”
2. THINK ABOUT THE TIME & PLACE
Sometimes it’s easier to talk side by side rather than face to face. So, if you do talk in person, you might want to chat while you are doing something else. You could start a conversation when you’re walking, cooking or stuck in traffic. However, don’t let the search for the perfect place put you off!
3. DON'T TRY & FIX IT
It can be hard to see someone you care about having a difficult time but try to resist the urge to offer quick fixes to what they’re going through. Learning to manage or recover from a mental health problem can be a long journey, and they’ve likely already considered lots of different tools and strategies. Just talking can be really powerful, so unless they’ve asked for advice directly, it might be best just to listen.
4. TREAT THEM THE SAME
When someone has a mental health problem , they’re still the same person as they were before. And that means when a friend or loved one opens up about mental health, they don’t want to be treated any differently. If you want to support them, keep it simple. Do the things you'd normally do.
5. BE PATIENT
No matter how hard you try, some people might not be ready to talk about what they’re going through. That’s ok – the fact that you’ve tried to talk to them about it may make it easier for them to open up another time.
And there are lots of things you can do to support them even if you’re not talking:
Doing things together
Sending a text to let them know you’re thinking of them
Offering to help with day-to-day tasks.
“For more information on Time To Talk Day click on:-
https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/
HMRC take a break from catching tax dodgers to dodge fires!!
HB Safety spent the day with HMRC RFTU Unit yesterday equipping Staff with the skills to fight fires. The training covered both theory and practical elements. Staff spent the first part of the course in the classroom learning about how fires start, how they spread and how they are ignited. After a short break it was all hands on as Staff got to try out what they had learned and had the opportunity to extinguish live fires.
Fire Training is a legal requirement in order to comply with The Fire Safety Regulations (NI) 2010. If you would like any assistance with meeting your statutory obligations, please get in touch and we can offer assistance in all areas.
staff getting some hands on experience with Fire Extinguishers.
Abbey Surestart Get to Grips with Manual Handling and putting out Fires.
Today saw the Staff of Abbey Surestart get together for some Fire Awareness Training and Manual Handling Training. The training delivered by Hayley Burgess was a mixture of theory and practical with plenty of questions along the way!!
Staff learnt the principles of Fire Safety and Manual Handling, critical training to have for the roles they are performing every day.
We hope the Staff all enjoyed the training and found it to be fun and educational!
BOOK YOUR PLACE TODAY ON OUR HABC LEVEL 2 AWARD IN FOOD SAFETY IN CATERING COURSE
Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering (QCF)
This Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering (QCF) is a qualification aimed at caterers and other food handlers. The qualification is intended for learners already working in catering and those who are preparing to work in the industry.
Learners gaining this qualification will know that food safety is the responsibility of everyone involved in the storage, preparation, cooking service and handling of food. Its topics are regarded by the Foods Standards Agency as being important to maintaining good practice in the production of safe food.
Each student will also receive a handbook to assist your learning throughout the course.
HABC Level 2 Award in Food Safety Learning Objectives:
Firm grasp of the importance of food safety and knowledge of the systems and techniques
Understanding of how to control food safety risks
Food safety hazards
Food poisoning control
Temperature controls
Personal hygiene
Cleaning and disinfection
Food pests
Confidence and expertise to safely deliver quality food to customers
Assessment
Students are assessed by multiple-choice examination.
To Book your place please contact us by:-
Telephone 028 9754 2450
Email margaret@hbscltd.co.uk
New Accreditation
We are delighted to announce that we have now been accredited as an approved Highfield Awarding Body for Compliance (HABC) Centre. This Accreditation allows us to deliver the National recognised qualification Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering and Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering (Refresher).
If you would like further details on any of these courses, please contact us.
Principles of Health and Safety Level 2
Tonight we have the pleasure of training Staff in Greendale Day Nursery, part of the Clear Day Group of Nurseries. Staff are completing Level 2 Principles of Health and Safety which includes training on Risk Assessment, COSHH, Manual Handling, Accident Reporting, Fire Safety and H&S Law. A full night for everyone!!
Cleaner Suffers Severe Burns After Falling into Deep Fat Fryer
A cleaning company has been fined tens of thousands of pounds after an employee was "seriously scalded" when they slipped and fell into a deep fat fryer while working at a hotel near Gatwick Airport.
A man working at Premier Inn, in Longbridge Way close to the airport's North Terminal, suffered serious burns when his foot slipped and went into the hot oil of a deep fat fryer as he was cleaning above it.
Employer MacDet Hygiene Cleaning Services Ltd was fined £37,500 and ordered to pay costs of £13,002.58 at Lewes Crown Court on August 5 for breaching health and safety rules.
The company had pleaded guilty to failing in its duty [to fulfil the requirements of] the Health and Safety at Work Act at a previous hearing.
The horrific injury was sustained in the kitchen of the hotel when two MacDet employees were tasked with cleaning the extractor system on the evening of September 23, 2014.
One of the employees was cleaning the canopy above the deep fat fryer and its ducting. He stood on one of the filters from the canopy, which was not designed for this purpose, and slipped. His foot went into the hot oil of the fryer causing serious burns to his foot and he then fell to the floor.
This incident was reported by the company, which resulted in an investigation by Crawley Borough Council.
Fire Door Week 26th September - 2nd October 2016
HBSC are pledging our support for Fire Door Week ... Why?? Put simply Fire Doors save life and property.
The Fire Door campaign aims to engage and educate building owners and building users on how to use them properly.
Leading up to Fire Door Week and of course during Fire Door Week, HBSC will be sharing articles on Fire Door Safety and how you can get engaged, so keep checking back for more info!
Our first article is A Five Step Fire Door Check to help you make sure your doors are up to the job.
- Check for certification Is there a label or plug on top (or occasionally on the side) of the door to show it is a certificated fire door? You can use the selfie function on your camera phone or a mirror to check. If there is, that’s good news, otherwise report it to whoever is in charge of your building.
- Check the gaps Check the gaps around the top and sides of the door are consistently less than 4mm when closed. You can use a £1 coin to give a feel for scale, this is about 3mm thick. The gap under the door can be slightly larger (up to 8mm is not uncommon), but if does depend on the door - as a rule of thumb, if you can see light under the door, the gap is likely to be too big. It’s good news if the door fits the frame and it’s not damaged. If not, report it. If the gaps are too big smoke and fire could travel through the cracks.
- Check the seals Are there any intumescent seals around the door or frame, and are they intact with no sign of damage? These seals are usually vital to the fire door's performance, expanding if in contact with heat to ensure fire (and in some cases smoke) can’t move through the cracks. If not, report it - the door may not be properly maintained and in the intensity of a fire may not protect you long enough.
- Check the hinges Are the hinges firmly fixed (three or more of them), with no missing or broken screws? If you see problems, report it - the door is obviously not properly maintained and in the intensity of a fire may not perform and hold back the fire for long enough.
- Check the door closes properly Open the door about halfway, let go and allow it to close by itself. Does it close firmly onto the latch without sticking on the floor or the frame? If not, report it. A fire door only works when it’s closed. A fire door is completely useless if it’s wedged open or can’t close fully.
If you think the building you're living in, working in or visiting has a faulty fire door, don't walk by. Report it to whoever manages or owns the building. You could save a live that day.
Care Home Fined And Left With 400k Bill For Fire Safety Breaches
Shaftesbury Care Group Ltd, which runs Donwell House Care Home in Washington, was fined £380,000, plus costs of £29,222, at Newcastle Crown Court.
This was uncovered when Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Service investigated a blaze in the bedroom of a resident on Saturday 13th September 2014.
Officers discovered that fire doors had been wedged open when they should have been closed, and the company’s appointed contractor had condemned just under half of the building’s fire extinguishers.
Additionally, the company failed to carry out a number of actions identified in a fire risk assessment, including installing electronic devices, which would have allowed fire doors to be held open while enabling them to be quickly closed in an emergency.
During the fire, the bedroom door of an elderly resident’s room was wedged open. As a result, smoke and heat quickly filled the communal corridor and spread into a neighbouring bedroom, which also had its door wedged open.
Also, there was a delay in identifying the room where the fire had started, and as a result an elderly woman became trapped in her bedroom.
Staff were therefore unable to evacuate her from the building due to the amount of smoke and heat in the corridor.
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the building through a first floor window and rescued the pensioner. She was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead, for treatment.
This seemingly appears to be common faults highlighted on Fire Risk Assessments in Care Homes and were also some of the major fire safety breaches reported at the devastating Rosepark Care Home Fire back in January 2004 where 14 elderly residents died.
Assistant Chief Fire Officer for Community Safety Chris Lowther said: “The breaches found Donwell House care home put the lives of residents and staff at risk. We have around 5,000 interactions with businesses annually, where we work to educate and inform them of their responsibilities to comply with the law.”
“This means that there is seldom the need for prosecution. However, where lives are put at risk and the law has been broken, we will not hesitate to prosecute. This fine imposed by the judge is one of the most significant we are aware of for a case of this kind. It should serve as a warning to businesses, and especially care home operators, that failure to carry out their responsibilities regarding fire safety can and will have serious consequences.”
How can you avoid prosecution in your Care Home?
The answer to this question is simple if you make sure you have the right fire safety strategy in place for your premises.
Since the introduction of the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Services Order (NI) 2006 and Fire Safety Regulations (NI) 2010, fire certificates are no longer issued.Instead onus falls onto the ‘responsible person’ to take appropriate action to prevent fire and protect building users in the event of fire.
The first step is to ensure your fire risk assessment is up to date which will make you aware of the plan of action you need to take in order to comply with the law.
Make sure you use a Fire Risk Assessor who is Third Party Accredited. This means they have been independently assessed and the quality of their work has been verified as being to a high standard. Hayley Burgess holds third party certificated accreditation with the Institution of Fire Engineers. Third Party Accreditation demonstrates competency and specifies that fire risk assessors have the required technical capabilities and our risk assessment staff meet appropriate standards.
If you need help with your fire safety strategy and want to ensure you comply with the law, contact one of our expert team today on 028 9754 2450
Care Home Resident Dies After Swallowing Bleach Tablet
An investigation is underway into the death of a man who swallowed a bleach tablet at his nursing homeThe Balmoral Court Care Home resident was rushed to hospital but died, after ingesting the toxic cleaning chemical at the home in Byker, Newcastle on Thursday 4, August.
Balmoral Court, which is owned by Crown Care, specialises in the care of older people with dementia.
A spokesman for the home said: “We are very sad to confirm one of our residents at Balmoral Court has died in hospital after an incident at the home.
“A full investigation is under way and we are liaising closely with the family and the appropriate authorities.
“Until that investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further other than to say we are deeply shocked and saddened by this incident.
“We send our sincere condolences to the family.”
The nursing home’s latest inspection report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), published in March, gave the home an overall rating of ‘Requires improvement’ when CQC inspectors made an unannounced inspection last December.
CQC inspectors said in the report: “All reasonable steps had not been taken to reduce risks and make sure that people’s care was provided in a safe and hygienic environment.”
The CQC report also said staff were “mindful of keeping potentially harmful cleaning chemicals safe and locked away when not in use”.
credit care home.co.uk
Head for Heights!!
Two days are never the same when doing Fire Risk Assessments.
Today we were carrying out a Fire Risk Assessment for a Client who are constructing a state of the art Dried Milk Powder Plant. The new plant represents an investment of £30 million and when finished will double the plant's capacity.
The new drying tower has a area of 30,000 sq ft and stands at over 37m high!!
Pic taken from the top floor of the new milk drying plant
M & D's Rollercoaster Crash - 7 people hurt
Seven people have been injured after a rollercoaster crashed off the rails at a theme park in North Lanarkshire.
Six ambulances and six fire engines are at the M&D's park near Strathclude Park in Motherwell after being called at 15:37.
A number of specialist officers are also at the park, which has been evacuated.
An eyewitness said: "People were trapped upside down on the ride."
Emergency services said the incident was ongoing, but no further information was available.
Seven people hurt in rollercoaster crash at M&D's theme park
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-36635086
Credit Google images
Health & Safety Week 20th - 24th June 2016
According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), in 2014/15 over 1.2 million people were suffering from a work-related illness and 76,054 non-fatal injuries were reported. Although Britain has one of the best health and safety records worldwide, this figure shows there is still room for improvement to ensure staff are not put in danger at work. With the UK’s Health and Safety Week taking place from 20-24 June 2016, Carrie Earl, category manager at IronmongeryDirect, takes a look at reducing workplace hazards and suggests some useful tools to minimise the risk of injury.
Every year, 23 million working days are lost due to illness and injuries caused by today’s working conditions. Reducing potential hazards in the workplace is a must to protect employee well-being and ensure that businesses are legally compliant. Regardless of the industry a business is operating in, all organisations have a legal duty to ensure they have adequate health and safety procedures in place to keep their staff safe. Not only this, all staff have the right to feel safe and secure when they’re at work. Taking precautions to provide a safe environment for employees can dramatically reduce the risk of incidents occurring and should be a main priority for all companies.
Early Years The Organisation for Young Children Celebrating 50 Years
HBSC Ltd are delighted to be exhibiting at the Early Years International Conference and AGM in Lough Erne Resort, Enniskillen.
We have special discounts available over the course of the next two days. We are looking forward to seeing you all there!
Accreditations!!
We are delighted to have been recognised in the latest Institution of Fire Engineer's Journal for firstly achieving inclusion on the IFE's Fire Risk Assessors Register (Life Safety) and secondly achieving 'Member Grade' if The IFE.
Mental Health Awareness Week
Mental Health Awareness Week takes place from the 16th - 22nd May 2016 with the theme of Relationships.
The importance of relationships and how fundamental they are to our health and wellbeing is often forgotten. We cannot flourish as individuals and communities without them, infact they are as vital as better established lifestyle factors such as eating well, exercising more and stopping smoking.
This year mental health.org.uk are asking people to make a relationship resolution to assess how much time we actively commit to building and maintaining good relationships and to ask whether we can invest more in being present with and listening to friends, family and colleagues.
If you would like to know more about Mental Health Awareness please follow the link below
www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week
Rehab 4 Alcoholism offers a free helpline and intervention service for people suffering from drug and alcohol addiction. Tel: 0345 222 3509 Website: http://www.rehab4alcoholism.com
