Stuart O'Brien, Author at Facilities Management Forum | Forum Events Ltd - Page 38 of 87
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Stuart O'Brien

Re-connect with the industry at the Facilities Management Forum
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We are moving forward with the Facilities Management Forum, which is taking place on 5th & 6th October 2020 in Manchester.

We have adapted the event layout to ensure we are abiding by the social distancing rules, and therefore ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of our event attendees and staff.

The event will have controlled numbers, prescheduled meetings and be hosted within a safe environment.

We have increased the size of our meeting booths to allow for a 2-meter gap, and added a clear partition screen between all meeting participants. Plus, there will be clear floor markings throughout.

This Forum will go ahead either as a live or virtual event. Alongside meetings and networking, you can also enjoy a series of seminar sessions, to ensure you don’t miss out on the latest tips and challenges from leading industry experts.

You can also enjoy complimentary overnight accommodation, including all meals and refreshments throughout.

To secure your place and enjoy all the benefits of the Forum, click here to book your complimentary place.

Go-4-Zero accidents at work: Tips & tools to manage safety risks
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According to the latest numbers from EUROSTAT, 3.2 million non-fatal accidents happened in the EU in 2015, and 3876 fatal accidents, resulting in 42 million working days lost. Increasing workplace safety is not only a humane, but also an economically sound strategy to protect company profits. Brady proposes a number of safety identification solutions to help reduce workplace risks for some of the most frequently occurring accident categories.

  • Avoid slips, trips and falls
  • Identify dangerous goods
  • Increase maintenance safety

Check out Brady’s “Go for Zero” solutions!

BRADY UK

Banbury, Oxon OX16 3JU

Tel: +44 (0) 1295 228 288

csuk@bradycorp.com

Are you getting the most from your CHP?
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By Onsite Energy Projects

We visit a lot of customer sites and am often struck that the heat from CHP is not being used, or that they have operating problems with the CHP and their returns aren’t what they expected.

I equally see CHP vendors and other proposals to customers that advocate a power only solution, but fail to mention the CO2 consequences or IMPORTANTLY the benefits they are missing if they were to achieve Good Quality CHP (GQCHP).

Why is this using the heat important ?

  • 50% of the energy being produced by the CHP is heat – so not using it just wastes it. It also means your CO2emissions will be around 70% higher if you only use the power than just consuming grid power.  If you can use the heat, you can achieve overall CO2
  • If you can use enough of the heat for useful purposes you can reduce your electricity and / or gas consumption. You can also qualify for exemption from Climate Change Levy (CCL) on your gas costs.   For a 2.0 MW CHP that is worth about £160,000 this year – BUT the CCL rates are going up and by 2025 that saving in CCL will be worth £320,000 a year.

So what can you use heat for ?  Well literally you can apply the CHP heat to provide anything from +270oC to -40oC.  So anything from cold stores, refrigerated food manufacturing, cheese maturing, swimming pools to steam intensive manufacturing and even chemicals, ceramics or glass manufacturing with high temperature furnaces can benefit from CHP.

For one of our clients, we have identified a way to save over 2,000,000 kWh of electricity and 12,000,000 kWh of gas using the waste heat from the CHP – with savings of over £450,000.  For another in plastic injection moulding, we can save around 30% of the costs by using the heat.

This is the reason Onsite Energy Projects exists – we help businesses implement the full potential of both energy efficiency and on-site generation measures.  We recognised the challenge of capex availability and can provide a no-capex, off-balance sheet solution.

If you would like to know more email us at info@on-site.energy or call on 0161 444 9989.

Onsite Energy Projects provides energy savings and energy generation solutions to energy intensive businesses, without capex if required.

iHASCO offers free training to all key workers across the UK
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Bracknell based eLearning provider, iHASCO, have announced that all key workers across the UK can obtain free access to their Mental Health Awareness and Infection Prevention & Control training programmes.

The announcement was made shortly after they were listed on the Crown Commercial Service’s COVID-19 Catalogue of supplier offers.

Mental health and wellbeing has long been high up on the agenda for employers, but now, it’s more important than ever before. The coronavirus pandemic could have a “profound” effect on people’s mental health – now and in the future, say psychiatrists and psychologists who are calling for urgent research.

It’s the same with Infection Prevention and Control training; incredibly important in day-to-day life but with the recent Coronavirus pandemic affecting tens of thousands in the UK alone, it’s crucial that key workers are given high-quality training to stop the spread of the virus and save lives.

iHASCO’s Mental Health Awareness Course is IOSH approved and recently won the THS Health & Safety Awards. Their Infection Prevention & Control training has been recently updated and is currently in the IOSH approval process.

They also offer 2 variations of the courses listed above that have been specifically designed for the care sector.

“We can’t thank our key workers enough for the sacrifices they are making everyday, but if our training can help those who are struggling with mental ill-health or even contributes to stopping the spread of COVID-19, then we’ve made a genuine difference” says Alex Morris, Director at iHASCO.

If you’re a key worker or you’re an employer of key workers, get in touch with iHASCO today and they can get your account set up, free of charge.

Altuity software improves facilities management for Tops Day Nurseries
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Tops Day Nurseries, a company managing a group of 30 nurseries educating over 3,000 children across the south of England, has adopted the AltoSites software solution from Altuity, a maintenance and facilities management software company.

Cheryl Hadland, Managing Director of Tops Day Nurseries, explains that the system the group was previously using didn’t work for the needs of the company effectively.

“We needed a central place for information, giving the opportunity to have not just maintenance jobs on the system but assets for each building e.g. fire systems, property boundaries, contracts in place with a system to prompt renewal dates, contractors being able to access the system to upload certificates, lease details and noting who is responsible for maintaining the different assets of the buildings,” she explains.

The company evaluated several other software systems before choosing AltoSites. “With their experience in the education sector, Altuity seemed to understand our issues best, and also weren’t cost prohibitive,” says Cheryl.

Altuity founder Steve Voller commented that, given the current Coronavirus challenges and business disruption, it was good to support Tops Day Nurseries with their long-term facilities and maintenance management needs.

Altuity conducted an initial meeting at the beginning of January. Despite the current lock down due to Coronavirus, it was able to work virtually with key Tops Day Nurseries staff to implement the software.  A Zoom group session, with over 30 staff participating, was used to remotely deliver the training, leading to go live on time at the end of March.

Benefits from adopting AltoSites include allowing for more data to be included under each asset e.g. the fire alarm system can have its make, model, service date, defects reported, certificates, and new systems installed all recorded. Additional benefits are that the company’s legal team will have the ability to store legal information on the system which can be shared. The system is also visually easier for maintenance to be able to see jobs using the floor plans on the system and prioritise work while contractors can automatically be notified of work needed.

“Until all managers are back from the lockdown situation and using the system to its full capacity, it is difficult to get feedback but we are confident the new software will have a positive impact on the way our assets are managed,” concludes Cheryl.

www.altuity.com

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT: Planned Preventative Maintenance from Derwent fm
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By Derwent fm

Derwent fm offer a total facilities management service that can be procured as a whole or individually, one key service that we often are asked to supply is planned preventative maintenance which ensures any building is running in the most efficient way possible and can operate to its fullest potential.

Key benefits customers enjoy are:

  • Saving you money on costly, urgent repairs by greatly reducing the chances that maintenance will need to be carried out in an emergency
  • Minimising unplanned downtime, closures or lost working hours
  • Keeping your premises health and safety complaint
  • Streamlining a range of maintenance services into one easy to manage and cost-effective facilities management package
  • Our services are built around our client’s individual circumstances and all planned maintenance schedules are fully tailored to your needs
  • Keeping your premises looking their best as well as running smoothly and efficiently

As part of a facilities management contract with Derwent fm, our engineers will arrange a timetable of scheduled visits. By planning in advance, we can minimise disruption to your organisation. Our team will also get to know your premises – its equipment, electrics, building fabric etc. – so they will be well positioned to identify and rectify potential problems quickly and professionally.

Our maintenance teams are also available through our 24/7 helpdesk when emergency repairs are required. This covers any unforeseen emergencies caused by external factors, such as extreme weather or vandalism.

www.derwentfm.com

Spectrum Industrial launches guide to help businesses implement a social distancing Safety Signage Programme
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Spectrum Industrial have launched a guide to help businesses to implement a social distancing safety signage programme onto their premises.

Although many businesses still operating have put a social distancing program in place, a recent study by Spectrum Industrial highlights how over 20% of businesses found it really difficult to put something in place, with over 30% saying they would have liked professional / expert help / advice on this.

The biggest problem highlighted from many was purely lack of space to provide the 2m guidance.

Paul Kantecki, Managing Director, said: “Over the last 25 years we have conducted a number of audits with businesses to help guide them on safety signage and products. When we started receiving initial enquiries for social distancing signs, we were able to attend some customers premises and help them with installation. Taking on board our experience from our safety sign audits and implementing these initial social distancing safety signs into retail premises, highlighted to us a number of issues and challenges we knew most smaller retailers would face.”

Spectrum pride themselves on building their experience in all things safety, and Social Distancing signs are now playing a big part of the safety category. Paul continued: “Taking our learnings from these initial installations, the next logical step for us was to compile a guide and share that knowledge and advice in the way of tips and guidance.  At the moment we can’t visit customers premises, and we know that one size does not fill all, but we hope that our guide offers a basic guideline for businesses to follow and implement into their environment.”

You can download a copy of the guide at https://email-centurioneurope.co.uk/p/5FKK-39Y/social-safety

For more information about Spectrum Industrial and their product range visit www.spectrum-industrial.co.uk or email sales@spectrum-industrial.co.uk.

WEBINAR: How to Modernise Your Video Security Solution
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Organisations are quickly moving to the cloud to enable remote access, support greater video monitoring scale, and improve usability of their video surveillance systems. These technology forward organisations are now beginning to replace their outdated traditional CCTV networks with a more modern approach.

Register for our next webinar on Thursday, 14 May 2020 at 2:00pm BST to learn how to:

  • Deploy smart cloud-based video surveillance
  • Eliminate the NVR, one of the most vulnerable points of entry to your network
  • Scale coverage effortlessly without impacting your network footprint
  • Securely share live camera feeds via SMS in seconds

All attendees will receive a custom-branded 20oz YETI tumbler!

Click here to RSVP today

Facilities Management Forum: We’ll get through this together
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We fully appreciate that you have lots of other things on your mind, but do make sure you diarise the Facilities Management Forum, which is taking place in October this year.

5th & 6th October – Hilton Manchester, Deansgate.

This event is a small, niche event unlike other large, busy exhibitions and conferences.

If you were unable to attend the previous date, we would love for you to join us as our guest.

This unique event is entirely FREE for you to attend – reserve your place here.

  • Meet new suppliers, based on your business requirements and upcoming projects
  • Attend a series of insightful and inspirational seminar sessions
  • Networking with like-minded peers
  • Enjoy complimentary hospitality, including overnight accommodation, plus all meals and refreshments
  • Receive an invitation to our networking dinner

Also, as part of our commitment to you, we will endeavour to keep you updated on all information regarding the event.

If you are able to make the new dates, then please RSVP here.

Do you specialise in Energy Management? We want to hear from you!
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Each month on FM Briefing we’re shining the spotlight on a different part of the facilities management market – and in May we’ll be focussing on Energy Management. It’s all part of our ‘Recommended’ editorial feature, designed to help FM industry buyers find the best products and services available today. So, if you specialise in Energy Management solutions and would like to be included as part of this exciting new shop window, we’d love to hear from you – for more info, contact Paige Aitken on p.aitken@forumevents.co.uk. Here’s our full features list:
  • May – Energy Management
  • June – Security
  • Jul – Air Conditioning
  • Aug – Waste Management
  • Sep – Asset Management
  • Oct – FM Software
  • Nov – Business Continuity
  • Dec – Fire & Safety Equipment