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Features April 2008
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Facilities
Show 2008
 Now
in its 9th year, The Facilities Show is the must-attend event
for all facilities professionals and building managers. Supported
by the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM), this
year’s show will deliver more to the facilities management
industry than ever before.
The Facilities Show 2008 will return with a packed programme of
free educational seminars. For the first time, The Facilities
Show will have two seminar theatres, one focusing on the day-to-to
role of the facilities manager, and the other focusing on energy
and waste management.
The Facilities Show 2008 will include a ‘green’ conference
for the first time this year. ‘The Sustainable FM Academy’
will feature a number of environmental themed sessions taking
place over three days providing visitors with the opportunity
to debate the two vital topics in every major building - energy
and waste management. Each day will begin with presentations from
expert keynote speakers, followed by a series of educational presentations
and finish with panel debates, featuring the country’s most
respected FM professionals. The Carbon Trust, Connaught, Royal
Sun Alliance, Land Securities, Trillium, Amaryllis, Sims Group
and Charterhouse Energy are just some of the major companies taking
part.
‘The Facilities Show Seminar Theatre’ will look at
the changing role of the facilities manager, legislation compliance
and site protection, with presentations from leading industry
authorities including the British Security Industry Association,
Service Works, Expolink, Reloc8, IM Serv, Asset Skills and Dalkia.
Ian R Fielder, CEO of the British Institute of Facilities Management
says, “The BIFM is pleased to support The Facilities Show
again in 2008. Every year the event delivers new and innovative
ideas to create efficient, effective and environmental workplaces
in a unique business environment. With FMs constantly looking
to refresh their knowledge, we look forward to the return of the
seminar theatre and the programme it has to offer. We are especially
happy to support the launch of the new Sustainable FM Academy
and look forward to the content it will deliver on arguably the
most important issue in the industry today.”
Vincent Brain, event manager of The Facilities Show comments,
“Our aim is that all attendees will not only leave the exhibition
with knowledge but most importantly, solutions that can be applied
to their own businesses. As the role of the facilities manager
continues to evolve it becomes even more important for them to
have a platform to learn about changes in workplace management.”
The Facilities Show adjoins security event IFSEC and Safety &
Health Expo, all taking place at the NEC Birmingham from 12/13-15
May 2008. For more information on the event and to register for
free entry, please visit www.thefacilitiesshow.com. Companies
interested in exhibiting at the 2008 event should contact Darren
Gilchriest, at dgilchriest@cmpi.biz or on +44 (0) 20 7921 8087.
Unacceptable
performance by refurbishment sector
 We
follow up with news of the inspections we reported in January
This comes after The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried
out over 1000 spot checks of refurbishment sites across Great
Britain during February as part of its rolling inspection programme
targeting poor performing sectors in the construction industry.
"We stopped work on site immediately during approximately
300 inspections because we felt there was a real possibility that
life would be lost or ruined through serious injury. Our inspectors
were appalled at the blatant disregard for basic health and safety
precautions on refurbishment sites across Great Britain.
HSE will not tolerate negligence or poor safety standards on construction
sites. It is totally unacceptable that so many lives have been
put at risk and we will take all action necessary to protect workers,
including closing sites and prosecuting those responsible. The
construction industry should take ownership of this issue and
do more to tackle poor standards on sites", was Mr Podger's
stark warning to the refurbishment sector.
HSE's construction division reported that basic safety precautions
were being flouted and issues such as work at height remain a
huge concern. Over half of the enforcement action taken during
this inspection initiative was against dangerous work at height,
which last year led to the death of 23 workers.
Last year over half of the workers who died on construction sites
worked in refurbishment, and the number of deaths on refurbishment
sites rose by 61%.
During the spot checks, HSE inspectors looked at whether:
- Jobs that involved working at height had been identified and
properly planned to ensure that appropriate precautions were in
place
- Equipment was correctly installed / assembled, inspected and
maintained and used properly
- Sites were well organised, to avoid trips and falls
- Walkways and stairs were free from obstructions
- Work areas were clear of unnecessary materials and waste
- The work force was made aware of risk control measures
Some of the findings:
- Refurbishment of a former hotel – most of the flooring
had been removed leaving the risk of falling 3 storeys down through
the building
- Lack of fall protection during conversion work
- Domestic stepladder on site – broken
- Complete lack of edge protection
During the summer inspection initiative in 2007, HSE inspected
1586 contractors on construction refurbishment sites throughout
June and July. Previous inspection initiatives included the Fit
Out Campaign in 2005 and the Watch Your Step initiative in 2006.
Reducing the number of injuries and deaths from trips and falls
is a priority for HSE to help the construction industry meet its
accident target by 2010. The Health and Safety Commission (HSC)
published its Strategy for workplace health and safety in Great
Britain to 2010 and beyond on 23 February 2004. The strategy aims
to promote a vision of health and safety as a cornerstone of a
civilised society and to achieve a record of workplace health
and safety that leads the world. The strategy is available at:
www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/hsc/strategy.htm
HSE’s latest annual work related fatal injury statistics
can be viewed at: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatals.htm
Amaryllis
furnishes terminal 5
 Amaryllis
is currently completing one of the largest furniture projects
in the UK through its contract with British Airways for furnishings
for Premium Passenger Lounges together with staff accommodation
areas within the new Terminal 5 building at London Heathrow airport.
Due to be opened at the end of March, the £4.3bn high-tech
Terminal 5 will offer British Airways customers unparalleled standards
of passenger comfort and convenience with smoother check-in processes,
a state-of-the-art baggage management system and the largest lounge
complex in the world.
FIRST, Club World and Club Europe travellers together with Gold
or Silver Executive Club members will have access to Terminal
5’s exclusive Galleries lounges. Designed by Davies+Baron,
the lounges offer sleek contemporary interiors with a touch of
uniquely British style. Providing all of the style and luxury
of a modern boutique hotel, British Airways’ aim was to
create a place so relaxing it could feel more like a destination
than merely a place to wait.
Awarded in November 2006, Amaryllis is appointed as British Airways’
provider of furnishings and associated services for its global
passenger lounges as well as staff accommodation in the UK. Working
closely with British Airways and its support network, Amaryllis
developed furniture solutions from a wide range of manufacturers
which would reflect the design brief whilst also meeting the stringent
technical and environmental specifications and, not least, budget
requirements.
Amaryllis has been responsible for procurement, ordering, consolidation
and scheduling of product deliveries together with on-site installation.
Working alongside the various project management and construction
teams, Amaryllis has had to overcome the restrictions of working
within a highly complex and frenetic environment whilst still
meeting critical delivery deadlines.
“We commenced the project by presenting British Airways
with a range of product options for each of the areas within the
Galleries lounge complex,” explains Mark Draper, Contract
Manager, Amaryllis. “Prior to presenting our proposals,
our Procurement team undertook a rigorous tender exercise in order
to ensure that all products were aesthetically appropriate for
the overall design concept but also conformed to the necessary
technical standards.”
“Following numerous meetings and presentations, we were
able to finalise the schedule and commence the immense task of
ordering the product, ensuring that the correct fabric was allocated
to each individual piece, managing security clearances for on-site
personnel as well as arranging deliveries and installation teams
to meet an exacting timetable.”
Terminal 5 consists of one main terminal and two satellite terminals
that altogether cover a space as large as London’s Hyde
Park - that’s five times the size of
Terminal 4.
“In order to reduce on-site traffic and maximise efficiency,
we consolidated deliveries within our own 150,000 sq. ft warehouse
prior to delivery to T5,” continues Mark Draper, “Once
onsite, we were often required to manually transport furniture
across the terminal complex whilst ensuring minimal damage.”
As well as supplying all of the furnishings for British Airways’
Galleries Lounge complex, Amaryllis also undertook all of the
procurement activity together with installation for the staff
accommodation areas.
“We are extremely proud to have been associated with this
prestigious project,” says David King, Chief Executive,
Amaryllis. “The complexity and scope of this contract demonstrates
the strength of our teamwork approach with contributions from
many different departments within our organisation – from
contract management, procurement, purchasing and design through
to warehousing, logistics, installation, quality assurance and,
of course, finance.”
Amaryllis’ suppliers for the project included over 75 different
manufacturers offering a wide range of products from soft seating,
tables, desking, filing and storage as well as lighting and ‘iconic’
feature pieces and custom designed solutions.
As part of the contract, Amaryllis is also responsible for the
environmental management of all surplus furnishings. This is achieved
through its specialist operation, Amaryllis Environmental Services
(AES). AES is a full service recycling, renovation, reuse and
disposal company specialising in office furniture & equipment.
Through its ‘demanufacturing’ process which allows
maximum recycling, AES can guarantee that less than 4% of redundant
products will be sent to landfill or incineration.
Saving
money, improving health in estate management
 The
most common category of occupational illness in the UK is musculoskeletal
disorders (MSDs) – bad backs, overuse injuries, strains
and wear and tear injuries. Around 1 million people are affected
each year, with significant cost implications for industry, aside
from the personal costs borne by the individuals affected.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has long made the case for
taking a proactive approach to reducing MSD risks to protect people
and avoid costs. The phrase ‘good health is good business’
is well known, but published reports on the actual returns on
investment that have been achieved are thin on the ground.
To add to the body of evidence that managing MSD risks makes good
business sense, the HSE recently commissioned Hu-Tech Ergonomics
to produce some 20 case studies with full cost benefits analysis
from a variety of industry sectors1. This job required a team
approach: the industry partners, the research team of ergonomists
who helped uncover the data needed and wrote up the case studies,
and a Chartered Accountant who set up the process for working
out the costs and benefits and checked the figures in the final
editions.
The case studies varied in complexity and size from simple reorganisation
of the way that jobs were done to lengthy projects involving redesigned
workplaces and equipment, and high capital outlay. In each case
the aim was to reduce MSD risks that had come to the attention
of management.
Costs and benefits
The costs of carrying out the intervention were compared with
the financial benefits of the improved system of work. It was
necessary therefore to know what conditions were like before the
initiatives were made - something that proved to be a challenge
in some of the case studies. Typical conditions that would change
included:
- sickness absence due to MSDs
- productivity before and after the intervention
- staff turnover
- quality of output
- materials waste – both of these last points reflecting
better quality of output commonly arising out of better working
conditions
Changes to these conditions could usually be quantified in financial
terms. The costs saved and benefits realised were part of the
story – we also needed to consider the costs of tackling
the MSD risks and acknowledge that the money spent on that was
not spent on something else.
Typical intervention costs might include:
- the wages of those involved in investigating the problem and
determining solutions
- the cost of implementing the solutions: refurbishment, purchase
of equipment, etc
- sometimes there would be a drop in productivity initially as
personnel got used to a new way of working
To help establish the costs where sufficient records had not been
kept, we made use of the HSE’s ‘ready reckoners’
that provide generic costs for ill health and accidents in different
industry sectors2.
Calculating the return on investment
Once the costs and the benefits had been established, the value
of the intervention was calculated. The return in investment is
the period of time before the benefits begin to cover the costs.
For example, if the changes saved £10 a week and cost £100
to implement, the return on investment period would be 10 weeks.
In the case studies, the return on investment periods ranged from
a few days to 47 months.
To take account of the fact that the money was not used for another
purpose, the net present value was calculated. If the money would
have earned more in interest than it makes the company because
of the initiative, then the initiative would have been unsuccessful
in financial terms. Under advice from the accountant, a discounted
rate if return of 8% was used: this means that the cost of financing
the project by borrowing the money was 8% per year. The longer
the initiative is maintained, the more opportunity there is to
make a return on the investment. It was assumed that the intervention
would last for three years before there would be changes that
affected the cost benefits analysis. For larger scale projects,
a five year period was assumed.
Further observations
We found that companies usually took action to reduce MSD risks
when health problems started to emerge among the workforce. Companies
that took a more proactive approach to reducing MSD risks tended
not to have easily accessible ‘before’ data because
health problems related to MSDs were avoided in the first place.
Unfortunately, this made the generation of cost benefits case
studies difficult. It was also difficult to say for certain that
benefits were due to the intervention, and not due to some other
cause.
Case studies
Work organisation in estate maintenance
Around 100 people were employed by the organisation to undertake
a variety of estate maintenance work across a large area of land.
The work was physically demanding and was carried out in rugged
and often remote locations. There was a high level of sickness
absence and MSDs were beginning to emerge.
- Figure 1. Preparing the ground for building a dry stone wall,
pre-training.
- Figure 2. Handling heavy stones on uneven and wet surfaces.
A series of risk assessments was carried out, and regular team
talks were held to see how jobs could be made more efficient.
Training courses were improved to match job demands.
Changes included using small dumper trucks to deliver chippings
for footpaths to the point of use, but leaving the dumper in place
so that shovelling could be done fro waist height rather than
off the ground. Shovelling jobs were done more quickly and are
much less fatiguing. Reports of back pain began to fall.
Prior to the initiatives, dry stone walling was organised among
the estate workers so that one person would be responsible for
digging out the footings, another for fetching stones and a third
person would be responsible for laying them. The risk assessment
showed that there was a risk of injury due to overuse of the same
muscle groups. After the intervention, the work was reorganised
so that each person had responsibility for all the jobs along
a 20m section of wall. The job rotation helped to reduce risk.
Time off through musculoskeletal disorder related absence has
fallen by 20% following these interventions. This has provided
an estimated additional £6,720 per year of labour time.
Lifting stone using mechanical muscle
Building and maintaining pathways using stone was a relatively
frequent occurrence. Access by vehicle to many of the locations
on the large estate was difficult however because of boulders
and loose scree. As a result stone was moved by hand which involved
several people, and was hazardous and fatiguing.
Figure 1. Manually moving stone
One suggestion was to use a helicopter to transport stone from
its original location to the point of use. The stone could be
placed in large sacks and delivered very quickly by the helicopter,
saving hours of work. It was found that using a helicopter to
move stone weighing ? tonne or more was found to be more cost
effective than other forms of handling, if the distance was greater
than 10m.
Reports Referenced
1 The full report is published in the HSE’s Research report
series and can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr491.pdf
2 HSE Ready Reckoner: www.hse.gov.uk/costs
Lone
Star Protection System
 We
ask a lot from our workers when we send them out to do their jobs
alone
Away from the office, they face difficult and stressful situations
without physical support from their colleagues. Whether on a country
lane or a city estate, every dark footpath potentially holds a
danger, every corner and stairway an unwelcome surprise, every
door knock an aggressive response.
The PC-based system can monitor many workers at multiple sites
and for a low capital outlay, its software provides access to
all mobile phones, with the lowest ongoing costs currently available.
Systems can be configured for workforces in excess of 5,000 workers.
Easy-to-use
The system uses mobile phone text messaging with built-in safety
procedures and its reliable, tamper-proof and simple to use fail-safe
operation keeps everything under your control. Your workers book
themselves in by sending an SMS message or they can be signed
on by the monitoring supervisor. Notification is received back
confirming duty details and each worker is booked on for a specific
time, with check calls being made if the spell away from the office
is a particularly long one.
Alarm activates
If a worker fails to check back in or book off, a reminder message
is sent and if they don't respond within five minutes an alarm
is activated. There is also a panic button feature, which can
summon help without any need to speak. Such a comprehensive personal
alarm system means your workers need never feel alone again. Lone
Star is the closest thing to having a colleague watch over you.
Case Study
Astraline Services
Safety and security, no matter how small or large your workforce
Astraline Services is part of the highly-regarded Johnnie Johnson
Housing Trust, which provides accommodation and care services
in the North-west with over 4,300 homes in the general, retirement
and special needs sector.From a dedicated call centre near Stockport,
its Astraline division provides 24-hour alarm monitoring, mobile
wardens and out-of-hours repairs for the Trust, and also offers
its services to other clients in the public and private sectors.
It provides 24-hour support, 365-days a year to a wide-ranging
client base who need to ensure their staff working out in the
field are safe whenever they are on duty.
Our solution:
Autopage's Lone Star lone worker protection system was installed
at the Astraline call centre in 2005 and is currently used by
around 150 field workers, with another 50 due to come on line
shortly. Project manager Alan Usher says Lone Star has proved
to be so flexible and easy to operate, Astraline can tailor it
for use by a wide range of customers with widely varying levels
of staff. "Clients using it range from a 24-hour delivery
service visiting unoccupied addresses at night, to a paint factory
where workers operate in a loud environment and would be unable
to check in with a voice message," he says. Workers out in
the field log onto the monitored system via text message using
their own mobile phones. If they then fail to reply to messages,
or don't check in or sign off at preset times, an alarm is triggered
in the call centre and the Astraline staff will take action. Workers
can also hit a panic button which can summon help without any
need to speak.
The Windows-based system is highly reliable and easy to back up.
Astraline runs a copy on a dedicated laptop so if office systems
go down it can simply be plugged in elsewhere and service is resumed.
Its flexibility also allows different reporting templates to be
set up for individual clients and as all events are logged, company
records can be maintained. Employers are able to meet their Health
and Safety obligations in safeguarding employees, and the staff
feel safer knowing that someone is aware of their whereabouts
throughout their shift.
Alan is also pleased with the service and back up he has received
from Autopage: "I can't speak too highly of them. If I have
had any issues or questions, their support is always fantastic.
"It really is a very useful resource for our users. It is
so easy to operate, I can show someone how to use it in five minutes
and, as they use their own mobiles, set up and running costs are
extremely low."
This and more information is available at www.loneworker.com
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