Topical Issues
Are you aware of the following:
Data Protection Act 1998
The Act governs the use of personal information by businesses and other organisations. If your business requires you to store people's personal details, such as customer or employee records, then you must comply with the Act.
If you need help and assistance with this give us a call we offer expert advice and can:
1. Conduct a review of your organisation - to confirm your compliance - or identify any areas requiring action.
2. Ensure that you
MINIMISE any adverse impact of the Act upon your business whilst ensuring you meet all the requirements.
Environmental Issues
1. Free energy audits and advice
Health & safety Issues
1. Five times more die on the road!
2. The revised Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations
3. The revised Control of Noise at Work Regulations
4) The Vibration at Work Regulations
Quality Issues
1. ISO 9000:2000 The Quality Management Standard
2. QS9000 & ISO/TS16949:2002 (Automotive)
3. AS EN 9100 (Aerospace)
Useful Links
Go to the foot of the page for LINKS
Environmental Issues
1. FREE energy audits and advice , are you interested in making bottom line savings by reducing your energy bills? Read on!
Government sponsored FREE energy audits and advice, (up to 10 days), are available via the Carbon Trust.
Keith Brisley Associates and Envantage facilitate these services if you wish to know more, read on and/or get in touch via our Enquiry form!
What is the Carbon Trust?
The Carbon Trust Survey programme is funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
How can we help?
The Carbon Trust provides a range of services helping you identify, and then implement opportunities for energy efficiency to save you money and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas. Our current services include:
Telephone helpline advice dial freephone 0800 58 57 94.
Surveys of energy saving opportunities.
Advice on incorporating energy savings into the design of new buildings or refurbishments.
Interest free Energy-Efficiency loans of up to £100,000 for investing in energy efficiency for SMEs .
Free publications on saving energy and staff awareness posters and stickers available through the Helpline and Website.
Website www.thecarbontrust.co.uk/energy.
Training events.
Most of these services are free of charge, but not all are available to all types and sizes of organisation. This note provides details about our programme of site visits for assisting organisations to become more energy efficient. A separate application form is available for organisations wishing to obtain advice on design of new or refurbished buildings.
Am I eligible for a site survey?
All organisations with an annual energy bill (cumulative spend on gas, electricity and other fuels) greater than £50,000 (and a commitment to act upon the advice received as far as is practicable), are eligible to receive a site visit to identify energy saving opportunities. The table overleaf illustrates the support available. The thresholds shown are flexible and individual applications will be considered on their merits. The Carbon Trust does not guarentee to provide any particular type of visit.
Annual Energy Bill Survey support
<£50,000 Not eligible for a survey but telephone advice on energy efficiency is available from our Helpline call 0800 58 57 94.
£50,000 - £5,000,000 Up to 10 days of survey by a consultant to develop an action plan of energy saving oportunities tailored to your needs.
>£5,000,000 As above, including possible Partnerships with the Carbon Trust for organisations with the potential and commitment to achieve substantial savings in carbon dioxide emissions.
What types of site surveys are available?
For sites and organisations with an annual energy bill of greater than about £50,000 a range of site surveys are available from the Carbon Trust tailored to your specific circumstances and needs. Surveys that are free of charge include:
Initial Opportunities Assessments For organisations with limited experience of implementing energy efficiency. This survey type is designed to provide you with advice on how to take the first steps to cutting energy costs and consumption. The action plan will identify cost effective energy saving opportunities on the site, most of which will pay for themselves within a year.
Specific Opportunities Assessments For organisations that have already implemented a range of energy efficiency measures and wish to build upon their experience. The consultant will develop an action plan that provides a more detailed evaluation of specific engineering systems (e.g. refrigeration, compressed air, HVAC, boilerhouse management etc..), building fabric issues and process energy usage.
Energy Management Assessments For organisations with considerable experience of implementing energy efficiency measures that are only interested in improving energy management practices to sustain the improvements already achieved.
Multiple Site Opportunities Assessments For suitable organisations with more than five sites, the Carbon Trust will undertake surveys at a sample of sites in order to produce an action plan to reduce energy use across the organisation as a whole. Organisations must have a central energy management process.
CHP Advice Specific advice to organisations interested in use of CHP (Combined Heat and Power). Advice including initial feasibility studies, design and project implementation for both new developments and proposed modifications to existing schemes.
Partnerships For large organisations with the potential and commitment to achieve substantial savings in carbon dioxide emissions the Carbon Trust can provide a bespoke programme of support. At present, the Carbon Trust only offer Partnerships to around 120 organisations each year.
Each of the site survey products listed above is free of charge. In addition, the Carbon Trust also part-funds Detailed Surveys. A Detailed Survey investigates the feasibility and potential savings from implementing a specific energy saving opportunity, such as replacement of equipment with significant energy consumption. If you are interested in receiving a Detailed Survey please contact the Helpline for further information about this scheme.
Health & Safety Issues
1. Five times more die on the road!, The HSE advise that circa 1250 employees die whilst driving at work - this compares unfavourably with the number of fatalities for all other causes (less than 250)! Have you identified this as a concern in your business? How many of your staff drive 'on business' or as their prime task?
Keith Brisley Associates can provide assistance with this - including driver training - to reduce the risk to your employees and your business!.
Further information about this subject can be found at
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg382.pdf
2. The revised Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations, which came into effect 21st May 2004 require employers/tenants/owners of industrial and commercial property to conduct an
Asbestos survey and establish a
Management plan to control exposure of employees and others to asbestos.
Further information about asbestos can be found on the HSE website
http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/
3. The revised Control of Noise at Work Regulations, which come into effect 6th April in 2006 will present difficulties for employers who previously met the legal mimimum requirements because the revised regulations reduce the first action levels significantly, to 80 decibels (dbA).
Further information about Noise can be found on the HSE website at
http://www.hse.gov.uk/noise
4. The Vibration at Work Regulations , which which came into effect 6th July 2005 impose limits on the vibration levels which employees are subjected to eg Hand Arm Vibration being limited to 2.5/5.0 m/s
2 and whole body vibration to 0.5/1.15 m/s
2
Further information about Vibration can be found on the HSE website at
http://www.hse.gov.uk/vibration
In relation to the above
Keith Brisley Associates can provide a one stop shop, a comprehensive service of:
- Asbestos survey/risk assessment/management plan including advice and assistance with asbestos encapsulation/maintenance or removal.
- Noise/vibration measurement advice/management plan including noise and vibration reduction measures, acoustic enclosures and strategies.
If you need further advice or assistance please call
Keith Brisley Associates 01663 749807 or 07779 782 306 or
Click here to email us.
5. Quality System Issues
1. ISO9000:2000 Do you wish to secure bottom line benefits for your organisation? Do you wish to secure new business by opening up market opportunities previously unavailable to you?
2. QS9000 to be replaced by ISO/TS169494:2002 The clock is ticking on the demise of QS9000! QS9000 registration will cease to be valid from 15th Dec 2006.).
Further information can be found on the BSI website at
http://www.bsiamericas.com/Automotive/ISOTS16949/TSQandA.xalter
Are you well on the way to implementing ISO/TS16949?
Suppliers to Automotive customers will come under increasing pressure to secure ISO/TS16949 and ISO14001.
3. AS/EN 9100 If you supply or wish to supply Aerospace companies you may well require the Aerospace Quality Management Standard and NADCAP approvals.
In relation to the above
Keith Brisley Associates can provide further information in order to clarify your position and or assist you to move towards securing these standards at a
pace to suit YOU.
Useful links:
The following links to related websites may be of interest however, if they raise more questions than answers you know who can help!
If you have any questions or require any further assistance with any (or all) of the above - please call
Keith Brisley Associates on 01663 749807 or 07779 782 306 or
Click here to email us.
If you follow the links below and speak with our colleagues - please mention that you first saw the link to their page here - on
Keith Brisley Associates website.
1. Data Protection links:
http://www.ico.gov.uk
http://www.d-pap.co.uk
2. Health & Safety links:
http://www.hse.gov.uk
http://www.
hsebooks.co.uk/Books/
http://www.iosh.co..uk
3. Environmental links:
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/netregs/?lang=_e.
http://www.iema.net
4. Quality links:
http://www.industryforum.co.uk/
http://www.sbac.co.uk/
http://www.iqa.org/
