The J A D Associates Blog

Case Study: JAD's HR services for the Lincolnshire Traveller Initiative

2015-07-09T06:54:00.000-07:00

Jane Riley, on behalf of JAD Associates (Improvement Solutions) Ltd, was invited by Lincolnshire Traveller Initiative (LTI), in February 2015, to provide HR expertise in the development of an appropriate HR framework suitable for LTI’s needs and to facilitate transition to this framework in the light of a revised organisational structure in respect of current staff employed.

The LTI was formed approximately 15 years ago because Travellers’ were not accessing full time education in Gainsborough; They set up a parent and toddler group in Gainsborough, obtained some lottery funding, registered as a Charity and employed one play group worker and it grew from there. It developed to incorporate Lincoln and then funding was received which enabled the organisation to expand to county-wide.

Jane Riley of J A D Associaltes

The organisation developed in a very fluid manner due to the nature of the funding streams coming in. A large majority of the funding is restricted whereby the sponsor sets conditions on how the monies should be spent.

Funding is generally time-limited and aimed at delivery of a specific piece of work. Whilst expansion therefore brought great achievements and outcomes, it nevertheless resulted in a seemingly chaotic organisational structure which developed with no clear boundaries or accountabilities for staff and no performance metrics against which the organisation could be measured. This led to staff being unsure of their responsibilities and some potential leadership and management issues as there appeared to be no clear mission statement or objectives to which the organisation was working.

At the time of JAD’s engagement there were six Trustees. The roles and responsibilities of each Trustee were being developed and more clearly documented and agreed. The organisation was also transitioning from a Charity to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation which also reflected how the organisation had expanded; this move would also facilitate the implementation of a new organisational structure and constitution.

Jane met with two of the Trustees and proposed development of an HR framework in the form of an employee handbook and implementation of revised contracts of employment which should be reviewed annually in the light of most staff being employed on a fixed term basis. Jane developed the handbook and contracts via regular contact with the Trustees and was available for telephone support during the implementation phase.

Paul Boucher, Director said that the project “was completed comfortably within the agreed timescale” and that LTI were “very comfortable with the content and structure”. He confirmed that the project represented “good value and a good investment for our organisation”. He said he would recommend JAD Associates to other organisations.

Find out more about LTI on their website here: Lincolnshire Traveller Initiative.

JAD can guide you through Employment or Workplace issues. They can also improve your human 'resources' through Management Training or Team Development, equipping managers to manage, and encouraging departmental teams to team-up. Click through to JAD's website for full details on their Human Resources Management

SSiP training goes from strength to strength

2015-06-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

David Riley, SSiP Trainer

JAD Associates’ Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSiP) Assessor Training has been running now since April 2011.

JAD has run a total of 74 courses so far with 615 delegates successfully completing the course. Courses have been held all over the UK from Edinburgh to Cardiff and Kent, Lincoln and Birmingham.

The programme was revised earlier this year to take into account changes in the Construction (Design and Management) 2015 regulations. The CDM Regulations as revised in 2015 removed the formal requirements for a stage 1 and stage 2 assessments as detailed in the CDM 2007 Approved Code of Practice replacing this with the requirement that duty holders assess the organisational capability of those working on a project.

This is a highly intensive and focused SSiP Assessor Training Programme

The SSiP terms of reference were modified to reflect the previous ACOP Stage 1 requirements, requirements also published in PAS 91.

Public courses are being scheduled and booked through to January 2016 (see SSip Training Page for details), as well as two in-house courses taking place in Stansted and the Midlands.

David Riley on the Loxham Webinar Panel, World Quality Day #WQD14

2014-11-10T07:23:00.004-08:00

David Riley, Director of J A D Associates

J A D Associates Director David Riley is delighted to announce that he will be on the panel at the Loxham Webinar this Wednesday (12th November), as part of World Quality Day.

David will be answering questions in a live Q&A session along with other panel members, focusing on the challenges the industry faces and how current quality professionals are moving quality up the agenda

The purpose of World Quality Day is to promote awareness of quality around the world and encourage development and prosperity.

Specifically, the Loxham webinar will explore the CQI’s new Competency Framework in practice and the panel will be discussing how individuals can use the framework for career development and how employers can develop their own framework.

David brings to the panel over 30 years’ experience in engineering, 20 years of which have been spent in quality management. He has been responsible for continual improvement at several organisations, which saw him introducing ISO 9001 to international businesses across the construction, engineering, pharmaceutical and nuclear sectors. David is a proactive member of the CQI, among numerous activities he is part of the CQI Advisory Council, which acts as an ideas creation body and ultimate guardian of integrity and ethics for the institute.

Taking Part in the Loxham Webinar

Members CQI or IRCA can register to join the webinar by following this link:

Webinar Registration "A Quality Career: It’s in your hands"

People can also join the World Quality Day the discussion on Twitter using the #WQD14 hashtag or on the CQI Linkedin Group, found at this link: Chartered Quality Institute on Linkedin.

Click here to see a live search of #WQD14 on Twitter.

More information on the panel can be found on the here on the Chartered Quality Institute website here World Quality Day 2014

David will be joined on the panel by Dave Armstrong, Head of Profession, Chartered Quality Institute and Amanda Pinkney, Deputy Quality Manager, Anglian Water Services.

You can contact David directly via the J A D Associates Contact Page

The Impact Of The Qualification Route For Occupational Therapists

2014-10-10T04:30:00.001-07:00

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Project For The Delivery Of An Overview Of The Impact Of The Qualification Route For Occupational Therapists On Practice Upon Registration

Background

Following the workforce planning exercise in the East Midlands a Strategy Education Review (SER) Group was set up by Health Education East Midlands (HEEM) in order to review the current delivery of Occupational Therapy (OT) training across the Region in order to enable education commissioning decisions to be made based on future workforce needs and to align programmes with care to the patient across the health and social care sectors. The review supported engagement from services and improved decisions. One of the outcomes of SER was the need to commission a report to review the evidence of the impact of the qualification route for Occupational Therapists on practice upon registration. JAD Associates (Improvement Solutions) Ltd (JAD) were appointed to carry out this piece of work.

Purpose of the Impact Review

To provide an independent and objective review of HEEM’s Occupational Therapy education commissions in the East Midlands with a view to providing a full report on evidence of the impact of this training on the career pathways and patient care. HEEM wanted to understand what was the difference experienced by service and patients between the Occupational Therapy programmes commissioned across the East Midlands. As the contracts with the Universities are aligned to the HEEM education commissioning cycle and decisions on the programmes to commission for 2015/16 are made late August/September 2014, HEEM requested that this work be completed by end July 2014 in order that it contributed to the evidence used for the decisions for this round of education commissioning.

Methodology

The project timescale was very short due to the next commissioning cycle starting late August. JAD therefore spoke to key University Programme Leads as well as representatives from Service, a representative from the College of OT and conducted extensive email liaison with both University and Health Education East Midlands Staff. The key deliverables included a Programme Matrix which mapped the programmes of all the pre-registration OT courses in the East Midlands and the results of an on-line survey of both Students and Graduates of OT, and Managers of OT Services, as well as a full report on findings and evidence gathered.

Survey responses were exceptional and included 191 Students of which 55% were current Students and 45% were past Students. Of 90 Manager responses, over 50% of the respondents stated that they were OT placement coordinators or educators. Just less than 15% were Service Managers and around 10% were University Lecturers or Teaching Staff. Over 70% of the Manager respondents worked within the NHS; 37% in NHS acute and 27% in NHS community care

JAD presented the results of the surveys by answering the questions in HEEM’s Specification under the three headings of Student, Impact on Service and Employment.

Outcomes

The review did present some very useful information surrounding Service perceptions of the outputs of the current programmes in the East Midlands and Student views on the efficacy of the various programmes. Overall JAD believes that the results of the review were encouraging because they demonstrated that OT education provision is well valued and that it caters for a wide range of entry routes into the profession. In terms of the balance between the BSc and MSc programmes, however, the evidence did not highlight any major differences, and in fact the employment routes appeared to be very similar for both.

Several recommendations for improvements to the programmes were put forward by both Managers and Students, particularly in relation to improving the quality of practice placement experience that could be considered in the 2015/16 commissioning cycle.

Team members on this project:

Jane Riley:

Having spent several recent years working within the National Health Service, mainly in a medical staffing capacity, Jane has extensive knowledge of the medical workforce, including terms and conditions of employment of all grades, as well as experience of Junior Doctors' Hours, Agenda for Change and the Knowledge and Skills Framework.

You can contact Jane to discuss the points raised in this case study on 01673 843059 or by using the J A D Associates online contact form here.

Learning beyond registration (LBR) training evaluation project (2013)

2014-09-25T06:01:00.000-07:00

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J A D Associates (Improvement Solutions) Ltd was appointed to carry out a review of professional post-registration education across an NHS Local Education and Training Board (LETB) with a view to informing future commissioning of this programme of education. J A D had support from the Higher Education Academy throughout the project.

J A D spoke to or met with a wide range of representatives from all stakeholder organisations, including Local Education and Training Board (LETB) Managers, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Local Education Training Councils (LETCs) and Trust LBR Leads.

The key deliverables included:

A SWOT Analysis of the LBR provision in the Region
The outputs from an on-line survey of both LBR Students and their Managers
A flow chart giving J A D’s impression of how the process worked based on data gathered
A listing of high uptake modules, including a sampling across several HEIs of modules paid, including some modules not reported in the LETB annual LBR Utilisation Report

The overriding impression that J A D have come away with following this review is that LBR training provision was highly valued within the region. Notwithstanding, however, there did appear to be a whole wealth of historical legacy issues and perceptions which were influencing how the portfolio was perceived and being utilised and which were probably the result of many NHS reconfigurations over recent years.

Team members on this project:

Jane Riley:

David Riley

David first qualified as an engineer 30 years ago and has experience of general engineering and manufacturing, construction sites and heavily regulated and secure nuclear pharmaceutical sites.

David has wide experience of Environmental, Health & Safety and Quality System rollout on all types of sites and the undertaking of specific projects such as introducing effective audit programmes and the training of a field workforce in their health and safety responsibilities.

You can contact David or Jane to discuss the points raised in this case study on 01673 843059 or by using the J A D Associates online contact form here.

50th SSiP Assessor Training Course Delivered!

2014-02-06T06:11:00.002-08:00

David Riley of J A D Associates has just delivered his 50th SSiP Assessor Training course, to 10 delegates in Swindon (pictured). This landmark session now means that just over 400 people have attended the course since its launch in February 2011.

This highly intensive and focused SSIP Assessor Training Programme concentrates on the principles and techniques that are required when carrying out assessments against The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, Stage One Core Criteria. This course is registered with the International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA). SSIP have stated that all SSIP assessors appointed or employed by SSIP Registered Scheme Members must have completed this training by 31 March 2013. Full details of the course and forthcoming dates can be found on the SSiP Training Page of the J A D Website.

More Details on J A D Associate's SSiP Course

When the revised Construction (Design & Management) Regulations came into force in April 2007, a concept known as Stage 1 Core Criteria was introduced. This criterion is used for assessing health and safety competence of contractors and consultants working in the construction industry. Such an assessment is often referred to as a pre-qualification scheme.

There are currently a large number of pre-qualification schemes serving the construction industry. The CDM based competence criteria therefore provided an opportunity for there to be mutual recognition between these H&S pre-qualification schemes.

To facilitate mutual recognition between the participating health and safety pre-qualification schemes the SSiP forum developed. This, it was agreed, would remove the need for multiple registrations by construction organisations against a similar set of requirements.

It was also anticipated that the scheme would actively advise and influence clients as to the suitable interpretation of H&S standards in UK schemes. This, it was hoped, would improve standards within the construction industry in general.

An important element in the mutual recognition of Stage 1 assessments is ensuring a consistent approach by assessors working for SSiP members. To support this, the International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA) has developed, in collaboration with SSiP, and with the kind support of the Health & Safety Executive, a certification programme for assessors working under the SSiP umbrella. This certification focuses on the core competence requirements that are common to assessors working for all SSiP members, and recognises that the assessment processes and additional requirements differ from member to member.

This course is a critical requirement in the process of individuals becoming certified as IRCA registered SSiP assessors.

J A D Associates Launch Project Management & Facilitation Service

2014-01-08T07:16:00.000-08:00

J A D Associates have rung the changes this new year with the launch of a wholly new service: project management and facilitation.

Director at the company Jane Riley explained how the new service would work: "From enabling a variety of stake holders to work towards the same goal, to offering expert research and reviews, to providing independent, investigative methodologies, our approach is direct involvement, though we can work within a formally recognised project management system if required."

J A D's direct involvement approach brings with it several advantages:

1. Maintaining visibility of the outcomes

2. Tracking progress

3. Responding to project plan alterations that become evident during data gathering activities

4. Keeping costs visible and manageable

5. Reacting quickly to changing priorities as findings develop

6. No requirement for extensive software set up time or specialist resources

Working With Existing PMS: Prince2 and Siemens 10 Steps

J A D can also work within established project management systems if required, having direct access to a network of specialist professionals as partners in The Synatus Network (a consulting, interim management and coaching group).

Project Management for the Public Sector, including NHS

J A D Associates regularly work with the NHS on a variety of projects, including projects where the team has:

• Developed and facilitated implementation of an action plan to assure the quality of the educational environment for nursing and midwifery students at an NHS Trust in Lincolnshire

• Project managed an adult community nursing review for an NHS Trust in Nottinghamshire

• Delivered an audit and evaluation of the efficacy and impact of the Learning beyond Registration Training Provision in the East Midlands

• Conducted an independent review of national specialty training workforce planning data sources for the Medical Education England’s (MEE) Joint Working Group on Specialty Training Numbers. The view here was to make recommendations on improvements in both data collection and processes, and development of a system wide intelligence solution, the outcome being a summary report submitted in October 2012.

Project Facilitation with the International Register of Certificated Auditors

On behalf of IRCA, the HSE and SSiP, J A D initially developed a competence matrix for assessors, reviewing the suitability of contractors aiming to work in the Construction Industry.

The project involved working with established assessors, Scheme Managers, regulators and customers of the scheme to ensure all stakeholder issues were addressed.

Subsequent to agreement on the competencies and traits required, a course was developed to train and advance new and experienced assessors.

Project Management Testimonials: S E W Consultancy

Sue Walters, Executive Coach and Consultant at S E W Consultancy

“I collaborated with Jane on a major project - she was the Project Manager - and I am so glad she was! Jane has tremendous Project Management skills which include the ability to write excellent reports and real attention to detail. She is extremely organised and able to hold people to account at all stages of the project. Jane is clear thinking and resilient and we could not have completed the project so successfully without her guidance and overall organisation. Above all, Jane possesses warmth and a genuine interest in people. I hope we work together again soon.”

Project Management Testimonials: NHS Midlands and East

Peter Rolland, Head of Education Commissioning and Contracting, NHS Midlands and East, East Midlands Strategic Health Authority:

“I write to thank you for the work you have undertaken with East Midlands Strategic Health Authority in the co-ordination and programme management of the project to return nursing and midwifery students to ***** hospital.

“As you are aware the project was complex and lengthy and involved multiple partners. This project required significant organisation and oversight which at the time the Strategic Health Authority did not have available. We were all very impressed with your ability to take told of the situation very quickly, notwithstanding it being an issue you had previously not tackled. Your project management skills were extremely valuable to us and in particular clear documentation, clear audit trail, and your ability to be flexible and persistent to ensure objectives were delivered to plan. I speak on behalf of the whole project group; the Strategic Health Authority, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Universities and practice placement providers in thanking you for your hard work and efficient job.

“I would, without doubt, be happy to work with J A D Associates again the future should the situation ever arise. However, in the meantime, I wish you all the best.”

If you want to talk to J A D About their new project management service, call them on +44 (0) 1673 843059 or send them an email using the J A D website contact form.

J A D's NHS Medical Specialty Training Project

2013-06-19T02:50:00.000-07:00

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A Case Study on the System Wide Intelligence Project on behalf of the NHS Joint Working Group on Medical Speciality Training Numbers

The role of the Joint Working Group on Medical Specialty Training Numbers is to:

• Provide guidance to NHS Strategic Health Authorities (and thereafter Local Education and Training Boards) on priorities and planning expectations for postgraduate Specialty Training numbers (doctors in training).

• Assess proposals from Regional Strategic Health Authorities to ensure account has been taken of National postgraduate medical education training strategic requirements and that the proposals also reflect long term as well as short term planning needs.

Membership of the Joint Working Group is made up of representatives from the Department of Health (England), Royal Colleges, British Medical Association, Postgraduate Deans, Strategic Health Authorities, NHS Employers, and the Centre for Workforce Intelligence.

Jane Riley of J A D Associates responded to a request for a proposal from a lead member of the Joint Working Group, in respect of researching and recommending a system wide intelligence (SWI) solution nationally (England) for medical workforce planning.

This project was commissioned when it became apparent that the Joint Working Group on Medical Specialty Training Numbers had not been successful in capturing the year on year intelligence required in order for the Group to make informed planning decisions in respect of the spread of Specialty Training Numbers at a national level. As a result it was not clear that the Joint Working Group was working effectively to reduce hospital Specialty Numbers in favour of General Practice as per Governmental policy.

The overall scope of the Project was therefore to research what was available in England in respect of medical workforce data sources and data collection activity with the ideal objective of recommending a system wide intelligence solution that would improve the data available for medical workforce planning and to therefore enhance the decision-making that informs the commissioning of Specialty Numbers. J A D was supported throughout by Andy Knapton of Strategic Modelling Analysis & Planning Limited.

The primary output from the Project was a full report on the findings identified, including a mind map which mapped out all the different stakeholders and components involved in medical workforce planning demonstrating the disconnects between them, and a Summary of National and Local Medical Workforce Planning Data Collection Work and Information Sources. Whilst the focus was on activity in England, an added complexity of medical workforce planning is that it is difficult to separate out England from the UK.

The report also provided a set of recommendations to ensure a drive towards a system wide intelligence solution.

The report was submitted in October 2012 and Jane was then asked to assist with consultation on the report as well as developing a mechanism for obtaining feedback from all major Stakeholders which was then used to develop an action plan going forward in early 2013.

Trish Knight, Director of Workforce, Education and Quality of the East Midlands Local Education and Training Board, said that J A D definitely met the Joint Working Group’s expectations and that the final report was good. She said that Jane was “very patient in the number of iterations we had to go through”.

About Jane Riley: Having spent several recent years working within the National Health Service, mainly in a medical staffing capacity, Jane has extensive knowledge of the medical workforce, including terms and conditions of employment of all grades, as well as experience of Junior Doctors' Hours, Agenda for Change and the Knowledge and Skills Framework.

You can contact Jane Riley to discuss the points raised in this case study on 01673 843059 or by using the J A D Associates online contact form here.

The Phased Re-Introduction of Student Nurses and Midwives to an NHS Trust

2012-12-07T04:06:00.002-08:00

Newborn Image credit: Created Image Photography

Challenge:

J A D was asked by The East Midlands NHS Strategic Health Authority to respond to a specification for the Delivery of a Structured Plan and Support Mechanisms for the Phased Re-Introduction of Student Nurses and Midwives to an NHS Trust after the Regulatory body, The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), had expressed a lack of confidence in this site as an educational environment and therefore requested their removal. The Project involved facilitating all Stakeholders (SHA, Universities, and Trust under the supervision of the NMC) to develop and implement an action plan, including a review of processes and escalations procedures as well as development of a Lessons Learned Report and Recommendations.

Solution:

J A D developed a structure for managing the Project, including a Project Board comprising Senior Executives from all Stakeholder organisations, responsible for providing strategic direction to the Project and an Operational Liaison Group who were responsible for implementing the action plan once it was developed. J A D facilitated the groups to work together via a combination of telecoms and face-to-face workshops. J A D also drafted the handover and lessons learned report which was subsequently signed off by all Stakeholder Groups, including the Regulator.

Results:

A whole range of joint working processes and procedures were reviewed and improved during the lifespan of the nine month Project, including educational audit, student complaints procedures, student evaluation processes and this resulted in the development of shared escalation processes which were published for use across all Stakeholder organisations. J A D also facilitated the Groups in reviewing shared meetings and committees to ensure they were fit for purpose and reviewed the membership of these. The NMC joined the Project Board in the final stages of the Project and was very complimentary about the level of partnership working achieved and progress that had been made.

Click this link to read the Letter of Recommendation Jane received for her work on the project.

To read more about J A D's services, visit their website here: J A D Associates

A Fantastic Letter of Recommendation...

2012-11-29T06:14:00.001-08:00

J A D's Jane Riley

J A D Associate's Jane Riley, was delighted to receive the following letter of recommendation this week, following the completion of a project with the East Midlands Strategic Health Authority.

Jane is now writing a case study on this project to be shared on the J A D Blog, so (as they say), watch this space..

Letter from The East Midlands Strategic Health Authority, dated 28th November 2012.

Dear Jane

RECOMMENDATION WITH GRATITUDE

I write to thank you for the work you have undertaken with East Midlands Strategic Health Authority in the co-ordination and programme management of the project to return nursing and midwifery students to ***** hospital.

As you are aware the project was complex and lengthy and involved multiple partners. This project required significant organisation and oversight which at the time the Strategic Health Authority did not have available. We were all very impressed with your ability to take told of the situation very quickly, notwithstanding it being an issue you had previously not tackled. Your project management skills were extremely valuable to us and in particular clear documentation, clear audit trail, and your ability to be flexible and persistent to ensure objectives were delivered to plan. I speak on behalf of the whole project group; the Strategic Health Authority, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Universities and practice placement providers in thanking you for your hard work and efficient job.

I would, without doubt, be happy to work with JAD Associates again the future should the situation ever arise. However, in the meantime, I wish you all the best.

Yours sincerely

Peter Rolland
Head of Education Commissioning and Contracting
NHS Midlands and East
East Midlands Strategic Health Authority

Please click this link to more about J A D's Human Resources Services.

Delay in HSE Billing Structure

2012-05-08T08:06:00.000-07:00

Further to the recent announcement that the HSE would begin billing companies who break HSE law, there appears to have been a change of minds. As the charge structure was not published at the time of the original announcement, the implementation has been postponed until later in the year, presumably to get a more transparent list of charges. Watch this space.

More details on the original announcement can be found on this blog here Health and Safety Executive to bill companies who break health and safety laws

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Extra Public SSiP Assessor Training Course Planned.

2012-05-04T07:56:00.001-07:00

Due to high levels of interest for SSiP assessor training in Scotland, J A D Associates are happy to advise that we are running an additional SSiP assessor Training course in Edinburgh on the 29th of May.

The course will take place at a popular hotel close to Waverley street station and will start at 8:30 for 9:00. Click here for full details of J A D's SSiP Assessor Training.

The ever popular course will follow the agreed highly interactive format and on successful completion forms part of the IRCA requirements for registration as an SSiP assessor.

If you are interested in joining the course please do not hesitate to contact us to reserve your place, click here to use our online contact form.

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Health and Safety Executive to bill companies who break health and safety laws

2012-03-09T04:22:00.000-08:00

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have confirmed that from the 6 April 2012 the “Fee for Intervention” scheme will come into force.

Under this scheme, employers who contravene health and safety law will be forced to pay the HSE’s formal enforcement costs; this is currently set at a rate of £124 an hour. The Fee for Intervention scheme will be introduced via the Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2012 and will be subject to annual review.

This charge will be levied when the HSE makes a formal written response in respect to an alleged contravention of health and safety law, this appears to refer to the sending of an enforcement letter or enforcement notice.

The Fee for Intervention scheme will not apply to verbal advice and does not affect the HSE's existing power to recover prosecution costs following successful conviction or where a charging scheme already exists such as the Nuclear or offshore energy industries.

The scheme will apply to almost all sectors enforced by the HSE but will not be applied to activities regulated by local authority inspectors for health and safety (e.g. shops and office-based businesses).

The level of the charges to be made suggests that organisations could be faced with sizeable bills in the event of a health and safety breach even before prosecution considerations or insurance payouts are taken into account.

Getting proactive advice from an OSHCR registered Safety practitioner will generally be available at a rate much lower than £124 per hour and will also demonstrate a company’s intention to do things correctly and efficiently. A simple independent Health and Safety Audit could help identify potential issues and prevent an enforcement letter and potential exorbitant costs.

J A D associates are OSHCR registered, our Safety Consultant can help with every aspect of Managing Health and Safety, including carrying out Health and Safety Inspections or Health and Safety Audits and providing full Risk Assessment Services. And alongside the words, the action: Operating Procedures, Method Statements and affordable Safety Training Services, including essential Health and Safety Training.

Find out more, click to visit J A D's Health and Safety web pages.

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ISO 17025:2005 Certification for a Specialist Calibration Laboratory

2012-02-28T05:22:00.000-08:00

As a result of changes in management personnel, David Riley of J A D Associates was requested to review the position of the certified management system used in a Specialist Calibration Laboratory.

The key brief was to ensure that the laboratory would continue to maintain its UKAS accreditation, produce a gap analysis and, where deficiencies were found, manage the corrective and preventative actions necessary.

Shortcomings were identified in the systems used for internal auditing, the management of feedback and non-conforming work, and how management reviews were carried out.

Under David's guidance, a comprehensive, yet operationally focussed internal audit programme and findings reporting system was initiated and carried out prior to a surveillance visit by UKAS.

A focussed Management Review was also suggested to the laboratory with short and concentrated monthly meetings that were no more than an hour long. These were designed to look at the ongoing and operational issues. An annual Management Review was also scheduled to review the overall trends and strategic needs of the Laboratory.

The changes to the laboratory management system were easily accepted by all levels of staff and were fully compliant with the ISO17025:2005 standard. They were no longer perceived as 'getting in the way', and have improved the laboratory processes significantly.

The auditor from UKAS commented that it was plain to see that 'the laboratory had gone through a step change improvement'.

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J A D Attend CQI Professor Lofstedt Briefing

2012-02-20T06:11:00.000-08:00

The briefing was arranged to present the findings of the report Reclaiming Health and Safety for All: An Independent Review of Health and Safety Legislation. The report was commissioned by the government and had the general conclusion that there is no case for radically altering current health and safety legislation. The meeting had representatives from the CBI and TUC all of whom were highly supportive of the report, its methodology and conclusions.

It was stressed on a number of occasions by the panel and the audience that the evidence presented by the popular press in respect to the “Health and Safety Monster” was general wrong and very misleading. Good businesses did not find H&S a burden as they realised that killing and injuring their employees was bad business!

It will be interesting to see how actively the government progresses the actions recommended in the report or if the press will still be allowed to create banner headlines that misrepresent the actual state of the nation?

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Second Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act Case Being Brought

2012-01-26T02:53:00.000-08:00

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have now announced that a steel racking manufacturer Lion Steel Equipment Ltd, of Hyde near Manchester in be the second case brought under the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act (CMHA) 2007. The company is a medium sized enterprise having been in existence for 50 years, it has 2 sites and over 100 employees.

The charge follows the death of a 45-year-old worker, Stephen Berry, who fell through a plastic roof panel at the company’s head office in 2008. The company will also be charged under sections 2 and 33 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 for failing to ensure the safety at work of its employees.

The CPS has also decided that three of the company’s directors Kevin Palliser, 59, Richard Vaughan Williams, 43, and Graham Coupe, 59 – should be charged with manslaughter by gross negligence under the CMHA. Furthermore, the directors will also be charged under section 37 HWSA 1974 for failing to ensure the safety at work of their employees. A statement from the CPS said that it has “concluded that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that it is in the public interest to bring [the] charges”.

The first hearing will take place at Tameside Magistrates’ Court on 02 August 2011 and the case is likely to be followed very closely by the legal profession and industry in general as it may provide a much better indication of the courts’ approach to the CMHA and the level of fines imposed if a conviction is made.

The first conviction under the CMHA followed the death of a young geologist Alex Wright, and was brought against Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings, an eight-man company in a dire financial state. The prosecution still resulted in a fine of £385,000!

The case did however highlight how the new Corporate Manslaughter Act has made it significantly easier for criminal prosecutions to be brought against companies. Under the old common law regime it would have first been necessary to have succeeded on a conviction against the “directing mind” of the corporation for a further claim of corporate manslaughter to succeed.

For a successful corporate manslaughter claim, the prosecutors will now have to show that an organisation has grossly breached its duty of care to the victim. This will take into consideration the way the “senior management” has managed and organised the company’s operations.

The Sentencing Guidelines on Corporate Manslaughter (issued in February 2010) suggest that fines would be expected to start from £500,000 and rise into the unlimited millions.

This welcomed simplification in the law could be why many in senior management positions now feel uncomfortable that their company’s arrangements may not be effective or appropriate. This could explain why the team at J A D Associates are seeing an increasing interest in management standards such as OHSAS 18001 or HSG 65.

A further trend we now see is that many SMEs are using the requirements of the standards without seeking further 3rd party certification, especially if they are already an ISO 14001 or ISO 9001 registered company.

Many organisations look to confirm their current arrangements by commissioning independent reviews and audits from an OSHCR registered Safety Expert. Such an approach helps the senior managers recognise weaknesses they may have but also allows them to have best practices highlighted to them (something a certification body assessor is not allowed to do). This all points the organisation towards methods of managing Health and Safety effectively simply and cost effectively by themselves.

J A D Associates have helped small and large organisations from many varying sectors that include component manufacturing, construction and housing associations in this quest. We would be happy to discuss your particular needs and concerns with you and even visit you to provide a free general snapshot of your organisation's current position please feel free to contact us on 01673 843059 or by clicking through to the J A D website's contact page.

Please click through to our Health and Safety page to read about our services in full.

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NHS Medical Workforce Planning

2012-01-17T09:08:00.000-08:00

Jane Riley

Jane Riley of J A D Associates, in collaboration with a Turnaround Finance Associate, responded to a request from an NHS Strategic Health Authority client for a focused piece of work to deliver a three to five year medical workforce plan for the Region. Medical (doctors and dentists) workforce planning has historically been patchy or non-existent at a Local level across the UK, as most such planning has usually been carried out at National level with little Regional input. This project was therefore commissioned as a first step in seeking to significantly improve medical workforce planning for this particular Strategic Health Authority.

The initial approach was to write a business case for conducting the project whereby the Local Health Authority Workforce Leads were consulted and a facilitation approach was endorsed. There was generally a high level of enthusiasm for the project as needed doing. As the final conclusion of the Business Case was that the project could potentially become quite large, a modular approach was recommended and J A D Associates was subsequently engaged onto Module One of the project, the Mechanical Projection.

The Mechanical Projection was a forecast of what might happen in the absence of any actions designed to alter the outcome. It included:

Gathering data on the current workforce profile
Initial validation and checking
Applying a consistent format to support subsequent modelling
Deriving the ratios, assumptions and medical workforce drivers
Building a model using financial modelling techniques
Producing a initial projection of where requirements were heading
Workshops to validate the projection with the Workforce Leads
The key outcome at the end of this module would be a baseline snapshot of what the Region had now in terms of medical workforce and what the requirement would be in the absence of any policy initiatives. This snapshot would be without opinion.

One of the primary outputs from this Module was the learning that was achieved, particularly with respect to the modelling approach, communication processes and data sources, and the Strategic Health Authority was keen to capture this experience to inform and build on in subsequent Medical Workforce planning exercises. The Client commented:

"The brief changed along the way as data was collected and analysed, raising different questions. The J A D Team was flexible and responsive to those changes."

Key conclusions of the Mechanical Projection indicated:

The drivers behind growth in the medical workforce extended beyond those used in the modelling exercise, productivity, changing technology and work practices or changes in work patterns (such as restrictions imposed under the European Working Time directive for example).

There appeared to be no link between demand (i.e. the needs in relation to workforce growth in terms of numbers or balance between specialties) and supply coming through the training system. The supply systems therefore appeared to work independently of any future projection of demand.

There appeared to be no consistent understanding or Region-wide approach to other factors affecting workforce planning such as the impact on demand of leavers / joiners to the system through retirement, natural wastage, turnover etc. Information gathering throughout the execution of the project was a complex, inconsistent exercise.

At the outset of the project it was agreed that Medical workforce planning is acknowledged to be difficult because there are many stakeholders and partners and communication or interaction between them is considered insufficient. During the execution of Module One, J A D Associates certainly encountered all these problems and more. Nevertheless, significant progress was made in producing a baseline snapshot of the Region's Medical Workforce which could now be built on and expanded. The client commented that "the project represented value for money and It took us on the first step on the way to solving our problem which is what we requested. We would be very happy to use J A D Associates again and recommend to others."

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Health, Safety and Environmental Management Systems in a Food Supply Chain Company

2012-01-17T09:04:00.000-08:00

David Riley

David Riley of J A D Associates was contracted to review the health and safety arrangements of a growing Food Supply Company in Lincolnshire.

A full and detailed compliance audit was carried out and documented to identify all applicable regulations and safety risks for the organisation. With a clear understanding of the needs and direction of the business, a detailed suite of policies and procedures were subsequently put in place.

In order that staff would appreciate the common sense "can do" approach as opposed to the widely perceived "can't do" style approach of procedural requirements, a basic training programme was developed for all current staff and all new recruits to the organisation.

This programme involved Manual Handling issues as they affect the Company, Workplace Transport issues, Office Ergonomics and Work related travel.

The programme developed was used by the organisation successfully.

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Subscribing by Email or Feed Reader

2012-01-13T02:43:00.001-08:00

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All About Subscribing by Email, Feeds and Feed Readers

This blog can be viewed in the traditional way, through the webpage, or via its Feed, which will deliver all the latest posts to you on email or through a Feed Reader.

Before we get into the technical stuff, would you like to Bookmark this page now, so you can always find your way back here?

If you want to receive the latest posts by email please click on this link to subscribe to the J A D Associates blog by email.

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If you're new to Feeds and Feed Readers, and want a little explanation, read on...

'Feeds' are the content of websites. They can include words, text, audio or video. Feeds are in RSS (Really Simple Syndication) format to make it as simple as possible to distribute the content.

'Feed Readers' are applications that gather the Feeds of blogs and other news sites into one place. You decide the Feeds that go into your Reader, and there are thousands out there. The huge benefit of a Feed Reader is that you can read the latest news you're really interested in from one place, without having to hunt through a dozen or more bookmarked sites.

Some Readers work through your internet browser, others are downloadable applications.

As well as this Blog, you’ll find Feeds available on other blogs and major news websites. In fact wherever you see the Feed logo (the dot and two curves at the top of this post) there will be a Feed you can add to your Feed Reader.

How do I get hold of a Feed Reader?

Your internet browser may already have a built-in Feed Reader (later versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari do). Look for the Feed logo in your browser and click on it. You should get the option to add this blog's RSS feed to your built in reader.

If you don't have a Feed Reader on your browser, I recommend you open a FREE Google Account to start using Google Reader. Set up your account here, on Google Reader's homepage.

Once you have Google Reader in place, return to our blog, and click this link to
subscribe by feed reader, or use the box in the left hand column with the header SUBSCRIBE BY FEED READER.

A Facebook based Reader

Networked Blogs for Facebook

You can also Follow this blog through Networked Blogs, a Facebook Application that lets you read this blog (and thousands of others) through Facebook. You can easily set this up for your Facebook page, by clicking 'Follow' in the Network Blog box in the left hand column.

Follow this links for an excellent explanation of Feed Readers at the BBC News website.

This is text is © Angela Montague at Push Creativity. Please do not reproduce it without permission.