Content

Gas Safe Register is the official list of gas engineers who are registered to work safely and legally on gas appliances in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Guernsey. By law, all gas engineers must be on the Gas Safe Register. It replaced CORGI registration in April 2009. It’s important to take care of your gas appliances. Get your gas appliances safety checked once a year by a Gas Safe registered engineer. Annual maintenance not only helps keep your heating and hot water working properly, it helps keep you safe.

Why do I need to use a Gas Safe registered engineer? In the right hands, gas is safe, but badly fitted and poorly serviced gas appliances can cause gas leaks, fires, explosions and carbon monoxide poisoning. Only use a Gas Safe registered engineer to fit, fix or service your gas boiler, gas cooker and other gas appliances. Gas Safe Register is here to help keep you and your family safe.

How do I check that my engineer is on the Gas Safe Register? All Gas Safe registered engineers carry a Gas Safe Register ID card, with their own unique licence number, showing the type of work they are qualified to do. Before any gas work is carried out always ask for the engineer’s ID card. Remember to check both sides of the ID card for:

• The licence number
• The start and expiry dates of their registration
• The work your engineer is registered to do
• The engineer’s up-to-date qualifications

How do I find a Gas Safe registered engineer? It’s easy. All Gas Safe registered engineers are listed on the website www.gassaferegister.co.uk

According to the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), everyone should have a sight test at least once every two years.

But a recent survey by YouGov showed that nearly a third of UK adults have failed to have their eyes tested in the last 24 months, putting themselves at risk of developing a range of potentially serious eye conditions, such as glaucoma.

Dr Joseph Feder, a board-certified ophthalmologist at the Aurora Health Center, said: “Not all age-related eye conditions are routine. At every eye exam, we are on the look-out for potentially devastating eye diseases such as glaucoma and macular degeneration (AMD). These diseases often begin ‘silently’ and, if left untreated, can cause blindness.”

And Clara Eaglen, Policy and Campaigns Manager at the RNIB, said: “Our eye sight can deteriorate as we get older, but sight loss isn’t an inevitable consequence of ageing. There are things people can do to protect their vision.

“Wearing the right prescription glasses or contact lenses is essential and regular eye tests, at least every two years, can pick up conditions such as AMD or glaucoma.”

So why are people avoiding regular sight tests? YouGov’s research claims that it’s down to a number of factors, including the cost. Fourteen per cent of the 2,102 British adults questioned admitted they delay getting their eyes tested because they cannot afford the perceived cost.

Under the Health and Safety Executive Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992, in a workplace where staff habitually use display screen equipment such as computers, employers must provide eye tests on request and, in some cases, provide special glasses, too.

Westfield Health’s Chamber Primary Health Plan, which is available to all members of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, includes an optical benefit, which can help employers to meet their requirements. Employees can manage their eye care, booking sight tests at their own convenience and claiming back the cost of their tests and prescription eyewear up to the limit provided.

For more information about the Chamber Plan, visit www.westfieldhealth.com/chamber or call 0845 602 1629, available 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.

Every employer has a duty to protect employees and others who may be exposed to noise generated as a result of his work activities and should be working on measures to reduce the risk. The law “Control of Noise at WorkRegulations 2005” says that an employer has to find out what levels of noise individuals are exposed to and assess the risk to their hearing.

Symptoms and early signs of hearing loss

• Conversation becomes difficult or impossible
• An individual’s family complains about the television being too loud
• You have trouble using the telephone
• You find it difficult to catch sounds like ‘t’, ‘d’ and ‘s’, so you confuse similar words

Permanent tinnitus (ringing, whistling, buzzing or humming in the ears) can also be caused.

One can also suffer instant damage from very loud or explosive noises.

Generally hearing loss is gradual. By the time you notice it, it is probably too late.

Everyone should want to prevent hearing loss before it happens.

Every employer has a duty to protect employees and others who may be exposed to noise generated as a result of his work activities and should be working on measures to reduce the risk. The law “Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005” says that an employer has to find out what levels of noise individuals are exposed to and assess the risk to their hearing.

Particular industries and jobs most likely to produce intrusive, potentially damaging noise include:

• Construction
• Demolition or road repair
• Woodworking
• Plastics processing
• Engineering
• Textile manufacture
• General fabrication
• Forging, pressing or stamping
• Paper or board making
• General industrial food processing, mixing, mincing, canning or bottling etc.
• Foundries

Employers should be taking measures to minimise and control where possible noise at source such as:

• Ensuring all tools and noise generating processes equipment are serviced and maintained to manufacturer’s standards and specification.

Employees should make sure to use properly any noise control devices (eg noise enclosures), and follow any working methods that are put in place, wear appropriate hearing protection provided, wear it properly (you should be trained how to do this), and make sure you wear it all the time when you are doing noisy work, and when you are in hearing protection areas. Taking it off even for a short while means that your hearing could still be damaged. Remember that there is no cure for deafness.

HSE’s leaflet – Noise at Work: guidance for employers INDG – 362 advises on good practice and what can be done to minimize the risks and inherent dangers to hearing for anyone exposed to noise from work activities.

‘Contains public sector information published by the Health and Safety Executive and licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0’.

As most employment lawyers will testify, April and October are extremely busy months when it comes to Employment Law Reform. Hopefully you will find the timeline below of use for this year, although in practice this area of law can change literally by the week.

February 2012

We have already had the annual review for various statutory caps, which as usual came into force on 1st February.

The weekly cap for the purposes of redundancy pay has been increased to £430 (from £400) per week. This means that the maximum statutory redundancy entitlement has now increased to £12,900.

The statutory cap for the compensatory award in unfair dismissal claims has also been increased to £72,300 (from £68,400).

March 2012

The new Parental Leave Directive, which increased the right to parental leave to 18 weeks, was due to take effect on March 8th. However, the Government have requested that this be postponed, so this is now likely to take effect in 2013.

April 2012

1) The draft regulations changing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims from 1 to 2 years have been published. These will come into force on 6th April. In a nutshell, any employee whose employment commences on or after 6th April 2012 will have to accrue 2 years continuous service before they are eligible to bring a claim for unfair dismissal. Any employee who was employed prior to that date will still only require 1 year’s service.

These regulations will have no effect on discrimination claims, which do not require any period of continuous service.

From a practical perspective if you operate a small business and you are considering recruitment of staff, it may make sense to defer the start date until 6th April if your business can cope in the mean time.

2) Statutory Maternity Pay will increase to £135.45 per week. Statutory Sick Pay will increase to £85.85 per week.

3) Various amendments to Employment Tribunal Procedure will be introduced. These will include an increased number of cases being heard by a Single Judge, maximum costs awards against a losing party increasing to £20,000 (this is currently £10,000) and deposits being increased from £500 to £1000.

October 2012

1) The new workplace pension provisions will be introduced for larger employers. Auto enrolment will be phased in dependant on the size of the employer. The rules are quite involved and there is ultimately no substitute for taking advice upon your own position. However, hopefully the attached link will provide some useful background information.

2) The current rates for minimum wage may be re-visited, although this is likely to be dependent on the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission, whose report is likely to be published in April.

Other possible developments

1. Consultation on a rapid resolution scheme for simple/low value claims.
2. Regulation to simplify the requirements for compromise agreements.
3. Mandatory conciliation via ACAS on all Tribunal claims.

WATCH THIS SPACE…

I’m a little shamefaced to say that I was a bit of a latecomer to Twitter. For someone who makes a living by being on top of technology, media trends and communication … I really was a bit slow off the blocks.

I knew about Twitter, of course, but had only ever looked at it in passing – and hastily dismissed it as a pointless stream of inconsiquential babble from a group of over self-publicists and narcissits. Who, after all, is interested in the 140 character meanderings of c-list popstars and self-help gurus?

Ouch! Looking back at that statement I hang my head; I am shamed.

I thouht I knew better, categorising myself as an “expert” in social media goings-on – and consigned Twitter to background noise without proper thought or consideration. I am converted and I humble myself at the alter of the almighty Tweet.

Not that I was all wrong, of course (I rarely am as my partner and children will be quick to confirm). There’s a hell of a lot of inconsiquential babble from far too many c-list personalities. But this is the … well, choose your own metaphor as I hesitate to use “scum on the surface” … they may be perfectly nce people in their day jobs – and I don’t have to read their outpourings. But, underneath the, flotsam (nice word, especially when separated from its customary partner) there is a rich vein of usefulness to be tapped into.

Twitter, in fact, rules!

I’m going to digress: a quick definition, just for interest’s sake.

• Flotsam: debris/wreckage found floating on the surface after a shipwreck.
• Jetsam: materials/objects thrown from a ship before or during a shipwreck.

In my mind, this makes Flotsam the swirly rubbish you need to cut through: Jetsam is the valuable stuff, stuff that your floundering mariner considers of worth enough to try to save.

Twitter is a medium that requires you to be a careful scavenger – ignore the Flotsam and salvage the Jetsam.

I first started realising that Twitter had real value when I heard about “PLNs”; Personal Learning Networks. Anything with the word “learning” in tends to prick my interest, so I followed up on these references and found that PLNs referred to the practice of following a group of people in your chosen industry/field in order to learn from what they were tweeting about. I tried it, I loved it. Overnight I found I was getting a steady flow of information and insights that were useful and stimulating for me.

And then I started sharing what I was learning, and adding a few bits of my own until I realised one day that Twitter had become a tool I couldn’t do without. I slowly realised why (this was my “revelatory” moment), Twitter was effective, real-time conversation – and it really benefitted me on a personal and professional level.

The other day I heard, or read, can’t remember where unfortunately, (sorry, information overload is a definite problem and some information slips out without me noticing) the best explanation for why Twitter worked: think of Google as a library – you go there to access archived information, digest it and move on. Think of LinkedIn as it was designed – an online version of offline networking. You go there to hook up with people, share a few opinions on relevant matters and then move on.

Now, think of Twitter as a 19th Century coffe house. This coffee house is filled with professional, intellectuals and artists. There’s a constant flow of traffic in and out of the doors and conversations going in every drection. There’s a table by the window filled with half a dozen people who work in the same trade as you, they’re busy spinning ideas at one another – swapping stories of the latest developments in the industry. They offer you a seat and you join the flow of words and ideas, adding your own where they contribute.

That’s Twitter. Real-time, fast-flowing, easy to sift and categorise (just move tables) and madly exhilarating. Yes, occasionally the air-headed lute and viola star’s conversations from the next table float into your consciousness – but it’s your fault for listening, you can always tune them out!

Twitter is my social media Jetsam – very nearly lost in the sea of information but gladly salvaged. Go on, try a bit of beachcombing of your own.

The author would like to seriously apologise for the overhwelming amount of mixed and jumbled metaphors in this post – but, in truth, is unable too.

As commented in our article found under ‘News’ I feel that the Government could have been bolder in its Queen’s speech content.

However the area that gets me most aerated is the constant tinkering or should I say meddling with employment law. What may be possible to cope with from a larger business point of view is a nightmare for smaller businesses.

The plans for more flexible parental leave will allow women who want to return to work earlier after having a baby to do so, by transferring some of their maternity-leave entitlement to the baby’s father.

Ministers have chosen to ignore the fact a complex new system of shared parental leave brings massive complexities and huge uncertainty for employers. At a time when Norfolk businesses are trying to cope with a very challenging economic situation they are hit with these proposals.

While most businesspeople identify with the idea of gender-neutral parental leave, they’ve warned time and again that the government’s proposals are unwieldy, difficult to understand, and fraught with potential complications.

Businesses may now be exposed to endless appeals, legal challenges and grievances. The government has promised to cut red tape, but continues to tinker with employment legislation, bringing uncertainty and costs to businesses. If shared parental leave is introduced the government must ensure that the possible patterns that can be requested are limited to reduce complexity.

At a time of economic uncertainty, which we currently have, the sudden change of a CEO of a major Norwich employer such as Aviva can cause concern.  Andrew Moss will be seen as a loss to Aviva as he had been responsible for the successful integration of 40 brands into the single Aviva brand as well as doing much to reduce costs within the organisation, including the sale of RAC. He was well known in Norwich and this change is likely to cause concern to Norwich employees.

However, Aviva have moved swiftly so as to not give time for speculations or uncertainty and Mr McFarlane has a good reputation as CEO at ANZ and for making the improvement in shareholder value at Standard Chartered. Mr McFarlane was also involved in the recent organisation structure changes so this is unlikely to be changed. Aviva has a strong brand, dedicated people many of them employed in Norwich, and a solid business foundation and so I am sure they will be able to recover quickly from this situation and continue to move forward.

Coming on the back of Lotus being in the news, reconfirms how important it is that the Chamber continues to work closely with our national brand business members to ensure as a business community we do all we can to support them.

Norman Lamb was the speaker at Steeles Law breakfast I attended this morning and he gave an overview of what he felt the key issues were for business relating to red tape and what he was working on relating to his key areas. I have a great deal of time for Norman and he does understand many of the issues affecting business but I am still concerned that decisions are being made without really understanding the impact on business.

An example was in the Queens Speech this week relating to fathers being able to share parental leave to care for babies.  Officials said current rules on maternity and paternity leave were “outdated” because they presumed that women will do the “vast majority” of caring for infants and a spokesman for the Department for Business said: “Parents should be able to choose their childcare arrangements for themselves.” However there were few details about how the new flexible parental leave arrangements could work. Possible options include allowing mothers to return to work and transfer up to nine months of a year’s parental leave to fathers. The devil as ever will be in the detail.

As employers we do support maternity leave even though the cost to the business, especially small businesses, can be significant especially the hidden costs of recruitment and training. There is also significant impact on the uncertainty felt by the business and the person covering the post whilst they wait to see if the mother does in fact return to work.

From what Norman said this morning this new regulation is to help balance the work place and enable women to get back to work quicker as they are a valuable resource. Now I am not going to argue with that last point, but it will mean that not only will employers have to arrange maternity cover when their female workers take time off, which they understand and have learnt to cope with, now their male colleague will also be taking time off.  However whereas the majority of women take 9 – 12 months maternity leave their male colleagues are likely to take less from a few weeks up to 9 months making it a real problem to find cover. Will fathers have to give the same length of notice was mothers do? What if half way through mothers change their minds and you have given a maternity contract to someone else? How is a business meant to plan around that sort of arrangement!

If you are a small business any time taken by an employee hits your productivity and subsequently your bottom line. When managers are fighting to keep their businesses on track, this type of new regulation is just not helpful but more than that we need to understand how it will work.

What are your views?