Supporting Polish employees

Background

At Amalgamate we believe in supporting all employees and that’s why we’re providing extra help for supporting Polish employees.

Our client, Steve Neilson of Worksmart Contracts Limited, approached Amalgamate asking for support for Polish workers. Worksmart employs a number of polish operatives and regularly engages with polish sub-contractors and therefore asked if we could translate their safety procedures into Polish.

Polish Workforce

Since 2004 nearly a million Polish citizens have migrated and found a new home for themselves in the UK, assimilating very well to their new lives.

Polish employees are present in every industry, and usually their English is good enough to freely communicate around the workplace. However, some industries, especially high risk ones like construction, may request additional support for their Polish employees. This is to ensure that safety critical arrangements are effectively communicated, understood and implemented correctly.

At Amalgamate we have always been welcoming towards newcomers in both our own and our client’s businesses. We are dedicated to supporting our clients and their employees.

Toolkit Development

Our Consultant Roza Ketner (also a Polish national) translated Worksmart’s safety management toolkit into Polish on their behalf. This included the company’s H&S Policy, site inductions, risk assessment, method statements and toolbox talks. These are now used across all Worksmart sites, ensuring that safety critical arrangements are fully understood by all of their workforce.

We will continue to support Worksmart with all aspects of Health and Safety. This initiative enhances their ability to manage their construction sites safely and communicate effectively with all of their workforce.

Literacy, Knowledge, and Understanding

It’s important to emphasise that levels of English literacy must be assessed for foreign candidates before employment. This is to ensure the safety of both this individual and all other people in and around the workplace.

Both Amalgamate and Worksmart are determined to continue to build a strong and safe future for ourselves, our workforce and our clients.

We’ve also been helping to provide support for dyslexic employees in the workplace, to read more click here.

If you would like to discuss how our consultants can support you and Polish employees please contact us on t: +44 (0)141 244 0181 or e: info@amalgamate-safety

Amalgamate’s approach towards COVID-19

Amalgamate’s approach towards COVID-19 is to ensure the health and safety of both our staff and our clients. We’re doing everything we can to continue providing our clients with the best services we can as safely as possible. As such, we have made the decision to transition to home working as per the government guidelines to minimise exposure risk. However, this hasn’t stopped our team from providing the essential services our clients require to the highest standard we can.

Precautions put in place

For our approach towards COVID-19, we have put a pause on all of our in-person meetings and training, including first aid training. First aid commitment terms have been extended by three months by the HSE – which you can read more about here. The UK Resuscitation Council has also made amendments on how to administer CPR. The changes are aimed at keeping the rescuer safe whilst still providing the emergency care needed for the casualty. We’re continuously monitoring updates from all relevant bodies with regards to first aid. This is so we can provide our clients with the best and most informed advice as possible.

This infographic provided by the UK Resuscitation Council details the scenarios and phases of providing CPR for COVID-19 patients. They also have a YouTube video with guidance on out of hospital cardiac arrest during COVID-19, click here to watch.

To Conclude

Our consultants are diligently working with our clients to ensure that they’re supported through this time of difficulty and uncertainty. Some of our clients are doing essential work and have to maintain operation as normally as possible and our prerogative is to ensure they can do this safely. We are monitoring releases from the Uk and Scottish government and aiding our clients in adhering to these.

As our core staff are all working from home, our office hours are as normal. As always, please do not hesitate to contact us for further information or any queries via t: +44 (0)141 244 0181 or e: info@amalgamate-safety.com

First Aid training: COVID-19

Due to COVID-19, we have adapted our First Aid training courses as we are currently unable to carry out our usual face-to-face training courses. We understand that due to absence from work on account of illness, that sufficient cover may not be in place. For this reason, we’ve developed a blended learning course to enable people to be trained to ensure that all work places are fully compliant. It’s very important, now more than ever, that adequate First Aid cover is in place as ambulances may take longer.

The HSE has, however, issued a statement in regard to those who already hold a First Aid qualification. These will be now be valid for a further 6 months if their renewal date is from the 16th March 2020. This means that anyone due for renewal just now will still be able to carry out First Aid. For more information on this, please click here.

We have created 2 options of First Aid Training to choose from: Option A – EFAW course (Certificated Blended Learning) and Option B First Aid Learning Course (Online Theory).

Option A – EFAW course (Certificated Blended Learning)

Online Theory

Option A will cover all theory aspects of the Emergency First Aid at Work course with practical demonstrations given. The course will cover aspects of COVID-19 and how to safely treat anyone who may be suspected of having coronavirus. All candidates would be issued our standard workbook to be read prior to starting the course. The course will be delivered online by one of our accredited trainers.

The online section will last approximately 3 hours, covering all aspects of the EFAW Course including videos and demonstrations. As always, we would encourage lots of interaction from candidates.

Practical

This section will be carried out at the candidates place of work or another suitable venue, this has to be done face-to-face for the HSE to approve this qualification. This will last approximately an hour and a half with strict social distancing controls in place. Each session will be restricted to the number of people who can safely distance within the venue. Each candidate will be provided with their own mannequins and equipment to prevent risk of cross contamination.

To maintain hygiene standards, we’ve enhanced our cleaning regimes and our equipment will undergo hospital grade sterilisation using Trionic wipes. For more information on how we’re making our courses safer, please click here.

We would ask that only candidates who are well and showing no symptoms such as sneezing, coughing etc., attend this part of the training.

Assessment

This will be completed after the practical portion of the course and will be marked by the trainer at the time. Candidates who pass the assessment will be awarded with the Emergency First Aid at Work certificate, valid for 3 years.

Option B – First Aid Learning Course (Online Theory)

Online Theory

This will be delivered as per option A, stated above.

Assessment

Candidates will be issued an online assessment for completion which will be marked by the trainer. Successful completion of this would reward the candidate with a certificate in First Aid Learning.

Joining the course

Candidates will be emailed a link and joining instructions for the course. The course will be streamed live and can be viewed from a suitable mobile phone, tablet, laptop or PC.

Candidates will be required to download our video meeting software prior to the course. This is quick and easy to do.

We are constantly monitoring the current situation and will continue to send updates where applicable. Further information can be found by visiting our website: www.amalgamate-safety.com

If any of these First Aid training course options are of interest to you during COVID-19, or you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our training team on t: +44 (0)141 244 0181 or email: training@amalgamate-safety.com

Working from Home: Physical and Mental Wellbeing

Introduction

The Institute of Employment (IES) recently carried out a survey to evaluate the physical and mental wellbeing of employees working from home during the COVID-19 crisis. Thousands of employees have been forced to work from home raising concerns around the possible impacts this might have. Employers will have to attempt to manage these impacts including deterioration in mental and physical wellbeing, work morale and motivation.

Their survey considers the following:

Whether employees feel trust with their employers
Whether they are worried about job security
Have employees lost sleep worrying about finance, family, health, work-life balance, etc, and is this affecting their work morale?

Launched in March 2020, the survey was designed for homeworkers to measure their wellbeing whilst working from home during COVID-19.

7 ways to get a better work-life balance to improve physical and mental wellbeing. — This infographic from WeAreTheCity illustrates and explains 7 ways to get a better work-life balance, aiding in well-being.

Physical Wellbeing

The survey asked homeworkers, ‘how often have you had this condition in the last 2 weeks compared to normal?’ More than half of respondents suffered from aches/pains in neck, shoulder and back, eye strain, headaches or migraines and loss of sleep from worry resulting in fatigue. Less than half experienced aches/pains in knees, hips, wrist/hand and elbow, heartburn or indigestion, leg cramps and chest pain.

These results illustrate that working at home as a result of COVID-19 is having an affect on many components of employee physical health. It also illustrates that a good ergonomic set up plays a significant part in employee’s physical wellbeing at work.

Emotional Wellbeing

It’s clear that the current situation is also having a detrimental influence on the emotional wellbeing of homeworkers. A significant amount of employees stated that they don’t feel rested, calm or relaxed. In addition feeling inactive and having no interest in their day, was noted. Some respondents also felt anxious about the health of family members and friends.

It was recorded that respondents were also worried about family finance and job security. Loneliness and isolation featured heavily in responses with many suggesting they don’t feel cheerful or in good spirits.

Mental Wellbeing

The survey used the WHO-5 well-being index to determine the mental health of employees working from home. This suggested that those who are suffering most are:

looking after elderly relatives;
living with parents or renting;
new to home renting;
working more than 10 hours longer than contracted per week; and
in less frequent contact with their boss and younger workers.

These categories cover the vast majority of employees working at home. It’s clear this situation is having an impact on thousands of people’s mental wellbeing across the country.

Other health concerns

It was noted that over almost half of respondents worried that they were exercising less, they did not have enough time to get their work done and were working long and irregular hours.

A significant percentage of home-workers admitted they were under too much work pressure, their alcohol consumption had increased, they were eating less healthily and had continued working despite illness.

Action for employers

The overall findings from the survey suggest that there has been a significant decline in both the physical and mental wellbeing of employees working from home. Results show that musculoskeletal health, diet and exercise has declined in the majority of homeworkers.

However, the effects aren’t just physical, increased emotional concerns over finance, isolation, energy, work-life balance and family health were also recorded from the respondents.

It’s clear that many employees working from home are facing a challenging time and support from fellow employees and most importantly employers is crucial during this crisis to maintain wellbeing, work morale and motivation.

There are a number of simple steps that employers should consider taking, as well as the normal compliance requirements around ergonomic set up (Display Screen Equipment). We recommend supporting the physical and mental wellbeing of employees with regular check ups – informal messaging groups or virtual coffee mornings are a good place to start. Regular contact with bosses and colleagues, particularly those at ‘high risk’ is essential. In addition, access to an Employee Assistance Programme would be valuable.

We would also recommend that performance targets and monitoring may need to be adjusted accordingly, this may involve the reallocation of tasks and priorities.

If you would like support developing strategies for managing the physical and mental wellbeing of your employees who are working from home please do not hesitate to contact us on t: +44 (0)141 244 0181 or e: info@amalgamate-safety.com

Environmental Cleaning: COVID-19

As a business ourselves, we are committed to helping other businesses maintain a safe, healthy and productive work environment during COVID-19 by offering environmental cleaning services. We understand that some SMEs providing essential business during this time may struggle to facilitate home-working and as a result need to enhance their housekeeping regimes by the addition of environmental cleaning.

Through our network of specialists suppliers, we are able to provide the following specialist environmental cleaning services during COVID-19:

1. Methodical deep-cleaning

Staged cleaning: an initial standard clean followed by a focused deep clean on ‘high touch points’.
Focus on areas such as handles, light switches, keyboards and phones.
Priority given to key circulation areas (e.g. kitchen, bathrooms, common areas).

2. Touch-less cleaning

Application of fine-mist spray of water/chemical mixture to surfaces.
Minimal air spray to eliminate spread of virus.
Focus on ‘high touch points’.
Reduced risk of cross-contamination.

3. Steam/dry heat cleaning

Application of steam and/or dry heat to high risk surfaces.
Key use on specific materials e.g. fabrics.
Should be conducted in combination with either one or both of the above services.

Once clean, however, a building can only remain as clean as the people entering it.

We understand how important it is, especially during this time, to maintain a safe environment for businesses and hope that by offering these specialist cleaning services we can help to achieve that. Our consultants can provide a full suite of policies, procedures and hygiene equipment to ensure each area remains as safe as possible going forward.

For advice from the government on cleaning in non-healthcare settings during COVID-19, please click here.

If you would like further information on our environmental cleaning services or have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on t: +44 (0)141 244 0181 or email: info@amalgamate-safety.com

Taking care of employee and colleague wellbeing

Introduction

Working during lockdown can be challenging for everyone – that’s why we need to be taking care of employee and colleague wellbeing, as well as our own. We’re being made more aware of the impact that quarantine and isolation can have on mental wellbeing. We need to look after ourselves, our friends, family, colleagues, employees, etc.

However, isolation doesn’t mean zero contact with the outside world. We are lucky enough to live in a time where we can talk to people from across the world within the safety of our own homes. There are so many different platforms designed for virtual contact; Skype, iMessage, Email, WhatsApp, FaceTime, Zoom, the list goes on.

Here’s a few things we’ve put together which you can do to help your colleagues, and yourself, stay on top of your social interaction and wellbeing.

Connect

Working from home means we don’t have the same opportunity to bump into each other in the office and have a quick, casual chat. It might be that conversations with your team feels scripted because your only form of contact is centred around work. Set aside some time to have genuine conversations with the people you work with and ask them how they’re doing. Do little things together that will improve your team’s mood, this could be making a playlist for work, collective coffee breaks or lunch group calls. Include people that may have been furloughed as a way to keep them involved in the team dynamic.

Be Compassionate

It’s important to understand that people who are normally very self-sufficient and focused may be struggling without the office structure. People might have young children that don’t understand the situation. This can increase stress and anxiety levels, resulting in a decrease of work quantity and quality. Lend a hand to someone who might be feeling overwhelmed by their workload and if possible, encourage flexible working hours. Emphasise that once their working day is done, work equipment should be put away. A healthy balance between ‘work’ and ‘life’ needs to be established to maintain mental wellbeing.

Listen

A team needs to know they can talk to each other and ask for help when they need it. Everyone is busy and trying their best to continue their usual workflow which can lead to people feeling that they’re causing a disturbance or inconvenience when asking for help. Take some time to let people know that even though you’re busy, you’re not too busy to help. Let each other talk and vent without being judgmental. Keep in mind that everyone has different tolerance levels and things that one person may not find a big deal, could be keeping someone else up at night. If you think someone may be struggling in a way that you don’t know how to help, ask them if they want to speak to someone qualified and direct them to help through ‘higher-ups’, HR or Occupational Health.

Give Direction

There hasn’t been a scenario quite like this one in recent history. Finding a good balance between giving direction to your team and smothering them can be a challenge. Decide who within your team needs more attention to keep on track and who is managing well on their own. Encourage group interactions such as, “I’m finished this task but can’t get started on the next until xxx has finished their part. Is there anything I can do to help anyone else?” Each person should have a clear objective and know how to work towards it.

Have Fun

Whilst getting work done is everyone’s main objective, having fun should also be a high priority. Find things that your team can do outside of working hours as a group activity. Things like online yoga classes, quiz nights, cooking competitions, starting a TV show together etc. can be great. Activities like this can really help to bring a group together and improve morale. Even though you can’t be together physically you can still have fun and interact virtually to prevent feeling alone/isolated.

This infographic is designed to help take care of employee and colleague wellbeing by showing 16 different ways to connect, support, and recognise teams in times of uncertainty — RewardGateway have created this infographic showing 16 ways to Connect, Support and Recognise Teams in Times of Uncertainty, click here for their full article.

To Conlcude

Taking care of employee and colleague wellbeing is important, but so is looking after your own. Click here to read our article on maintaining wellbeing whilst working from home during COVID-19. You can also click here to read the NHS’s Every Mind Matters article on mental wellbeing while staying at home.

If you have any further questions or require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us by t: +44 (0)141 244 0181 or email: info@amalgamate-safety.com

Mental Health in the Workplace

Introduction

Before COVID-19, there was a crisis in mental health in the workplace, costing the UK economy almost £35 billion. COVID-19 has highlighted these problems, with mental health collectively suffering and deteriorating across the UK. Here is what we think workplaces should be encouraging to help support their employees and colleagues.

How can you make wellbeing a priority?

Doing 2 of these 5 things each week is said to make a huge difference to mental wellbeing.

Connect
Be active
Take notice
Learn
Give

Developing a routine that works for you:

Plan how you will spend each day including when you will take breaks and finish working.
Try to get as much sunlight as possible, work with the window open, and spend some time each day outside if it’s safe to do so.
Keep active, build physical activity time into your routine.
Eat well and stay hydrated.
Keep taking any medication you’re on.
Don’t overload yourself with information, take breaks from the news and try to stick with reputable sources.

Understanding your mental wellbeing

What keeps you well? – Think what helps you to balance your day and lift your mood. Is there a particular way of working that makes things easier for you?

What are some triggers and early warning signs? – What things create a negative environment and how can you work around this? If you can think of things that trigger your mental health then you can begin to eliminate these from your day or work on how to manage these triggers better.

Impacts of mental wellbeing on performance – How is your mental health affecting your work life and personal life and are you able to separate these two?

Negative coping strategies – Are you using healthy coping strategies and if not, how can you change these strategies for the better?

It’s important that you’re asking yourself these questions but also relating this to the people you work with and discussing it. This way, you can better understand yourself and others, therefore helping to promote mental health wellbeing in the workplace.

Resources

Here you can find more information on how to work well from home during lockdown. This can be used to develop your wellness strategy or as an individuals guide.
Here is a great source of information that gives advice for staying at home, looking after mental wellbeing, support for work and checklists for staying at home.
Do you and your employees/colleagues know what mindfulness is and how to use it to your collective advantage? Find out more about what mindfulness is here.
You can also read our other article on taking care of employee and colleague wellbeing here.

If you have any further questions or require any further support, please do not hesitate to contact us by t: +44 (0)141 244 0181 or email: info@amalgamate-safety.com

Update: HSE Extension to the validity of First Aid qualifications due to coronavirus

The Health and Safety Executive have today announced that they will be offering a three-month extension to the validity of the following qualifications if the learner or Trainer/Assessor is unable to re-qualify because of the coronavirus.

This includes the following course:

This includes the following course:
First Aid at Work Emergency
First Aid at Work
Paediatric First Aid
Emergency Paediatric First Aid

This means that a Trainer/Assessor can continue delivering regulated qualifications in first aid for up to three months past the expiry of their current FAW or Paediatric certificate. This is also the case for learners who may be covering first aid within a workplace holding any of the qualifications stated above.

This means that a Trainer/Assessor can continue delivering regulated qualifications in first aid for up to three months past the expiry of their current FAW or Paediatric certificate.This is also the case for learners who may be covering first aid within a workplace holding any of the qualifications stated above.

The HSE will keep this situation under close review over the coming months and will issue further statements as necessary.

HSE statement in full

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is aware that people holding Offshore Medic (OM), Offshore First Aid (OFA), First Aid at Work (FAW) or Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) certificates nearing expiry date, might experience disruption to access to requalification training as a result of events or circumstances generated by the coronavirus pandemic.

HSE’s current guidance on the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l74.pdf and the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (First-Aid) Regulations 1989 https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l123.pdf is that those holding an OM, OFA, FAW or EFAW qualification should undertake retraining before their original certificate expires and HSE strongly recommends that employers, and individuals holding those qualifications should plan for requalification training well in advance of expiry dates.

If however requalification training is prevented for reasons associated directly with coronavirus or by complying with related government advice, it is reasonable and practical to extend the validity of current certificates by up to 3 months. Anyone taking advantage of this extension should be able to describe clearly their reasons for delaying requalification training, and demonstrate steps they have taken to undertake the training, if required.

This guidance comes into effect for certificates expiring on or after 16^th March 2020. HSE will review this matter over the coming months and will issue further statements as necessary.

We will keep you informed of any updates as soon as we hear them. If you have any questions or need any additional information then please do not hesitate to contact us on t. +44 (0) 141 244 0181 or e. training@amalgamate-safety.com

For further information on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and First Aid Training click here…

Operational Update

As the situation surrounding COVID-19 continues to change daily. We would like to give you an operational update. As a business we doing everything we can to ensure we keep our team safe while continuing to deliver the quality of services expected by our clients.

Following the latest advice from the UK Government we have put in place measures to ensure that our business can continue to operate efficiently.

We continue to communicate with and support both our team and clients through the current situation and are constantly assessing both UK and Scottish Government updates.

Our IT systems are specifically designed to allow our core team to homework and we will be encouraging them to do so from next week. As a business, we are geared up for online video conferencing and cloud based telephone calls.

However, with immediate effect and to protect the health, safety and well-being of our team, all face-to-face / non-critical meetings will be postponed. Our training provision will be restricted to essential training only i.e. First Aid at Work. Safety critical site operations will continue but any non-essential travel will be postponed.

Click here for further information on the steps being taken to protect our First Aid training candidates.

Amalgamate would like to re-assure our clients that we are still operational. Our team will continue to suppor you through these difficult times. If you need any assistance, please contact us through our normal channels.

We value your business and thank you for the continued support.

Please stay safe and look after yourselves.

From all of us at Amalgamate