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Six safety wear basics

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Making sure people are equipped and dressed to do their work safely and healthily should be common sense, but it’s also required by law. The Health and Safety Executive says that people must be protected against any health or safety risks at work. Where health and safety cannot be adequately controlled in other ways, the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 require employers to provide suitable Personal Protective Equipment. When companies provide Personal Protective Equipment they have to make sure it’s properly assessed to ensure it is fit for purpose, that it’s stored and maintained correctly, that users are provided with instructions on how to use it properly and that it’s used correctly. This doesn’t just extend to workers. Customers and visitors also have to be protected whenever they are in any workplace or site with health and safety risks. Personal Protective Equipment reduces workplace accidents and ensures the safety of all site users. It’s essen...

Four ways a ‘thank you’ note can motivate

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Saying thank you sounds simple enough, but it’s surprising how often we make a cursory job of it, or even forget to do it altogether. The benefits of acknowledging other people, whether they go above and beyond, do something unexpected or just keep ploughing on, day-in, day-out, are multiple. In business, a genuine ‘thank you’ can make the recipient feel appreciated, encourage colleagues to step up again the next time or ensure a customer comes back. So, here are four ways that a ‘thank you’ can work wonders: Following a purchase Customers buying from your business for the first time, as well as loyal regulars, should be acknowledged. In an age of electronic transactions, your business could soon stand out and develop better and more unique client relationships if you adopt a habit of sending personal messages to show how much the custom is valued. After a meeting Whether people have visited you for the first time, devoted hours explaining a new proje...

Top 7 office recycling tips that will obliterate your waste

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Did you know a typical office of 100 people produces on average 20 bags of waste a week? This fills one 1,100L waste bin a week, equivalent to filling fifty 1,100L waste bins a year! Over 90% of this office waste can be recycled, but the idea of recycling is often overlooked by many people. Recycling is relatively easy to deal with, and shouldn’t be too difficult to introduce to your office! Here are 7 top tips for reducing your waste and implementing an effective recycling system that will obliterate your waste and put you on the path to sending nothing to landfill. 1. Focus on paper consumption It’s hardly surprising to hear that most office waste consists of paper. We all use it and we are all most likely guilty of wasting more than we should. The first action you can take to reduce paper is to set up your printer to print double sided, as this simple action can halve paper consumption. The second step is to ask yourself if what you are printing really ne...

The Office Heatwave: How To Cope

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It’s often that we’re looking to turn the heating up in English offices, as sunny days are a rare accompaniment to our usual week in the office. But with the weather being surprisingly hot lately, we decided to put a few top tips together to help you cope with oppressive office heatwaves and, hopefully, keep you going until the beer garden calls at the end of the day. 1. Ditch the coffee Did you know that during these hot summer days you need to rehydrate with at least 2-3 litres of water a day because we tend to sweat more? This brings us to rule number 1 - Hydration. Get this wrong, you might as well bang your head on the desk a few times to match the headache (and potential heatstroke) that you will be suffering with. You know that water cooler you have in the office? Use it. Our advice would be to bring in a bottle and fill that up, as those tiny little plastic cups can easily fool you into thinking that you’ve drunk enough for the day. (Don’t ...

Fire extinguishers – do you know your foam from your powder? Why getting it right could save lives!

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When it comes to recommending the right fire extinguisher, knowing which type is best for which kind of fire is potentially life-saving. Although the number of fires in the UK has decreased significantly since smoke alarms became commonplace from the 1990s onwards, Fire and rescue services (FRSs) attended around 162,000 fires in England during 2015/16. This is 5% more than the 155,000 attended in 2014/15 (Department for Communities and Local Government’s Fire Statistics report.) From a workplace perspective, retail units, cafes, bars, restaurants and manufacturing sites accounted for many of the 22,000 out of home fires attended by the fire services in 2013-14. These non-residential fires resulted in over 1,000 non-fatal casualties and 17 fatal casualties in 2013-14, making advice on fire safety equipment particularly critical to these end-user groups. The type of extinguisher to use depends on what materials are involved in a fire. With the chief causes of fire includi...

10 interesting facts about stationery

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Let’s face it, we all love stationery. Being handed a new and fancy-looking stapler can lift my mood as much as the next person, but there are a few things we did not know about the beloved items we have on our desks (unless you’re a stationery geek). So, let’s lay out the facts (with the assistance of some lovely imagery): There you go, you learn something new every day. Happy World Stationery Day! 

Why Writing Matters...

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You might’ve heard that it’s National Stationery Week this week (24 th April – 30 th April 2017). And yes, it’s a big deal. In such a technology-dominant era, using pens and pencils might seem pointless ( I’ll save my broken pencil joke for later ) But I can assure you, hand-writing is just as important as that mobile device you have sitting next to you. Why, you ask? Let me explain: 1.        There’s a feeling of joy writing by hand What do you do when you get given a new pen from a colleague or supplier? Well, some of you might just place it in your drawer for when it is needed. However, if you’re anything like me you’ll drop everything you’re doing and write anything you can to give the pen a ‘test run’. For some reason this gives us joy, especially seeing your text so perfectly written on the fresh piece of notebook paper. Don’t get me wrong, writing text messages and note-taking on your mobile device can be quick and easy, but choosi...