Advantia Business Solutions Blog

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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! 

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...

If more bystanders performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) quickly and used defibrillators where available, thousands more people could survive cardiac arrests each year. In its new 2015 guidelines, the Resuscitation Council says that as well as calling the emergency services straight away, people could improve a victim’s chances of survival if they gave CPR immediately on recognising the signs of a cardiac arrest. Defibrillators are portable electronic devices that automatically diagnose and treat life threatening cardiac arrhythmias through the application of electrical therapy, allowing the heart to re-establish an effective rhythm. The use of a defibrillator within three to five minutes of collapse can make survival rates as high as 50 to 70%. Fewer than 2% of victims in the UK have a defibrillator deployed before an ambulance arrives and of the 60,000 cases of suspected cardiac arrest each year, less than half of these have resuscitation attempted by ambulan...

From encouraging budding learners to the immediacy of picking up and using a pen at work, there are multiple factors keeping the writing instruments market strong. Here are five: 1. Learning power The pen is still mighty in education for a number of reasons, but a key one is learning power. It’s been shown that when children write a letter by hand, they exhibit increased activity in areas of the brain that are also activated in adults when they read and write. Learning to use cursive, or joined handwriting is an important element of the National Curriculum from Years 1 to 6. Things to bear in mind in this market are the robustness of instruments to withstand pressure from heavy handed learners, rapid drying ink that can prevent smudges and stains and a comfortable grip that will encourage children to write for longer. Komfigrip Handwriting Pens have a triangular grip for correct posture, pressure resistant nibs and a superwashable ink formula to prevent stains ...

Any type of business that’s tendering for new contracts, working towards an accreditation or explaining its progressive approach to customers, employees or suppliers can find itself answering questions on its eco behaviour. So what part can technology play? Quite a big one when it comes to improving environmental performance and cutting costs. When it comes to devices and systems at work, measures that can be taken to improve environmental outcomes can include how products are chosen and how, when and where people work with and recycle technology. Being a better environmental player can include small steps to begin with. Even if a business isn’t kitted out with movement detected motion sensors to turn off un-needed lights, or smart technology to adjust air temperature, there are a few steps any organisation can take to be that bit more environmentally friendly with its tech: Choose wisely Checking existing equipment to see if its life can be extended or performan...

Some may say an untidy office is the sign of a creative mind, but if your workplace unruliness goes beyond a piled up inbox, virtual or physical, you might want to think again. At its worst, office mess causes accidents, the majority of which are falls, frequently caused by equipment, files and cables left lying around. Slips, trips and manual handling, often resulting in broken bones, are the most frequent causes of injury are in the workplace. Here are 5 ideas for taking an office environment from chaos to calm: 1. Get into the zone Divide your workspace into zones, with the closest zone on your desk and only for those items you need within arms’ reach, such as computers, keyboard, telephone, pen holder and notepad. Zones outside of this should include your inbox, reference materials, office supplies and personal items, each in their own area of the office. Classify items as daily, weekly or seldom used and keep those seldom used items well away from your offic...

Colder temperatures, shorter days and a journey home in the dark see many workers go between home, car and workplace without seeing much daylight in the winter months. Being cooped up indoors makes our vitamin D levels drop at this time of year and also makes us much more susceptible to coughs and colds. Experts say that people spending more time indoors together is one of the reasons why we catch more bugs in the winter. Workplaces contribute to the problem because they involve a significant number of people working in close proximity, often sharing devices and desks, making it easier to pick up each other’s germs. With sickness absence costing around £500 per person per year, it makes financial sense for businesses to promote good health practices and ensure the workplace is equipped to combat infection. So, what can you do to fight back against the seasonal bugs? Here are four steps to staying well at work in the colder months: 1. Wash your hands ...

Open the first door of your advent calendar, defrost your car, and dust off those festive jumpers because December has arrived! With black Friday done and dusted, Christmas is the last big shopping craze of the year – so making sure your business is fully noticed during this busy time is important. One of the first things you should do is get involved in the holiday spirit – even if you don’t sell gift items, the festivity of your decorations will be enough to attract some attention. Some other tips to help you stand out this holiday season can range from sending out Christmas cards to offering free selection boxes with a specific purchase… Get Personal With all the modern technology that is now available, there are a number of ways that you can use this to impress your current, and potential, customers. Consider sending a card to those on your mailing list in an envelope that is hand-written, or even create an e-shot to send electronically. You could even go one step ...

Workplace kitchens are no longer places to just make a brew or store sandwiches. The growth in flexible working, bring your own device (BYOD) and collaborative working means company break rooms are becoming much more than ‘worktop, fridge and kettle’. For informal team meetings, a chat over lunch or a change of scenery, office kitchens nowadays are often designed as multi-purpose spaces. Open plan offices mean people need different rooms to retreat to for quiet working or informal meetings – and employers are responding with a variety of comfortable, easy to use spaces in the kitchen. For an office kitchen that ticks the right boxes, here are six elements for making this space a runaway success: 1. Lounge area Providing somewhere for people to relax, have one to one chats or give informal presentations can help drive collaboration, creativity and engagement. An alternative to the more formal setting of some meeting rooms, comfortable seating can help peopl...