News
PPC Purchases Environmentally Friendly Fleet
AS part of THE PREPARATION GROUP’s procurement policy to reduce the environmental impact of products and services whilst achieving best value, it has purchased a new fleet of 7.5 tonne Fuso Canter Trucks. The new vehicles, carrying a payload of up to 1,015kg more than competing trucks, are used to transport company’s surface preparation, removal and finishing equipment to and from sites all over the UK. The vehicles are powered by low-emission 180hp 3-litre diesel engines meeting the latest Euro 6 emissions standards. They include...
read moreCarpet Backing Charity
CUSHION backing donated by MILLIKEN helped to create a giant water slide as part of a charity event in Wigan during the summer. The so-called Ticket to Slide event in aid of Wigan & Leigh Hospice involved a water slide built by volunteers using hay bales donated by farmers and cushion backing from Milliken. The two day event raised around £10,000. Stuart MacDonald, senior production leader at Milliken commented ‘When Wigan & Leigh Hospice approached us to provide them with lengths of our cushion backing we were more than happy to help...
read moreConstruction To Boost UK Economy By £11 Billion
THE construction industry will grow about 10% and contribute nearly £11bn to the UK economy over the next two years, according to a new forecast from the Construction Products Association (CPA). Key highlights of the CPA summer forecast include: Construction output will grow 4.7% in 2014 and 4.8% in 2015; Total construction output will rise 22.2% over the next five years; Private housing starts are expected to grow 18% in 2014 and 10% in 2015; Commercial offices output will grow 10% in 2014 and 8% in 2015; Dr Noble Francis, CPA...
read moreTop Speakers Lined Up For FSP Conference
AMONG the speakers confirmed so far for the FSP conference are: l Baroness Sal Brinton of Kenardington, a senior Liberal Democrat politician, sits on the government benches in the House of Lords. Baroness Brinton has a long and varied career which began in production at the BBC before moving on to work as a venture capitalist investing in high tech companies and the construction industry. In 1997 she won East Anglian Business Woman of the Year. She has been bursar of both Selwyn College and Lucy Cavendish College at the University of...
read moreStress dealing
Health & Safety Executive advice on dealing with STRESS! PRESSURE on staff to achieve more and to perform better at work is driving some to breaking point, with stress now a critical factor in the workplace. Here is some advice from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) to managers and employers on helping staff to cope in an increasingly frenetic workplace: Manage the workload Ensure there are sufficient resources to do the work allocated: If there are insufficient resources seek guidance from management about priorities. Support...
read moreFamily Firms Are Prone To Conflict
Disagreements can be fatal for a family firm OVER 172,000 of the UK’s 3 million family-run businesses are expected to fail and disappear within the next 12 months. This is one of the startling facts revealed by research into family owned small businesses, which are recognised to provide a vital and important contribution to the UK economy. Other statistics include that: 9.2m jobs are provided by family-run businesses in the UK; 40% of total private sector employment is within family businesses; and 25% of the UK’s output is...
read moreCarpet Cleaning
Paul Pearce on carpet cleaning: Commercial vs domestic THE first thing to consider when cleaning commercial carpets is the amount of foot traffic they are subjected to compared with domestic carpets. This traffic can range from a few hundred pairs of feet to several thousand pairs every day, varying from building to building. The type, and amount, of soil found in a building where the company’s sole business is serving food would be very different from that found in a five-star hotel, a solicitor’s office or a factory or car showroom....
read moreHow To Stand Out From The Crowd
Leo Aspden asks if USP is dead and differentiation buried? HAVING browsed through advertisements in a number of respected trade magazines recently, I was intrigued as to how few actually carried a message to differentiate their products from the crowd. Many would suggest that when it comes to B2B, business buyers are less influenced by messages on brand positioning, and when selecting products, the DMU (decision making unit) is driven by rational reasons rather than emotional factors. A rational approach - Unique Selling Proposition...
read moreHazards: Sign Of The Times
Do safety signs protect companies from legal action? UNTIL now you have relied on safety signs to warn employees and visitors to keep away from any unprotected areas of danger on your premises. But is this approach safe and, if not, what should you be doing? Watch your step: Your premises are low risk, but whenever you have had a problem, you’ve tended to use safety signs as both a warning and a solution until it was fixed. This could be to alert staff to an uneven or slippery walkway or to warn them to stay away from a particular area....
read moreLetting The Company Carry The Can
Phil Crosbie on corporate manslaughter prosecutions - Part 1 IT is widely accepted that an increasing number of corporate manslaughter cases are coming to court. In 2014, there have already been more prosecutions in court than in the previous five years. As the decisions trickle through, we can see emerging trends; one of which is the fact that most corporate manslaughter cases were accompanied by ‘individual’ prosecutions arising from the same fact pattern. This is in contrast to other serious health & safety prosecutions, where...
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