Newsletter July 2003
Asbestos Management Regulations
Less than 320 days to go and counting!
That is how long we have to implement our management process required under the new Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations made Law last year. Judging by the feedback we are getting, there is going to be an overwhelming amount of activity around April next year as the panic sets in to introduce management processes, audits and Type 1 surveys to 'catch up'.
There is some good news; ToolKit CS™ is now ready with the new Floor Plan interface so that users including contractors and others needing to work in the area can search for locations over the web, click on asbestos items on a plan, and find out the survey, risk assessment and historical information about the item if they have permission to do so. There will be other interfaces that give summary information for the 'inexpert user' or visitor who is entitled to receive that information.
Hand held devices for collecting data can be accommodated; we have provided a simple to use (but actually quite complex!) interface to upload survey information from hand held devices direct to the ToolKit CS™ database via a standard connection. Now users can import information from any number of past surveys that have been carried out in this way so that historical information is available too.
Pictures, Word documents, Excel Spreadsheets, files, and so on can all be attached to the ToolKit CS™ database so that the system becomes a complete management system. Tasks are created in Microsoft Project style; letters and phone messages concerning the management of the site are collected and collated easily and simply through standard Windows interfaces.
Please see our new Asbestos Management Software Product Brief and press release on our web site for more information. We are offering asbestos management solutions from standalone PC to Multi Site SQL data bases, with web browser interfaces. Prices start at £995 (conditions apply).
We are ready; are you?
CDM ToolKit CS™
At a recent User Group meeting with two of our major customers, we were discussing the importance of the project communications facility within the ToolKit™. This will allow an audit trail of letters, e-mails, telephone contacts, and tasks to be kept within the CDM project concerned. The advantages of keeping information in one place and audited is preferable to storing project communications in other external files or hard copies.
It would seem that this function can be overlooked and therefore we will be stressing the benefits of usage and focussing on how it works in our training sessions. Get in touch if you have any questions about how it operates!
Service Release
We will be distributing the next Service Release to all our ToolKit CS™ and CDM ToolKit™ 2000 customers during the next 2 weeks. This is part of our ongoing customer support. Service release updates include revisions to our programmes including the extensive knowledge bases are free of charge within our maintenance contract.
Spam
Too many of us suffer the daily chore of deleting e-mails we don't want to receive. It drives a lot of us nuts!
On the one hand, we enjoy the benefits of virtually instantaneous, paper free, communications, and some fantastic marketing opportunities through web sites. On the other, a number of agencies are determined to make business life as difficult as possible through the distribution of spam e-mail and viruses. We are looking at our policies regarding the whole area of web and e-mail access, virus checking and anti-spamming and will publish this - on our web site - in due course.
In the meantime, you should be assured that we maintain virus checking software, we do not 'sell on' any e-mail information. We do not distribute any e-mail addresses we receive from you without permission. You can opt out of our regular Newsletters at any time. We are considering how we can implement an automated opt-in system and hope to have that available this quarter.
The Internet has become our most important marketing tool. Our monthly newsletter remains the single most important medium for communicating with all our customers, prospects and other interested parties. We are particularly keen to get any opting in / out changes right so that we keep our newsletter distribution list as current as possible.
Construction Industry Seminar
Our next event will be on Thursday 9th October 2003 at Bletchley Park; the key speaker will be Stephen Wright, HSE's Head of Construction Policy. Stephen is engaged in steering the 'Revitalizing Health & Safety' project from the construction industry perspective. What he is providing should be of interest to everyone in the industry, including the CDM practitioners and those involved in the management of asbestos. Our Partners will be supporting us with associated topics as before. Please book your place on our web site and make a diary entry too!
More Information
Please review our web pages or call us for more information on our CDM and Asbestos Management products.