Newsletter September 2007

Major News from Ai Solutions

Ai Solutions are celebrating two major events this month:

• a product update: including a redesigned web interface
• a new product Option: the electronic Health & Safety File

The product update is important news for all ToolKit CS™ users representing over 12 months of development work and will be delivered as part of the normal ToolKit CS™ annual maintenance fee. It includes a number of internal design changes to ensure the product keeps up to date with the developing Microsoft technologies now on offer, and the Enterprise web product has been completely re-engineered giving it a better, more user friendly interface in keeping with the latest software available. Our free Workshop programme (see below) supports the release.

The new product Option has been developed with the help of Bradford MBC. This will be big news for a number of our users who want to green-up their processes for health & safety file production. Having been the Cinderella of the CDM 1994 regulations, the old template based health & safety file can now take centre stage in a new structure / property based interface for estate and facilities managers.  The Health & Safety File can now be produced as part of a managed process as a direct outcome of CDM Management and be evidence based in tune with the 2007 CDM regulations.

The process can be made fit for purpose - and the 21st century - so that the HSF becomes an integral part of the facilities management process for all estate managers. This includes the provision of O&M Manuals, associated health & Safety regulatory documents (Fire, DDA, Legionella, and so on) for the life of the structure / property and with on-line access.

Please see below for supporting articles and our free seminar program. Our web site has been updated with Product Briefings and downloadable Datasheets. We have a press release here as well.

When did you last see your Health & Safety File

The Health and Safety File required by law for every new structure can be used in various ways. It could gather dust in the corner, it could be used as a doorstop, or it could be of real value as a live and relevant tool of proactive management to improve Health & Safety.

Ai Solutions is proud to offer the new eHSF (electronic Health & Safety File). This is an Option with our well established ToolKit CS™ CDM management product and provides an electronic Health & Safety File. The eHSF enables property, estate and structure managers, health & safety managers and external contractors to plan and track their programmes and quickly find essential information relating to the management of every building and structure.  Its value lasts throughout the life of a structure, from completion and including maintenance and major refurbishment, until eventual demolition whenever that might be.

You can learn more and exchange thoughts, ideas and solutions with your fellow professionals at one of our free seminars. The seminars develop the tried and tested thinking of the past 10 years of CDM management, audit trails, competence monitoring and exception reporting. Now orientated as a Corporate H&S solution, ToolKit CS™ can become the central tool in health & safety compliance through the use of the eHSF option. The seminars' details are below.

Free Seminars

We are holding a number of free seminars in Milton Keynes, Bradford and London to promote the Management of CDM and our new Health & Safety File Option. The seminars are by invitation only and each will be supported by the HSE subject to their availability. The seminar details are on our web site together with instructions on how to apply for the limited number of places available.

Senior managers responsible for corporate and team management of CDM projects including facilities management and senior health and safety managers. If you would like an invitation to one our seminars please follow this link and select the seminar you wish to attend.

September Release

Many organisations see the web based browser applications as the 'future' for them. The approach allows easy, 'permissioned' access over the internet or intranet with less software for IT departments to deploy and maintain. We have spent the past 12 months re-developing our Enterprise, web based application so that it remains ready for the changes taking place in the software marketplace today. Our next ToolKit CS™ Update is on-track for late September as planned.

Our workshops are there to introduce users to the revised format now on offer and to provide an opportunity to review and discuss the many changes that have taken place with the designers and providers of ToolKit CS™.

We are encouraging all our users to attend these 2 hour sessions starting at 10.00am.

Construction Industry Newsletter

Our partners at Callsafe Services have provided their latest newsletter which includes a number of interesting articles.

This month, they cover a discussion about the Fixed Penalties for HSE violations and news about recent HSE visits to 86 Yorkshire construction sites; the HSE stopped work at 31 of them.

New CDM Guidance

The guidance for the CDM regulations has been published and is on the CITB web site. This includes guidance for CDM Coordinators .

More information

We regularly receive updates from our customers and contacts about changes to legislation, the latest rumours and so on. We try to be selective with what we pass on and acknowledge our sources as appropriate. If you have information of general interest in the Health & Safety, and particularly, CDM and Asbestos Management arena, then please let us know by e-mail if possible.