Newsletter June 2011

Ai Solutions: Major Account Review Meeting (MARM)

Towards the end of May we held our Annual MARM which is a golden opportunity for our customers to get together with us and have their say about the future development of ToolKit CS™.

A lot of useful ideas were tabled for both CDM and Asbestos users. As always, we will be taking on-board the contributions that were made on the day and then we will decide how best to go forward with the product.

We would like to thank all our customers for their support and contributions and we look forward to our next product delivery in October 2011.

Excellent Practitioner Award 2011

We are delighted to announce that this year's Excellent Practioner Award goes to Steve Taylor (Principal Building Surveyor) at the East Riding of Yorkshire Council. We would like to add our congratulations to Steve for the outstanding work he is doing, using our software and consultancy services to enhance and improve Asbestos Awareness within the council's schools.

Steve has worked for the council for a number of years and he came to us looking for an Asbestos Management solution in 2006. Being a careful Yorkshire person, he took some time to decide on what has become a very robust solution for the council for managing asbestos across the county in their schools.

ToolKit CS™ satisfied Steve's vision of a 'Nirvana'; to have shared access to information including documents, across all parties from surveying companies to estate managers in schools and of course themselves as custodians of the properties. Standardisation of systems, documents, reporting were all part of the specification, as was the education of the various parties on how asbestos management should be approached and shared.

The East Riding site has become a showcase for best practice and I know that Steve is keen to share his experiences and expertise with other like minded professionals. ToolKit CS™ has recently been modified to meet several of Steve's challenges. Not least, how to integrate with the several thousand CAD drawings already held on servers by the council so that they can be seen online by anyone with permission-ed access. We have, with the Councils' help, provided online interfaces from within ToolKit to allow the viewing and marking up of files using Autodesk Design Review without the need for the full AutoCAD software to be installed.

If you are interested in the excellent work Steve and his small team have carried out, I feel sure he will help you out as he has with many of our customers and prospects to date. We would like to thank Steve for all his fine 'vanguard-ing' work and welcome him as our latest Excellent Practitioner.

New TAG President: Satbir Gill

We would also like to congratulate Satbir Gill, from the London Borough of Hounslow, who has recently become the new President of TAG (Technical Advisory Group). We were honoured to be present at his first meeting as chair of the Annual Local Government Technical Advisory Group (TAG) Workshop.

The theme of the day was 'Adaptability in Local Government' and the agenda for the day was full and interesting, with contributions from Westminster City Council, the Civil Engineering Department at University College London, as well as other local authorities.

Some thought provoking topics were discussed regarding better management of our assets and highways and the future of public transport. Another interesting topic was the evolving role of local authorities in these changing times, a subject that is very emotive in the current financial climate. An enjoyable and informative day was had by all and the hosts, London Borough of Hounslow, were warm and welcoming.

Is It Really All Doom And Gloom?

Throughout the early months of 2011 and in particular May, we have been hearing of a slight upward trend in the construction industry. Yes, it is slow but with all the economic strife we have gone through, this is bound to be the case.

London in particular has seen the start of some large construction/building projects; it seems that we will see more of those familiar cranes dominating the London sky-line. 'New' housing has also seen a small but continuous upward trend. This is all good news.

The economic climate does not seem to be as bad as everyone first thought. Yes, we should still be careful, after all it is not the time to be frivolous; watching the pennies and making sure we are doing things 'right' is always the preferred option. Perhaps we can now look forward though, instead of dreading the next effect?

With this in mind we are still in the market to save our clients' money, whether this is in CDM projects or the better management of their asbestos portfolio. So if you would like to be efficient, productive and save money then now is the time to give Ai Solutions a call on 01525 850080!

Latest from our Blog

The following are a selection of the latest articles from the Ai Solutions Blog. Each linked article allows comments, so please add your thoughts using the boxes provided.

• RIDDOR Change is Bad News, Lawyer Warns
  A proposed change under RIDDOR 1995 has been described as a potential retrograde move for health and safety.
• McNulty Report Angers Rail Staff and Passengers
  The McNulty report has stirred up quite a lot of reaction; Sir Roy McNulty has maintained that £1 billion a year could be saved from the present public subsidy to railways in Britain.
• White Asbestos: Definitely Top-Level Carcinogen
  The Government's chief scientific advisor has reaffirmed the status of chrysotile (white) asbestos as a Class 1 carcinogenic substance.

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.