thames water wns, 686 stirling road, slough, sl1 4st shout...

Included in This Issue:

1. News, Praise

and Feedback

2. This Quarter in

Numbers

3. Training

4. What are we

up to?

5. Health Focus

6. Focus this

Quarter

A welcome from your HSQE Manager

January 2015 Issue 6

Lanes Group Plc. – Thames Water WNS, 686 Stir l ing Road, Slough, SL1 4ST

Shout about Safety

A message from Conrad Ashby

For me, the last three months have been full of surprises, changes and a number of ‘firsts’. For the first time the Thames Water Waste Water Network is being looked after by one contractor - Lanes Group Plc. On 18th November we inducted over 130 people onto the contract over a 3-day period, the first time a TUPE induction has included external training, competency assessments and D&A testing. This Quarter, we have issued our first driver of the month award and gone 147 days without a lost time incident for the first

incident since the start of the contract in 2012. We have also seen the first day of 2015, a day when I am sure a number of us made some resolutions or commitments to make some changes or do something differently. The biggest challenge with these things is always sticking with them! We want to help - let us know what you are doing and we will do whatever we can to support you. Coming up in the next 6-12 months we have a number of planned initiatives and fun-filled challenges to raise the profile of health and wellbeing in our team. We are going to be looking at sleep, eating habits, drugs and alcohol as well as exercise and small changes we can all make for a healthier, happier and, fundamentally longer, life. We are fully committed to sending you all home safe and well at the end of each day but we would also like to send you home a little bit healthier as well… Let me know what commitments you have made or any ideas that you have - my door is always open.

In the last edition of ‘Shout about Safety’ I was delighted to inform you that we had confirmation of a geographical extension to our contract with the addition of the South London region. I am now even more delighted to state that since then we have another landmark occasion with a 5 year extension to our contract for delivering waste water network services for Thames Water and its customers! The bedrock of our success is delivering our services safely. We all have a responsibility to think, work together and act in a safe way – as you all well know we operate in a challenging and hazardous environment and therefore it is to everyone’s credit that we undertake our activities to a high standard and in a professional way. The performance displayed by individuals, teams and our colleagues provides Thames Water with the confidence and trust in us to continue to operate safely for the next regulatory period, which will be until at least 2020! This is great news for everyone in Lanes Group. Hence, I would like to thank you all for your hard work and diligence that has enabled us to get to this significant milestone in our journey. However, we cannot rest on past successes we will have to remain diligent and continually improve across our business; each day will need to be better than the last. Each and every one of us will need to adopt a relentless approach to driving forward our standards for safe delivery over the next 5 years. This will require us to communicate and interact better than we have ever done before. I have asked Sarah and the management team to help with reviewing our H&S plan to see where we can improve our engagement, especially now that we have a workforce of nearly 700 people on this contract! I am also pleased to inform you that there is a number of health and wellbeing initiatives that has board approval for roll out in the coming months. These initiatives will support all our teams both in the field and office to ensure that our working environments are safe and healthy going forward. This plan will be shared with you over the coming weeks. The improvement in wellbeing of us all in the Lanes workforce is another step change that supports our success and drive to be the best. I remain committed and serious about safety now and for our future, I would ask that you be too! Keep up the great and safe work.

Shout About Safety

News, Praise and Feedback 1 Introducing our new Team! A very warm Lanes Group welcome to our new South London Region!

After weeks of preparation and hard work, the 18th of November was here before we knew it and we successfully welcomed and inducted over 130 new employees! The three day induction included special talks from members of the Management Team, License to Operate training, JHL Vehicle familiarisation training, job specific training, Customer and Pollution Management training, Commercial Awareness hardware and kit issue, vehicle issue, HGV specific training, Van Pack and CCTV training along with specific Fieldviewer and Toughbook training!

Happy New Year!

Here’s to a 2015 that sees our workplace becoming safer by the day… we can always do

more!

In addition, we have also adopted three new regional locations in South London on existing Thames Water sites, namely Cherstey, Earlswood and Crossness. These sites need a lot of work to make them fit for purpose but we have a plan and we are working with Thames to improve these sites to ensure adequate welfare, facilities and, fundamentally, making them a safe and reasonable place to work– please bare with us! Nolan Symons has also recently joined us and will take on the role of the Regional Operations Manager for South East London (Crossness and Earlswood). In the interim, Darren Fletcher will provide support to the South West region.

We would like to say a special thank you to all those who lent a helping

hand and made sure the process went smoothly!

Newsletter Title Page 3 Shout About Safety

Introducing our new Team Members!

Field Safety Coaches Liam and Jason are safety professionals that we have recruited into our organisation to help the organisation to help provide support, guidance and technical expertise to our field teams. Their principle role is to work with our teams and identify and understand any operational problems and find sensible and workable solutions to ensure that we deliver to our customers efficiently and safely. Historically, there has been a perception that ‘the safety guys only turn up when things go wrong’. The introduction of our Field Safety Coaches is to help and support proactively – before any unsafe actions happen! The proactive stance is to share best practice through help and support so that we are able to demonstrate the right behaviours at all times in the field – we know that you are already enjoying their visits and taking on board their guidance and expertise! Our Safety Coaches are also feeding back in to the senior management team any of your ideas for improvement and change that would benefit us across the business so as to make the workplace a safer and healthier place to be. One last thing… please do not wait until you see these guys to raise any concerns, queries or ideas that you have. You can ‘Shout About Safety’ at any time on your Fieldviewer app and get feedback within 48 hours! There are no excuses for not taking the time to do it safely - Take 5 every time.

Jason Liam

In addition to our new region, we are also pleased to introduce our new Transport Manager, Paul Jones and our new HR Adviser, Rakhee Bhargava! Please join us in wishing them both a very warm welcome and all the support they need to keep us safe, disciplined and compliant!

Shout About Safety

Introducing Mandatory Eyewear!

We have hit a new record! 147 days without a Lost Time Incident!

All members of staff will have now received a pair of mandatory safety glasses. These are for you to wear at all times and have now become a compulsory item of PPE when you are out at work. Please see below for when they should be worn.

Please speak to a Field Manager or Safety Coach if you do not have a pair.

A huge congratulations is in order!

We recently managed to achieve 147 days WITHOUT a Lost Time Incident!

This is in no small part down to the way in which all our Teams, both in the field and office, have safely approached the work that they do, knowing they have the power to push back and ‘Take 5!’ if someone or something isn’t safe. Please remember that there is zero compromise to matters of safety and our success relies on all of us working together and behaving as professionals at all times. Now lets see if we can beat 147!

Take 5, stay alive!


January: x Normal Training Schedule

This Quarter in Numbers

2

Training

February: x Normal Training Schedule

March: x Normal Training Schedule

Rolling AFR: 0.13! Rolling AIR: 0.07!

3

147

506

243

203

1

73

262

Days without a Lost Time Incident!

Hours spent training in the last quarter (October – January)!

New Starters inducted in the last quarter!

Drug & Alcohol awareness sessions!

Lost Time Incident in the last quarter – and one too many…

Near Misses reported in the last quarter – keep using your Shout about Safety app, we are listening and taking action!

Occasions where we didn’t quite get it right according to site visits and Safeguard inspections. There is always room for improvement!

A normal Training Schedule will return as usual over the next few months. Anything that you are missing or that is coming up for renewal, please email and confirm with your Field Manager or Regional Administrator and request it! Turn over the page for a quick check against what training and competency levels you need to do your job role safely… Be on the safe side and test your friends too. Training is the foundation to build confidence and competence; every day is a school day!

Shout About Safety

Lanes Group Induction WJA High Pressure Water Jetting (2day)

Thames Water Safety Passport (White card)

License to Operate (TW Pink Card)

New Roads and Streetworks (Unit 2)

Competency sign off with field manager

Emergency First Aid at Work

Pristine Condition Manual Handing

Toughbook & Fieldviewer

And that is just the minimum, have you also got…

Driver CPC (HGV drivers) City & Guilds High Risk Confined Space (3day)

Fire Warden training

OS19X (CCTV Engineers) City & Guilds Confined Space Rescue (1day)

Driving Assessment (drivers only)

Lanes Group Induction Fire Warden Training Vistec Training

License to Operate (TW Pink Card)

Pristine Condition Manual Handing

Thames Water Safety Passport (white card)

First Aid at Work (1 or 3 day)

AX Training Fieldviewer Training

Masternaut Training Internal Auditor Training Competency sign off manager

Training Special – Test yourself (and your friends!) I am a Waste Network Services Engineer…

I am part of the Team in the office…

There are many opportunities at Lanes Group to help you develop, learn and grow. Speak to your line manager or HSQE

team representative for more details.

Anything you may be missing, don’t worry! We have lots of available courses coming up over the next few

months. Speak to your Field Manager and confirm next steps.

If you feel additional training is necessary, just ask!


What are we up to? 4

Health Focus

Working closely with the field teams to develop and issue simple and easy to understand guidance on site set up for all to ensure that we operate best practice at all times in accordance with the red book. We are currently trialling some alternative cones and signs for wind-proofing and safety on site. Masternaut upgrade has gone live! We have started a phased roll out of instant feedback in our vehicles from the Masternaut system. If you cannot do so already you will shortly be able to see instantly if you are driving harshly, dangerously or… very well. Use this instant feedback on your driving style to your advantage; it will help you make the roads a safer place for everyone!

We are about to trial phase 1 of the Field-viewer vehicle app to help with your daily vehicle (circle) checks and vehicle defect reporting. This has been developed with driver input to ensure that it is fit for purpose and easy to use. The App will remove a lot of paper work and keep things simple for the field and office teams, enabling instantaneous reporting of defects, leading to speedier resolution and more effective maintenance programmes!

What are we working on?

What’s happening?

5 The new year is upon us and with it comes the opportunity for a newer healthier you! We are challenging our teams to make one small change this January that will help them lead a healthier 2015.

Sleep – can you aim for 8 hours a night? Make a change and deliberately get into bed earlier rather than staying up to watch that one extra episode of ‘Family Guy’… Make the change for the whole family! Stress – reserve 10 minutes at home each evening to just sit quietly, no television or music and reflect on your day. This will help prevent you keeping yourself awake with your mind spinning. Exercise – this can be a great way to get fit and get that summer body you want but it’s also really good for boosting those happy chemicals!

Shout About Safety

Let’s face it, there are lots of reasons why it’s a good idea to stop smoking. Over time your health deteriorates and your wallet feels the burn too. But even though quitting won’t be the easiest thing you’ll ever do, we reckon it will be up there with one of the best.

Whoever you are, whatever your reason, thinking carefully about your motivation and reminding yourself during your quit, can really help you through the tough time. HEADLINE: Our Technical Director, Andy Brierley has already given up smoking for 7 days and counting!

National No Smoking Day – 11th March 2015

Head Dull, foul smelling hair, hair loss, loss of hearing, glue ear, eye irritation, cataracts, blindness, loss of sense of smell. Mouth and Throat Gum disease and tooth loss, tobacco- stained teeth, foul-smelling breath, diminished sense of taste, plaque and gum disease, sore throat, cancer of lips, tongue, throat, larynx, oesophagus. Lungs Bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia, coughs and colds, wheezing, shortness of breath, asthma, tar deposits, damaged cilia, pleurisy, cancer. 25-a-day smokers are 25 times more likely to die from lung cancer than non-smokers. Four out of five of lung cancer deaths are attributed to smoking. Heart Narrowed arteries, thickened blood, aortic aneurysm, angina and heart attack. Smokers are more than twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease as non-smokers. Skin Slow healing skin wounds, premature ageing and wrinkling, reduced oxygen supply to skin resulting in a grey, parched appearance, cellulite resulting from excess toxins in body, tobacco-stained fingers.

So, what does smoking do to the body?

Let’s do the maths! A packet of 20 will now cost in excess of £8.50.

Based on this number, quitting means an extra: £59.50 a week (A family day out, a nice meal for two) £255 a month (Premiership football tickets, a weekend break) £3,102.50 a year! (A new kitchen, a family holiday)

Quit smoking, and find that healthier, wealthier

you this 2015!


DECHOX this March!

This March, the UK is holding its first ever nationwide DECHOX! The British Heart Foundation is asking the UK to give up chocolate for one month and raise money for life saving heart research, and we want you to join in!

Any sort of cocoa product is a no-no; chocolate sweets, treats, biscuits, ice cream, cake – and even the chocolate sprinkles on your cappuccino – are off limits for the whole of March. Chocolate Bar’s will cost you a £3 fine, Biscuits - £3, Choc Dessert - £5, and a Day off - £10!

The Rules

Interested? E-mail the HSQE Team and join the challenge to get healthy this March!

Want to Sneak a Treat? You have to pay the price!

Shout About Safety

Lanes Group Plc. 686 Stirling Road

Slough Berkshire SL1 4ST

Reception – 01753 254001

www.lanesfordrains.co.uk

Framework Director: Conrad Ashby [email protected]

Health, Safety, Quality and Environment Manager: Sarah Hurcomb [email protected]

Focus this Quarter - Cyclist Safety 6 Did you know…? Cyclists have the same rights on the road and as a driver you should remember that you are sharing the road with cyclists. Cyclists are more vulnerable than car users – take particular care near cyclists and give them plenty of room at all times – a minimum of 1.5m! What can we do to keep them safe? 1. Look out for cyclists, especially when turning - make eye contact if possible so they know

you’ve seen them

2. Use your indicators - signal your intentions so that cyclists can react

3. Give cyclists plenty of space when over taking them, leaving as much room as you

would give a car. If there isn’t sufficient space to pass, hold back. Remember that

cyclists may need to manoeuvre suddenly if the road is poor, it’s windy or if a car door is

opened

4. Always check for cyclists when you open your car door

5. Advanced stop lines allow cyclists to get to the front and increase their visibility. You must

stop at the first white line reached if the lights are amber or red and allow cyclists time

and space to move off when the green signal shows

6. Follow the Highway Code including ‘stop’ and ‘give way’ signs and traffic lights

serious about cyclist safety

thames water wns, 686 stirling road, slough, sl1 4st shout...

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