Foundation Rides - 9th June

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Up and Under will be organising two bike rides to raise funds for the Up and Under Foundation on Sunday 9th June.  The money raised will be used to support more activities for disadvantaged young people.

There are two distances so you can pick the challenge that fits your ability.  The Foundation Ride is a pleasant 50 km circuit taking in a popular cyclist cafe in Audlem and the historic town of Nantwich.  The Good Stuff Ride is a tougher prospect including some of the lumpier parts of Cheshire, not forgetting an opportunity to stop at the Ice Cream Farm Cafe for a well earned breather.

We have limited the number of entries for these two events to 250 and places are filling up fast.  So to enter go to www.foundationrides.co.uk. Entry fees are far lower than most of the sportive rides and the profit from this event go to benefit young people in need.

And it gets better - we have support from two, local, leading names in good food.  Mornflake will be providing the porridge for breakfast at the start of the ride and Chatwins will be supplying the buns for after the ride.

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Asset Management

Today we will be presenting to a client on the process and importance of asset management. From identifying your assets, determining whether they are needed, realising your data deficit, assessing condition through to planned maintenance and replacement.

To many people this can be a shocking process. Do you manage a site or number of sites? Answer this one: how many signs do you own, what is there expected useful life, how much do they cost to replace, who is controlling the repair and replacement programme, how many do you need to replace this year, oh and is there a budget for it?

I guess if we were talking company vehicles most or all of the above would be covered, but what about unadopted roads, sewers, pedestrian barriers, lighting installations, footbridges, doors, gates, footpaths, retention structures, etc. etc.

Failing to manage and budget for repair or replacement could put serious stress upon your business. Your competitors are taking this seriously, we are talking to them TODAY. Do you want us to discuss this with your team?

Call us on 01270 589615

Legislation Update - First Aid Training

Following a review of First Aid Training Provision it was determined that the HSE's current approval process goes beyond the minimum requirement laid out in EU legislation.  Therefore it is expected that changes to the current edition of L74, ‘First Aid at Work’ (Approved Code of Practice and Guidance)  are expected in October 2013.

As an interim the HSE have published three draft guidance documents.

The documents deal with assessing First Aid needs in the workplace, the second addresses selection of appropriate training providers, while the third presents a selection of example scenarios to help employers with the assessment of First Aid needs. Full details can be found here

As progress continues with this important change we will keep you informed.  Remember the old regs still apply until the new ones are published.

If you need any health and safety advice please contact us 01270 589615

Safety Training is always available from www.entrainment.co.uk

Latest Projects - Beautiful Interiors

For the fourth year running Up and Under Interiors are undertaking refurbishment works at an internationally respected medical research unit in Liverpool. The new offices and laboratories form part of a planned investment project. We are please that the quality and value we offer to this prestigious client means that we have been asked to complete more works this year.

On a recent site visit with Contracts Director Grant Williams, Andy, Group MD saw the scope of the construction process from start - removal of wall and existing services - to finish - newly plastered walls, suspended ceiling and beautiful glass partitioned offices.



Before



After



If you, like Andy, want your working environment transformed in this way, contact Grant on 01270 589615

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NCE Consultants File 2013

With the publication of the NCE Consultants File 2013 we are pleased to see ourselves once more appearing in the same lists as Atkins, Mouchel, Arups and Mott MacDonalds.

Once again Atkins top the lists for number of staff and turnover. It will take a while for us to match their reported 18,679 staff and £1.7 billion in fees, but we are making progress.

It is pleasing to see The Up and Under Group making an entry into the ‘Top Firms in Water’ Rankings for the first time to compliment our entries in the ‘Top Firms in Asset Management’ and ‘Top Firms in the Public Sector’ amongst others.

OK, so the top spot looks a little unlikely any time soon. Our clients know that they get a great personal service and care. Maybe that would be a category for next year ‘Top Firms who Care’

Latest Project Report - Welsh Links

Two interesting projects in Wales this week:

The first is the inspection of an arch bridge, to establish its condition. Arches are can be susceptible to extremes of weather so examinations in spring are useful to detect deterioration caused by frost or heavy rain.



Measuring an area of pointing loss

The second project was an inspection for assessment, the principal information required was the thickness of the beam flanges supporting the jack arches which in turn support the deck. In this type of construction the bricks forming the jack arch sit directly on the lower beam flange making a caliper measurement impractical.

Measuring the thickness of the beam flange

To get around this problem we use ultra-sonic thickness measurement. This gives us accurate measurement of the remaining flange and has the bonus that with the right equipment it will measure through existing coatings.

We are interested to discuss your needs in regard to bridge asset management.  Please contact us 01270 589615

Legislation Update - The Health and Safety (Miscellaneous Repeals, Revocations and Amendments) Regulations 2013

Catchy title eh?  We flagged these revisions up earlier in the year and subject to Parliamentary approval it is now in place.

The full list of measures being removed are:

• Celluloid and Cinematograph Film Act 1922
• Gasholders (Record of Examinations) Order 1938 
• Shipbuilding and Ship-repairing Regulations 1960
• Celluloid and Cinematograph Film Act 1922 (Repeals and Modifications) Regulations 1974
• Celluloid and Cinematograph Film Act 1922 (Exemptions) Regulations 1980
• Gasholders and Steam Boilers (Metrication) Regulations 1981
• Locomotives etc Regulations 1906 (Metrication) Regulations 1981
• Notification of Installations Handling Hazardous Substances Regulations 1982
• Docks, Shipbuilding etc (Metrication) Regulations 1983
• Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1989
• Notification of Installations Handling Hazardous Substances (Amendment) Regulations 2002
• Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes Regulations 2010
• Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes (Amendment) Regulations 2010

For more information see - http://www.hse.gov.uk/legislation/repeals-revocations.htm

 

We hope you find these regular safety updates useful.  If you would like any assistance with safety training, auditing or other guidance please contact us 01270 589615

High Sheriff's Awards - Video

This video was prepared for the Awards dinner and was shown prior to us receiving our prize, we love it, see what you think ;o