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Warehouse Safety Checklist

November 10, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Our warehouse safety inspection service helps you fulfil your legal duty to check the safety of your storage systems annually.

Whether you have a modest installation or several vast warehouses, your storage systems should be inspected at least annually for any safety defects. Our independent warehouse safety inspection helps fulfil your duty of care to employees and comply with HSE regulations.

Peace of mind and compliance

Why risk injury to your operatives, damaged stock and possible prosecution due to unsafe storage, when we can arrange a Level 3 inspection by an independent SARI qualified inspector?

This impartial inspection with a written report will highlight and categorise any defects. It also covers safety aspects such as load warnings and incorrect use of pallets. If racking issues are found, our racking repair service can quickly rectify them.

HSE Safety Levels 1 and 2

The HSE defines Level 1 as reporting damage to the Person Responsible for Racking Safety (PRRS). The PRRS should also make regular Level 2 inspections of all your storage, checking they are suitable for their loads, correctly installed and not damaged.

A PRRS can be anyone familiar with racking damage. They could simply be an experienced person, but ideally they should be specifically trained; we can arrange this.

HSE Level 3

You must also have a Level 3 inspection at least annually, preferably by an independent specialist, such as a SEMA Approved Rack Inspector (SARI). It’s much more extensive than Level 2, and complies with SEMA (Storage Equipment Manufacturers Association) guidelines, which are recognised by HSE.

A Level 3 Expert inspection categorises damage as Red, Amber and Green risks. Red is the most serious; if you continue using storage assessed as Red Risk, you could face prosecution.

How to design an office on a budget

October 18, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Companies are rethinking how offices are designed. The drab room full of cubicles is a thing of the past. Nowadays, companies are taking into consideration how the design of an office affects their employees. Employees aren’t going to be enthusiastic about coming to work if their office has a dull and uninteresting design.

Designing an office that works for you does not have to put you in debt. You can avoid the expensive task of hiring a designer by learning the best ways to design an office by yourself. The pay-off of having more productive and happy employees will make up for the cost of redesigning your office. Here are ten simple ways to design a fantastic office on a budget?

Choose your vibe

Before starting the process of designing your perfect office space, it is vital to decide on an aesthetic that you want to base your design on. Choosing an aesthetic for your office will guarantee that everything in the space is cohesive and works together. Once you have your aesthetic figured out, then you can dive into the real designing.

Add a touch of nature

Adding plants to the desks or window sills is a small but great way to bring some life into our office. It will make the office look more green and make the employees seem less like they are stuck inside. It’s as easy as buying potted plants at your local garden store, or if you have enough natural light you can even grow them.

Keep it tidy

No matter how expensive your decor is or how much money you put into designing your office, it will not look good if its a mess. Keeping your space neat and tidy is free, and it can give your space a whole new feel. While tidying your office, you should look for anything hindering the intended design of the office. If anything takes up space and is unnecessary, then get rid of it. A clean and tidy office looks even better when it is minimal and open.

Open Office

If you are designing an office for your companies team, open office space is a popular and inexpensive option. Open office spaces are not just showing up everywhere because they are trendy; they are also cheap. The more open an office is the less stuff you have to buy to divide it up. With this open space, you can then start figuring out where you want to put specific furnishings to personalize the space and give it your own touch.

Budget Office Storage Ideas for Small Spaces

October 10, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Do you have a small space for your office or work space? Whether you have just a desk in your home or a small office, chances are you will need storage. The storage can help you keep the space organised and pulled together looking.

I just emptied a closet/office at work to carve out some space for myself. After using the space for a few days I realize, it’s a disaster. I have papers everywhere and a mishmash of filing bins and metal organizers but nothing goes together.

Do you feel like your work space is a mess and you need to look at the space with fresh eyes? Before you buy follow these steps to make sure you choose the storage that’s right for how you use the space.

Determine Your Storage Needs

The first step before you buy anything is to look at what you need to store. Does your desk have drawers? Do you have lots of papers, office supplies, files, printers, pens and pencils, craft supplies, etc. Knowing what you need to store will help you when you start shopping.

If possible, your space will look more coordinated if you can get storage that serves your purpose, but also coordinates. To make the space look organized and pulled together don’t buy a piece here and a piece there. Once you determine what needs to be stored, get pieces that work together.

In my case, being a paper pushing CPA I have lots of invoices and other paperwork that stacks up. I also have many printers and lots of office suppliers. I really wanted shelves, but to keep them from looking chaotic I needed lots of storage inside the shelves.

Ask Yourself What You Use Every Day

What you need to store may be different from what you need to access every day. For example, you may want to store paperwork, but you don’t look at the paperwork daily. Things you use daily might be stapler, envelopes, tape, pens/pencils, etc. These things need place to be that isn’t just sitting on the desk.

Desktop Storage

If your desk doesn’t have drawers. you will probably need something to hold things like stapler, tape, stamps, pens & pencils. There are so many desks now that don’t have any storage. Consider whether your desk faces a wall or faces the open when you get desktop storage. If it faces the wall you can mount things on the wall for more storage.

Shelving

If you have the space to fit shelving, there are so many inexpensive options. You can choosing floating shelves, but be aware that these are not usually a good option for heave things. For shelving, Ikea is one of the best and most budget friendly places to go.

Pulling it all together

The most important thing about storage for your work space is that it works together. This is what’s going to transform your office space from just a desk with a stack of papers to a grown up place.

Working from home and the global energy crisis

September 15, 2022 / / 0 Comments

The global financial crisis two years ago had revealed a new trend in society: people no longer wanted the traditional 9-5 job with an exhausting and expensive commute. The genie is well out of bottle when it comes to work, as employees now look for more freedom than ever before; not just time off during their lunch break or after dinner hours but also flexibility on how they spend those free moments.

Having documented the changes to organisational life through the Covid-19 pandemic, what is significant about these findings is that this mindset shift appears to be permanent. Figures show nearly 40% of working adults in Great Britain are now working across multiple locations in a hybrid working model. However, as the energy crisis threatens to bite, there are warnings that this winter’s looming energy crisis could kill off our new working “culture”. So, which one is it?

Amid the detailed calculations being made, one aspect is already clear: socio-economic circumstances will be a main driver in whether working from home remains firmly rooted in our way of life, and people’s decisions about work are still the product of their circumstances.

A guardian news article reports that one public sector graduate trainee told me that, by her calculations, the cost of train fares, coffees and snacks left her better off working from home. But if energy costs rise sharply, she will probably switch to travelling into the office over shouldering a punitively high heating bill. It is precisely this fluctuating picture that makes this winter so difficult to plan for. Another senior manager working for a London local authority told me that while some of her staff had indicated that they might want to be coming into the office more often in the coming months, there was a lack of concrete information or certainty.

When we consider how working trends might be affected by the rising cost of living, the geographies of labour markets cannot be ignored. With the UK having some of the longest commutes in Europe, financial savings from reduced commuting were some of the most notable markers of lockdown delivering some measurable benefit to working people. And as train fares continue to outstrip inflation, organisations staffed by suburban commuters are likely to find employees continue to be more attached to working from home to save money, while those who live closer to offices may find the lure of a heated space outweighs the benefits of home working.

Of course, these financial decisions are rarely made in isolation. In our research, we saw people adapt the quality of their workspace over the lockdowns, working in separate rooms where possible to prioritise privacy and maximise concentration. But as heating becomes more expensive, this looks less feasible, while merging home workspaces could provoke personal tensions, damage productivity and even have a disruptive effect upon family relationships.

How To Upcycle Your Furniture With Paint

September 9, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Upcycling is a great way to breathe new life into old furniture – and it’s amazing how just one coat of paint can completely transform an otherwise plain-looking chair or chest. Follow this helpful ‘upcycle your furniture guide with paint’ for some easy styling that’ll have you second hand pieces looking as good as fresh!

Buying used furniture

  • Have a good idea of what type of furniture you need before heading to car boot sales and markets – and when you see something, picture where it would go in your home. This way, you’ll be less likely to buy pieces that aren’t particularly useful.
  • Remember there’s a huge used furniture market online. Many people sell pieces at bargain prices, or even give them away for free on community threads and websites.
  • It’s important to be flexible if you’re looking for a really unique piece. Some creative thinking can turn old doors into smaller cupboards, or crates into shelving. For inspiration, take a look at DIY and upcycling blogs online.
  • If a piece looks shabby because of a bad or fading paint job, or it has surface scratches, you can easily transform it with a little sanding or painting.
  • Make sure you check furniture is structurally sound for the way you’ll use it. If there are holes in older wooden furniture, it’s probably had woodworm.

How to revamp your furniture

  1. Gently sand the surfaces removing any rough edges.
  2. Remove excess dust using a dust brush.
  3. Prepare the surface thoroughly, so it’s as even as possible before you prime.
  4. Once the primer is dry, sand the surface again and remove excess dust.
  5. Before you begin painting, section off your first coloured stripes with masking tape, starting from the top and working towards your feet.
  6. Paint the first colour and wait until it’s dry before you put more masking tape on for the second colour.
  7. Remember to wait until your first coats are completely dry before painting second coats of each colour.

Home office wall decor ideas to create an inspirational display

August 9, 2022 / / 0 Comments

With so many of us working from home on a regular basis, the space we spend so much time in deserves some extra love. Home office wall decor ideas will refresh your space and help you keep motivated throughout the day.

Let’s face it, staring at the same bland four walls everyday hardly make for the most motivational working environment. Luckily, it’s easy enough to switch your mindset from ‘out of office’ to optimistic by treating the walls of your home office ideas as a blank canvas.

Home office wall decor ideas

Getting creative with your working space is proven to boost positivity and productivity, making you much happier day to day. Whether you opt for positive paint shades, styled-up shelving, decorative artwork, or all of them, your home office wall decor ideas are sure to make the work days fly by.

Build a beautiful backdrop

While it’s important to consider the view from your desk, consider the backdrop from your computer camera, too. You’ll need to think carefully about the wall behind you and the impression it will create on video calls, as it is likely to now be one of the most seen parts of your home.

Work in tandem with your home office lighting ideas to ensure both your face and backdrop are perfectly lit, while avoiding irritating screen glare.

Stay serene with green

Bringing greenery into an office environment helps evoke a sense of calm and stimulates creativity, making it just as perfect for craft room ideas.

Try painting walls a soothing shade of green, or for a quick fix, fill a shelf with plants.

If you’re short on desk or floor space, or you’re not very green fingered, hanging botanical wall art can help destress and set you in the right mood for a productive day.

Pick a positive colour scheme

One of the main benefits of a home office is the opportunity to create a colourful environment that works for you – not your colleagues. Think about how you react to colours and tones and pick accordingly: some people feel stressed by bright shades while others find them stimulating.

If you’re wary about home office design mistakes and unsure on colours, there are some that might be worth considering, given the proven effects they have on mood and productivity.

Stay organised

If it’s small home office ideas you’re after, think about making your walls work a little harder. With a few practical accessories, they can easily accommodate all your organisational needs – the key is to make it look stylish.

Whether it’s a blackboard, corkboard or DIY pinboard, position it in the middle then work out with a couple of wall-mounted pockets and small shelves to keep all your bits and bobs close to hand.

Drawbacks of working in the office

July 28, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Working from home can have certain benefits in terms of time efficiency and mobility. However, there are many other advantages to working in an office that cannot be compared to remote working.

In this blog we look at the drawbacks of working in an office.

Regular distractions. The simple fact of being in an office with more people makes communication more fluent and more fluid, which may result in a noisier working environment. This could possibly interfere in the worker’s concentration and may reduce productivity.

Lack of privacy. Some people are not as extroverted and may not like working in a team as much as others. This is a disadvantage if we work in open spaces and offices, as these more introverted employees can end up feeling uncomfortable.

Your productivity will decrease if you’re feeling stressed at work. And, in an office setting where there’s more pressure from both your superior or fellow employees – it can be hard to stay on task with what needs done when everyone else seems so preoccupied too!

Advantages of working in the office

July 10, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Why workspaces are so important

Many of the employees who work in these workplaces need certain skills to be able to perform their tasks such as face to face communication between teams, ability to exchange views, write, work as a team or knowing how to function in an collaborative work environment with other professionals.

Unlike remote working, the office has been designed and conceived from the outset as a place to carry out a specific job. Another of its differentiating factors is the complete separation of the employee from home: working from home can lead to stress and a lack of disconnection from the workplace, as cohabiting in the same space where you “work” and “rest” makes people not able to separate and take a real break from their working day.

Benefits of working in the office

When working in an office, there are times when you need to shift your workspace around and take up tasks at different places. This is because each space has its own unique functionality that helps maximize productivity while minimising any distractions from external factors like people or noise pollution – it’s always best if we can work without interruption.

Working as a team. Being part of a company project with a team of people boosts your creativity, as well as developing our collaborative and social skills. In an office we can interact and work side by side with other colleagues, something that can help us move away from static work routines. In addition, productivity in the office is increased.

Conduct face to face meetings. For certain work or projects, it may be necessary to hold face to face meetings. For example, arranging a meeting with a very important client at our place of work can help us to sell a proposal, because the customer engages, feels part of a whole and is able to see in person how we perform naturally and safely in a professional environment.

Establishing new links and contacts. Being immersed in a daily work routine with a lot of people around us can benefit us in the future, as this will allow us to acquire new contacts that can help us in the long run to find new job opportunities or start new professional projects. Interacting with other professionals in the office can benefit us when building new business or if we want to initiate and create new personal projects.

Top Tips to Keep Cool in An Office

June 17, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Employers should make sure they provide reasonable working conditions to their employees, but the burden of providing extra allowances falls on them. However there are many benefits for both employers and staff in terms or looking after themselves during a heat wave – so long as it doesn’t pose an additional hazard due excessive strain/weariness caused by high temperatures within one’s environment which could lead into illness etcetera . This includes drinking enough water throughout each day along with taking regular breaks outdoors if possible!

Top Tips

  • Relax the dress code. If office wear usually means wearing a suit, relax this rule in hot weather. Allow more informal wear such as no ties or no suit jackets to cope with the heat.
  • Provide refreshments. By law, employees should have access to fresh drinking water, but providing ice and squash will refresh people even further.
  • Offer desk fans, or temporary cooling units to improve air circulation and keep people cool at their desks.
  • Use curtains and blinds to block out sunlight to prevent the office from getting hotter.
  • Avoid over exertion. If you usually go out or exercise at lunch, take care not to do too much, and consider staying out of the sun where possible.

Can It Ever Be Too Hot to Work in the UK?

June 10, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Can It Ever Be Too Hot to Work in the UK?

There is no legal minimum or maximum working temperature in the UK, but that doesn’t mean it is never too hot to work. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) say that working temperatures should provide ‘reasonable comfort’ to workers, and provide recommendations such as:

The temperature in a workplace should be at least 16 °C, or if the work involves rigorous effort, it should be at least 13 °C.

Other factors such as humidity, air flow and worker clothing and movement also play a part in determining if the temperature in a working environment is reasonably comfortable. As there is no recommended office temperature in UK law, it is up to each workplace to determine their own ideal temperature.

If you do find the heat is making you uncomfortable, this can impact on your working ability. You may find you cannot concentrate, your productivity will drop and you may suffer from heat stress.

What is Heat Stress?

When you are too hot, your body will try to cool off by sweating and radiating more energy. Unfortunately this can lead into heat stress if the temperature continues for an extended period of time without relief from water shortage or natural processes that help regulate temperatures in a human being’s environment.

Symptoms of heat stress can include having a red face, excessive sweating, a heat rash, muscle cramps, dehydration and fainting. If allowed to continue, heat stress can cause heat exhaustion, and this is a severe disorder that can lead to death in extreme cases.

Some working environments are more at risk of being too hot to work in than others. For example, those in well-ventilated offices are less likely than those working in a kitchen to feel the effects of a heatwave. However, we all have a responsibility to stay safe and healthy at work, no matter our working environment.

What Are Employer Responsibilities During Hot Weather?

All employers have a duty to protect the health and safety of employees. Whilst there is no legal requirement to provide air con in offices, employees will work better when they are comfortable. It is therefore in everyone’s interests to make the environment as reasonably comfortable as possible.

Employers should also take extra care to protect any vulnerable people in the office. Hot weather can make people feel tired and less energetic than usual, especially for young and elderly people, pregnant women, and people who may be on medication. Vulnerable people in your office may appreciate extra rest breaks or a desk fan to improve air circulation.

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