… and take-aways after Christmas?
Workers at a Morgan Sindall primary school site in Limehouse, east London, are being invited to “love their liver”, with the offer of a free scan check on site. Staff will be asked to fill out a health questionnaire, and those considered at high risk of liver problems will undergo the check and be offered advice. The trial will run on 23 January and will be rolled out to other sites if successful.
“Construction workers are known for their unhealthy lifestyle, they often work long hours or are away from home for long periods, which makes them more likely to eat unhealthy take-away food or spend more time in the pub,” said site manager Lucynda Jensen, who set up the initiative with Love Your Liver, a campaign run by the British Liver Trust. “With site health and safety, the focus is normally on the safety of operatives, but we wanted to do something that focused on the health aspect.”
www.loveyourliver.org.uk
…building a Japanese bridge as the access solution for chandelier maintenance?
If your client is complaining about the cost of cherry pickers, why not offer this aesthetically pleasing and highly sustainable timber alternative? This example, on display at the Japanese Embassy, is cleverly designed to mimic a Japanese classic, the Brocade Sash bridge, and would be an asset to any facilities management or restoration department. However, if you do want to specify it, you would have to consult architecture students at Kingston University, who built this version by hand in just 10 days at the university’s workshop as part of the London Design Festival last year.
…leaving a scout hut with a leaky roof?
Kier has taken part in the Channel 5 TV makeover show Operation Homefront, in which a group of ex-military personnel are deployed to renovate community projects. Repair and maintenance arm Kier North Tyneside joined the ex-forces team to refurbish a community building for the charity Pathways 4 All in Rising Sun Country Park, Wallsend (below). Fortunately, the project has avoided the negative publicity that accompanied a previous episode, when the mission to repair a scout hut left it with a leaky roof and incomplete plumbing and electrics. According to the Daily Mail, the long list of snagging items forced the troop to have its meeting outdoors. Just as well Kier was on hand in Wallsend to batten down the hatches.
…banning emails at work?
In a bid to curb the volume of non work-related internal emails, housing association Halton Housing Trust has announced it will scrap its internal email system by 2014. After its research showed that 40% of staff time was spent dealing with internal email with “no value for the business”, it plans instead to adopt a business social media platform, such as Yammer, for inter-staff communication, which enables staff to pre-select whom they receive email from. But won’t they miss those emails from Tracy in accounts, who needs a stapler because hers is bust?…perhaps not.
