How does good customer service link to health & safety?

Psychologist Abraham Maslow created the concept of a Hierarchy of Needs which included a section that focuses on safety. At the bottom of the pyramid are our most basic human needs to survive, such as food, water, rest and shelter. As you climb the pyramid you fulfil your more complicated needs, which influence your behaviour and once you reach the top, you hit your full potential in life. Maslow argued that the lower levels of needs must be ticked off before you can reach the next level of the hierarchy, for example it would be difficult if you’ve got no home to shelter in or haven’t eaten to feel healthy, safe or secure.

So how does this tie into health & safety?

When looking at the ‘safety’ section, we can look at this hierarchy from an events point of view.   Imagine you are attending a Christmas party night; would you fully be able to enjoy yourself if:

  • You didn’t know where to get a drink from
  • Couldn’t see any toilets on site
  • There was rubbish over the floor or it was slippy
  • You couldn’t see any fire exits in the room

The whole customer journey from the very arrival at the venue, can have a huge impact on your experience of an event and it’s important to recognise that good housekeeping can not only help create a safe environment to prevent accidents, but it can also prevent fire and ill health.

By providing a safe environment at an event, customers will feel secure, healthy and safe. If they don’t feel safe or secure people will not be able to fully relax and they will start to look at opportunities to remove themselves from the danger. This could include leaving an event, complaining about the event or posting poor social media messages/ reviews about the event.

To prevent this, it’s important to include health and safety in your event planning from the very beginning; it should blend seamlessly into your event planning. Ultimately giving the customer a good safe customer experience, will prevent accidents or injury and will instead create recommendations and referrals with repeat visits and customer loyalty created.

There is lots of free advice on the HSE website for planning an event safely http://www.hse.gov.uk/event-safety/ or for further help and support, or information on the different aspects of health and safety we can provide – get in touch!

 

 

Mental Health Awareness

Mental health awareness… What does this mean to you and your business? With work-related stress, depression and anxiety continuing to rise rapidly in the workforce and mental health awareness being put firmly on the government’s agenda, what can small businesses do?

With no specific mental health legislation currently in place for businesses, it can be hard to know what to focus on. A range of training options are available and the HSE has confirmed that workplaces need to look at ways of providing information to their employees and managing mental ill health in the workplace.

Recent stats from the HSE show that 15.4 million working days were lost and 44% of work-related ill health cases were caused by stress, depression and anxiety. With prevention being key, what can you do in your company to encourage mental health prevention?

  • Show you’re concerned about your team’s well-being by putting mental health awareness on your agenda at work
  • Educate staff about mental health awareness through a workshop
  • Help remove the stigma associated with mental health illnesses
  • Encourage conversations and awareness in the workplace on mental health illness and the costs associated with this
  • Learn to listen to your colleagues and team members
  • Be aware of how to support a colleague or staff member with a mental health illness
  • Attend a mental health awareness training course

If you’re interested in finding out more about our Mental Health Awareness Training courses, take a look at our upcoming course dates or email davinarowe@harrieruk.com.

Welding – legal update

Following on from new scientific evidence from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), new Health and Safety control standards have been introduced, which will take place with immediate effect for welding operations.

These changes have been introduced due to new findings which confirm that exposure to mild steel welding fume and UV radiation can cause lung cancer and possibly kidney cancer in humans. The Workplace Health Expert Committee has therefore supported the IARC who have reclassified mild steel welding fume as a group 1 (highest risk level) human carcinogen.

For more information, including details of what this means for your business and a summary of actions that need to be taken, please refer to our latest legal update on Welding – Changes to UK welding fumes control standards.

If you require any further advice or assistance on these changes, please contact Harrier on 01332 460703

We’re now national award winners!

2019 is kicking off to be a great year for Harrier. Not only were we shortlisted for ‘Best Health & Safety’ at the Festival Supplier Awards, we only went and won it! The awards were presented at the very glamorous setting of London’s Hurlingham Club and they annually celebrate the achievements of suppliers to the UK’s festival industry.

There was plenty of competition this year, all of which were subjected to an extensive and rigorous judging process. With awards categories ranging from Best Lighting and Best Crowd Management to Best Visual Speculator; we’d like to congratulate all winners and finalists on their achievements in the industry.

Over the past year, we’ve been incredibly busy working with a number of festivals and outdoor events up and down the UK. These include: Truck Festival, Sundown Festival, Bristol’s Ethical Life Festival and various Live Nation Stadium events. Our team, during the time of these festivals, have clearly demonstrated strong working relationships with our clients and local authorities. It is this collaborative approach that has helped us to win the “Best Health & Safety” award.

Here’s what our very chuffed Managing Director Andy had to say…

“It’s a fantastic achievement to be named Best Health & Safety and a real testament to the incredible efforts our team has put in. This year’s awards saw us up against some of the industry leaders which makes this award all the more special. We take pride in making festivals and events safe and enjoyable for all, and to see our hard work recognised gives us immense pride.”

We’re incredibly excited to further our success in 2019 and beyond! We’re putting a huge focus on continuing our award-winning health & safety services not just in the festival and events industry, but making health & safety support and training accessible to small businesses too.

For more details about how we can support your business or event with health & safety compliance, visit our services page here. Don’t be afraid to get in touch with our friendly team. Call us on: 01332 460703 or email: info@harrieruk.com

Behind the scenes at the first Harrier Team Day

Back in December, before heading off for Christmas dinner and New Year celebrations, the whole Harrier team came together for the first ‘Harrier Team Day’. This was a chance for everyone to share their knowledge and experiences throughout 2018 and look ahead to what is proving to be an exciting year in 2019.

Opening the door for discussions

Our team gathered together for an in-depth discussion about the best health & safety practices and gave ideas to each other for how to provide a great service. Around the table was our Health & Safety Advisor, Project Coordinator, Business Manager, Managing Director, and our team of Event Safety Advisors.

We discussed a wide range of areas relating to health & safety such as sustainability, CDM (construction, design and management), table top exercises, inductions, equipment and paperwork. Each team member shared their expertise, giving a strong insight into what has worked well in each of these areas, while also giving an idea about the areas to focus on as this year progresses. After all, we’re always looking to improve!

Then came two engaging presentations; starting with Alex Stone, our marketing team Mocha Marketing’s Commercial Director, who shared the social media dos and don’ts during events and why good communication is vital in our work especially in emergencies.

This led nicely into a presentation by Event Safety Advisor, Clayton, who shared how the team can put together counter-terrorism risk assessments and why these are so important in the work we carry out.

Picture: Alex Cantrill-Jones / ACJ Media

A successful Team Day

With lots of discussion, the day was a great way for the team to strengthen their bonds and get together. We always value each member of our team and the knowledge they bring, which is why it was so important for everyone to have the floor throughout the day.

As a big thank you to the team for their continued hard work, we finished the day with a tasty curry at our favourite local curry house – and of course plenty of drinks to toast the end of a great year!

It was a pleasure for the whole team to come together for one big celebration and take pride in our achievements. We’re already excited to be planning this year’s Harrier Team Day, with everyone keen for it to be more than just one day…

Roll on Team Day 2019!

Castle Donington Welcomes a New Networking Group

With the New Year comes new opportunities to get out there and network, to find a supportive group of likeminded individuals and to take a break from working at home alone. Not only that, networking is a great way to build great connections, challenge your conceptions and learn something new.

All of this took place at Castle Donington’s new networking group ‘Lets Network’ organised as a joint venture by Harrier, East Midlands Health & Safety Specialist and Jake Burkey, Mortgage & Protection advisor. This formation grew from the lack of local networking groups for the area and the realisation of the different opportunities the group may bring to each other.

The first meeting was held on Friday 11th January at 9.30am-12.30pm at the recently opened Community Hub in Castle Donington. This ideal venue choice is built to serve the community, close to the A50 and M1, with free parking facilities and comfortable meeting rooms.

The meeting started with an informal chance to network with others over tea, coffee and biscuits. A chance to build relationships, listen to others and lend an encouraging voice. The event was well attended by a wide variety of organisations across the area, including marketing, PR, coaching, office supplies, health and fitness & wellbeing.

As guest speaker Tracey Hartshorn Development Coach from Tracey Hartshorn and Associates, took to the floor, she delivered an engaging and eye-opening presentation on ‘Why Mental Health Awareness is Important’. At the end of the presentation everyone took something away with from the alarming statistics that 1 in 4 of us will suffer with a mental health problem. Tracey also explained the stigma that surrounds mental health and shared some simple suggestions to help others struggling with mental health, such as learning to listen better and being more thoughtful to those around you.

The meeting finished with discussions on the guest topic and further networking over refreshments. The cost to attend is just a £5 donation which goes to the Joseph Cooper Trust, a charity that helps provide small wishes to children with life limiting illnesses.

With the next networking date confirmed as Friday 15th February 9.30am – 12.30pm. If you’d like to join this refreshing and relaxed networking group, please email admin@harrieruk.com.

Welcome to our new website!

It’s been an exciting few years here at Harrier. We’ve brought our health & safety know-how to businesses up and down the UK and our own team members have been at some of the biggest events in the calendar.

As you’ve probably noticed by now, we’ve also given our website a fresh new look for 2019 as a result of our recent successes! We hope you enjoy having a look around, learning about the services we can offer and the people who make these services happen.

At Harrier, we’re more than just event health & safety specialists. We believe in making high quality health & safety services and training accessible for all businesses, regardless of size and budget. Our new website is your portal to putting health & safety procedures in place to keep you and your people safe.

After all, the health, safety and wellbeing of people should always come first.

Striving for further growth

2018 was one of the most successful years on record for us here at Harrier. Not only did we have the opportunity to work at some of the biggest music venues going, but we also supported a many small businesses with their health & safety compliance and training.

From being on hand to help at the much-anticipated concerts by Taylor Swift and Jay-Z and Beyoncé, to working at Bristol’s first ever Viva! Vegan festival, our team have seen been a part of some incredible moments.

It wasn’t just out at events and music festivals where our teams excelled; our face-to-face training services have also expanded and grown too! We’re offering more training courses than before, including in areas such as mental health awareness and emergency first aid; all to help health & safety become more accessible than ever for businesses of all sizes.

Why not take a look at our latest calendar of training courses here.

Brand new look, same quality service

Our new website is still in its infancy, but we hope that it gives you a good insight into who we are and how we work. Whether you’re putting on a small music festival in your community or need a health & safety advisor to carry out face-to-face assessments in your business, we’re here to help.

Because we know you might have team members working across the country, we’ve made it easier than ever to book onto our online health & safety training courses! You can now simply click here to purchase from a wide range of online training courses.

Though our website might have changed, the outstanding service we always strive for still remains the same. But don’t just take our word for it, you can view a selection of case studies and testimonials from our wonderful clients here.

We’d love to hear what you have to say about us! If you have any suggestions  on how we can improve, please feel free to let us know.

Your guide to helping employees survive Blue Monday

Blue Monday is typically the 3rd Monday in January, so in 2019 that is January 21st. It is characterised as being the most depressing day of the year. Why? Well there are a number of reasons why ‘Blue Monday’ gets such a poor image; the gloomy weather, Christmas is long gone but the dent it caused in the bank balance isn’t and for some of us, we may start to fail our New Year’s resolutions.

With all this in mind it’s no wonder that Blue Monday has such a reputation, however it’s important to remember that some of us suffer all year round and the emotional wellbeing of your employees should always be a high priority.

An unhappy workplace is an unproductive workplace. In fact, in 2016/17, it was estimated that some 49% of working days were lost due to stress, anxiety or depression, with around half a million cases of these reported by UK workers.

But this doesn’t need to be the case. Here’s how you can create positive emotional wellbeing all-year round.

Creating an open door policy

Around one in four of us will experience difficulties with mental health. Conditions such as anxiety, depression, or a sudden physical illness or a bereavement can have significant impacts on employees both in and out of the workplace.

Given that we spend an average of 40 hours each week at work, it’s important that your employees feel that they can approach you or their peers if they are struggling, not just on Blue Monday, but throughout the entire year. The pressures of work can exacerbate anxiety or depression and lead to employees struggling to complete their work.

By opening the door to conversations around mental health in the workplace, you can create an environment where everyone has the support they are entitled to. This can be through anonymous emails or comments, or by giving anyone struggling a chance to express their concerns without fear of stigma.

Additional support within the office

Mental health awareness has come a long way in recent years, with many businesses appointing mental health first-aiders to give employees the chance to get support in the workplace when they feel the need to. However, there are other ways that you can support your staff on Blue Monday and all year round.

One of the easiest ways is signposting employees to support organisations such as the Samaritans or Mind. You could put up posters or noticeboard displays around the office to further raise the awareness of mental health difficulties.

There might also be a time when your employee seeks time off for counselling or therapy. It’s important to get an idea about how this will impact on their time in work so you can plan with them to create a solution where they will get the support they need, while still carrying out their duties.

Mental health affects everyone differently; some employees may just need you to know that they live with depression but are confident in their own coping techniques whereas others may need closer support.

Train your managers to spot the signs

Being open and speaking about mental health isn’t always easy. As a business owner, you’ll have the responsibility of protecting your employees’ emotional wellbeing – even if they do not feel comfortable telling you outright. This Blue Monday make the effort to ask your employees how they are feeling and continue to do this throughout the year.

By training your managers on the potential triggers in a workplace or how to spot the warning signs of a mental health crisis, you can put steps in place to support your team should there come a time when they approach you.

Training courses, like our mental health awareness course and mental health first aid courses, can give you an insight into how mental health impacts on your colleagues and how you can come together to help them manage their mental health on a daily basis.

Creating a safe environment for colleagues affected by mental health

Living with mental health affects people every day. But by getting at least an understanding of how being at work can impact on your colleagues is a vital first step. And we can help you take that step through our mental health awareness training courses. Take a look at our latest course calendar here.

Contact us for more information and start by asking your employees how they are truly feeling. Sometimes a listening ear is all we need to combat difficult times.  

Putting people first with health & safety training courses!

As part of our continued focus on putting people first, we’re excited to announce the latest programme of our popular health & safety training courses.

Download our current training course calendar!

We’re kick-starting 2019 with the following four face to face courses:

IOSH Managing Safely: An internationally-recognised 3-day course covering the basics of health, safety and environment all in one. Supervisors and managers should leave feeling confident and enthusiastic about implementing good health & safety practices in their work areas.

Safeguarding & Wellbeing: An interactive session to provide an insight on the importance of safeguarding and how a workplace can equip itself to put safeguarding policies and procedures in place.

Emergency 1st Aid: Learn how to comply with important health & safety regulations and ensure that employees know what to do in the unfortunate case of an emergency.

Mental Health Awareness: An engaging course for managers and leaders to increase their knowledge and awareness of mental health conditions in the workplace, including how to respond to, support and manage staff members who may be experiencing mental health difficulties.

We’re offering one FREE charity place per course!

This year, we’re also focusing on making health & safety accessible for charities. To make that happen, we’re proudly offering one free place on each of our courses to local charities, helping them to learn about what they can do to ensure they’re compliant with health and safety regulations without having to spend a penny!

Please note that the free charity place is on a first come, first served basis.

Here at Harrier, we believe that every organisation should have the chance to access health & safety training regardless of their size. And with practical steps to implement, your organisation can be confident in handling any situation and preventing issues before they arise.

These courses are designed to make health & safety accessible for everyone, which we’re incredibly passionate about here at Harrier. Our IOSH Managing Safety course for example is internationally recognised and we’re proud to be able to offer this to our clients. Every organisation should have the chance to learn about health & safety compliance, regardless of size, and charities should also have this opportunity too.

If you’d like to book a place on one of our courses, call 01332 460703 or email info@harrieruk.com to learn more.

Let’s make 2019 a safe and enjoyable year for everyone!

 

Meet our team!

At Harrier, you probably hear a lot about the events, health and safety training and advising that we carry out, but how much do you know about the team themselves?

Seeing as we’re all about putting people first, it’s time you got to know our people! We caught up with five members of the Harrier team to find out their quirks and what they love about working with Harrier.

“It’s the people who make Harrier such a great place to work.” Meet Managing Director Andy

 Andy Smith has been with Harrier from the very start, having set up the company back in 2010. He has worked on all kinds of projects, including the first concert under the ‘new’ Wembley arch! A former RAF serviceman, Andy was stationed in Berlin when the Wall came down and witnessed an important moment in history.

“Working alongside everyone at Harrier is what I love most about being here,” Andy told us. “The commitment the entire team has for their work is amazing, and I love their enthusiasm as well.”

What you might not know about Andy is that he was once thrown off Top of the Pops, not for anything he did, but because the lead singer of a band he was managing turned up late. Not a great way to find new fans!

“We work with such a variety of clients… each day is different.” Meet Business Manager Helen

 Despite describing herself as the “least sporty person in the team”, Helen McCabe has made everyone envious by holding both the FA Cup and the Olympic Torch. She has been a key member of the Harrier team since 2014, working across all areas of the business, such as supporting small business and managing events and our training.

“Because we work with such a variety of clients and on a wide range of projects, you’re constantly thinking on your feet,” Helen explained. “But that’s what I really love about working at Harrier, that and the fact we have such an amazing team too!”

Helen truly has a way with words. She can say the phrase ‘I love you’ in nine different languages. Yes, you read that right… nine!

“Harrier is so upbeat, energetic and progressive.” Meet Health & Safety Advisor Gina

 Through working with small businesses and seeing their progress, Gina loves getting to know everyone in the businesses she works with, from the MD all the way to the chief tea-maker.

“When I first met Helen and Andy, they were so enthusiastic and optimistic about their work,” Gina explained. “I immediately knew I wanted to work with them. Everyone is so energetic and upbeat and that’s what I love most about being a part of the Harrier family.”

Gina has a love of animals, especially elephants and whales. She previously studied zoology, with the hope to be at the forefront of saving her favourite wildlife though it didn’t quite pan out that way.

“I ended up identifying marine worms in Oban, Scotland which really wasn’t for me!” Gina shared. “So I decided to go travelling for year and ended up in Thailand teaching English before coming home care of my travel insurance with a cripplingly bad back. Still with a bad back I decided to do an MSc at Derby University in Environmental Pollution Control as I could still study even though I couldn’t sit or stand for long! That’s how I got into health and safety – environmental management and a bad back!”

“I love the work that Harrier does for charities and there’s such a lovely team of people here!” Meet Projects Coordinator Davina

 Davina is the newest addition to the Harrier team having joined us in June 2018, but her enthusiasm and love of her work is incredible!

“It’s so hard to pick my favourite thing about working at Harrier as there’s so much!” Davina told us. “If I had to choose, it’d have to be the wonderful team of people and the lovely clients we work with – they’re the ones that make working here fun and enjoyable.”

A big music fan, Davina’s first gig was seeing REM and The Cranberries at Milton, closely followed by Terrorvision at De Montfort University in Leicester. Not a bad introduction to live music!

And that’s just a snapshot of the team here at Harrier! If you want to find out more about what our fantastic health & safety team can do for your business or event, get in touch with us on 01332 460703.