How to Engage Employees in Health Safety Training

How to Engage Employees in Health Safety Training Workplace injuries and illnesses cost UK businesses around £14.9 billion a year in employee absence and presenteeism. On top of the cost, it’s vital for business managers to maintain a happy and healthy workforce to ensure they’re able to attract and keep the best talent. Provisions should be made in every workplace to keep employees protected, however, some of the responsibility needs to lie with themselves to learn the safest practice. A perfect start There’s no cookie cutter health and safety plan that works for every company, they need to be reactive to each business’ risks and needs. To find out what these are for your business, conduct a risk assessment that covers every aspect of the workspace and employee working habits. A thorough risk assessment will reveal the business’ biggest threats and highlight which employees are most at risk. Then, those responsible for staff safety can begin to roll out control measures to remove, or at least minimize the risks. However, avoiding risks is impossible if employees themselves are not made aware of them and the measures in place to prevent them. The problem facing many businesses, though, is engaging employees in health and safety, as busy schedules mean safety ends up on the back burner. To encourage employees to buy-in to company health and safety policies you need to consider what method of training works for them. For example; sending someone who prefers independent learning on classroom courses will not achieve the best levels of engagement. Research the different training courses available, like on-site sessions or online courses, to find one that matches your business’ risks and employee preferences. Plan of action Keep a note of everything. All details from your risk assessment should be kept in writing, plus a complete list of all historical injuries and incidents. Don’t forget to log incidents of near misses too, as these can help prevent actual injuries in the future. You should also outline in detail your business’ procedure in the event of incidents like a workplace fire. The plan should be a step-by-step guide that any employee could read and follow in an emergency. Try to make it effortless for staff to join in with health and safety. For example, instead of organizing formal safety meetings to introduce each new idea, consider creating an online forum where you can pin news and documents that employees know they can find at any time. Make it a culture Employee engagement comes from the top. Show you value staff health and safety and are actively putting measures in place to protect it and they’ll be more likely to buy into the work you’re doing. Encourage individuals to play their part in the company health and safety push by offering first aid training courses and letting them volunteer for responsibilities like becoming an office fire marshal. There’s an incentive for employees to contribute to workplace health and safety, as they can have their say in how they perform daily tasks. So, make sure you listen, and where possible, act on their feelings to encourage them to continue their involvement. It’s not just the people that contribute to a positive health and safety culture, either. Your workspace should reflect your attitude towards safety too. This means it should be tidy and organized, avoiding the most common workplace injuries like tripping hazards and falling objects. Use labels as a gentle reminder of common hazards like sharp objects or equipment that reaches high temperatures. You can even offer handy safety tips by producing posters on how to maintain correct posture at your desk and how to lift heavy objects safely. Review and improve Health and safety is not something that can ever be ticked off your to-do list. New risks arise all the time, so you need to regularly review your plan to make sure they’re effective in the face of new threats. Use your incident log to check for regular or re-occurring incidents. This should highlight weaknesses in your current plan that you need to freshen up. Other ways to test effectiveness include running practice drills for emergencies, to check if employees are following the company’s processes correctly. Finally, ask for feedback. If things aren’t working, find out from your employees themselves which steps you could take to make it easier for them. The chances are they know more about the practicalities of your plan, having worked through it. About the author:  Chris Pendrey is SHEQ Manager for the Structural Division at Actavo Direct, having worked in various roles for the company since 2013. Chris is a big believer in behavioral safety and is dedicated to getting employees home safe to their families at the end of every day.

Crafting a Fabulous Resume, Even If You Have Limited Experience

Crafting a Fabulous Resume, Even If You Have Limited Experience Writing a good resume or CV can actually be one of the toughest challenges when it comes to job hunting. Its common knowledge that employers spend just a few seconds scanning each resume before sticking it in the yes or no pile. Your CV is designed to only do one thing and that is to get you an interview. But because the recruiter will only spend a minute on yours, you must make a good impression quickly. Heres how to take your poor, sad resume with limited work history.and convert it to a powerful tool, showing relevant experience. Such a transformation will increase your chances of getting a better job. Become an Intern Internships are helpful because they enable you to gain work experience and acquire  transferable skills. Your education level is not always important to potential employers. But applicable skills are. Applicants who have undergone internship programs are always more marketable than those who have not. Such applicants require less training, and employers assume that those applicants are actually able to handle more responsibilities. Internships provide practical experience, allowing you to apply the theoretical concepts you learned in school. Going for an internship will greatly help to improve your CV. Volunteer Volunteering is another venue that can provide relevant experience while teaching you valuable new skills. According to a survey conducted by TimeBank    among 200 of the UK’s leading businesses, 73% of all employers would prefer recruiting a candidate who has volunteering experience over one without. And 94% of all employers actually believe that volunteering can indeed add skills. The study also showed that 94% of all employees who have volunteered to learn new skills had actually benefited by getting a job. Take A Class Taking a new class even just a weekend course can help to gain skills that are in demand. There are numerous free online courses, and you can look for the one that best fulfills your needs. Employers look for those applicant who have valuable skills that the help the company or the organization. So even if you don’t have money to enroll in the nearby college, go online and find one for free. Learn a Foreign Language Leaning the basics of a foreign language is very useful and can help you improve your resume greatly. There are many companies nowadays that want to relocate or expand their market in other countries. You can have an added advantage if you state in your resume that you actually know how to speak a foreign language. Join a Professional Association Becoming a member of a professional association can help broaden your knowledge and enhance your skills. Many professional organizations help their members find jobs via referral recommendations. Some also mentor their members and offer professional development opportunities.  Many managers like to employ professional association members because of this. So your resume might not seem so impressive at the moment, but with a little effort you can turn yourself into a more marketable asset and make your resume shine. Good luck! About the Author:  Miles Wiseman is a writer and blogger from Brisbane who takes particular interest in finance, business and employment. He writes about all the interesting things related to job search and career development. Image courtesy of ConorLuddy.

After-Work Style Comfort Ballet Flats Giveaway

After-Work Style Comfort Ballet Flats Giveaway Who doesnt love a good pair of ballet flats?  I usually dont wear flats to work but at night and on the weekends, they dont come off my feet.  Today, Fit in Clouds  is giving away a pair of their ballet flat shoes to a lucky Classy Career Girl reader that are comfortable for your feet and  come with a matching pouch that fits in your purse!  I probably dont qualify to win, right? ?? To enter this giveaway, here is what you need to do using Rafflecopter below. Each task you accomplish is equivalent to 1 point. The more points the better!  Good luck! Like  Classy Career Girl on Facebook Like  Fit In Clouds on Facebook Follow us on Twitter  @classycareer Tweet about this giveaway (make sure you mention @classycareer and @FitinClouds  in the tweet) Leave a comment below telling us what your favorite shoes to wear to work are. a Rafflecopter giveaway This giveaway is open to US and Canada only. It begins NOW and ends on January 31st, 2013 at 12am EST. Fit in Clouds will be giving away ONE pair of Ballet shoes so there will only be ONE lucky winner for this giveaway. The winner will be selected via random draw and will be notified by e-mail. You have 24 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. Good luck!

The Internship a creative approach to work experience!

The Internship a creative approach to work experience! On Sunday night, staff from Student Careers Skills and the student team from Warwick Student Cinema Society, co-hosted the showing of, “The Internship”.  Certainly enjoyable, although were not sure Google would be quite so cavalier in their recruitment practices. We laughed at the exploits of Billy and Nick and their somewhat creative approach to securing a much coveted Google internship an ambition shared with many a computer science student. Their road to (eventual) career success may have been a little unorthodox, but comedy aside there were some positive career messages. As you can tell, a careers consultant is never off duty, so think of this as film review and careers advice rolled into one! Avoid the car crash moments There were some helpful reminders of what not to do when hunting for work experience. Conducting a Skype interview in a children’s library; lying on the application form,  inventing qualifications and expressing a clear interest in the company fringe benefits. A big no-no. The story line was predictable and had an obvious narrative arc the triumph over adversity so beloved of Hollywood film execs. But cynicism aside â€" there were some genuine career tips (deliberate or otherwise!) that apply just as much in Coventry, as Palo Alto. Billy prepared and studied for the sales test, but forgot to listen carefully to the instructions, failing to turn on the essential software programme to assess his personal sales skills. Billy’s skills were his “uber” strength and this catastrophe cost him and the team dear, scoring a zero for the whole team assessment.  Socialising on a team night out, before another recruitment exercise, also led to near disaster. Food for thought when it comes to preparation for assessment centres or work placements. Dont leave it to chance. Make the most of your strengths Billy and Nick adapted and flexed throughout the assessment process, carefully selecting their personal team roles, relying on their more tech-literate colleagues to plug the skills gap. Throughout the demands and pressures of the experience they demonstrated listening, observation, assessment and self- awareness skills, drawing on these to support, guide and lead their team to success. Billy’s networking skills (with the seemingly unresponsive colleague, who turned out to be head of recruitment) proved to be a trump card and influenced the final decision. Note to (your)self: treat everyone you meet with respect, from cleaner to CEO. Billy and Nick’s main adversary in the whole week, “super confident intern” got his deserved comeuppance. His arrogance and unwillingness to compromise and adapt cast a shadow over his previous good performance. Challenging the assessors and viewing his competitors with contempt and disdain, were enough to call time on his chances of being selected. It’s not a competition Dramatic licence aside, it’s all too easy within the heat and pressure of competitive recruitment activities to exhibit some pretty repellent behaviours. Don’t fall into a trap of treating a selection process as some kind of ruthless competition, where the winner takes all. You are competing against yourself, nobody else. What shone throughout the film was the protagonists determination to keep going, drawing on their resilience and resourcefulness. Their tenacity  and good humour â€" despite obvious setbacks â€" was critical in their ultimate success. Over to you…. Good preparation, in tandem with stamina and resilience, are critical factors in surviving the rigours of the selection process whether thats at the assessment centre stage, or on the job itself.  But remember, unlike Billy and Nick, you dont have to travel solo on your career journey.  Theres plenty we can do to support you before, during and after your internship. Just pause to consider: You can book appointments for specialist careers guidance You can talk to us about your work experience needs and options You can develop your skills and get work-ready You can seek feedback on your CV, cover letter or application form You can practise your interview skills and experience a mock assessment centre You can talk to employers on campus and find out what theyre looking for You can read all the careers resources online (we have plenty!) You can Ask Warwick Alumni on LinkedIn and get insider hints and tips So really, whats stopping you? Billy and Nick had neither the support networks nor the relevant experience to help them fly, and had to make do with grit and charm. You have plenty of help at your disposal, so if you really want that internship Google or otherwise start using it!

What is Your Plan for the 2nd Half of Life [Infographic] - Career Pivot

What is Your Plan for the 2nd Half of Life [Infographic] - Career Pivot What is Your Plan for the 2nd Half of Life? â€" [Infographic] What is Your Plan for the 2nd Half of Life? â€" [Infographic] Earlier this month, we published a blog post What is Your Plan for the 2nd Half of Life? which included a survey asking questions about what you were going to do with the second half of your life. We received a quite a few responses, and here is what we found out. Do You Plan to Retire in the Next 10 Years? Copyright: Kamaga / 123RF Stock Photo A little over half of the respondents said no, that they didn’t plan to retire in the next 10 years. We should have asked a follow-up question to determine why people were not going retire in 10 years. Is it because you have more than 10 years before the retirement age? Or you don’t want to? Or can’t? We can speculate many reasons why, for so many of you, the answer to that question was no. But then again, we all know you can retire anytime that you want toâ€"65 is an age set by the government as a guideline and it is not mandatory. We have heard of people retiring in their 40s, 50s, or other ages because they chose to and had the means to do so. Do You Plan to Work During Your Retirement? An overwhelming number of respondents said that they will work during their retirement years. What Type of Employee will You Be? Many of you said that you would be either a part-time employee or self-employed. Part-time employment will allow you to try a new job within a different field if you want, or continue doing what you know best. The transition to self-employment will be assisted by all the tools that are available online that can help you run your business. You can work as much or as little as you would like. There will be opportunities to work with people within your neighborhood, city or across the country or around the world. We won’t be limited by our employment choices within our current city. The Primary Reason to Continue Working? The majority of the respondents said that the primary reason why they would continue to work is that it will give you something to do, a place to go, and a sense a purpose. Listen to the most recent episode In addition to giving you a sense of purpose, you will be able to pick which skills and talents that you want to use while continuing to work. The other skills and talents that you performed but didn’t particularly enjoy can be left on the table and picked up as necessary. Do you want more information about identifying your skills and talents? Read the blog post, Talents versus Skills â€" Do you know the difference?or watch the Office Hoursvideo about the same topic. What is Your Plan? Just like the survey says, I see myself working well into my retirement years because I want to have a sense of purpose and I will do it on my terms. For the past year, I have been thinking about my plan. What does that plan look like? What skills will I need and how can I develop them? These are just some of the questions I have been thinking about. I am learning that the process ischallenging at times, but I am glad that I am working through it now. I know that, in the end, my plan may not be perfect, but it will be a roadmap to help me create the 2nd half of my life. Check out past Career Pivot survey results here. What is your plan for the 2nd half of your life? This post was written by Elizabeth Rabaey, a Baby Boomer herself, is a creative with a love for details. She has spent over 20 plus years working for environmental engineering and consulting companies providing project management and technical assistance on many innovative engineering projects. She has applied creative, literary and scientific skills to these projects to help the client maintain a profitable business operation and protect humans, health, and the environment. Connect with her on LinkedInand Twitter. Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

Job Interview Autopsies What You Dont Know Will Hurt You - Pathfinder Careers

Job Interview Autopsies What You Dont Know Will Hurt You - Pathfinder Careers Job Interview Autopsies: What You Dont Know Will Hurt You Weve all had that awful job interview where either we bobbled a question someone tossed at us (such as: If you could be any animal, what would you be?) or we gave a bad answer  and afterwards  we smack our foreheads because we realized we could have given a much better answer. I talk to a lot of people who are very stressed out about interviews and loathe them for the very reason because theyve had bad ones  many say they would rather go have a root canal than go through the painful examination of an interview. But you know what? Interviews are actually good for you. Why? Think about it.   They put us on the spot in a way that we usually dont encounter  on a daily basis. An interview actually is a very powerful experience because you learn how you react under pressure. If you really want to get over those jitters, youll need to do an autopsy to discover what you need to know and / or work on to improve your skills in these situations. Here are some tips on becoming more comfortable and at ease: 1)   Interview often.   Practice makes  perfect.   The more you do it, the more its like staying on your bike.   And if you do happen to fall, itll be a lot easier to get back on again. 2) Dig into the interview and autopsy it.   What did you do well? What did you do wrong?   What did you expect? What happened that was unexpected?   Did you feel prepared or totally unready? 3) Write down all the questions you can remember AFTER the interview.   By keeping a running list of real interview questions youve encountered, you can gain skill in knowing what might be coming your way the next time you meet an employer. 4) Do your research.   Did the employer field a question to you that had something to do with the company?   If you had done your research, confidence comes with knowledge and even buy you some time.   Sometimes, even deflecting those questions with similar but different detailed  information can help you wiggle out of tight spots. 5) What was your gut instinct about the interview? Trusting your intuition is important if you are feeling not-so-great about an interview and your performance in there, there might have been something perhaps non-verbal that the interviewers were exuding that put you off.   If you arent walking out pumped up and energized, is this really the right opportunity for you? If you dont take the time to truly examine how you performed in an interview, and dont dissect the pieces that you did well versus the ones you had an #epicfail on, you wont learn about yourself nor will you learn what you can do better for next time.   In your lifetime, youll have a lot more interviews than job offers, so mastering the knowledge of your strengths and weak points is incredibly important to your career.. otherwise, what you dont know will hurt you.

Professional Resume Writing - Can You Do It

Professional Resume Writing - Can You Do It Professional resume objectives receive a lot of criticism. Some say the goals are usually poorly written, and have no real point. Others say that if its well written, then it will make the potential employer continue to read the resume. He or she will know what you wish to attain in your profession and your feelings for their organization. Here are some guidelines about writing expert resume objectives. Goals need to be short and powerful sentences, letting the employer know what value you can offer to the company. Its not necessary to express your dreams in an objective, but instead you need to relate to a particular responsibility. Even though resume objectives can grab the attention of the hiring officer, in some situations these might not be very good methods to sell yourself. For example, if you need to apply for more than one job or you need to submit your application on line or a job fair, an objective statement can be too restrictive. As a rule, objectives for entry-level job hunters and professionals should consist of short sentences about their objective in the profile section, not as an isolated heading towards the top of a resume. People with a lot of professional experience will notice that expert resume objectives do not always give them their greatest benefit. Writing a profile part at the top of your resume is probably the best way to handle this problem. This has to be a 2 or 3-sentence outline of your major areas of expertise, unique talents and skills, as well as your profession goals. If you can write an expert resume, you will probably catch someones attention for a job interview. If you dont think you can, search online for resume writers who can get your resume tailored to put you in a very favorable light.