Expert Commentary

Five Ways to Make your Job Easier as a Manager

Posted on July 16, 2015

Every company ultimately wants to make their employees happy, and that’s because managers and leaders are aware that happy employees are more productive. Shawn Achor- a Harvard psychology researcher finds that happiness makes your brain work better. Making Your Work Days Easier The best way to make your work easier and your employees happier is to make their work-days better. A better work-day gives them room for creativity and for opportunities to challenge themselves to grow. A better work day doesn’t mean zero stress, but instead, having the right mind-set and be...

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The Advantages of Kerb Ramps

Posted on October 03, 2014

One of our more popular products here at The Workplace Depot are our kerb ramps. Admittedly, this product has more than one name associated with it as it is suitable for a number of different uses; although the main reason is to manoeuvre a wheeled vehicle or object up a kerb smoothly and securely. What can they be used for?                         We have come to realise that not only are kerb ramps useful for loading or unloading vehicles such as cars, vans and lorries, they are also handy for wheelchairs, trucks, trolleys, wheelbarrows, pushchairs, caravans, motorbikes, scooters and bikes. Kerb ramps are ideal for preventing damage from vehicle wheels, allowing easy access for wheelchair users and those that constantly have to manoeuvre up and down ramps. They are extremely helpful for loading and unloading large, heavy products that might be placed on sack trucks...

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Motor Vehicle First Aid Kits - New British Standards

Posted on May 06, 2014

Until last month, no official standard or specifications existed for motor vehicle first aid kits in Britain. People would buy any good looking, portable first aid kit for vehicular use, or store some basic first aid items in a container that could be anything from a lunchbox to a toolbox or even shaving pouch. The British Standards Institution (BSI) has filled this gap in vehicular safety by introducing BS 85599-2, the new standard for motor vehicle first aid kits. Car and vehicle first aid kit plays a vital role in case of accidents or medical emergencies. Items such as pressure bandages and splints can prevent injuries from worsening or even leading to mortalities. Yet, it is not always possible for an average person to envisage the kind of emergency he/she can potentially encounter when in a motor vehicle. Before BS 85599-2, the new standard for motor vehicle first aid kits in Britain, the selection of items for the car first aid kit depended upon some vague recommendations...

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Security Mirrors - Simple Surveillance Solutions for Warehouses, Shops and Offices

Posted on April 17, 2014

Security convex mirrors have universal applications when you're trying to create a safe and secure movement area or monitored space. Security mirrors work like security cameras, but they are much cheaper and need no maintenance or power supply. Moreover, they provide utility where cameras may be too complicated to use, such as blind curves and corners. Security mirrors come in all shapes and sizes for shops, warehouses, driveways, security checkpoints, and other places where you need an inexpensive "eye-in-the-sky". Security Mirrors for Warehouses The warehousing and road haulage industries reported more than 8,500 accidents in 2009–10, out of which some 1,600 caused serious injuries such as fractures or even amputations. Blind spots and corners can cause collisions between loaded trolleys or hoists, with disastrous consequences. A blind s...

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Setting Up a Mail Room

Posted on March 18, 2014

Despite the phenomenal rise of email, the good old snail mail still remains a part of the everyday reality for many offices. All sorts of documents are dispatched and received via regular mail - contracts, notices, bills, greeting cards, parcels; and only the mailman can tell what else. Government offices usually have a mailroom to deal with the public mail that they receive by the truckloads, and to dispatch notices and bills, which they also send out by the same measure. Certain businesses, such as insurance companies or banks usually have mail rooms in place. For most business, however, the need for a mail room is felt when the business grows to a certain size, and usually after the mail starts getting lost. A mail room (or post room) can have two basic functions - to sort and distribute incoming mail, and to seal and dispatch outgoing mail. Additional functions such as filing or printing of envelopes and address labels may also be assigned to a mail...

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Health and Safety at Musical Concerts

Posted on March 05, 2014

Fill a venue with thousands of charged-up fans, bring in their favorite band, pump up the volume, add some alcohol and crack-heads, and watch how things explode. Musical concerts are notorious for causing bizarre accidents, which sometimes lead to loss of lives and serious injuries. Take the 2010 Pearl Jam performance at the Roskilde Music Festival in Denmark, for instance, where some 50,000 spectators showed up. The rear rows could not hear their idols grunge, so they started pressing forward. Before anyone knew it, gigantic human waves had already become unstoppable, and eventually crushed 11 people to death. The unfortunate accident wasn’t the worst of its kind, as some other music venues have caused hundreds of casualties in a single night. It is not a surprise, then, that the government takes health and safety at musical concerts very seriously and strictly holds the organizers and the management accountable for any untoward incidents taking place du...

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How to Start up a Business

Posted on February 25, 2014

Maybe you’re tired of your current job. Perhaps you are bored of the 9 – 5 routine. Or you could just be yearning for the freedom and flexibility that comes with running your own business. businesszone.co.uk/topic/business-trends Whatever the reason, there's a tide of workers turning their backs on traditional employment and opting to set up their own business. As many as 500,000 people opt to set up their own business in the UK every year, and that number is steadily climbing. In the last 13 years, the number of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Britain has rocketed by 29%. Although the credit crunch and double dip recession has impacted on some economic ventures, the opposite eff...

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Health and Safety Essentials for Outdoor Events and Festivals

Posted on February 19, 2014

Events and festivals come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from weddings to fetes, from farmer's markets to horse shows, and from charity run to game fairs. Regardless of their nature and purpose, outdoor events always pose significant risks to life and property. The temporary nature of the activity, lack of proper planning, shortage of time, exposure to elements, open cables and electrical connections, weak structures, inadequate experience, and the crowd itself are just some of the reasons why accidents are waiting to happen at outdoor event venues. Health and safety at outdoor events is such a serious concern that the HSE has dedicated a whole portion of its website to the subject - www.hse.gov.uk. Event organizers have been made legally accountable for any and all accidents taking place during the event. The Peterborough City Council has issued elaborate guidelines for event managers and organizers...

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Medical Scissors for First Aid Kits

Posted on January 27, 2014

If you look through the list of contents for the first aid kits on this site, you will notice that some of them contain scissors and some contain ‘shears’. Most people think of sheers as something you cut hedges with, so we did a bit of research into the history of scissors to try and find out more about the different types. Scissors were invented in ancient Egypt in around 1500 BC. The oldest known scissors were discovered from archeological digs at what was once Mesopotamia. These are 3000–4000 years old "spring-scissors", comprising two blades joined by a curved flexible bronze strip. Between that day and now, scissors have come a long way, finding thousands of applications in fields such as engineering, agriculture, grooming, and medical, apart from regular everyday use in homes and offices. Medical scissors today are made from stainless steel, nitinol, titan...

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Awesome Office Organisation Ideas

Posted on January 15, 2014

The environment where you work has a huge impact on your work productivity. Spending all day every day in the office can make you lose concentration, especially if the place is not arranged in a way to make you feel comfortable. Therefore, it's important to keep your office organised in order to be able to focus on the important things and actually get things done. There are several things you can do to make your office a more lovely place that gets you in the right mood to work effectively. Here are our tips on how to improve the environment at your place of work and organise things so that you don't get distracted by unimportant factors. De-Clutter Your Desk Perhaps the very first thing you should start with when trying to organise your office is to de-clutter your desk. A desk can be quite a distraction, having in mind all of the office tools and piles of paper that are covering most of the surface of your desk, making the whole office look like chaos. According to...

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Hazards in the Office

Posted on January 07, 2014

You don’t have to be rock climbing, skiing or playing rugby to have a injury serious enough to be hospitalized. There are plenty of hazards around the office that could cause health problems ranging from minor respiratory problems to serious traumas and chronic, terminal illnesses. The following hazards might force you to take a second look at your office from a new, safer angle. Air The stale office air that we breathe can give rise to numerous minor or major health problems. The recycled office air can be swarming with viruses exhaled by a sick person. Some of these viruses can survive up to 72 hours in the warm and unventilated office air and attack healthy employees. Cough, cold and flu are the common infections transmitted through the office air. Dry, heated air can cause respiratory problems and trigger asthma attacks. Breathing in a confined space can cause people to inhale air with lower amounts of oxygen and higher concentrations of carbon-dioxide, l...

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Common Skiing Injuries and How to Avoid Them

Posted on January 02, 2014

With thousands of people heading off to winter resorts, combined with the shocking news about Michael Schumacher's skiing accident, we thought it was appropriate for our resident writer (and Doctor) to outline a few basic precautions for those of you about to take to the slopes. Whether you are a beginner, intermediary or even an advanced skiier who's been lucky to avoid a skiing injury so far, then read on to learn about three most common skiing injuries and how to prevent them. Thumb and Hand Injuries The most common thumb or hand injury is caused during a fall, when the skier or snowboarder either fails to let go of the ski pole or throws out a hand to stop them from hitting the snow. Incorrect falling technique can result in a torn UCL ligament in the thumb, or a dislocated thumb or hand. If you hurt your thumb during a fall, you might need to...

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