OMS
Oak Business Centre
Ratcliffe Road
Sileby
Leicestershire
LE12 7PU

Telephone:
0845 1300 616

 July '07

Dear ,
Welcome to the new quarterly newsletter of OMS!

This newsletter is designed to keep you in touch with what is going on at OMS, as well as offering you useful updates on Health and Safety and Employment Law, latest offers on our training courses and other useful information.

 Are you Ready for Smoke-Free England?

As you may know, England will become smoke-free on Sunday 1 July 2007. This new law is being introduced to protect employees and the public from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke. From 1 July 2007 it will be against the law to smoke in virtually all enclosed public places, workplaces and public and work vehicles. There will be very few exemptions from the law.

• Indoor smoking rooms in virtually all public places and workplaces will no longer be allowed.
• Managers of smoke-free premises and vehicles will have legal responsibilities to prevent people from smoking.
• The new law will require No Smoking signs to be displayed in all smoke-free premises and vehicles.
• The new law applies to anything that can be smoked. This includes cigarettes, pipes (including water pipes such as shisha and hookah pipes), cigars and herbal cigarettes.
• Failure to comply with the new law will be a criminal offence.

From 1 July, it will be the legal responsibility of anyone who controls or manages smoke-free premises and vehicles to prevent people from smoking in them. You will have to demonstrate that you have taken reasonable steps to meet the requirements of the new law. These might include:

• Displaying the legally-required No Smoking signs
• Removing ashtrays
• Introducing a Smoke-Free Policy
• Training staff to understand the new law and what their responsibilities are

Compulsory Signage

From 1 July, No Smoking signs will need to be displayed in a prominent position at every entrance to smoke-free premises. Signs must meet the new minimum requirements. Smoke-free vehicles will need to display a No Smoking sign in each compartment of the vehicle in which people can be carried.

If you haven't already done anything about this, we are offering our newsletter readers a reduced price on our No Smoking Legislation Pack - England, for a limited period. The Pack contains the following:

• 1x Wall Mounted Cigarette Bin
• 2x 210x148 Signs - No smoking It is against the law to smoke in these premises
• 1x 400x300 Sign - It is an offence to smoke on these premises
• 1x 210x148 Sign - No smoking It is against the law to smoke in these premises except in a designated room
• 1x 400x300 Sign - Smoking is no longer permitted on these premises
• 1x 200x150 Sign - No smoking
• 30x 100mm diameter - No smoking labels
• 1x 110x85 Vehicle sign - No smoking in this vehicle

Offer price = £95.00, (usual retail price = £128.44)

Penalties for non-compliance

Individuals may be fined a fixed penalty of £50 for smoking in no-smoking premises.
The manager or person in control of any no-smoking premises could be fined a fixed penalty of £200 for either:

• Allowing others to smoke in no smoking premises.
• Failing to display warning notices in no smoking premises.

Refusal to pay or failure to pay may result in prosecution and a fine of up to £2,500. If you would like to find out more about the new law, need help developing a Smoke-Free Policy, advice on consulting with/training employees or you are interested in purchasing the mandatory signage, please contact Gill on 0845 1300616 or gill.welsh@oms.uk.com.

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 Feature Article: Corporate Social Responsibility and HR

Are you socially responsible? Tips for the developing your CSR strategy through HR policies and procedures

If you hadn't already noticed, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now a critical issue for organisations within the public and private sector. Companies are under increasing pressure to report on 'softer', non-financial elements of their performance and many are now publishing separate reports on their social responsibilities and how they impact on society and their communities.

At OMS, we are receiving enquiries regularly from organisations who feel they need to address CSR within their organisation, but are unsure as to how to do this. Some of this interest is generated from public sector procurement initiatives, whilst in other cases it is an organisations’ customers and employees who are driving forward increasingly high expectations. Having worked with organisations developing advanced CSR strategies, who have sophisticated PR and governance structures already in place, my advice to companies starting down the CSR route today is simple - focus on your people. Simply by implementing a set of straightforward, but focused HR policies, procedures and practices, you will find that your goals for ethical trading, stakeholder recognition and positive brand image can be achieved. According to a recent report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, successful CSR programmes depend on "enlightened people management practices”.

So, what is Corporate Social Responsibility?

Although there is no one agreed definition of CSR, there is a general consensus of what it stands for. In essence, CSR is a focus on the corporate governance of an organisation. It is about how companies conduct their business and how they measure, monitor and address their impact on society, their employees, the environment and the economy.

How HR can deliver your CSR strategy?

Bearing in mind any CSR strategy will have the ultimate aim to make a company more profitable, productive and competitive, what better way is there to achieve that than through its people? The HR team or Advisor is quite often the main link between an organisation and its employees and is therefore critical in delivering it’s strategy.

Work with your HR Team or external advisor on the following stages:

• As a priority, and if you do nothing else, sound Equality & Diversity Procedures and Practices should be implemented and awareness raising initiatives introduced;
• Develop other employee-friendly policies including flexible working, family leave, recruitment, appraisal, retention, as well as work-life balance, employee training, coaching and development programmes.
• Develop other staff initiatives that may enhance your public image, which could involve employee volunteering schemes or fund-raising for a charity chosen by the company's employees.
• Work closely with staff representatives and trades unions to improve employee engagement and involvement and look to them for feedback and ideas.

Why bother?

Work with your HR Team or external advisor on the following stages:

Firstly, it is fair to say that whether you realise it or not you already have an approach to CSR, even if it is not described in this way or part of a formal structure. If you care about attracting talented people to your company, if you have concerns about the image you portray to your customers and the local community, and if you are looking for a competitive edge in your industry, then you will find you have a need to build a reputation in CSR.

By adopting an HR-led CSR strategy in particular, it is my view that you will inevitably see a return on your investment, and a greater degree of buy-in, trust and confidence from your employees. The benefits are huge, but some of which are below:

• You will become an employer of choice, attracting the most talented people to your organisation;
• Your employees will develop pride in the company they work for;
• Staff motivation with increase, leading to improved work performance and productivity and reduction of internal disputes;
• You will see innovation and richer/new ways of thinking leading to product/process improvement and ultimately improved customer satisfaction;
• As a result of the above, your employee retention rates will improve and the costs and hassle surrounding high staff turnover will be removed.

These sound like ambitious claims, but I am confident they can be achieved and will provide you with a clear business case for aligning your HR and CSR strategies. Ultimately, companies need to engage with CSR because it clearly offers a framework for a better way of doing business. Whilst there is a lot of ‘management-speak’ in this area, for me it comes down to a very simple decision that organisations need to make. We hope this article will stimulate business owners and Directors to look within their own organisations and ensure that their people are given the correct focus and responsibility to make this happen.

Allison Peasgood is a seasoned Human Resource professional who has held HR roles in major UK companies, including Head of HR role within a FTSE 100 company. Allison joined OMS in 2005 as a Director, to head up our HR Consultancy business.
Allison specialises in providing commercial advice and guidance to businesses on a range of personnel and HR issues, including Corporate Social Responsibility, Equality and Diversity, acquisitions and staff transfers [TUPE], outsourcing, change management, re-structuring and redundancy programmes, policies and procedures, employment law, and working with Trade Unions.

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 OMS in the Charity Sector

We are delighted to welcome the Council for World Mission as a new OMS client. CWM is a worldwide community of Christian churches committed to sharing their resources of money, people, skills and insights globally. We have been commissioned by them to carry out a full Human Resources audit of their organisation, to ensure that their policies, procedures and practices are not only legally compliant, but are up to date with best practice in employment matters.

This is the latest in a series of relationships we have developed with the charity sector. Over the past 2 years, we have developed a considerable understanding of working with charities and voluntary organisations. This insight has given OMS an unique credibility with Governing Bodies and Leadership teams, as our track records provides reassurance of our ability to deliver cost-effective, high quality services to meet a particular charity's needs.

"It has been really refreshing to work with a company like OMS over the past 18 months. You have not only demonstrated your technical knowledge and expertise, but have also developed a friendly and enthusiastic relationship with Home-Start, which has meant that we have been able to work together positively to achieve the required results. OMS quickly developed a good understanding of our needs and has been very responsive to feedback throughout the programme of assessments. I have been very impressed with your professionalism and quality. Thank you." Sue Carrington, Home-Start

Other OMS clients in this sector include:

Home-Start - offers support, friendship and practical help to parents with young children in local communities throughout the UK and with British Forces in Germany and Cyprus. We have been working with them since 2004, and have an ongoing contract to provide a range of Health and Safety services to their network of offices throughout the UK.

Royal Airforce Association (RAFA) - RAFA provides comradeship, welfare and care for current and former members of the RAF. We have been working with RAFA's HR department for over 3 years and have an ongoing contract to provide risk assessments and fire risk assessments on all of their sites around the UK and provide support and advice on their ongoing issues.

The Royal Scottish Corporation - The Royal Scottish Corporation is a charity which helps Scots in London suffering hardship or seeking to rebuild or improve their lives. We have provided manual handling training to their employees, as well as conducting risk assessments and DSE assessments on all of their premises.

Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations (PAVO) - OMS were commissioned by PAVO's Audit Committee to conduct a comprehensive Audit of all PAVO sites and activities, to determine compliance with Health and Safety legislation. As a consequence of this work, we were then asked to deliver a series of training courses to the Chief Executive, management committee and staff.

Charities Safety Group (CSG) - We have recently provided CSG members with Fire Risk Assessment training in London.

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OMS is the trading name of Ormerod Management Services Limited
which is registered in England and Wales, Company No:3515298
Registered Office: 5 Meadow Way, Desford, Leicestershire, LE9 9QG.
VAT Registration No: 696 2933 83