CMSE Training Consultancy Recruitment

If we are to look the options available to the Government in implementing a Nation Water Meter Plan, we need to look at a few facts. The programme for national recovery states:

” To achieve better quality water and environment we will introduce a fair funding model to deliver clean and reliable water. We will first establish a new state owned water utility company to take over responsibility from the separate local authorities for Irelands water infrastructure and to drive new investment. The objective is to install water meters in every household in Ireland and to move to a charging system that is based on use above free allowance” – Government Programme for National Recovery 2011-2016

The first step will be the formation of an organisation to manage water metering, this will be and existing semi - state utility or a new entity. There will be many steps required along the way including setting up the necessary Legislation, Regulation, Identifying the customer base, Procurement of Product and Metering Installation Services, Reading of Meters etc.

The above steps can only happen if there are suitably skilled people to successfully implement this programme. It does not matter how much legislation is in place if skilled people are not available. We currently have plenty of people who are available to do this work, and many of them have skills such as qualified plumbers. The key will be to get all people involved in the rollout trained if we want consistency in skill sets resulting in a coordinated rollout.

Training people in water meter installation is the only solution, but we have learned in the past that flooding the market with a variety of training courses does not necessarily provide the best solution. A training course must be accredited by a recognised accreditation  body or the quality if the training course will not be maintained. Indeed this point was dealt with at the 2nd Annual Water Metering Conference held in May 2011 by the speaker *Kevin Murray, Chartered Engineer , who made the point that ” unregulated training courses are worthless “, Kevin went on to detail that a properly accredited training is critical for the benefit of the worker.

www.irishwatermeters.ie

* Kevin Murray is a principal of Kevin J Murray & Co Ltd and a Director of Cork Chamber of Commerce

Cork – March x, 2011 – The Chris Mee Group, a leading provider of Health and Safety, Carbon and Environmental services, has appointed Alf Smiddy as Chairman. Alf brings a wealth of experience to the role having spent over twenty years in senior management positions in both a multi-national and Irish indigenous business environment, including twelve years as Chairman and Chief Executive of Beamish & Crawford Plc.

The Chris Mee Group recently moved its Head Quarters from Carrigaline to a new location in Euro Business Park, Little Island, Co Cork. The

Chris Mee and Alf Smiddy (left to right)

 Chris Mee Group also runs a Fire Training Centre located in Raffeen on the main Ringaskiddy Road, Co Cork.

The Chris Mee Group consists of two main companies, Chris Mee Safety Engineering (CMSE), working in the areas of Health & Safety, Environmental and Energy services (consultancy, training, and recruitment); and Carbon Action, offering carbon management and training. Carbon Action has an office in London.

The new and larger Head office will facilitate a broader and better quality of service to all our clients. The new premises has excellent training rooms, cafeteria, meeting rooms and offices.  CMSE offer up to 70 different training programmes covering skills enhancement and legislative requirements.

Chris Mee, Managing Director of Chris Mee Group, said that “We are delighted with the appointment of Alf to the board, his expertise will strengthen the management structure of the Group. We also now have a prime location with our new head office from which to continue the expansion of our Consultancy, Training and Placement services throughout Ireland and overseas”

Chris Mee Group plan to increase staffing levels in 2011 with both permanent and contract hires.  Much of the growth is expected to be overseas in such locations as the UK, Europe and China.

The recruitment process to apply for an Irish Fire Services job is as follows:

· The application forms – candidates with successfully completed forms and minimum entry requirements (e.g. B driving licence) will progress to the next stage.

· “The aptitude test” e.g. English comprehension, observation tests, mathematics, etc. A certain percentage of candidates (2-5%) of the highest grades only are then asked to attend a formal oral interview in which you will be scored on a number of competencies.

· Successful canditates will be placed in order of merit on a panel.

· Classes are called.

· Before people commence training they must perform three more tests.

1. Climb a 13.5M ladder to rule out fear of heights.
2. A claustrophobic test in a small, dark “tunnel”.
3. A medical examination involving chest x-ray, eye sight, hearing, cardiac ECG, lung capacity, blood test for medical problems, etc.

The following areas have had applications this year:

· Clare County Council
· Limerick County Council (Foynes Brigade)
· Limerick City
· Wexford County Council (Gorey)
· Cork County Council – (Bantry, Dunmanway,
Macroom, Midleton)
· Wexford County Council (Enniscorthy)
· Tipperary (Borrisokane, Nenagh, Roscrea,
Cloughjordan, Templemore, Newport & Thurles)
· Mayo (Ballyhaunis)
· Sligo

For information on Fire Training with CMSE visit http://www.cmse.ie/Fire_Training-354.html

For more information on the Irish Fire Services see http://irishfireservices.ie/index.htm

The Construction Amendment Regulations 2010, which were signed into law on November 2nd, specify the information project supervisors construction stage must furnish to the HSA before construction work, which is planned to last for longer than 30 days or where the volume of work is scheduled to exceed 500 person days, begins.

PSCS must give the HSA the names and addresses of the client, PSDP and H&S coordinator (if appointed). The PSCS must also give details of the work. 

Confined spaces

 The new regulations insert the definition of a confined space into the Construction Regulations. The definition is the same as the definition in the Confined Spaces Regulations (SI 218/2001). An additional regulation, which provides that a worker shall not in any circumstances be exposed to a high-risk confined space unless observed from outside at all times and all appropriate precautions have been taken to provide immediate and effective assistance, has been added to regulation 79.

Some other changes include:

As with regulation 22, the changes to other regulations are effected by repealing the entire regulation and re-enacting it either with words added-on or taken out.

Regulation 51: Safety Precautions. The reference to not more than 1.25 metres in sub-section 2 is taken out.

Regulation 79: Health Hazards. The words “as far as reasonably practicable” replace the words “wherever possible” in sub-section 2(a). Two new subsections are added.

The Safety Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 will be available to download on the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation’s website www.deti.ie

CMSE has conducted the following poll through LinkedIn, which generated some interesting results. Respondent’s were invited to select one of the following statements

Our Company has a Safety Management process because we want to:

1 Reduce risk of death or injury
2 Comply with safety legislation
3 Reduce insurance exposure
4 For all the reasons mentioned
5 We do not implement a system

42% of respondents chose to reduce risk of death and injury as a key reason to implement a safety management process, while 32% felt it was for all reasons 1-3. The desire to comply with safety legislation was selected by 22%c of respondent’s as the primary reason to for their safety management process. These results indicate that although legislation is a key driver in implementing an effective safety management process the basic personal safety of staff is the primary motivation in our poll.

For more information on how to implement a safety management system in your company please contact us info@cmse.ie or 1890 315 415

Chris Mee Safety Engineering (CMSE) is now working with ESB Networks to ensure safety on the Cork Harbour subsea cable laying project.

CMSE is acting as the Health and Safety Co-ordinator to ESB Networks on this project.   This contract is the most recent in a long list of prestigious contracts gained by CMSE.   The project involves the management of site safety in the subsea section of the cable laying from Aghada to Cuskinny in Cobh.

This project is the first of several similar projects to be commissioned by ESB Networks in the coming year to robust electricity supplies in the Cork lower harbour area.

For more information of CMSE services in this area check here

The Port of Cork is working with CMSE to achieve OHSAS 18001, Mr Chris Mee of CMSE and Mr Henry Kingston of the Port of Cork recently met to discuss the detail of the support services available from CMSE. The Port of cork have been leading the way in its health and safety and environmental management, demonstrated through it IPSM award in 2007. The Port of Cork will secure OHSAS 18001 Accredition in the next 12 months.  

Health & Safety Authority (HSA) & CMSE – Confined Space Training for HSA Inspectors

Chris Mee Safety Engineering (CMSE) recently delivered several days of confined space training to a large group of HSA inspectors at the CMSE Training Centre.  The hands on training programme was organised by Mr. Mark Roland of the HSA and Mr Christopher Mee of CMSE.  

The customised course was delivered by CMSEs top trainers for the HSA inspectors and focused on the essential safety requirements of confined space entry and rescue including the use of confined space equipment (both operational & rescue).  The inspectors were also instructed in the correct use and inspection of Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA). 

The HSA is the Irish State Agency for Occupational Safety and Health.  Their inspectors carry out both enforcement and educational/information delivery to employers and employees in the essential area of accident reduction and prevention.  For more information on the HSA you can visit their website www.hsa.ie.

OHSAS 18000 is an international occupational health and safety management system specification. It comprises two parts, 18001 and 18002 and embraces a number of other publications.The OHSAS specification is applicable to any organisation that wishes to establish an OH&S management system to eliminate or minimise risk to employees and other interested parties who may be exposed to OH&S risks associated with its activities.

It benefits companies an a number of ways:

• Assure itself of its conformance with its stated OH&S policy
• Demonstrate such conformance to others
• Implement, maintain and continually improve an OH&S management system
• Make a self-determination and declaration of conformance with this OHSAS specification.
• Seek certification/registration of its OH&S management system by an external organisation

The Safe-T-Cert was established in 2000 by the Irish Construction Industry Federation (CIF), and Northern Ireland Construction Employers Federation, with support from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). The scheme was set up to assure clients that certified contractors have an effective safety and health management system, as well as with the expectation that insurance companies may look favourably on contractors who have taken a pro-active approach to risk management as demonstrated through the achievement of Safe-T-Cert certification.

CMSE has just assisted a client in setting up a full Construction Safety Management System. The process involved a number of CMSE consultants working directly with the company’s management team to develop the existing procedures and practices into a coherent and robust system that would not only conform with the Safe-T-Cert requirements but also could be easily integrated into the everyday operational activities of the company. So as well as writing and implementing a detailed written management system, CMSE consultants carried out site inspections and toolbox talks to ensure that all employees and contractors were aware of the system and that it could be implemented quickly and effectively.

The safety management system implemented covered a wide variety of policies and procedures within the organisation, including a training needs analysis, inductions and toolbox talks, control of contractors, site rules and emergency procedures, PPE policy, complying with PSCS and other statutory roles in the construction industry, equipment testing and certification, accident reporting, chemical and physical agents assessments, preparation of method statements and risk assessments and many more. It is important the client receives a ‘living’ system, which can be implemented straight away without causing major internal changes, and will also grow and develop as the company does.

As a final step, CMSE then carried out a rigorous pre-audit of the system, using an independent internal resource to cast fresh eyes over the system and iron out any last issues before the arrival of the Safe-T-Cert team. The lead Safe-T-Cert auditor praised the system during his visit, noting that the company achieved a higher grade than would be expected for a first-time audit. In fact, he also pointed out that up to 50% of companies fail their first Safe-T-Cert audit and that applicants usually have quite a lot of work to do before resubmitting for a second audit.

CMSE implements a range of management systems from ISO 9001 to OHSAS 18001 to internal corporate standards. www.cmse.ie