Recent contract wins have resulted in more High Street names using www.cloudsuk.com to manage their statutory compliance issues in relation to their property portfolios. Both Next and Thornton’s are using the portal to help discharge their asbestos management duties, whilst J D Wetherspoon are using the web based system to control all compliance issues associated with their property portfolio. This includes the periodic servicing of food hoists, electrical wiring, gas appliances, fire extinguishers etc.

By using www.cloudsuk.com clients are able to benefit from real time reporting on how compliant their property estate is. By allowing their service providers to access the relevant part of the web site the client is able to audit if each service provider is undertaking the statutory testing and inspection within the timescales agreed within their service agreement. This is possible due to the web site being fully auditable by the client organization with all documents and user activity being subject to a comprehensive and visible audit trail.

The concept behind Cloud Computing allows users to share, store and back-up information by using the internet as opposed to their own servers. A user of www.cloudsuk.com can establish their own cloud network almost immediately and can permit invited users to access and post their data via a secure network. The user also saves on the costs associated with network cabling, host servers, back-up operations, on-site system maintenance and air conditioned server cupboards.

Andy Newsham, joint chief executive of Clouds UK comments: “We are delighted that more and more clients are deciding to use our Cloud Computing products to manage their property compliance issues. One of the main reasons for the success of www.cloudsuk.com is the transparent cost savings that can be achieved by hosting all compliance documentation in one place. Why would a client not want to save costs AND be compliant?”

For more information on Clouds UK please contact Andy Newsham on 08448 24 34 48 or via andy@cloudsuk.com or visit www.cloudsuk.com

Well, to cut a long story short the European Court of Justice (ECJ), found that a client by the name of Martha Nussbaumer had not appointed a co-ordinator on a domestic roofing project that involved more than one contractor.  In essence she had done nothing more than follow the Italian interpretation of the European Direct behind what we know as the CDM Regulations.  However the findings of the ECJ mean that if the Italians have it wrong than so have we!   Certainly one to watch as the implications are that the next lot of changes to the CDM Regulations may well see all construction work involving more than one contractor having to have a coordinator appointed and a health and safety pack produced regardless of who the client is and how long the project is on site.

As an IT professional who has done his share of wiring up office networks, I have a few modest proposals for the construction industry when building offices.

Office parks should be fibre-ready

The builders of office parks should realise that, one day in the very near future, the businesses that set up shop in their buildings will require more bandwidth than is available using copper telephone lines.

Fibre optic cables – direct lines leading into the nearest telephone exchange – are expensive and disruptive to install (remember the last time you were stuck in traffic whilst they installed cable TV on a busy road?), but they fast becoming a necessity in our era of Cloud Computing and Google.

At the very least, lay out cable runs and establish a central “cabinet” in the park – in fact, think of fibre optics in the same way as electricity or gas: just another essential utility. Lay the groundwork, and when the first company on the site needs a fibre connection, they talk to the park owners who in turn can

Enterprising developers might even install the connections straight after construction, then lease bandwidth out to their tenants – essentially becoming a mini Internet Service Provider. If they don’t have the technical expertise to do this, another company could earn a living providing it.

Fibre optic internet is expensive – prices can start from £10,000 per year (compared to around £480 for ADSL). However, it offers a typical capacity of 100 mb/s as opposed to ADSL’s 8. Business Parks are in a better position to negotiate good deals using economies of scale, rather than each business on the park trying to negotiate by itself.

All companies need a server room

Even the smallest business needs space for a “network hub” (a device that connects you to the internet, and another that all of your computers can connect into to form the backbone of your network). More and more businesses own servers, and a small-to-medium enterprise can have three or four machines sat humming away in the corner.

More and more offices are being built with under-floor voids for cabling, which is a boon for anyone who has ever had the tedious task of wiring up an office; however, these cables need to go somewhere – they need a central room with space to install a communications cabinet, a PBX (telephone exchange) system, and internet routers. This is where telephone and (ideally) fibre-optic connections should be located.

Some offices have small “riser cupboards” which can just about fit some of this equipment in, but they are often too small to fit everything, and can become far too hot for the comfort of the equipment inside them.

What’s required is this:

• A moderately sized room, with easy access to the under-floor cabling ducts
• A clear pathway to run cables to the floor(s) above (or below, depending on location)
• If the office park has had the foresight to plan for fibre optics, a cable route from the park’s central “hub” should terminate here
• Masonry walls and a lockable fire door, for security and safety
• Located in a cool part of the building, without windows but with the ability to easily install an air-conditioning exhaust duct

Even if the company has no servers, this room would provide a secure storage location; if they do have servers, then they can place them in a secure, cool and well-ventilated location, rather than stuffing them under the office administrator’s desk (as so often happens).

Conclusions

Computer networks are a fundamental part of modern business – by investing in offices with proper support for networks and computer rooms, businesses will save money both on initial fit-out and on-going maintenance.

Number of fatal injuries by sector for 2009/10 in UK :

After the above figures were published, the Health and Safety Executive concluded that “an unfortunate set of events have occurred together with shortcomings in safety precautions”.

HSE’s latest figures revealed that 151 workers were killed in the period between 1st April 2009 and 31st March 2010. Last year the figure was 178 deaths.

Judith Hackitt, HSE chair commented upon this, saying, “Although the reduction in workplace deaths was encouraging, the fall in fatalities may have been partly due to lower activity in some sectors of the economy during the recession.

We mustn’t get complacent but instead recognise the new challenges which have developed as a result of the recession”.

Brenda Barker, general secretary of the Traders Union Congress quoted, “Politicians and the media should focus on presenting such deaths rather than talking about Health and Safety Regulations being a burden. None of these deaths are a result of over-regulation or risk aversion. In most cases they were caused by basic precautions not being taken.”