Christmas is a special time of year. Even so, it doesn’t stop health and safety being – wrongly – cited as a reason for preventing pretty harmless activities from going ahead.
Not only does this needlessly ruin the festive spirit but it also trivialises the true purpose of health and safety: protecting people from real risks at, or connected with, work
There are more than a few old chestnuts in this list, which has been compiled by HSE from media reports and correspondence received.
1. Children being banned from having snowball fights 2. Office workers told they can’t put decorations up 3. Panto performers ordered not to throw sweets into the audience 4. Being sued for clearing snow from outside your business or home 5. Preventing people from putting coins in traditional Christmas puddings 6. Seats being removed from shops – despite weary Christmas shoppers wanting to rest their feet 7. Traditional shopping centre Christmas trees being scaled back or replaced by artificial alternatives 8. Christmas lights needing electrical (portable appliance testing) PAT tests every year 9. Santa being ordered to buckle up on his sleigh 10. Carol singers being classed as a health and safety risk (well i guess this one depends on how good the singing is)
With everything it is about risk management- putting sensible controls in place! Unfortunately common sense is not all that common– and in these festive times we can forget simple precautions
If you are unsure about any Health and Safety Legislation contact us on www.redcat.gb.com We are a team of ex- enforcement officers that live & breathe Health and Safety- we can give you sound sensible & pragmatic advice & guidance
If your business is looking to recruit new talent or develop a database of candidates, the smartphone may be the answer. In recent years, the smartphone has taken over as the number one device we use for our Internet activity. We use smartphones to browse social media, watch videos and now we can apply for jobs. According to techradar.com, “twenty-eight percent of job seekers said they searched for jobs on mobile devices.” So what does this mean for you- a business owner or employer? Well, if your business has an online presence, you need to ensure that it is also mobile optimised. Simply, this means that your website translates well to smartphones and is easy to navigate. According to Career Builder, 65% of workers who search for jobs via mobile devices will leave a website if it isn’t mobile optimised. So it is in your best interests to make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
Social media is also a great way of gaining applicants. A lot of businesses already make use of LinkedIn to feature jobs, but Facebook and Twitter are also effective ways of making people aware of job openings straight away. Social media is a fantastic way to advertise jobs as most of us have an online presence on at least one form of social media, which we access via our smartphones.
To some, the experience of applying for a job on a mobile device will seem strange. Understandably, it’s hard to imagine someone answering a series of questions and submitting a CV on an iPhone. However, you should ensure that a mobile application will take no longer than fifteen minutes. Apps like Dropbox and Google Drive allow people to submit a CV and cover letter online. So ensure that your mobile application form asks for a CV, an email, and a few personal details.
Things to keep in mind:
-Ensure that your company has an online presence, which spans at least two social media websites.
-Make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
-Mobile application forms should only take a potential candidate 15mins to complete
Wolf Digital Marketing is a marketing agency based in Norwich. We specialise in online campaigns that will help to improve a combination of three things; traffic, leads/sales, and conversion rate. Whether we are working with an e-commerce business or a lead generation organisation, our philosophy remains the same.
All of our campaigns begin with a ‘think digital first’ mantra. How can we use the highly targeted and measurable tools that the world of digital marketing provides us? We want to share this way of thinking with our clients so that we can work closely together to establish successful digital marketing campaigns.
We create bespoke marketing campaigns for each and every one of our clients. Our broad range of sector experience allows us to share our knowledge and learnings gained from many years of industry experience. The tools that we use include Paid Digital Advertising (PPC), Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Website Builds, Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO), Digital Consultancy and Digital Marketing Training.
Wolf Digital Marketing regularly host training sessions with the Norfolk Chamber and are also Google Partners.
Since its launch ten years ago, Twitter has gone from strength to strength. In recent years, businesses have begun to take advantage of the ever-growing social network to help their brand flourish.
However, one thing that has always been a major stumbling block is trying to fit full sales messages, news headlines and general content posts into Twitter’s 140 character limit.
Twitter have now made life slightly easier for those of us who utilise Twitter as a focal point of our marketing strategies. Back in May Twitter announced that users would be able to make the most of 140 character limit by excluding media such as images and videos from the character count – this is now a reality!
Before this update images used to count for around 24 characters.
Example: when providing a link to your website, and an image to attract some more attention, you would only be left with roughly 92 characters to actually write your ‘message’ – not really enough, is it?
I’ve always been taught to include an image/graphic/video in as many of my tweets as possible. This helps to maximise engagement – an image on a Twitter feed stands out much more than just text. Looking at a recent top trend below, you can see what I mean. The tweet with the image attached is far more prominent than those that consist of just text:
We hope that in the near future we will see URLs excluded from the character count as well. But for now, thank you Twitter!
Why did only 11 businesses in the region bid for a slice of the latest round of the government’s regional growth fund? There were in fact 13 bids totally £47m but this is only 3% of the total on offer making the East of England region second lowest after London.
The independent advisory panel chaired by Lord Heseltine are getting ready to consider the 309 applications totally £315m put in for the Regional Growth fund prior to passing over to a ministerial panel headed up by Nick Clegg.
Whatever the reasons for limited bids going in from businesses for the regional growth fund what is absolutely essential is that that Norfolk businesses who are eligible do take advantage of the ring fenced money for our area which was last week officially launched by Vince Cable. The £3m Growing Business Fund secured by the New Anglia LEP will provide grants of between £25k and £100k to businesses who have a shortfall in their investment plans and are able to create one job for every £10k provided by the fund.
At a time when securing funding for new projects has never been so challenging I would encourage any Norfolk Chamber member whose business is based in Broadland, Great Yarmouth, Norwich, or South Norfolk to check out the New Anglia website for more details.
Small Business Saturday 2016 will be the fifth year of the campaign, which saw £623m spent with small firms throughout the nation during Small Business Saturday 2015 – an increase of £119m on the previous year.
The campaign trended at number one in the UK on Twitter throughout the day last year, with over 100,000 campaign-related tweets sent by small business owners and customers alike.
More than three-quarters of local councils backed the campaign in 2015, providing considerable national reach for local communities.
Michelle Ovens MBE, director, Small Business Saturday UK, said: “Last year, small business owners, local authorities, a wide range of other organisations and members of the public embraced Small Business Saturday more than ever before.
“The British public has a great affection for small businesses and tapping into that continues to be important. The small businesses themselves really make the campaign as they effectively deliver it on the ground and collectively show the depth and breadth that exists within the sector.
“This year we aim to reach more people, get more engagement, and encourage more people to support small businesses.
“We will be talking a lot about community because whether they are selling to consumers online or in a particular location or B2B businesses working together and doing business together, our small businesses are a community that benefits both our local and national economies.”
This year’s campaign will feature events in the lead up to and on Small Business Saturday 2016 itself, including the nationwide bus tour. It will also feature the Small Biz 100: a feature that profiles 100 small businesses in the 100 days leading up to December 3rd.
The campaign will again be running Inspire: a nationwide series of free workshops led by experts and entrepreneurs for existing and aspiring small business owners.
New for Small Business Saturday 2016 is a podcast, packed with information about the campaign along with features of general interest to small business owners.
The first edition is already live; discussing this year’s campaign, the flourishing UK pet sector and why the Northern Irish capital of Belfast is now a hotbed for small businesses.
Intangible assets typically make up more than 50% of the value of a modern business. In some sectors (for example, pharmaceuticals), that percentage is much higher. In general, IP forms the greater part of these assets; it is hardly surprising that purchasers of businesses and their assets should pay careful attention to the process of perfecting ownership of IP rights.
As with the transfer of ownership of real property, there is a significant difference between agreeing to transfer and the completion of formal change of ownership. The latter requires compliance with formal procedures across multiple jurisdictions and often with multiple authorities.
Advance preparation is crucial for any transfers of IP ownership. Yet, no matter how extensive IP due diligence has been, the recordal process rarely passes without hitch. Updating records is, in general, a time-consuming and often costly process, bound as it is by the cleanliness of the existing records and the vagaries of each jurisdiction’s recordal system. However, there are steps that companies can and should follow to smooth the process and minimise the demands on their internal resources. In the first of our in-depth looks at the recordal process, we set out the process that should be put in place before the sale is even completed.
Smoothing the completion process To ease the completion process, due diligence should include the following in relation to the IP assets being acquired:
Exactly which entity is recorded as the owner of each right?
What is the status?
Are the rights in force?
Are there licences in force and recorded against any rights?
Are there charges or other interests recorded against any rights?
Do the registered rights match those used in the business?
Are there any unregistered rights?
Obtaining the answers to these questions in advance enables effective planning for the recording of changes of ownership.
Good housekeeping The extent to which companies are diligent in the registration and maintenance of IP and IP records varies. If the vendor has followed best practice, either as a matter of ongoing routine or in preparation for an asset sale, then this inevitably makes the recordal process easier to execute. When IP rights are in force, with a sensible ownership structure and up-to-date ownership details recorded, then this is very helpful.
If rights are not kept up-to-date then they are at risk in terms of validity and /or enforceability. This should come out during the due diligence process and may result in more complicated requirements for the post-completion recordals (as well as potentially impacting the sale process itself).
Obligations on the vendor It is usual for an agreement between parties to place an obligation on the vendor to assist the purchaser in taking all the necessary steps to record the change of ownership of IP rights. This generally includes a requirement to complete whatever documents are needed in order to meet the formal requirements of recording the change.
There should also be an obligation on the vendor to provide information relating to IP. This is particularly important when it comes to unregistered rights where creation and use are important factors in the ability to register or enforce rights post-completion.
The scope of the obligation on the vendor should be clear and broad enough to enable effective future protection of rights as well as enabling recordal of the change of ownership to happen without problem. Clearly, it is in the interests of the purchaser to have as long a duration of these obligations as possible. However, there will normally be a time limit and the purchaser needs to be mindful of this limit when planning the recordal process.
Have you ever pondered which type of blind to choose, or what a certain design of fabric would look like in a blind?
Take a look at the images associated with this article. We’ve picked three fabric designs and show you what that fabric looks like in each type of blind – Vertical, Roller and Panel.
The pictures show
Vertical blinds made from Louvolite’s Como Ocra design fabric alternating with Carnival Navy:
Como Ocra fabric in made to measure Roller Blinds:
Como Ocra design fabric, again alternating with Carnival Navy, but this time in made to measure panel blinds:
The type of blind makes quite a difference, doesn’t it?
Add in the huge choice of fabric designs, and that’s quite a decision for you to make.
This is where our experience comes in. We have been making blinds for over 35 years, so we have seen all different styles, in a huge range of fabric, in a variety of settings – both home and office.
Here are a few more comparisons for you:
Roller blind with Louvolite Tropicana Apple Mojito fabric
Panel blinds with Tropicana Apple Mojito and Carnival Kiwi Chive fabric
Closed Vertical blinds with Tropicana Apple Mohito fabric and Carnival Kiwi fabric
Vertical blinds with Tropicana Apple Mojito and Carnival Kiwi and Chive
And for blinds with a block colour:
Carnival Breton Blue Panel blinds closed
Partially open Panel blinds with Carnival Breton Blue fabric
Panel blinds with Carnival Breton Blue fabric complemented with Zepher Quarts and Carnival Taupe fabric
Roller blind with Carnival Breton Blue fabric from Louvolite
The client is a social enterprise that provides one-on-one coaching for individuals who are looking for employment and education.
Their sessions are infrequent and varied, therefore they require a flexible room hire that allows them to only pay for the time they need. They required a private coaching room, but didn’t want the formality of a boardroom or a business meeting room.
The Space’s Informal MeetingRoomSolution
We providedthe Loungeat anhourly rate, which gave the client flexibility to book and pay only when the space was needed.
The room is furnished with sofas and chairs, creating a more informal atmosphere.
The room hire also included refreshments of tea and coffee with no added cost.
The client used thefree parkingavailable on site, allowing them to avoid busy city traffic and high parking prices.
Shutters are very popular because they are insulating and economical as well as being extremely versatile.
Our 10% off offer last year was so popular that we’ve decided to re-run it for the month of April 2017.
The offer applies to domestic shutters and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.
Why Shutters? In the Winter, shutters are more effective at keeping the warmth in than blinds and curtains. This helps to reduce energy bills.
In the Summer you have many options – shutters can be opened completely to let the light in, closed completely to keep the room cool or you can open the louvres to let air flow in. You can even have one shutter open and one closed.
Because our shutters are made to measure they can suit almost any room, and are especially useful in older properties with windows that might not be perfectly shaped. They also look great in bay windows. At Norwich Sunblinds we can cater for special shapes e.g. circles, arches, gable installations.
Shutters are easy to clean, provide additional security and can also help to deaden sound – especially useful if you live near a busy road.
“It’s been a long time coming”David Higgins is a self-proclaimed ‘cyber-security geek’, used to working all over the world with the Foreign Office, now resident in Norfolk. He recently founded the county’s first cyber security cluster and is keen to get everyone talking about it. “In the past, it was generally hard to get people interested in security – they don’t think it’s something they need be concerned about – but nowadays people are getting a little more savvy”. Similar clusters are dotted all over the UK, seventeen in total, with the nearest one in Cambridge – David plans to get the Norfolk branch up and running before beginning a similar group in Suffolk. The cluster aims to meet once a month at various Norfolk locations, with the inaugural event in June. The regular meet-ups are free for SMEs, but larger companies are welcome for a modest charge. “I’m hoping it will be a big networking group to get the word of cyber security out. We’ll get developers, other techies and interested businesses in, even just to chat about what they do and how they do it” says David. The events won’t be limited to tech-talk either. Remember the young lad from Norfolk who was convicted of hacking mobile giant TalkTalk a couple of years ago? “I think I’ve got the solicitor that got him off coming to speak at some point!” As well as looking for members to join the cluster, which is free to do through the website, David is also asking for bloggers to contribute interesting and relevant pieces, as well as speakers for future events. “I’d like the cluster to be a big sharing portal where we can all learn and help each other in the Norfolk business community”. To join and find out about forthcoming events visit https://www.norfolkcyber.net/ To email suggested blogs, speakers or other ideas – contact@norfolkcyber.net Words by Lauren