Time to Change, Safelincs sign the pledge

Signing the “Time To Change” pledge is just one of the many steps that Safelincs have taken to make changes towards how people feel about mental health.

We have trained two Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) and have implemented a confidential system for staff to contact them and ask for support. We have also appointed a  Well-Being Team. This team of four staff are planning and implementing activities throughout the year that open up conversations about mental health.

Harry Dewick-Eisele, MD, and Stuart Baxter, Commercial Development Manager, signed the pledge to demonstrate that top management are taking the issue of mental health seriously. Harry Dewick-Eisele said ‘We want talking about mental health and any related issues to be as commonplace as talking about a cold or a broken leg’. All the management team at Safelincs are onboard with this initiative and we have an open door policy and staff can pop in to a manager’s office at any time to talk.

The “Time To Change”  website has lots of resources of which we have already used several, such as the Conversation Starter and handouts to get conversations going. We will be engaging staff in a number of activities over the year to ensure that talking about mental health becomes the norm at Safelincs.

Angie Dewick-Eisele

Director

Angie Dewick-Eisele is co-founder of Safelincs Ltd, one of the leading fire safety providers in the UK. Angie was Marketing Manager for many years and as Director is these days responsible for Content Management.

P50 self-maintenance extinguishers installed in our local primary school

Alford Primary School, local to our Safelincs headquarters based in Lincolnshire has installed our Britannia P50 self-maintenance fire extinguishers. These extinguishers carry a 10 year guarantee and do not need a service engineer to carry out the yearly inspection.

Having a 10 year guarantee and not requiring a refill after 5 years or any engineer servicing visits for the life span of the extinguishers is a huge cost saving for schools. As budgets are always under scrutiny and with the government looking for additional cuts, the savings achieved by changing to P50 make great sense.

When we installed the P50 extinguishers in the Alford Primary School, training was given to school representatives to be able to carry out the simple yearly inspection themselves. P50 extinguishers are accepted by most insurance companies.

There is a video available to demonstrate how easy the extinguishers are to self-maintain. The extinguishers, which have an inner core of Kevlar (the same material used in bullet proof vests), are corrosion-free and are suitable for all outdoor applications as well as indoors.

For more information please contact us tel: 0800 612 6717 or visit the website https://www.safelincs.co.uk/britannia/

Figures reinforce calls for more smoke alarms

Six out of ten people who died in fires in 2009 had no smoke alarm fitted in their home, according to figures released by London Fire Brigade. 26 people died in fires where there was no working smoke alarm. The statistics also show that over half of the people who were injured by fires in the home in 2009 didn’t have this simple life saving device either.

Smoke alarms cost as little as £7.19 yet it is estimated that over 300,000 homes in the capital still do not have one. In contrast, Mintel’s British lifestyle survey reveals that people are spending £36 million a day on personal care.

Particularly tragic are instances where deaths have occurred in residences where smoke alarms had been installed but where either the batteries had been removed to power other devices or they had been allowed to go flat.

Safelincs supports the national Fire Kills campaign to encourage people to regularly test the batteries of their smoke alarms. It also provides a free smoke alarm reminder service which will notify you if your smoke alarms will need testing or replacing.

Text Phone for Hearing Impaired Customers Introduced

Safelincs has always been selling fire safety equipment for deaf and hearing impaired customers. Communications prior to this were mostly via email or call center using a text phone as phone conversations were difficult for our hearing impaired customers. To improve the communication we have now launched a text phone. This computer sized device allows instant typed communication directly with the customer without the need of any intermediate call handling.

To use this service ring our freephone number 0800 612 4843.  A dedicated customer service team member will deal with your text calls.

The need for a text phone was identified through the customer care team and your survey replies. We take all our survey replies and comments seriously and wherever possible will act upon suggestions made.

Safelincs recognised as disability friendly employer

Fire safety provider Safelincs Ltd have been awarded the Two Ticks’ Disability Friendly Symbol, which demonstrates the commitment of the company to employ, train and develop staff with disabilities.

In order to receive this symbol from Jobcentre Plus, Safelincs had to demonstrate their dedication to implementing the five commitments outlined under the symbol.

These include guaranteeing an interview for all disabled applicants which meet the minimum requirements for the job vacancy, consult with disabled staff on a regular basis to ensure they can develop and use their abilities and make every effort to retain any member of staff should they become disabled.

Safelincs have also pledged to ensure that their staff develop their disability awareness to enable the five commitments to be implemented and will review the five commitments on an annual basis to ensure that they are continuously renewing their pledge and developing their commitment.

HR Manager, Angie Dewick-Eisele said ‘We are delighted to be awarded the ‘Two Ticks’ Symbol. This award underpins the company ethos of equal opportunity and our commitment to help develop the skills of all our staff. Implementing the five commitments will also dove-tail into our Investors in People framework.’