Practicing What We Preach

Continuing professional development is important for any professional person as I am sure we all agree. Equally important, however, is the continued development of the companies they work for.

Here at C&D we take this very seriously and as a result we have just renewed our SMAS certification, which evaluates our Health and Safety systems within our own business. Obviously, as Health and Safety professionals it is highly important that we practice what we preach and it is always nice for others to confirm that this is what we do.

Interestingly, following conversations with our allocated assessor, it would seem that our certification at Principal Designer level is possibly the only, certainly one of the very few, Demolition Consultancies certified at this level. Once again C&D is leading the field.

Please click the certificate below to view it full size:

Past IDE President John Woodward reminds us IDE Membership demonstrates competency

Our very own John Woodward, a Past President of the IDE, continues to highlight the benefits of IDE Membership, and demonstrated that recently when giving a presentation entitled “Demolition – Competence is the Key” for the Institute of Clerk of Works & Construction Inspectorate of GB Inc.

It illustrated the wide range of demolition techniques in use today including Top Down, High Reach, conventional machine, wire pulling, explosive demolition and the “Top Down Way” method of tower block demolition which is a collaboration between Safedem, C&D Consultancy, and Despe. Industry competency schemes were also covered, as well as how to choose a Demolition contractor and why an IDE member of the contractor team is paramount to successful safe demolition.

IDE Membership clearly is a sign of competency! For more information on membership please contact the IDE directly at info@ide.org.uk

Source: IDE

IDE Membership Updates

Are you thinking of joining or upgrading within the IDE?

Are you intending to tell someone to join?

Then please make sure you complete the correct application form, most up to date versions can be found on the Institute of Demolition Engineers website.

There's actually seven grades of membership to choose between, including technician, entrant, associate, full, fellow, student, and affiliate!

C&D renew their membership of the West & North Yorkshire Construction Safety Association

Here at C&D we are keen on any associations that promote construction health & safety and we have, for the last four years, been members of WNYCSA, attended many of their presentations, and John has made a presentation at one of their events.

We have renewed our membership for 2014 and are pleased to see that they have launched a new website and a Facebook page details of which are below.

Why not consider joining yourselves as the events are informative and well presented.

The new website and Facebook page can be visited through the links below:

http://wnycsa.webs.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/West-North-Yorkshire-Construction-Safety-Association/446099435460315

IDE reminder about misrepresentation of the IDE logo

We are receiving a number of calls about the correct use of the IDE logo so I thought it was worth reminding members of the correct way to use it.

The IDE jealously guards both it's logo and the membership grades as the signifiers of the competence for which they stand. An IDE member at AMIDE, MIDE or FIDE grade may use the IDE logo against their name on a personal business card, on a website, or on letterheads so long as the membership grade is clearly stated as well.

A good example of the correct way to display the logo is as follows:-


A company or business may not use the logo to represent themselves as members of the IDE as the Institute is for individuals only.

It is a breach of the IDE membership professional conduct to claim a grade of membership to which you are not entitled.

Clients and others do alert the IDE to misrepresentation and Trading Standards will be involved if our request to remove the offending material is not acted upon.

Please check your website today to ensure that you are IDE logo compliant.

C&D renew membership of West & North Yorkshire Construction Safety Association

Here at C&D we do everything possible to spread the word that safety is paramount and we do that in many diverse ways, such as by training the management and workforce of demolition companies via our training site at www.demolitiontraining.com.

We also attend and speak at HSE WWT campaigns throughout the UK and by membership of safety associations. We are delighted to be involved again this year with the West & North Yorkshire Construction Safety Association who meet on the second Tuesday of every month at Sno Zone, Xscape, Castleford to discuss issues relating to construction and demolition.

The next few meetings are:-

• 12th February "Asbestos - what you need to know!"
• 12th March "Diamond Cutting"
• 9th April "Legal Update"
• 14th May "Worker involvement"
• 11th June "The person in safety culture"
• 9th July "Health Management"

C&D Consultancy terminate their membership of ARCA

Here at C&D we are passionate about sending the message that Asbestos Kills and we carry out asbestos awareness training somewhere in the UK every week of the year so we have, since our formation, been a member of ARCA as we felt that it would be a benefit to the company.

However, we have since looked again at the costs of maintaining our membership, and what benefits we get from that membership, and have reluctantly decided that £750 per annum is too high a price to pay considering that the membership does not actually bring in any business, and as such we have decided not to renew.

Regular visitors to this site will have noticed that the ARCA logo has been removed from the site. We would like to state that we are supporters of the aims of ARCA and will still continue to recommend ARCA member companies despite our decision to resign.

Continuous Personal Development (CPD) – Am I Bovvered?

Now that you have achieved membership of your desired institution you may feel that CPD is something that you are not bothered about. However I would say that, to be not bothered is a major mistake as more and more clients are now seeking proof of, not only membership of institutes such as The Institute of Demolition Engineers, but proof of CPD within the institute and in your working life.

As you will be asked for proof of CPD throughout 2010 and beyond why not decide now to make CPD one of your goals for this year. Attend as many seminars or training days that you can, record your attendance and use those records to prove your CPD.

The CPD record will allow you to demonstrate to potential clients that you take institute membership seriously, that your industry knowledge is up to date and that you are dedicated to your status as an institute member.

With two major seminars a year and numerous regional meetings the opportunity to obtain IDE CPD points has never been better so make a decision to attend as many as possible and keep recording those points as “Points make competence”.