So What’s Happening?
SWH’s monthly newsletter October 2014 Ben’s Bit
This month saw the conclusion of two important processes, the BSi Audit of our operational systems, in particular quality and safety; and our ‘Investor in People’ standard. Although we have only received initial reports at the moment, it is clear that both have been successful.
Auditors made a point of how positive the company - its people are; and how dedicated the workforce is as a whole. We’re getting used to successful audits but that doesn’t mean we can afford to be complacent at all. It’s essential that we keep up standards and continuously improve in every way we can in an ever changing and ever more competitive world. It’s important for the company and for all its people.
Apart from the formal aspects of these processes it’s good to receive outside views of what we do and how we do it, in tremendous detail, and to be congratulated in the way we have. There is a little more detail in this newsletter and you will receive more news about these processes when the final reports are published. A very big thank you to the people who hosted and assisted the auditors and to all those involved.
It’s good to see articles in this month’s newsletter about some of the things we and our people get involved with in our community. I think we do a great deal and we should be proud of that.
You will be used to me adding a few words about contract wins for the Civils and Build parts of the business and these have been flowing again – perhaps most notably this month our hopes are high that we might win even two substantial projects in the healthcare sector where we have been plugging away just as we did when we got into the schools market.
We are determined to succeed across the four counties of the south west and the way things are going at our Poole office is very encouraging, again thanks to the people involved. We have made a great stride forward there. We plan to open another new office soon. Yellow Jersey Win for SWH
Tuesday 11th September saw the Tour of Britain back in Devon for Stage 5 of the ride.
The Devon stage was hosted by Devon County Council and supported by SWH.
120 professional cyclists including Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish took to Devon’s roads cycling the gruelling Exmouth to Exeter route.
As in previous years SWH were at the forefront of the national event ensuring the smooth running of the day including implementation of road closures, placement of signs and the distribution of cones throughout the whole route.
This was a massive team effort and thanks go to all those involved with the event, with special thanks to John Jobson, Dave Leonard, Tony Carr and Neil Burns.
What SWH achieved...
• 2,200 No Parking Cones distributed
• 30 Road Closures implented
• 150 Barriers & Traffic Cones issued
• 350 Signs displayed Martin Hoskins & Shaun Henry From: Paul Wilson Sent: 16 September 2014 10:31 To: John Jobson Cc: Ben Pyle Subject: TOUR OF BRITAIN 2014
Another magnificent Devon Stage for the Tour of Britain! It was a brilliant day and all went to plan.
Once again, I want to thank you most sincerely for the tremendous job you and your team played in the delivery of this event. Although a couple of vehicles were removed where we had implemented restrictions, the race passed without any technical problems on the route. The advance signs all went out much earlier this year and it was excellent to get this information out to the motoring public so well. The Route Director for the race was particularly impressed with the coning for the last 8km!
Please convey my thanks to your team for another excellent job which very much supported and indeed enabled the delivery of this superb event. Another great example of working together!
Kind regards
Paul Wilson Senior Highway Event Advisor It is with deep sadness that we announce the sudden and tragic passing of Steve Dunn, Roadworker and colleague from Exeter.
Steve, who was 48, had worked for SWH since September 2006 and was a hard working, reliable and conscientious employee.
He will be sadly missed by the Exeter and Eastern Team and all those who knew him.
Our condolences go to his family and friends.
Investors In People Review 2014
It is with great pleasure that we can announce, that following 58 interviews from across the company in September, the Investors In People (IIP) assessor has confirmed that she is satisfied that SWH is continuing to meet the IIP standard.
Initial feedback was very positive and we will publish the summary report in next month’s newsletter.
Whilst we celebrate this success, we also recognise IIP is about continual improvement and we will focus on the areas of improvement as well as build on the good practices.
A big thank you to all of you that took part in the process.
Social Media Involvement
Some staff have placed positive stories and announcements about SWH on social media – thank you for your enthusiasm.
However, all social media or press content needs to be coordinated by Business Development to ensure consistency, to adhere to our publicity plan and for us to be able to react sensibly to any enquiries which may follow.
Please will you ensure Lauryn Mann or Lisa Sellwood has prior knowledge and involvement so that these can sit properly with what the company is publishing, to avoid duplication and to make sure things aren’t said which might be unwelcome. Glen’s Bit - September 2014
FUNDING THIS YEAR V-works Following the storms of over the past winter with up to 50No. potholing last winter, Devon have this gangs out there dealing with the epidemic of year received significant potholes coming in. Managing their paperwork additional funding from and entering it into RMS manually would have central government to been an absolute nightmare. Now that things the tune of £16M. This have settled down somewhat, just recently we was confirmed in March rolled out the system to the lining crews. Next along with certain strings attached; specifically to come will be the Grey defect crews and Sign that most of it has to be spent this year. Whilst Shop crews. very welcome, it has been an enormous task to identify, measure up, programme and resource SURFACE DRESSING this additional workload. Not to mention the It’s been a difficult season this year with a high pressures it has put on the teams processing proportion of low category roads to contend all of the roadspace and traffic orders in time. with and the weather hasn’t been the best either. There is still a little more to do but we are getting Understandably productivity wasn’t as good as there and I would like to take this opportunity last year but still an excellent performance and to thank everyone for the way you have pulled some great work from all of the gangs. together to help each other through this peek. A Well Done!! true “One Team” effort. EXCELLENT! This season we travelled abroad with our FUNDING NEXT YEAR surface dressing operations and carried-out a We know there will be further cuts to the programme of 400k m2 in Cornwall. We used revenue budget (the Routine, Cyclic & Reactive a different binder from Nynas which Cornwall works), potentially in the order of £3M. DCC supplied. Feedback from the gangs has been have identified where they think the cuts can very positive; the binder is a lot “stickier” and come from, with a focus on maintaining the less susceptible in marginal weather conditions. safety and condition of the network. This is As far as I’m told everyone made it back across being consulted on very soon and you can have the border, no passport controls. Cornwall’s your say. Click on / follow the following link, programme next year is even bigger so there are the new tough choices paper will be out soon. opportunities here again. https://www.toughchoices.co.uk/ Next year’s surface dressing programme in The capital budget (planned works such as Devon will be approximately 2.7M m2. The surfacing, drainage, footways, surface dressing TMC share has just been confirmed as 1M m2 & SD patching) will be similar to this year with which covers the Ivybridge and Newton Abbot the additional budget carried over from this year Neighbourhood Areas. The remaining 1.7M m2 which could be in the order of £3.5M. in the East and North will be going out to tender imminently which we will be going for. The SD There is of course a general election looming so politics will come into play and who knows what roads next year are much better than this year’s might get pulled out of the hat to secure votes. with a high proportion of main road sites and very few back lanes. Average site sizes are much V-WORKS ROLLOUT better also. I don’t know what we would have done without Vital Statistics Jan - Aug Jan - Aug 2013 2014
Days lost through sickness 2,556 2,010
Vehicle damage cost - via insurance £59,054 £65,869 claims Vehicle damage cost - SWH fleet or £77,493 £47,590 on hire vehicles
Stolen plant cost £15,669 £46,069
Fuel costs £2,029,000 £1,592,000 (diesel stored across SWH depots)
Days lost through lost time incidents 114 2
Lost time injury frequency rate 4.94 0.97 (target 3.0) Reportable accident incident rate 946 226 (target 600)
New Offices at Tiverton - Lower Moor Depot
Co-location is one of Devon Highways objectives to create more efficient and effective working. We are therefore pleased to announce the opening of the new offices at the Lower Moor Depot, Tiverton.
The accomodation is made up of a refurbished two storey modular building comprising six ground floor units and six first floor units. We understand the units came from Arsenal Football Club prior to their refurbishment where they were used during the re-development of the Emirates Stadium.
As well as DCC/SWH staff having new offices to work in the siting of the new offices will open up the depot creating a space that can be configured for safer working and safer vehicle movement.
Thanks to Steve Castle and his team for the final fit out of the premises. Supporting Southbrook School
SWH were pleased to donate £250 to Southbrook School in Exeter in a bid to support their part in a local Go Kart Challenge.
Andrew Plumber visited the school alongside Anna Cooper to present the cheque and to be given a guided tour of the school’s facilities by Assistant Head, Alan Tilley.
Lee Hutchinson from SWH Workshops also attended the visit to assist the pupils with the building and assesmbling of the kart.
Southbrook is a successful secondary school for pupils, aged between 11 and 16, with varied complex needs and abilities including moderate and severe learning difficulties, social emotional and behavioural difficulties and Autism. Pupils may also have speech, language and communication difficulties, sensory impairments and/or physical disabilities.
The school purchased the go kart in April this year as part of the Green Power School Challenge. It took three weeks to build, engaging the pupils and generating huge enthusiasm right across the school.
Anna Cooper, Project Skills Coordinator at SWH added “ “We really enjoy supporting and visiting Southbrook School. The kids are fantastic; they are welcoming, friendly and just so polite. We initially welcomed them to SWH’s Head Office in July for the grand opening of our Reedbed and since then we have kept in touch and will continue to do so in the future. SWH is proud to be associated with such a fantastic school and pleased to have been given the opportunity to sponsor their go kart. This school has so much to offer and we wish them the best of luck in the next race!” OCTOBER LONG STANDING SERVICE
Congratulations to Richard Prouse, Operative Area West and Steven Cocks, Operative Area North who both celebrate a fantastic 20 years service, having started on 3rd October and 17th October 1994 respectively.
Well done to you both for your continued hard work and dedication.
Safety Strapline Suggestions
We currently use the safety strapline “SWH - Behaving Safely” and have in the past used “Safety Matters”.
The SHEQ team are now looking for a new strapline and would like your ideas and suggestions, something original and punchy which sums up our safety culture.
If you have a suggestion, please send it by email to Marion Hall [email protected] in the SHEQ department, alternatively you can post your suggestions to her at Rockbeare.
Please ensure you include your name and location.
All suggestions to be submitted by the end of October 2014. Hallsands Surface Dressing
Over the winter, the road that runs parallel to the beach at Hallsands, South Devon, was completely washed away. A scheme was put into place to put this road back together again in a number of stages. One company was brought in to build up a wall of boulders to act as a defence to protect the road from the waves. Once this had been completed, South West Highways Surface dressing team came in to repair the road surface.
Where there was a gap between the sea defence and the remains of the old road, a wall of aggregate and rock was built up at the side. The surface was then double dressed to create a smooth and once again useable stretch of road.
A local resident who had been previously affected by the poor road surface had the following to say when the works had been completed:
“Good to meet you and your colleagues this morning. Thanks for repairing the road. I shall tweet a picture to tell people that the road has been repaired, sending an email to Meg Booth for what has been done and sending a picture in to the Gazette because there is still a lot of interest in the damage done to the sea defences at Hallsands last Winter. Many Thanks.”
Well done to all those involved: Gerald Hicks, Malcolm Sweet, Allen Fellows, Ashley Stoneman, Ted Skelton, Dayle Ward, Richard Easterbrook
“Thanks for sorting out; even Phil Norrey head of DCC is happy!” Ian Sampson, DCC
“Well done – and thank you for sorting out, lovely back drop for the workmen.” Meg Booth, DCC
“A happy customer!” Phil Norrey, Head of DCC Compliments Thank you and well done to all for your continued efforts.
Area North “A very clean tidy up along Blagdon, Crediton. Many thanks to Mike Case and James Clegg” Michael Szabo, Crediton
“Colin Welsh and Mike Case were very helpful, polite and worked really hard. They had the decency to come and ask about the drains and ditches and which ones were a nuisance and blocked. They carried out a very good job”. Mr & Mrs Drawert, Clayhidon
“You recently resurfaced our road between Thorn Hill and Worthy Bridge. We are very grateful to you for carrying out this work in times of limited budgets. The finished work is excellent and the crew did the work with minimum disruption to householders”. Malcolm Dudley-Williams, Resident
“Ken Woolacott, Tom Willoughby, Staveley Dawson, Ryan Dart, Lee Preston and Neil Taylor-Luxton were good workers, we hardly knew they were here!” Mr Coker, Tavistock
“Lee Bishop and Wayne Thorne were hard workers and gave 100% plus more! They had great manners and were polite at all times”. Mr Prouse, Bideford
Area South “Your team Roger Hales Julian Wilkinson, Mike Milden and Tom Pearse could not be faulted. On the few occasions that I needed to get my car out when the road was blocked they were extremely responsive, helpful and friendly. They seemed to work flat out from very early in the morning and were always polite and patient”. Sara Moore, Ponsworthy
“Excellent! Excellent! I phoned the problem in at approx. 10:30-11am and by 1pm the same day the job had been done! Two brilliant guys, Colin Budd and Mike Vaughan, straight in and no problem and no mess! Many thanks”. Mr Woodage, Newton Abbot Compliments cont...
“Andy Grant, Colin Budd and Paul Jones were very thoughtful and informative staff. They really tried hard to minimise disruption and keep us informed. Well done and thanks”. C Foreman, Chudleigh
“Thank you so much to Darren Feasby and Roger Hales for sorting out the closing of the road at Powderham for the 5k and 10k charity runs”. Sarah Daniels, FORCE Cancer Charity
“The workmen Andy Grant, Colin Budd and Paul Jones were polite and thoughtful at all times. They did their best to maintain access to my shop”. Alice Boston, Chudleigh Launderette
“Please pass on my thanks for the works carried out in the vicinity of the hotel. The workmen,Tony Attwood and Chris Richards, were excellent and access was maintained throughout. It was great to see excellent work being carried out with minimal disruption”. The Moorland Hotel
“Andy Grant, Colin Budd and Paul Jones were relaly professional and polite, Good standard of work”. Mr Forey, Chudleigh
“I want to thank Ian Bingham and the team at your Ivybridge depot for the loan of the Go Slow signs and cones for our annual horse show here in Cornwood. Many, many thanks”. Alison Jeatt, Cornwood Agricultural & Horticultural Show
“Andy Grant, Colin Budd and Paul Jones were very friendly, efficient and thoughtful workers. Thank you”. Mrs Haws, The Post Office, Chudleigh
Area East “A big thank you to the bridge team for the new railings on the Lurley Bridge. They really make the bridge look so much better”. Mrs Southgate, Tiverton Compliments cont...
“Congratulations! Most impressed with the work being done by your team of Neil Handford, Phil Norman, Alex Berriman-Green, Ashley Chenery- Sharland, Richard Berriman, Gary Pike, Jamie Pike, Wayne Rowsell, Keith Sawyer, Will Davis and Rob Lowe. Such courteous men, very tidy and clean and I am amazed at the work involved. A job long overdue but being done efficiently. Thank you”. Anne Baker, Colyton
“Please pass on our thanks to Neil Handford, Phil Norman, Alex Berriman- Green, Ashley Chenery-Sharland, Richard Berriman, Gary Pike, Jamie Pike, Wayne Rowsell, Keith Sawyer, Will Davis and Rob Lowe. It was a huge job they undertook whilst trying to keep access for pedestrians and householders. They were always polite and courteous and kept disruption to a minimum and left the site as if they’d never been there!”. Liz Berry, Colyton Parish Council David Lee, Chairman, personally phoned Ben Pyle to congratulate two gangs that he saw carrying out work in Exeter. He was very impressed with the way their sites were presented and the attitude of the workforce.
Well done to Richard West and Neil Western for the works carried out on Heavitree Road and to Matthew Cantrill, Mike Charnic and Jasom Bament for the sign erection work carried out in Exeter.
“Neil Handford, Phil Norman, Alex Berriman-Green, Ashley Chenery- Sharland, Richard Berriman, Gary Pike, Jamie Pike, Wayne Rowsell, Keith Sawyer, Will Davis and Rob Lowe.were very helpful in maintaining vehicular access to the properties at all times. We were kept informed of progress at all times”. Mr Chesterman, Colyton
“It is really good to have had our road repaired before the winter as promised. The job has been completed thoroughly and efficiently. The workers,Kevin Boston, Andrew Lock, Karl Hunter-Marsden, Terry Hunt and Paul Sinnott were polite and considerate”. Mr Ashley, Harcombe Compliments cont...
Area West “Many thanks for your rapid response. Call Centre staff were excellent Andy Hallett and Sean Langdon arrived very quickly and dealt with the problem very efficiently. They were both friendly and pleasant. I cannot fault the service you have provided and on a scale of 1-10 i rate your whole team an 11!”. Barry Collacott, Bideford
“John Whitcomb, Steve Freeman, Tony Johnson and Mark Gibbings were efficient and friendly, especially to my children watching out of the window. It was nice that they were always cheerful and laughing as they worked. A very good job done too, a big improvement”. Mrs Hobbs, Bridestowe
“Thanks to Ken Woolacott, Tom Willoughby, Staveley Dawson, Ryan Dart and Lee Preston for completing the work ahead of time”. Vicky Gallow, Okehampton
“Ken Woolacott, Tom Willoughby, Staveley Dawson, Ryan Dart and Lee Preston were all very considerate and caused no problems at all”. Resident, Okehampton
“Ken Woolacott, Tom Willoughby, Staveley Dawson, Ryan Dart and Lee Preston were very good workers and also very polite and done a good job”. Mrs Bishop, Okehampton
“Really competent and caring work by Wayne Thorne and Lee Bishop on sorting the drainage at Gorthorpe Cottage and Gorthorpe Ford. Thank you”. Dr Smith, Langtree
“The works outside Bere Alston School were carried out in an exemplary fashion. The job was clean and tidy and caused minimum disruption. Thanks to Ken Woolacott, Tom Willoughby, Staveley Dawson, Ryan Dart and Lee Preston”. Resident, Okehampton A Special Thank You
This year SWH has been tasked with cutting all of Devon’s rural grass areas with just 12 of our own tractors. A challenging task, compared to previous years where we have had up to 30 tractors working on the same contract to get the job done. Our efforts have been extremely successful, having completed the job within the specified time and keeping within the allocated budget.
A big thank you must go to all of the tractor operators and grass cutting agents for making this possible. Operatives include: Ross Howard, Sheridan Tetley, Adam Walpole, Micky Phipps, Jason Willetts, Ashley Knott, Peter Hoskin, Matt Berry, John Hutchings, Josh Hutchings, Oliver Starr and Kevin Chown. Agents include: Steve Vanstone, Chris Tidman, Marc Young, Dave Newton and not to mention the T6 Supervisors for their advice and support.
Compliment Statistics August 2014 & 1/4 Total
Division Number of compliments Number of compliments received August ‘14 received May - August ‘14 South (Ivybridge & Newton Abbot) 2 95 East (Exeter & Eastern) 3 34 North (South Molton & Tiverton) 6 35 West (Torrington, Tavistock & Okehampton) 28 105 Hosting Bicton College
We recently hosted a visit from a number of students studying at Bicton College. The students, who suffer with mild to moderate learning difficulties, were aged between 18-24 and accompanied by a number of teachers from the college. The students are all currently studying a ‘Pathway to Employment’ course, which seeks to prepare them for future employment, whilst building confidence and developing invaluable skills.
A number of SWH staff from right across the business took the time to discuss their job roles with the students, sharing with them their career progression and how they came to work in the construction industry. The students were also given a tour of the head office and its facilities, as well as a few promotional goodies at the end of their visit.
Starters & Leavers September 2014
Hello and welcome to:
Jason Gerard - Roadworker, Traffic Unit James Cox - Roadworker, West Kyle O’Callaghan - Roadworker, Traffic Unit Rob Collis - Roadworker, Traffic Unit James Stephenson - Apprentice Carpenter, Contracts Build Mark Haslam - Roadworker, North Michael Charnic - Roadworker, Traffic Unit Allex Holland - Office Apprentice, Traffic Unit Mike King - Roadworker, Traffic Unit Andrew Welch - Joint Venture Russell Jackson - Roadworker, Traffic Unit Robert Fellows - Roadworker, Traffic Unit
Goodbye and goodluck to:
Brett Troake, Tiverton Anthony Johnson, Tavistock Adrian Saunders, East Gary Hurrell, Tiverton Bill Marks, South Join the Stoptober challenge today!
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