Public Education - News

Verint Systems (Verint), the globally renowned customer engagement company, announced that global wellness brand, GNC is leveraging Verint Experience Management, as an investment in its omni-channel strategy, in order to provide consumers with the ultimate shopping experience. Spike in health products demand With more than 3,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada, GNC prides itself on meeting the growing and fast-changing needs of its customers. The company experienced a spike in demand for heal...

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has recently launched its Small Organisations Newsletter - SME Newsletter. The NCSC notes “SMEs cover a huge range of businesses and makeup 99% of all business in the UK." cyber-related issues The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) adds, "Often SMEs do not have the budget of large organizations to spend on cyber security. This Newsletter aims to break down cyber-related issues into bitesize pieces which can be read in a coffee break." The NC...

Owners of a hotel in Leamington Spa have been ordered to pay £350,000 plus costs after a judge at Warwick Crown Court found them guilty of multiple breaches of the Fire Safety Order. 38 breaches of fire safety laws Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service inspectors visited the Falstaff Hotel on multiple occasions between 2017 and 2019, finding smoke alarms covered in plastic bags, fire escapes blocked with laundry, locked fire exits, and faulty alarms. The owners of Talash Ltd and parent f...

Arson costs the country millions of pounds every year and puts lives at risk. It accounts for almost half of all fires attended by the fire and rescue services and can have devastating effects in terms of its cost and consequences. Insurers report that arson costs over £1bn in fire-related claims across the UK each year. Damage to property, business interruption, and other inconvenience caused by arson is significant. Deliberate fires cost a vast amount of money, but also endanger life,...

  On the 20th of January, the official presentation of LPCB certificates took place at the Argus Spectrum International stand. At the end of the last year, the company passed the rigorous ISO 9001 audit of the two factories - in Finland and in Russia, and received approvals by LPCB\BRE Group. The certificates were presented to Director General Sergey Levchuk and CEO Mikhail Levchuk by the top managers of BRE Group - the Head of Electronics, Security and Inspection Services Cris Francis an...

Fire Safety Bill receives Royal Assent and is an Act of Parliament, leading to major changes to fire safety in response to the Grenfell Tower fire. The Fire Safety Act 2021 provides the legal basis for meeting some of the recommendations from Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s Grenfell Inquiry Phase 1 report. series of regulations The Act makes changes to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, known as the Fire Safety Order. It’s not the end of the process, as much of the cont...

£9.5 million fire safety framework contract will see social housing providers accessing suppliers to provide external wall certification and fire engineering services. The Peabody Trust is pioneering a tender exercise to help find suppliers who can provide external wall assessments for their own building stock as well as allow other social housing groups to use the same framework. safe and affordable housing The Peabody Group is responsible for 71,800 homes across London and the southea...

A Cambridgeshire fire officer is taking on a fitness challenge to raise money for The Fire Fighter’s Charity. Group Commander Simon Thompson has taken on the challenge of completing 44,597 press-ups, marking one for each member of staff who works for the fire service in England. Firefighters' Memorial Day He began the ‘44k by the 4th May’ mission on 1 December and will be completing the remaining press-ups on Tuesday 4 May (Firefighters’ Memorial Day) at Cambridge...

Usually, if the application requires acoustic and visual notification, the market offers two separate products. Nevertheless, sometimes for public buildings, hotels, and hospitals, but also for industry and other verticals, it may be necessary to have a combination of visual and acoustic alarms in one device. AVENAR all-in-one 4000 Bosch Security System’s AVENAR all-in-one 4000 is one product that can provide such a solution. This product is able to combine not only a sounder and a strob...

Congratulations to the many pubs, restaurants and cafes that have reopened for outdoor dining and drinking. Once again, we’re all adapting to a new normal – one where we eat, drink and socialize outside. But it’s not just the tables and chairs that make this new arrangement possible. As hospitality businesses know, public safety is vital, but not just in COVID-19 terms. Barriers in outdoor seating areas Many local authorities across the United Kingdom (UK) have accepted that...

Rescu (Rescu Saves Lives), an emergency alert app that connects people directly to certified emergency dispatchers, has launched throughout the United States, in partnership with over 30,000 local emergency agencies. Rescu is the first and only Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) in a non-hardware platform. Rescu emergency alert app Unlike 9-1-1, the Rescu app does not require speaking to a dispatcher. With Rescu, users can communicate non-verbally to an emergency dispatcher. This means...

Delboy was only after a quick win, but there is a lot that can be taken from this scene in terms of recruitment and staff retention. Transparency is absolutely key, from both sides. It’s a fairly tough market in recruitment currently, so now more than ever transparency is key. With widespread redundancy over the last year, there are a lot of candidates who are accepting jobs that they wouldn’t have previously considered. This is likely to cause retention issues within 6-12 mont...

Court hears how a rail worker suffered severe burns as a result of a fire caused by health and safety breaches in an electrical substation in Kent. Recently, Network Rail pleaded guilty at Folkestone Magistrate’s Court to an offense under the Health and Safety at Work Act for failing to protect the safety of staff. failure to maintain dehumidifiers The incident took place on 20 December 2018 after Network Rail failed, over a significant period of time, to prevent water from leaking into...

The UK Government has published its second quarterly update on progress to meet the Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations, highlighting the breadth of work taking place. In a useful development, the UK Government is providing thematic updates of the work taking place by the government, the London Fire Brigade, the National Fire Chiefs Council, and other bodies to respond to the 46 recommendations made by Sir Martin Moore-Bick in his Phase 1 report. update Key changes in this quarter include:...

Global fire detection and alarm devices leader, Argus Security (Argus), has appointed Giorgio Koursaris as its new General Manager, with responsibility for both - Argus and its UK sister brand, Hyfire. He joins at a pivotal moment for the well-known brand, which is about to embark on a series of new product launches that promise to revolutionize the fire sector. New General Manager appointed Giorgio Koursaris will oversee both commercial and production operations for Trieste-based Argus Gior...

Fire detection equipment manufacturer, Global Fire Equipment (GFE), has been awarded EN 54-13:2017+A1:2019 system compatibility approval, demonstrating the company’s ongoing commitment to offering its customers best-in-class fire detection and alarm solutions. An international third-party accredited laboratory awarded GFE the EN 54-13:2017+A1:2019 approval for its entry level and high-end addressable fire detection and alarm systems. Various individual components EN 54-13:2017+A1:2019 i...

The decision by Southampton City Council to fit sprinklers in all its high-rise residential blocks proves right with yet another fire quickly extinguished.   importance of sprinklers Firefighters from the newly combined Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service were called to a fire in a flat on the 21st floor of a tower block in Southampton this week. The first crew was on the scene within three minutes and found that a cooker fire in the kitchen was already out on arriva...

The Fire Protection Association is among the first UK testing laboratories to become UKAS accredited for BS 8458 water-mist system testing. The Fire Protection Association (FPA) is delighted to announce it has been awarded UKAS accreditation to carry out fire tests on water-mist systems to BS 8458 : 2015 Fixed fire protection systems - residential and domestic water mist systems - code of practice for design and installation.  automatic fire suppression systems It is proud to be leading...

In celebration of Sparky the Fire Dog’s® 70th birthday, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has announced the launch of Sparky’s Fire Safety Club and badging system on Sparky.org, the association’s award-winning website for kids. These new online features teach kids basic but critical elements of fire safety while rewarding them for their efforts as they go. “Making fire safety fun is critical to capturing kids’ attention and maintaining their ong...

Verint Systems (Verint), the globally renowned customer engagement company, has announced the lineup for its Engage21 virtual conference, taking place from May 19 to May 21, 2022, featuring inspirational speakers, including Barbara Corcoran, Charlene Li and Jay Shetty. This premier event will feature in-depth content, which is geared towards customer engagement and customer experience professionals, with more than 60 sessions, led by Verint experts, customers and partners, over three days. Shi...

Verint Systems (Verint), the globally renowned customer engagement company, announced the April speaker line-up that features how to power today’s evolving workforce of people and bots. Thought leaders will address new workforce management trends and challenges at SWPP, the Verint/Opus Research webinar series focused on customer engagement data and AI and analytics, how to modernize knowledge management for greater productivity and VoC strategies for better customer insights. In addition...

A fire investigation has concluded at the Metropole Hotel, Llandrindod Wells, which was undertaken following a fire at the premises on Tuesday evening, April 13, 2021. The investigation determined that the cause of the fire was accidental. The significant fire was brought under control and extinguished by firefighters and rescue personnel belonging to the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service. However, effective fire safety measures already placed at the hotel helped contain the fire to th...

Kentec Electronics, a foremost manufacturer of life-critical control systems, has promoted Sammy Steel to the role of Head of UK Sales to further strengthen the company’s UK growth and footprint. In her new role, Sammy will lead, manage, and support the UK BDM sales team to achieve Kentec’s strategic sales plan. She will be working directly with installers, distributors, and end-users while strengthening the current UK customer base. A key part of the strategy includes focusing on b...

Building on the themes explored in its ‘Managing Fire Risk in the Fifth Façade’ session, ROCKWOOL is set to present a panel discussion on ‘Designing Compliance in the Fifth Façade’ at London Build Online (15th – 24th March 2021), the UK’s largest virtual event for the construction industry. The session, which will take place on 18th March 2021 (9:30 am), brings together experts from across the industry for a detailed discussion of compliance cri...

  The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year and plans to commemorate the momentous milestone through a series of events and initiatives that reflect the steadfast commitment to fire, electrical, and life safety by the Association. Key to the celebration is the launch of a virtual 125th Anniversary Conference Series that replaces the traditional in-person 2021 NFPA Conference & Expo. The online conference series runs from M...

Coatings supplier - Hempel has provided coatings to protect the Orbital O2 tidal energy turbine – the world’s most powerful tidal turbine. Hempel’s ambition is to become the major global coatings solution provider for the global renewable energy segment. O2 is set to operate at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in the Orkney Islands in the UK. Around the islands of Orkney, tidal currents can reach over four meters per second, making them some of the strongest in the wor...

On Tuesday, April 13, 2021, at 06:25 pm, crews from Llandrindod Wells, Builth Wells, Rhayader, Llanwrtyd Wells, Talgarth and Knighton, in the United Kingdom, attended to a fire break-out at a hotel in Llandrindod Wells. The hotel comprised of six floors, above ground, and two basements. The fire was contained to a laundry room basement, but the smoke had spread to all rear rooms of the hotel. Incident Command Unit deployed Firefighters extinguished the fire using breathing apparatus, hose ree...

Shareholders approved all resolutions proposed at Airbus SE’s 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM), including the renewal of the Board mandate of Chairman René Obermann. The Board mandates of Amparo Moraleda, Victor Chu, and Jean-Pierre Clamadieu were also renewed. 2021 AGM resolutions Following the AGM’s approval of his Board mandate, René Obermann was formally reappointed Chairman at a Board meeting held after the shareholder meeting. At the same Board meeting, Amparo...

Essex wood treatment firm, Prime Biomass Ltd created a huge fire safety risk to the local community by storing more than double the agreed limit of wood waste. A jury at the Old Bailey returned unanimous guilty verdicts against two directors of an illegal waste wood operation in Essex. One director was ordered to pay £50,000 in fines, compensation and legal costs while the other faces a five-year ban as a company director. A third director was acquitted by a majority verdict. five-week t...

Airbus has taken the next step in reducing its industrial carbon footprint, with the maiden flight of a Beluga super transporter using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), from the aerospace company’s Broughton plant in the United Kingdom. The north Wales line station, which uses the Beluga fleet to transport aircraft wings to Toulouse, Hamburg and Bremen, becomes the second Airbus European site to use SAF, after Hamburg introduced the fuel to its cargo activities at the end of 2019. Decarbo...