POLICE Scotland will be hosting an online recruitment event aimed at people from all minority ethnic communities across Scotland tonight.
This event will give attendees a fantastic opportunity to hear from serving BME officers and their experiences as a police officer in Scotland as well as the opportunity to ask questions.
The event will also focus on the recruitment process and the training, with a unique insight in to life at the Scottish Police College. The event will be held on Microsoft Teams tonight – Thursday 13th January – from 6.30pm – 8.30pm.
The consent, support and co-operation of our fellow citizens lies at the heart of the identity and legitimacy of policing in Scotland.
To ensure that bond is as strong as possible, we must fully represent and reflect the communities we serve. Inclusion is an operational necessity and morally the right thing to do.
We are committed to increasing the number of officers and staff from under-represented groups.There are well documented barriers to some people applying to join the police service.
We therefore run a number of different recruitment events to answer specific questions from people from diverse communities. This is to make sure everyone has fair access to the Police Scotland recruitment process.
The UK Met Office has issued a weather warning as frequent sleet, hail and snow showers are expected to cause some disruptions. The information service is advising residents to expect travel delays, power cuts, and icy patches on roads, pavements, and cycle paths.
For cars frozen windscreens are most prevalent during these times, and drivers are reminded that it is extremely important to properly clear the ice or frost from your car before starting their journeys.
Green Flag has provided some helpful dos and don’ts to prepare drivers for the icy temperatures this winter.
Mark Newberry, Commercial Director at Green Flag, said:“Hazards can come at us from all angles when we’re on the road, so it is even more important that we can see all around us in icy and challenging, wintery weather conditions.
“It takes less than ten minutes to clear the entire windscreen from ice, not forgetting your side windows and mirrors. It’s crucial that you can also be seen by other drivers – so remember to clear your lights from ice too, before you embark on your journey.
“Remember, never be tempted to leave your car running unattended to warm up the vehicle, as not only can you face a fine, but thieves thrive on cold weather and motorists leaving their cars unattended.
“Clearing your car of ice is not only an important safety check but it is also a legal requirement – that could make the difference between a safe journey and a crash – so please follow these simple steps.”
Green Flag’s Do’s and Don’ts for de-icing your car through winter:
Do use a scraper. The most effective way of de-icing car windows is still with a scraper. It’s always best to use one that’s designed for the job.
Do try a de-icer spray. If you don’t fancy using a scraper, you can also use de-icer sprays, which are a quick and easy way of getting the job done.
Do de-ice all of your windows. Never drive looking through a porthole scraped in the ice on your windscreen. Hazards come at us from all angles when we’re on the road. It’s important that we can see all around us, so make sure you clear the ice from the side windows as well as the entire windscreen.
Don’t pour boiling water over your windscreen. It will certainly be very effective at melting the ice, but it’s also a very effective way of causing your windscreen to crack. If you’ve got a small chip or some damage that you may not have noticed, the boiling water will get into it and the sudden expansion will turn that tiny chip into a rapidly spreading crack.
For further information, see Green Flag’s expert advice for tackling a frozen windscreen here:
New pension regulations came into force on 30 November 2021. The new regulations permit Trustees to block or suspend a suspicious-looking pension transfer if they believe that the transfer could be to a scheme that is fraudulent.
These new regulations could prove to be the most significant development in preventing pension scams.
Paul Higgins of Pension Justice, a law firm that has helped recover millions of pounds in mis-sold pensions, says: “I am delighted that the Government has brought in this new rule, and I hope that this will prevent pension scams taking place so that pension investors will not lose their life savings.
“Unfortunately, there are still hundreds of thousands of people who have previously taken their money out of pensions and handed over their life savings after being badly advised to invest in worthless, unregulated investments like carbon credits, ethical forestry, storage pods, to name but a few”.
One of Pension Justice’s clients, Mrs F from Burnley, lost her entire life savings worth over £157,000 after being persuaded by an “advisor” from Asset Management Advisory Services (AMASS) Ltd (t/a AMASS Europe) to transfer her pensions into a SIPP and “invest” in an EPS Portfolio with Avalon.
The advisor paid themselves £3,842.10 in commission and then arranged to “invest” Mrs F’s £149,000.00 in what turned out to be unregulated funds promising unrealistically high returns.
The investments subsequently failed, and Mrs F lost her entire life savings. It then transpired that the advisor and their company had minimal authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority and were not authorised to provide advice on pensions and investments.
Pension Justice took up the case with the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme) and recovered compensation of £85,000.00 on behalf of their client which was the maximum payable under the scheme.
Paul says: “One of Mrs F’s pensions was a gold-plated defined benefit scheme pension with Proctor and Gamble. Under the new rules Proctor and Gamble could have prevented the transfer from taking place and, in which case, Mrs F would not have lost her life savings.
“Unfortunately, we know that there are still hundreds of thousands of pension investors who have lost all their pensions and are facing a miserable retirement with little or no money apart from their state pensions. Some are even being forced to carry on working way past retirement age”.
Paul and his team at Pension Justice have managed to recover sums up to £189,591.37 for his clients, many of whom have been scammed by cold callers and told that they could “double their money” or are promised potentially incredible returns if they transfer their hard-earned pension pots.
We know that Covid is an airborne virus, meaning it is primarily spread through the air in tiny particles, known as aerosols. Aerosols are different to droplets, which are larger and can be spread from touching surfaces; they are breathed out by a person. That means anyone can spread them, unknowingly: you don’t need to be coughing or sneezing.
Aerosols are small, they can remain suspended in the air for hours. So if you’ve entered a room where someone who is infectious but not showing symptoms has been, even if they have already left, you might still breathe in a Covid-19 aerosol.
A combination of concentration, airflow, humidity and temperature, all contribute to whether the aerosol load will be infectious.
This means ventilation, where we make sure the air is renewed and refreshed regularly, is an incredibly important method for reducing Covid transmission.
Every workplace risk assessment should include aerosol transmission, and outline what steps are being taken to improve ventilation where necessary.
Despite ventilation being one of the most effective ways to mitigate risk, union safety reps have told the TUC that it’s the one employers are least likely to be paying attention to. In some cases, we need to force ventilation onto the agenda through union education and action.
CO2 monitors
More employers are purchasing CO2 monitors, and some unions are making use of them to carry out safety inspections. These devices monitor how much CO2, which is breathed out by people, is in the air in a given space. The higher the level of CO2 is, the more poorly a space is ventilated. A CO2 monitor can’t tell you if you’re breathing in Covid, but it will tell you if you’re breathing in other peoples’ breath. The higher the reading, the more likely exposure will be.
A key threshold to be aware of is 800 parts per million (ppm): if a CO2 monitor is consistently showing a room as reading above 800ppm, action must be taken to improve ventilation, or the area should be taken out of use.
When using CO2 monitors, remember to:
Take the reading in the most poorly ventilated area of the room, for example do not take the reading next to an open window.
Make a plan to consistently monitor, to improve accuracy and give a better picture for how the air quality is changing: taking readings throughout the day, or week, or adjusting frequency depending on how the space is being used.
You can find more information on using CO2 monitors from the Health and Safety Executive.
Improving ventilation
Your CO2 monitor doesn’t improve ventilation, it only gives you an accurate picture of whether you need to make improvements, and by how much. Further action that may need to be taken can include: reducing the occupancy in a given indoor space, opening windows and doors, and using equipment which can be purchased, such as local air filtration units.
Ventilation and air conditioning systems can help, but only those which do not recirculate air: any systems which recirculate air around a room or building must be switched off, as these risk spreading aerosols further, rather than filtering them with fresh air supply. Similarly, it’s worth noting that a desk fan which you might have on during hot weather is going to blow air from one part of a room to another: while it might keep you cool, it risks aiding aerosol spread.
Windows
The easiest way to boost the fresh air supply in an indoor space is to keep windows or doors open.
In some workplaces, opening a window will not be an option. With outside air comes other risks: cold temperatures, pollution, or contamination. In some cases, opening windows is simply not an option, for example in a maternity ward, a food factory, or where there are none. This is not a get-out for employers: they must be taking every effort to provide effective ventilation by other means.
Air filtering units
Where existing methods to improve ventilation are not to a safe standard, employers should be purchasing and providing air cleaning and filtering units. These are relatively cheap and highly effective in removing airborne virus from indoor room air.
There are minimum specifications, including the requirement for HEPA (high efficiency particulate absorbing) filters, which remove up to 99% of aerosols. The number of filters required will depend on the size of a workspace. Six ACH (air changes per hour) is considered a safe level of ventilation, and can be achieved by a combination of methods. It is important to bear in mind, CO2 monitoring where air filters are being used will not give an accurate reading of air quality: this is because filtering units will remove virus aerosols, but not CO2 from the air.
Face coverings and face masks
Wearing a face covering will reduce, but cannot eliminate, your risk of infection.
This means mitigations such as mask-wearing (in particular, respirator masks at a FFP2 or FFP3 standard, which are effective for aerosol as well as droplet spread) are all the more important; along with effective ventilation. Keeping a good supply of fresh in indoor spaces can make a big difference in diffusing any potential Covid aerosols. Face masks are not a replacement for good ventilation: where possible, both are preferable.
Actions unions are taking include:
Adopting a union position and demands to the employer, based on the situation in your workplace and the steps required to bring ventilation to a safe level.
Safety reps carrying out inspections of indoor workspaces using CO2 monitors.
Issuing a union improvement notice, or emergency advice including removing oneself from the hazardous environment if serious risk presents.
Utilising union representation on any safety committees to raise the issue, and consultation in risk assessment process.
Holding union member-wide meetings on the subject of ventilation, explaining the problem to members, and deciding on next steps including collective action to force changes to keep workers safe, and escalating matters through formal dispute procedures.
With online pet sales on the increase, Cats Protection would like to warn of the potential risk of buying an ill or diseased kitten.
This year the charity has heard of many kittens that were taken from their mothers at too young an age and sold online for the sake of a quick profit. Kittens should be at least eight weeks old so that they are fully weaned and developing normally from a health and behavioural perspective.
Unsuspecting buyers did not realise that they bought a potentially sick kitten until after purchase which meant they were sometimes left with high veterinary bills, or in some cases, a kitten which tragically died.
Action Fraud also reports that there has been a six-fold increase in instances of kitten and cat fraud (1,146 in 2020/21 compared to just 190 in 2019/20), underlining the need for buyers to be vigilant.
Please visit www.cats.org.uk/eight-weeks for advice on how to purchase a happy and healthy kitten or give a donation to help Cats Protection care for unwanted kittens.
It’s that time again! Christmas tree expert Mary Dimitrova from Fantastic Services reveals the top tips for looking after your Christmas tree to keep it fresh all throughout the Christmas period:
What are some quick and easy insider tricks for knowing if a tree is fresh and will last long?
A healthy tree should have bright and shiny needles, not dry and dull. If you notice any grey sections, that’s a sign of dehydration, which means that the tree is not that fresh. If the tree is fresh, the needles should not break easily and should be hard to pull them off.
If the trunk is sticky and there is any sap residue the tree is fresh. Also, the tree should be heavy, which means the tree is freshly cut and still contain all the water.
What trees typically survive in houses for the longest?
A Douglas or a Nordmann Fir are the best options – they’ll last for about six weeks before withering, offering the best use throughout Christmas. Of course, that depends on how well you care for it but lowering the temperature in the room really slows down the drying process and keeps your tree fresher for longer.
What are your best watering tricks to help the tree last longer?
Your tree should drink one litre of water per three cm of the stem diameter. That means a fresh cut tree can consume 4-5 litres in 24 hours. Watering is critical, especially for Norway Spruce trees. Check the water levels daily and never let it go below the tree’s base.
Without water, to the tree’s base, it will dry out just in 7-8 days. The temperature of the water is not that important and no, you can’t overwater your tree, it will absorb only as much as it wants.
What are some ways to give a dead Christmas tree new life?
You can try to give your tree a good trim which will reduce the number of water-requiring branches. Keep the room as cool as possible and move your tree to the darkest spot of the room.
How do I select the correct height for a tree for my room?
You should measure the distance between the ceiling and floor, which is the vertical height limit. Include the height of the tree stand in the overall height. Doing this step before going to buy a tree will massively reduce the stress of picking the perfect tree.
A campaign encouraging householders in Scotland to minimise the risk of a fire has been launched by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
Latest figures show firefighters attended more than 450 accidental house fires in around one month last winter.
Sadly, during the same period, accidental house fires claimed the lives of seven people and resulted in 58 casualties.
The incidents happened between 7 December, 2020 and 11 January, 2021.
Deputy Assistant Chief Officer Ali Perry is Head of Prevention and Protection at SFRS. He said: “Fire is a risk for everyone, but some people are more at risk than others.
“If you know someone who is over 50 and smokes, and who has either mobility issues or uses medical oxygen or lives alone, please arrange a Home Fire Safety Visit on their behalf.
“One death because of a fire in the home is one too many. Reaching out to those who are vulnerable can help save lives in our communities.”
A free online self-assessment on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s website is available to everyone in Scotland to find out how fire safe their property is.
On completion, participants can download a unique report about their home, which gives advice on how to rectify risks and problems. Since its launch last year, more than 2,000 reports have been downloaded.
There are nine steps to a safer home – as participants are asked to consider their use of smoke detectors, cooking in the kitchen, smoking and candles, electrics and heating, emollient creams, medical oxygen, air pressure mattress, night time routine and fire action plan.
DACO Perry said: “By walking through the nine steps you can massively reduce the risk of a fire in your house.
“Taking a few minutes to do the self-assessment and identify the hazards in your own home can help keep you and those around you safe.
“Colder months ahead this winter mean an increased use of heating and electricity combined with festive lights, trees, decorations, and candles – all of these can heighten the risk of fire potentially taking hold within the home.
“If you can’t get online, then get in touch with us through your local station who will be more than happy to offer help and guidance.
“We want everyone to remember this winter, and the festive period, for all the right reasons.”
The Winter Safety section of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service website has lots of information on how to heat your home safely during the colder months.
Community Safety Minister Ash Regan said: “Fire prevention is always much better than emergency response when it comes to safety in the home. As we reach the coldest and darkest part of the year, I would encourage everyone to follow the easy, but important steps laid out by SFRS that will help prevent fires.
“The free online safety assessment offered by SFRS is an important way to identify the hazards in your own home and please contact them direct if you think you, or any family and friends, might be at higher risk of fire.”
Please ‘Make the Call’ to SFRS to support those who are most at risk of fire. If you know of someone who needs a Home Fire Safety Visit get in touch by calling 0800 0731 999. Or text FIRE to 80800.
During a Home Fire Safety Visit SFRS staff will identify fire hazards and risks in the home, help plan escape routes and provide information about smoke, heat, and carbon monoxide alarms.
