Wednesday 6 March 2013

Tru-Shot uses the Learnsom training platform and takes shooting training into the 21st Century...


In late 2012, the Learnsom team were approached by Tru-Shot Ltd to provide a white-labelled version of our successful interactive video platform, Learnsom. Tru-Shot Ltd offer a purpose made training and diagnostic product developed with cutting edge technology.  The product ‘Tru-Shot’ is designed to be used as a training aid and to assist in overcoming those subtle shooting errors which consistently prevent improvement.

‘Tru-Shot’ is a unique coaching tool for the coach and competitor alike which introduces a scientific dimension that exceeds human capabilities, allowing the definitive identification of flaws, ultimately improving the shooters technique.

On the 22nd January 2013, Learnsom were very excited and pleased to launch the first of its kind..  a Social, Interactive Shooting Website developed for shooters who want to share and learn from each other in a common area.  Covering a wide range of shooting disciplines including American Skeet, Ball Trap, Compact Sporting, Double Rise, Double Trap, Down the Line, England Sporting, English Skeet, FITASC Sporting, Helice, Olympic Skeet, Olympic Trap and Universal Trap to name a few.  
The website, www.tru-shot.com offers registered users an opportunity to view professional content captured using the ‘Tru-Shot’ unit, and a chance to develop their shot using www.tru-shot.com by uploading their own footage captured by the ‘Tru-Shot’ unit, and submitting it for professional critiquing, aiding effective and efficient guidance on how to shoot like a professional.

Tru-Shot Ltd will be running many open days over the next few months, where the company welcomes you to come along to make use of the ‘Tru-Shot’ unit and upload your captured content to       www.tru-shot.com for critiquing by an experienced shooter of your choice.  Dates will be advertised on www.tru-shot.com, so keep your eyes peeled!

Create your free account today and join the only social, interactive shooting website..

More from Learnsom (www.learnsom.com)...

The Learnsom video based training platform is an online, social, interactive system.  Providing organisations with a cost effective solution to present video based material to employees and/or customers alike.  Learnsom can provide organisations with complete corporate branding of the standard Learnsom platform, as well as having a team of dedicated experts on-hand to provide live support for your users.  Served up from our own dedicated servers, you can be sure that your content is secure and waiting to be presented from our easy to use system.  If you are looking for an effective method to present your video content, contact Learnsom today and have a chat to see how quickly and easily we can provide a live online system.  

Wednesday 18 July 2012

Legal Requirements Relating to Health and Safety Policies and Arrangements

- Wayne Turner


Before looking at Policies and Arrangements it is important to understand the definition of a couple key terms.....

Can you explain the difference between a Risk and a Hazard?

What is a Hazard…..? Well, a Hazard is something that has the potential to cause harm.  It can be helpful to categorise hazards, such as Physical, Chemical, Biological and Psychosocial.

How is that different to a Risk..? Do you know what a Risk is…?  Well, a Risk is the likelihood that the hazard will be realised.

Now lets look at Safety Policies, Arrangements and the legal duty behind them.  These duties apply to every employer no matter the size, so be sure to understand the requirement.

Safety Policy
The duty for employers to have a documented Health and Safety Policy is detailed in Section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.  It states:
“In such cases that maybe prescribed, it shall be the duty of every employer to prepare and as often as may be appropriate revise a written statement of his general policy with respect to the Health and Safety at Work of his employees and the organisation, and arrangements for the time being in force for carrying out the policy, and to bring the statement and any revision of it to the notice of his employees.”

That statement applies to employers with 5 or more employees.  For those employing less than 5 a Safety Policy must still be in place, but there is no requirement to document it.

Arrangements
The duty to have documented Arrangements is contained within the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 Regulation 5 states…
“ (1) Every employer shall make and give effect to such arrangements as are appropriate, having regard to the nature of his activities and the size of his undertaking, for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the preventative and protective measures.”
“ (2) Where the employer employs five or more employees he shall record the arrangements referred in paragraph (1).”

Risk Assessment
Risk Assessment is a fundamental requirement throughout health and safety management systems.  Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states…
“ (1) Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of..
a)      The risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work; and
b)      The risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct of his undertakings, for the purpose of identifying the measures he needs to take to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed upon him by or under the relevant statutory provisions. “

“ (2) Every self employed person shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of…
a)      The risks to his own health and safety to which he is exposed whilst he is at work.
b)      The risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertakings.

Competence
Competent H&S advice for every employer is a requirement specified within Regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
7 (1) The employer shall appoint one or more competent persons to assist him in undertaking the measures he needs to take to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed upon him by or under the relevant statutory provisions.
(2) Where an employer appoints persons in accordance with paragraph 1 he shall make arrangements for ensuring adequate cooperation between them.
(3) The employer shall ensure that the number of persons appointed under paragraph (1), the time available for them to fulfil their functions and the means at their disposal are adequate having regard to the size of his undertaking, the risks to which his employees are exposed and the distribution of those risks throughout the undertaking.

There is a statutory definition as to what a competent person is, this is defined in regulation 7 part (5).   It states…..

“A person shall be regarded as competent where he has sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities to enable him to properly assist in undertaking the measures referred to in paragraph (1).”

We have identified here the legal duties for employers to prepare Safety Policies and Arrangements, I hope that you were also able to identify the morale reasons why this documentation and procedures that follow it are so important.


Click here now to view free educational videos on the above topic and interact with other users.

Monday 9 July 2012

Why should you manage Health and Safety?

In this blog I would like to talk a little about why organisations should manage Health and Safety.  There are principally three main reasons why any organisation should manage Health and Safety (H&S)….. these include a moral obligation, a legal duty and a number of economic reasons.

I guess we would like to believe that the prime motivator for managing Health and Safety would be for MORAL reasons, whether this is in fact the case may be argued in some instances.  It would however be unreasonable to expect workers to risk life and limb for their employer when going about their working duties.  Employers owe a ‘duty of reasonable care’ to his or her employees and society expect employers to show a professional attitude towards H&S for his or her employees. 
There are plenty of statistics to prove that employees working for smaller organisations are at greater risk than those working in larger organisations.

Over the years many of the moral obligations have been turned into a LEGAL duty.  The afore mentioned ‘duty of care’ is seen within the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and regulations made under it.  There are three strong legal reasons why organisations should choose to manage H&S, namely preventive which can be enforcement notices served by enforcement inspectors.  Punitive which is where criminal courts can impose fines or imprisonment for breaches of legal duties and the third being compensatory where employees can sue in a civil court for compensation.

The ECONOMIC reasons associated to accidents and to ill-health can be great and these are categorised as direct or indirect, insured and uninsured.  Direct Costs are calculable and arise from sick pay, repairs to machinery, fines and legal fees to name but a few.  Indirect costs do not generally involve the payment of monies for example lost orders, business interruption, publicity.  These costs are usually difficult to determine but usually considered to be far more than the direct costs.  Many costs can be insured against and the HSE study on the ‘Cost of Accidents at Work’ found that for every £1 that employers spend on insurance, the uninsured costs of accidents over a year amount to between 8 and 36 times that amount.
It’s also interesting when you consider how we as a society bear the burden of accidents in the workplace, for example the National Health Service costs which are funded by us the taxpayer for the immediate and long-term consequences of accidents and ill-health.  An individual whose capacity is impaired is likely to see a reduction in income – which means paying less tax to the state, and the need to claim state benefits.

There is obviously a huge cost saving to be gained by successfully managing health and safety within the workplace.

For more advice on Health and Safety and how you can provide effective, accredited training and save money take a look at www.learnsom.com/business

Monday 13 February 2012

Login to Interact

- Wayne Turner
Here at Learnsom we are extremely pleased to inform you that www.learnsom.com went live a little over a month ago.  Many of you will be aware of this and have already begun enjoying your free resource.  New tools are being regularly uploaded which are all designed to assist you with your learning experience.  Learnsom.com have attracted nearly 10,000 page views in a little over a month, and growing on a daily basis.  New videos have been uploaded from as far afield as America, and visitors are attracted from all over the world.  Join them, learn from them and offer your knowledge and experiences in the secure learnsom.com environment.
THIS IS IMPORTANT…
Learnsom is your free educational resource.  Logging in will give you access to a huge variety of interactive tools, and access to the social areas of learnsom.com, where you can upload photos, leave comments, chat live with other users and partake in group meetings at the interactive whiteboard, all free on www.learnsom.com.
Let’s make learning easy, convenient and fun on your free online community classroom www.learnsom.com

Sunday 12 February 2012

NEBOSH Study Group

- Wayne Turner

Studying via distance learning can be especially difficult if you haven't got a 'study-buddy'. I have tried in the past to form relationships with other distance learning students sharing my desire to achieve the NEBOSH Diploma, but it is very difficult to keep it up. Other factors in your life take priority, and you develop at different paces.

I would like to form a global study group on www.learnsom.com. I was wondering if any of you would like to attend these sessions, may be once or twice a week for an hour? There will be no charges as we can all learn from one-another. If there is enough interest I will arrange a day and a time that we can all meet on www.learnsom.com. Let me know what you think in any of the usual ways.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Amazing! Learnsom successfully aids Stoneman Engineering in reducing training costs by 61%.

-Vicky Jarman

Stoneman Engineering, a Devon based company, has recently subscribed with Learnsom in order to enhance their internal training abilities.
Learnsom, the social interactive learning site, now offers a business user page which can be used either internally or externally for however the paying customer chooses. Stoneman Engineering were interested in how they might reduce the training costs of their employees.
The company has 26 employees, all requiring training in; risk assessment, manual handling, noise awareness and the importance of PPE. This training was essential for the company in order to maintain a safe and competent work environment. However, for a small company the costs of such training can be extensive.
To cover all four training areas, Stoneman Engineering was previously paying £8450; this was before the additional travelling, accommodation and refreshment costs. This is a cost of £325 per employee per year, again before expenses.  Learnsom allowed this cost to be reduced to just £3300 a year, a huge saving of 61%!
When using Learnsom, Stoneman Engineering are able to train all their employees from the office, reducing travel costs and time required. This is also done at the convenience of the company and is available 24/7, 365 days of the year. With specific training videos uploaded depending on the relevant material, these videos can then be viewed repeatedly should the employee remain unsure. They can also engage in online chat rooms and use interactive tools such as a whiteboard and video calling to further their understanding of the topic.
Once the video has been viewed the employee takes a confirmation test which will ascertain whether or not the employee is competent or needs to view the video again or even seek additional advice.
Should the employee pass, Learnsom will inform Stoneman Engineering and keep a record of when this employee needs to take a refresher course to remain legally compliant.
Whilst the experience and convenience is of a great benefit to Stoneman Engineering, the cost reduction really made a difference. The cost of training each employee per year with Learnsom is £142.30, almost 1/3 of the previous cost. However, the value for money will increase as the quantity of training material increases.
“We are delighted with the impact Learnsom has made on our business. Not only are we saving a lot of money but also improving staff morale and understanding of risks within the workplace.”
 – Rob Stoneman, MD of Stoneman Engineering.

Whilst Stoneman Engineering benefitted from the reduction in training costs, there are many other benefits that they and other companies could utilise, as both marketing and a management tool.
If you’d like any information on how Learnsom could help your business please don’t hesitate to contact us at www.learnsom.com or call 01884 210655.

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Learning to learn

I returned to the fascinating world of education having had a good number of years away from formal learning, I soon realised that I had to wake up my brain first! Distance leaning was my method of choice as, like many others I have a full time job, and we all have to keep the wolves from the doors.

Learning to learn again was possibly my biggest challenge.  People often turn away from a subject branding it to difficult, where in reality it is most likely not too difficult,  In actual fact, you have forgotten how your brain retains information.  In order to understand how your brain retains information it is worth considering learning styles and functions of the brain, ultimately determining which type of learner you are.  Both sides of your brain are capable of retention, but in different ways, and depending which side of your brain is most dominent, will determine on your prefered learning style.  The left hand side of your brain is the analytic side  and the right hand side is known as the global side (in very basic terms).  An analytic learner will respond to verbal learning, where as the global learner responds better to visual learning.

Being a distance learner I guess the biggest problem I encountered was the lack of visual learning.  Whether that be classmate interaction or instant feedback from the lecturer.  This was how the idea of a website of this nature came about, a social, interactive, learning environment that is free to use, and everyone is secure and protected in their learning environment.  Whether you are studying for your GCSE's or learning to carry out your own set of accounts as a small business owner, Learnsom is your free resource built by people just like you and I.  Be sure to check it out, make sure that you create an account to be able to explore all the functions and features of the www.learnsom.com