August 2023 - see our new advertisement concerning our offerings in the field of Learning and Development.  This will appear in the Autumn issue of the Institute of Water magazine and I will be present for the IW AGM and conference in Cardiff over 12-14 September 2023

JUNE 2023 CABWI APPROVED GOVERNANCE & RESILIENCE PROGRAMMES

Governance & Resilience Programme launched in an ad campaign in association with JimJam media through the Institute of Water.  Please view our advertisement in the Summer 2023 edition, available digitally now and in hard copy around the 20th of this month.  Please see the pdf flyer for a one page summary and of course our advertisement.

We hope that you will find this and our other CABWI approved Learning & Development programmes interesting and useful and you should register your interest by contacting me on dennis@ebmconsultation.com or dpd1953@icloud.com for a chat.  You can of course simply use the L & D Registration page on this web site to register for these programmes which are running at our CABWI approved centre at the Institute of Directors building at 116 Pall Mall, London.  

Dean and I hope to see you there is the coming months. 

During 2023, we are will be able to offer Non Regulated Qualifications in the discipline of Water Treatment and Operational processes, Waste Water Treatment and Operational processes. These 4 day courses are aimed at technicians who have experience but no recent formal training and new starters to this field are operation ensure competence in both these disciples and they will always include a minimum of half a day out on site to ensure that classroom learning has been successfully embedded in each candidate to enable success in the written test of competence.

In addition, we will also offer shorter 2 day courses for technicians who are tasked with the maintenance and operation of package waste water treatment plants, various Legionella management courses, display screen equipment training and assessment together with other essential short Health and Safety modules aimed at those in Facility Management. We are also aiming to add Governance and Resilience in terms of OFWAT targets and wining hearts and minds in aiming for net zero in terms of Climate Change and the challenges that we will face in the next decade.  

These programmes will be delivered at a number of accredited centres in London, and the home counties initially, some may also be online packages for the less technical courses. These programmes will be fully accredited by the CABWI certification process . Some may possibly be delivered in partnership with larger training providers and learned Institutions such as the Royal Society of Biology, (RSOB) The Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management, (CIWEM), The Institute of Water and The Society of the Environment. 

We were delighted to have been Associates and Partners with Develop Training Limited and Merit Skills Limited where I helped them to develop their courses, trained and assessed these with many of the major Water and Wastewater Companies in the UK. I helped Develop to deliver an 18 month upskilling programme for Scottish Water wastewater technicians operating various styles of Activated Sludge Treatment plants. This included dealing safely and economically with the surplus activated sludge which is thickened and treated before being recycled to agriculture. These processes were all regulated through permits issued by SEPA, the Scottish Environmental Protection   Agency. These permits contain sections dealing with Odour Control and the air quality emitted from various styles of odour abatement systems, ranging from simple peat and heather beds to simple and complex chemical scrubbing plants which had to have Odour Management Plans attached to the site permit. 

My unique ‘One stop shop’ platform for Health and Safety management that I developed specifically for SME’s can be linked to an affordable Quality Management System which may include Environmental Management systems and ultimately to ISO registration.

ISO which stands for International Organization Standardisation, is a regconised system of registration but is not to be entered into lightly. This is a costly and lengthy process but it is a recognised ‘business kite mark’ and there are tangible bottom line benefits for those companies that are successful in achieving this stringent registration and its ongoing     process.

This is another bespoke service that enables Companies with five or more employees that require a H & S policy/statement to have one at the entry level, for example this can be considered Level 1, for a relatively low cost. This system can be tailored to take the Company all the way to say Level 5, which can be considered the gold standard. This is where I would be helping the company to achieve an appropriate International Organization Standardization, ISO registration. ISO registration is not to be entered into lightly, it is a costly and lengthy process but it is a recognised ‘business kite mark’ and there are tangible bottom line benefits for those companies that are successful in achieving this stringent registration process.

This service can be tailored to take the Company all the way to Level 5, which is the gold standard where I would be helping the company to achieve an appropriate ISO registration. ISO registration is not to be entered into lightly, it is a costly and exhausting process but it is a recognised ‘business kite mark’ and there are tangible bottom line benefits for those companies that are successful in achieving this stringent registration and ongoing process.

As previously stated, I have developed and delivered our own packages as well as acting as associates for nationally accredited training organisations. Their clients include major utility companies, retailers and private limited companies. I have worked with major suppliers of safety training at suites of rooms in Bloomsbury, London.

These services were also delivered at clients own premises in the field of Display Screen Training and Competency together with DSE Risk Assessments. Recently, I have been undertaking Training and Competency Assessment Programmes with the RAF/USAF in the fields of Legionella control and management. Also, with up-skilling Training/Coaching and Assessment and Certification programmes in Water and Waste Water Operation.

In future, I will be undertaking these work streams independently through my own certified training section within the consultancy.

These educational upskilling programmes included Anglian and Thames Water who were bringing there own Licence to Operate system, which is administered by City & Guilds and is aimed at their front line operational   people and form part of their respective Quality Assurance procedures. Whereas, Thames, Yorkshire Water, Northumbrian Water, Southern Water, South West Water, Severn Trent Water, United Utilities and Scottish Water were and are using a mix of Regulated Qualifications and Apprenticeship   programmes to achieve similar ends for their operational, supervisory and management people.

Unfortunately since Covid –19 pandemic, generous support for these regulated courses has largely been withdrawn due to the unexpected and additional costs associated with dealing with Covid. In more recent times the media have focused the public's attention on consented overflows and have almost completely ignored the fact that Water Companies are actually highly regulated, but despite that, there is huge pressure coming from pressure groups such at Surfers against Sewage, various Rivers Trusts, and celebrities such as Fergal Sharkey and Paul Whitehouse who are very keen anglers but now turned into effective environmental campaigners and there is constant pressure to do better over time to modify that regulated environment. Therefore, there is urgent need for consumers and customers of the Water and Wastewater companies to ensure that their staff are fully competent and licenced to operate both Water and Wastewater Treatment works and the associated water distribution networks and the sewerage network system and the associated pumping stations and sewer overflows. in order to optimise the performance of their systems.  

In Norfolk we have undertaken Utility reviews, for various companies, focus was particularly on water use at public houses and restaurant premises and some smaller independent boutique hotels and upmarket lodging sites including holiday parks, glamping and boating facilities on the Norfolk Broads.   Here we have been able to help the landlords/tenants and owners of the said premises to get   control of their water and energy use by installation of smart sub meters which   constantly monitor the incoming water main in area of use for example washing and laundry services, on site bars and eateries, spa and swimming pools etc. This area of work is never more important, with the cost of Energy and Water rising very steeply during 2022 a review of this type can pay for itself easily within 12 months. As this work is bespoke, please call me on 07774240150 to request a Quotation from our marketing team or alternatively email me at dpd1953@icloud.com info@ebmconsultation.com with an outline of the issues you are facing and the solutions you are hoping to achieve through these Energy and Water Audit Programmes. I look forward to working with all our clients, new and existing on these sectors of work and I hope that my reputation will continue to grow over the coming months and years. 

I have built a long term business relationship with David Ellis the MD of Bridge Office Interiors Ltd. I advise them on various H & S matters after supplying them with my unique one stop health and safety package which includes one to one coaching on Health and Safety. This also includes my DSE assessment and training package which we have worked with them to the benefit of companies vpurchasing new office desking and chairs. I hope to further develop this further in the months and years ahead for our mutual benefit.