Comments by John Gallacher

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

Sharon

I agree completely. Such is the legislation that we need to follow the disciplinary procedure to the letter or the ex-employee wins. We narrowly escaped paying out £10,000 to an employee who stole from us because we failed to follow the procedure. Only after spending 3k on legal fees did we win the case. As such I attended an ACAS course to ensure our knowledge on such matters is A1. The odds are definately stacked against employers.

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

Murray this is nonsense. As long as you advise your staff you are recording for safety/security purposes then it is completely fine for you to do this. This can be achieved by adding a section to the terms and conditions of employment stating the above. You should also put up signage at the entry points to the area that is being recorded. i.e front and back doors of warehouse. In your policy you can state which areas will be monitored and how long the data will be retained for.

I have policies on CCTV Use & CCTV Data Protection. If you want me to send them over let me know.

regards

John

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

Our restaurant took a booking from another eaterie. The gentleman (one of the chefs) who called from the eaterie stated this was a staff xmas meal for himself and 11 others. We accepted the booking and advised the food bill would be presented at the end of the night.

To cut a long story short, the party began fighting with each other towards the end of the meal and were asked to leave by our manager. In the confusion they left after paying their dinks bill. Since, the gentleman has refused to pay the food bill informing us there is nothing we can do. We have contacted their head office in London who have came back and stated this was a "private night out and not a works night out they are not liable". However they did advise the employee to settle the bill. That was 2 months ago.

In a small claims who would be liable ? I believe the company as all attendees were staff and the details given were the restaurant's.

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

I agree with Philip and in addition if the images are involved in detecting a crime then much of the Data Protection Act does not apply, especially the Subject Access Section.

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

I think you are being a touch harsh Philip.

I found the article's on the DDA invaluable especially "Face Facts" & "A battle for hearts and minds" which both covered angles and views that I had not considered and in effect, completely changed my approach on the policy I am about to implement throughout our company. I found the first publication encouranging as it was informative, diverse and topical and had considerably more substance than many "free" supplements offered in this industry.

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

Thanks for all your comments, there are very helpful. I am of the personal opinion that the lady in question is looking for an insurance payout, fortunately we have independant witnesses who state they were larking about. The local HSE Officer has since visited the site and has declared they are happy with the layout and the amount of lighting, accordingly there is no negligence on our part. I think the work related secanario would only come into play if a customer was injured due to poor lighting, wet floors etc.

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

We operate a number of sportsbars and nightclubs and have a thorough health & safety management structure and procedure in place. Recently a customer fell when her friend jumped on her back (they were under the influence of alcohol).This resulted in a fractured ankle. She has since contacted the local H & S authority (claiming it was too dark and she did not have anything to drink) who contacted myself and asked for our internal accident reports which were duly supplied.

However, during the conversation the gentleman asked if I had reported the accident under RIDDOR. I stated "no as it was not specifically work related" although it did occur on our premises. His advice was then slightly confusing and to be honest it did not really sound like he knew the answer himself.

Accordingly I am looking for advice on whether we should report any accidents of this type.

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

http://www.imago3.com/A/library/welcome.asp?Cr=ACASDG

The above link is for the ACAS online learning website. Its free and provides you with all the training you require to be competent in the topics you list. ACAS also do a one day course which I found to be excellent.

John

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

That is my point entirely Ken. The Fire Officer was suggesting that I could not allow any more persons into the building than the refuge could hold, which I disagree with. I will take your points on board and visit the site link you listed.thanks

Susie, you didnt answer my question. The building is only 7 months old and was built with the DDA in mind. Which means we have an abundance of disabled facilities including lifts, tiolets, refuges, hearing loops etc. Accordingly we do not need to make any adjustments as the venue sets new standards for nightclubs and sportsbars and there is already a thorough avacuation plan in place. It was the Fire Officers comments that threw me as I didnt allow for x amount of persons in the venue due to the size of the refuge.

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

We had a recent Fire Inspection at one of our venues and the Fire Officer stated that we had to change our fire risk assessment to state how many disabled persons we would allow in the venue at the same time. He went on to say that we had to take into account the size of the refuge when doing this. The refuge we have currently would hold around 8-10 persons or around 4 persons in wheelchairs (if applicable).

Would our manager be faced with the proposition of refusing a disabled person access because we already have say 4 persons in wheelchairs in the premises ? Obvouisly this would cause offence to the customer concerned and would it be possible breach of the DDA?

I assume my other alternative is to find another refuge within the venue that can hold more disabled customers ? Can anyone advise of a similar situation?

The venue in question is a Sportsbar, Grill and Nightclub.

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

Andy,

We operate a searching policy which is attached to the terms and conditions of employment. We took legal advice prior to implementing this and currently it is working very well. We ensured the following;

* No random searches unless we were looking for something specific and we had reasonable evidence to justify this

* Employee being searched MUST be asked if they would like a witness of their own choosing present.

* Authorisation - Managers have to contact myself (Group Security Manager) or our Operations Director for authority before proceeding with said search. This prevents any manager's searching when it is without proper reason or justification.

* Employee Consent Form - Once the search is authorised the manager asks the employee to complete the consent form which includes area to be searched (person, locker, workspace etc), reason for completing search and employee signature. This form is completed prior to the search and if the employee refuses consent they are suspended accordingly for breaching the terms and conditions of employment. (We have never had to do this as yet)

We are aware of the effect that searches can have on morale etc so try to solve matters via alternative methods, ie. CCTV Footage, Asset Management etc. Indeed, we have only used this policy on 5 occasions.

If you would see a copy of the policy and consent form post a reply with your email address and I will oblige.

Hope this helps

John

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

Annette, we operate a licenced venue which has a large car park in the centre of town. We have noticable signage stating the car park is for customers only. This however, did not deter the constant stream of persons parking their vehicles and going shopping, whilst others on occasion left their vehicles for days.

I introduced warning stickers which permantly fix to the vehicles windows. (Rear passenger and drivers as you cannot restrict drivers view) This has solved the problem as the stickers can takes weeks to finally remove. It is a special permanaent adhesive and does the job really well.

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

Guidance from the Home Office states that on the first day of employment a new employee should be given a walkround of the buidling and shown the location of exits, break glass points, extinguishers and the assembly point. Fire Induction training should then be completed as soon as possbile thereafter (within 4 weeks is advised).

Evacuation/Drills should be held a minimum of once per 6 months and should include all new employees since the last drill. At least two thirds of staff should attend. Many companies including our own hold drills every 3 months and operate a different scenario each time. i.e one exit cannot be used due to supposed fire.

Hope this helps.

John

John Gallacher
Member - 15 posts

I am the Health & Safety Officer and the Group Security Manager for a company who own a string of nightclubs and sports bar throughout Scotland. The issue of passive smoking at work has arisen and I am worried that the recent increase in "no win no fee" agencies may result in claims against us.

Given our employees work in an already smokey environment what measures can I take to minmise the risk?

I am considering measures to be included into the terms of conditions of employment stating employee's objecting to "passive smoke" should contact their manager who will attempt to provide an alternative place to work. (i.e nightclub to sportsbar food servery etc)

Other than offering work rotation and limiting the length of time employees spend in a smokey environment what can I do ? Additonally, how best to implement it ? Can i draft a "disclaimer" as such or can I include it in the company handbook which forms part of the terms and conditions.