Electrical contractor – your choice?

If you run your own business, employing any kind of contractor can represent a significant cost so to get the best value for money you need to choose a reliable electrical contractor who offers a high quality service at a reasonable price. Although this might sound too good to be true, it is possible -provided you know what to look for.

Pay less for your electrical contractor, and pay more later

When searching for an electrical contractor it can be very tempting to go for the cheapest quote. However, some businesses undercut on price but then fail to deliver on the project so regardless of the size of your project, you’ll end up paying twice: once for the shoddy workmanship and then again to have the workmanship repaired by another contractor.

The best way to avoid this pitfall is to think carefully about whether the contractors you have shortlisted have a proven track record: are they happy to give you a couple of references and is there any feedback about them on public media? The proposal they submit can also be a useful indicator of their expertise and any contractor worth their salt will give you a considered, detailed proposal which includes a thorough analysis of your requirements. Don’t immediately disregard quotes which are more expensive as you many find that you’re more satisfied with the outcome.

Design and build can offer a cost-effective solution

If you’re considering a major installation project, considering a contractor that has the expertise to fit the installation but to maintain and design it too can help to reduce costs significantly. Not only will the help to reduce costs but you’ll also find that your project is handled in a cohesive way and you’ll only have one point of contact to deal with should any problems or issues arise. Opting for a design and build contractor will not only help to reduce pressure upon the project manager, you’ll also find that the project itself runs more smoothly as the whole solution is thought through by all involved.

Best practice is important

Industry standards are there to protect you and with this in mind you should check that the electrical contractor you choose has the relevant qualifications. There are a number of schemes including NICEIC and ECA, for example. Reputable electrical contractors like DualTec will be recognised under an industry standard scheme and shows that they are committed to providing an excellent level of service and expertise.

Choosing an electrical contractor you can rely on

Whist quality is undoubtedly very important; a contractor who can deliver a project on time and on budget is worth their weight in gold. Project creep can cause no end of problems, not least in spiralling costs, so check customer reviews to see if there’s ever been an issue with the contractor you’re considering using. Remember that a decent electrical contractor will not only take care over a project, they’ll make sure it’s completed on time too. We would recommend that you visit www.dualtec.co.uk

Advice on Approaching Global Regulatory Compliance

With the spotlight shining brightly on Environmental H&S compliance, companies are challenged with finding effective ways to address the complexities and intricacies of EH&S compliance management. Not only do these challenges stem from a constantly-changing regulatory landscape, but also from a scarcity of newcomers to the EH&S field, and pressure on EH&S departments to manage increased responsibility with fewer resources.

softwareAddressing these issues requires broad and deep domain expertise—expertise that doesn’t always exist within the company. And if it does, this expertise is probably best utilized by driving the company’s overall compliance strategy, not bogged down with paperwork or the administrative burdens associated with maintaining compliance. Visit us at www.lycos.ltd.uk for more information.

Does your company need a comprehensive one-stop solution for content, tools and services to enable ou to take effective leadership and control of their product stewardship and EH&S compliance activities.

Manufacturers and distributors of all sizes increasingly face challenges that result from globalization in the marketplace and changing international regulatory initiatives. In today’s environment, merely producing an MSDS / SDS is not enough. Quality, accuracy and currency are critical components to fulfilling the original intentions for requiring documentation in the first place. This has a direct effect on the company’s ability to efficiently and effectively produce and maintain currency of MSDSs / SDSs, labels and hazard communication documents for their products. Effective, compliant and up-to-date documents—especially MSDS software / SDSs—are not only a global requirement, but serve as the critical centerpiece for enabling effective product stewardship practices throughout the product’s lifecycle.

How you approach this challenge will vary from company to company.
You may be in a position where your company has limited resources and needs to fully outsource MSDS / SDS authoring activities?
You may need additional support during the inevitable ebb and flow of workload?
Or do you simply need MSDS / SDS software to support your own staff?

The Benefits of Employing Authoring or Co-Authoring Services

Keeping up with the timely creation and distribution of compliant MSDSs and label documents is always a challenge. First off theres budget cuts, reduced or reallocated resources, a merger or acquisition, lack of regulatory standardization, GHS, REACH, and stricter global enforcement.

Add in the global business worlds increasing emphasis and scrutiny on quality, accuracy and currency and the situation becomes even more difficult and burdensome. There are however, some interesting bits of software being developed for android and iphone – see http://download.cnet.com/

Authoring will need to include the formatting of  MSDSs / SDSs to be compliant with ANSI, GHS, REACH, and all of the major global requirements such as Japan, EU, USA and Canada, producing compliant documents that meet the needs of customers’ most complex requirements, including:

  • Meeting ingredient and hazard classification disclosure regulations in all appropriate countries
  • Multiple-language MSDSs / SDSs, including double-byte characters
  • Providing toxicological and eco-toxicological evaluations and determination, including hazard classification, labeling and workplace exposure limit settings
  • Providing domestic and international transportation determination including air, water and land
  • Authoring Exposure Scenarios for pure substance products as well as for individual components in a mixture

The Co-Authoring Concept

With Co-Authoring Services, you and your provider will collaborate to author and produce (M)SDSs from your authoring system and follow your corporate authoring guidelines and a collaboratively developed formal review and approval process that results in the most efficient and cost-effective solutio.

In short, choosing an Authoring/Co-Authoring Scenario can help you and your company in many ways:

  • Reduced cost structure within EH&S (Environmental Health & Safety) and other functions within the company
  • Improved turn around time based upon demand
  • Quick workload adjustments as needed
  • Freed up internal resources to perform other work responsibilities
  • Productive collaboration with sharing of experience, knowledge, and skills across professional staff
  • Improved global compliance resulting in potentially reduced liability
  • Reduced need for deployment of internal resources to support authoring staff
  • Regulatory expertise maintained in-house

Further information on REACH and how it affects you.

Under REACH, not all chemicals are treated the same way. The data required for registration depends on the quantity produced or imported, (> or < 1 tonne per year). The most hazardous chemicals are considered differently and will be classified as “Substances of Very High Concern” (SVHCs). These will include those that are toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, reproductive toxins and harmful to the environment.

These may need to be “authorised” before they can be used and authorisation will not be given if there are safer alternatives or if the substance cannot be safely controlled.

REACH includes metals and alloys, but not polymer plastics (although any residual monomer and any additives contained within them may need to be registered).

So what should you do now?

As all commercial users of chemicals are be affected by REACH, it is recommended that a strategy is defined and followed. This should start now and a perfect place to get help is with a company specialising in MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) software.

Most manufacturers use chemicals and preparations of one type or another.  As a starting point, manufacturers should audit their own business and production processes to answer the following questions:

* Do you manufacture or import any substances from outside the EU in quantities of 1 tonne or more per year?
* Do you import articles from outside the EU that contain 1 tonne or more of an intentionally released substance?
If you answered yes to either of these questions then these chemicals require registration.

Some more questions:
Do any of your products contain SVHCs?  – If the answer is yes, you will need to provide information to your customers.

Do any of the chemicals, preparations or materials you use contain a substance likely to be classified as a SVHC? – If the answer is yes, then there is a risk that this may be withdrawn from the market without warning.

Therefore it is best to avoid the use of materials containing SVHCs in new products unless there is no alternative.  Additionally, SVHCs may not be allowed in products, even in small quantities, after dates that will be specified unless they have been authorised. Users as well as manufacturers and importers can request authorisation but should seek professional advice first.

The next step is to contact your materials suppliers to ask them following questions:
Can your suppliers confirm that REACH will not affect the supply of materials that you currently use? It is likely that they will not be able to confirm this but your question will encourage them to find out what plans their suppliers have and warn you of withdrawals as soon as possible.

Do your suppliers require information on how you use their products? If you use chemicals in an unusual way, you may want to provide details. Remember that if your use is not included in the exposure scenario that is written by the registrant, you cannot continue to use it in this way unless you submit your own chemical safety report to the ECHA.

Have they provided an up-to-date copy of the MSDS data sheet and do they have processes to automatically update you if the content changes?  This facility for automatic updating of the MSDS can save massive time and expense consequences to your supply stream.

You should also be prepared to answer questions from your customers who may want information on your plans or about chemicals present in your products.

Considering the use of an MSDS software provider? …….

A material safety data sheet (MSDS), safety data sheet (SDS), or product safety data sheet (PSDS) is an important component of product stewardship and occupational safety and health. It is intended to provide workers and emergency personnel with procedures for handling or working with that substance in a safe manner, and includes information such as physical data (melting point, boiling point, flash point, etc.), toxicity, health effects, first aid, reactivity, storage, disposal, protective equipment, and spill-handling procedures. MSDS formats can vary from source to source within a country depending on national requirements.

SDSs are a widely done system for cataloging information on chemicals, chemical compounds, and chemical mixtures. SDS information may include instructions for the safe use and potential hazards associated with a particular material or product. These data sheets can be found anywhere where chemicals are being used.

There is also a duty to properly label substances on the basis of physico-chemical, health and/or environmental risk. Labels can include hazard symbols such as the European Union standard black diagonal cross on an orange background, used to denote a harmful substance.

An SDS for a substance is not primarily intended for use by the general consumer, focusing instead on the hazards of working with the material in an occupational setting.

In some jurisdictions, the SDS is required to state the chemical’s risks, safety, and effect on the environment.

It is important to use an SDS specific to both country and supplier, as the same product (e.g. paints sold under identical brand names by the same company) can have different formulations in different countries. The formulation and hazard of a product using a generic name (e.g. sugar soap) may vary between manufacturers in the same country.

There are many companies who can offer you MSDS software, offering you a simple solution to global regulatory compliance.  This includes; Safety Data Sheet Software (MSDS Software) for Safety Data Sheet (SDS and MSDS) Authoring, Classification, COSHH, Labelling, Transport Documentation, Document Management and Batch Management.

Such services will include

  •      Supply Classifications – EU / CLP / GHS Classification Systems
  •      Transport Classifications
  •      Multilingual Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
  •      Multilingual Supply and Transport Labels
  •      Instructions in Writing (Tremcards) in all ADR languages
  •      Dangerous Goods Notes
  •      IATA Declarations
  •      Standard Shipping Notes
  •      International CMR’s
  •      COSHH Risk Assessments
  •      Automatic SDS Dispatch via email, fax and post
  •      Automated revision control and archiving of Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
  •      Document Management Software
  •      Batch Management Software
  •      Regulatory upgrades whenever legislation changes
  •      Technical and regulatory support

The Benefits
Any company with a requirement to produce supply or hazard documentation will benefit from the comprehensive knowledge of and MSDS software provider.  Their experience can help you in many ways:

  •      Helps cut costs
  •      Provides piece of mind
  •      Provide a Global Regulatory Compliance Solution
  •      Use a Unicode based system allowing document translation in all global languages including those with Asian or Cyrillic scripts
  •     Addresses all areas of legislation covering the Supply, Transport and labelling of hazardous and non-hazardous substances and preparations
  •      Provide you with a flexible system allowing for user configurations
  •      Store documents as .pdf, .html, .txt, .doc, .rtf, .xls and .ttx, in addition to the systems own document formats
  •      Maintain customer records to keep a history of the Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) that have been sent
  •      Reduces duplication of data entry, improving employee productivity and maintaining data integrity
  •     Provide ongoing support and maintenance to keep the system in line with the latest regulations
  •      Provide high quality regulatory and system support