Handsam Reminders
In the hustle and bustle of other responsibilities, you may have overlooked some articles from Compliance Matters Issue 36. Below are some of the things making the news in the world of compliance in autumn 2022.
Discarded Batteries "Cause About 700 Fires a Year" Say Local Authorities
The Environmental Services Association says fires caused by these discarded batteries may cost fire services and waste operators £158m a year. The survey was conducted by non-profit organisation Material Focus, which runs an online search tool to help people find their nearest recycling point.
Lithium-ion batteries which are often found in small, rechargeable devices such as toothbrushes, toys, phones and laptops, have become more powerful in recent years. Smaller, frequently used and cheaper devices including some musical greeting cards, often have "hidden batteries".
The Growing Problem of INCEL Culture
When young males are dedicated to a belief, it’s important to realise just how much value they derive from the INCEL ideology. And the answer is: probably next to nothing. Holding this ideology is just making them sadder than they already are.
They may be getting some degree of companionship and sympathy as part of an INCEL group, and they may also think that they are getting answers to the question of why their lives are the way they are. However, this companionship and sympathy is of the deranged and unhelpful variety, and the answers won’t lead them in a positive direction. Often, when a young male considers themselves to be an INCEL, they decide that they are an unfixable case. The first step to change is realising that they are fixable. They should be encouraged to think of the life they want, and examine how to get there, in concrete terms.
Preventing Hair Discrimination in Your School
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has recently provided non-statutory guidance designed to help school leaders ensure that their policies on pupil hair and hairstyles are not unlawfully discriminatory.
Many schools choose to develop a separate policy for pupil hairstyles or to set out their expectations about them in a discrete section of their pupil behaviour policy. Here Martin Cain distils the key elements of the guidance for leaders to allow them to consider the extent to which their present policy or approach is fit for purpose and likely to ensure that their school does not fall foul of the Law.
Diabulimia
Type 1 diabetes with disordered eating (T1DE) or diabulimia is an eating disorder that only affects people with type 1 diabetes, usually aged between 15 and 30. The condition causes them to reduce or stop taking insulin in order to lose weight, alongside alongside other behaviours such as restricting food intake, over-exercising, binging, making yourself sick and using laxatives to try to control weight. Some people don't stop or reduce their insulin but instead control their weight and shape through food restriction or over-exercise, which indirectly limits the amount of insulin required. Although Diabulimia isn’t a medical term, it’s what this condition has been come to be known as. Healthcare professionals are now generally referring to the condition as T1DE.
Plug Socket Covers - Should They be Used in Schools?
In June 2016, the Department of Health issued an Estates and Facilities Alert which stated: In certain circumstances, the use of plastic 13A electrical socket inserts (sold as safety accessories), can overcome the safety features designed into socket outlets.
The Guidance went on to say that 13A electrical socket inserts should not be used in health or social care premises, nor supplied for use in a home or residence and any socket inserts currently in use should be withdrawn and responsibly disposed of.
LGA Advises to Check Roofs for RAAC
RAAC is a lightweight form of concrete used in roof, floor, cladding and wall construction in the UK from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980. It was used primarily in offices and schools, but RAAC has been found in a wide range of buildings, not all of which are still in the public sector. Problems with RAAC roof planks have been known since the early 1990s and many have been replaced with alternative structural roofs or by introduction of secondary supports. There is no central register of buildings with RAAC roof planks and the collapse of a school roof in late 2018 proves that many structures still have potentially dangerous roofs or flooring. The problem may be more serious than previously appreciated and that many building owners are not aware that it is present in their property.