The South African Facilities Management Association (SAFMA) has created a national draft facilities management standard. South Africa is the first country in the world to publish a draft of the FM Standard to break new ground in the practice of Facilities Management. Through the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) committee of 32 countries in late 2014 the world decided to create a global FM Standard that would ensure effective management of facilities within organisations globally. The standard prescribes the manner in which ... Continue reading

A 2015 survey by the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) and International SOS identified travel risk management as a key issue for 70% of risk and insurance manager respondents.   FERMA has recently cooperated with partners including International SOS and law firm DLA Piper to produce a paper to help risk and insurance managers better understand their responsibilities towards work-related international travel and assignments.   The paper will make interesting reading for anyone in human resources, facilities managemen... Continue reading

Bonuses of City executives should be linked to targets for the number of senior women appointed at a firm, says a government commissioned review. This review is being led by Jayne-Anne Gadhia who is the Chief Executive of Virgin Money. The proposal is to make the remuneration packages of a firm’s executive team dependent on gender balance and is one of the preliminary recommendations. The review also says that financial services firms should report publically on their gender diversity, and should appoint an executive responsible for gender, ... Continue reading

As reported last month, new sentencing guidelines have been published today by the Sentencing Council.  The updated guidelines aim to ensure a consistent, fair and proportionate approach to sentencing organisations or individuals convicted of corporate manslaughter, health and safety and food safety and hygiene offences and can be downloaded from the Sentencing Council website. Offences that come under the guidelines are very varied and could include a building firm that causes the death of an employee by not providing the proper equipment f... Continue reading

In December 2014, the Government published a consultation that invited views on proposals to amend the existing UK Government Guidance in order to address concerns about lack of clarity regarding the definition of 'portable' batteries. The outcome of the consultation has now been published, clarifying the interpretation of whether a battery “can be hand carried by an average person without difficulty”. Click here to view the guidance. ... Continue reading