Venus Heavens above!

This month it’s a look at the brightest planet that we can see in our night sky. Venus is the second planet from the Sun and is the nearest planet to Earth. It is often referred to as our twin as it is similar in size and mass and like us is a terrestrial (rocky) planet. However that is where similarities end as Venus is an inhospitable, hostile place. It is covered in thousands of volcanoes and its toxic atmosphere would not sustain life as we understand it.

QUICK FACTS…

Equivalent size (if Earth was the size of a cherry tomato!): Grape

Equator circumference: 38,025 km (23,628 miles)

Radius/Diameter: 6,052 km /12,104 km (3,760.5 miles/7,521 miles)

Distance from the Sun: 108, 000,000 km (67,108,089 miles)

Day Length: 243 Earth days

Year Length: 225 Earth days

Temperature: 462° C

Made of: Venus has a solid, rocky surface with mountains, valleys, plains and plateaus. It has an iron core which it is thought is largely solid due to a weak magnetic field. The surface of Venus appears to consist of fine grains of basalt (volcanic rock).

Features: Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system with surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead. Although not as close to the sun as Mercury, Venus’ temperature is higher due to its dense atmosphere which stops the Sun’s heat escaping causing an extreme greenhouse effect. The planet has an almost constant temperature whether at the poles or at the equator. It is thought that Venus may have been covered in a shallow ocean for about 2 billion years. The heat from the sun slowly evaporated this causing carbon dioxide to increase in the atmosphere resulting in its current composition of CO₂ and small quantities of nitrogen.

The planet is permanently encased in an 80 km (50 mile) deep layer of yellow clouds made mostly of sulphuric acid and sulphur dioxide (so will smell of rotten eggs!) The atmosphere is also immensely dense with pressures on the surface equivalent to that of being 1km (½ mile) below the surface of earth’s oceans. Mix this with the extreme temperature and hurricane force winds blowing at around 350km/217 mph it is a planet very different from our own.

Another unusual feature of Venus is that it has the longest day of any planet in our solar system. It spins very, very slowly with a full rotation on its axis taking 243 Earth days. However only takes 225 days to orbit the sun making a day on Venus longer than a year! Venus also spins clockwise (most planets spin anticlockwise) so on Venus the sun rises in the west and sets in the east! Like Mercury it has no seasons due to its shallow axis tilt. It has no moons or rings.

Mythology: Along with four other planets, Venus is visible to the naked eye. It is the second brightest celestial object that we can see; only our moon is brighter. It is the only ‘female’ planet; named after the Roman Goddess of love and beauty. It is not clear when it was first discovered but it is referred to as’ the most beautiful star in the sky’ by Homer who lived in the 8th Century BC, and is referenced in many cultures, ancient and modern for thousands of years. It is also known as the Morning Star or Evening Star depending on the time of year and its passage through the sky.

There have been many missions to explore Venus by NASA and other space agencies. The earliest was in 1962 and currently JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) has a probe gathering data from Venus’ atmosphere.

Join me again next month for another look at our solar system and the next planet…

By Pam Waggott

References: www.nhm.ac.uk • www.funkidslive.com www.solarsystem.nasa.gov

Banter and Crossing the Line

By Quinn HR

Welcome back to regular readers and a very warm Spring welcome to any new readers this month!

I’ve decided to, once again focus this month’s article on the subject of Banter – something that can be great for morale if it is appropriate and a friendly exchange of remarks. Sometimes, though it isn’t appropriate. Remarks are made that are not acceptable to others and it can cross the line.

Employment tribunal claims relating to Banter have continued to rise over the last few years, and my clients continue to ask me to carry out training with their managers on bullying and harassment type issues, including the use of Banter, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts and advice with you again. I hope it’s useful.

Good Banter is likely to:

 Be fun for both parties

 Reflect the personality of the individuals involved

 Be between parties that know each other (familiarity is important)

 Not be personal

Bad Banter should be avoided, and could:

 Be in a group setting where comments or remarks could offend one or more people

 Be humiliating for an individual or individuals

 Include cruel nicknames

 Include teasing or ribbing remarks

 Include pranks

 Include one-sided comments or remarks

 Be when remarks are made, and the parties do not know each other well enough for the remarks to be acceptable

The law relating to harassment is set out in the Equality Act (2010). It states that harassment is unwanted conduct relating to one of nine protected characteristics (age, sex, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation) which has the purpose or effect of either violating an employee’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.

The problem is that Banter can fall within this definition if it is unwanted, regardless of whether the person has told someone it isn’t acceptable to them, or whether they have accepted it before.

Employers and employees may be held liable for harassment, so employers are advised to:

 Put in place a robust and well-communicated policy and guidance that clearly sets out the organisation’s commitment to promoting dignity and respect

 Make sure any policies or guidance are promoted and properly implemented, so that everyone understands what is and isn’t appropriate

 Provide training for all employees from the start of their employment and refresh this at regular intervals – annually is advisable

 Ensure employees know what to do and who to contact should they have any concerns

 Take action as soon as you can if an issue is detected – don’t bury your head in the sand!

Quinn HR – Here to Help

Should you need any advice on Banter or any other employment matter, Quinn HR is only a call or an email away! We can advise on a whole range of employment matters and have access to additional, professional HR and Legal expertise should it be needed.

The following are typically some of the areas we support businesses with:

 Employee relations – disciplinaries, grievances, whistleblowing, bullying and harassment

 Attendance issues – sickness related and other

 Performance issues – appraisals, managing poor performance and capability

 Staff Handbooks – policies, procedures, standards and rules

 Employment contracts – terms and conditions/particulars of employment

 Employment Law updates

 Recruitment and selection – recruitment processes, forms and job descriptions

 Pay and benefits – pay structures and job evaluation

 Reorganisation and redundancy

Let us help and reassure you on an ad hoc basis at an agreed hourly rate, or on a retained basis for a small, fixed monthly fee.