Equip August 2013

Also inside: - Pain, and how to deal with it - RBLI Employee of the Month Award - Ask the RBLI team

Michael Culkin

Best known as Judge Buller in the BBC’s Garrow’s Law talks exclusively to Equip

Equipping you for the workplace

Editorial - Edward Says

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I am delighted to be back with RBLI’s latest edition of Equip newsletter.

You will recall from our first edition that the aim of Equip was to showcase quality work-based assessments, excellent suppliers of equipment and services and clear signposting of areas of support.

In fact, everything that a good employer needs to support quality staff in the workplace.

Well, the second edition plans to take that even further.

Having already introduced ourselves, we can now concentrate on demonstrating the support that is available to employees and employers to help them retain a committed and productive workforce.

Businesses across the UK lose thousands of pounds every year due to absenteeism that could easily be prevented.

Industry also fails to retain highly skilled and highly motivated employees that with the implementation of some simple adaptations or low-cost solutions would otherwise be working.

Everybody who appears within these pages (as well as those in the first edition) are dedicated to overcoming work-related needs because of health condition or disability, whether they be employers, employees or those employed in the welfare to work industry.

As well as delivering on the DWP Access To Work programme, RBLI also undertakes independent work-based assessments right across the country. We see first-hand the difficulties that employers and employees are facing and whilst appreciating the need to exercise financial austerity, most solutions put in place are cost-effective especially when compared to the alternative of losing skill and dedication from the business.

I hope that Equip is entertaining as well as informative because if you enjoy what you’re reading you will retain it and use it. We want to provide you with a view not just from a business standpoint but also give you a personal feel about assessments and the support of people with disabilities.

Happy reading...

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The Numbers Matter

11.5% of all employed people are disabled

3.2 million disabled people are in work

47.8% of working-age disabled people are in employment

21% of the working age

population in the UK (over 8 million people) had a disability in March 2012

29% of all workplace incidents in

2007 were caused by products with poor ergonomics

1 in 5 of office workers miss three weeks of work a year due to poor quality office products that cause health problems.

Source: DWP and statistics.gov.uk

- Edward Tidbury, Editor & RBLI Program Manager 2

COMING SOON in the next Equip...

- Speech Centre - Jilly Goddard’s Life Experiences

... and many more!

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A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities.

- William Arthur Ward

What a Pain!

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By Julianne Adams

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We all know what pain feels like. After all, it is a basic strategy for the body’s survival. But for the customers we see every day, pain has an overwhelming influence in their lives, causing them issues with their social and work lives and sometimes depression.

What can we do? Many of our customers tell us that they are on painkillers. However, these can have the sort of side effects that mean a customer cannot go to work for the drowsiness and nausea that can be part of pain medication.

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as an experience. Pain is usually triggered by messages sent from the tissues of the body when those tissues are presented with something potentially dangerous. This reflects the “pain gate theory” that was formulated by Melzak and Wall in 1965. They concluded that a stimulus has to be present to tell the brain something hurts.

But for many of our customers, there is something more going on – for the tissues of the body may no longer be damaged but pain is certainly still there.

More recently, pain has been explained, by Lorimer Moseley, as “the same song being played in the brain, over and over again.”

Moseley has spent a good deal of his professional life investigating pain. He has concluded that, in order to break the song in the brain, we need to employ some new tactics. He suggests several ways to minimise that tune that plays in the head of the person with pain, but there is a lesson to be learnt in the story he had to tell about his own reaction to pain.

Moseley tells the story of a walk that he took in the Australian outback. Whilst out on a hike with a friend, he felt a scratch on his ankle. As he was deep in conversation with his friend, and enjoying the surroundings, Moseley thought little of the injury and walked on. When he stopped to take a drink, he had a look at his ankle with his friend. The friend suggested that immediate treatment was required because he had been bitten by a snake.

A few years later, Moseley was out on his own enjoying a walk in similar surroundings. Again, he felt a scratch. Instead of ignoring the pain, he felt an overriding sense of panic and a heightened awareness of the pain. When he looked down, he found it really was just a scratch and there was no snake in sight! But 4 because he was on his own, with no distractions, and a

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RBLI holis (Asse Emp

Julianne Adams

previous pain experience, his reaction was so different the second time around.

Pete Egoscue has developed a method for pain-free living. He thinks that patients should refuse to accept the view that age, accidents or disease routinely triumph over the human body’s natural legacy to be pain free. He is passionate about movement, and his method is based on his belief that there is no artificial replacement for motion. He believes that, unlike creatures moved by the tidal currents or the air, we move or perish. You can read more about his approach in many of the books he has written. The principal message is that, if you rediscover the body’s design, you restore function and return to health.

If this sounds like a new-age message to you, you might be interested to know that there is method in this message. Movement, propelled by your muscles, requires good muscle timing. Muscle timing issues can result in painful joints. So poor muscle timing is the reason why many of us need to see a physio or an osteopath. So it’s a reasonable suggestion that when you’re not moving much, due to chronic pain, muscle timing is impaired together with function.

Many GPs refer their patients to chronic pain clinics.

The National Pain Audit, conducted by the British Pain Society and Dr Foster Intelligence, reveals that patients with long-term pain experienced a very low overall quality of life. (continued on page 14)

Learning how to deal with pain can increase one’s quality of life

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It is never too late to be what you might have been.

- George Eliot

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Quarterly News

What’s been happening this quarter

RBLI Employee of the Month RBLI are proud to announce that Frank Gilbert, holistic assessor and team trainer on the ADT (Assessment Delivery Team), has just been awarded Employee of the Month.

Frank has consistently delivered high-quality assessments and customer service across the entire assessment delivery area. He has delivered the right support for each individual customer’s needs during his holistic assessments by focused research and experience.

support of his colleagues within the team and has provided training and support throughout the team and even myself.

He is an integral part of my team and of what we do, a quality service. A well-deserved employee of the month award.

He has also developed his technical knowledge to such a degree that there are very few questions that could come up during an assessment that would concern him!

If he doesn’t have the answer, he knows where to find it.

Frank uses this same knowledge and expertise in

Congratulations to Frank (pictured left, with Steve Sherry, CEO) for winning the award!

RBLI Triathlon Success Royal British Legion industry Chief Executive Steve Sherry led a team of directors and senior managers in the South Coast Triathlon on Saturday, 6 July.

It was a fantastic achievement by the team and some

personal goals and times were broken on the day and although Alistair Brownlee, our Olympic triathlon champion might lose sleep over the performance, I am certain he would be delighted with the fact that we raised nearly £5000 for our charity.

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Steve Sherry and the team

Seaford Harbour

A massive thank you to all those who donated this could not have been achieved without you!

A worried Alistair Brownlee

At RBLI we are always keen to hear about the successes of our assessments and the work of our partners’ organisations. If you would like to share your ongoing experiences with those considering a workplace assessment, or other organisations providing holistic services, then please feel free to get in touch with us either by emailing assessment@rbli.co.uk or by calling 01622 795986.

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I choose not to place ‘DIS’, in my ability.

- Robert M Hensel

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Admiral Lord Nelson - P7R

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By Lieutenant-Commander Lester May RN (retired) When I was a serving naval officer, during the last two decades of the Cold War, ‘P7R’ was a known medical code that had become common naval parlance. It meant hors de combat –unfit for operational duties at sea, a guarantee of ‘light duties’ ashore.

It’s perhaps a good thing that such categorisation was not used during the Age of Sail for there might be no column in Trafalgar Square, perhaps no square, no Battle of Trafalgar – perhaps a Place de Napoléon instead!

Born in 1758, Nelson was one of eleven children, known for his spirit and pluck. The widowed rector of Burnham Thorpe found it hard bringing up a large family on a small income and arranged with Nelson’s Admiral Lord Nelson uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling, for the twelve year-old boy to be taken on board HMS Raisonnable. Suckling good-humouredly accepted responsibility for the unlikely nephew: What has poor Horace done, [he wrote] who is so weak that he, above all the rest, should be sent to rough it at sea? But let him come and the first time we go into action a cannon-ball may knock off his head and provide for him at once.

Nelson kept his head, as is well known. As Captain of HMS Agamemnon, while besieging Calvi, Corsica, in July 1794, he was wounded in the face by stones thrown up by an enemy shot, and never recovered the sight of his right eye.

As a rear-admiral he was wounded in the right arm as he stepped ashore in a raid on Santa Cruz, Tenerife, in July 1797 and he was taken back on board HMS Theseus where the arm was amputated.

He returned to England – ‘P7R’ perhaps – but returned to sea the following April.

A drawing of a ship’s cook in the 18th century shows a man with one wooden leg and, presumably, he had served as an ‘able-bodied’ seaman – an AB, today’s able seaman – before losing a leg. Sailors with a missing limb would have counted themselves lucky to be admitted as a resident in the naval hospital at Greenwich (now the Old Royal Naval College).

In Nelson’s time, perhaps fame and ability allowed a senior officer to continue to serve at sea, though I do not know of others with comparable disabilities.

Nelson was the first modern celebrity and he and Emma Hamilton were perhaps the world’s first non-royal celebrity couple. In an age when most people had no idea what famous people looked like, unless their image was much copied, Nelson’s missing arm made him easily recognised and that certainly suited his vanity.

He famously used disability to advantage, too. At the Battle of Copenhagen, in 1801, agitated at what he considered his superior’s folly, Nelson turned to his flag captain and said ‘You know, Foley, I have only one eye – and I have a right to be blind sometimes’ and, putting the telescope to his blind eye, ‘I really do not see the signal’.

Losing a limb was common for officers and men at war during the Age of Sail but life at sea was dangerous enough in peacetime. Nelson was lucky that seniority and celebrity meant his disability was no bar to high command. The Royal Navy and Britain, perhaps the wider world, is lucky that Nelson was not ‘P7R’ ashore but went back to sea and on to victory at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.

When I next toast “the Immortal Memory” at a Trafalgar Night Dinner, I shall remember not just my naval hero, a national hero, but a disabled hero too.

Is your workforce running out of steam?

Get an assessment done on-site today with RBLI. Rest assured, the service is high-quality and we have years of experience under our belts.

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For more information on our Assessment Services, please email RBLI’s Assessment Delivery Team at assessment@rbli.co.uk or call 01622 795900.

Get your workforce going full steam ahead.

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It is not our disability that is the problem, but rather it is the way our disabilities, are viewed by others.

- Drexel Deal

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Barry Bennett

From humble beginnings 41 years ago working from home and cellar, Barry Bennett has grown to become one of the UK’s leading suppliers of ergonomic and disability related products and services.The company’s overriding commitment to quality managed customer service has proven successful with a turnover which has more than doubled to £12m over the last five years.

This family owned company began life as an office machines and supplies company, after its founder and the person from whom the business takes its name, Barry Bennett, left Remington Typewriters. Business expanded and after recognising repeated demand for furniture from his customers, Barry also started two very successful office furniture manufacturing companies.

business working with individual students through the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) grant has grown to the stage where Barry Bennett now deal with over 7,000 individual students each academic year, providing everything from ergonomic seating and input devices to specialist assistive technology, training services and study skills coaching. As requests came in from former students transitioning into work, and from organisations seeking assistance with disability-related issues, Barry Bennett’s workplace business also blossomed.

The acquisition of Consultancy, a specialist sensory and cognitive services company in 2005, was followed in 2007 with the acquisition of the London based business, The Back Store, cementing Barry Bennett’s position as a leading nationwide provider of comprehensive ergonomic and disability risk management solutions.

A little over fifteen years ago the company began their involvement with assistive technology after a student from nearby Bolton College contacted them seeking support. From that small acorn, with Barry’s son, Antony Bennett now at the helm, a hugely successful Advertorial

Focus on: Online Ergonomics Now you’re sitting comfortably!

Online Ergonomics was established by Matthew Oliver in 2002 as a specialist supplier of ergonomic office products to both wholesale and retail customers.

Prior to establishing the Company, Matthew had spent more than 11 years working in companies supplying specialist office seating and ergonomic accessories including manufacturing, sales and distribution.

From modest beginnings the Company quickly grew on the strength of excellent product knowledge, innovation, competitive pricing and exemplary customer service.Online Ergonomics has continued to grow and expand yet has retained the fundamental qualities of excellent customer service, personal attention and providing value for money.

Online Ergonomics supplies ergonomic seating, desking, office accessories and assistive technology solutions. From their modern, purpose-built offices and warehouse in Beccles, Suffolk, Online Ergonomics

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utilises a fleet of vehicles and their own trained and experienced installers to deliver and install goods and provide after-sales services throughout the UK. They also provide training in the use of equipment and software through their national network of accredited trainers and software engineers.

Online Ergonomics is proud to have worked alongside RBLI for several years. Matthew Oliver explained “We want to be able to offer a true one-stop-shop for our clients. Many of our customers with complex needs require seating, desking, accessories, specialist software and training in the use of all of this equipment. Being able to obtain all of this from one source reassures the customer that quality of service will be maintained and that solutions will be dovetailed together to work as a package. Most of our clients welcome the simplicity of getting everything from one supplier as it helps them to retain control whilst keeping costs low.”

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The only disability in life is a bad attitude.

- Scott Hamilton

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A Crisp Morning

By Scott ToddAn

ExcluOn a crisp, cold early spring morning I nervously walked through the automatic door of the RBLI ‘LifeWorks’ course, feeling a bit more anxious than most. Nearly nineteen years to the day, I’d walked through the gate of Depot Royal Irish on a similar morning to begin my military career in which turned out to be heavy in operational deployments.

Originally joining the British Army I subsequently served for nine fantastic but busy years with the Royal Irish Regiment. I had the many ups and downs expected of serving on operations but after a challenging time when I lost a colleague and close friend I decided to follow a new direction and pursue my interest in aviation. In 2003 after being accepted for aircrew I began my Royal Air Force career.

After many further operational stints, including seven tours of Afghanistan where my primary role was operating the casualty evacuation aircraft, I felt myself struggle. Unfortunately in 2010 after a concerned chat with my first reporting officer and friend, I was medically referred and diagnosed with PTSD. I was determined not to let this psychological injury determine who I was.

Hasler Company is a unit set up primarily for rehabilitation of Royal Marines injured on operations, ranging from triple amputees to psychological injuries.

As time progressed, they’ve opened their doors to many forms of injury or illness and within the last year became tri services with myself being the first RAF personnel to come on board. They have been instrumental in assisting with my recovery. One form of assistance they organised was to arrange a place for me on the RBLI ‘LifeWorks’ course. So I found myself on that crisp, spring morning, trying my best to employ coping mechanisms for unusually high anxieties as I walked through the door and towards the reception of the LifeWorks venue.

I was very quickly put at ease with the professional instructional team and as the week progressed, I felt my confidence continually build. The pinnacle of the course was a mock interview to take place on the last day with a guest interviewer of great experience. This for me personally was the biggest hurdle I would have to cross. To describe how PTSD affects me in a few 8

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sentences is obviously undoable, but what I can say is I do at times struggle with greatly increased anxieties and low confidence.

I have coping mechanisms that I employ to see me through those harder moments, but with the interview procedure, I literally panicked at the thought. All the natural anxieties were being Scott Todd multiplied by ten. What would the interviewer ask?

Would the conversation go anywhere close to my triggers? Would my coping mechanisms be adequate or would I end up embarrassing myself by falling apart and having to leave. With the increase giving in confidence throughout the week of LifeWorks and armed with thoughts of ‘I can do this’, I sat nervously waiting on my interviewer.

Mr Edward Tidbury, the Access to Work Programme Manager, walked through the door and with a friendly, approachable persona, firmly shook my hand. On first sitting down to commence the interview, Edward immediately put me at ease. I continuously strived to remain honest, open and professional throughout the course of the interview and was ecstatic on finishing to receive positive, encouraging feedback. I left the interview with more confidence, self belief and a beneficial contact in Edward who very kindly offered a work placement in the near future. As I drove back home that weekend, things certainly seemed on the up.

I remained in touch with Edward and as planned arranged a placement shadowing Annette Evens, one of RBLI’s top holistic assessor. With it being my first placement venture, I took great satisfaction in returning to the work place and feeling a sense of being productive once again. I was extremely impressed with Annette’s role, the standard of client care and the professionalism portrayed throughout the day. I was always made to feel very welcome in shadowing and Annette took great time to give advice and pass on her personal experience whilst explaining RBLI procedures to me in full. I came away from the placement day with a boost in confidence and a greater belief that I’m approaching the light at the end of the tunnel.

To coin a phrase passed to us on the RBLI LifeWorks course, “THE PAST IS FOR REFERENCE, NOT RESIDENCE”.

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I have not been handicapped by my condition. I am physically challenged and differently able.

- Janet Barnes

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Being disabled should not mean being disqualified from having access to every aspect of life.

- Emma Thompson

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Randstad positively transforms pre-employment training has helped achieve over 11% 15 lives a week job outcomes on behalf of the providers we work with, 400 long-term unemployed Britons successfully found work in the first 3 months of 2013 with Randstad Student and Worker Support’s initiatives that promote programmes put in place by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Randstad’s Emma Hezelgrave-Whitworth MIRP CertRP, senior account specialist (left) and Rekha Dosaj, Account Specialist.

Randstad Student Worker Support, a specialist recruiter, has developed a Welfare to Work division in the UK to specifically help providers overcome barriers to employment. This helps individuals who have found it challenging to find that all-important job role.

Jonathan Ratcliffe, Partnership Manager of Randstad Student and Worker Support, who developed the relationship with RBLI in 2011 said; “Our specialist

this is significantly higher than the national average. We have specialist expertise and experience that delivers results and can really transform the quality of life for our end-users - something we are very proud of.”

For over a decade, Randstad Student Worker Support has also helped disabled students at university. Now the leading disability support specialist, Randstad works with over 17,000 disabled people a year across 170 organisations in the UK. The service has since now grown to include supporting workers, with Randstad offering valuable advice to employers on how to attract, retain and support disabled talent and provide disability support workers to employees up and down the country.

RBLI and Randstad Worker Support are pleased to combine their expertise to assist organisations help disabled people into their employment and to achieve their full potential within the world of work.

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Remtek Systems Limited As you will expect from a company that is still around after more than 30 years, we have adapted to reflect changes in both technology and our customer base.

It has been standard practice to tailor our procedures to suit our customer’s individual requirements. This versatility has clear benefits for the client and has also meant that our procedures and technology have always been up-to-date. In fact, they are constantly under revision.

This grounding has enabled us to seamlessly assimilate to the requirements of, for example, disabled computer users, whether in the work place or in education.

We believe that we have been successful not least because we enjoy dealing with individual requirements and welcome any challenge that may present. Our staff are imbued with that enthusiasm. This is a particularly important element when we are required to conduct on-to-one training sessions.

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Remtek HQ

For many years now we have been supplying computers together with a large and varied range of associated equipment providing sales, technical support, repairs and assistive technology training. We provide a one stop solution across a range of products and services through to training and on-going support via information and advice as well as guidance within the workplace.

Our clients usually expect us to provide a complete package of assistive technology together with training and ergonomic desk based accessories. That approach has decided benefits for both the company and the individual staff members.

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Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Michael Culkin By Wendy RobertsAn ExYou may not know his name, but you’ll certainly know his face.

Michael Culkin’s career has spanned several decades. A veteran British actor of stage and screen, he’s worked alongside such legends as Dame Judi Dench, Kenneth Brannagh and Meryl Streep. But the path to success has taken some interesting turns and Michael has had to face his demons along the way.

“It may not seem like it from the outside, but acting is a challenging occupation. You regularly face rejection and extended periods of worklessness, and you constantly have to pick yourself up and start again.”

A string of film and TV roles followed including The Fifth Element with Bruce Willis, Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray with Ben Barnes, The Iron Lady with Meryl Streep, Garrow’s Law and Downton Abbey.

Over the years Michael has amassed an impressive body of work but one of his most poignant roles was Journey’s End by RC Sheriff. The play is a powerful interpretation of life in the trenches set over four days towards the end of the First World War. “It was only a play but it had quite an impact on me.

The characters would be talking about the mundanaties of life, like making the tea while simultaneously waiting to go over the top. You get to know the characters really well and you care for them.”

So how did someone who describes themselves as a ‘curious-looking fellow’ succeed in such a competitive and image-obsessed industry? “Self-belief and self-reliance.”

This, coupled with an enviable ability to make the most of every opportunity, has helped Michael overcome bouts of mild depression, bounce back from rejection, and carve out a career in a notoriously fickle business.

Best known as Judge Buller in the BBC’s Garrow’s Law, Michael moved to the UK from Canada, initially working as assistant stage manager, then training at Bristol’s Old Vic before spending three years on tour with a theatre group. When the tour ended Michael turned his talents to the Avon County Council Youth Service, forming a dynamic theatre group for young people.

Through the group Michael met singer songwriter Peter Gabriel and just as Electro Pop and new wave was about to take the world by storm, Peter asked for Michael’s advice on an exciting new business venture involving synthesisers.

“I was able to use the imagination and flair of being an actor, and the experience of managing a theatre group, to run a very lucrative business importing and selling the technology to musicians. Basically, I was acting out the part of a business man!”

When he finally left the company Michael moved to California, and in 1992 British fantasy and horror supremo, Clive Barker, cast him in American horror Candyman and its sequel Candyman2: Farewell to the Flesh.

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Michael in his role as Judge Buller in ‘Garrow’s Law’.

Michael has huge sympathy for people who dedicate their lives to the service of their country. His grandfather, who died when Michael was young, was in the Irish and British Army and lost an arm in the Second World War. “I’ve never spoken to a member of the Armed Forces who didn’t astound me with their life stories. They’ve had experiences – both awful and wonderful - that most of us will never have.”

Michael’s own life might be a world away from the Forces but, he believes, the lessons are similar. “What I’ve learnt about overcoming depression is that life doesn’t give you all the hard stuff to deal with and leave you on your own to cope. It gives you the tools and experience to succeed and military people have that in abundance. I’ve always believed that whatever you do in life, you make what you have shine and you do it for yourself.”

Michael is currently filming for the second series of British-American drama Da Vinci’s Demons for the US TV Channel, Starz, and is looking forward to working on the independent film, Chicken.

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Courage and strength is not the absence of fear - it’s refusing to assume the role of a victim.

- Anne Wafula Strike

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Osmond Ergonomics

hands-on product experience supported by discussions about applications and design rationale.

Osmond Group Limited was formed 50 years ago, in 1962. Guy Osmond has been Managing Director for over thirty years and became involved in workplace ergonomics by accident. After an incidence of a recurring back problem, he was referred to a rheumatologist who had invented a “desktop desk”.

This was a sloping workstation that evolved into the TOGL Organiser, Osmond’s first product (manufactured under licence to the NHS Trust where it was invented).

This was launched in 1992, just before the “new” Display Screen Equipment regulations came into place.

The unique Wow Factor review process ensures that any new product has to be thoroughly tested and approved by a committee of Sales and Customer Service personnel before it can be added to the portfolio. Guy Osmond regularly attends conferences and exhibitions throughout Europe and the U.S. to find quality products for consideration and, with www.ergonomics.co.uk as its catalogue web site, there is a steady flow of enquiries directly from manufacturers and inventors.

Since that time, Osmond Ergonomics has established itself as the UK’s most knowledgeable supplier of innovative products and services to improve workplace wellbeing and productivity. To sustain this position, its approach to personnel training is unique in the industry with lots of

To ensure consistent service delivery, all Osmond field personnel complete a two-day Advanced DSE Assessor course as part of their training and development. As a result, installers have a full understanding of the process that led to the product selection they set up.

This is especially beneficial to Access to Work clients who may not know (or remember!) what equipment to expect.

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Ergochair - A Family’s Passion for Good Ergonomics true “back to the drawing board” approach for new …Did you know that up to 60% of people are sitting in an office chair that doesn’t fit them?

and unusual projects.

Ergochair Ltd was set up in 2004 specifically to address the need for genuine, practical solutions in office seating to help with issues ranging from mild, postural support related aches and pains to more complex disabilities.

Their ethos is that “People aren’t made to standard specifications, so why should office chairs be?”

Ergochair’s highly successful adapt® range acknowledges the fact we all have different needs when it comes to seating. The adapt® range caters for every size and shape of person and covers 100% of the anthropometric scale for the UK working population. adapt® chairs are widely specified throughout the Occupational Health and vocational rehabilitation communities and have gained huge recognition in both the UK and Europe.

Rather than assessors having to decipher endless pages of catalogue data to find a chair model that fits, Ergochair’s tried and tested formula, easiSpec™ enables you to start with the individual and build a chair around them, cutting the basic chair to the correct size and shape before adding in additional support in key areas, specifically where the person needs it most.

Ergochair Ltd is a family owned and run business, based in Bristol, with a strong focus on helping the individual coupled with excellent turnaround times, typically seven to ten days,even for the trickier cases; this methodology underpins everything that they do and is enhanced by a 12

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“The easiSpec™ system for adapt® guides assessors through the process from taking body measurements to producing the perfect chair ‘prescription’ for us to make.”

For more information, to arrange a visit or to order your easiSpec™ pack, call Ergochair on: 01454 329210 or email: sales@ergochair.co.uk

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The world worries about disability more than disabled people do.

- Warwick Davis

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From Assess to Success With 11.5% of the UK workforce disabled, every employer will face the challenge of inclusion from time to time.

RBLI is one of the country’s most successful Level 3 Assessment providers. We can be part of your success story too. We address straightforward issues as well as complex needs. With bespoke interventions and clear guidance, we’ve got you covered.

RBLI Fully Holistic Assessment A single disability workplace assessment to support ergonomic, physical or sensory needs or those arising from a specific learning difficulty which includes: • A customer’s relevant medical history.

• Identify a customer’s work-related needs as a result of health condition or disability.

• Recommended solutions to overcome those needs.

• Where required, full technical specifications for equipment or services.

• Three price quotations to help employers assess best value from the recommendations.

• Full supplier details.

• Identified H&S issues at work.

• Forward planning for the customer and the employer.

• Information advice and guidance follow-up. Providing support after the assessment.

RBLI Complex Assessment A multi disability workplace assessment to support ergonomic, physical and sensory needs or those arising from a specific learning difficulty which includes: • A customer’s relevant medical history.

• Identify a customer’s work-related needs as a result of health condition or disability.

• Recommended solutions to overcome those needs.

• Where required, full technical specifications for equipment or services.

• Three price quotations to help employers assess best value from the recommendations.

• Full supplier details.

• Identified H&S issues at work.

• Forward planning for the customer and the employer.

• Information advice and guidance follow-up, providing support after the assessment.

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Call us now on 0843 308 1383 or email info@rbli-ess.com

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www.rbli-ess.com

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If we did all the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.

- Thomas Edison

13

What a Pain!

(continued from page 4)

However pain services can make a substantial difference. So what are the pain clinics doing?

These clinics concentrate on cognitive behavioural therapy. They encourage a different focus for the patient, one that concentrates on acceptance and psychological flexibility.

Education The evidence suggests that a patient who understands their condition, and accepts its limitations, has a decreased pain experience.

There are many help groups around the country for various conditions, and those in pain should be encouraged to find out more about their own condition.

Occupation It's worth looking at the job that the person in pain does every day. Is it fulfilling them? Is it rewarding? Do they feel in control? Can you encourage them to learn something new, within their grasp? Again the evidence suggests that this could decrease the pain levels.

As Access to Work assessors, we have the privilege of being able to talk to customers about their chronic pain. As well as talking to them about some of the strategies explained above, you can point them in the direction of some really helpful websites (see below).

Many of our customers have already been to pain clinics. So what more can we do to help? Well the evidence suggests that we can give some simple strategies to help them live with chronic pain.

Here are some ideas: Exercise Anybody with chronic pain is probably not going to respond very positively when you mention the E word!

Exercise is about movement, but it's also about enjoyment. That's why you need to explore what activity the customer enjoys. It's a strategy that delivers on distraction, movement and minimising the chances of depression.

BOOKING AN ASSESSMENT

Whatever we do, we need to forget the old pain theories and embrace the new. Pain is a very real and individual experience that can ruin people's lives. As assessors, we need to be aware of this new research and we need to deliver sound common-sense advice.

Helpful websites: Action On Pain – http://www.action-on-pain.co.uk/ British Pain Society – http://www.britishpainsociety.org/ Pain Concern – http://painconcern.org.uk/ Pain Relief Foundation – http://www.painrelieffoundation.org.uk/ American Chronic Pain Association – http://www.theacpa.org/

By Julianne Adams

If you feel that the type of work that you do is affected by a disability or health condition that is likely to last for 12 months or more, contact your regional Access to Work contact centre to check whether you can get help.

South & South East - 020 8426 3110 South West & Midlands - 02920 423 291 14

Alternatively, ask the Disability Employment Adviser (DEA) at your local Job Centre about Access to Work.

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We need to forget what we think we are, so that we can really become what we are.

- Paulo Coelho

Ask the RBLI Team

As part of our ongoing support for the companies that we work with, we will often provide general information advice and guidance. This is just a small cross-section of some of the questions that have come up over the last few weeks for your information...

Question. What is the difference between a DSE assessment and a level 3 assessment completed by your team?

James, employer from South London.

Answer. An independent level 3 assessment is an in-depth review of individuals work-related needs, probably, but not always, as a result of either a health condition or disability.

The assessment itself can take between one and three hours depending on the customer's needs and is very specific in its recommendations and support. A DSE assessment is a legal requirement for all employers to complete on their employees and provides an overview of any difficulties that an individual may be experiencing in the workplace. It is not disability related although it can sometimes highlight disability issues.

- Eimear Smyth, Holistic Assessor, RBLI.

If you have any specific questions for the Assessment Delivery Team please feel free to write to us at assessment@rbli.co.uk. We will be happy to respond and you never know - your question may even get published!

Question. When having my holistic assessment with RBLI, would it be possible for me to have my line manager present so that they can understand all of my work-related needs because of my disability and also support the recommendations that will come up during the assessment?

Maisie, Independent assessment customer, London.

Answer. Absolutely. As part of our holistic delivery we want to provide the best possible service and we would always encourage the employer to the present that certain parts of the assessment especially if the employee feels that it is relevant for them to be there too. It would be beneficial when booking the appointment to make sure that both you and your line manager are free within the next 10 working days.

- Laura Prentice, Coordinator-team leader, RBLI

Question. I was recently recommended a headset and switchbox so that I could use both the telephone and Dragon NaturallySpeaking in my office.

When this was installed the person said that the company that produced this headset was involved in the Apollo space missions. Were they joking?

Name and address witheld

Tracy Johnson, a holistic assessor, is always happy to help.

Answer. Strange though it may seem, they weren't joking, the company is called Plantronics and they are still going strong today. The words spoken by U.S astronaut Neil Armstrong as he stepped on the moon were transmitted through a Plantronics MS-50 headset.

That said, RBLI will always maintain its independence so I have to let you know that other headset manufacturers are also available!

- Tracey Johnson, Holistic Assessor, RBLI.

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Annette Evens, holistic assessor

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Question. During an Access to Work assessment, what would happen if one of your assessors came across a situation where they were unsure of what to recommend for a particular employees situation in work?

A DWP Colleague

Answer. This is a situation that all the assessors will face at some point in their careers! At RBLI, we feel that we not only have the skills and expertise within the team to be able to tackle the most difficult of cases but we also have a group of specialist partners who we can call on for assistance too. I am proud to say that we partner alongside Abilitywise, Action Deafness, Action for Blind People, Asset and the British Dyslexia Association and if we can't find the solution between us then it possibly doesn't exist.

- Edward Tidbury, Programme Manager, RBLI.

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That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

- Neil Armstrong

15

ARE YOU WORKING COMFORTABLY? TIPS FOR MAINTAINING HEALTHY POSTURE IN THE WORKPLACE

Want a FREE copy?

Inform your organisation of the importance of seating in the workplace.

Order now by calling 01622 795900 or by

Do you know someone who is unemployed?

If they have ever served in the Armed Forces, no matter how long ago, they can come along to our FREE charity grant funded career advice and employability training course.

Please contact us on 0800 319 6844 or email lifeworks@rbli.co.uk to find out more.

Passionate About Print

This newsletter was printed by our co-workers at RBLI Print & Mail, where we employ ex-Armed Forces and disabled people who do a fabulous job for us.

They can do the same for you - please contact Mike Tuohy at 01372 389940 or email mike.tuohy@rbli.co.uk to find out more.

@rbli

Tel: 01622 795900 http://www.rbli.co.uk/employment_solutions/accesstowork/ Email: assessment@rbli.co.uk

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