3 minute read
Chief Executive’s comment
Steve Sadley, Chief Executive
OUR MISSION
To give the best possible service and support to assist ARCA members and customers in providing safe, effective and ethical management of asbestos, thereby safeguarding the public.
OUR VISION
We envision being an essential strategic partner, through membership of ARCA and ATaC, to all companies providing asbestos management and licensed asbestos removal services, or services to those companies, by providing solutions which contribute to the overall success of their businesses and provide reassurance to their clients.
OUR VALUES
Our values define the culture at ARCA. The values of integrity, service, excellence, teamwork and responsibility guide the way we work, our behaviour and our commitment to support members, customers and colleagues.
Your Association continues to develop new services to support you
As I write this Chief Executive’s comment, we are five meetings into the first face to face regional meetings since the initial lockdown in March 2020, with just the final meeting in the South East to complete. As reported previously we will also be adding a remote meeting to the end of every round of ARCA regional meetings for members who cannot make the face to face meetings for whatever reason, as well as providing another option to those regular attendees. The ARCA AGM was also held face to face at Lords Cricket Ground on the 8th of October. It was great to see everyone again in person at these events.
At the recent regional meetings members were updated with regards to events at the AGM including the make up of the Governing Council for 2021/2022 and details of the presentation given by Sam Lord of the HSE. Sam’s presentation focused on a quick who’s who in the HSE, aspects of The Analysts’ Guide (HSG 248) which licensed contractors should be aware of, and finally an update from the Asbestos Unit, including current thinking on how asbestos licence renewals will be conducted when licence holders are assessed for the second time using the remote assessment process (page 8).
Members were also informed of three big projects which were almost ready for launch, ALFA for members directly employed operatives, the Site Audit Portal and the Asbestos Management Institute (AMI).
ALFA for directly employed operatives, will allow members to schedule reviews of competency of their operatives by supervisors, or other members of the management team, and then use this information to produce an overall performance rating which will also act as a TNA. The App will also allow members to store certificate records, and copies of certificates, for each operative and the system will flag up when they are due to expire.
This system has now been launched, please reference pages 10 and 11 for further information on this new ALFA LARC Employees system.
The Site Audit Portal is nearing completion. Via this private portal members will be able to log in to view and analyse the results of their membership audits, as well as any additional site audits booked through ARCA and internal audits undertaken using the Member Internal Site Audit App. The portal will illustrate trends in performance based on Plan, Do and Check, and generate action logs to record corrective actions and allow them to be signed off when complete.
Both the ALFA system for directly employed operatives and the Site Audit Portal will be provided to members at no additional cost.
Finally, the Asbestos Removal Management Institute (ARMI) has changed its name to the Asbestos Management Institute (AMI), to better reflect the differing roles within the industry that will be represented by the Institute going forward, such as individual asbestos surveyors, analysts, and trainers, as well as those involved in asbestos removal work. We have work still to do before we can make AMI available, so we will keep you informed of progress.
I am also pleased to report that following the announcement at the AGM that the apprenticeship scheme for analysts and surveyors may yet come to fruition, I have heard (today while I was writing this piece) that following the discussions we have had with an existing provider of apprenticeships, that they have agreed to partner with us to deliver the asbestos apprenticeship programme. A project to finalise in the new year.
With the new products and services that are nearing completion, as well as others in the pipeline and other initiatives yet to be announced, all of us at ARCA are looking forward to an exciting and revolutionary 2022 for the Association.
I would like to wish all readers a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous and peaceful New Year.
