Unit_36_Contributing_to_a_Safe_Working_Environment

Task 2 A description of the organisation I work for I work at Abbeydale Grange School, which is a mixed comprehensive secondary school, set in a beautiful green site off Abbeydale Road, just a short bus journey from Sheffield city centre. The school serves the local community as well as the wider multi-racial city community, with over 40 different languages spoken by pupils. The school has adopted Media Arts Status, meaning we provided excellent provision and are a beacon school in subject areas such as; Drama, Art, Music and Creative Media. Originally the school was named Abbeydale Grammar School for Boys, but became a comprehensive in 1969. In 2007, the school attempted to underpin its future by opting out of local authority control and taking independent foundation status. However, in recent years the local authority did not use its legal powers to intervene despite there being clear evidence that all was not well within the school. The school became a National Challenge school, meaning its GCSE results of 5 A* - C, including English and Maths were below the National level of 30%. The fact that the school has approximately 60/70 % of pupils with EAL needs (English not being their first language), wasn’t taken into consideration. It was in 2009, after an unsatisfactory Ofsted report that the LEA, inevitably decided to close the school. Although, the Ofsted report indicated that the problems within the school were down to the management and not the teaching staff. After a campaign by parents, teachers and ex-pupils, the council committee decided not to follow the LEA to consult on closure but to try and secure a Hard Federation partner (joining with another secondary school and sharing the same Head and governing body). There is great dispute over the nature and conduct of the consultation process that was recently conducted. Many parents live away from the local area and neither speak nor read English, which inevitable meant that some consultation events were poorly attended. It wasn’t through lack of interest but more to do with poor communication. The effort put into securing a Hard Federation was widely considered inadequate as very little time or ‘weight’ was given to the attempt – totalling three weeks work, which was completely unreasonable and unrealistic The Governors have unanimously voted to appeal the December 9th 2009 decision of the Council Cabinet to proceed with the closure of the school and the final decision now lies with the schools adjudicator. The fact that the decision to close was taken by a whip vote rather than a free vote, indicates the fragility of the case for closure. A meeting with the schools adjudicator is planned for 27th April 2010, to which the schools governors have written a lengthy objection to the Councils statutory notice to close. The school has put all plans in place to deal with the closure, including planning for redundancies and managing staff levels for next year (as only Year 11 GCSE pupils will remain in school), but there is still a glimmer of hope that the adjudicator agrees with the governors objection and decide to keep Abbeydale Grange School open. MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 1. SUPPORT FOR DEPARTMENTS 1. Ensure that the Technology, Art and Science Departments are a safe environment for staff, students and others. 2. Ensure a preventative maintenance programme is adhered to, so helping to maintain safe working practices and conditions. 3. Take responsibility for updating own knowledge of relevant health and safety requirements and communicate these verbally and in writing to staff and students in the department. 4. Plan essential and desirable premises improvements to the work area and submit to Business Manager. 5. Prepare specifications for contractors quoting for e.g. electrical and premises improvements in the Technology area, liaising with Site Manager and Business Manager. 6. Take responsibility for the maintenance of all equipment. 7. Keep the inventory up to date. 8. Prepare the materials and equipment necessary to deliver curriculum requirements in each lesson. 9. Manage stock levels and ensure ordering is timely. 10. Order all necessary equipment ensuring Best Value principles are adhered to, sourcing new suppliers where necessary. 11. Prepare paper and ICT resources including photocopying as required. 12. Maintain files and records 13. Carry out minor repairs, maintenance and modifications to equipment, making arrangements for major repairs to be carried out as necessary. 2. SUPPORT FOR THE CURRICULUM 1. Set up equipment in rooms for demonstration purposes as required. 2. Adapt to the changing demands of the school curriculum. 3. Prepare standard materials and equipment, chemical solutions and other learning resources, and advise on the operation and technique to support various activities in the Science Department. 4. Assist with the planning of learning activities. 5. Support students in Science, Technology and Art lessons as appropriate. 6. Deliver planned coaching sessions with individual gifted and talented students and small groups. 7. Assist students with planning and completion of coursework. 8. Undertake structured and agreed learning activities and develop pupils’ competence and independence in its use. 9. Support the use of ICT in learning activities and develop pupils’ competence and independence in its use. 10. Prepare work to be delivered by supply teachers/ cover supervisors in case of staff absence and provide class lists and other relevant information 3. SUPPORT FOR THE SCHOOL 1. Use professional skills to support all subject areas and extended school activities e.g. set-building for drama. 2. Be aware of and comply with policies and procedures relating to safeguarding, child protection, confidentiality and data protection, reporting all concerns to an appropriate person. 3. Be aware of and support difference and ensure all pupils have equal access to opportunities to learn and develop. 4. Contribute to the overall ethos, work and aims of the school. 5. Appreciate and support the role of other professionals. 6. Attend and participate in relevant meetings as required. 7. Participate in training and other learning activities and performance development as required. 8. Any other related duties as may arise. Task 3 Task 4 What is a virus' A virus is a computer program that executes when an infected program is executed. Therefore only executable files can be infected. On MS-DOS systems, these files usually have the extensions .EXE, .COM, .BAT or .SYS. Another class of files called overlay files can also be infected. These files often have the extension .OVL, although other extensions such as .OV1 are sometimes used. By definition, a virus infects other programs with copies of itself. It has the ability to reproduce itself, so that it can multiply, constantly seeking new host environments. The most harmless viruses do only that, simply replicating and spreading to new systems. Or the virus may damage other programs and/or alter data, perhaps even self-destructing when done. The only evidence viruses like this leave is the destruction they have inflicted on the infected system. This makes it very difficult to develop defences against the virus. Viruses are sometimes confused with computer worms and Trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread itself automatically to other computers through networks, while a Trojan is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions. They are like viruses in one respect as are they both capable of harming a computer system’s data or performance. Some viruses have symptoms noticeable to the computer user, but many are sneaky and go unnoticed, which is where the problems begin. How can viruses be introduced into the computer system' Virus programs, like the infectious microorganisms that are their namesakes, are often small. Only a few lines of program code are required to write a simple virus. The implication is clear: viruses can be easily hidden in healthy software and therefore prove very difficult to find. Viruses can infect any computer, from a single laptop to a companies or schools entire computer network. Anyone who owns a personal computer can create a virus program. This means virus development tools are widely available. Once written, a virus can be transmitted over telephone lines, via email or distributed on infected floppy disks, CDs, DVDs or portable USB drives to other systems, where it can reproduce in microseconds to damage the biggest systems thousands of miles away. These two facts make it virtually impossible to trace any virus back to the person who originally wrote it. What can the computer operator do to avoid virus infection, other than install appropriate software' Things a computer operator can do to avoid virus infection are: 1. Never open a file attachment sent to you from an unknown source. In most cases, the safest thing to do is delete them as soon as you see them in your mailbox. 2. Understand that patches and updates for programs are rarely distributed by email. (Microsoft and other reputable companies use other means, which are more secure.) 3. Never open a file unless you know what it is. If you've received it from someone you know, ask him or her about it. (They may have a virus infection that is mailing out copies of itself without their knowledge.) 4. Files containing virus content are always sent disguised in some way. For example, the message may say a screensaver, bill or invoice is attached. 5. Users of Outlook and Outlook Express should disable the Preview Pane. A recent virus was thought (but not proven) to infect simply by being displayed in Outlook Express. It is be safer to avoid any risk! 6. Always use Windows Update to ensure that the latest security patches from Microsoft are installed on your system. If you don't do that, then make regular visits to Microsoft's web site to check for update patch availability. (Go to www.microsoft.com and select Windows Update from the left side menu.) 7. Install Antivirus software and keep it up to date!   What virus software is in use within your organisation' I work in an Inner City Secondary school with a very good ICT department and fantastic computer facilities. The school holds a vast amount of confidential data on staff and students, so it is essential that we have good virus software installed to fight any kind of threat. The school currently uses the Microsoft ForeFront Security Suite which delivers end-to-end security and access to information through an integrated line of protection, access and identity management products. Task 5 Personality Clashes Wherever people work together, some misunderstandings or disagreements will inevitably occur. In most situations, the parties involved can work out their dispute without involving others or adversely affecting workplace harmony. Sometimes, however, the manifestations of serious personality clashes disrupt teamwork, productivity and effectiveness. When this happens, supervisors cannot ignore it. Whenever actions related to interpersonal conflicts attract attention, interfere with performance or bother co-workers, it's time to intervene. Example Situation: Two colleagues at work support opposing rival football teams within the City. There is always football related banter present in the office, which more often than not is light hearted and adds to the atmosphere of the office. Unfortunately, in the run up to and following the derby games, this can become more aggressive and affect the atmosphere and productivity within the team. How to avoid/resolve: If the banter becomes too aggressive then the manager/supervisor needs to meet with both parties to explain that this kind of behaviour isn’t acceptable in the workplace. Often, a single conference involving the disputants or a simple "cease and desist" warning is sufficient to resolve the issue. At other times, however, more drastic measures may be called for. They could go on to talk about possible warnings, terminations or other sanctions which should encourage the parties involved to realise that this time the banter has gone too far and for them to settle their differences. Differences in working styles Everyone has a different working style. This can be beneficial when working together as it brings different approaches, ideas and creativity to the relationships. However, it can also create tension. The people you work best with are often those who share your working style. You communicate in similar ways, you make decisions in similar ways and you are influenced by similar things. You may find that the people who you find it more difficult to work with are those who have a different working style. You like to make decisions based on facts and figures - they seem to act on impulse. You value working collaboratively - they frequently go off and do their own thing. Example Situation: People within a team have quite different styles of thinking and planning. Some are comfortable in thinking laterally and creatively, and prefer to use innovative methods for carrying out their work. Others are more linear in their thinking and prefer to use more traditional approaches in their work. Each style of working restricts and frustrates the other. Planning and working together as a team is difficult and tense. How to avoid/resolve: The manager/supervisor should recognise this difference when planning work. Tasks and roles should be allocated to team members taking into account their individual skills and styles, ensuring that everybody has a useful and productive role and is able to contribute. All team members should be encouraged to recognise and value the different ways that people work, and to learn from this to inform their own work (they may learn something after all). If we look at these differences as assets, not as barriers, the composite enhances our abilities to achieve even more. Status Differences Research has shown that status differences among members of work teams can negatively affect their functioning and productivity. It links with motivation to work – in general, people who move up the career ladder to positions of responsibility and status are well motivated and career focused individuals. Employees who remain in the same position for a long time are seen to be less motivated and not career driven people. It is these different attitudes towards work that can lead to conflicts within the work place. Example Situation: When an internal promotion arises, tensions are created when several employees apply. The successful applicant is immediately in a difficult position, as he/she goes from somebody who their colleagues could have a laugh and joke with to someone who has superiority over them. This leads to them being on the receiving end of jealousy and resentment from colleagues and causes friction between them, affecting the atmosphere in the office. This can affect productivity as the unlucky candidates could attempt to make things difficult for the ‘new’ supervisor. How to avoid/resolve: The manager/ supervisor could offer mediation and counselling opportunities for employees which would allow them to air their grievances in a neutral environment. Senior managers could sit down with all the unlucky candidates, to explain in detail the reason behind their choice for who received the promotion, maybe offering advice on things they could work on to improve their chances for promotion in the future. This could a long way in appeasing some staff if they got something positive out of the situation. Work Demands The tensions associated with downsizing often cause emotions to run close to the surface. When workers are constantly pressured to produce more, faster and with fewer resources, anger and frustration are natural by-products. Likewise, job uncertainty produces fear, insecurity and anxiety. Whenever these ingredients exist in the workplace, the result is a combustible mixture which can blow up anytime. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that a greater number of workers have short fuses, are quick to anger and come to work ready to fight than ever before. It would be more surprising if they didn't. With today's volatile work environment, it doesn't take much to set off an argument. Example Situation: Recent funding cuts leading to several redundancies leave a shortage of staff resource to deliver the objectives of the team. The remaining employees are forced to take on extra tasks without additional pay or hours to accommodate this. People feel over worked, under valued, demoralized and ineffective in their work. How to avoid/resolve: Managers/Directors need to recognise the limitations on individual employees’ capacity when making decisions regarding redundancy and re-organise work accordingly. It should be identified where the additional capacity may lie, i.e. with full time workers or staff not currently working to full capacity. Staff should challenge decisions made about redundancies if they feel the work expected of them is unrealistic. To avoid further conflict, staff should work together to devise constructive proposals to take to management of how to carry out the necessary work. This may include a prioritising exercise and making suggestions of which tasks could b discontinued. Failing that, they should strike. ----------------------- Potential Hazards 3” Step – This is a potential trip hazard. It isn’t a full height step and so goes unnoticed, especially from people who aren’t familiar with the office. The risks from this hazard could be reduced by doing a number of things: • Painting yellow hazardous floor markings on the step to highlight that it is there • Level the floor with a self levelling resin • Cover the step with a ramp Workstations - The three work areas are too close together and the space in the room isn’t being used effectively enough. Each member of staff needs to be able to leave their workstation swiftly in case of an emergency and with the current setup, this isn’t possible. The layout of the room needs to be changed to give each member of staff more space to move freely around the office without disturbing colleagues in doing so. Wall Mounted Bookshelves – The shelves provide a potential fall hazard, in that items placed on the shelf could potentially fall onto a member of staff whilst they are working at their workstation. Workstations or shelves need to be sited away from each other to reduce the risk of people being hit by falling objects.