Protecting Our Children by Preserving the Environment - 4 Basic Issues

Most Americans believe that preserving the environment is important, whether from a perspective of self-preservation, or a broader spiritual worldview. Teaching ecological principles to your children could make a difference in their future quality of life.

But who can keep it all straight? Can't tell a greenhouse gas from a GMO? And what's all this about Kyoto? This environmental primer covers ten basic issues that parents really do need to understand in order to make healthy choices for our children and our planet.

1) Chemicals. At the same time that the industrial revolution (i.e., machines doing a lot of the work people used to do) has provided a more comfortable life, it has introduced somewhere around 70,000 new chemicals into our lives. These chemicals are accompanied by increases in diseases like asthma, cancer and ADHD (not to mention obesity). From cleaning products to finishes on wood, carpet and vinyl, we are overloaded with chemicals that can cause severe reactions in children, whose immune systems are less developed, and who absorb more pollutants per pound of body weight than adults. Most plastics are made from petroleum, combined with various chemicals. Poly vinyl chloride (PVC) is quite toxic - just take one whiff of a brand new piece of the stuff. That "new smell" of a car, building, or even a plastic toy is a warning sign that toxic 'volatile organic compounds' are filling up your lungs and those of your family. What to do: Use natural cleaning products that contain no harsh chemicals and give the added bonus of being un-huffable. When building or remodeling a home or office, ask for environmentally friendly building materials. When you shop for toys, clothing, dishware, greeting cards, etc., look for items made of cotton, glass, and other natural and recycled materials. Take your own cloth bags on all your shopping trips.

2) Petroleum. Even though oil is becoming increasingly scarce, we keep burning it like there's an endless supply. Most of the petroleum that's left in the earth is either in pristine wilderness areas or politically treacherous developing countries. The more oil we continue to use, the less there will be, and the more wars there will be fought over it. What to do: Walk more and combine trips that require driving. Turn off the lights and the TV when you leave the room and use your electric heater and air conditioner sparingly - even if you aren't worried about the money -- at least save the oil.

3) Carbon dioxide. When cars and factories burn oil, they produce carbon dioxide gas in such extreme amounts that is warming up our climate. CO2 is one of the 'greenhouse gases' so-named because they are turning our planet into a greenhouse. (In case you haven't been in a greenhouse lately, think sauna.) NASA predicts that 2005 will be the hottest year on record. Just a slightly warmer climate already has ancient glaciers melting, raising sea levels and creating severe weather like the record hurricane season of 2004. Icebergs that have for centuries helped keep the earth's tectonic plates in place are also melting. So expect more movement, i.e., earthquakes, underwater volcanoes and tsunamis. But the Kyoto Protocol, signed by 141 countries committed to lowering greenhouse gas emissions, is missing the signature of the worst polluter, the U.S. Even though there is general agreement in the scientific community across the world, the U.S. government continues to deny that greenhouse gases are indeed warming the climate. What to do: Make your next vehicle a hybrid, take public transportation, or carpool. Support organizations working to reduce global warming. People living on beaches may want to consider relocating.

4) Trees and oceans. Trees and oceans are Mother Nature's answer to carbon dioxide. They can suck in CO2 and give back oxygen. But we're cutting down 4 billion trees a year, millions to produce junk mail that nobody reads. All the oil and other refuse dumped down sewers and into waterways ends up in the oceans, compromising their ability to absorb CO2. What to do: Teach respect for the natural world and all it provides for us, and raise your children to see littering as inconceivable. Get off the mailing lists of catalogues you just throw away. Buy paper/wood products made from renewable sources like cork, bamboo, seaweed, and hemp whenever possible.

Eco Technology - Eco Friendly Products Using Clean Energy to Power the Green Evolution

Eco technology can realize the goals of the revolution to promote a green earth. The Go Green revolution tried to inspire people to save the earth, the trees, and life-sustaining ecologies. Unfortunately, modern societies are so far removed from the earth, the trees and the environment that now the term "green" conjures only faint images of people who would abandon technology and society to live caveman-like in the wild, or recyclers vainly trying to make people fall in love with old used stuff.

Go Green fails to change lifestyles because our lif

estyles are so technologically engrossed that Cell Phones and iPods and HD TVs get more reaction than anything else... except for LOWER COST, CONVENIENCE, SAVE MONEY. Big energy count on these old refrains to keep everyone rooted in modern world realities whenever "Green" threatens their little kingdoms.

The time has come for Go Green to evolve...
Enter Eco technology... the first evolutionary step to ensure that everyone will have "Gone Green" without much effort.

Eco technology (aka eco powered tech) describes the use of high energy efficiency and clean energy to power technology that promotes eco friendly lifestyles. Eco powered tech will give consumers what they want; LOWER COST, CONVENIENCE, SAVE MONEY and deliver what people everywhere need; LESS WASTE, LESS POLLUTION, GREEN ENVIRONMENT.
Here's how eco technology delivers for both sides:

LOWER COST, LESS WASTE - Unlike 5-10, years ago energy efficient devices are more prevalent and the number and availability of eco friendly alternative energy is rising. Increased prevalence will lower initial cost for consumers.

Greater energy efficiency means not only less energy use but also less waste of energy than ever before. Energy efficiency carries a further side benefit of increased longevity which translates into less material waste... another boon for the environment.

Is Yours a Positive Environment

Have you ever been to a funeral parlour and felt very happy? This question might sound morbid but you need to also ask the question whether your home and the organization that you work for has an environment that gives you the impression that it could be a funeral parlour. You know melancholic, depressing and giving you a sense that everything is meaningless.

It is a fact that your environment can influence you in many ways. This includes the way you think and act. Naturally a positive environment will make you a happier person which in turn will make you more productive and effective in what you are doing. Therefore, no matter how good you are in other aspects of your life you need to pay some attention to your physical environment to ensure that it gives you a feeling of euphoria and is charged with positive energy.

1. Tidy Your Table and Remove CluttersYou don't have to spend large sums of money to create such an environment. All it takes it a bit of tidying up and you will notice that you will see things from a different perspective. In my workshops and seminars, I have always asked my participants as to whether their work table in their office is messy.

Many of them say yes! Yet! They also add that despite the mess they know where things are and they are comfortable with this.

Although they may think that they feel comfortable, the truth is that they are far from being productive or effective in what they are doing. The reason is simply because they have to work extra hard each time to get at what they want.

To find a particular file from the pile of mess is certainly going to take longer than if the table was nicely arranged and everything is in order. By taking the initiative of clearing up the mess and removing all the unnecessary paraphernalia you will free yourself from the hassle of working harder at what you are doing.

The Importance of Your Work Environment

Many people who are building home based internet business and work from home never take the time to consider their work environment and the condition that it is in. Your work environment is very important as this is where you will either get important tasks done and meet with success or struggle to complete the essential tasks and meet with failure.

There are some things you can do to set up your work area that make it much more conducive to you being productive and will allow you to ensure you get important tasks finished. When you are able to complete key important tasks in your business, you will have more success, it’s that simple.

First and foremost, you want to ensure that your work environment is comfortable. If you are working in an environment that is not comfortable, you are less likely to spend extended periods of time in that environment completing the tasks that need to get done.

I personally enjoy my work environment and as a result of its comfort I have no problem spending hours on end in my office hammering out the work that needs to be done to grow my business. The more comfortable and the more you enjoy your environment, the more likely you will be to spend the time there working and getting everything done.

This might not seem like a big deal but trust me it is. By increasing the level of comfort and actually enjoying my surrounding, my productivity increase by leaps and bounds.

Saving The Environment

Saving the environment seems such a mommoth task. It simply leaves people immobile. Where does one begin?

Some things are easy. Don’t litter. Don’t damage. Don’t waste resources. But what exactly does this involve? What does the common person do to be saving the environment? Not everyone can research. Not everyone can make it the calling of their lives. Not everyone even knows what to do.

Yet, we have a huge number of people available, who would, if pointed out, definitely be happy to make small adjustments that together can result in massive change. The key is in identifying exact things, that are quick to do and watch out for, once people know.

If it doesn’t take too much time, doesn’t involve a great deal of effort, a large number of people will happily walk the path to feel a little more secure about the state of the world tomorrow.
I find that like any other dauntingly huge task, this one seems much more doable when we break it up into bits.

First, make a not of the words/issues that occur on the subject of saving the environment: plastic, paper, forest reserves, trees, water, energy, pollution, fuel, awareness……… We can keep adding to these as and when new words occur.

Let’s take each aspect and brainstorm on it (follow links, or subsequent articles). If you have ideas, please let me know, and I’ll add them in, so that we have a ready resource of stuff that is really easy to incorporate into our lives and has the potential to make a huge difference.

Automakers Take Different Avenues to Save Environment

The age of modernity has brought people into the complexity in life and other stupendous changes. From simple living, people are now more satisfied with high end technologies of communication, transportation and other aspects. Aimed at making one’s work faster and effectively, these technologies are never meant to ruin the habitat of mankind.

They are, as a matter of fact, built to solve problems but they are turning out to be carriers of problems. And these problems are in the forms of disputes, immorality, alienation and pollution. Among these, pollution is the one that the government as well as the constituents is primarily focusing on. This is because it affects the physical strength of the workforce that bolsters the country’s standard of living.

It is but obvious that pollution is already very prevalent in this modern age due to several machines that excrete wastes. Various types of diseases such as pulmonary track infections, bronchitis, and allergies are prevailing and continuously making the human body weak, which, in effect, lessens the physical strength of the labor force. And the most contributing pollution agents are the vehicles.

Several steps and alternatives have been thought about by the legislators and car makers to solve the problem but still there is no concrete policy or sanction on automobiles that would deter the goal of the government in solving pollution problems. Policy maker always convene to tackle certain issues but do they really make plans and implement them to help save the ecosystem?

Making the Environment Right for a Presentation

Giving a presentation to your colleagues at work needn’t be a horrific experience. All it takes is a little planning and preparation on your part to impress the boss and keep your coworkers awake while imparting the information you want to get across.

The environment of a presentation can be key to success or failure. Many a fine presentation was ruined by an uncomfortable or unsuitable environment. The make the environment as comfortable and productive as possible try to arrange the following items:

1) Room size and location.

You want to have the room fit the number of people attending your presentation. Too small a room and your listeners may have to stand, or even sit on the floor. Too large a room, and your listeners could be scattered all over the four corners of the place, making it difficult to establish eye contact, or draw in your audience. If at all possible, have a good idea how many people are attending your presentation before you book a room.

The room location should be clearly indicated in any broch

ures or advertisements for your presentation. You don’t want your audience wandering all over a building looking for your room and missing half your presentation. You also don’t want your room location to be too close to a potential distraction, like a swimming pool, or a bar.

2) Room temperature, seating, tables. You want the temperature to be cool enough to keep your listeners awake, yet warm enough so they aren’t uncomfortable. Ask your listeners before you begin if they are comfortable. Show them where the thermostat is so they can adjust it during the presentation if need be.

Seats should have good back support, and there should be enough seats for everyone. The seats should have armrests and be adjustable.

6 Tips - How to Make Your Presentations Stand Out

PowerPoint presentations have become an inseparable part of our work lives. Be it on the job or for a job, working on slides is a way of life. As a presenter, you are desperate to make an impactful presentation while the listeners are equally desperate to keep themselves awake. It isn't easy to break away from this mould of corporate culture. Here are tips that can make a difference to your presentations and make them different.

1. Alter your perception. 'YOU' are central to your presentations, not PowerPoint. Don't hide behind slides loaded with information and expect them to work for you. Slides, no matter how attractive, cannot substitute YOU to stand by them. Work on making an interesting delivery that can have an impact on everyone than expect dumb slides to do all the talking for you.

2. Smile. Do all presentations have to be serious business-like affairs?

A smile will not just help you feel comfortable but also defuse the tension for your audience. Smiling is also a sign of confidence and that you feel in control of the situation. Here, I mean a genuine smile that exudes poise and not a plastic grin pasted on your face throughout the presentation.

3. Review your current slides. How about conveying your point through a powerful picture? A picture is worth a thousand words, so give it a try. Contrary to popular belief, slides full of text are hardly helpful in stimulating the interest of your audience. PowerPoint is just a visual medium to aid your talk. So ensure that the slides work in your favour, not against.

4. Ask questions. Asking questions - rhetorical or otherwise is an effective strategy to keep the audience involved. But don't expect all the answers coming from the other side of the table. Pause to let the listeners grasp the point you have made and move on. Reserve questions for select occasions when it can be most effective.

5. Use humour. You might not be the best in making people burst into laughter with your quips. But one can always think of appropriate topical humour to get people sit up and notice. You can also use humour to draw the attention of your audience to certain issues that might be a taboo otherwise. Although, be careful with the way you convey humour lest it backfires.

6. Think innovative. Try something that can make your presentation stand out and make it interesting too. You could get the audience to play a quick game to introduce the central theme of your presentation. Use a flip chart or a drawing board to draw figures and explain your data or illustrate graphs. This is better than loading slides with graphs full of figures left to the imagination of the audience to interpret it.

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Making the Environment Right for a Presentation

Giving a presentation to your colleagues at work needn’t be a horrific experience. All it takes is a little planning and preparation on your part to impress the boss and keep your coworkers awake while imparting the information you want to get across.

The environment of a presentation can be key to success or failure. Many a fine presentation was ruined by an uncomfortable or unsuitable environment. The make the environment as comfortable and productive as possible try to arrange the following items:

1) Room size and location.

You want to have the room fit the number of people attending your presentation. Too small a room and your listeners may have to stand, or even sit on the floor. Too large a room, and your listeners could be scattered all over the four corners of the place, making it difficult to establish eye contact, or draw in your audience. If at all possible, have a good idea how many people are attending your presentation before you book a room.

The room location should be clearly indicated in any brochures or advertisements for your presentation. You don’t want your audience wandering all over a building looking for your room and missing half your presentation. You also don’t want your room location to be too close to a potential distraction, like a swimming pool, or a bar.

2) Room temperature, seating, tables. You want the temperature to be cool enough to keep your listeners awake, yet warm enough so they aren’t uncomfortable. Ask your listeners before you begin if they are comfortable. Show them where the thermostat is so they can adjust it during the presentation if need be.

Seats should have good back support, and there should be enough seats for everyone. The seats should have armrests and be adjustable.
Tables should be cle

The Challenges of Human Resource Management

Introduction

The role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with the change in competitive market environment and the realization that Human Resource Management must play a more strategic role in the success of an organization. Organizations that do not put their emphasis on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in dire consequences, as their competitors may be outplaying them in the strategic employment of their human resources.

With the increase in competition, locally or globally, organizations must become more adaptable, resilient, agile, and customer-focused to succeed. And within this change in environment, the HR professional has to evolve to become a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate, and a change mentor within the organization.

In order to succeed, HR must be a business driven function with a thorough understanding of the organization’s big picture and be able to influence key decisions and policies. In general, the focus of today’s HR Manager is on strategic personnel retention and talents development.

HR professionals will be coaches, counselors, mentors, and succession planners to help motivate organization’s members and their loyalty. The HR manager will also promote and fight for values, ethics, beliefs, and spirituality within their organizations, especially in the management of workplace diversity.

Environmental Issues For Real - Biodiversity Loss

Australia is big, very big. It has a land area of 7.7 million square kilometers that makes it the 6th largest country in the world by area. Big enough to be called a continent it has twice the land area of India and fourteen times more than France.

Australia is also isolated - a massive island with oceans on three sides. Since it broke away from the supercontinent of Pangea it has been separate from any other landmass for 45 million years.
Because of this abundance of space and the unfathomable length of time the land has been floating on its continental plate, multitudes of unique species of land animals and plants have evolved; uninterrupted by mixing from other places.

Consequently Australia is what scientists call mega-biodiverse - it has many species that are endemic (native and restricted) to this one place. Only a handful of other places on earth have such high numbers of endemic species.

Old landscapes also tend to have heavily weathered soils, a consequence of thousands of wet/dry and cold/warm cycles eking out from the parent material the mineral nutrients so essential for plants. Weathered soils are nutrient poor, usually low in organic material, and often have weak structure; in short they are easily disturbed. So when new disturbances arrive first in the form of frequent fire and predation (roughly 80,000 years ago) and then mechanized habitat alteration (at some time after 1788), the soils and the vegetation they support have limited capacity to retain the character and properties shaped by the processes of evolution.

Many endemic species were squeezed by the change in the land to make way for people, cattle and sheep. There are currently around 21 million people in Australia. This is only a fraction of the world's population, however, along with the people come 9 million cattle, 86 million sheep (down from 120 million in 1997) and 97 million chickens.

These domestic animals use up a lot of space. Clearing of habitat for agriculture and development changed the vegetation and the soils; disturbances that were big blows to the unique flora and fauna.

Water From Air - More Precious Than Oil!

Globally we have awakened to the serious problems facing the world's dwindling fresh water supplies. Irena Salina's recent award winning film "Flow" addresses some eye-opening issues regarding our most precious resource.

From the highly questionable quality of the water we get from our taps, to the sometimes almost unregulated content of bottled water, the film seriously challenges our predispositions toward government safety and oversight of our water supplies.

But an even more frightening truth is that the world is facing perhaps its biggest challenge to mankind in the 21st century. The tremendous amount of fresh water used for agriculture, industry, and the day-to-day lives of 6.5 billion people has created drinking water shortages in many places and the problem is getting worse everyday in more areas worldwide.

Our available fresh water supplies are being polluted and contaminated at an alarming rate as mankind's activities continue to dump chemicals, pesticides, metals, sewage, pharmaceutical drugs, and a host of other pollutants and filth into our lakes, rivers, streams, and oceans. Over eighty percent of hospital beds filled worldwide is a result of a water-borne illness, poor hygiene, or poor sanitation as a direct consequence of little or no access to safe drinking water.

Climatic changes and altered global weather patterns is also playing a major role in disrupting our supply of fresh water. The predictions indicate that it will have a serious impact on vegetation, agriculture, forestry, and ecosystems worldwide causing further problems and disruptions for all mankind in the next decade. Read the Global Security Brief #3: Climate change poses a greater Security Threat Than Terrorism..... Listed at the World Watch Institute @ worldwatch dot org.

Waste Disposal Method - 5 Ways to Prevent Contamination

Human waste disposal is of great concern in sub urban and rural areas. This article outlines the basic precautions to be followed when disposing human and other household waste.

Excreta Disposal Without Water Carriage

Excreta disposal is more frequently a problem of the rural areas or small towns having no amenities of a water carriage system. It is important that the human excreta should be removed or disposed of hygienically and in an efficient manner. Any waste disposal method employed should generally aim at achieving the following objectives:
(i) All excreta should be removed to an isolated area for the proper disposal of waste.

(ii) The excreta should not be accessible to flies, insects or other animals.

(iii) It should not contaminate any surface or ground water supply.

(iv) There should be freedom from odors and unsightly conditions.

(v) The waste disposal method used should be simple and economical both in construction and operation and further should ensure privacy and convenience.

Why Green Initiatives Are Good For Business

Progressive manufacturers have embraced green practices to satisfy customers and to comply with legal regulations. Many of these organisations have found that these practices are not only good housekeeping but are good for business too. These companies have developed effective internal processes that promote environmental management.

It is thought that there is more environmental legislation just around the corner and to keep ahead of the game, manufacturers have started to implement reporting systems and business processes that will exceed these future mandates.

The green revolution is on its way and the major challenge is the earth's limited resources and changing customer needs, so we are continually looking for ways to recycle, re-use and limit our excess waste in order to reduce our costs. In addition, the population is growing at an alarming rate, thus, our demand on these limited resources and manufactured goods is increasing all the time. This presents opportunities for manufacturers to develop products and services that address this problem and minimise the effect on the planet and their bottom line.

Manufacturers who are embarking on a green project need to think in terms of business processes - not just their inputs and outputs. For example, it may not be a question of whether an approval can be converted from paper to electronic but a question of whether the approval is necessary.

The most substantial benefit comes from streamlining processes more than just minimising your excess waste and constant drain on the environment. Keeping focused on this goal reduces the environmental impact and material usage as well as wasted time, energy and human capital.

Being Green - Three Immediate Steps to Do

Suppose that the majority of people are used to recycling part of their garbage - at least paper, glass and metal, then we can say that most of the remaining household litter is comprised of groceries. The majority of the groceries that we throw away is in most cases in flawless condition and in some cases even in the original wrapper or box.

The shocking fact is that between 20 and 30% of all groceries bought by Canadian households is wasted later. Adding shops and restaurants' garbage, that's 7 to 14 billion tonnes of groceries per year. That is worth $3 to 5 billion Canadian dollars every year.

Now you are probably surprised by these figures, aren't you? And now think of all the charity societies aimed at fighting hunger, and on the other side so much food being dumped right at our homes and neighborhoods. Now you might decide "OK, so I will take our leftovers, pack it and send it somewhere else where people are hungry." But hold your horses, that is not the best thing to do, we have some more useful advice for you.

1. Try to utilize the residue food when preparing your next meal. If you cooked too much rice for dinner yesterday, you might want to put it in stuffed peppers filling today.

2. A good way of preventing groceries going past the expiry date is arranging your food cabinet by this criteria: older food, that is going to expire soon, is stored in the front, while the longer lasting products can stay in the back of the shelves.

3. If you realize you will not eat food that's just about to expire and would consequently throw it out, just bring it to your local charity or soup kitchen or similar place while the food is still in good condition. If you cannot use up all the groceries you have bought, there are enough people even in your region who will be happy to consume it - hunger is not limited to Africa.

4. Do not waste leftovers - mulch it. Maybe you will argue that you don't own a

garden, but your neighbor might own one and may be able to help you to get rid of your leftovers.

Varying Approaches to Environmental Management

The term EMS or Environmental Management System, is used very loosely and many of these approaches do not include a system. All EMS programs start with some form of environmental audit and this is an essential first step but knowing what is wrong and doing something about it are two different things.

There is no reason why, given appropriate tools and guidance, businesses should not initially audit their environmental impacts themselves. They know more about their business than anyone else but they do need to open their eyes to practices they had never realised pose an environmental risk.

They need to work through a very systematic approach and do this with their eyes open. Once they have an audit in place and understand the issues, an audit alone is not effective – it only identifies problems.

The next step is to develop an environmental management plan (EMP), which hopefully has been based on analysing risks identified by the audit findings. An environmental management plan still does not necessarily lead to good environmental management because there is no feedback loop. It is so easy to leave things until tomorrow, which never comes. There is an internationally recognised approach to Risk Analysis described in AS/NZS 4360: 2004 and this is the proper approach to follow.

Some people grab a “risk” out of the air and decide that it is a low risk activity and the other end of this spectrum is demonstrated by some scientists deciding that determining environmental risk for an industry is a wonderful opportunity to apply for research funding.

The middle approach, based on a realistic assessment of both likelihood and consequence within individual businesses is the approach that is internationally recognised. The difficulty with an industry wide approach is that the actual likelihood and consequence differ widely between businesses even within the same industry

About Restaurant Sanitation

Restaurants have a natural challenge that just comes with the territory: cleanliness and food safety. It seems not a day goes by without another horror story in the news about contaminated food products. Restaurants get routinely shut down by the Health Department.

Even if things don't get that bad for your business, all it takes is for a delivery person to see a puddle of muck on the floor in your kitchen for a bad word-of-mouth campaign to start circulating about your establishment. The media reports cases of food poisoning on a daily basis in spite of the fact that the fast food business is flourishing.

It seems fast food has become the American way and the public will go blindly forth ordering with the expectation that the food has been prepared in sanitary conditions. From bug problems to breeding bacteria, fast food restaurants especially have countless issues behind their counters. The rules are put into place and enforced by management, inspectors, the Food and Drug Administration, and so forth, are there as the minimum defense, and just the beginning. If you are the manager, awareness on your part isn't enough; you have to be vigilant in ensuring that every employee knows and follows the rules to the letter.

One of the most common causes of food poisoning is bacteria transfer, which is due to food not being properly cooked or kept at the proper temperature. With such a demand for fast food, it is often all too easy for the employees to compromise their duties for the sake of saving time, and before they know it, they've served a meal that carries a nasty risk of food poisoning. The rules should be followed every time, not some of the time, as is unfortunately sometimes the case.

It is up to the management to see that the employees are properly doing their job, and, of course, effective management makes all of the difference in this endeavor. Close supervision is a necessity to help ensure that the work is being performed properly. Employees must care about their job and in return feel valued so that they will be more willing to perform their responsibilities correctly. Too often, factors like low pay, long hours, and little recognition makes employees more likely to burn out and do less than what is expected of them. Also, improper training of staff leads to improper fulfillment of job duties.

Unclean areas like counters or tables where food has been prepared can also spread bacteria and cause food poisoning. That is why it is important for employees to clean up after themselves and make sure that their work space is kept fastidiously clean. Also, food containers that haven't been properly washed and stock that hasn't been properly rotated are havens for bacteria.
Employees who don't wash their hands before returning to their work station can unknowingly spread bacteria and other diseases.

That is why it is of the utmost importance that employees wash their hands and also why every fast food restaurant should have at least one sink designated for hand washing only, with properly posted instructions, and including the necessary soap, paper towels. Wearing gloves when in contact with food helps as added protection, but even gloves can touch unclean surfaces just like hands can, so they need to be changed after coming into contact with unsanitary surfaces and items.

Cleanliness of the Workplace

The cleanliness of your employees' workplace speaks volumes about your firm and how you will be portrayed to your clients. There are many firms that choose to have their employees perform the day-to-day office cleaning tasks.

Eventually the employees will get too busy to carry out these small tasks and the cleaning will become a neglected priority. Eventually it will not be done at all. Then, there are other employers that do not find it important to have a clean environment at all.

There is more to janitorial cleaning services than hitting the floor with a mop or simply vacuuming the reception area and dusting around the cubicles. Environmental concerns regarding harmful chemicals and workplace safety have taken commercial cleaning services to a completely new level of cleanliness. By utilizing the most advanced eco-friendly green certified cleaning system and cleaning supplies, you will reduce your employee absenteeism due to air-borne illnesses in the office and poor air quality.

You will keep your property value and extend the life of your assets by properly cleaning your facilities. In addition, your employees' morale will rise because you are showing them that you care about their environment. This will result in increased worker productivity.

You want to find a quality office cleaning company from the professionals who offer a full range of solutions, which are based on your company's individual needs. Firms that will handle all your janitorial needs from post construction cleanup to buffing, waxing, and stripping the floors, carpet and rug cleaning and protection, to porter and matron services.

On Hire Ground

Over the past few months, you've read about numerous ways to train and incentivize your staff to provide better service and build sales. We've discussed how incentives can be used to get the right people to do more, but are ineffective getting the wrong people to do the right thing. So, how important are the right people?

Apologies to all the trainers out there (me included), but hiring is the most important activity you do as a manager. The better the new hire, the greater the chance of success in your restaurant. The companies that score well in the eyes of the consumer—Chick-fil-A, Sonic, Cici's Pizza, Taco Bell, and others—seem to be quite selective in their hiring practices and creating an environment where performance is rewarded. As a guest, I certainly notice the difference in service levels at their restaurants.

At Cici's Pizza, the employees greet you from behind the register or salad bar as soon as you enter the door and ask if there's anything special they can make for you as you move down the buffet. They own the pizza buffet business in my area. Moral of the story: You can't train friendly—you have to hire it and the managers have to model it.

Think of a bad hire as polishing a piece of junk. It doesn't matter how great your training program is or how well you run your restaurant. When you are all done polishing, what do you have left? That's right, a shiny piece of junk.

You'll simply end up with a cashier/phone person whose idea of a greeting is "For here or to go?"or of suggestive selling is "Anything else?"

If you think I'm making this stuff up, Batrus Hollweg recently completed a detailed employee survey and discovered employees fall into 3 categories: 25 percent are in the Green Zone (never steal, break rules, etc), 50 percent are in the Yellow Zone (do what­ever management allows), and 25 percent are in Red Zone (break all the rules). By raising your hiring standards, you can eliminate the bottom 25 percent, and your sales and service levels will increase dramatically—it's known as "averaging up."

Once you raise the talent level of the new hires, you need to eliminate those currently working for you who are in the red zone. Otherwise, like weeds, they'll take over and the new hires will be managed down to their level.

As much as we want to believe people will do the right thing, people are dramatically influenced by their peers. As a manager, you need to create the environment to reward excellence and improvement so it gets repeated. It's not fair to those who perform (and cover for problems caused by others) to have to work with those who can't or don't want to be there and contribute.

Safety Management in Projects

Why Safety Management is required in projects:
There are various reasons for considering safety management as an important aspect in projects. The major ones are:

Human Factor:

Accidents result in loss of life or in disability of a human being. It results in suffering of the dependants on the injured or dead person. Hence every organization must realize the value of safety management.

Law and Regulations:

The organization has to be concerned about the penalties and consequences imposed by rules and regulations, related to safety.
Organizational Image and Reputation:
Accidents in the projects reduce the confidence level of customers and tarnish the organization's image.

Economic Factors:

Organization needs to consider the expenses associated due to lack of safety management. These expenses can be categorized in Direct and Indirect expenses.
1. Direct Expenses: (These are the actual costs incurred in occurrence of a risk) a. Expenses incurred in treatments of the injured b. Compensations to be provided to the dependants of dead or injured c. Increased insurance premiums d. Replacement costs e. Legal expenses 2. Indirect expenses: a. Slow down in work b. Decrease in morale of fellow workers c. Time lost by other workers d. Administrative expenses e. Loss of customer confidence f. Overtime needed to cover the lost time.

Causes of Accidents:

In Planning and Organization:
a. Improper technical planning b. Unreasonable deadlines c. Assignment of work to incompetent vendors / contractors d. Poor human resource policies and employee selection methods resulting in poor technical control e. Lack of cooperation between different agencies
Due to Equipments / Tools / Machinery
a. Non availability of required equipment b. Unsuitable equipment c. Defective equipment d. Lack of safety devices or guards for the equipments

.
Due to Management and Conduct of Work:

a. Inadequate preparation b. Inadequate examination of equipments prior to commencement of activity c. Inadequate instructions to supervisors d. Unskilled / Untrained workers e. Inadequate supervision and control f. Defective processes

Cleanliness is a Challenging Job

If you are spending more of your money to purchase Hunter Douglas Blinds then you should take precautions in maintenance and cleaning. Fabric used in Hunter Douglas Blinds is of high quality which makes it dust resistant.

Proper management of these blinds can increase their durability to many times and their shape and color can be long lasting. Cleaning blinds in routine can solve all your problems.

Say No to Dirt

Hunter Douglas Silhouette blinds made from metal are usually the easier to clean than the other types of blinds. You can just take down the blinds from your windows, take it outside and use a high pressure hose to spray water on your Hunter Douglas Silhouette blinds make sure that you reach all areas of blinds.

More the time you spend time in cleaning them, longer it will be in attractive condition. This will definitely add moons to your living room or home. Follow the directions and advices from the manufacturers so as to increase artistic outlook and authentic value of your blind.

You can clean your Hunter Douglas Silhouette blinds in two ways. Either use a vacuum cleaner or it can be also done in much easier way by using a hair dryer. Be soft handed and tender while using them. Their speeds should be set as low as possible. If you are unable to do this properly then best option is to go for an expert. He will be able to solve your problem without any risk for damage to your blinds. If a stain does not get rid off from a soft detergent then it is suggested to do it forcefully. This can harm your blind.

Project Management - Tips For Helping You Adopt A Process

The Rational Unified Process, Enterprise Unified Process, Agile Development Methodologies, Unified Modeling Languages. They come in many names, complexities and sizes but following one will help ensure success on your next project.

This article is not a detailed overview of a formal process. Instead it provides an overview of the most critical components common to each, as well as some tips on successfully deploying them. Although many process descriptions do an excellent job of breaking down the various components of the process they rarely cover areas like how this affects your team, how much process to use or offer practical advice on issues encountered in the real world when trying to deploy one.

It can be very helpful as a beginner’s introduction to process and can help you more easily grasp some of the concepts you will be introduced to. For the more experienced process guru it should have some helpful tips on smoothing over some of the rough edges we all deal with from time to time.

The information here is based on experiences and lessons learned in over 15 years of developing and managing over 100 complex project releases.
Following these fundamentals will improve your chances of success in any process you adopt and provide a solid foundation for maturing it.

What’s a Process and why do I need one?Regardless of what business we are in, software, web site design or retail clothing, we all have a process we follow to complete a given project. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not, often with costly results. When we talk about adopting a process we are talking about a more formal process. A process is essentially an integrated set of roles, methods and techniques to in part, help achieve the following:
Minimize risk.

More accurately estimate your project schedule and budget.
Detect problems early (upstream) instead of later (downstream) when they are much more expensive to fix, if they can be fixed at all.

Better communication among team members regarding project scope, requirements and status.
More accurately track the progress of the project and detect slippage early.
Accomplish the project’s goals as efficiently and cost effectively as possible.

Formal processes are often created and refined over years of trial and error to attempt to create an ideal “recipe” for having an optimal chance at successfully completing any project.

While they were developed for and commonly used in Software Development, Aerospace and engineering, most of the core concepts are not specific to these or any industry and anyone can benefit from using them.

What Planning Permission Do You Need For a Garden Structure?

If you are thinking of having a garden shed erected in yours then before you go out and buy one find out whether you need planning permission to do so. In most cases planning permission is not required but there are some exceptions to this. Below we take a look at what planning permissions needed for what types of garden sheds to be erected today.

By not getting permission to construct a particular type of garden shed could lead to a number of problems for you later on. So when is it that you as a homeowner should be seeking planning permission from your local authority? In this article we provide details of those times when planning permission must be sought.

1 - Planning permission needs to be sought for those garden sheds that are more than 10 cubic meters in size and where you live in a certain area. Permission needs to be sought if your home is a listed building, if it is located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), if it is in the Norfolk Broads, a National Park or a conservation area.

2 - In certain cases permission is needed where a garden shed is to be used as an office for your business and where other people will be working for you. However, if it is only you that will be using the shed as a home office then planning permission is not required.

3 - Also anyone looking to erect a garden shed will need to seek permission when the roof height goes above a certain level. If you are erecting a shed with a monopitch roof above 3 meters then permission to erect is needed and if you are going to erect a ridged roof shed over 4 meters in height then planning permission will be needed.

Simple Watering Secrets For Your Grass, Yard, Landscape and Garden

"When and how much should I be watering?"

This is the most common question asked to us by customers with sprinkler systems. It is a question with many answers, depending on climate and what is being watered. There are a few common sense answers that apply in any case. Here's what the experts advise.

1. It is nearly always best to water in the early morning. Watering at night, after the sun goes down is not advisable as this allows the water to stay on top of the ground all night which will promote moss and fungus to grow. The midday is also a poor choice if avoidable as it is inefficient and can damage plants.

Getting the water down before the sun is up is best for several reasons. First and foremost, the sun evaporates this precious resource and causes longer watering times for the same amount of saturation. Another reason for not watering during the day is also due to wind. The sun is responsible for wind which causes the sprinklers to disperse spray in ways unpredictable to a sprinkler system designer.

The water will evaporate or end up where you don't expect it.

2. It is best to saturate each zone and skip a day between to achieve good root depth. Turf that is watered every day has shallow roots. Grass watered every other day with greater saturation has healthier and deeper roots. This creates a healthier and more vibrant and stronger lawn. The same is true of larger plants as well. Deep roots promote healthier plants.

It is important to note that water can only be absorbed at a given rate, based on your soil type. For example, if you have sandy loam soil you will saturate the top layer of soil in 15 minutes with larger rotors and even less time with most spray heads. You should never run rotors continuously over 20 minutes or spray heads continuously over 10 minutes due to soil saturation. Drainage time is required or you will begin wasting water.

Landscaping Benefits - How Landscaping Will Benefit Your Garden

Have you ever contemplated landscaping your garden? Not surprisingly, a landscaped garden has many benefits that will benefit you and your surroundings. Landscaping is very much an art and thus takes time and experience to get good at it. A good landscaper can charge a lot due to their ability to come up with wonderful and unthinkable designs in your garden.

One of the most beneficial reasons for having your garden landscaped is to increase the value of your home. Naturally people will find your home more attractive and beautiful and will thus pay more for it. Apart from your home looking better, it will also be worth more which is easily worth the time and effort you invested doing the landscaping of the garden.

Landscaping is also very soothing and relaxing form of art which allows you to be creative as well as exercising at the same time. This mental and physical stimulation is very important as you get older and keeps you alive and feeling young.

There is nothing better than being busy doing something you love and having a sense of accomplishment when your landscape project is done. The best part is that landscaping can go on for years so you will never have an excuse to stop.

Landscaping also allows you to burn calories, whilst getting satisfaction out of your work, which could help you lose weight if that is your goal.

A simple search on the internet or through some gardening magazines will help give you ideas on how best to design your landscaped garden.

Cleaning Tips - How to Keep Your House Clean Over the Summer Time

Summer is officially here and that means, kids running around the house, barbecues and house parties and with that action keeping the house clean at all time it is not an easy task. So to aid you with this never ending job we put together some cleaning to help you keep you house sparkling ready for the next party.

Cleaning Windows
Each summer, you should clean your outside windows and screens.
Always use a broom to remove spider webs and dirt before using water. Be careful of possible bee, wasp, or hornet nests.

Driveway and Deck Cleaning
The start of summer is a great time to do these once-a-year cleaning jobs. Our first tip is to not use a power washer! They are very dangerous to you, and can destroy your deck and driveway.
For outdoor decks, you can use a diluted mixture of TSP or deck cleaner, and then use a push broom or stiff brush to scrub the deck clean. Be sure to rinse well.

Grease stains can be treated with kitty litter or dry cement left to absorb the stain and then swept away.

Floor Cleaning Tips
Without a doubt the floor is the part of the house that suffers the most during the summer holidays, kids running in and out of the house with their shoes and trainers on, drinks that are spilled all over the house not to mention the barbecue salve all over the kitchen and patio floor.

Home Improvement - Recycling to Aid the Poor

As we continue to update and modernize our own homes, the problem arises concerning the proper way of disposing of the items that we have replaced. Do we overload our scrap yards without giving it a second thought or do we just dump the unwanted item wherever we can? Let's forget about both of these objectionable options and strongly consider recycling to aid the poor.

As a result of higher energy costs, many homeowners are choosing to replace their existing windows with new energy efficient, double pane windows. This process mandates that the homeowner remove any storm windows that are currently installed over the windows that are to be replaced. Thoughtlessly discarding these perfectly good storm windows into the trash pile is absolutely wasteful and shameful. A better option would be to consider recycle these unwanted windows; recycling them to a charity that aids the poor and the needy people of this country.

Many homes today do not have storm windows at all. These homeowners are simply too poor to remodel their homes. This means that their winter energy bills are always outrageously high in spite of the fact that they are still cold.

There are organizations whose main objective is to give aid to the poor. All they need is for caring people to recycle their unwanted items like storm windows. However, even though this article is about storm windows in particular, recycling to aid the poor can include anything from clothing to unwanted cars.
And if recycling

Mosquito Controls - Some Useful Solutions For the Home

Throughout the world there are thousands of different types of mosquitoes, some are quite harmless, but others are deadly carriers of diseases which affect human populations and animals.

Mosquitoes attack by stinging you with their stylet mouthpart; this will pierce the skin of the victim for them to suck up blood, and at the same time, transmitting a virus that they pick up from other unfortunate victims.

What attracts Mosquitoes? They are attracted by the carbon dioxide (CO2), which animals and we breathe out, they are also attracted to light, especially at night. This is why we are open to attack whilst we are preparing to go to sleep with the lights of the house on, a homing beacon for their entry into the house through the open windows, especially when the summer nights are hot, humid and uncomfortable.

Mosquitoes breed in water. If you have a garden pond or water butts, a good method is to put in a few Stickleback fish if you are in a temperate climate, or Guppies if you are lucky enough to live in a warmer part of the world. These fish will love the mosquito's larvae. Make darn sure you do not leave pools of stagnant water lying around to promote their breeding cycle. Don't forget to feed the fish in the water butts and not left to dry out.

Other defences. Putting up screens at all the points of entry will also stop them but the downside is they will restrict the cool breeze of fresh air and are quite expensive to buy and install.

There are repellant sprays and creams that you can use, but beware of toxic chemicals used within them.

Another line of defence is to place window insect traps around the house, these will help to trap the ones that have entered, also place the traps on the outside of the windows, mosquitoes attracted by the light of the window will buzz down into the trap and be retained.

Look out for a window insect traps that uses no toxic chemicals and are safe to use in the home.

Make sure, when you purchase a window insect trap, that the opening size restricts the entry of the honeybee, as they are in very serious decline.

Electronic Pest Control

Electronic pest control products are great for ridding your house of bugs, pests, and small rodents. They safely remove them and keep new ones from entering. A great product is is riddex electronic pest control. It sends electronic sound waves through the wiring system in your house. The sound waves are virtually harmless to humans and pets except if the pets are rodents such as hamsters, mice, ect. The insects and rodents hear these sound waves and are driven away.

They are safe, and reliable. No more using harmful chemical bug sprays or leaving rat traps around your house or paying big money to call in professionals. They require no effort. They are simple to use all you do is plug them into a regular outlet and leave them alone. They offer a built in nightlight which is great for use in the kitchen or bathroom. They start working immediately and one can actually cover the whole level of a typical house.

They are small and lightweight so it will not take up the whole outlet if you use a double outlet. They don't use much electrical power so you don't have to worry about it running up your electrical bill. They are safe around kids so you do not have to worry about them being exposed to any harmful chemical residue. They are fairly inexpensive usually around 19.99 but online stores are always offering deals. Since they are so inexpensive you can try one out and not break the bank.

Electronic pest control products are a great buy if you get a lot of bugs or rodents. They are great for summer or winter when different types of bugs enter your house. They have no harmful chemicals or side effects unlike bug spray. They are fairly cheap and don't require any set up what so ever. You can often find them on sale on line or for a great deal. They are sold on line and at select stores. They last for a long time so no more worrying about changing rat traps or finding a exterminator

Janitorial Supplies For Restaurants

People favor a particular restaurant mainly on account of two important factors - good food and clean environment. Any compromise in any of the two could tarnish the reputation of the restaurant and subsequently affect business. Good janitorial supplies for restaurants can address all the cleaning related needs. It is an unwritten rule that customers judge the overall service of any hotel or restaurant and put across their views to others. Good feedback equals good business.

The quantity of janitorial cleaning supplies needed for one's restaurant depends on the size of the business. Running a restaurant is a painstaking job and it is important to remember that health and hygiene officials won't tolerate unhygienic environs. Utensils and sinks get soiled all the time, especially when the residue consists of oil and grease. Quality cleaning accessories such as heavy duty scouring pads, scrubbers and wipes solve the problem faultlessly.

Floor and wall cleaning supplies such as upright dustpans, electrostatic dusters (attracts dust and dirt), floor squeegee and washer kit are essential for maintaining a clean and dust free surface.

Tabletops and glass tend to get dirty frequently. Without proper maintenance and cleaning, the situation could worsen. Glass mirror cloth, spray bottle, dusting wipes, all purpose liquid cleaning solutions, and window washer accessories are a must for every restaurant.

For general purpose maintenance, wool dusters (for hard to reach areas) and floor wax applications would suffice. Wool dusters are lightweight, durable and can be easily washed.

Banish Nasty Toilet Smells Forever!

Until now, we are all aware that papering over a crack in the wall still leaves the crack behind. The same is true in today's toilets. No amount of sprays will ever remove fouls smells along with putrid germs and bacteria from the air.

So how can you have a smell free, germ free toilet or restroom?

It's simple, in just over an hour we can fit a simple gadget to your loo, that eliminates forever all of these dangerous pathogens. Were you aware that there are 100,000,000,000,000 released after someone goes to the toilet?

You can now safely insulate your house and be confident that you have ensured a safe, odourless and hygienic environment for your family.

With the flush of a toilet, microscopic virus & bacteria laden water droplets can be propelled 6 to 8 feet through the air and float around for up to 2 hours. In addition, viruses & bacteria can live for several hours on hard surfaces.

What a lot of people do not know is that one in four people leave the bathroom with faecal coli form on their hands.

Sharing bathrooms with infected people can, therefore, pose a serious risk of infection, making restrooms a veritable 'hot spot' for the spread of disease!!

The answer to this hygienic threat is an Odour Removal system. It is activated simply by an infra-red sensor as you enter the facility. Air is gently extracted from the bowl via the water ducts into the cistern. From here the extractor fan expels the foul-smelling, virus- and bacteria-laden air through the waste water and into the sewerage where it belongs.

By installing our patented system you can keep your toilet smelling fresh and bacteria free. Our system is silent, and automatically activates with each visit.

This means there is no need to switch the noisy extraction fan on, to ensure your toilet is a bacteria, and oudour free extension of your living area.

Clutter Control Secrets

If your house is looking more like the movie set of "The Clutter That Ate Pittsburgh" and less like a home, then perhaps it's time to put clutter in its place and regain control over your house.

What's a person to do? Clutter, it seems, is a necessary evil of our consumer society. Even as we return from a shopping trip, we flip the television on only to see commercials telling us we absolutely cannot live without one more appliance, gadget or invention.

As we put our new purchases away, many of us discover we don't even have room to store these due to the backlog of previous purchases.

We watch the news shows as they interview the new authors and their books. We decide, once we see them on Good Morning America, CNN, and even The Daily Show, that we absolutely must read that book. So we buy it (and thanks to the web, we don't even need to leave the house to do that any more!). And there the book sits, unread on the floor in the living room or on the bed stand.

But even worse, in the eyes of some people, is the amount of time we can waste searching for a specific object because of the clutter we've accumulated in our homes and now is increasingly spilling uncontrollably into our home offices.

Some experts claim that the average American spends one entire year of his life just searching for misplaced objects (I've met some individuals who obviously spend much more of their time in this quest!).

Short of marching through your house and determining what needs to be tossed and what you should keep, I can help you with some all-purpose advice. (You'll have to be the person who "marches and tosses"!) Here are several "uncluttering rules" that I try to live by. No, I don't always keep these myself, but they are goals to be attained.

I can help you with some all-purpose advice. Here are several "uncluttering rules" that I try to live by.

- When it doubt, throw it out
- Store objects in the most efficient spaces.
- Recycle! Recycle! Recycle!
- Does the word filing cabinet ring a bell?
- Get Zen with the Space.