Mark Dawes' Podcasts

An article today reported that an infected nurse at a training event where staff didn't wear masks or obey social distancing rules triggered a Covid-19 outbreak at the Hillingdon Hospital in West London.

It seems that a training session on June 30 was the source of the outbreak, and nurses who went did not all wear masks or stay socially distanced.

Hospital bosses have apparently revealed that at least 70 staff were in self-isolation and 'a number' of them had tested positive for Covid-19. 

As a result the hospital started diverting ambulances to other hospitals on July 7.

In another article posted on the HSE website entitled 'Consultant fined for providing incompetent health and safety advice' Luton Crown Court heard how a self-employed health and safety consultant provided inadequate and flawed advice. The article also said: "Where health and safety consultants are found to be in breach of legislation, HSE will hold persons to account for their failings". 

I know we are all keen to get back to training and some have agencies have been training all through covid, but this is a stark warning to all of us about the importance of social distancing, ppe, the importance of risk assessments and in having the right control measures in place.

You will have probably seen the news item about the Metropolitan Police  Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick apologising to the British sprinter Bianca Williams over the recent stop and search incident. As a result of the public interest in that case the Met is now undertaking a review of it's handcuffing protocols. 

Whilst acknowledging that handcuffing people should not be a ‘default’ action, Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, addressing the Home Affairs select committee this week, asserted “I don’t believe I do run a police service in which handcuffing is routine", and this raises the point of this podcast about 'generalised' or 'restrictive' practices with regards to how the use of handcuffs (and also restraint) can be misused. 

Having different revenue streams to your business model is very important because if you rely on only one source of income what do you do if that source dries up (and this is something that covid has taught all of us). 

This is what today's podcast is all about!

Have a great Tuesday.

This is a story about a guy I know who is currently worth an estimated £80 Million, but who didn't start off lucky.

He was born into poverty, became homeless as a young man, had no formal education but he did one thing that made him successful. He learned from the best. 

And if he can do it so can you.

Have a great day.

If you are in the training industry then one thing you may have to deal with one day is someone who basically rips off your material and then attempts to pass it of as their own. That is basically copyright infringement.

The problem with someone attempting to pass off your material as their own if if they deliver training for someone and they give the material you are alleging is yours to the person or agency being trained or to the trainer delivering teh training, then they are actually proactively and intentionally implicating them in copyright infringement too. That in and of itself shows the lack of respect and concern they have for others by knowingly intending that implication.

And if they do that on the basis that they have actually told someone that the issue had been resolved, that act in and of itself may be considered Fraud by false representation under Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006.  

The other problem in dealing with this is that the person who has allegedly stolen your work may also exhibit narcissistic, prepubescent and childish behaviour in an attempt to try and make everyone else feel like they are the victim when actually they are the nothing more than a thief. They are just not mature or sensible enough to own up for any wrongdoing on their part, even when the evidence is stacked against them.   

We are actually dealing with such an individual at the moment who is the only person we have had to take legal action against in almost thirty years in business so I am speaking from experience here.

My advice is don't get emotional. Deal with it the right way. Pass it on to the relevant authorities or engage the services of a good lawyer.

At the end of the day everyone will know who's in the wrong. Ours is a small industry and what goes around comes around. That's called karma. 

Have a great Thursday. 

This is an extract of an article written by Ralph Steadman that was published on the 50th Anniversary of the Human Declaration of Human Rights.  It is about your right to freedom of speech.

It is the right to hold an opinion, express it, celebrate it, broadcast it, live by it, and travel with it anywhere I so desire and what's more convince others, by peaceful means, that they should hold that opinion too.

This is Article 19 of The European Declaration of Human RIghts,

I received an interesting email and then had a conversation with the person who sent it because they have been told by their physical intervention training provider that they are not insured for any dynamic/pressurised/role-play scenario training because it isn't allowed under Health & Safety and they were also told that there is no evidence that proves that dynamic/pressurised/role-play scenario training works.

This podcast gives a brief outline of my answer on that.

Yesterday's webinar was well attended and we have some really interesting questions asked by those who attended and some of the answers to those questions in relation to lone working, prolonged restraint and Human Rights are answered in this podcast.

I was having a conversation with a very good friend of mine today who is probably (in my opinion) one of the best trainers in what he teaches worldwide because of the extensive knowledge and experience that he has in his specific industry sector, and he said something that I've heard many times before and that is "you have to know a lot to teach a little".

In this episode I'm going to briefly discuss what you can do if you are challenged for carrying handcuffs.