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The European Commission will publish on 22nd September 2004 it’s long awaited proposals for amending the existing Working Time Directive. Drafts copies of the report currently circulating the Commission kick into touch the Britain’s opt-out. It seems that the representations made by British companies for the need for a flexible employment market have gone unheeded with the powerful French/German lobbies winning the argument. Key points of the new legislation are New requirement to maintain timekeeping hours even when employees opt-out Unions can veto accepting working weeks of longer than 48 hours Opt-out agreements cannot be signed at the same time as employment contracts Employers must regularly (at least once a year) review an employees opt-out agreement to see if they still agree The CBI say the new legislation “…. is an administrative minefield that could land companies in court if they get it wrong” , so with the introduction of the full Working Time Directive it is essential that all employers accurately record employee hours on-site and do the necessary Working Time calculations to stay within the law. In practice, you’ll need a computerised Time & Attendance system able to AUTOMATICALLY do the Working Time calculations and a Personnel system to check you are doing the reviews (and tell you when you are not). Fortunately, Tensor’s WinTAlite does all this – for just £1,495.

Hundreds of jobs will disappear at a mine which was ravaged by fire recently. Owner UK Coal confirmed that following the incident at Daw Mill Colliery, a small team will remain on the Midlands site to secure the mine in the short-term, but the majority of its 650 staff will be made redundant. Kevin McCullough, chief executive of UK Coal, said: “This ferocious fire has dealt a blow to everything we tried to achieve over the last 12 months.” The T3512 Low Cost Access Scanner System from Tensor has Health and Safety exit technology and comes with everything you need to start controlling door access right out of the box. The system includes a magnetic door release lock, the Tensor LOCK5, a world-class device for securing a door using smart cards. Exit push button and emergency break glass release is also included. Sturdy, basic and practical, these Tensor products provide the Health & Safety finishing touches to your system.  

Unite regional officer Terry Cunliffe has urged an NHS trust to rethink its cost-saving plans. The Yorkshire trust, which has to save £46 million over the next five years, is implementing staffing changes including emergency care assistants for paramedics. Mr Cunliffe said: “Currently, paramedics undergo a two-year degree course to equip them with the correct skills to respond to patients.” He pointed out those in the new role will be responding to emergencies with only six weeks’ training. Staff training is one of Tensor’s areas of expertise. Our Personnel Software is the culmination of many years’ experience in the human resources and time and attendance sectors. Beginning with Small Business – ideal for companies employing 50 people or less – the software has three versions and it offers many features that will save time and aid strategic planning. The large colour display on Tensor’s T32xx clocking station make it simple and easy for employees to confirm check their flexi-time hours or make job-booking transactions.  

PA Sport reports that a former rugby team manager has been landed with a life ban for using fraudulent documents. It emerged that Mike Scott forged a passport and supplied other “false and misleading information” as he attempted to conceal the fact he had not secured the correct visa for one of his London Welsh players. Scott apologised for his actions and said there was no pre-conceived plan in a submission he wrote to the authorities. A Visitor Management System from Tensor ensures no-one with false documentation successfully enters your business premises. Companies that do not have a front desk receptionist can take advantage of the Tensor Unmanned Reception Console. This Console is operated via touch screen technology only; no mouse or keyboard is needed. Here, visitors with appointments can book themselves in and out and the back office can contact their host upon their arrival. This can be done manually or the host can be automatically notified by email.  

In order to save a company from going into liquidation, at least 300 jobs are expected to be axed nationwide. The rescue bid at luxury carpet maker Axminster Carpets by an unnamed party aims to buy the struggling concern out of administration, according to the BBC. The origins of the firm date back to 1755 when Thomas Whitty started making carpets and rugs in the eponymous West Country town using what became known as the Axminster method of weaving. Businesses attempting restructuring will find a Tensor Time and Attendance system highly useful. Available in Lite, Small Business and Enterprise versions, the WinTAnet system is cost-effective for those firms containing a handful or thousands of staff. It operates with differing staff number and remote locations supported. The flagship Enterprise edition allows a Group headquarters to control each subsidiary business that may each be based at different local or international locations. All editions are suitable for use with SQL or Oracle databases.  

Nearly half of women surveyed say their role had changed on return to work after giving birth. More than half of those who responded to law firm Slater & Gordon did not raise concerns because they were either not sure of their rights (26 per cent). Other factors in the poll included women not being aware where to turn for advice (15 per cent); or they thought that finding help would harm their future career prospects (12 per cent). Take total control of absence entitlement management and planning at your business via a Tensor smart card based time & attendance network. Each employee can be given different entitlements for absence such as allowed sick days, built-in dentist appointment, or more. As absence is booked and taken, the available remainder for each entitlement is updated. Entitlement formulae are used to calculate more complex entitlements that work on a rising scale based upon how long a colleague has worked at the firm.  

A new report says 3.05 million UK workers want to work more hours each week. The Office of National Statistics said reasons for this could include workers, such as bar staff, being in jobs where they are only required for a few hours a day. Economist John Philpott said: “Approaching one in five economically active people are struggling. Add in the effect of falling real take-home pay for the vast majority of people in work and it becomes clear how much distress is being suffered.” Organising your workforce so that everyone is allocated the correct hours, shifts and wages is made simple with a Tensor time and attendance network. Using the Shift Premiums function, complex payment schemes can be used, based on factors such as the time of working to the grade of employee. Similarly, with Shift Swapping workers may have their shift for a particular day changed in advance. Annual Hours reports can be swiftly accessed by the WinTA software.  

CCTV surveillance cameras play a pivotal role within the UK's public security management system, being particularly effective in reducing the level of crime and anti-social behaviour in densely populated urban areas. And it seems that the Newham Council in East London can't get enough of them, since they've announced plans to update their already extensive network of CCTV cameras. With 959 CCTV cameras installed, the East London borough has actually more cameras in place than Liverpool and Birmingham combined. However, residents are still quite concerned about the rising level of crime in the area, and believe that an even larger CCTV network might help mitigate that. A market leader in the field of access control and surveillance solutions, Tensor PLC has an extensive experience in providing customers with complete and comprehensive CCTV solutions, that adhere to the highest security standards. In fact, all of our surveillance products are fully compliant with the UK Police Requirements. Our PC based, multi channel video surveillance systems provide not only the best available video quality, but are also extremely versatile, allowing users to connect a very large number of cameras to a single network. Moreover, we also provide an extensive array of video camera models, designed to match a variety of specific installation requirements. It's also important to mention that our high-end DVRs only record footage of activity, thus maximizing the available storage space. Featuring a sophisticated buffering technology, the DVR also records events of up to 5 minutes previous to the trigger. If you want to find out more about our high-end surveillance solutions, don't hesitate to contact us or request a call-back from our friendly and professional sales team.  

Biometric solutions clearly represent the future in the field of access control, whether we're talking about a person gaining access to their physical workplace or to the files stored on their computer. In fact, one could argue that the range of applications for biometric systems is only limited by the product developer's imagination (and, of course, actual market demand). The Tensor T32xx Biometric Clocking Unit is the best example of a biometric-based access control/time and attendance solution that covers all the bases, offering a huge array of features and functions that will meet and exceed even the most demanding customer's requirements. The IP-enabled all-in-one workstation can be used both for access control and time and attendance purposes, but also adds a host of additional useful features, such as Job Booking, Job Costing, Labour Hours Analysis and Security Management including quality CCTV playback. Moreover, the Tensor T32xx can also be equipped with GPS auto location, speech output, video and mobile phone support, helping customers increase security and eliminate fraudulent clocking (which, after all, is quite an important reason of concern for most companies out there). Extra features that add even more value to the Tensor Biometric Clocking Unit include USB Flash Stick & SD/MMC Card Storage support and USB & Network Printer Support, as well as a user friendly, multilingual GUI (Graphical User Interface) and a battery backup + Local Fail-Safe Storage for power communications loss. If you want to find out more about our biometric clocking units, our product team is always ready to answer all your queries.

The new budget revealed yesterday by Chancellor George Osborne includes plans for interest-free loans and guarantees to support £130bn worth of new mortgages from 2014. Targeting mostly that category of employees who can't afford putting up the large deposits currently required by lenders, the Help to Buy program will grant applicants a 20% interest-free loan from the government, as long as they put down a 5% deposit and buy a newly-built property. Moreover, the government also launched a £12bn guarantee scheme, starting in January 2014, that will support anyone buying a home up to the value of £600,000. Given these positive circumstances, the construction market is set to boom over the next couple of years, with multiple new housing developments likely to appear all over the UK. This translates into a serious increase in the level of demand for secure access solutions, one of Tensor plc's main areas of expertise. Our gates and barriers can provide secure access to any new building site or finished residential development and they also fully integrate with our smart card and biometric access control systems giving customers full jurisdiction over movement and access in and around the site. The gates and barriers are set to prevent unauthorised access, allowing for rapid communication when any delay occurs, such as when unauthorised personnel attempt to access a restricted area. Additionally, our access restriction solutions can stop vehicles or personnel at the relevant barrier and prevent entry or exit until they identify themselves via their smart card and/or biometric fingerprint.  

Forty fire-fighters have tackled a massive blaze at a tyre recycling plant in Maybridge, South Armagh, that started at around 3.30pm on the 21'st of March. Several crews who were sent to the scene discovered that the fire had engulfed more than 1,000 tyres, a news report reveals. Group commander Edward Carroll said: "It was quite a significant fire and we were somewhat hampered by strong winds which were fanning the flames." A spokesman for the Department of the Environment also commented on the incident, revealing that the "NI Environment Agency has been on site and is co-ordinating with the Fire Service in order to reduce the risk of pollution.” A Fire Roll Call system is a must for any industrial factory, especially one that deals with a lot of hazardous materials, such as the one in Maybridge. The Tensor access control and security products can be easily integrated with fire roll call software, capable of automatically generating a report in case of a fire or some other type of emergency and providing precise information on exactly who's on site at any given moment. What makes the Tensor solution different from most of the other available on the market is the fact that the Fire Roll Call feature is executed directly from the clocking stations and does not rely on the controlling PC or computer infrastructure. This makes it a lot safer, since the aforementioned IT systems might also be severely affected in case of an emergency. After the fire or emergency alarm has started, the employees who assemble at their fire roll call points can either use their smart cards or key fobs to record their presence or, if they have not brought them along, they can be checked off manually using the generated reports.

In today's fast-paced world, speed and ease of access to any workspace are extremely important and the Tensor Smart Card-based systems are the fastest, most reliable and secure, as well as cost effective solutions for the job. The smart cards are based on the reliable RF (Radio Frequency) reading technology, which grants them a very good read range, unaffected by most external conditions. Moreover, all of the cards are extremely thin (roughly the size of a credit card), which means that you can easily store one in your wallet. Tensor Smart Cards employ an advanced technology, that makes them equally fast and secure. Our Smart Card readers emit a 125 KHz frequency field (the electromagnetic field) that is received by the tiny aerial built in each smart card. This leads to the activation of the smart card microchip, a passive device that holds the smart card's unique factory encoded ID number. The Smart Card's ID Numbers are extremely secure, given the fact that up to 34 billion different combinations are available. Plus, Tensor can also provide smart card software, which gives you an easy way to professionally produce your own ID cards, assign specific access rights, and much more. If you want to find out more about our affordable, ultra-fast Smart Cards, our dedicated product team is eagerly waiting for any query you might have.