Current and past projects

HSBC IT Training Group

Liz Moor, of HSBC’s IT Training Group, has worked closely with AbilityNet to raise awareness of these issues within the company’s IT Development Department and says: “We have always been committed to ensuring that the needs of all our staff and customers are catered for. AbilityNet developed a course with HSBC specifically to address the needs of our IT function, from which over 700 employees have already benefited. As a result of the course, individuals have been able to successfully apply this learning in their day-to-day work, and in making changes; they ensure that the appropriate standards are adhered to. They now also feel confident about making decisions, many of which are more cost-effective.”

BP (British Petroleum)

"With AbilityNet’s support, BP is developing a detailed protocol regarding healthy computing which benefits everyone. By understanding and applying the basic principles of adaptive technology, we are preventing health issues from converting into problems for our staff, who are benefiting significantly both in terms of well-being and productivity,” says Angela Whitehead, Regional OHN Director Europe, who first became acquainted with the Charity some eight years ago when she worked for the Health & Safety Executive.

"We are determined to stop health issues becoming more serious issues and our DSE assessors and coordinators all receive initial training and regular refresher sessions on the basic principles of adaptive technology. This ensures that they have the confidence to make an initial assessment of a situation and can ‘fast track’ a consultation with an OH nurse or a physiotherapist if required. Our OH and physiotherapist teams attend more in-depth courses by AbilityNet and are equipped with the knowledge, know-how and equipment to take the preventative action necessary. If, however, we feel that a more expert analysis is required, we arrange a one-to-one assessment on-site with an AbilityNet consultant, who will always find a practical and workable solution which we can support in-house," she explains.

But there are plans to disseminate information more widely through the company’s intranet and give all staff the opportunity to learn about healthier computing and how to customise their PC.

"We have been looking at AbilityNet’s on-line service – My Computer My Way and are looking at ways of offering some of this information to BP employees – a self-help approach which can run in tandem with the other procedures in place," adds Angela.

"This could be linked into the compulsory DSE self-assessment procedure in which all employees participate on-line. If, for example, the computer user is dissatisfied with the appearance of the screen, they could be offered a range of alternative settings to suit their needs and instructed how to achieve the effect they want immediately.

A third and final strand to the ‘best practice’ initiative at BP is the implementation of Voice Recognition (VR) as an established option across the organisation. Currently Angela is focusing on offering VR to all those with identified health issues for whom it would be appropriate. In the long-term though she would like to see VR become “another tool in the portfolio” - a standard alternative available to everyone. There is some ground to cover before that day however and Angela is under no delusions about the change in culture that it necessitates:

"People find it difficult to abandon old ways of working and do not want to ‘feel different’ from their colleagues. But we are confident that with the right package of support and training in place, many of our employees will feel enthusiastic about its possibilities and see it not as a ‘second best’ alternative to the traditional access method, but as a similarly viable way of getting on with their work.”

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