Kim is at the NORAC AGM. She's taken Mavis & Ray Nye (in portrait painting form!) to the meeting with her

Alpha Tracker specialist Kim is at the NORAC 2023 AGM today at West Midlands Golf Club in Solihull.

Kim at the AGM

Kim has taken the amazing portrait of asbestos campaigners Mavis & Ray Nye with her so that all of the asbestos professionals at the event can see it.  The next stop for the portrait will be the BOHS FAAM Asbestos Conference in October.

Congratulations Zac... you're not an apprentice anymore!

Some of our Start Software "VIPs" (clients and partners) sent WhatsApp messages to Zac this week to congratulate him on passing his software development apprenticeship.  You might even recognise a famous face or two yourself!

Zac and the VIP WhatsApp messages

Zac showed special determination and perseverance throughout the process and we're very, very proud of him.  Say well done next time you're speaking to Zac on our Support line! 

Learn about site plan "hotspots" in our Alpha Tracker webinar on Tuesday! It's free to join and only 20 minutes long

Would you like to know more about site plan hotspots in Alpha Tracker and how they can save your survey admin teams lots of time?

Join our free webinar on Tuesday 26 September at 12:30!  https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aS6dJ0j5QCycZ65VbHgBow

The next webinar is on Tuesday at 12:30

Watch all of the previous Alpha Tracker Tips & Tricks webinars here: https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/webinars

PS We'll also be previewing some of the upcoming features in Alpha Tracker Release 40

More Premium Support contracts are now available. Would you like a quote?

We've increased the size of our Customer Team to make more Premium Support contracts available.

We're growing again! 

All Alpha Tracker consultancies benefit from our legendary 24x7 personal support.  Our Premium Support customers also benefit from:

• regular Account Management meetings by Zoom/Teams or in person
• free-of-charge changes to most templates and reports
• access to our Beta programme to see new software releases before other customers
• and more!

If you're interested in upgrading your support package, get in touch (UK or Aus/NZ) and we'll give you a quote.  We only have a limited number of Premium Support contracts so don't delay!

Would you like to see RAAC as a service in Alpha Tracker? Get in touch if you do

RAAC continues to make the headlines every day, and some Alpha Tracker clients are investigating to see if RAAC surveys would be a profitable additional to their portfolio of services.

Today's headline on the BBC News website

Would you like to see RAAC as a service in Alpha Tracker?  We would add features to our Alpha Tracker Mobile app (Android/iOS) to collect data on site, and then automate the reporting like we have recently done with Water Hygiene.  Get in touch with Robin if this is of interest.

The Mavis & Ray portrait continues its road trip! It's been collected from UKATA and is now at Alpha Tracker HQ

Director Robin visited the Contamination Expo at the NEC yesterday to collect the wonderful portrait of asbestos campaigners Mavis & Ray Nye and to bring the painting back to Alpha Tracker HQ in Telford for viewing.

Robin is a Trustee of the Mavis Nye Foundation (MNF) and formally received the painting from asbestos campaigner and European Asbestos Forum founder Dr Yvonne Waterman.  The team at UKATA have been looking after the portrait at their HQ for a couple of weeks and so it was convenient to collect it from their stand at the NEC.

Yvonne with Liam Pembleton (UKATA) and Robin Bennett (MNF/Alpha Tracker)

It was a stressful move! Carrying the portrait through the NEC and then giving it to Dan to bring back in his car was not easy and Robin was mightily glad to see it in the Alpha Tracker reception area in one piece!

Liam and the UKATA team packing it up

Dan's boot - safe for now!

Robin's relieved face...

Proudly on show at Alpha Tracker HQ

Alpha Tracker gets a mention in the House of Commons as part of a proposal for a UK National Asbestos Register

Under the Ten Minute Rule in Parliament, yesterday, Andrew Percy MP introduced a bill to propose a UK National Asbestos Register and asbestos software Alpha Tracker got a mention.  

Our "Damage: The Poor Condition of Asbestos in our Schools, Hospitals & Houses" report has been instrumental in providing evidence to MPs including Jane Hunt to enable the preparation of the bill.  This is all very rewarding and a really good step along the road.  

We are very, very grateful to all of the people who have moved the asbestos agenda along so much over the last 12 months, not least Andrew Paten (co-founder of UKNAR) and Charles Pickles (Airtight on Asbestos).  

Click the YouTube link below to watch

You can read the full Hansard text here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2023-09-13/debates/8DF57B01-D469-41FC-850E-F04F3EB38754/Asbestos(NationalRegister)?highlight=alpha%20tracker#contribution-762FECA4-A876-459F-AA65-AA12A83E8FF4

World Champions!!! What a great day and such a good cause - thanks for all your sponsorship (and apologies for the click-bait headline)

We didn't win (obviously!) but we did get to grab the Coracle World Championship trophy for a sneaky photo, at least!

Dan & Zac

It's fair to say that our attempt to win the Coracle World Championship didn't exactly go to plan.  Our "Little C" team made up of captain Zac, Tom, Jack & Dan fell at the first hurdle.  Zac was nobbled by another competitor and ended up in the Severn (captured by the BBC TV camera crew and broadcast later on Midlands Today - fame at last, Zac!).

Oh well - the main aim was fundraising for MacMillan Cancer Support and we smashed our target, so thank you to everyone who clicked the link and added their support.  There's still time left if you want to add something to our total.  Thanks in advance!  https://macmillan-org.enthuse.com/pf/start-software-little-c

Tom making waves

What an excellent event - we'll be back next year for sure

Watch the BBC Midlands Today report here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkUC0ckS31U

A UK National Asbestos Register is another step closer - keep an eye on Parliament next Wednesday

We've been big supporters of the UK National Asbestos Register initiative (UKNAR) from day 1.

Consultancies using our asbestos software Alpha Tracker know that a basic principle of ours is to be as open and flexible as possible with the asbestos data we store.

In fact, our OpenAsbestos initiative is all about making asbestos registers available to the right people at the right time, with minimum fuss.  Alpha Tracker is fully OpenAsbestos-compliant, of course.

Next Wednesday, 13 September 2023, there will be the first introduction of a Private Members Bill by Andrew Percy MP, simply titled "Asbestos (National Register)".  Let's hope this is the first step towards a sensible, practical, efficient and affordable National Asbestos Register to benefit all.  We certainly hope so.

Keep an eye on Parliament TV next Wednesday

Don't forget to sign the petition, too, it only takes two minutes! https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/635817

It's a record! We resolved 98% of urgent tickets within 2 hours

Our Support Team have done themselves proud again.  In August, they solved 98% of urgent tickets within 2 hours (and most much quicker than that!)

Well done James, Zac, Jess, Judy, Jack, Tina and all for doing such a great job.

It's the closest we've been to 100% success!

(for the record, we took 773 calls for assistance in August, in total, with 92% of queries raised being resolved within the timescales agreed with the caller)

Zac, Jack, Tom, Dan & Kim could be World Champions on Friday!

We've entered the World Coracle Championships this Friday! Not a sentence I ever thought I'd write...

Not sure what a Coracle is? Check this out

We're competing against elite teams from around the world (or, more likely, complete novices like us from Shrewsbury & Telford!) to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.  If you have been touched by cancer, or know someone who has, you'll know how important Macmillan is.  Several of our team have been affected by cancer this year and so it is a really important cause for us.

Please do support and sponsor us - we'd really, really appreciate it! Here's our sponsorship link: Please sponsor us - we're fundraising for Macmillan