Lots happening during Global Asbestos Awareness Week (#2025GAAW) including the UK launch of a devastating new report

This week is Global Asbestos Awareness Week (#2025GAAW) - an international initiative designed to raise awareness of asbestos.  Here at Alpha Tracker we support GAAW each year with a variety of initiatives alongside industry organisations such as UKATA, the HSE and UK and international charities.

There have been a number of tragic stories in the press this week that relate to the (lack of) awareness of asbestos and the impact on lives.  Here is one such story - a vintage railway engineer who worked on the iconic Orient Express but wasn't adequately protected:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14558655/Iconic-Orient-Express-gave-incurable-cancer-Vintage-carriage-restorer-line-500-000-damages-exposure-deadly-asbestos-working-luxury-sleeper-train.html

Read more about Malcolm Gelsthorpe's story here

In this internationally important week, a new UK report has been launched by Asbestos Information CIC mapping the presence of asbestos across the UK and comparing risks against more familiar ones (eg the danger of being killed in a road accident).  We'll be offering our full support, giving our Alpha Tracker asbestos consultancy clients the opportunity to extract data in formats suitable for sharing.

The Daily Mail have covered the report's launch - read here

Alpha Tracker has a large number of integrations enabling data sharing including the OpenAsbestos data sharing protocol - read more here: https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/integrations

London AI workshop with Piers Linney and Aalok Shukla. We went with ideas to share, and brought back 20 more!

Yesterday's trip to London was worth every mile (and the inevitable train delays...)

Attending with my fellow directors, we caught up with Piers Linney and Aalok Shukla again to discuss the state of AI and how it can benefit businesses such as ours and - more importantly - our customers.

Robin, Jonathan, Piers

Robin will be holding a private webinar for invited guests to discuss the potential compact on the asbestos industry including the features we're building into Alpha Tracker.  Watch out for the invitation email.

First time reaching 300 raised tickets in one week!

March was another strong month for our Support Desk, with the team handling a total of 1,081 tickets. Notably, we achieved a milestone with 300 raised tickets in a single week! Our commitment to timely support remained steadfast, as 95% of these tickets were resolved within the target timeframe.

This image was created by Maria using Photoshop!

We take immense pride in our Support Desk's consistent performance and dedication to customer satisfaction. If you require assistance with any of our software solutions, please don't hesitate to reach out to our 24/7 support service.

Meet Maria from Finland!

Maria has come to stay in the UK for a two week vocational study exchange, from the happiest country in the world! She is a graphics designer and animator who will be spending the day here, at Start Software.​

Maria meeting Team Leader Dan

During the day, Maria will have the opportunity to observe our team's workflows, participate in collaborative projects, and showcase her creative skills. She will be looking into the UI for our CleanUpBritain app, and we will be showing her Alpha Tracker and ecoScribe. Her fresh perspective and artistic expertise are highly anticipated, and we believe this exchange will be mutually enriching.

Maria introducing herself to us

Maria is enthusiastic about meeting new people and engaging in tech-related work. We hope she enjoys the day with us!

​

Do you care about the amount of litter on our roads? Join our volunteer army of data gatherers with RoadVlog, our app for CleanUpBritain

Our director Robin is passionate (and angry!) about the state of the UK roadside verges.  They are often full of litter and debris and, in his opinion (and ours), it has become a national embarrassment.

We've created a free app for the CleanUpBritain campaign to enable car passengers to log the condition of verges as they drive along.  This data will be gathered and used by CleanUpBritain to encourage the Government and responsible agencies to do something about it - the litter is not going away by itself!

Try roadvlog.uk for yourself - it's completely free

You can access the app at https://roadvlog.uk - give it a try as you are driving home tonight!  Even better, ask your team to use the app to record the condition of roads as they drive around for work - the more data we collect, the better!

We have packed up at FAMANZ - come and find us at UKATA, Asbestonomy and EAF later this year

We love taking our Alpha Tracker stand to conferences and exhibitions.

Kim & Judy have just finished up at FAMANZ 2025 in Queenstown, New Zealand, and they met so many wonderful Australian and New Zealand Alpha Tracker users.

What a fabulous event FAMANZ was again this year

We'll be making an appearance at events organised by UKATA, Asbestonomy and EAF later this year, and elsewhere.  Come and find us, say hello, and find out what Alpha Tracker can do for your asbestos, water and fire consultancy.

Our Australian/New Zealand team have a new website. Take a look at alpha-tracker.com.au

Judy & team have been working hard on their new website supporting our Australian & New Zealand Alpha Tracker clients.  You can see it at alpha-tracker.com.au.

Visit www.alpha-tracker.com.au

Let us know what else you'd like to see on the website! We'd love to hear.

Improved Master Project importer being tested. Better feedback means higher quality data in your system

Our new Master Project importer is nearly ready and is being tested by two of our beta-testing asbestos consultancy clients.

Look out for the new "Verify" step at position 3 (of 4)

The change introduces a new "Verify" step to check the sites from your Excel spreadsheet and give you feedback before you commit them to the system.

It will highlight where the UPRNs are missing or are the placeholder "TBC" (or similar) and it will also show you where sites already exist in the system.  In addition, it highlights jobs already recorded against the sites you are importing, to help prevent you from importing duplicates accidentally.

Early feedback has been really positive and this updated screen should save your admin teams a great deal of time when checking and fixing mistakes on imports.

Do get in touch if you have any other ideas for improvements.  At Alpha Tracker (UK/Aus), we're here to help! 

Judy & Kim have arrived in Queenstown, New Zealand, for the FAMANZ asbestos conference

The stand is up (thanks to Judy's husband & kids - they did the hard work while Judy watched on, we believe!!).  That was step 1 - Judy and the stand from Adelaide to Queenstown to arrive at the FAMANZ 2025 asbestos conference.

The Alpha Tracker stand is up - courtesy of Judy's family!

Kim has also arrived in Queenstown from the UK, with husband Tim in tow.  That's quite a journey - they look remarkably refreshed!  Step 2, complete.

If you're attending FAMANZ this year, make a bee-line for Judy & Kim, they will be delighted to talk to you and show you the latest Alpha Tracker Release.

More software updates on the way including a new Exchange Calendar Sync and hyperlinks to photos in asbestos reports

Jack & Adam are working on some more updates to asbestos software Alpha Tracker.

Product Manager Jack and developer Adam

There is a new version of Exchange Calendar Sync which fixes a couple of bugs.  One of the fixes relates to the situation where an appointment is swapped from one member of staff to another, and then quickly moved to another date or time.  One of our asbestos consultancy clients had spotted that appointments in this situation were not always being synced correctly.

Adam has been working on a new feature for PDF asbestos reports.  He's enabling an option so we can including hyperlinks to photos in PDF reports enabling a larger, higher quality photo to be displayed if the hyperlink is clicked on by the report recipient.  This is pretty clever stuff - also helping you to make the most of Alpha Tracker's Client Portal with your clients.

If you've got any ideas for features for Alpha Tracker Release 42, get in touch!

Welcome asbestos, fire & Legionella consultancy Salvum to Alpha Tracker! Great to have you on board

We've just completed the Alpha Tracker setup and training for asbestos, fire & Legionella consultancy Salvum.  What a great team of Health & Safety professionals they are.

Kim and Melika drove down to Salvum HQ to meet and train the admin and asbestos staff.

Melika's (seated front/left) first site visit!

What an excellent team Salvum have

Salvum's website at https://salvum.co.uk/ documents their services and specialities.  They even show a timeline from 2013 which explains their history and development as a business.  

Congratulations Stuart and team on your success - we're pleased to be a part of your future.

Best Support Desk performance for 6 months! Congratulations to Zac and the support team

Zac has had a great start in his new role leading our Support Desk.

In February, 96% of urgent tickets were solved in the timescales requested by the caller.  Looking at calls of all types (854 in total), 92% were resolved on time - that's the best performance for the Support Desk in 6 months.

Zac - leading our Support Desk

Zac truly is the Support Desk Captain!

Alpha Tracker Release 41.5 is ready for desktop and Android/Apple app users. Nearly 600 improvements!

Our latest update for Alpha Tracker is now ready and available to all of our customers.

Alpha Tracker Release 41.5 is a big update - nearly 600 changes - and is accompanied by a brand new app in the Google and Apple app stores, too.

Read about Release 41.5 on our website

Watch the introductory video here: https://youtu.be/V6a9EmfKLRI or click below!

Get in touch with Support - 24x7 - if you'd like more information or to schedule your update.

Kim is flying to Queenstown, New Zealand, to join Judy at the FAMANZ asbestos conference!

This year's FAMANZ conference is heading to the incredible Queenstown, New Zealand, on the breathtaking shores of Lake Wakatipu.

Alpha Tracker Specialist Kim has booked her flights and will be joining Alpha Tracker Director Judy at the conference to meet clients old and new.

Kim is heading to New Zealand!

Make sure you look out for Kim and Judy and say hello if you're attending FAMANZ this year.  The rest of the UK team in Telford are seriously jealous, Kim!

New Australian National Guide for Asbestos Surveys has been published by the Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency

Our Australian Alpha Tracker asbestos consultancies will be aware of the recent consultation to develop a national guide and standard for asbestos surveying.  This has now been published by the Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency (ASSEA) in consultation with asbestos professionals, industry associations, regulatory authorities and worker representatives.

The guide can be downloaded as a PDF

Jack and his team are updating asbestos software Alpha Tracker now to reflect the new regime.

Contact Judy in our Adelaide office to discuss how Alpha Tracker will be modified, and how it will affect your asbestos consultancy.

Great to see Alpha Tracker QR codes being put to such good use! Congratulations Anglian Demolition & Asbestos

We just spotted this post on LinkedIn, showing our Alpha Tracker QR codes being put to such good use by one of our asbestos consultancies, Anglian Demolition & Asbestos.

Anglian are making the most of our asbestos QR codes

Release 41.5 of Alpha Tracker includes many upgrades to our QR code functionality - and the new features have been well-received by asbestos consultancies and their clients.

Read more here: https://www.angliandemo.co.uk/anglian-rolls-out-revolutionary-qr-code-labelling-system/

BBC Radio 4 is airing "Killer Dust" over the next 10 days. It's a fascinating listen covering the topic of asbestos from so many angles. Listen at 13:45 daily or via BBC Sounds

A fascinating radio 10-episode documentary series about asbestos - "Killer Dust" - is airing on BBC Radio 4 from Monday 4 March until Friday 14 March.

To quote from the programme's website:

"This is the story of Killer Dust, from mountains of the material in mines still operating in countries today, to the skyscrapers of Manhattan, and the terraced streets of the north of England.

It is the story too of the people who fought and died for the truth in order to expose the reckless pursuit of profit in the making of one of the most dangerous building materials on the planet."

Listen live or via BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0028jl4/episodes/guide

Important! Do you use our Microsoft Exchange Calendar Sync? You need to take action

Do your Alpha Tracker diaries automatically sync with Microsoft Exchange (Outlook) calendars?

If so, watch out from an email heading your way today (28 February 2025).  Microsoft have made a change to Exchange which will affect this process.  

Microsoft are disabling a feature - you need to take action

You need to change some account permissions within your Microsoft account to be sure that your diary syncs will continue as normal.  

Jack has created a video here to explain the process you will need to follow: https://www.loom.com/share/a3eaef6ea7164f85ac3c43aa3dd4362b 

The email will be coming from businessmanager@start-software.com with a subject of "ACTION REQUIRED: Exchange (Outlook) Calendar Sync - Alpha Tracker".  Please look out for it and do not ignore it!  We don't want any site staff to miss a job or attend the wrong site.

You do not need to worry or contact us if you sync with Google calendars - only Microsoft.

NORAC have published their report about asbestos registers

NORAC - the National Organisation of Asbestos Consultants - has published a report about asbestos registers following a poll of their members.

Alpha Tracker is an associate member of NORAC and we're always interested to read their reports.  This one is especially interesting as it relates to the notion of a national asbestos register - a topic which is being discussed at the highest level now.

The NORAC Asbestos Register report

Contact NORAC to find out more about their organisation and the benefits of membership.

Big C V2 up-close and personal! Robin & Catherine attend Andrew Bedwell's talk in Cheltenham

Robin & Catherine took their chance on Thursday to see Andrew Bedwell's new boat - Big C V2 - in person.  Andrew was delivering a talk to the Gloucestershire Property Forum in Cheltenham, explaining his love for adventures and the reasons he is trying again to cross the Atlantic ocean in the shortest boat ever.

Andrew is full flow - as inspiring and entertaining as ever

Andrew's presentation being introduced

Start Software are the main sponsors for Big C V2

Robin, Catherine & Andrew

Look at how small the boat is! Imagine spending 90 days in this

Andrew is raising money for cancer research and all donations are welcome: https://www.gofundme.com/f/solo-sailing-world-record

More good news! The HSE are working with the Government towards a programme of asbestos removal from the UK environment

More good news has emerged about asbestos in the UK.

Sarah Albon, HSE Chief Executive, said at the Work and Pensions Committee last week that there is “agreement between HSE and government to ultimately look to remove asbestos entirely from built environment" and that “this links to the potential for some kind of register”. Parliament Live (minutes 11:12 - 11:16).

This is the type of programme that we have been supporting at asbestos software Alpha Tracker for years with our connection to UKNAR (the fledgling UK National Asbestos Register) and OpenAsbestos, our open asbestos data sharing protocol.  Really promising news - at last. 

Sarah Albon giving evidence at the Work and Pensions Committee

You can read more on UKNAR Andrew Paten's Linked post here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andrew-paten-1755415a_asbestos-asbestosawarenes-asbestosmanagement-activity-7294705795357655041-Oul0?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web

Charles Pickles' Airtight on Asbestos campaign has also summarised the situation perfectly, including some important analysis of the relative risks arising from different types of asbestos, especially in children: https://www.airtightonasbestos.uk/post/how-to-deliver-a-uk-national-asbestos-strategy

Good Morning Britain takes up the fight! It really does feel like a change in asbestos policy in coming soon

Today's Good Morning Britain included a segment about Mesothelioma and other asbestos-related disease.  The presenters were visibly moved - and so were we.

Our good friend and campaigner Andrew Paten appeared in support of Mesothelioma sufferer Emily Jane to discuss her diagnosis and the ongoing damage that asbestos causes people throughout the UK - including young women like Emily-Jane.

Emily-Jane and Andrew talking about asbestos disease - so moving

This link https://www.itv.com/watch/good-morning-britain/2a3211 (skip to 1hr 8min) will take you to the interview.  

At Alpha Tracker, we've long been a supporter of Andrew's UKNAR initiative, in particular through the creation and promotion of our open asbestos data sharing protocol, OpenAsbestos.

Thanks to Andrew and other campaigners, finally, in 2025, it feels like the UK Government may support the significant changes to public policy that would see the safe removal of asbestos from public buildings.  We truly hope so.

Renewed campaigns fight to reduce the impact of asbestos on our public workers. Even children are at risk from the poor condition of asbestos in our schools

We've long been a supporter of campaigns to raise awareness of the dangers of asbestos in public buildings.  We support and publicise asbestos campaigns via our Alpha Tracker news feed, blog posts and on LinkedIn.  We also support campaigns financially, when we can.

The latest Daily Mail article from Steve Boggan - tradesmen at risk of asbestos-related disease

There a number of active campaigns running now, including regular articles by journalist Steve Boggan in the Daily Mail to support their Asbestos: Britain's Hidden Killer campaign.

Charles Pickles and Respublica are continuing their #savetheirbreath and Airtight on Asbestos work (see www.airtightonasbestos.uk).

Even our own Damage: The Poor Condition of Asbestos in our Schools, Hospitals and Houses report continues to have an impact with MPs and policy-makers.

Please do support charities such as Mesothelioma UK with whatever donations you can afford.  We are hopeful that policy change may finally arrive in the next 2-3 years but, in the meantime, directly supporting the charities helping victims of asbestos-related disease will be the most practical action you can take.

Consistency is key on our Support Desk

This chart underlines how consistent our Support Desk is.  It is showing 6 months of data back to August 2024.

The blue bars show % of tickets solved on time; the red bars are the High Priority problems

We resolved 904 tickets in January and met the caller's required timeframe 89.2% of the time (for all tickets) and 93.5% for urgent problems.  From the chart, you can see how consistent this has been with only minor variations each month.

Asbestos: a corporate coverup, a public health catastrophe. Read the report from Charlotte Bailey

If you only read one asbestos article this month, make it this one: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/policy/health/69148/asbestos-a-public-health-catastrophe

Read Charlotte Bailey's detailed and moving reflection of her Dad's battle with Mesothelioma

So much in journalist Charlotte's article confirms the conclusions of our "Damage: The Poor Condition of Asbestos in our Schools, Hospitals & Houses" report which we published in May 2023 and updated in November 2024.

Here at Alpha Tracker we'll continue to support Mesothelioma UK and encourage the asbestos software industry to open up and share data for the common good.

More asbestos consultancies have joined the Alpha Tracker family. Welcome Nova Group and OLM Environmental

We've had a flurry of asbestos consultancies switching to Alpha Tracker over Christmas.

ChatGPT in action again!

Two recent additions are Nova Group and OLM Environmental.  They both came via recommendations - that's especially pleasing!

Can we help your asbestos consultancy?  Do you want to experience the best support in the business with a team who will always fight your corner?  Get in touch!

Would you like to connect Microsoft Power BI to your Alpha Tracker?

Microsoft Power BI is a popular data analysis tool.  A growing number of Alpha Tracker software users are asking us for help to connect Power BI to their Alpha Tracker database to enable them to analyse data and uncover powerful insights about their asbestos, water hygiene or fire consultancy.

Find out more about Power BI here

Power BI is just one of many integrations available to Alpha Tracker users.  Click https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/integrations to find out more.

New report to support NORAC and FAWG available to all Alpha Tracker Air Module users

In the next update to asbestos software Alpha Tracker, we will be introducing a new standard report: the Four Stage Clearance Failure Report. This new addition is designed to provide Tracker Air users with an insightful and detailed overview of Four Stage Clearance Tests, focusing on failure rates and pinpointing the stages where failures occur. 

We have created the report to help NORAC

The request for the report came from our friends at NORAC (the National Organisation of Asbestos Consultants) and FAWG (the Female Analyst Working Group), to help them in their efforts to review and evaluate data on Clearance tests. Such analysis aims to identify trends in failures and to provide information to help understand issues relating to staff members, contractors, types of enclosure etc.

The report will be available to all clients using the Tracker Air module, so that they can easily extract the data for their own use or to pass on to others, such as NORAC, for further evaluation if they wish.

Interested in Single Sign-On (SSO) for Alpha Tracker? We've published a new guide to help you to understand the options and configure your system

Single Sign-On (SSO) is the magic that lets users seamlessly access trusted software after a single login to their company network. No more juggling passwords or repetitive login prompts—just one secure authentication, and everything else "just works". It’s like having an all-access pass to your company’s tools, saving time and making life easier for everyone.

We've updated Alpha Tracker so that it can be used with SSO, and the technical team have published a new guide to how this works and how to set it up.

The Alpha Tracker/SSO technical guide

Access the SSO guide on the Manuals page on our website, here: https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/manuals%2Frelease-notes or contact Support if you would like to talk through the options available to you.

Remember Andrew Bedwell and the "Big C"? He is trying again in May 2025 to break an incredible world record

Andrew Bedwell is one of those people you meet only once or twice in a lifetime.  Fearless, determined, funny, humble and downright bonkers.  A couple of years ago, Andrew attempted to break the world record for the shortest boat ever to cross the Atlantic.  Not the shortest crossing, mind you, the shortest boat - a vessel that's only just about 1m in length.  Smaller than a bathtub!

Well, the first attempt didn't go to plan but Andrew is trying again this May and has spent two years designing and building his second boat - Big C V2.  We're sponsoring Andrew again here at Start Software and helping him to raise funds for his boat and for for cancer charities.

The boat is taking shape, as you can see, and Andrew will soon be taking it for sea trials and finalising his equipment.  We'll be publishing regular updates now that he's closing in on the attempt, so watch this space!

PS in case you're wondering, it's likely to take Andrew 90 days and he will be completely unsupported whilst at sea

Robin's interview with Paul King from Flow Mobile Surveying is up on YouTube. Take a look to see how we are joining forces to build the Lab Sample Exchange

If you've got an asbestos lab, watch this YouTube recording of an interview between Flow Mobile's Paul King and our director Robin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4vo4Iv4dfw

Paul King (Flow Mobile Surveying) and Robin Bennett (Alpha Tracker)

The Lab Sample Exchange feature that we have built will be a game-changer for Alpha Tracker labs wanting to work more closely Flow Mobile Surveyors (or Alpha Tracker asbestos surveyors!).

Watch the full video to learn more (especially about grey hairs...!).

Speak to your Alpha Tracker Account Manager to find out more about the Lab Sample Exchange and how it can benefit your asbestos lab and surveying team.

Start Software is having quite an "International" January

An integral part of our commitment to our customers is providing 24/7 support, no matter where in the world they are.

This isn't easy to organise, as you can imagine.  It is slightly easier this January, as we've found ourselves with members of the team based in more countries than ever before.

Call us for support and you could be speaking to us anywhere!

In January 2025, we have staff members working in:

• UK
• Australia
• South Africa
• Indonesia
• Albania
• USA, and
• Japan

Phew!

There's a new Alpha Tracker Mobile in the app stores and another coming along soon

Our latest Alpha Tracker Mobile update has hit the app stores (Google and Apple).

Alpha Tracker Mobile in the Google and Apple app stores

The biggest change will benefit Alpha Tracker water hygiene (Legionella) technicians.  We've improved the logic which powers our data integrity checks, and this should reduce the number of alerts that the technicians see, especially at the start of the day.

A larger update is on its way, featuring a new sync method that makes it faster and easier for site staff to send in their data and photos

Happy New Year! We'll be sharing our 2025 plans soon. What are yours?!

We've wrapped up 2024 and it's been one of our busiest years yet.  Many new clients have switched from competitor software products to become customers of ours, having heard about our ambitions, our technology and our 24x7 personal support.

Another shockingly-bad AI generated image... will they improve in 2025?!

On the Support Desk, we've regularly seen more than 1,000 tickets raised in a month although December was quieter.  During last month, December 2024, we had 715 calls for assistance altogether of which 193 were deemed to be high priority by the caller.  88% of the most important tickets were resolved within two hours.

2025 is going to be really interesting.  We're working hard for some international clients (providing Alpha Software consultancy), we have new versions of all of our products in development (including Alpha Tracker and ecoScribe), and we have opportunities to work in new markets including Norway and elsewhere in Europe. 

Naturally, 2024 has been difficult at times for us, too.  In particular, we tragically lost one of our most inspiring business associates and long-time friend of director Robin, Clive Ponder.  Clive was a supporter, a mentor, a client, a friend.  He'll be sorely missed.

Looking ahead, we are refreshing our UK team and we have been joined by talented contract specialists from Albania and beyond.

We'd like to thank all of our customers for supporting us throughout 2024.  We know we don't always get everything right, but we always put our customers first and you can count on us to go the extra mile to support you and help you grow.  We never forget that our success depends on your success.

Thanks again and here's to a prosperous 2025 for us all.

Robin, Judy, Catherine, Dan, Jack, Jamie, Zac, Adam, Lucas, Melika, Kim, Ferry, Falah, Fatbardh, Jaime, Leanne, Tina, Josh & Russ.

PS Don't forget to share your plans with us! The more we know about your business, the more we can help