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Showing posts from 2025

About Start Software

Start Software is an award-winning developer and leading publisher of asbestos software, systems for the legal services industry and more.

Want to know more about asbestos software Alpha Tracker? Alpha Tracker is the most used asbestos software in the UK, Australia & New Zealand with more than 60m items of asbestos data stored.

Our legal services software Alpha Legal helps will writers, accountants, solicitors, IFAs and estate agents to communicate securely with clients. Read about developments here on the blog.

Or need help with Alpha Anywhere or Alpha Transform projects or software development? You'll find useful info here.

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

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