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.