Good luck to graduates - Scientist Broughton Laboratories Employee Review

Thank you for taking the time to review Broughton Laboratories. We are pleased you think the training provided is good and agree we are lucky to be based in such a lovely location. We identified there was a gap in our training for a respiratory face fitter and a team member was booked on the required training course, however due to the pandemic this was cancelled. Any face fitting requirements are currently being supported by a team member who works at an alternative site, who will attend and support when required. During the time the fume hoods failed, all activities being performed were reviewed. Any testing requiring a fume hood as a health and safety measure was tested in the hood that had passed the relevant maintenance checks. Any testing where the use of the fume hood was deemed a best practice rather than a requirement, the other hoods continued to be used as the work performed caused no health and safety concern. Further checks were performed, and replacement parts fitted as quickly as possible. We continue to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to improve health and safety throughout the laboratory. This also requires commitment from the team to follow the correct practices which are put in place. The full team have recently been retrained in the correct PPE and the strict guidelines for handling the identified product. A further review of additional ventilation/ extraction is currently being performed. All our existing health and safety practices comply with HSE legislation and are reviewed annually by our health and safety consultants. We are also working with an external team of environmental and occupational toxicologists to implement a robust evaluation of substances handled and the safety measures required to keep our team members safe. Our salaries are reviewed on an annual basis to ensure consistency across Broughton. As a small business we do not currently offer sick pay for short term absences, however we do have a policy in place which provides cover for accidents and illness, to provide financial security when you are unable to work for a period of time. We continue to review this on a regular basis. The company runs a discretionary bonus scheme which is dependent on the trading, financial performance and business goals in each financial year. A review of this year’s targets has been performed and a communication issued to provide updated targets for the remainder of 2021, which we believe is achievable for team members to qualify for a bonus. Due to the pandemic, we had to implement a shift pattern to minimise the amount of team members on site to ensure team member safety. Aside from voting options, the team were encouraged to provide suggestions in how the shift patterns could be improved. An additional paid break was encouraged for all team members to reflect the increase in hours worked. Although we understand this was a challenging time for all, feedback has shown that the team thought the measures we put in place were required to protect their own and colleague’s safety. We acknowledge the pandemic also impacted morale. We have recently been reintroducing our company events which we know the team enjoy, all whilst ensuring team safety. This has included charity events supporting the Mind – Mental Health Charity.