We are delighted to announce that CATCH along with the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership have secured Government funding to start work on a roadmap to support the Humber’s plans to decarbonise the region.

The joint bid for funding from Innovate UK will enable the first phase of work on a detailed decarbonisation delivery plan for the region’s major industrial cluster, which will aim to protect important jobs and industries while reducing carbon emissions.

Rod Stout, Chairman of BMA, who are supporting the project said “Setting firm targets for decarbonisation is a key milestone that has been realised in addressing the Climate change crisis. The next critical step is to develop and test accurate, cost-effective and systemic roadmaps that can ensure that these targets are met. Business Modelling Associates (BMA) are proud and excited to have been selected to support The Humber LEP and CATCH in this collaborative initiative. This builds on BMA’s successful work in the Energy sector, both nationally and locally, and our strategic focus on enabling a better environment for all”.

You can read the full press release below:

Humber’s Decarbonisation Ambitions Boosted after Roadmap Funding Secured
The Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and membership organisation CATCH have secured Government funding to start work on a roadmap to support the Humber’s plans to decarbonise the region, it has been announced today.
The joint bid for funding from Innovate UK will enable the first phase of work on a detailed decarbonisation delivery plan for the region’s major industrial cluster, which will aim to protect important jobs and industries while reducing carbon emissions.
The Humber’s bid was awarded £96,000 to develop a plan for producing the roadmap (phase one), which – if approved – could lead to a multimillion pound bid to develop the roadmap itself in phase two.
Now, the Humber LEP and CATCH are working together to create the Humber Industrial Decarbonisation Roadmap – which would set out plans to decarbonise the region’s major industries through measures such as Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage and hydrogen fuel switching. It will complement wider work on decarbonisation being led by the LEP and partners as the region targets becoming net zero carbon by 2040.
The roadmap project team are working closely with the region’s two deployment projects, which were also announced today as receiving phase one funding:  Humber Industrial Decarbonisation Deployment Project: Humber-DP will identify and develop potential anchor projects to maximise emission reductions in the most appropriate, timeliest, cost effective and efficient manner and develop world leading industrial CO2 transport and storage system  Green Hydrogen for Humber: This project will lead to the production of renewable hydrogen, at the Gigawatt scale, from polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis. This will be distributed to a mix of industrial energy users in Immingham.
The deployment projects would deliver early results at the beginning of the roadmap, with further projects to be identified through to 2040.
Home to energy-intensive industries such as steelworks, oil refineries, chemical processing and cement production that are vital to the UK economy, the Humber cluster’s industrial CO2 emissions are the highest in the UK – making the region the country’s biggest decarbonisation opportunity.
The Humber LEP set out the region’s ambition to become net zero carbon in its Humber Clean Growth Local White Paper published at the start of November. It is also at the heart of the Local Industrial Strategy it has developed with Government, which is expected to be published shortly.
The roadmap will point to where public and private investment will need to be targeted over the next two decades to reduce the Humber’s industrial emissions. Importantly, it will also identify opportunities for attracting new businesses to the region to utilise the low carbon infrastructure that will be developed.
This collaborative approach to creating the Humber Industrial Decarbonisation Roadmap will ensure full engagement from businesses and stakeholders and that it will be produced in a transparent and joined-up way. The roadmap will also capture synergies with related work to decarbonise ports, transport, agriculture and homes amongst others, as set out in the Humber Local Industrial Strategy.
Lord Haskins, Chair of the Humber LEP, said: “The climate change crisis will not be addressed without close collaboration between the Government, industry and places across the UK, so we are pleased to be working with partners on a roadmap to enable this in the Humber.
“As the highest emitting industrial cluster in the country, our region has the potential to make the biggest difference in the fight to reduce emissions. As today’s announcement shows, businesses are developing projects that will enable us to do that at pace.
“The roadmap will support us to deliver on our ambition to become a net-zero carbon economy in the future, helping the Humber to secure the long-term sustainability of our strategically important industries and attract more new green jobs and investment.”
David Talbot, CEO of CATCH, said: “We are thrilled to collaborate with the Humber LEP and win this bid to solve the biggest challenge facing our industries over the next few decades.
“We need to ensure not just the competitiveness of our much-needed energy intensive industries, but also their survival – we want to see these vital businesses stay in the Humber and decarbonisation is central to this.
“Funding is essential to ensure we have a plan to break down any barriers in the way of the Humber becoming a net-zero economy by 2040 and we are glad the Government has taken note of how serious the Humber is about tackling this.”
Bryony Livesey, Challenge Director, Industrial Decarbonisation, said: “As the UK goes through trying times we nonetheless must plan for the future. We can announce today the funded projects of the first phases of the Industrial
Decarbonisation Challenge. These projects are the first stride towards the government’s plans to develop cost-effective decarbonisation in Industrial hubs that tackle the emissions challenge that UK industry faces. We look forward to the development of these plans and their contribution to meeting the 2050 net-zero target.”

What is safety culture?

Safety culture is an organisation’s beliefs and attitudes regarding safety, its place and importance in the organisation, and affects how safely people in the organisation behave. It is essentially ‘the way we do things around here’.  Safety culture influences the environment in which people work and in which barriers operate.

World-class health, safety and environment (HSE) performance requires the involvement of everyone in the organisation, from top to bottom, utilising knowledge at all levels, and fully integrating HSE within everyday behaviour.  It involves ‘winning hearts and minds’ to improve the safety culture of the organisation. Winning hearts and minds is about getting everyone to work safely, not because they’ve been told to, but because that is the way they want to work and that is the way they know how to work.  It is about making safety a fully integrated part of working behaviour, and in the process easier to manage.

In this webinar from Catch Technical, we will look at the Hearts and Minds behavioural safety toolkit designed to facilitate cultural change within organisations.  It is intended to help organisations to improve their HSE performance by showing the ‘route to the top’ of the HSE culture ladder and providing the process and tools to get everyone involved and to facilitate behavioural change. The Hearts and Minds toolkit enables you to create a truly proactive and generative approach to HSE management.

Led by Lorraine Braben, we will discuss:

• What we mean by Safety Culture
• The Hearts and Minds programme, tools and techniques
• How Catch Technical can support your Safety Culture development

When: Thursday 30th April at 11am.

To register for this free webinar hosted by CATCH Technical, please email jill.mooney@catchuk.org

Lorraine Braben

Lorraine is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF). In addition, she is a Chartered Chemical Engineer and qualified HR practitioner and trainer, with over 30 years’ experience in the process industries; ten of which have been dedicated to applying Human Factors thinking in an Upper Tier COMAH environment. Poor culture and business practices can unwittingly influence behaviour and impact on safe operation of plant and equipment. Lorraine has seen how decisions made with the best of intentions may not always deliver the results expected and how understanding the human element of safety can improve ‘the way we do things around here’.

Please find the link below to a letter addressed to all those working in the manufacturing industry in the UK from the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Alok Sharma MP.

Click to download the letter

A new service is helping those made jobless as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak in the Humber get back into employment – while supporting key regional employers with gaps in their staffing due to the pandemic, such as those in the care sector.

Humber Jobs Fuse, a joint service created by the Humber LEP, The Education Development Trust (a prime contractor for the National Careers Service in Yorkshire and the Humber), the Department for Work and Pensions, the four Humber Local Authorities and Skills Support for the Workforce, will help match opportunities as new and replacement needs arise as result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It will connect employers who have urgent vacancies with individuals across Humber who are available to start work – while also listening to employers who have to make redundancies to see if there are opportunities for their staff arising in the region.

Humber Jobs Fuse will also support those who have lost their jobs or whose job has been affected during the crisis through its dedicated telephone enquiry service – which offers free, impartial and professional advice to job seekers – including practical aspects such as CV writing and access to training.

Stephen Savage, Chair of the Humber LEP’s Employment and Skills Board, said:

“The Humber Jobs Fuse will provide a vital service for those affected by employment issues due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Humber LEP has been pleased to step in to develop this new service together with our partners, which gives further support in addition to the Government’s employment support package.

“National Careers Service Provider, Education Development Trust will provide a valuable service which will match redundancy situations to redeployment opportunities where possible, while providing additional support through employment services where further employability or skills help is required.”

Leanne Misaljevich, Area Manager for Education Development Trust, Prime contractor for the National Careers Service in Yorkshire and the Humber said: “We face hugely uncertain economic times and in response to this we are delighted to be coming together with DWP and the Humber LEP to form the Humber Jobs Fuse.

“The National Careers Service is uniquely positioned to be able to provide free and impartial careers and employment advice and guidance to residents and employers across the Humber area, all delivered by our team of professional careers advisers.”

Jo Corney, Service Leader, Department for Work and Pensions added: “We are very pleased to see how Humber Partners have worked together to support the work of our Jobcentre Plus colleagues who are incredibly busy, but working hard to ensure that everyone gets the support they need at this challenging time.”

Please visit https://fuse.humberlep.org/ for more information. Individuals can seek support by calling the Freephone number 0800 100 900, while employers can get in touch on the Freephone number 0808 1963596 or email the dedicated inbox JobsFuse@educationdevelopmenttrust.com

A new website designed to co-ordinate Humber businesses’ contributions to the region’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been launched.

The ‘Coronavirus Community Support’ hub has been created by the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership to help match the growing number of requests being made for businesses to help, and the offers of support coming in from the region’s businesses.

The website lists details of the support being requested by public sector and community organisations involved in the coronavirus response. Requests include a call for businesses prepared to donate surplus stocks of personal protective equipment (PPE) or hand sanitizer, as many have done already, and an invitation for those interested in converting existing production lines to manufacture the products to get in touch.

Current requests include:

• PPE
• Hand sanitiser
• Bottles for hand sanitiser
• Storage and logistics
• Surplus food and groceries

Meanwhile, with most traditional networking opportunities closed off, the LEP is working with business membership and support organisations across the Humber to build up a database of business volunteers who are willing to help local firms.

Business leaders who think they may be able to help by offering a little bit of their time for an informal conversation with another business are asked to register their interest on the website.

Visit the website here: https://community.humberlep.org

The CATCH award for excellence is a scheme for recognising when one of our employees really goes above and beyond. Holly Goodwin, Business Development Coordinator for CATCH Skills,  was nominated and then subsequently presented with the award at our online team meeting yesterday!

Holly said “For once in my life I am actually speechless…  Thank you so much! I am so grateful to work in such a fantastic team!  I truly love my job, and all that I have achieved wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the support and guidance I have received at CATCH.  It has definitely brightened my day to say the least!”

Thank you and well done Holly, from all at CATCH