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SERVICES AND ESB ELECTRIC IRELAND

December 2011/January 2012 www.esb.ie/em

Pictured at the Irish Cancer Society talk in Swift Square (l-r): Patricia Leahy, Pat Germaine, Dolores McCormack, Tim Hartnett, Mary Briscoe and George O’Driscoll.

Lots of events for Health & Safety Week 2011

HEALTH & SAFETY Week was supported across Services & Electric Ireland with a vast array of programmes and initiatives being organised both by local representatives and health and safety personnel.

The European topic for the week was ‘Safe Maintenance’ and the main focus of the campaign was to increase the awareness of the importance for staff’s safety and health, of the risks associated with maintenance and of the important need to carry it out safely.

A series of initiatives were co-ordinated for the week which included presentations addressing specific health & safety topics.

’Building Resilience’ by AFRESH, gave excellent practical tips around mental wellness, managing finances, relationships, alcohol, sleep and lifestyle, dealing with change and uncertainty, and developing a positive mental attitude.

‘Cancer Awareness’ by the Irish Cancer Society gave an overview of cancer detection in Men and Women, signs and symptoms and plenty of tips and advice for those suffering from this disease and those caring for their loved them.

‘Eat Right - Energy for life’ by Dr. Kevina Cardiff highlighted how to maintain a healthy weight and optimise your health.

‘Protect yourself this Winter’ by RSA Insurance which focused on personal safety in the home - alarms, locking systems, fire safety and commuting safely in adverse weather conditions.

Other local initiatives took place such as other talks, on site eye-testing, back and neck massages in local pysio, an on-line quiz which also raised staff awareness on the recently developed goodcatch, near miss mailbox. Prizes of crampons are being distributed to all staff that entered the competition from within the directorate.

Along with this daily health and safety tips were communicated to staff which ranged from tips such as:

Build exercise into your daily routine! Get a 20 minute walk in at lunch time.

• Take up a new interest or activity it will contribute to self-esteem and happiness.
• If you are over 40, perform the annual bowel cancer screening test by contacting ESB Health Services.
• Hang your coat or jacket on a coat stand.
• Make sure your house alarm is fully operational. Did you know that the most likely day of the week for a burglary is Friday and between 12pm – 4pm.
• Install smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms in your home and check that the batteries are fresh and working.
• Make sure you hold the handrail when using the stairs at home and in work.

Staff who engaged in the week’s activities received a deeper awareness and understanding around some of the Health and Safety concerns in our every day lives. By putting what we learn into practice, we will help make our Directorate an even healthier and safer place to work.

Thank you to all who participated and helped with the co-ordination of Health & Safety week.

Pictured at the Cancer Talk in Head Office, staff from the Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability team, Services and ESB Electric Ireland. (l-r): Maria Sheerin, George O’Driscoll, Mary Briscoe, Irish Cancer Society, Valerie Little, Brendan Markey and Michele Clarke.

Pictured (l-r): at the RSA presentation George O’Driscoll, Manager, Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability, Services and ESB Electric Ireland, Brid Horan, Director, Services & Electric Ireland, Nigel Dawkins, RSA and Andrea Bruen, Manager, ESB Insurance.

A FIRST for IT Service Delivery!

A selection of staff from the Technology Solutions support teams, ESB are James Allsop, Shauna Myers, Conal O’Kane, Cormac Scully, Anne Slevin, Stephen Walsh, Declan Lannon, Collette McEvoy, Gerry Mullins and Nicolas Quenard.

TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS RECORDED zero Priority 1 and Priority 2 Incidents for the very first time in September 2011, but this wasn’t by chance! So what did Technology Solutions do to achieve this?

The result is due to a programme of Continuous Service Improvement implemented over several years. Significant investment in effort to improve service delivery has been achieved via a structured initiative with the efforts from both Technology Solutions staff at all levels and customers in the form of the IT Business Process Teams and Management.

What are the Business Benefits?
This work has culminated in the following benefits to the ESB Business as a whole:

• Reduced cost to the business
• Improved customer satisfaction - from 68% in 2009 to 71% in 2010
• Shorter resolution time for incidents - Average time to resolve reduced by approximately 20%
• Less downtime of business critical systems - more than halved each year from 2009
• Reduced Technology Solutions Support effort

How did we get to this point?
Technology Solutions have achieved this result through adopting International Best Practice in the form of key processes from the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Framework.

The following provides an overview of the key areas of focus as part of this programme:

Incident Management Process & Prioritisation

• One of the key processes within ITIL is Incident Management
• Every call received by the Customer Support Centre is prioritised based on the Impact & Urgency to the Business
• The highest Priority Incidents are Priority 1 & 2, which are generally relating to business critical systems e.g. the SAP systems
• Every Priority 1 & 2 incident is treated with high urgency and is investigated separately on its own merit

Management Reporting and Root Cause Analysis
In 2008, management reporting and root cause analysis was implemented for all Priority 1 & 2 incidents.

This enabled Technology Solutions to monitor, trend and analyse the following:

• The total numbers of high-priority incidents
• Critical system downtime
• Average incident duration
• Performance against service level agreements (SLA)
• Repeat incident trends

Process Management and Review
In order to ensure this reporting and analysis was producing the required results, a management review framework was put in place and included the following:

• Full customer reports, including key recommendations for every Priority 1 Incident
• Monthly review meetings at management level to analyse results and target actions
• Quarterly Major Incident Review Board meetings were established to provide governance

These key initiatives meant that the overall process of continuous service improvement could be implemented in the following way with focus on:

1. Reduction of Priority 1 incidents
2. Elimination of recurrence of Priority 1 incidents
3. Identifying root causes of Priority 1 and Priority 2 incidents
4. Influencing investment decisions to impact positively on service delivery
5. Reduction of Priority 2 incidents
6. Analysis and reduction of Priority 3, 4 & 5 incidents

This has led to improved performance and an overall reduction in Incidents reported to the Customer Support Centre. This best practice approach will also be a key driver in the new Business Service Centre (BSC) strategy when implementing the integrated Customer Support Centre and continuous improvement in the drive towards excellence.

It must be acknowledged that this improvement could not have been achieved without all the people in Technology Solutions and the Business Units who bought into it.