Dawn Evans, Author at Ajuda

Food allergies on the rise: How to safeguard your customers

Posted on October 12, 2016July 1, 2019 by Dawn Evans

Today, BBC News reported new data from NHS Digital which reveals that hospital admissions for allergic reactions have increased by 33% in the past five years.* The increase in cases requiring emergency medical treatment includes severe allergic reactions to food – the most extreme reaction being anaphylactic shock.

While there has been no definitive answer as to why the proportion of people, especially children, with a food allergy is rapidly increasing, food providers must be able to respond appropriately to the health risk posed by the different kinds of food they serve. Tiny traces of food allergens can cause potentially fatal physical reactions. So, what essential measures must your business take to protect your customers and ensure compliance with current legislation?

Under the EU Food Information for Consumers (EU FIC) Regulation No.1169/2011, businesses that serve or sell food must provide accurate and easily visible information on all products containing any of the 14 major allergens as an ingredient or processing aid. In addition, the EU FIC made the provision of written and/or oral information for non-prepacked food mandatory.* It is the duty of both the employer and the employees to communicate accurate information to the consumer; a failure to do so may lead to criminal prosecution.

Ajuda, based in Cardiff Bay, runs the Level 3 Award in Food Allergens training course so that those working in the food industry can gain a comprehensive knowledge of food allergens that can be immediately applied to workplace practice. The course, which is next running on the 20th October, provides a thorough explanation of legislation, the common allergenic ingredients in food, and how to correctly provide allergen information. For more details, please visit https://www.ajuda.org.uk/training-course/level-3-award-in-food-allergens-for-competent-persons-qcf/, or call us on 029 2057 6883.

* http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37482798

* https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/food-allergen-labelling-technical-guidance.pdf

Why Food Hygiene Training is Essential to Your Business

Posted on October 12, 2016July 1, 2019 by Dawn Evans

In November 2013, Wales implemented a policy stipulating that food premises must publicly display their food hygiene rating. This has already resulted in great improvements in food safety management. But still, in Wales:

– 59 food providers score zero on the FSA scale (meaning urgent improvement necessary).

– 664 score one (meaning major improvement necessary).

– Of these, 11 premises scoring zero, and 104 scoring one, are based in the Cardiff area.*

Looking at figures on a wider geographic scale, failure to comply with food hygiene regulations appears still to be more of an issue. New research has revealed that one in seven takeaways and one in thirteen restaurants in the UK have failed food hygiene inspections.* Due to uncleanliness and substandard procedures, these businesses have failed to gain a pass on the Food Standards Agency’s hygiene rating scale. This scale ranges from zero to five – scoring between zero and two constitutes a fail, while scoring between three and five constitutes a pass.

With nearly 30,000 out of approximately 460,000 businesses failing inspections in the UK, it is clear that we need greater recognition of the importance of adhering to food hygiene regulations, and of receiving food hygiene training.

If your business produces, serves, or sells food in any shape or form, be it a restaurant, corner shop, hotel, or an educational establishment like a school, college, or playgroup, it must be compliant with food hygiene standards. Not only is practising good food hygiene important from a legal perspective, it also crucially prevents damaging both the health of your customers and the reputation of your business. And with your food hygiene rating being publicly displayed, in-store and/or online, a good score means a better image for your business.

As an employer, it is your legal responsibility to ensure that your staff undertake food hygiene training. And with so much at stake, it is easy to see why training is essential.

Ajuda offers high-quality, informative food hygiene training courses throughout the year. With our Level 2 Award in Food Hygiene course, which is next running on the 18^th October, you can be sure to gain all the knowledge about food hygiene that your business needs to ensure good practice.

Book here at https://www.ajuda.org.uk/training/food-hygiene/, or call us on 029 2057 6883.

*Food hygiene rating statistics for Wales and Cardiff: http://ratings.food.gov.uk/, 5/10/16. You can search for the food
hygiene scores of premises in your local authority via this website.
*Statistics regarding the failure of food hygiene inspections by UK businesses:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/23/revealed-uk-takeaways-fail-food-hygiene-tests-restaurants-takeaways.

Dawns Evans of Ajuda Features on Made in Cardiff TV

Posted on October 9, 2016July 1, 2019 by Dawn Evans

On Monday 3^rd October Dawn Evans, the managing director of Ajuda, appeared live on the Cardiff News programme at 6pm on Made in Cardiff TV. This channel brings the daily local news to our screens and also celebrates the people of our city, so Dawn’s new accolade of Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 was certainly an inspiring piece of news that had to be documented. On the show, she discusses the roots of her business idea – how saving her daughter in a choking incident evolved into the multi-course training company now called Ajuda.

And the television experience did not end there for Dawn. On 5^th October, she made another appearance on Made in Cardiff TV, this time on Press Pit, its current affairs programme. Joined by Emma del Torto of Effective HRM, she discussed her take on some the most pressing local, national, and international issues (as well as the more outlandish, such as the regional accents of cod!)

Dawn Evans, accompanied by Matthew Harris from Made in Cardiff TV and Emma del Torto from Effective HRM.

Catch up on Dawn’s TV appearances here:

Cardiff News 6pm – https://www.madeincardiff.tv/player/?playercat=90541&v=2

Press Pit – https://www.madeincardiff.tv/player/?playercat=90427&v=2

You can also follow Made in Cardiff on Twitter at @MadeInCardiffTV and Ajuda at @Ajuda_Training.

Dawn named Female Entrepreneur of the Year

Posted on September 16, 2016July 1, 2019 by Dawn Evans

Dawn Evans, founder of one of the UK’s leading training providers Ajuda, has been named Female Entrepreneur of the Year.

Dawn and her team have trained many thousands of people in skills to keep themselves, their staff and their customers safe while at work and at home. Dawn is now recognised across Wales and the UK as an inspirational business woman as well as an expert in first aid.

Wesley Skene, organiser of the South Wales Business Awards, said:

“Dawn is a truly inspirational businesswoman, who has achieved some outstanding milestones with Ajuda. She’s at the forefront of the Welsh entrepreneurship revolution and will be one of the key figureheads in the local economy for many years to come”

Ajuda was started in 2009 and the team now run 52 different courses in the first aid, food hygiene and health and safety areas. The expanding company also offers vocational qualifications and employability skills’ courses.

Born and bred in Cardiff, Dawn, now 45, is very active in her own community and is a mentor for Business Wales and the Princes Trust. She also founded HeartStart Cardiff, a charity delivering lifesaving CPR skills. She has won several awards for her community contribution, innovation, education and recently met HRH Prince Philip where she discussed her passion for helping others.

Dawn said: “The way in which I inspire others to be entrepreneurial is to make sure I lead by example and encourage each individual to be the best that they possibly can be. I am immensely passionate about my company and the people who pass through it. Honesty and integrity lies at the core of this business.”

First aid became a passion for Dawn after she saved her own daughter’s life when she was a toddler and nearly choked to death. Dawn started sharing first aid skills and the fledgling business grew. It became Ajuda three years later. Since then the company has gone from strength to strength and Dawn’s ambition is to increase the portfolio of courses from 52 to 85 over the next 12 months.

She is also developing a full mentoring programme for young female entrepreneurs:

“I feel both honoured and privileged to receive this prestigious award. I hope by sharing my success with others, I will inspire them to also follow their dreams and to not give up. Entrepreneurship may be challenging at times, however it’s highly rewarding. Just remember dream big, because your dreams may come true, mine did!”

Original article can be found here: https://www.journalism.co.uk/press-releases/founder-of-one-of-the-uk-s-leading-training-companies-has-been-named-female-entrepreneur-of-the-year/s66/a674383/

Millie’s Law keeping children safe

Posted on August 15, 2016July 1, 2019 by Dawn Evans

Millie’s Law means that First aid training is to be made compulsory for new nursery recruits in September 2016. It will be a requirement for new nursery and pre-school staff to undertake paediatric first aid training thanks to new government proposals.

The new proposals will ensure that newly qualified staff with a childcare level 2 or 3 qualification must have emergency paediatric first aid training or a full paediatric first aid certificate. This life-saving change will hopefully add approximately an additional 15,000 trained early years professionals to our nurseries, pre-schools and child minders each year.

Following the tragic death of their daughter Millie, parents Joanne and Dan Thompson have shown their full support to the plans. They have been campaigning for change since Millie passed away at nursery in October 2012. Their important campaign culminated in an e-petition signed by over 103,000 people.

Mr and Mrs Thompson have also given their backing to the creation of a new special certificate to be known as ‘Millie’s Mark’, a direct outcome of their campaigning. This will be displayed by nurseries who have achieved gold-standard provision where 100% of their staff hold paediatric first aid qualifications. This certificate will help to give parents assurance that their child is being cared for by safe and knowledgeable staff.

The awarding of Millie’s Mark will be dependent on all of the criteria being met in addition to the legal requirements as set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework. Childcare providers will work to keep these crucial skills in the forefront of their employees’ minds, so that they are competent and ready to act in an emergency situation.

The aims of Millie’s Mark are to keep children safe and minimise risk and accidents by:

• Raising standards in paediatric first aid;

• Increasing numbers of first aid-trained staff;

• Increasing competency in applying first aid;

• Enabling staff to respond quickly in emergencies;

• Raising the quality and skills of the early years workforce and helping them with day-to-day first aid issues, such as allergies;

• Providing reassurance to parents.

Every parent wants the confidence that any person who is caring for their child has the right training should the worst happen. First aid training really is a life-saving skill to have. Ultimately, these changes in the law could save a child’s life. Under current rules, early years providers must only have at least one paediatric first aider available on the premises at all times.

Ajuda offer paediatric first aid courses at our training academy in Cardiff Bay. To book yourself onto a course or for more information, please contact Dawn or Ruth on 029 20576883.

Upcoming course dates are:

8^th & 9^th September 2016	Level 3 Award in Paediatric First Aid (QCF)	£140.00
21st & 22nd November 2016	Level 3 Award in Paediatric First Aid (QCF)	£140.00
12^th & 13^th January 2017	Level 3 Award in Paediatric First Aid (QCF)	£140.00
1st & 2nd February 2017	Level 3 Award in Paediatric First Aid (QCF)	£140.00
19th & 20th April 2017	Level 3 Award in Paediatric First Aid (QCF)	£140.00

Alternatively, we can teach your staff at your premises on a date and time to suit you. Discounts apply to group bookings. You can email us on dawn@ajuda.org.uk or ruth@ajuda.org.uk for more details.

Ajuda installs AED Defib at Newport Cathedral

Posted on June 3, 2016July 1, 2019 by Dawn Evans

Ajuda installed a Defib at Newport Cathedral, an active Christian community and place of worship situated on top of Stow Hill and overlooking the city of Newport. Members of the church have recently acknowledged the importance of having an automated external defibrillator (AED) in their parish and have called on Ajuda to install one and teach them how to use it. A defibrillator is a very important piece of equipment that can truly help to save a life by giving a high energy electric shock to the heart in certain types of cardiac arrest. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) alone raises a person’s chance of survival from a cardiac arrest to 4%; CPR combined with the use of an AED increases the chance of survival to 74%.

There are currently many ongoing appeals in the UK to make it mandatory to have defibrillators installed in public places; so, this is a very positive and significant step for the church. The AED, funded by a member of the parish, has been installed and is ready to use in an emergency. Ten parishioners underwent training from Dawn Evans. They learnt how to perform CPR and how to use an AED. In recognising the significance of defibrillators and taking action, the parish is really looking after their community – it is a very important and worthy step forward. By taking this training and having the AED installed, in the unfortunate event that somebody suffers a cardiac arrest when inside or nearby the Cathedral, they will be in well-trained hands and will have an increased chance of survival.

For more information on this story please visit Business News Wales

Ajuda trains 300 in 3 days

Posted on April 15, 2016July 1, 2019 by Dawn Evans

Last week a team of Ajuda trainers pulled off something that to others may have seemed impossible. Over the course of 3 days they managed to train 300 local people in Emergency First Aid. Ajuda hired Fairwater Conservative Club for the duration of the training, which proved to be a fantastic venue for such an event. The room was split in two – a classroom type environment with a projector on one side and an array of manikins and such on the other.

Ajuda founder, Dawn Evans, alongside a team of 7 other Ajuda trainers, split the delegates into smaller groups to learn the practical side of First Aid Training. Even though there were 100 people attending the 4 hour sessions each day, every single attendee got a chance to practice on a manikin with supervision from a trainer. The practical training was combined with a presentation, videos and other activities. Each delegate also received an Ajuda first aid manual with all the information they need on what they learnt about first aid.

We are thrilled with the feedback we’ve received since the event and would love to take part in similar sessions in the future. It was an incredibly rewarding 3 days and was made even better by the warm reception and the delegates’ willingness to learn.

If you are interested in booking a large first aid event with us, or would like more information on any of our training courses, please, do not hesitate to call us on 02920 576 883 or email info@ajuda.org.uk

South Wales Safety Groups Alliance – Inaugural Conference

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Dawn Evans

The Ajuda team will be attending the South Wales Safety Groups Alliance Inaugural Conference on Wednesday the 13^th April at Cardiff City Stadium. We are excited to be a part of this event that, like us, places so much importance on health and safety. Ajuda will be located at exhibit stand number 13. The event is being organised jointly by IOSH’s South Wales Branch, Wales IIRSM Branch, the South Wales Construction Safety Group, the Cardiff and South East Wales Occupational Health and Safety Group, and the Swansea and West Wales Occupational Safety Group.

The goal of the event is to work together to improve the safety, health and wellbeing of employees in South Wales – something that Ajuda is extremely passionate about too. The conference is set to provide attendees with the latest and most relevant information regarding health and safety, and, improve their knowledge of these problems. By attending, delegates will able to use the information gained at the event to help reduce both the consequences and the costs of workplace injury or illness, hopefully, sharing the knowledge they gain with their employers or fellow employees. At the event there will be guest speakers, networking and other exhibits such as ours.

The event is aimed at health and safety professional’s managers and directors, as well as those who are studying for occupational health and safety qualifications. Members of Ajuda will be at the event all day promoting our courses such as Health and Safety, Manual Handling and, most recently the CCNSG passport.

We are really looking forward to being involved with this and hope to see some of you there!

ReAct funding for redundancy in Wales

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Dawn Evans

Being made redundant can be a time of great stress and unease. On the plus side however, it can open up new and exciting opportunities for you – you could be right around the corner from a whole new career change. Is it possible that you might want to retrain or add to your existing skillset?

The Redundancy Action Scheme (ReAct) is a programme of funding for training provided by the Welsh Government for people facing redundancy who live or work in Wales. If you have been made redundant in the last 3 months and are currently unemployed, or, are currently under notice of redundancy, you will be eligible to ReAct funding. You are entitled to £1,500 worth of training to upskill or retrain in order to help you become employed. Additional funding can also be accessed to help towards extra costs associated with training such as, travel, accommodation, and childcare. This is only available to you if you have not undertaken any publicly funded training since being made redundant.

Ajuda Ltd specialise in providing training to individuals to increase their employment prospects. Every place of work requires or would highly benefit from employing somebody trained in first aid, fire safety, customer service and more. We offer a full range of accredited training to suit your individual needs. Each training programme can be individually tailored to ensure the individual has the best possible chance of regaining future employment.

If you would like more information, please contact Ruth or Dawn at Ajuda on 02920 576 883 or email dawn@ajuda.org.uk for free advice and more information about the ReAct scheme. You can also pop in to your nearest Careers Wales office for guidance.

International Women’s Day

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Dawn Evans

8th March 2016 – International Women’s Day is a day for celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women all around the globe.

‘ “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights,” says world-renowned feminist, journalist and social and political activist Gloria Steinem. International Women’s Day is all about celebration, reflection, advocacy, and action – whatever that looks like globally at a local level. But one thing is for sure, International Women’s Day has been occurring for over a century – and is growing annually from strength to strength.’ www.internationalwomensday.com

Ajuda Limited is led by founder and managing director Dawn Evans. Since forming Ajuda Limited in October 2009, Dawn and her team have trained over 40,000 students in a variety of vocational qualifications such as First Aid, Health and Safety and Fire Safety to name a few. Dawn’s daughter, Beth, choked as a child. This impassioned Dawn as it highlighted to her the importance of learning first aid skills. Had she not had the training, her daughter may have died. Ajuda really are educating people to save lives, and this fact alone makes Dawn’s hard work worthwhile.
In March 2015 Dawn was announced as one of the most inspirational people in Wales, being awarded the Educator award at the Inspire Wales Awards. In September 2015 she was nominated as a finalist for Female Entrepreneur of the year at the South Wales Business Awards. Most recently, Dawn was invited to St. James Palace where she had the opportunity to talk to HRH Prince Phillip about the extensive first aid training that Ajuda carries out.

HRH Prince Phillip and me

Proud to be recognised with the Investors in People Award, Ajuda is a community-focused company. Ajuda aims to make a really positive difference to individuals, teams and organisations alike. In addition to her role as Managing Director of Ajuda, Dawn is a role model for the Welsh Government Big Ideas Program. This involves delivering presentations on entrepreneurship, where she takes the time to share her experiences with students age 13 upwards in order to inspire confidence and motivation, encouraging them to consider launching their own company in the future. Dawn is incredibly passionate about this work and is a business mentor for The Prince’s Trust – a role in which she mentors young individuals who are about to start their journey into entrepreneurship.
Dawn set up Heartstart Cardiff in partnership with the British Heart Foundation in 2014. Heartstart is a scheme where Dawn and her trainers work on a voluntary basis providing first aid training free to local school children. The British Heart Foundation nominated Dawn for a Heart Hero Award to celebrate her fundraising and contribution to the BHF – she was announced as the winner of this award in 2015.

Ajuda celebrates strong, successful women not only today, but every day. From an office run by women, Ajuda acknowledges the importance of strong, female figures.

Happy International Women’s Day everybody!

A busy day in the life of Ajuda’s founder Dawn Evans

Posted on February 12, 2016 by Dawn Evans

Dawn Evans who founded Ajuda in October 2009 is a very busy lady. Her days can be taken up with training students, delivering presentations, winning awards, volunteering and many more exciting activities. Today, Thursday 11^th February, I am shadowing Dawn for the day to see what she gets up to.

11am

We start the day by attending Fire Station 21 in Aberbargoed at an award ceremony for an employability programme where our trainers made up part of the delivery team. The ‘Station 21’ programme has taught the young people involved many essential life skills to prepare them for the working world; teamwork, communication, interview skills, CV building, support for each other, confidence and resilience have been the cornerstones of the programme for the students, as well as giving them the opportunity to gain accredited qualifications in Food Safety, Fire Safety, Manual Handling and Customer Service. The accredited qualifications were taught by a team of professional tutors from Ajuda, led by Head tutor Tom Collins. The young adults who have taken part in this programme have learnt how to put out a fire as a team which has helped them to highly develop a lot of the aforementioned integral skills.

It was really fantastic to see so many young people engaging with the programme with their spirits high and their confidence boosted. It is a very worthy cause and one that Ajuda is thrilled to be a part of – having already signed up to offer more training in future programmes. The programme was supported by the Welsh Government, Communities First, Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations (GAVO), Department of Work and Pensions and Job Centre Plus.

12:30pm

Next, we have a scenic drive through the valleys on route to Swansea. Dawn is due to give a speech for IOSH at the Tower Hotel at 2.00pm so it’s a tight squeeze to say the least. Luckily we arrive with time to spare for lunch so we tuck in to the delicious buffet on offer!

2pm

Dawn delivers a brilliant 45-minute presentation about Health and Safety in the fitness industry. She highlights the importance of things that often get overlooked; or, at least, don’t get as much attention as they should be getting. The implementation of defibrillators, and ensuring that staff are trained to use one in gyms and sports centres is a hot topic amongst the guests, and something that everyone agreed is essential. The audience were also very interested in insurance in the unfortunate event of an accident at the gym. The delegates debated amongst themselves whilst Dawn inputted her expert opinion, remaining collected and poised throughout. After answering many audience questions it’s time to rush off to destination number 3.

4.30pm

Our final stop is the stunning Cardiff Castle. Ajuda are sponsoring the Introbiz Business Networking event for the evening. Introbiz is a fantastic independent business network that hosts weekly networking events and is run by Tracey and Paul Smolinski. After some tea, biscuits and networking, Dawn talks to the attendees about Ajuda, and the benefits to selecting the correct Health & Safety training for their company. Dawn also highlighted the achievements that Ajuda has achieved so far. After Dawn’s speech it’s time to find our table. We sit amongst other business folk – from accountants to events managers (we were very interested in zip lining!) and there was a lot of business card exchanging and chatting. It was very enjoyable and laidback – a brilliant way to meet other like-minded people in business.

6.30pm

It’s time to go home! What an excellent and insightful day. I’m already thoroughly enjoying my time working at Ajuda and am looking forward to what’s coming next!

Ajuda launches new website for 2016

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Dawn Evans

Welcome to our new website.

Ajuda Limited has started the new year with the release of our brand new website. after many meetings, long hours of development and numerous amendments we hope you like our new look as much as we do. We have not only improved the look and feel of our site though, we hope you will find that information of the many courses we run at Ajuda is much easier to access.

Alongside a much improved User experience, we have also upgraded our on-line booking system allows our customers to book courses as much as 3 months in advance quickly and easily. Customers can browse all courses by clicking the Training tab on the Menu bar on the homepage, select the course they wish to attend and select the date required. Simple!

We have also added our very popular On-line Training Portal to this site, a simple, convenient and cost effective way to add additional training to your skills at a time and pace that suits you. These courses are multi-module so you can pause the training at the end of each and return to the course from the next module, all these courses can be tried for free before you purchase, simply register and follow the on line instructions. Find out more about our online training portal.

So feel free to have a browse, we will be updating you all via this Blog on the exciting year we have ahead. We hope you enjoy the website, we would love to hear your feedback.

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