Automatically Delete Unwanted emails

It is a common scenario with all of us, that in some point in time we might have subscribed for certain newsletters or some advertisements, some might be spam emails or some emails which we might have not even registered for. These emails flood our email account and has become a nuisance.

Though you might have unsubscribed for these alerts, you still might automatically get emails in your inbox. To get rid of these emails, you can get gmail to delete those emails automatically from your mailing list by setting up a fiter.

Here's how you can set up the filter

Step 1: Click on the settings button on the right-hand corner of the page.

Step 2: Click on the Filters tab.

Step 3: Click on "Create new filter" on the bottom of the page.

Step 4: In the next screen, tell Gmail how to identify the messages. If it always comes from the same email address use that. If it always uses the same subject line, use that. You can also have Gmail search the message for specific words, such as "cobone deals."

Step 5: Click on "Create filter with this search."

6: Click on "Delete it."

Step 7: Click on "Create filter", and click on "Also apply filter to matching messages" to have Google sift through your inbox and delete the ones from that sender.

Waste Management

Al Jazeera International catering considered the waste avoidance, waste reuse, waste recycling energy recovery and waste disposal by practising the following:-

·         Raw material supply specification were changed to bulk packaging’s to avoid waste               generation.

·   Purchasing specifications were changed for the vegetables and started procuring pre-processed and pre cleaned vegetables.

·         Suppliers were instructed to debox and remove the packaging prior supply to site and thus we were able to avoid generation of waste from the source of generation.

·     Menu was redesigned, reducing vegetables and meat items which generates more wastage and was replaced with alternate dishes.

·         Fry items were reduced from the menu to reduce generation of used oil from the kitchen

·         Polarity meter was used to check the quality of the oil prior disposing, this enabled us to monitor disposable of oil waste in an effective way and helped us in reducing generation of oil waste.

Waste Reuse/Recycling

JIC used various ways such as colour coded bins, awareness session for stakeholders and customers and training for staffs for managing wastes and storage of wastes which prevented on-site and off-site pollution and enhanced opportunities for reuse.

Waste is sent for disposal to landfill only once other options have been exhausted. Waste streams are been assessed for potential reuse, prior to transport to the approved disposal facility.

The following are examples of how materials, identified wastes will be reused or recycled where possible:

·         Where possible, recyclable materials will be purchased for use.

 Waste Separation

Waste, where practicable and taking into account health and hygiene issues, is been segregated and collected on-site and stored in suitable containers for removal. It is committed that a portion of all waste materials generating from all activates of Al Jazeera International catering will be recycled.

Adequate separation of components of the waste stream at the point of generation was practiced, for example, Metal, Plastic, Paper / Cardboard were segregated from general waste. Maintaining segregation of different types of waste during generation, storage or transportation made recovery achievable.

                              

Solid waste streams are separated into various components at the point of their production. Waste separation at the source is achieved by providing bins for reusable or recyclable materials. A centralized locations is been allocated within the site for collection of large quantities of waste to enable segregation of wastes for recycling.

KNIFE HANDLING TECHNIQUES

Knowing to handle knives properly is a very essential act in the food service work.

Below are the few simple techniques for handling knives safely.

      A sharp knife is a safer knife

Sharpen knife lowers the risk of cuts. A dull knife increases the risk 

as you have to put more force to cut and chances of slipping is more.

     The right knife for the job

Knowing which knife to be used for which action is very essential.

      

      Keep them clean

Keep your knife clean after every use helps in minimizing the risk of cross contamination.

     Store correctly

Store the knives in an appropriate manner to
avoid cuts

     Proper holding and cutting techniques

Learning the technique of cutting and holding knives is very important. Do not hold the material to be cut in hand, use chopping board.

    Pay attention

Whenever you are handling knife, pay proper attention otherwise you might end up in a hazard.

Environmental Impacts and Aspects

To plan and control the environmental impacts, one must know what kind of impacts these are and come from where.

Aspects = the interaction with the environment  

Impact = A Change to the Environment, Positive or Negative

JIC identifies and evaluates the actual potential aspects and impacts to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, from its activities, services and facilities. During the evaluation process the significant impacts to the environment are determined.

JIC considered the below points to make an effective environmental aspect analysis

Activity

Changing Oil

Aspects (Interaction)

Air Emissions

Use of Oil, Absorbent

Recycling of Oil

Impacts (Result)

Degrade Air Quality

Consumption of Natural Resources

Criteria Evaluation to be defined

Magnitude - (volume, size, or amount of the Impact)

Severity - (measure of the intensity of the Impact; impact, damage, or deterioration)

Probability - (measure of how likely it is that the Impact will occur)

Scoring System

Scoring System Can be Numerical or Descriptive, the simple the better.

1 to 5 or 1 to 10

Low, Medium, High

LOW MED HIGH

Procedure for effective Environment Aspect Analysis

·         Document the Process in Determining Activities, Impacts, and Significance

·         The Responsibilities and Frequency of Updating Activities, Impacts and Significance   should be mentioned

·         Consider “Management of Change” How the process to be Reviewed and Incorporate   Changes in Activities.

·         Engage Staff Across the Organization to Develop Activities List

·         Identify EAR Team to Identify Significant Impacts and give inputs.

Conclusion:

It is essential to identify each possible environmental aspect and impact of it on our surroundings. We must do our part to preserve the resources for our future generations.

Improve Smartphone battery life

It is a common scenario with smart phone battery life. When the multi number of apps is running simultaneously on your mobile phone, it is obvious that the battery life of the mobile cease to stand a longer time.  On an average the smart phone battery life lasts any time between one and two which again depends on the usage.

Here are a few tips to improve the smart phone battery life :

1) Screen time out short

If you wish to lengthen the battery life you should shorten the screen time out. This depends on the time that you want the screen to remain life after completing your interaction using the phone.

2) do not leave the apps running on the background

Most of us open the App and do not bother to close it after use. This being a common feature of smart phones we tend to use as many apps as possible and will not close it. This could be one of the reasons for the battery life to get drained. Try ad close the apps as soon as the use of it is complete.

3) Turn off Vibration mode

Better use a ringtone, when it is not required to use the vibration mode on your smart phone. This helps to save the battery life.

Vibrations use more power than ringtones; hence try to use this mode only when required.

4) Usage of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G/4G, GPS should be restricted wherever necessary

Whenever the smart phone searches for Wi-Fi, 3G/4G, Bluetooth signals, more energy is consumed. If the reception is poor, the time consumed to get a good connection increases.  

When not required try to turn off the Wi-Fi connectivity, this helps in saving the battery life.

5) Dim Screen Brightness

Try to reduce the screen brightness of your smart phone as it consumes more battery life.

Hope these tips are helpful for having an extended smart phone battery life.

Tips for Food Safety

Simple and effective tips for a safe food

Clean Hands:

Clean hands decrease the possibility of food borne illnesses. Before you start preparing food, always wash your hands by following these simple steps: wet your hands, lather with soap, scrub for at least 20 seconds, rinse with clean water, and dry your hands with a clean towel.

Wash and sanitize cutting surfaces and utensils before and after the use.

Use separate colour coded cutting boards for the different kinds of food to avoid cross contamination.

Cooking:

Check for the food temperature, whether it reaches the safe internal temperature. The meat should be cooked to the minimum temperature and when checked with a food thermometer it should be 160 °F before removing the cooked meat from the stove. When the food is transferred from one location to another, keep in mind that the food temperature should be maintained throughout.

Food Served:

Always serve food on clean plates Replace empty platters instead of adding fresh food to a dish that already had food in it. Use clean utensils to serve food plates and not those used in preparation of the raw food.

Chill:

All the leftovers should be kept in chiller within two hours. When the food is going into the Danger Zone temperature, the bacteria multiplies rapidly, hence all precautions should be taken to chill the leftover food.

Donate Blood – Save a Life

We often encounter the questions like

Why should one donate blood? Is donating blood safe and good for health?

Donating blood saves lives. One unit of blood can save up to 3 lives and it reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes.  It is not dangerous and it helps in blood renewal.

For whom is it useful?

Thousands of people need the blood transfusion; here are a few conditions where the blood transfusion is required:

·         Patients suffering from hemorrhage due to casualties

·         Surgical procedures and labors

·         Malignancy Thalassemia patients

·         Bone Marrow transplantation

·         Chronic Anemia associated with cancer

·         Neonatal jaundice etc.,

Who can donate Blood?

People who are healthy and are in the age group of 18 – 65 can donate blood.

At JIC it has become a usual practice since 2011 to conduct blood donation campaigns. We have always received an overwhelming response from the donors. Each year from the time we conducted blood donation campaigns, we have exceeded the previous blood donation campaign records. The blood donation campaign conducted on 18^th Dec 2015 has surpassed all the expectations. We collected 221 Units of blood and it is the highest in the history of blood donation campaigns conducted by us so far.

We feel so proud that the donors in this special season of giving have gifted a life to the needy. This kind act of human gives immense satisfaction and can be sure to make a person smile and bless.

Don't Wait to Donate: blood is always needed!!!

JIC WINS SHEIKH KHALIFA EXCELLENCE AWARD (SKEA 2015)

Al Jazeera International Catering LLC has won the prestigious Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award (SKEA 2015) 14^th Cycle, in the Silver Category for demonstrating best organizational standards in the service sector.

This award was presented by H H Sheikh Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Crown Price Court, at a grand ceremony held at the Emirates Palace on 8^th Dec 2015.

In the year 2013 we won the “Appreciation Award” and winning the SKEA Award 2015, 14^th Cycle in the silver category this year is a definite proof of our continuous improvement and effective deployment of the EFQM Model in our day to day catering business. Our dedication to attain and sustain excellence at all stages of our operations and processes has helped us to reach here.

Mr. Robby Thommy, Managing Director upon receipt of this award said “We are honored to receive this prestigious award; this award came as a recognition for the hard work, passion and dedication of our staff. All these qualities have fostered our commitment to our pursuit of excellence and I thank my staff for their contribution and support in getting this recognition”.

He also expressed his gratitude to the H H Sheikh Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Crown Price Court for presenting this award and to the SKEA esteemed panel of evaluators for evaluating our continuous pursuit of excellence and our adherence to the excellence model. 

“JIC wins the International Best Practice Competition 2015”

JIC won the International Best Practice Competition 2015 for its CSR engagement strategy for sustainable excellence “OUR PLANET – OUR RESPONSIBILITY” 

The article is published in Al Wahda Newspaper on 8^th Dec 2015.

Check it out !!!

Biological Contamination - Safe food Handling

Food contamination might occur in various ways. It is categorized as Physical, Chemical and Biological.

Biological contamination is the common type of contamination which results in dire consequences. It occurs when microorganisms like fungi, bacteria etc., enters food from various sources.

At JIC we follow various methods to eliminate these kind of hazards.

Procuring raw material:

The vegetables and fruits are procured only from those vendors who are pre-qualified with the HSE requirements like HACCP certified and ADFCA approved.  

Receiving raw materials:

Prior to the receipt of the raw vegetables and fruits the temperature of the vehicle and the product is examined with the help of probe thermometer, if the temperature is around 0*C to 5*C and the material doesn’t look damaged or bruised then only they are accepted. The raw material received will be prewashed before storing it.

Storage:

The fresh produce is stored in the chiller (0*C to 5*C) for not more than a day. Our HSET team verifies whether the product stored is fresh and without damage. Fresh fruits and vegetables are stored in different chillers to avoid cross contamination with other meat and dairy products.  

Pre-preparation of vegetables:

Once the vegetables and fruits are issued to production department for further processing, it undergoes pre-preparation process wherein the products are washed again with fresh water and then sanitized with sanitization solution of 50ppm for 15 minutes. The chopping boards, or the work area which comes in contact with the food and the knife are well cleaned and sanitized before it is used.  

The food handlers sanitize their hands and wear proper protective equipment before coming in contact with the food products. They also ensure that they change the equipment every 30 minutes. Once the vegetables and fruits are cut they are transferred to a clean and sanitized container which is then cling filmed and dated and finally stored in the chiller to maintain the cold temperature and eliminate the formation of bacteria, until further use.

Thus we ensure that the food served to our customers is safe to eat.

Tips for Boosting Safety Performance

It is most likely that the employees might get injured if the safety management systems fails due to various reasons like inadequate training, faulty equipment, improper safety measures, etc.,

Keeping in mind the importance of safety for its employees, JIC has developed and adopted various methods to improve the safety culture of the employees.

Here are a few tips that we follow to boost safety performance:

Induction:

It is mandatory to provide induction training program to all the new joinees of our company. Health Safety Environment and Training (HSET) department trains them on the safety induction and usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) while at work. Safety policies are safety measures to be taken while at work is explained in detail.

Training:

Once the employee reports on duty he/she will be undergoing various training sessions related to their workplace hazards and safety practices/process to be followed. Work related risks and the control measures and the preventive measures will be explained and demonstrated to the employees. Training department will guide and engage the employees through various activities to make them better understand about the safe work practices.

Incident Reporting:

In case of any work related injury or illness occurred the concerned staff should report to his/her superior (supervisor) and the Incident report will be made, circulated and Incident investigation will be done by the HSET department with root cause analysis and corrective/ preventive action will be taken on immediate basis. All the incidents will be notified to all the staffs through internal training, Tool Box Talks and meetings so as to ensure such kind of incidents will not occur in future.

Engaging Employees:

All the employees are engaged through internal communications like TBTs, Meetings, Global event celebrations, etc. about the safe work practices. Facility audits and walk through are done by the HSET team to ensure the workplace is safe for employees to work and check the areas in need for improvement. The employees are motivated and encouraged to maintain the safe work culture by celebrating the Incident free month with the employees.

Compliance with safety and health regulations is our duty under the law. This will indirectly help to achieve excellence of the organization.

Importance of Staff Welfare

The activities that are done for the comfort of the employees which boosts the morale and acts as an activator in fulfilling the given tasks within the prescribed time are staff welfare activities. These activities are done in addition to the salaries provided. Welfare activities need not be in terms of monetary always, it can be through the welfare, working conditions, recreation, health etc.,

The reason behind providing these welfare facilities is to create healthy, efficient, satisfied and loyal employees. Which also helps in retaining the work life balance and raises the standard of their living.

We at JIC take utmost care in providing welfare and recreational facilities to our employees. Initially the management understands the needs of our employees and determines the requirements of the employees, basing on the feedback received a program is structured and put into action. Periodic feedback is sought in order to understand whether the employee is satisfied with the facilities provided to them and the recreational activities are able to help them in retaining the work life balance. These activities are prone to periodic reviews and the improvement from the existing activities is brought into practice.

Recreational activities indeed boost the morale of the employees and their productivity also increases. We celebrate birthdays of employees to give them a home away from home feeling.

A weekly activity called Funday picnic is arranged for the employees, who would go on a city tour or visit few places of their choice as a team. A good time of bonding with the other employees is encouraged through these picnics, this helps in team building and helps in gaining confidence with the fellow employees.

A fortnightly activity called “Thunders” is specially designed for the employees wherein the games are conducted and the employees belonging to various teams participate. The winners and runners-up are announced and the gifts are awarded to them.

A monthly activity called “Twister” is organized for the office staff to escape from the regular routine and take part in the activities. This is again a time of bonding for the employees.

Medical camps are organized to check the well-being of the employees because of which they are well covered and the absenteeism due to sickness will not occur often.

A job well done is recognized through the “Star of the Month” and the “Star of the Star” Awards.

In this manner there are so many recreational, competitions and other activities are held to boost the confidence and motivate the employees to perform better. These activities are provided to our employees to show that we care for them and value them.

 Providing good employee welfare reflects the good image of the company and also shows that the management cares for its employees.