North Pole not in lockdown

Today’s news reports The North Pole not in lockdown, we would like to reassure everyone throughout the world that even with the restrictions earlier in November we, at Kentra Training have been able to assist Santa, his team of elves and the livestock division with their advent preparations.

Keep checking back throughout December for daily updates on training and Santa’s progress reports.

December 1st

PPE – Personal Protective Equipment has been such a hot topic this year, and Santa has ensured that his workshop and stables are equipped with all the latest equipment, face masks and hand sanitiser. Promoting regular hand-washing and safe working practices.

Santa knows the COVID regulations will be different for every country he’ll visit and a special task force The S.T.A.R. Team ….. Safety. Through. All. Regions. Has been set up to tackle all eventualities.

The task force are going to be making sure he is compliant with all local rules. A COVID test prior to lift off will ensure that Santa will not need to quarantine upon arrival in a new country or region and can move swiftly on Christmas Eve.

December 2nd

Site Safety Awareness – Santa’s Elf on the Shelf elves play a vital part in reporting back site safety requirements for Christmas Eve. These reports relay essential information back to HQ about our homes, just so Santa knows which homes he needs a dog treat for, or if there is no chimney and he needs his special key.

There’s no need to worry if you don’t have an Elf on the shelf – not everyone has them because they can be scary to people, like how some people are afraid of clowns. Mums and dads have to request an elf visit. For those who don’t mummy and daddy can still call Santa if there are anything special he needs to know about.

December 3rd

Risk Assessment – Have you written your letter to Santa yet?

The Royal Mail have just received the message below from Father Christmas himself – he’s as excited about Christmas as we are!

The North Pole not in lockdown

So please remember to get your letter posted by Friday 11 December.

Dear boys and girls,

Christmas is a very exciting but busy time for me.

The elves are making toys

The reindeer are practicing their sleigh runs

And I’m busy preparing my list of who’s been good this year.

I will be getting my sleigh ready for the long journey on Christmas Eve

and in between I will try to reply to as many of you as possible.

From Santa x

Please send your letters to:
Santa/Father Christmas
Santa’s Grotto
Reindeerland
XM4 5HQ

Santa’s has a specially designed Mail Room at his Grotto, all the Elves have undergone training to ensure that they are ready to deal with all the incoming mail. Risk Assessments have been completed so that letters can be opened safely as papercuts really hurt! The letters can then make their way to Santa who reads each and every one.

December 4th

Train the Trainer – Did you know Mrs Claus is in charge of training all the elves and making sure that they all know everything that they know. She’s such a cleaver thing!

Agricultural Tractor – Reindeerland is a quite remarkable place, all the equipment has been adapted for Elves driving, including the tractors which deliver all the reindeer food and carrots. Tractor training can take up to 3 days for 3 novice elves – did you remember that we said Mrs Claus is an Instructor – she’s very clever, teaching the elves to drive and making sure that they have refresher training every three years.

December 5th

Abrasive Wheels – Santa’s hard working Elves love a bit of fun too… besides playing tricks did you know they also love a bit of Ice Skating.

Now making sure all those Ice staking blades are safe but sharp is the job of the workshop Elves. They have all been on an Abrasive Wheels – Angle grinding course so they can sharpen safety.

Snow Flake is currently top of the leader board, performing her best ever quadruple jump, this is the hardest jump in figure skating – it is a remarkable achievement on the edge of what’s physically possible for an Elf.

December 6^th

Cable Avoidance Training Spreading the Christmas love today with CAT + Genny

December 7^th

Chainsaw – The outdoor Elf section have been really busy selecting Christmas trees this season, ready for everyone to start decorating the festive branches in your homes.

Any that don’t make the cut for the prefect Christmas tree aren’t wasted though, the elves use their training in Chainsaw cross cutting & machine maintenance to chop up those fallen trees for fire wood and log carving. Using all their training in Manual Handling and Warehouse Safety to move, stack and store those logs to dry out ready for use.

December 8^th

Small Plant & Portable Tools – Now we all know how fantastic Santa’s Elves are at toy making – it’s what they do best… It takes years of tool training and lots of Christmas magic for Elves to learn how to make all the different toys that little boys and girls love to receive on Christmas day.

December 9^th

Basic Food Hygiene – Did you know that all the Elves have to pass a basic Food Hygiene course?

All these Elf’s on a Shelf, report back to Santa that the Cookies and Milk are safe for consumption. They can’t have Santa falling sick to a stomach bug mid journey!

But don’t worry about the carrots – reindeers have the constitution of a horse and there’s never any trouble with the toddies – so lets make sure that Santa is kept topped up.

December 10^th

COSHH – and now getting round to the serious bit…. We’ve said before how fantastic Mrs Claus is at training all the elves, in all things Health and Safety but did you know that she also keeps all Santa’s houses, workshops, cabins and stables safe too.

COSHH stands for the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations

And Mrs Claus makes sure that the whole of the North Pole is safe, I suppose you could call her the Safety Officer. She looks after everything from the wood dust when making the toys, to paint for decorating it is covered and overseen to ensure Elf and Safety.

Well done Mrs Claus !!!

December 11^th

We’re nearly there!

Stress Awareness – It can get quite stressful at Santa HQ, they are currently missing a part for the latest games console and magic doesn’t seem to be working. All elves are encouraged to take some time to themselves and not to over work in the run up to Christmas.

Stress can reduce the immune system, so to ensure that the elves don’t get sick Santa pops on old films and the elves like to take long hot baths, or even go walking in the forests around Reindeerland.

December 12^th

Harness and Fall Arrest

Report of Thorough Examination (LOLER – Small lifting equipment and accessories Inspection and Reporting course)

– In the run up to Christmas all the Reindeer harnesses are checked, a report of thorough examination completed to ensure that all the equipment is ready for the big night. We wouldn’t want any harness chaffing or sling snapage.

December 13^th

Plant Mover – Getting the sleigh ready for the big night is a major task for our hard working Elves. They have to ensure that the sleigh positioned correctly, so the presents can be stacked high and secure, but also in the correct order for unloading. Which is essential for ensuring a quick delivery system at every home, and a very skilled job undertaken by those hard working elves and therefore only completed and overseen by the most senior Elves.

They have to ensure that the sleigh is positioned in the absolute correct trajectory for take-off, before loading commences.

December 14^th

All Terrain Vehicle – We have checked the ATV test sheet Variation and it definitely has a special selection for Santa’s Sleigh.

December 15^th

Woodchipper / Shredder – The outdoor / stable Elves make sure that the Reindeers food and bedding is safely shredding to provide beautiful soft sleeping area for Rudolph and pals.

December 16^th

Safety Workshops – It’s well known that the Elves are fantastic little workers, making all the Christmas toys for Santa to deliver.

The workshops in the North Pole have been so busy all year round, despite COVID lockdowns to get as many toys made as possible. But they also have to make sure that they are working safely, to protect everyone in the workshops. They can’t forget the tool safety, there can be not cutting corners or rushing, while using small tools for crafting.

The wrapping section have been adhering very strictly to S.L.E.I.G.H protocols

S – Sticky

L – Label

E – Extractor

I – Incorporating

G – Glitter

H – Hazard

December 17^th

Slinger / Signaller – Take off from Santa’s grotto is the hardest task of all, with the sleigh fully loaded with presents and everyone (including Santa) excited for the night ahead. It’s Rudolph’s job to make sure that he follows the take-off elves signalling to the latter, ensuring a smooth get away and keeping everyone working together to get Christmas Eve flight underway.

December 18^th

Road Sweeper – Talking of take-off, Reindeerland has its own little group of Elves (trained by Mrs Clause) to operate a Road Sweeper. Did you know these clever little elves use this for clearing the pathways and also the main runway, making it safe for the Christmas Eve take off….. so exciting.

December 19^th

Safety at Street & Roadworks (RASWA) – Rudolph with his extra special Red nose is the navigation master. Honing his map reading skills to ensure that no house is ever missed, or a street is completed out of order, there are lots of new houses built each year and Santa cant miss any!! It is a major task for Rudolph and his reindeers to make sure that all the new houses are added to the list.

December 20^th

Manual Handling – Everyone in Santa’s village are BAUBLE’s

B – Big

A – And

U – Unweilding

B – Box

L – Lifting

E – Experts

December 21^st

Working at Heights – Those pesky roofs can be slippery on a cold and frosty Christmas Eve,

Rudolph and his reindeers have extensive working at heights training to ensure that hoofs and tiles are working together to ensure that there are no slips and slides with Santa and his sleigh.

December 22^nd

Confined Spaces – The Elves favourite training course!!

Santa has to take refresher training every year to make sure he doesn’t get stuck in any chimneys.

December 23^rd

Fire Safety – Do you know how many burnt butts Santa has received over the years, you would think he would learn really but it still happens! Fire safety people; please make sure you put your fire out before going to bed.

December 24^th

From everyone at Kentra Training, we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We look forward to helping with all your training requirements in 2021. Best wishes.