Staff Ideas Exhibition Dublin City Council

7/29/2019 Staff Ideas Exhibition Dublin City Council

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Awaken your ideas

Over the last two years of the annual Sta Ideas scheme Dublin City Councilsta members have proposed over 500 new ideas, big and small, to improve

this organisation and the city. This exhibition celebrates just some of those

ideas, which have been piloted or implemented with successful outcomes.

The Studio would like to thank all of our home grown Council innovators

who have turned their ideas into action, resulting in real cost savings and

better public services.

Ideas for the city include an original patented product to clean city drains,

which has generated 250,000 in savings to date, and the promotion of new

greenway walks along our rivers. There were ideas about engaging

communities in the management of their green spaces and asking people to

suggest Beta Projects to trial on our city streets.

Ideas for the council include integrating photocopying on our sta ID card

and putting procurement contracts information up on Dubnet. Other ideas

about developing the potential of sta include the skillshare pilot on Dubnet,

the local ideas scheme in the Drainage division and using First Post to keep

in touch with retired friends and colleagues.

Small ideas can have big impact, for example installing sensor lights in

homeless hostels has resulted in big cost and energy savings and a new

pathfinder system for Darndale has helped to improve emergency response

time for the Fire Brigade. At the other end of the scale there were ideas with

big ambition to generate renewable energy at water treatment plants, which

may take time to implement so watch this space for further news.


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Your Idea HereThis exhibition was prepared by the Studio; a corporateresource that aims to encourage innovation in Dublin City

Council. We run the annual sta ideas scheme to encouragesta to come up with new ideas and put them intoaction. We are launching the NEW Sta IdeasScheme and are calling out for more ideas toimprove the city and the council.Ideas will be assessed anonymously by a panel

made up of people from various departments andprevious winners of the scheme. If your idea isshortlisted you will have the opportunity to developand implement your idea and you could see YOUR ideahere next year!

So hurry up and submit your idea before Friday 25th October.

Submityou

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Tel.(01)2226880.


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Walk on the Wild SideGrace Maguire, inspired by the Great

Western Greenway in Mayo had the idea to

start urban greenway walks in the city. The

first walk was launched in September 2012

when over 250 people took part in a walk

along the River Dodder from Terenure to

Donnybrook. Maps of the route were

distributed and refreshments provided.

Following the success of this event a new

walking group was set up under the Lets

Walk and Talk initiative. Due to the level of

interest in the Greenway Walks Grace is

now looking to develop walking trails along

the Grand Canal and along the Liey toPoolbeg and to identify new village walking

trails. A new walking trail has just been

launched in Ranelagh village with a

programme of events and maps to highlight

points of interest along the way.

Grace Maguire, South East Area


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Friends of Green

SpacesMartin Taylor is a Community Ocer who

identified a number of derelict green areas

that are not being used for the benefit of the

local community. His idea was to start a

friends of green spaces scheme to give

people the opportunity to become active

citizens by taking ownership of these sites

and turning them into attractive green

spaces. Parks and Housing Departments

support the programme by supplying

expertise and equipment. The scheme also

engages with young people giving them an

opportunity to learn about gardening. Local

residents in housing schemes across theSouth-East Area of the city including Pearse

House, Whitefriar Street, York Street and

Charlemont Court are now developing

communal gardens that are a local focal point.

The scheme is now being rolled out city-wide,

getting locals and retailers involved in public

green spaces such as Donnybrook village and

Sandymount Green.

Martin Taylor, South East Area

Donnybrook village

Pearse House


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Smarter WorkingVincent OReilly had the idea of using our sta

ID cards to double up as swipe cards for the

new FollowMe printing system, instead of a

separate fob. This idea has now been fully

implemented throughout Civic Oces and

some other council buildings. It involved input

from a number of departments Human

Resources, Information Systems and

Corporate Services and is working well. A

new type of card with integrated wireless

technology was introduced, which meant all

sta ID cards had to be re-printed, but thanks to a big eort from

Facilities Management and Customer Services this was done very

quickly. A saving has been made in that the cost of the new card isless than half that of a fob. One card now works on the printers,

doors, flexitime system and canteen services so we now only have to

carry around one card instead of having carrying a fob around too.

One less thing to forget!

Vincent OReilly, Human Resources


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Sharing Procurement

InformationGreg Byrne had the idea to set up

a Dublin City Council Contract

Register to make available to all

sta members the details of all

currently awarded contracts

across the organisation and their

associated goods and services.

Since starting this idea, Greg has

gone on to develop a dynamic

web application which is up and running since June 2013 on

Dubnet. Sta members can now check the details of all supply,

service and works contracts or browse a list all contracted

suppliers. This makes it easy for sta to find out where to buy

all kinds of items from building materials to oce equipmentor to procure services such as advertising, printing or

landscaping services. Information is updated daily by sta in

the Central Procurement Unit. The contract register generates

cost savings by allowing sta to avail of more competitive

prices and also highlights opportunities for collaboration on

the procurement of goods and services, to improve

eciencies throughout the organisation.

Greg Byrne, Finance Department


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Sharing Sta SkillsEileen Dennan had the idea to set up the Dublin

City Council Skills Exchange Register to bring

together the people who have work related

skills with those who need them. The idea isthat sta can volunteer to assist other sections

by sharing these skills for a short time-period,

provided their line manager agrees. To test the

concept, Eileen piloted the idea for 3 months in

the Civic Oces. She set up a skill-sharing register on

Dubnet, where people signed up to register their skill or to

request skills they require. Over the 3 month trial 45 skill sets

were registered including languages, design, facilitation,

photography and computer skills, among others. The pilot

showed that many sta are willing to share their skills,resources permitting and welcome the opportunity to work

with others across the organisation. The skillshare is in beta

mode and awaiting evaluation to plan next steps.

Eileen Dennan, Information Systems


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After talking to retired colleagues,

Michael Doherty came up with the

idea of sending a copy of First Post,

the Councils sta magazine to all

retired and former council sta so

that they can be kept updated on

events, activities, classes and news

in Dublin City Council. To save on

cost and the environment he

decided to send a digital copy of the

newsletter. He had the idea to

attach a flyer to the payslips so that each pensioner

could return their e-mail address by post or email to

be included on a distribution list. Thanks to theco-operation of sta in the Communications Section,

Salary and Wages Section and Human Resources over

500 pensioners emails have been collected since

October 2011. Now when any member of sta is

leaving they are asked if they wish to receive the First

Post by e-mail to keep in touch with friends and

colleagues at minimal cost to the organisation.

Michael Doherty, Information Systems

Keeping in Touch

with Retired Sta


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Wastewater Services are top of the class when it

comes to innovation and have had several ideas

shortlisted by the Ideas Scheme. One such idea

was to encourage sta to complete their driver

training on their own time, saving the council

time and money. Drainage have even started

their own internal ideas scheme to encourage

sta to come up with ideas specific to their

working environment; from the installation of

mirrors to help complete vehicle checklists, use

of green diesel on all auxiliary equipment and

task specific manual handling training.

Another idea was the wet-well foul sumpsproject, which completely reviewed the way

pumping stations operate by examining wet

well cleaning and pump eciencies. New

methods were devised which resulted in fewer

blockages, greater automation and the

reduction in the number of times sta have to

enter these hazardous environments. A case

study showed that the Ballymun Pumping

Station is operating 20% more eciently atpresent with an annual saving of around 5,000

on electricity while man-hours spent on sump

cleaning have reduced from 592hrs in 2010 to

33hrs in 2012.

Walter OMalley, Joe Reynolds, Ernie Gorman, Terry OBrien, Dick

Lord, Paddy Higgins, Ciaran ORuanaidh and Mick Kenny, Wastewater

Services Division

Top Innovators

Before

After


10/14

Roy O Donnell emerged as a serial inventor after

winning three prizes in the sta ideas scheme.

Working in the Drainage division as a gully manager,

he saw the problems that the crews experienced in

trying to keep the cities drainage system in working

order. To make the work easier, safer and to improve

eciency Roy invented a number of devices, which

were designed by him and manufactured to his

specifications. The Gully Cleaning Eye Cap Holder is

a retrofit unit that allows direct access for cleaning

older gullies. The design has been patented in

Ireland and the UK in a joint application between

Roy and the council, which is a first for Dublin City

Council. The retro-fitting of 369 gullies has led tosavings of approximately 250,000 to date with

approximately 1300 retro-fits needed.

Roys other inventions include a Push Cam Wheel Unit and CCTV extension

tube to survey and jet pipelines from above ground without having to enter

the manhole chamber or pipeline.

Roy O Donnell, Mark Gleeson & Gully Cleaning Crew,

South Side Construction Crews

Des Carthy, Colm Doyle , Walter OMalley

& James Murphy, Drainage Division

Original Designs


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Small Idea,

Big ImpactGerry Moore works at Maple House Homeless Hostel.

He noticed that lights were being left on all the time

resulting in large electricity bills. While certain areas of

the hostel need to be lit for both client and sta safety,

he wondered if the council could cut back on electricity

use in other areas without compromising on security.

Gerry and his colleague Shane Grouse came up with the

idea of installing sensor lights in communal areas such

as toilets, hallways and stairways. They got support from

their managers and the sensors were installed. This

resulted in savings of 835 on the first electricity bill

after the sensors were installed in comparison to the

same period in the previous year, showing that small

ideas can generate big savings. Gerry hopes his idea willencourage other sta to put forward their own ideas

and contribute something positive in these hard times.

Shane Grouse and Gerry Moore, Homeless Section


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When a firefighter receives an emergency

call, time is of the essence. Because the

house numbering system in some housing

estates is non-sequential, fire and

ambulance crews can lose valuable time infinding the right address. To overcome this

problem, firefighter Cathal Garvey created

a route marking system which makes it

easier to locate addresses. The house

numbers are colour coded on a map and

the corresponding coloured route can be

followed from the entrance to the section

of the estate leading directly to the

particular house. During testing of his ideain Darndale, Cathal found that 80 per cent

of responders make mistakes when

locating the address but when using the

colour coded maps their emergency

response times are at least twice as fast

and they did not make any mistakes. This

shows how even a small idea could

potentially be lifesaving.

Cathal Garvey, Dublin Fire Brigade

Finding the Right Path

in an Emergency

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1-10, 11-14, 15-39,40-43,44-48,49-53,

54-57,58-56,67-71,72-76,77-79, 80,

81-83, 84-86,87-89,90-92, 93-94,95-101,

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123-148, 149-152, 153-156, 157-160, 161-163


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Shane Waring felt that Dublin needed to

find a way to better innovate, so began

Dublin City Beta Projects as a trial in April

2012. It asks Dublin (both Council and

citizens) to suggest solutions to city issues

and opportunities. Those solutions are

then temporarily trialed 'on the street' to

help people visualize the suggestion and

also generate real-world measurements

for the Council.

The public response has been extremely

positive with over 2500 followers on

social media, regularly contributingsuggestions and solutions on such

wide-ranging topics as cycling, on-street dumping, street art,

vacant sites and digital mapping. The project is trialing a 1%

Innovation Fund, uses a transparent system to better manage the

suggestions that it receives, has been included in Dublins new

Digital Masterplan and also is generating interest from other

cities in Ireland and abroad.

More info at dubcitybeta.wordpress.com

Get in touch at [email protected] or on Twitter or

Facebook!

Shane Waring, City Architects

Transform Your Street

with a Beta Project


14/14

Eric Lavelles idea was based on using

Photovoltaics as a renewable energy to reduce

the electricity costs for Ballyboden Water

Treatment Plant. Eric prepared a feasibility

report, which looked at the annual electricityconsumption for 2011 and estimated that 80%

of this could be powered during daylight hours,

the Water Treatment Plant is operated 24/7. The

payback period from one contractor came back at 9 years,

considering electricity prices are going up by nearly 10% every

year this could bring this figure down to 8 years and so on.

There is also a 25 year guarantee on the Photovoltaic units

which would give a minimum of 16 years operational savings.

Preparing the report made Eric more aware of the energy

ineciencies that were on site. He is currently looking at ways

we could improve on them so watch this space for further

news about this ambitious idea.

Eric Lavelle, Water Services.

Renewable Energy

Sources

Staff Ideas Exhibition Dublin City Council

Documents

Transcript of Staff Ideas Exhibition Dublin City Council