News from around the World

News Archive

July 2022

Extreme heatwave safety advice issued by RoSPA

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has issued precautionary advice to the UK public in a bid to lower the rate of accidents most commonly associated with extremely hot weather.

In a first for RoSPA, leading policy spokespeople from across the charity’s focuses, such as road, leisure and home safety, have collaborated to produce essential safety advice in response to the current warm weather and incoming heatwave anticipated in the coming days. Heatwaves can often have catastrophic implications for the vulnerable, as well as those that don’t use caution when encountering extreme temperatures. A government monitoring report from 2020 revealed that were 2,500 heatwave-related deaths in the UK, a year that saw temperatures rise as hot as 37 degrees in some areas of southeast east of England.

The Met Office has released a statement to alert the public of the imminent Red weather warning that a large part of the British Isles will see, with the peak of heat arriving on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

As a result, RoSPA has responded with this advice and guidance.

Latest OSH UPDATE + FIRE Newsletter published

The latest OSH UPDATE + FIRE Newsletter celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Robens Report which revolutionised the approach to health and safety in the United Kingdom and many other countries.

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Robens Report published in 1972 in the UK

July 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of The Robens Report, The Safety and health at work: report of the committee 1970-1972 (Robens et al, 1972) that outlined a series of recommendations aimed at overhauling the nation’s fragmented and overly prescriptive OSH regime.

It established the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA). Occupational safety, health and fire information has appeared in various formats over the centuries. You will find many examples of good practices, information, guidance and advice, research reports, leaflets, and BOOKS and much more that has been brought together in OSH UPDATE + FIRE www.oshupdate.com – THE key tool to all your health, safety and fire information requirements!

OSH UPDATE + FIRE is:

• is easily searchable by keywords, titles, journal names, standard number, authors, organisations, and will keep you and your colleagues alerted to hot topics such as air pollution, robots in the workplace, stress, wellbeing and aggression in the workplace, workplace health risks, lone workers, preparedness and business continuity, risk assessment, bio-terrorism, management of road risks, all aspects of fire and related fire topics, workplace health and safety and much more.
• long established from mid 1990s with some of the databases in the collection service having information going back over 80 years or more.
• arguably the largest electronic collection in the world in these very wide subject areas from worldwide sources. There is a special collection of OSH legislation, guidance and advice within OSH UPDATE and FIRE such as the US NIOSH, the UK Health and Safety Executive, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work and many more similar organisations in the world.

Review your health and safety goals for the rest of 2022

This time of the year is a good time for all organisations worldwide to review their health and safety goals for the rest of 2022 and decide on the training or re-training that is needed for all levels of staff whether they are working from home or actually in the workplace and update their information resources.

Check out the successful efforts that are included in OSH UPDATE + FIRE www.oshupdate.com and OSHWORLD www.oshworld.com and introduce them into your workplace!

It is always good to keep researching and finding out if there are services and other ways of keeping up to date in this fast-changing world of ours.

Time is precious and many people are really stretched in their jobs and find it difficult to keep ahead in current knowledge that they should have for their jobs.

So help is at hand for those working in health, safety, fire and fire related industries which are brought together in an easy to use web service entitled OSH UPDATE + FIRE that is constantly updated.

Then try these long established Practical, Affordable Solutions for your health, safety, fire and environment information needs from Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd.

For a 15 DAY FREE NO OBLIGATION TRIAL contact: Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd | email: sp@sheilapantry.com | or fill in the Interest form www.sheilapantry.com/interest.html

IWMC goes Madrid: Programme for the 21st International Water Mist Conference

The 21st International Water Mist Conference will take place in Madrid, Spain, on 9th and 10th November 2022. The conference hotel will be the Elba Madrid Alcalá Hotel. An exhibition will run alongside the conference.

As of today, the programme, which features a manifoldness of topics, can be viewed on the IWMA webpage as well as on the official conference webpage (which is accessible via the IWMA webpage).

The presentations that deal with systems in practice will be held on day one. The second day of the conference will mainly be dedicated to research and testing.

In all, the programme includes 22 presentations. The speakers come from countries such as Spain, Germany, Israel, the USA and the UK. The abstracts are available on the IWMA webpage.

The early bird period will end on 15th September 2022. The registration period will end on 4th November 2022. Special prices for residents of Spain are available throughout the registration period.

You may download the press release (as well as all other IWMA press releases) here: https://iwma.net/contact/press-room

The direct link to this press release: https://iwma.net/fileadmin/user_upload/press_releases/PM_IWMC_2022_programme_01072022.pdf

Hong Kong: 35 years after the handover basic rights are under unprecedented attack

The ITUC has made a submission to the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) outlining the decline of respect for civil and political liberties and trade union rights in Hong Kong, as the 35th anniversary of the territory’s handover is marked on 1 July.

The week of 4 July 2022, the UNHRC is due to review if the authorities in Hong Kong are maintaining their obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which continues to apply to Hong Kong after the handover to China in 1997.

In 2020, the UNHRC questioned the compatibility of the ICCPR and the PRC National Security Law in Hong Kong, the absence of universal suffrage in political election, as well as the suppression of the right to peaceful assembly and trade union registration.

Basic rights are under sustained attack as the Chinese Communist Party continues its political takeover of Hong Kong. The ITUC’s dossier includes:

• Prosecutions of eight trade unionists with subversion and sedition charges for their free exercise of rights under the ICCPR and ILO Convention No, 87;
• No public protest and rally has been allowed since 2020;
• HKCTU and more than 58 trade unions and civil society organisations have been forced to disband;
• De-registration procedures have been invoked against independent trade unions and journalists’ association;
• State-owned media campaigns against trade unions alleging that international trade union solidarity is a danger to national security; and
• Full-scale integration of the national security laws into labour regulation.

ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said: “This report is damning. The scale of the attacks on human, labour and political rights in Hong Kong is staggering.

“It is clear that rights enshrined in the ICCPR are being trampled on by systematic criminalisation of trade unionists and international solidarity, oppressive laws and widespread intimidation of civil society activities.

“We call on governments who care about freedom and democracy to mark this 35th anniversary by putting pressure on the governments in Hong Kong and Beijing to take action to respect, protect and fulfil its obligations under international human rights law.

“We are in complete solidarity with the trade unionists, human rights campaigners and democracy defenders in Hong Kong who are keeping the light of freedom shining in the face of this repression.”

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) represents 200 million members of 332 affiliates in 163 countries and territories.

For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on +32 2 224 02 53 or by e-mail: press@ituc-csi.org

New Book: SFPE Engineering Guide on Fire Safety for Very Tall Buildings

What’s New with the 2nd Edition?

In the first quarter of 2022 SFPE published the 2nd Edition of its Engineering Guide: Fire Safety for Very Tall Buildings. The 2nd edition was published by SFPE’s publishing partner Springer.

The Guide is intended to provoke thought in designing very tall buildings. It provides background, some code information, and engineering approaches that can be considered in the design of a very tall building.

More information: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-79014-1

New Book: The Construction Environmental Manual has been updated

The latest amendment includes the following updates.

A summary of the Environment Act 2021 and an update on the current position relevant to the construction industry.

• Section 1 Environmental Management – the Considerate Constructors Scheme revised Code of Conduct is added
• Section 3 Legislation – the Regulations requiring large companies and LLPs to include climate related risks and opportunities within their strategic reports is described, and in Appendix 1 the Statutory, Non-statutory and other guidance and standards is updated
• Section 4 Design – additions made to the Circular Economy and Energy sections
• Section 8 Contaminated Land – British Standards references updated
• Section 9 Materials – the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) is described
• Section 10 Nuisance – the Considerate Constructors Scheme revised Code of Conduct is added, and the latest details of the vehicle charging zones in Central and Greater London is updated
• Section 11 Waste – Landfill Tax rates updated
• Section 12 Energy, Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation – sections on Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards and Science Based Targets Initiative are added
• Section 17 Toolbox Talks – a new Toolbox Talk, SO2 Site Logistics and the Community has been added
• Section 19 Glossary – complete revision and updating
• Section 1 to Section 12 inclusive – minor updating of text and reference

To purchase a copy of the Manual including all the latest updates: https://www.cip-books.com/product-category/environment/environmental-manual

If you have a copy of the Manual but don’t subscribe to the updates email sales@cip-book.com to find out how to sign up to the Automatic Amendment Subscription Service.

The Manual is also available as an online service at https://www.cip-knowledge.com

FREE one month trials available.

Scand J Work Environ Health, July 2022, Volume 48, number 5

Editorial

Supporting workers with mental health problems at work: challenges and avenues

Review

Precarious employment and migrant workers’ mental health: a systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies

Original articles

Low-quality employment trajectories and the risk of common mental health disorders among individuals with Swedish and foreign background – a register-based cohort study

Integrating vocational rehabilitation and mental healthcare to improve the return-to-work process for people on sick leave with stress-related disorders: results from a randomized trial

Interaction of night shift work with polymorphism in melatonin receptor 1B gene on incident stroke

Working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic and its longitudinal association with physical activity and sedentary behaviour

The influence of chronic diseases and poor working conditions in working life expectancy across educational levels among older employees in The Netherlands

Cost and cost-effectiveness of the ‘Stand and Move at Work’ multicomponent intervention to reduce workplace sedentary time and cardiometabolic risk

Short-term exposure to stone minerals used in asphalt affect lung function and promote pulmonary inflammation among healthy adults

Full details: https://www.sjweh.fi/issue/358

Training from Health and Safety Executive (HSE)

HSE Inspectors’ Guide to Risk Management: Risk Assessment and Control

Discover how HSE examines and uses employers’ risk assessments, the common errors that HSE finds in the risk assessment process and how to use this information to manage risks more effectively and avoid enforcement action.

6 September 2022 – HSE Science and Research Centre, Buxton

18 to 19 October 2022 – Live online

30 November 2022 — London

£525 per person

Find out more: https://solutions.hse.gov.uk/health-and-safety-training-courses/hse-inspectors%27-guide-to-risk-management-risk-assessment-and-control

HSE Inspectors’ Guide to Electrical Safety

This workshop provides a practical understanding of what HSE inspectors are looking for in the control of electrical safety risks, including reviewing known high-risk electrical safety issues.

25 August 2022 – HSE Science and Research Centre, Buxton

27 to 28 September 2022 – Live online

12 October 2022 — London

5 to 6 December 2022 – Live online

£525 per person

Find out more: https://solutions.hse.gov.uk/health-and-safety-training-courses/hse-inspectors%e2%80%99-guide-to-electrical-safety

HSE Inspectors’ Guide to Improvement and Prohibition Notices

Learn why and when HSE takes formal enforcement action, how to influence formal HSE decisions and how to respond to receipt of a notice.

10 November 2022 – Live online

£525 per person

Find out more: https://solutions.hse.gov.uk/health-and-safety-training-courses/hse-inspectors%e2%80%99-guide-to-improvement-and-prohibition-notices