HSL is to run a 5 day course on Biosafety – concepts and working practices at Containment Level 3.

Please email your expression of interest

This is a four day course (run over five days) on working in and with a Microbiological Containment Level 3 facility. It will comprise a number of modules presented by a combination of interactive theory, practical and workshop training.

You will achieve a greater understanding of the work carried out within a Containment Level 3 facility, the equipment used and the concepts and philosophy of working with biological agents at that level of containment.  It will also cover the design, management and legislative requirements associated with operating a Containment Level 3 laboratory facility. It will also provide the skills and confidence to deal with accidents and incidents and to enforce their duty and the duty of others in maintaining and working in a safe environment.

Anyone working at or intending to start work at Containment Level 3 also Safety Advisors, Biological Safety Officers who support Containment Level 3 facilities.

Previous experience working at Containment Level 2 is essential.

The course will be presented as a collaboration between HSL and Sharon Webster of Webster’s Biosafety.Sharon has over 20 years in the microbiological industry having worked as a scientist and Biological Safety Officer at HPA Porton Down as Head of Health and Safety at Institute for Animal Health and for HSE as a specialist microbiology inspector. She is currently Corporate Biosafety Manager for the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and is a Biosafety Consultant and trainer. She is also a Chartered Member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (CMIOSH) and a registered Biosafety Professional with the Institute of Safety in Technology and Research (ISTR BSP) and is on the Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register. (OSHCR).

HSL staff presenting the course will include Brian Crook, Microbiology Team Leader with 25 years’ experience as a research microbiologist in occupational health and safety including working with Hazard Group 3 pathogens.  Other HSL staff will include specialists in human factors and the design and use of personal protective equipment and ventilation systems.  Practical sessions in HSL’s Containment Level 3 laboratory facilities will provide hands-on opportunity to understand the design and operation of such facilities

The course will be run at the HSL laboratory in the spa town of Buxton. Buxton is in the heart of the Peak District and has good links to mainline train stations and Manchester International Airport. This course can be run at your site or local area by arrangement.

The cost of this course is £1950 per person (includes course notes, guidance book, lunch/refreshments and a course dinner on the second night).

Please note the invoice option is not available within 4 weeks of the course date, or for overseas customers.  If you are selecting the invoice option for payment, it will be mandatory to input a purchase order/reference number as we are unable to process booking forms without this.

For further dates and additional information email: training@hsl.gsi.gov.uk or contact the Training & Conferences Unit
at HSL directly on +44 (0)1298 218806.

Back to Health & Safety Training Courses

A commission will be established to deliberate important policies on cyber security and organize reviews, according to a document released by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) on Tuesday.

The document, on the security of Internet products and services, has just been released for public opinion. The CAC will establish the commission with other authorities.

The document proposed that Internet products and services related to national security and public interests should undergo a security review.

According to the CAC, the reviews will focus on whether the products or services are secure and sufficiently managed, and on assessing risks for them to be illegally controlled, disrupted or interrupted.

The reviews will also evaluate whether there is any risks that the providers are taking advantage of their products and services to illegally gather, store, process or use user information.

In addition, unfair competition, monopolization or any other functions that may damage users’ interests will be reviewed, according to the CAC.

Any service or product that fails the review will be blacklisted, making them off limits to all Communist Party of China organs, government departments, and key industries.

The central authorities Tuesday issued guidelines on an ecological “red line” that will declare certain regions under mandatory and rigorous protection.

The document was jointly issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council.

By the end of 2020, according to the document, China should have clearly defined the “red line.”

Given that China’s ecological environment remains fragile and the environmental safety situation is pretty grim, the ecological “red line” serves as both a “bottom line” and a “lifeline” in safeguarding national ecological safety, according to the document.

The “red line” strategy will cover regions with important ecological functions, including water and soil conservation, biodiversity maintenance as well as windbreak and sand-fixation, along with ecologically fragile regions which are prone to soil erosion, desertification and salinization.

The guidelines asked Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, as well as regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt to draw up a “red line” for ecological protection by the end of 2017, while other areas should come up with a “red line” before the end of 2018.

By the end of 2020, the demarcation of the border and calibration of the regions should be completed and an ecological protection “red line” system will be basically established.

By 2030, the layout of the ecological protection “red line” will be further optimized, effectively implemented, the ecological function of the regions promoted, and national ecological safety guaranteed, according to the document.

The move aims to ensure protected regions will not be ecologically degraded, and their acreage will not be decreased.

“China started to explore the theory and methods of the ‘red line’ in 2012 and made a series of pilots programs,” said Lu Jun, deputy head of the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning.

China’s environmental protection still lags behind its economic status, and decades of breakneck growth have left the country saddled with problems such as smog and contaminated waterways and soil.

In one of its latest attempts to fight pollution, China appointed “river chiefs” nationwide in December.

China detained 720 people for environment-related crimes in 2016, according to the national environment work conference in January.

Through public tip-offs and random checks, inspectors looked into 33,000 cases and imposed fines totalling 440 million yuan (about 63.6 million U.S. dollars) after central government inspections in several provinces and municipalities, including Beijing and Shanghai.

Last year, a total of 4.05 million high-emission vehicles were taken off the country’s roads.

Partly due to such efforts, Chinese cities reported less PM2.5 pollution in 2016, with the average density of PM2.5 in 338 cities falling by 6 percent. Meanwhile, days with good air quality rose 2.1 percent from a year ago.

7 February 2017

* Keith Taylor MEP: “The government has been exposed, yet again, as failing in its duty to take even the most basic action to combat an air pollution crisis that needlessly claims the lives of more than 50,000 people in Britain every year.”

Keith Taylor, Green MEP for the South East, has slammed the Conservative government for its consistent failure to tackle the air pollution crisis, as the EU prepares to escalate action against the UK for breaching air quality laws.

The latest EU review has revealed multiple failings by the UK Government in applying environmental law, with Britain being in breach of vital EU nitrogen dioxide (NO2) limits since 2010 and London overshooting its whole 2017 limit in the first five days of the year.

It is understood that the results of the review will be sent on 15 February to the UK. A court case at the European Court of Justice could follow if the UK Government fails to send a satisfactory response to the findings.

Keith Taylor MEP, a vocal air quality campaigner, is urging the UK government to finally take seriously its responsibility for the health of British citizens.

“The government has been exposed, yet again, as failing in its duty to take even the most basic action to combat an air pollution crisis that needlessly claims the lives of more than 50,000 people in Britain every year.”

“The failure highlighted by the European Commission review is as much moral as it is legal; Ministers have displayed an extremely concerning attitude of indifference towards their duty to safeguard the health of British citizens.”

“That the European Commission is having to hold to account this government for a public health crisis that costs the British public more than £20bn a year is a shameful indictment of the Conservatives’ irresponsible and deadly apathy.”

“Theresa May’s administration is failing to do even the bare minimum, as required by EU laws the UK itself helped to set, to improve the quality of the air we all breathe. The bare minimum.”

“Where embraced and enforced, EU air pollution limits are helping to prevent thousands of deaths every year and saving billions of pounds in direct health costs. In fact, this government readily acknowledges that it is EU law that has been the driver of any positive air quality action in the UK. For the sake of the health and prosperity of the British people, we cannot risk scrapping these safeguards.”

“The government must finally face up to its moral and legal responsibility for tackling Britain’s air quality crisis. Ministers must now be forced to make a firm commitment to abiding by and fully implementing EU air quality laws. Theresa May must also make maintaining and strengthening these vital protections a priority as Britain prepares to leave the EU.”

Tweet

Back to main news page

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Andrew
Gwynne, Labour’s shadow minister without portfolio, commenting on new rules from the
DFT covering access to taxis for disabled people, said:

“It is
welcoming to see the Government taking a positive step to help to prevent some
of the discrimination faced by wheelchair users, finally bringing into force
this aspect of the Equality Act of 2010.

“This new
rule matches those already in place to prevent discrimination against users of
assistance dogs, but still in the last year YouGov research showed that 42% of
assistance dog owners reported being turned away by a taxi or minicab

“Labour’s
Disability Equality Roadshow is touring the country, listening to disabled
people, many of whom have raised discrimination as an issue.

“Unfortunately
the Private Members Bill I introduced earlier this year to fix this problem was
talked out by the Government, but I trust the Accessibility action plan will
take on the recommendations suggested within my Bill.“