REHIS Journal 22-4 Winter (web version)

Transcription

Vol 22 - Number 4 Winter 2010
Environmental Health Scotland
The Royal Environmental Health
Institute of Scotland
19 Torphichen Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8HX
Tel: 0131 229 2968 Fax: 0131 228 2926 Website: www.rehis.com
Officers of the Institute
President: Alistair Thomson
Senior Vice-President: Paul Bradley
Junior Vice-President: Bernard Forteath
Past President: Rod House
Past President: Colin Wallace
Northern Centre Chairman: Karen Foote
Southern Centre Chairman: Drew Hall
Northern Centre Secretary: Bob Drummond
Southern Centre Secretary: Andrew McPherson
Honorary Treasurer: Martin Henry
Courses Co-ordinator: Martin Keeley
Members of Council
Wendy Barrie
George McCracken
Heather Dick
Alan Morrison
Christine Fraser
Christine Morrison
Sandy Fraser
Graham Robertson
Raymond Hubbocks
John Sleith
Brian Lawrie
Robert Steenson
Lorrainne MacGillivray
Evonne Tennant
Sarah MacLeod-Bonnar
Jim Thomson
Honorary Vice-Presidents
George Georgallas
Stewart Maxwell MSP
Robin Harper MSP
Ann Marie Part
Kenneth Macintosh MSP
***
Chief Executive: Tom Bell
Director of Professional Development: Robert Howe
Director of Training: Graham Walker
Training Adviser: Ian McGruther
Training Adviser: Dr Jane Bunting
Volume 22, Number 4
Winter 2010
The Journal of The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland
CONTENTS
ISSN 0950-3277
Environmental Health Scotland is published by
the Council of The Royal Environmental Health
Institute of Scotland.
Editor: Tom Bell
The views expressed in this Journal are not
necessarily those of The Royal Environmental
Health Institute of Scotland, the publisher or the
editor. Articles, news items or letters are welcomed
for publication but the publisher reserves the right to
edit contributions as the editor sees fit. At the editor’s
discretion, items submitted for publication will be peer
reviewed. All material is submitted at owner’s risk.
The publisher cannot be held responsible for loss or
damage, however caused.
Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher
and copyright holder.
The President’s View
4
‘With Glowing Hearts’ - A Health
Protection Perspective on the 2010
Winter Olympic Games
5
Journalism Award 2010 - Winner
10
Environmental Business Award Scheme
12
REHIS Conference 2011
13
Response to the Rt Hon Lord Young of
Graffham’s Report: Review of Health
and Safety: Update
14
Management Committee
15
Professional Development
16
HSE LAU News
17
Nicos Paspallis, 1952-2010
18
REHIS Annual Awards Ceremony 2010
19
News in Brief
24
Public Health and Housing Working Group25
Planning for Change26
SEPA News29
Scottish Pollution Control Co-ordinating
Committee30
Food Standards Agency News31
Civic Government (Scotland) Act, 1982
Section 49 Hearing
34
Food Law Enforcement Practitioners35
Health and Safety Prosecution by
Falkirk Council36
Meritorious Endeavours in Environmental
Health Award37
Donald MacKay MBE, 1917-201038
Ronald Dunn, 1941-2010
On the cover: Rod House presents Alistair
Thomson with the President’s Chain of Office.
38
THE PRESIDENT’S VIEW
all, particularly those members in outlying rural and
island authorities whereby CPD training can be
accessed.
Further afield, our connections with Malawi and the
International Federation of Environmental Health
have enabled us to contribute to Environmental Health
on an international level. Members will be aware
of the gratitude shown by our colleagues in Malawi
for our continued support.
Looking forward to 2011, I believe the most
important challenge to the Institute and the Profession
as a whole is the continued doubt over the future of
the BSc (Hons) Environmental Health degree course
at Strathclyde University. The ever-increasing likelihood of local authorities not taking on Student/
Graduate Trainee EHOs due to budget constraints
and the current economic pressures on the university
combine to present a potent mixture of negative threats.
However, I can assure members that the Institute is
doing everything possible to ensure the provision of
an undergraduate degree course in Scotland for the
foreseeable future.
Alistair Thomson
The end of one year and the start of another is a
time for reviewing one’s achievements and
disappointments and for making resolutions for the
coming year. Experience tells us that to approach
this with anything less than enthusiasm, confidence
and optimism, irrespective of the eventual outcome,
is ill-advised.
The current changes within local authorities, with
associated mass voluntary (and in some cases
compulsory) redundancies are reminiscent of
the challenges to the Profession experienced at
the time of previous local government reorganisations
in 1974 and 1996. In contemplating the outcome
of current events it is obvious that many
experienced and competent officers will be lost to
the Profession and the Service. The challenge to
those remaining will be to utilise their management
and professional skills to ensure minimum impact on
service delivery and a continued high level of health
protection for the people of Scotland. However,
as with previous step-changes, I am extremely
confident that the younger officers who step into
new positions will bring a fresh vision, backed by
a positive and enthusiastic attitude to addressing
the challenges we will meet in the next few years.
Looking back on 2010, the achievements of the Institute
have been considerable. At a time when property
prices were favourable, REHIS, for the first time in
its history, purchased office premises in the heart of
Edinburgh. The new office will provide a permanent
base for all the work we do without the future pressure
of rising rents and will further secure the future of the
Institute. It is hoped that the office will be formally
opened in 2011. Watch this space!
Other achievements included the continuing success
of our community training courses delivered via the
Institute’s Approved Training Centres with a general
upward trend in the number of certificates issued despite
the current economic situation.
One area of work of which I am particularly proud
is that of the Technical Working Groups where the
enthusiasm of members abounds and every challenge, be
it consultation on, or implementation of new legislation
is embraced and debated in a positive atmosphere
with professional skill and common sense.
I foresee many potential operational changes in the
way the Service is provided, including the increase
of mobile/home-based working. In such times, the
importance of membership of a body of like-minded
professionals such as REHIS becomes even more
important to the individual professional and technical
staff. I am confident that the future bodes well for
the Institute in continuing its good works for the
benefit of members and communities within Scotland
and overseas.
This enthusiastic approach is also reflected in the
Northern and Southern Centres. Attendance and
interest in the Centre meetings is on the increase,
not least due to the efforts of the committees in
organising video-conferencing facilities (a recent
Northern Centre meeting was ‘attended’ by more
than 60 delegates). This has been well received by
‘With Glowing Hearts’ - A Health Protection
Perspective on the 2010 Winter OLYMPIC Games
by Domenic Losito, Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors
daily basis for all ‘inside the fence’ and ‘outside
the fence’ food outlets (to view go to www.
inspectionreportsweb.vcha.ca and enter 2010
in the ‘Search By’ field)
“The opinions expressed in this article are those of
the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of
Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.”
It was with a big sigh of relief (or was it collective
exhaustion) that the Environmental Health Officers
(EHOs) at Vancouver Coastal Health watched, with
pride, the Closing Ceremonies of both the Olympic
and Paralympic Winter Games at the end of February
and mid-March respectively. Who would have
thought back on 2 July 2003 when we huddled around
my office TV screen to see Vancouver awarded the
2010 Winter Games, what delivering public health
protection services to the Olympic Games would have
entailed and how much satisfaction was involved?!
That day kicked off over six years of planning,
including the requisite visits on my part to Salt Lake
City and Torino (hey, part of the job!). We adopted
their best practices and developed some of our own,
based loosely on the experiences of others with food
safety, drinking water quality and waste removal at
mass gathering events. Some of the key elements of
our plan were:
•
operate without any additional resources (hey,
not our choice, but we delivered!)
•
blitzing our existing 7,000 food service
establishments in the six months leading up to
the Games
•
modifying our EHOs’ work schedule to allow
for 18 hour/day, seven day a week coverage,
utilizing four on/four off staggered shifts of
approximately ten hours (including breaks)
•
utilizing teams of two EHOs at most venues and
utilizing tablet technology with air cards to enter
inspections in real time
•
targeting each food facility with a thorough
pre-opening inspection, followed by daily ‘quick
hit’ audit-type inspections and a mid-Games
thorough inspection
•
providing venue catering managers and
VANOC Food and Beverage with copies
of their reports, and posting all reports to
the VCH Inspection Reports Public Portal
(powered by Hedgerow Software™) on a
•
developing an overall Food Safety Plan
with VANOC, who then made adoption and
implementation of the plan a requirement of
their contracts with the various caterers
•
working closely with our Fraser Health
counterparts to ensure that the food suppliers
and caterers (including some Olympic caterers)
located within our neighbouring health authority
were meeting all standards and requirements
•
reviewing plans for each catering location and
sitting down with the caterers closer to Games
time to better understand the complexity of
their menus (many were quite simple) and their
critical control points
•
on the non-food side, ensuring that water systems
were capable of providing safe, high quality
water to all venues during the run of the Games
and ensuring that any deliberate contamination
of drinking water would be discovered rapidly,
with the use of real time parameters monitoring
as well as daily grab sampling
•
reviewing and approving a large number of
temporary water systems (essentially large
“I just wanted to take a moment to express my
deep appreciation to both you and your team at
Vancouver Coastal Health for your help with our
project at the 2010 Olympic Games for the US
Olympic Committee. Working in a new market is
always challenging and having to do it in a one in
a lifetime situation like an Olympic Games brings
the challenge to a whole new level. We appreciate
your help and flexibility with the permitting
process and your guidance in navigating all the red
tape that can come with putting on a production
of this size.”
An e-mail from Frank Lombardi, Framboise
Catering Team, caterers to the USA House at
Vancouver 2010
bladders within shipping containers to provide
water for drinking, handwashing and sanitary
purposes) at remote (mountain) locations and
urban locations
•
providing support and education to the hospitality
and accommodation industry with respect to
norovirus protocols, CD response and bedbug
control
•
working closely with VANOC Venue Services
and Medical Services to provide as close to a
smoke-free Games experience (once inside the
‘fence’) as possible, both indoors and out
•
finally, putting all of these activities into a
Concept of Operations.
facility (some were pre-existing food services, such
as at BC Place, GM/Canada Hockey Place and the
Vancouver Convention Centre), followed by, at least
initially, daily audit or quick-hit inspections. MidGames we planned for another thorough inspection
followed by another week of daily (sometimes less
frequent) inspections. The audit inspections involved
the use of Hedgehog Classic on our tablet computers
utilizing a drop down list of ten to twelve major areas
of food safety compliance (and a quick check of nonsmoking compliance) with the resultant reports wired
back to the Hedgehog server for distribution and
ultimate same-day posting on the Public Disclosure
website.
We inspected 143 ‘outside the fence’ temporary food
services as well as 274 ‘inside the fence’ VANOCrelated food services in the 28 days of February, for a
total of 417 facilities. There were 1,282 inspections
inside the fence and 784 outside the fence, and we
even found time for 777 inspections of normal food
services in the community.
Food safety
Food safety monitoring was where we put the most
emphasis, both inside the fence at venues and outside
in the broader community at Olympic-related sites
and within our existing food service establishments.
Hey, we didn’t want to be blamed for interfering
with a Gold Medal performance because someone
came down with foodborne illness! Our Concept
of Operations, worked out with VANOC Food and
Beverage and the various caterers, saw us conducting
a thorough pre-opening inspection of each temporary
We found that in excess of 95% of inspection
findings were recorded as either ‘In Compliance’
or ‘Corrected During Inspection’, running contrary
to some of the sensationalized media stories which
trumpeted that fully 1/3 of Olympic Food Venues
were ‘failing inspections’. Given our approach to
the Olympic Games was to consider them as simply
an exceedingly large (and complicated) special event,
I’d have to say that we were generally quite pleased
with the compliance levels. We did issue one Public
Health Act order and were on the verge of one closure
of a ‘National House’, but generally the food safety
aspects were well-taken care of. We did have some
challenges with the two Athletes’ Village Kitchens
(where the largest number of meals were served and the
greatest complexity of food preparation was involved)
but these were mainly concerning tray and utensil
washing/sanitizing and some temperature controls of
displayed foods.
Food Sampling Program. At the Athletes’ Villages
we required the retention for 72 hours of a number of
selected entrée items, just in case we ended up with
an adverse event among the athletes. Fortunately, all
those samples were discarded with nothing to report in
terms of any foodborne illnesses. We also had remote,
radio-frequency real-time temperature monitoring in
place at the two Athletes’ Village kitchens, thanks
to Thermor and their BIOS system. This allowed
for a daily review of the temperature spreadsheets
to gauge the overall compliance with temperature
controls in walk-in coolers and fridges as well as
display units. Fancier versions of this technology
exist with the capability of sending results
back to the health unit office over the internet or to a
mobile device such as a Blackberry, iPhone or
Android device.
There was no evidence of food poisoning events
associated with the Games. As the graph indicates,
foodborne illness calls did increase above the
historical 5-week average for the weeks of the Olympic
(weeks 7 and 8) and Paralympic (weeks 10 and 11)
period. These reports were likely due to circulating
norovirus rather than food poisoning.
Drinking water
One of the challenges we faced was the delivery
of water (for food preparation, utensil washing,
hand-washing and toilet flushing) to temporary and
remote sites. We went down to the wire working with
VANOC and their contractors to ensure that the
temporary (bladder-type) water and waste-water
systems met the minimum requirements of the
Drinking Water Protection Act and Regulations.
The contractor was from the Netherlands and
Food sampling was conducted throughout the Games
and, except for a few exceedances at the Vancouver
Yaletown Live City site (chicken left out at room
temperature to cool) and a bit of an unsubstantiated
scare related to sushi at the Whistler Athletes’
Village, we came through with a clean slate for the
we had equivalencies to work out, sampling and
monitoring protocols to establish and permits to
issue. My thanks to Michael Wu, our Public Health
Engineer, and the Drinking Water Officers for
the work they did to ensure that these temporary
water systems were not introducing a risk to visitors,
workers, the media or athletes during the Games period.
We were also fortunate to have the Seymour stateof-the-art filtration plant come on line just before the
Olympics and provide water that met all international
and Canadian standards for safety and health concerns.
Daily reporting of significant parameters by Metro
Vancouver and the municipal water services was
much appreciated and helped address any concerns
that the IOC or VANOC might have had. The absence
of ‘brown’ water during the Olympics was a definite
plus and, interestingly, Metro Van had to only contend
with citizens asking why their water was ‘blue’!
We were prepared for a ‘rash’ (excuse the pun)
of bedbug complaints and we certainly received
them, starting before the Games got underway with
some German and Japanese media staying at some
local motels/hotels. There was even a rumour of
an athlete staying with his team in a Whistler condo
complaining of bedbug bites. Our EHOs responded
when requested by VANOC and investigated about
half a dozen complaints about bedbugs. One e-mail
complaint even included a rather graphic photo of
a reporter’s hand almost completely covered with
bedbug ‘bites’.
‘Smoke-Free’ Olympics
We worked hard with VANOC and the IOC Medical
Commission to establish a ‘2010 Smoke-Free and
Tobacco-Free’ Policy that would prohibit smoking,
not only in indoor venues but anywhere outdoors
once you were inside the security screening area.
Kudos to Roopy Khatkar, Christina Tonella and our
VCH team of Tobacco Reduction Co-ordinators for
developing and eventually evaluating the SmokeFree policy.
Housing
While we included ‘housing complaints’ as an area we
would look after in our Concept of Operations, little
did we know that one particular temporary housing
situation for VANOC workforce near Whistler would
make the news from the beginning to the end (and
beyond) of the Games. There were, at its peak, over
1,200 security and other workforce members bunked
at a temporary work camp, which utilized both
construction-type trailers and refurbished shipping
containers as sleeping/living quarters for the staff.
Early on we began to get reports of noro-like illnesses
and complaints of inadequate handwashing facilities,
tight sleeping quarters and questionable food
preparation practices. Our energetic staff in Sea-toSky jumped on this situation right away and found
no major fault with handwashing or food preparation
practices, but did note that the tight quarters could
be one factor in the spread of norovirus among the
workforce. The graph on the next page shows the
epidemic curve for the noro-like symptoms at the
workforce camp. The photo illustrates the tight
living conditions the workforce at this camp was
subjected to.
Unfortunately, VANOC acquiesced to pressure from
IOC and National Olympic Committee/Sport Federation
executives and decided to allow ‘limited’ outdoor
designated smoking areas. The administration of this
policy then got handed over to the Venue Services
department, who were less than enthusiastic about
enforcing the policy. An evaluation of the success (or
not) of the policy is being finalized and will be passed
on to the IOC Medical Commission for consideration
when it comes to London 2012 and Sochi 2014.
Lessons learned
For our counterparts in London, Sochi and Rio,
here are some lessons we learned from our Olympic
experience:
•
you can’t operate ‘as you normally do’ because
of the access and mobility limitations introduced
by the ‘accreditation’ process. While we had
generally free rein to conduct surprise inspections
in venue food facilities, this did not extend
to more secure areas for athletes, officials,
workforce and Olympic Family, where we had
to wait for escorts
•
the size, structure, and complexity of VANOC
and the IOC requirements that came along
with hosting a Games proved quite frustrating
in terms of knowing who to direct requests
to and how to get the right person’s attention
to a matter (eg, smoking at Broadcast Centre,
potential closure of an International House food
service, rumours of outbreaks)
•
while large, multi-faceted, and sometimes
complex, the health protection issues related to
an Olympic event can be appropriately addressed
using the same tools we use to address other
mass gathering events
•
the only difference is that many more eyes are
on you to see if you slip up (media, sponsors,
unions, national and international bodies and
your local citizenry)
•
while the Olympics benefit enormously from
the contributions of sponsors, there will come
a time when the strong influence those sponsors
have on what can be sold, communicated or
displayed at venues or within the venue
communities will bump up against broader social
and public health objectives.
into functional ‘silos’. For example ‘Snow, Cleaning
and Waste’, ‘Overlay’, ‘Venue Services’ and ‘Food
and Beverage’.
Communications were often a challenge from at least
two perspectives - trying to figure out who to contact
at VANOC to get certain issues corrected and lack
of communication between the various functional
groups at VANOC. Over and above that, there were
the challenges associated with access, accreditation
and security, which introduced a whole new meaning
to ‘surprise inspections’!
At the end of the day, I prefer to look at the glass
being half full and have concluded that we did make
a difference with respect to ensuring that the health of
spectators, visitors, workforce, volunteers, Olympic
Family and athletes was well protected during the 2010
Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games!
This would not have been possible without the
dedication, efforts and enthusiastic commitment
of the EHOs I’ve had the pleasure of working
with! While the only tangible evidence of their
contribution might be a very nice Olympic ‘uniform’,
their memories of this once in a lifetime experience
will stay with them and confirm that they made a
difference. My Italian Mountain Rescue hat off to all
of you who participated in some way!
Conclusion
At the risk of expressing the obvious, working with
a ‘temporary’ organization the size and complexity
of VANOC was, to say the least, ‘interesting’.
VANOC was organized (likely out of necessity or
perhaps based on the experience of previous Games)
Journalism AwarD 2010 Winner
by Lauren Mayberry
The following article was the winner of the Institute’s Journalism Award for 2010. Each year journalism students at the
University of Strathclyde’s Scottish Centre for Journalism Studies are given the opportunity to enter a competition for a prize
sponsored by REHIS. Articles entered in the competition must be relevant to Environmental Health. The Institute is grateful
to Bernard Forteath, who makes the necessary arrangements for the competition in conjunction with the Scottish Centre for
Journalism Studies, and is the Journalism Award assessor.
Most of us, at some point or another, will have
disappointed our mother by doing something extreme
to our appearance. Whether it’s wrecking your hair
by bleaching it white as a homage to that Courtney
Love look, or deciding it’s a really excellent idea to
tattoo some stars down your neck, nothing drives your
parents up the wall quite like a good bit of messing
around with the beautiful little body they created.
“Every tattoo and piercing place needs to have
licences, and there are regulations laid out that we
have to abide by. Initially, you’re licensed for one
year. After that, it can be renewed every three years.
The shop in general gets licensed, not the individual
artists, so it’s up to us to make sure we only have
great people working for us. You have to adhere to
certain protocols to get the licence in the first place,
and maintain the high standards to keep it.”
Yet, body piercing has become increasingly
acceptable in Scottish society in recent years.
No longer solely the domain of crusty old punks, there
are more than 200 skin piercing businesses in the
country, ranging from slick studios to independent,
mobile facilities run from homes. So, just how are
the public protected from potential health risks when
they opt to go under the piercing needle?
‘Tribe’, a stalwart of the piercing scheme in the
central belt with two additional studios in Edinburgh,
has adhered strictly to the set standards, avoiding
any incidents. The procedure has, however, proved
problematic elsewhere. Piercings are naturally prone
to infection, especially in moist or hard to keep clean
areas of the body. If an infection spreads, severe
flu-like symptoms may ensue, accompanied by high
fever, pain and redness in the pierced are which will
not abate until the foreign body has been removed.
Mark Brown has been working at ‘Tribe’ tattoo and
body piercing studio’ in Glasgow’s West End for
two years. “We get inspected annually with advance
warning, but you need to always be prepared for an
Environmental Health Officer’s visit, just in case. It’s
for our benefit as much as theirs,” he explains.
The British Dental Journal has published reports
stating that tongue piercings may cause cases of
severe infections leading to toxic shock syndrome
and septicaemia, whilst others have highlighted the
10
risk of cellulitis and transmission of Hepatitis B
or C and HIV via studio equipment. A 2008 study
by the British Medical Journal, meanwhile, found
that more than a quarter of all people who indulged
in cosmetic body piercing in any place other than an
earlobe experience some kind of complication, such
as swelling or infection, with 50% of people
considering the problem to be serious enough to seek
help from their GP or piercer.
In Scotland, however, there has been a move away
from self-policing in the industry and more stringent
measures have been put in place to keep piercing safe
as its popularity continues to rise. “All our studios
operate under the strictest hygiene regulations,”
Brown adds. “We regularly work with the media to
promote safe tattooing and piercing practices, and
to provide information in general about a still much
misunderstood artform.”
Since 2006, the Royal Environmental Health
Institute of Scotland has been working with Health
Protection Scotland and the Scottish Executive to
produce licensing rules which will allow for a consistent
approach by local authorities across Scotland, as
each individual council is responsible for inspecting
premises and issuing licences. For the first time,
Environmental Health Officers have been given strict
standards to assess regarding sterilisation, equipment
requirements and the general condition of piercing
premises. Any provider of skin piercing operating
without a licence or falling short of these conditions
could face temporary or even permanent closure.
also be given an aftercare leaflet, outlining how to
look after their new accessory as well as having their
attention drawn to a notice on the premises outlining
the cons of body piercing. Above all, clients must
feel comfortable with the premises and operator they
have gone to.
Given all the heebie jeebie-inducing potential risks,
one might wonder why people continue to be drawn
to body piercing. Brown believes it to be a creative
impulse, one which inspection officers are very sensitive
to: “It’s all about expression. It’s hard to say what
is the most popular type of piercing at the moment,
it’s a very personal thing and doesn’t always go in
trends.” Enthusiasts say the desire to redefine the body
via piercing and tattooing stems from ancient times,
with ear piercings in particular symbolising fertility
amongst tribeswomen.
Guidance documents and seminars are provided
for Environmental Health Officers responsible for
implementing the regulations, helping to bridge
the gap between local authorities and the piercing
industry. Organisations like the European Professional
Piercers Association (EPPA) have also expressed
their intent to change public opinion of piercing and
show it in a new, hygienic and arty light.
Brown hopes that the implementation of these more
stringent safety precautions will continue to lead to
a greater understanding of the industry as a whole.
“Generally, Environmental Health Departments are
very clued up and aware of the culture which we
work in. They’re very keen to look into what we do
from the right angle, and that makes it much more
effective from everyone’s point of view.” Who
knows - perhaps when I eventually get that parentally
unauthorised nose piercing, my dear old mum will
bear all this in mind and keep the screams of
“What have you done to your face?” to a minimum.
Equipment should be surgically scrubbed with
soap and hot water, with new disposable gloves
used for each client. Needles must be pre-packed
and pre-sterilised and used only once before being
disposed safely in a designated ‘sharps’ box. Studios
must ask about every customer’s health history, as
problems may arise if they suffer from heart disease
or eczema, for example. Potential piercing subjects
should fill in a form outlining any medical conditions
and produce a doctor’s note if required. They must
Photograph above is courtesy of Steven Parry Donald,
Edinburgh.
11
Environmental Business Award Scheme
by Billy Hamilton, Assistant Group Manager, Environmental Health, Glasgow City Council
Glasgow City Council’s new Environmental
Business Award Scheme was launched at an event
in the City Chambers in Glasgow on 29 June 2010
and was attended by a wide range of stakeholders
including businesses, elected members and
representatives of commercial sector organisations.
This is an important venture for the City Council’s
Environmental Health Service and is a good example
of how Environmental Health Officers can encourage
business performance in Glasgow along with their
regulatory role.
Environmental Health and Trading Standards
Officers will take a primary role in the assessment
of applications. An award panel will consider the
applications - as well as the recommendations and
comments of assessors who will conduct on-site
verification visits.
While the scheme’s key aim is to enhance
Glasgow’s reputation as a centre of excellence in
sustainability in advance of the 2014 Commonwealth
Games, it is also hoped that the offer of an award
will provide additional incentive to businesses to
comply with existing legislative requirements enforced
by the Council; no award will be made to a business
which does not meet basic compliance criteria in
areas such as:
The first recipient of an Environmental Business
award was ‘Gamba’, a fish restaurant trading in
West George Street in the City. Gamba’s proprietors
have demonstrated a commitment to a range of issues
including sustainable sourcing of fish, recycling, staff
training, food hygiene and the local environment.
The inaugural award was made to Gamba by HRH
Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales during his
Project Start tour on 6 September 2010 at Glasgow
Central Station.
The award scheme is designed to encourage
Glasgow businesses to improve their environmental
performance and it recognises good practice - beyond
legal requirements. Recipients of each award will be
able to advertise their success and use the award as
a demonstration of commitment to the environment.
There are no application costs and awards are granted
free of charge.
•
commercial waste
•
metrology
•
fair trading
•
food safety
•
health and safety at work
•
smoke-free legislation
•
general licensing requirements
•
business rates debt.
From left to right: Billy Hamilton, HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, Julie Robertson
(EHO, Glasgow - Award Scheme Co-ordinator) and Alan Tomkins (proprietor of Gamba).
12
Applicants which have demonstrated satisfactory
compliance will be assessed against the scheme’s
award criteria which are grouped under four key
headings:
Awards are graded at three levels, Bronze, Silver
and Gold. Each award will be held by the business
indefinitely - and may be removed at a future dater
at the discretion of the Council.
•
Alastair Brown, Head of Environmental Health and
Trading Standards at Glasgow City Council said:
•
Environmental Action - the only compulsory
component - includes performance on energy
reduction, use of sustainable transport,
use of local resources, biodiversity and
water conservation
“This has been an excellent opportunity for the
Environmental Health Service in Glasgow and
shows how Environmental Health Officers can add
to key agendas. Glasgow has strong aspirations to
become a more sustainable city and Environmental
Health can play a big part in helping with this.”
Business Environment - includes community
engagement, condition of business environs,
noise management and control of emissions
and fumes
•
Waste Management - includes waste
minimisation and recycling
•
Safety, Health and Quality - covering training,
healthy eating, awards and quality and best
practice.
For further information on the Environmental
Business Awards, go to www.glasgow.gov.uk/eba.
***
REHIS Conference 2011
The 2011 REHIS Annual Conference will be presented at the Glynhill Hotel, Renfrew on Wednesday 25 and
Thursday 26 May - the same venue as the 2010 Conference. The President is currently putting the final touches
to the programme which will be launched in the near future.
13
Response to THE RT HON Lord Young OF GRAFFHAM’S Report:
review of Health and Safety: UPDATE
by Robert Howe, Director of Professional Development
The Royal Environmental Health Institute of
Scotland welcomes the publication of Lord Young’s
report on health and safety and the recognition that
the Health and Safety at Work Act is important
as an effective framework when it is applied in a
proportionate and consistent manner. The Royal
Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS)
is committed to promoting a common sense and
proportionate approach to dealing with serious risks
in the workplace and will work with stakeholders to
continue to uphold these values.
importance of providing advice and guidance
to small and medium sized enterprises and this has
developed into a large proportion of their work.
REHIS, therefore welcomes the proposal for increasing
the availability of advice, information and guidance.
The provision of advice and guidance, however,
should not develop into anything other than a toolkit
for business as compliance is the responsibility of the
duty holder and not the enforcing authority.
Whilst REHIS supports the general conclusions and
recommendations within Lord Young’s report there are
several issues which give cause for concern in relation
to clarity and perceptions.
During the consultation process REHIS highlighted the
negative impact of the compensation culture and the
influence of insurance companies under the guise of
health and safety. Lord Young’s recommendations in
this respect are most welcome and if voluntary codes
do not produce the desired outcomes REHIS agrees that
legislation should be introduced to control activities.
Firstly, under the local authorities’ section of
the report it can be construed that local authority
inspectors, EHOs and support staff responsible for the
regulation of health and safety in workplaces such as
shops, warehouses, garages, etc, are the same officials
who prevent events from taking place. REHIS,
indeed, raised this issue during the consultation phase,
highlighting that EHOs or those working under their
direction regulate health and safety in premises under
their responsibility in the same proportionate and
consistent manner as their colleagues in the HSE.
These officers should not be confused with other local
authority staff who are applying rules to the running
of events, eg, school expeditions. REHIS would
advocate that local authorities should make better use
of the resources at their disposal by ensuring that EHOs
have a strong influence in the provision of advice and
guidance for individuals running events. EHOs are
educated, trained, qualified and competent to provide
proportionate, pragmatic and consistent advice.
REHIS will continue to support both its members and
those who benefit from our training and charitable
activities to ensure that businesses, through regulation
and other interventions, experience a proportionate
and consistent approach. The approach recommended
in the report with respect to low risk work environments
has for some time been the practice in Scotland
supporting a regulatory regime where low risk work
environments are not pro-actively inspected.
REHIS supports the proposals to create a national
accreditation scheme or register, with minimum
qualifications and evidence of current competence, for
health and safety consultants. REHIS is committed
to working in partnership with other relevant
professional bodies in conjunction with the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) to make the accreditation
scheme work effectively.
The section referring to food safety appears to be
somewhat ‘out of place’ in the body of the report.
REHIS has no difficulty whatsoever if it is to
demonstrate how transparency can be achieved
by publishing results of inspections. This practice
has indeed been commonplace in Scotland for a
number of years. It would, however, appear that the
recommendations on how local authorities deliver
food hygiene inspections are being made. REHIS
does not recall this to be part of the initial remit during
the consultation phase and its inclusion detracts from
what otherwise is an excellent and concise report.
In relation to the recommendations made under this
section many local authorities already combine food
safety and health and safety inspections as EHOs are
The proposed review of Reporting of Injuries, Diseases
and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations reporting
system is generally welcomed by REHIS but it
is also recognised that this is embedded in the
overall health and safety management of a business.
Any review should focus on an outcome of
encouraging accurate reporting by business as it is
widely recognised that incidents occurring in the
workplace are very much under-reported.
HSE inspectors and Environmental Health Officers
(EHOs) have, over many years recognised the
14
qualified and competent to undertake both duties.
In some cases businesses request that inspections
are carried out separately as this suits their own
arrangements. It is therefore about combining
inspections where it makes sense for all concerned.
All local authorities in Scotland apply a food hygiene
rating scheme and publish inspection reports on
the web and, as such, REHIS does not perceive
any benefit in making it mandatory. Local authorities
already use other organisations to deliver low risk
inspections and must ensure that those carrying
out inspections are qualified in terms of the Food
Law Code of Practice for Scotland. Working in
conjunction with the Food Standards Agency in
Scotland resources are already targeted at high
risk business. REHIS promotes transparency and
proportionality in relating to targeting resources
proportionate to risk and these are values that have
been in place in Scotland for a considerable period
of time. This section is not consistent with the
focus of the review and report which is unfortunate
as it diverts from the otherwise focused outcomes
delivered within the report.
In conclusion, REHIS welcomes the findings outlined
in Lord Young’s report as they relate to health and
safety and will contribute positively to addressing the
recommendations through working with appropriate
stakeholders and partners.
***
Management Committee
by Alistair Thomson, Committee Chairman
The last meeting of the Management Committee
was held in September and the following items were
discussed:
given was that the Institute needs to provide a range
of material for consideration by Wave PR.
Community training
The Chief Executive advised the meeting that Rod
House would meet Stephen Battersby (President,
CIEH). The meeting had been arranged at Stephen
Battersby’s request in the hope that a solution
could be found to the current, wholly unsatisfactory,
situation. It was agreed that Rod House will report
back to the next meeting of the committee and
that the Chief Executive would write to his CIEH
counterpart and advise him that the committee was
pleased to note that the respective Presidents would
meet in the near future. Liaison with CIEH and EHOA (Ireland)
The Chief Executive reported that the number of
Elementary Food Hygiene Course certificates issued
so far this year was greater than anticipated and
that the Food Standards Agency Scotland had
confirmed that it would, for a further year, make funding
available to support the delivery of the Elementary
Food Hygiene Course in Scottish secondary schools.
Public relations
he committee considered and agreed a promotional
T
proposal from ‘Holyrood’ magazine. It was felt
that advertising in this medium would be helpful in
promoting the Institute and the Environmental Health
Profession at a time when competition for scarce local
government resources is very evident.
Scottish Environmental Health Advisory Group

One
of the outcomes of the Short-Life Working
Group on the Future of the Environmental Health
Profession in Scotland was a proposal to establish
a Scottish Environmental Health Advisory Group
(SEHAG).It was agreed that the establishment of a
Scottish Environmental Health Advisory Group will
be progressed by Rod House and the Chief Executive. The proposed partner organisations will be contacted,
a chairman identified and a meeting convened at the
earliest opportunity.
Paul Bradley spoke of the potential benefits
of a REHIS Environmental Health manifesto
document and proposed that the Institute proactively
promotes its aims, objectives, core values and
key Environmental Health issues in advance of
the Scottish Parliament and local authority elections
next May and this was agreed. It was also agreed
that Paul Bradley and Martin Keeley will draft the
document in consultation with Wave PR, the
Institute’s media advisers. The Chief Executive
also reported that he and Bernard Forteath had met
with representatives of Wave PR and that they had
discussed various possible press releases. The advice
13th World Congress on Environmental Health

The
prospect of REHIS hosting the 2014 IFEH World
Congress was discussed and it was agreed that if the
Institute was successful in any bid to host the Congress
in Scotland, a conference organising company would be
engaged to deal with the organisation of the event.
15
Professional Development
by Robert Howe, Director of Professional Development
The Health and Safety and Food Update Courses
are usually popular events in the REHIS calendar
providing delegates with opportunities to experience
new learning in a variety of subject areas. The events
on 26 and 27 October proved to be true to form.
The Health and Safety Update Course was fully
subscribed and delegates were treated to a range of
informative presentations from experts in their field.
Gerry Kasprzok from the Health and Safety
Executive Local Authority Unit commenced
proceedings informing delegates of emerging issues in
occupational health and safety. The remainder of
the morning session concentrated on gas safety with
issues covering LPG bulk tank inspections, gas safety
with tandoori ovens and accreditation and training.
The afternoon session outlined the outcome of a Fatal
Accident Enquiry relating to an outdoor adventure
activity and issues relating to noise at work and
respiratory protective equipment All presenters
spoke authoritatively on their subject and course
organisers Graham Robertson and Brian Lawrie are
to be congratulated for developing an interesting
and thought-provoking programme.
EHOs sitting the Professional Examination diet in
November 2010. It is only a year previous to this
that the pass rate was below 50%. Over the past
years seminars for Training Officers, Examiners
and Students have taken place and hopefully we
are bearing the fruits of the discussions which have
taken place. I stated in Volume 22, No 1 of the
Journal that I hoped that lessons learned will result
in improving the experience of Students/Graduates
undertaking their practical training and, whilst we
can be pleased with the initial results, we collectively
must strive for continuous improvement and not
become complacent.
Many of you will be aware of the Review of the
Operation of Health and Safety Laws and the Growth
of the Compensation Culture carried out by Lord
Young on behalf of the UK Government. One of the
recommendations from the review is the introduction
of a registration scheme for safety consultants. The
Occupational Safety Consultants’ Register (OSCR)
scheme is being developed with the HSE and relevant
professional organisations whose members could be
affected by the scheme. REHIS is fully involved
with the development of the scheme and it would
be useful to gauge how many REHIS members would
wish to register. The scheme is focused on those
who provide commercial third party external advice
and it will be a stipulation that individuals wishing
to register will require to have Chartered status
or equivalent within their respective professional
organisation. Anyone seeking further information on
this should contact me at the Institute’s office.
The Food Update Course on 27 October was titled
‘New Issues and New Approaches’ and it is safe to
say that the event lived up to its title. The majority
of the morning session was taken up by the Centre
for the Protection of National Infrastructure on
defending food and drink. It provided a stark
reminder of the times we live in and brought to the
surface the important role that EHOs and FSOs have
in protecting the public from food adulteration in
whatever form it may take. Delegates were introduced
to the concept of Threat Assessment Critical Control
Points (TACCP) and the workshops ensured that there
was a participative element to the proceedings. The
remainder of the programme focused on novel foods,
the FSA Foodborne Disease Strategy and the FSA
Update. Feedback demonstrated that delegates had
found the course extremely useful and had enhanced
their existing knowledge. The course, however, was
not as well-subscribed as previous years and feedback
from members who did not attend would be useful to
ascertain reasons for not attending. The programme
was topical and imaginative and Colin Wallace
and Peter Midgley are congratulated for organising
the course.
The Law Enforcement Course is scheduled to take
place at the Scottish Police College, Tulliallan
from 11 to 13 February 2011. This course has been
excellently received over the past 15 years and if you
have not already booked I would commend it to you.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
submissions are presently being assessed.
It is important, for external audit purposes, that
submissions contain documented evidence to
verify CPD. If you do receive a request for further
documented evidence, it would be appreciated if
it is responded to timeously to ensure that all CPD
certificates are processed as soon as possible and
not later than the end of March 2011. Any members
with any questions on the CPD scheme should not
hesitate in contacting me at the Institute’s office.
It gives me great pleasure to inform members that
an 83% pass rate was achieved by Student/Graduate
16
HSE LAU NEWS
by Gerry Kasprzok, Health and Safety Executive, Local Authority Unit
After flicking through my calendar I realise that
one of the many joys I get from working in HSE’s
Local Authority Unit (LAU) is the range of ‘stuff’
I get involved with and the speed at which ‘things’
happen. ‘Stuff’ ranges from advising individual
local authorities, through to putting together responses
to parliamentary questions or providing briefing
notes for the HSE Chair to developing national
policy. ‘Things’ have included the Public Bodies
Review, Comprehensive Spending Review and Lord
Young Review.
quangos’. Although 192 quangos were axed and 118
merged, HSE was fortunately retained.
October also brought the long-awaited publication
of Lord Young’s report Common Sense, Common
Safety. The report followed a Whitehall-wide review
of the operation of health and safety laws and the
growth of the compensation culture. HSE and REHIS
took part in the review and have welcomed most
of Lord Young’s report, and will support many
of his recommendations. In the coming months
Elaine Harbour, Head of LAU, will be leading the
work around the recommendations on Primary
Authority and combining food safety and health and
safety inspections. Julie Sharman and I will be helping
with these work streams, and talks have begun with
BIS, FSA and LGR to take this forward.
Back in August, I was helping LAU to put together
a submission to the Department of Business,
Innovation and Skills (BIS) to support the argument
that health and safety at work should be a local authority
national enforcement priority for England. In August,
I also attended the Regulator’s Development Needs
Analysis (RDNA) Board, which oversees RDNA’s
progress and improvement.
Also in October, I was pleased to support REHIS’s
annual Health and Safety Update Course in Edinburgh.
Alex Tsavalos, an LAU colleague, and I delivered a
couple of presentations - one on ‘Liquefied Petroleum
Gas (LPG) Inspections’ and another on ‘Emerging
Issues’ and as a result I am now a proud owner of a
green REHIS ball point pen. I hope both presentations
were of value as they recognised the work Scottish
local authorities are doing. Firstly, in response to
Lord Gill’s Inquiry into the explosion, caused by a
leak of LPG at the ICL Plastics factory in Glasgow
and secondly on Section 18. I was also asked to cover
some of the other significant emerging ‘things’ that
will undoubtedly impact on what and how we all do
our work in the future.
In September, I took part in a BIS review of the
Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO) and met
with various colleagues in the Food Standards Agency,
Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, LBRO
and Local Government Regulation (LGR).
During September and October, LAU has been
developing a number of sub-sector strategies along
with other HSE and LGR colleagues. These will
help HSE put in place the foundations to deliver
the health and safety strategy - Be a Part of the
Solution. The process involves developing a range of
strategies across the sectors from transport through
manufacturing and leisure to public services
and beauty. These will help inform the HSE
decision-making process on where it should apply
its resources to have most impact. The two areas
I’ve been involved in are the Leisure Sector which
incorporates open farms, events, fairgrounds and
adventure licensing and the Beauty and Cosmetic
Services Sector which includes hairdressing through
beauty therapy, tanning processes, and skin piercing,
to minor cosmetic procedures. If nothing else, for
someone who is cosmetically - and follicly - challenged,
this work on the Beauty Strategy was a huge learning
experience for me!
On the day, I didn’t know what an immediate
impact some of these ‘things’ would have. Up to
that point, I’d booked my flight and hotel room to
speak at the Partnership Conference in Stirling the
following week. By the time I got to my office, the
Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review and
further ministerial direction had led to a decision to
postpone all the planned Partnership Conferences
until later in the financial year. Fortunately, I was able
to cancel the hotel booking and rebook my flight for
later in the year. Because the conferences are only
being postponed the hard work LAU and the Partnership
Teams have put into organising these events will
fortunately not be wasted. Many local authority
colleagues I have since spoken to say they can see
the logic in the decision to postpone on the basis that
there is too much uncertainty at present for the events
to be successful.
October was an important month for HSE as the
government announced the result of its Public
Bodies Review - the popularly known ‘bonfire of the
17
This uncertainty includes the impact of a 35% cut in
HSE’s budget over the next four years; LGR facing
similar budget pressures and the 28% cut local
authorities are required to make. It’s likely that this
uncertainty will eventually lead to fundamental and
radical changes in the way we all deliver services.
Local authorities are very adept at providing a
range of innovative solutions to any challenge.
Examples of solutions some local authorities propose
include sharing services, sharing senior management,
reducing the numbers of councillors and combining
local authorities. The impact on resources should be
clearer before the end of March 2011 and in time to
make the delayed Partnership Conferences useful and
successful events.
In early November, I was fortunate to have a tour of the
Olympic Park near London and get an impression of
the scale of the proposals as part of my role as LAU’s
Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for the Olympic
Games. Each region has a SPOC and Adrian Tinson
based in the HSE’s Entertainments Sector in Glasgow
represents Scotland.
November also included another joy - writing this
article - and as I write Elaine will be attending the
REHIS Annual Awards Ceremony and we can report
back on her experiences next time.
***
Nicos Paspallis, 1952-2010
by Bernard Forteath
Nicos Paspallis, the Vice-President of the Association
of Public Health Inspectors, Cyprus (APHIC), has
died suddenly from a heart attack at the age of 58,
at his home in Paphos, Cyprus.
He was a keen sportsman, particularly football, and
played for a number of first division teams in Cyprus.
He was capped for his country when he played for
the Cyprus national team against Bulgaria in 1974.
Following his retiral from senior football he coached
a number of teams and he also managed, and played
for, the APHIC football team until his untimely death
at the end of September.
Nicos was born in Paphos and qualified as a
Health Inspector in 1974. After graduation he
worked for the Municipality of Paphos where he
remained for all his career, latterly as head of the
environmental health service. He was a founder
member of APHIC and visited Scotland with his
Association’s delegation in 2006. Nicos worked
tirelessly for the Environmental Health Profession in
Cyprus and was well respected by both colleagues
and politicians alike.
Nicos was a good friend and colleague and had the
ability to make everyone around him feel important.
He was dedicated to his family and his profession
and is survived by his wife Ellada, two children and
two grandchildren.
The APHIC football team. Nicos is on the back row, second from the left.
18
REHIS ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY 2010
Award of Honorary Membership of the Royal
Environmental Health Institute of Scotland
John R Stirling
•
SFSORB Higher Certificate in Food Standards
Inspection
Laura Faulds
•
Award of Fellowship of the Royal Environmental
Health Institute of Scotland
Graham Robertson
•
Alistair Orr Award for the Best Final Year Student
at the University of Strathclyde
Derek Duncan
•
Award for Meritorious Endeavours in Environmental
Health
Professor T Hugh Pennington
•
REHIS Award for the Best MSc Student at the
University of Strathclyde
Lynne Elizabeth Steele (née Wallace)
•
REHIS Diploma in Environmental Health
Carrie Cooper
•
John Merrylees Award for the Best Final Year Project
at the University of Strathclyde
Derek Duncan
•
•
Paul Couper
•
Stephen Duffy
•
Linda Kain
•
Karen Lamb
•
Ruth Macaskill
•
Lindsey-Anne McNeil
•
Jeffrey Roxburgh
•
Alison Wood
•
Natasha Connelly
•
Louise Cunningham
•
Michelle Donaghy
•
Mark Ford
•
Andrew Hill
•
Calum Keenan
•
Christine Rogers-Bald
•
Patrick Smyth
•
Rachael Stobbs
A M M Connell Award for the Best EHO Student at
the REHIS Professional Examinations
Rachael Stobbs
•
Iain McDonald Award for the Best EHO Student in
the Occupational Health and Safety Programme Area
at the REHIS Professional Examinations
Linda Kain
•
FSA Scotland Award for the Best Candidate in
the Food Safety Programme Area at the REHIS
Professional Examinations
Rachael Stobbs
•
FSA Scotland Award for the Best Candidate in the
Food Standards Programme Area at the REHIS
Professional Examinations
SFSORB Higher Certificate in Food Premises
Inspection
Suzanne Hay
•
•
Rosemary Third
•
Samantha Bull
•
Darren Johnson
•
Andrew Hill
•
Jeffrey Roxburgh
Health Protection Scotland Award for the Best
Environmental Health Officer Student in the Public
Health Programme Area at the REHIS Professional
Examinations
Andrew Hill
•
19
REHIS Journalism Award
Lauren Mayberry
•
Highfield Award for Intermediate HACCP Practices
Certificate
Ishbel Rose Winner
•
Highfield Award for Advanced Food Hygiene
Jan Douglas
Winner
•
•
Gillian Shepherd
The Crofton Award
Bridges Project
•
Runner up
Carol Horsburgh The Golspie Youth Centre
Winner ‘Best Newcomer’
REHIS International Essay Competition for Student
of Environmental Health
Claudette Parker-Allotey
Winner
•
Runner up
Highfield Award for Advanced Health and Safety
Carol Henry
Winner
•
(Canada)
•
Gwyneth Kerwin
(Scotland)
Runner up
John O’Conner
(Ireland)
Commended
Sammy Wafula Simiyu
(Kenya)
Commended
Highfield Award for Intermediate Health and
Safety
Stephen Acornley Winner
•
•
•
Alexander Reid
Winner
•
Highfield Award for Intermediate Food Hygiene
Suzanne Mattison
Winner •
•
•
Runner up
Recipients of the Institute’s Fellowship, Meritorious Endeavours in
Environmental Health Award and Honorary Membership, Graham Robertson,
Professor Hugh Pennington and John Stirling with Rod House, President.
20
Rod House with recipients of the Institute’s
Diploma in Environmental Health.
Rod House with recipients of Scottish Food Safety Officers’
Registration Board Certificates.
Derek Duncan, recipient of the
Alistair Orr Award and
John Merrylees Award.
21
Lynne Steele, recipient of the Institute’s
Best MSc Student at the University of
Strathclyde Award.
Andrew Hill, recipient of the Health Protection
Scotland Award with Mary Morgan, Director of
Health Protection Scotland and Rod House.
Rachael Stobbs, recipient of the
A M M Connell Award.
Linda Kain, recipient of the
Iain McDonald Award.
Rachael Stobbs, recipient of the FSA Scotland Food Safety
Award with Andy Morrison, FSA Scotland and Rod House.
Andrew Hill, recipient of the FSA Scotland
Food Standards Award with Andy Morrison,
FSA Scotland and Rod House.
Jeffrey Roxburgh, recipient of the FSA Scotland
Food Standards Award with Andy Morrison,
FSA Scotland and Rod House.
22
Lauren Mayberry, recipient of the
Institute’s Journalism Award.
Rod House, Jayne Sprenger and Graham Walker with Highfield Award
recipients and their REHIS Training Centre representatives.
Bridges Project, Crofton Award winners with Rod House, Sheila Duffy of
ASH Scotland, Richard Crofton and Patricia Raemakers.
Gwyneth Kerwin, runner up in the REHIS International Essay Competition.
23
News in Brief
by Tom Bell, Chief Executive
Scottish Air Quality Discussion Forum launched
PR/media update
The Scottish Government has launched the Scottish
Air Quality Discussion Forum as part of the Scottish
Air Quality Database and website.
A number of press releases have been issued by the
Institute in recent weeks covering DIY tattoo kits,
The Crofton Award and the International Essay
Competition (celebrating the Institute’s 135th
anniversary). The Institute thanks Jonathan Kennedy
and Chris Bell of Wave PR, the Institute’s Public
Relations and Media Advisers, for their advice
and assistance.
The forum has been developed to increase awareness
of air quality in Scotland and facilitate discussion in
relation to newly-released guidance, articles, studies,
conferences and seminars. It is targeted at individuals
and organisations with an interest in environmental
protection, health, spatial planning and transport
planning in Scotland. The forum will be updated
periodically by the site administrator when relevant
new material is identified. However, it is hoped that as
the forum continues to develop, members of the forum
will contribute to this process and upload appropriate
comments and links whenever these arise.
Humphreys Masuku
It gives me great pleasure to advise that Humphreys
Masuku, Malawi’s Chief Environmental Health
Officer in the Ministry of Health, has been appointed
to the position of Deputy Director for Preventive
Health Services with responsibility for Environmental
Health Services. This is the highest office ever
filled by an Environmental Health Officer within
the Ministry.
To join the forum please complete the registration
process at: http://www.scottishairquality.co.uk/
forum/.
Bernard Forteath and I met Mr Masuku during the
2nd All Africa Environmental Health Congress which
was held in Lilongwe, Malawi earlier this year and
were impressed with his commitment to improving
and protecting the health of Malawi’s people. His
appointment will have been especially well received
by the environmental health community.
Trainers’ Update Seminar
The annual REHIS Trainers’ Update Seminar took
place on 20 October in the Trades Hall, Glasgow
and, as ever, proved to be a popular event with 120
Course Presenters/Trainers attending. The seminar
provided an update on developments in the areas of
infection control, food safety and health and safety. The
event was chaired by Martin Henry, REHIS Council
member with responsibility for community training.
All the presentations were very well received by the
delegates and the Institute is very grateful to all the
presenters and the delegates for their participation in
the event.
REHIS Update events
The Institute’s Health and Safety; Food Safety;
and Environmental Health Update events attracted
over 140 delegates to Edinburgh at the end of 2010.
The Institute thanks all speakers, session chairmen,
event organisers and delegates for their positive
contributions to the success of these annual events.
24
Public Health and Housing Working Group
by Pat Hoey, Chairman
The REHIS Public Health and Housing Working
Group (PHHWG) meets every quarter and each
local authority in Scotland has representation on the
group but also includes representatives from Health
Protection Scotland and the Scottish Government.
Within its terms of reference it states that one of
the main functions of the group is to ‘promote
consistency in enforcement activities and good
practice’ and to ‘develop and promote specialist
expertise within the Environmental Health Profession’
in its particular subject areas. These are the main
drivers for the group and lead to the raising of issues
by individual members for discussion. The PHHWG
acts as a co-ordinating committee for general
public health, housing, pest control, public and private
water supplies and any other issues not covered by the
Health and Safety Co-ordinating Group (HASCOG),
the Scottish Pollution Control Co-ordinating
Committee (SPCCC) and the Scottish Food
Enforcement Liaison Committee (SFELC).
The value of this group to enforcement officers is
largely due to the opportunity it affords in accessing
shared experience. Often a problem in one authority
has already raised its head in another authority and
there is a degree of comfort knowing that others
can offer knowledgeable advice and assistance. As
Samuel Johnson once said “Knowledge is of two kinds.
We know a subject ourselves, or we know where
we can find information upon it.” The work of the
PHHWG is not restricted to the quarterly meetings
and with the regular use of electronic mail it acts as
an information hub. If any EHO finds themselves
facing an awkward enforcement issue in the public
health or housing fields, they are more than welcome
to ask for advice on the matter through the Chairman
who will forward the matter to the group for
consideration. It would be a rare occasion where
valuable advice was not provided promptly.
The speakers were grateful for the opportunity
to make contact with so many authorities in one
meeting and considered it invaluable in introducing
their service nationally. We have also had a
presentation from the Coal Authority’s Head of
Planning and Local Authority Liaison on their work in
identifying disused mine shafts with some incredible
photographs demonstrating the dangers to people and
property when these shafts or shallow mines re-open
without warning, all the more relevant for a recent
Fatal Accident Inquiry in Ayrshire.
With recent changes in legislation and further proposed
changes we invited Natalie Sutherland, Policy
and Practice Officer for the Chartered Institute of
Housing to provide her insight on the changes afoot
for Property Managers. She also made the case for
the introduction of Building Reserve Funds so that
there was a fund for owners in flats sharing common
parts whereby they make regular payments and cover
costs of ongoing and future repairs and maintenance.
An invitation has been extended to our next
meeting to the Scottish Government to discuss the
production of the guidance to the Control of Dogs
(Scotland) Act 2010. The group is a ‘key contact’ for
the production of this guidance and will make
representation to government on behalf of REHIS.
Another subject which has taxed the group recently is
the home boarding of animals. Lilianne Lauder merits
some praise for her efforts in chairing a sub-group
tasked with formulating an agreed set of conditions,
with input from a wide variety of specialist disciplines
including the SSPCA, Scottish Government,
Environmental Health Officers, the NDWA and a
veterinary inspector which, once ratified by REHIS, can
be used by all authorities in Scotland for this recently
developing area of commerce. This sub-group will also
look at commercial day boarding establishments and
hopes to provide a set of conditions for these too.
Prior to the main business of the day we invite
a guest speaker to provide information and
generate discussion on relevant topics. We are
fortunate in that we can tap in to other organisations’
desires to make in-roads with the Environmental
Health community and the quality of speakers we
have attracted has been impressive. This year we
had speakers from the Ultimus Haeres Unit set up
within the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service to
deal with National Assistance Act funerals.
The presentation generated many questions from
the floor and further discussion at the meeting.
Part of the function of the group is to identify
training needs and arrange appropriate seminars and
conferences to inform enforcement officers.
There have been many changes to public health
and housing legislation in the last couple of years
and it is always a challenge for Environmental
Health Departments to keep abreast of this. With
that in mind and with a view to bringing together
some of the leading lights operating within our subject
areas, the time was ripe this year to put together
a Public Health and Housing Update. This was
held in September in Stirling over two days, one
25
for public health and one for housing, and was
well received by all who attended. Many of the
presentations are now available on the REHIS website
on the Member’s Events page, see http://www.rehis.
com/page/presentations-events.
areas. In the forthcoming months we hope to present
a strategy that will assist local authorities faced with
dealing with these problems so that they can enforce
the insect nuisance provisions of the Environmental
Protection Act 1990 in a consistent manner.
One of the issues that has been raised at the group
recently, and followed on from a presentation given
by Nigel Kerr of Glasgow City at the Update, was
the problem of insect nuisance and, in particular,
the spread of cockroaches and bedbugs through
tenemental property in densely-populated urban
The work of the group is vital in ensuring that
Environmental Health is relevant in practice and
consistent in application and we look forward to
continuing this work on behalf of REHIS and the
Environmental Health Profession.
***
Planning for change
by Derek A Oliver, Chartered Environmental Health Officer
Many authorities will be forced to examine
their Environmental Health Service in the
upcoming months and consider its reform. Expectant
change, which may include an amalgamation
of divisions, will radically change the operating
relationships of services and personnel. In the
recent past, service reviews and the resultant change
processes were catalysed by the quest to deliver focused
regulatory departments and enhance accessibility to
service users, which inevitably produced efficiency
savings. Inarguably, the driving factor and desired
outcome today is simply reduced operational costs to
ease budget pressures.
The national standards that require to be met must
be delegated more effectively to the front line away
from directors and leaders, giving local managers the
responsibility and accountability for delivery and the
opportunity to design and develop services around
the needs of local people with cognisance of the
available budget.
In addition to external audited figures, key
performance indicators are set by individual
authorities. The standards are broad and over
arching which defines each authority’s high level
expectations. These indicators may have to be reviewed
to ensure they are comprehensive but achievable
and ‘at a level of detail that allows scope for local
determination of what works best’.
This amendment to change design, if not carefully
managed, will strip Environmental Health back to
basic functions and may consequently shift the service
from one that has evolved to become customerled to one that does things to and for its users.
Planning change requires careful thought otherwise
the shift will contradict the Hampton Review which
centres around an ongoing drive on improving
inspection, regulation and public reporting.
An aggressive alteration will result in focus
regressing from a qualitative to a quantitative
performance-led service.
Government concerns have been escalating regarding
the high costs associated with administering
regulatory systems, but also the associated paperwork
which is perceived as unpopular, wasteful of
resources and overly bureaucratic. This is an ideal
time and opportunity to tackle not only these internal
concerns but also reducing administrative burdens of
regulation and inspection on the local businesses, in
line with the Hampton Report.
The costs of regulation which fall on the regulated can
be split into two types:
Managing the change process is crucial for securing
a smooth transition. Effective change, irrespective
of finance, requires appropriate incentives for the
service providers to innovate service design and
delivery to improve quality.
As in the case of an amalgamation of services,
a single coherent and comprehensive regulatory
system, removing complex and fragmented regulatory
processes, requires to be devised and implemented.
The system must deliver an improved conjoined
standardised service whilst retaining equity across all
council services.
•
Policy cost - the cost inherent in meeting the
aims of a regulation
•
Administrative costs - those costs incurred
in gathering information about a business or
checking compliance.
The report suggests that the acceptable level
of policy costs for a particular outcome reflects the
political decision on the regulatory goal that is to be
achieved. The administrative cost is an overhead,
and the report recommends that this should be
26
reduced to a minimum which ensures effective
enforcement of regulation. The cost of paperwork
involved in monitoring should not be higher than that
required to conduct a suitable risk assessment.
Any review of internal control must therefore
detail rules and regulations on acceptable
behaviour (council-wide policies) but also
recognise the psychological and human elements of
behaviour specific to the services being reformed.
Corporate governance ensures best methods of
control to deliver organisational goals through the
assurance of risks being mitigated and that the service
acts in accordance with policies, procedures and
meeting publicly stated objectives.
Any reform must ensure a reduction of paperwork and
processes which are a burden on front-line staff, and
reduce the amount of duplicated and worthless data
collected by monitoring staff. In conjunction with
customer consultation, this will permit officers to
operate in a service that remains customer led and not
over bureaucratic. This will ensure the local services
are developed to meet local needs through making the
best use of resources.
This proposed period of change will include a structural
rearrangement. This will involve staff requiring the
alteration of work methods, with the potential for
restructuring corporate identity. In order for this to be
successful, commitment and participation is required
by all.
More flexibility is required for public service
organisations and their staff to achieve the diversity
of service provision needed to respond to the
wider range of customer aspirations. This means
challenging restrictive practices and reducing red
tape; greater and more flexible incentives and
rewards for good performance; strong leadership and
management; and high quality training and development.
In order to do this, the reformed service will
require sound management, with the structure
being considered whilst examining the internal
management and governance processes to check
internal control systems.
The success of cultural change models is dictated
by the manner in which they are implemented.
Attitudes, given their deep embedment, are more
difficult to change than cultural predispositions.
Internal rebranding is the term used by Berry
and Parasuraman to describe cultural change.
Management is required to engage all personnel in an
attempt to alter the workplace. Officers within current
services may have become stagnated in work methods
and ethos and resist change. As per Thornhill, the
‘top-down managing change method will involve
identifying and neutralising power groups opposed
to change by systematically biasing HR practices
towards new goals and values’. However, without
first ensuring participative engagement, Weick states
that merely imposing top-down change will prompt
resistance and breach the psychological contract.
Furthermore, personnel that are currently resistant
to change (intransigent) will become even more
distant and obstructive. Four types of employees may
be currently operating within services: intransigent,
indifferent, co-operative, and engaging/participative.
This management of internal controls is the foundation
of corporate governance, as applied in the private
sector. Effective hierarchical management will
ensure compliance with externally set regulations and
revised internal policies, whilst being satisfied that
front-line management is competent to control service
provision and personnel.
Control is a concept which requires to be reviewed
within any reform. Control is ‘a regulatory process
by which the elements of a system are made more
predictable through the establishment of standards
in the pursuit of some desired objective or state’.
These controls must be formally specified in policies
and procedures which must then instigate change in
an existing culture that influences staff behaviour.
Local authorities need the right people, working
in the right way and within the right culture.
With the impending and inevitable constraints
infiltrating authorities, this will only be achieved
through transforming work practices and culture.
During periods of change, careful implementation
must follow periods of participative consultation.
This reduces the feeling of coercion in many
employees which would, in turn, produce
resistance and barriers to change. Staff will require
inspiration to adopt the new culture, being sufficiently
committed to an organisation and its customers that
one performs tasks well for their own sake. Initiating
ownership and motivation is key.
Proposed service reforms require the analysis of the
key workforce issues, anticipation of problems and a
strategic approach to staff development.
The merging of services fits with the remodelling
of departments and the sharing of resources, as
prescribed within the Transforming your authority
- creating real and lasting change document.
Power and politics, the foundation of organisational
culture, have a significant impact on behaviour.
27
Strategy
Directive
Advantages
Relatively Fast
Expert
Use relevant expertise;
Small groups required;
Relatively fast to implement
Change recipients have some
say;
Resistance to change likely to
be reduced (or areas of
disagreement highlighted)
People committed to change
Negotiated
Educative
Participative
Change more likely to be
accepted;
More people committed to
change;
More opportunity
Disadvantages
Ignores the views of those
affected by change
Expertise may be challenged;
Resistance of those not consulted
FAST
Clearly Planned
Little involvement
Need to overcome
resistance
May be relatively slow;
Anticipated change may have to
be altered
Relatively slow;
Likely to require more resources
and more costs involved
Relatively slow to implement;
More complex to manage;
Will require more resources;
Increased costs
SLOW
Exploratory
Wide involvement
Minimise resistance
Change Management Strategies
Change Management Strategies
In order to effectively implement change, a suitable
strategy must be devised. By considering the nature
of the staff involved, a number of strategies should be
considered prior to being used. The table of change
management strategies is a useful tool.
existing staff members who, in turn, may create
a resistance to change. A key issue in planning
for change is how to motivate commitment in
all personnel.
Any internal control mechanism must be established
during the period of reform. This system should
produce a vision and service objectives. Achievable
and targeted key performance indicators should
be established in collaboration with customer
consultation - what does the consumer expect from the
service? The mechanism must not be over-bureaucratic
but be a validation tool for the period of reform
and service delivery standards:
From the table, and with consideration to local
government employee demographics, a combination
of educative and participative strategies is an ideal
approach. Consultation, persuasion, education,
training and support must be available for engaging
participation. Although this method increases
timescale and relative cost, employees will have
positive commitment to the changes being made, with
a sense of ownership being instigated over the process.
Everyone involved will learn from the experience
and know more about how the service operates and
functions, thus increasing skills, knowledge and
effectiveness to the authority as a whole.
Without reasoning, [the authority] is left with
an undifferentiated heap of evidence and
supporting arguments…For each need, the
reasoning should point to the supporting arguments
and evidence available.
Once the change has been initiated and effectively
managed, it must be sustained.
With carefully planned and proposed strategies, the
need for change will be suitably addressed. As a result,
the change process will be an organisational success
not only through the delivery of focused needs to
the service user but in terms of achieving budgetary
targets.
Change is required at some point in time by
all businesses, regardless of size, age, nature
and industry. Public services have been expected
to change to meet local needs. Local government
must now deliver these needs whilst conforming to
diminishing budgets.
References
References are available on request.
Until now, many local authorities, including
Environmental Health Services, have been perceived
as heavily invested in the status quo. An uncertain
future beyond a reform threatens the comfortable,
Derek Oliver is a member of the Society of Chief
Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland.
28
SEPA News
fuel oils that meet the correct specification will no
longer be regulated as waste. Around 50,000 tonnes
of waste lubricating oil enters the waste stream
each year in Scotland. SEPA hopes the guidance
will encourage waste oil to be collected, processed
to a high standard and used to replace other virgin
fuels, thereby ensuring environmental protection and
encouraging re-manufacturing industries to derive
value out of waste in the economy.
New compliance assessment scheme
Figures released by SEPA show that almost
90% of licences held by operators covered in a
new assessment scheme have achieved a rating of
excellent, good or broadly compliant. Of the 1,086
operators included in the first phase of the new
scheme, 708 were rated excellent, 241 as good and
44 as broadly compliant. The remaining were
classed at risk (24), poor (55) and very poor (20).
The information is available online at www.sepa.org.
uk/compliance. The new scheme replaces the old
Operator Performance Assessments (OPA). It is being
phased in gradually, with Pollution Prevention and
Control (PPC) permits being the first to move over.
In total 1,086 operators are covered in the figures.
Part A sites are regulated for emissions to air, water,
land, and noise and energy use. These are the sites
that were previously reported under OPA. SEPA has
also published the results of a large number of Part
B sites, which include smaller industrial processes
such as quarries, cement batching units or small
foundries. Part B sites are regulated for emissions to
air only. Further licensing schemes will be included
in the future, with Waste Management Licensing
(WML) and Point Sources for Controlled Activity
Regulations (CAR) data due in 2011. This approach
will provide a simple, consistent framework and
approach across various regulatory regimes, which
will lead to objective and transparent compliance
assessment results. This new assessment tool is
part of SEPA’s better regulation agenda, which has
identified that improvements to our approach in
assessing compliance with licences, permits and
authorisations will lead to more effective, transparent
and efficient regulation.
Prosecutions
The Scottish Coal Company Limited was fined £7,000
at Ayr Sheriff Court in October for polluting an
Ayrshire burn with coal slurry.
Doonin Plant Limited and six other firms were fined
£113,500 in August for illegal waste disposal at
Bardykes Bing, located between Cambuslang and
Blantyre.
Demolition company, Reigart Contracts Limited
was fined £3,200 at Stranraer Sheriff Court in July
following offences involving the burning of waste
bricks, soil, plastics, electrical cable, roofing materials
and wood.
William Gunn, of Quoys of Reiss Farm in Caithness
was fined £2,800 at Wick Sheriff Court in June for
offences involving a large amount of waste sub soil
deposited at a farm near Wick.
Scottish Water was fined £12,000 in June after they
failed to comply with their licence to discharge
sewage effluent into the Torry burn.
Moses Kungu from Dumfries and Galloway was found
guilty and fined £1,600 in May of keeping controlled
waste without a waste management licence.
John Higgins, director of J H Civil Engineering Ltd in
Airdrie, was fined £9,000 for the deposit of controlled
waste on his site at Broadlees Industrial Estate, Carlisle
Road, Chapelhall, without the authority of a waste
management licence.
Water abstraction licences
SEPA is engaging with land managers to discuss the
issues associated with water abstraction for irrigation.
Abstractions for irrigation can have a significant
impact on rivers and watercourses. During a recent
assessment SEPA found that a large number of
watercourses, particularly in the east of Scotland, were
downgraded due to abstraction activities.
Andrew Young, a project manager at Barry Downs
Holiday Park near Carnoustie was fined £500 at
Arbroath Sheriff Court in April for burning mixed
waste on the caravan site.
Kenneth Colbecki, former Director of Tyre Disposal
Services (Scotland) Ltd, was fined £600 at Airdrie
Sheriff Court in August. He was found guilty of
keeping waste tyres at a site on Stirling Road in
Airdrie without a waste management licence.
SEPA will be contacting farmers in impacted
catchments over the next 18 months to progress the
reviews with a view to reducing the pressures on
water resources.
New guidance on fuel oils
Sign up to SEPA weekly e-mail updates at www.sepa.
org.uk/update/index.htm.
SEPA has published new guidance on the production
of fuel oils from recycled waste. This means that
29
Scottish Pollution Control Co-ordinating Committee
by Drew Hall, Member of the REHIS Council with responsibility for pollution control matters
The last meeting of the committee was held in Glasgow
in October. The meeting was well attended; all of
the Local Pollution Liaison Groups (LPLGs) were
represented along with the Scottish Government,
SEPA, HPS and EPUK.
Andrew Taylor reported that the Forestry Commission
review of abatement technologies is now underway
for biomass, including particulate issues and should
be completed by the end of 2010. EPUK Scotland
is considering the possibility of a training event,
provisionally, in February 2011. DEFRA is not
considering a new Act at present; however there could
be changes in the short term to the Clean Air Act.
The LPLGs raised a variety of interesting topics and
updates amongst which were the following:
•
lack of air quality guidance for biomass plants
up to 50 megawatts
•
small scale wind turbines and lack of suitable
guidance
•
trial of an electric powered dog warden van
•
trial of new school bus exhaust system to reduce
PM10 emissions
•
Local Air Quality Management area updates
•
current economic situation is forcing some
councils to reduce current level of their air quality
monitoring.
Contaminated land
Francis Brewis reported that the Scottish Government
was revising guidelines in Scotland at present and
a consultation document was being developed, and
anticipated that it would be circulated by June 2011.
An overview of proposed changes of BS10175
to the identification of land as contaminated land
was discussed particularly around identification
on basis of unacceptable risk, with reference to nonthreshold human health exposure. Extensive work on
this had been produced to support the decision-making
process, including consideration on acceptable cancer
risk. NHS/HPS are currently being consulted on
site-specific basis and the outcome of the consultation
is awaited.
A summary of the topics covered follows.
Noise
The main discussion point was the increase in the
number of small scale wind turbines (typically
10 to 20 metres high) due to the Government’s
‘feed in tariff’ incentive which is encouraging
larger numbers of individuals and companies to install
turbines. The ETSU guidance is aimed at large wind
turbine developments. The lack of clear guidance is
resulting in an inconsistent approach across Scotland.
Iain McLellan indicated that EPUK was bringing
together information gathered at a meeting on 26
October and SNAG will report on it; the committee
agreed that there was no need to duplicate the work.
It was agreed to place this item on the next agenda.
There was discussion on the Part IIA work
undertaken by Scottish Borders Council regarding
the approach taken by different authoritative bodies
in determining an Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk. It was acknowledged this was an important aspect of
the regime and it would be very useful if the research
findings could be provided to the contaminated
land local liaison groups once comment had been
received from Health Protection Scotland.
The committee received the report by Helen
Barron and Nicola Paton on the contaminated
land training framework and noted it with interest.
The committee looks forward to receiving further
updates in due course.
Antisocial Behaviour Noise - The Secretary is
collating information from LPLGs to report to SPCCC
if funding changes have had any affect on services in
this area of work.
Other matters
Carol McGinnes (SEPA) highlighted concerns
about the size of fines imposed in waste cases that
come before the Courts, of particular interest was
a case that, after appeal by the Procurator Fiscal,
the monetary fine was substantially increased to a
level that would now financially harm the offending
waste contractor. Sentencing of this type of offence
was being reviewed.
Air quality
Andrew Taylor reported that funding for air
quality work for 2011/12 onwards still very unclear
and will know more after the Scottish Government
spending review in November. The Scottish
Government has started discussions about how to take
forward/implement the recommendations from the
review of Local Air Quality Management which was
completed earlier this year.
30
FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY NEWS
The Food Hygiene Information Scheme
•
East Renfrewshire Council
The Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS) is
designed to provide consumers in Scotland with ‘at a
glance’ information about the standards of hygiene in
food premises found by local authority officers when
they undertake inspections to check compliance with
the legal requirements. The scheme allows consumers
to make informed choices and help to make eating away
from the home as safe as it can be. This is important
as around three-quarters of a million people every year
in the UK suffer from food poisoning and it directly
causes around 500 deaths.
•
Fife Council
•
Inverclyde Council
•
Midlothian Council
•
Perth and Kinross Council
•
Renfrewshire Council
•
Scottish Borders Council
•
South Ayrshire Council
•
West Dunbartonshire Council.
FHIS provides certificates for businesses to display at
their premises. A ‘Pass’ certificate confirms that the
food business has met the legal standards. If a business
falls short of the legal standards it will be issued with
an ‘Improvement Required’ certificate.
A further five local authorities are planning to launch
by the end of this financial year and six more local
authorities plan to launch by April 2012.
The ‘Pass’ certificate.
The roll-out of the Food Hygiene Information
Scheme continues to progress well across Scotland.
The current position is extremely positive with the
15 local authorities that have launched listed below:
•
Aberdeen City Council
•
Aberdeenshire Council
•
Argyll and Bute Council
•
Dundee City Council
•
City of Edinburgh Council
•
East Lothian Council
Current data estimates are that, by April 2012 based
on full roll-out, 88% of the catering sector and 86%
of the retail sector of Scotland will be included in
the scheme. Further information can be found at
http://www.food.gov.uk/scotland/safetyhygienescot/
foodhygieneinfoscot/.
Make informed choices look for the
31
compounds. However, it is important to note that, for
the organic contaminants, no fin-fish or shellfish samples
breached the existing regulatory limits. The same was
observed for the heavy metals, with only very minor
excursion in a fin-fish species not commonly consumed
in the UK. Generally, levels of contaminates detected in
samples from this project give no cause for concern.
The UK Food Surveillance System - a report on food
sampling undertaken by Scottish local authorities
in 2009
The UK Food Surveillance System (UKFSS) is
a FSA database, which collates information on
microbiological and chemical analyses undertaken
by Official Control Laboratories on food samples
collected by local authorities. The database was
originally developed in Scotland and has been used
routinely by 29 out of the 32 Scottish local authorities
since 2005. The database is also fully operational in
Northern Ireland and is currently being rolled out to
local authorities in England and Wales.
The full report was recently published and can
be found at: http://food.gov.uk/science/research/
devolved admins/scotlandresearch/scotlandresearch/
ScotlandProjectList/s14040-41/.
Consumption of lead-shot wild game in Scotland- an
FSAS study of habits and behaviours of high-level
consumers
The Scottish Food Enforcement Liaison
Committee set up a UKFSS Research Working Group
(RWG) in 2005 to analyse trends in the data held on
the UKFSS and make recommendations on areas for
future sampling. The RWG includes membership
from Scottish local authorities, Public Analysts,
FSA in Scotland and Health Protection Scotland.
In September 2010, the RWG published its third
annual report summarising the key trends in the
2009 Scottish data set and highlighting a number
of recommendations on future food sampling and
surveillance priorities. See http://www.food.gov.uk/
news/newsarchive/2010/sep/sfsr2009.
The Food Standards Agency in Scotland (FSAS) is
commissioning a research study which will:
•
identify those groups of people in Scotland
who eat lead-shot wild game meat regularly
and/or in high quantities (so called ‘high-level
consumers’)
•
provide information on their habits and
behaviours associated with preparation and
eating of these meats.
There is little information on which groups of people
in society regularly consume high quantities of leadshot wild game, how much they consume and how
they prepare these meats. This information is required
to assess the likely effect of such behaviours on their
health, and if necessary, to inform the development
of advice on consumption of lead-shot wild game to
minimise health risks.
The UKFSS is proving to be a valuable tool for
informing the development of local authority sampling
plans. Previous RWG recommendations have
led to surveys and initiatives being taken forward
in Scotland on a number of areas including the
microbiological quality of sandwiches and pre-washed
salads, the accuracy of allergen labelling, and use of
‘Southampton 6’ colours in bakery products.
The Agency has commissioned Harris Interactive to
conduct this work, commencing in November 2010
for approximately nine months. They will engage
with key stakeholders (ie, those involved in game
management) to identify high level consumers in
order to study their attitudes and behaviours in the
preparation and eating of lead-shot wild game. Final
results will be made available on FSA’s website and
on Foodbase.
S14040-S14041: Investigation into the levels of
environmental contaminants in Scottish marine
and freshwater fin-fish and shellfish
This is the first study of such a comprehensive set of
environmental contaminants in fish and shellfish and,
as such, is unique.
A range of fin-fish and shellfish species from marine
and freshwater habitats were obtained and analysed for
the array of organic and inorganic contaminants.
All Scottish local authorities given access to food
safety online training
The data from this study allow more refined estimates
of human exposure.
The Food Standards Agency in Scotland is delighted
to announce that 435 local authority officers across
all 32 local authorities in Scotland have been given
access to the ABC Food Safety online training which
The results of this study confirm the occurrence
of a wide range of environmental contaminants in
marine and freshwater fin-fish and shellfish species
and underline the ubiquity and persistence of these
32
was launched on 1 October 2010. Officers will
be able to access a variety of courses online over the
next 12 months. The Agency was able to accommodate
all requests by local authorities for number of users
per authority.
Minister for Public Health and Sport launches
Primary School Resource for Children at the Dundee
Flower and Food Festival
Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health and Sport
launched a new educational resource for 3 to 12 year
olds at the Dundee Flower and Food Festival on Friday
3 September. The materials were developed as a result
of feedback from teachers highlighting a shortage of
resources, which raise awareness of the Food Standards
Agency (FSA) messages on diet, nutrition and food
safety.
The ABC Food Safety online training consists of the
following courses:
•
Food Refresher (one module)
•
Approved Establishments (three modules)
•
Audit of HACCP Systems (two modules)
•
Food Law Code of Practice (seven modules)
•
Food Enforcement (three modules)
•
Investigation of Food Poisoning Outbreaks (one
module)
•
Intervention Risk Rating (two modules).
This new resource consists of an assortment of board and
card games designed to support the learning outcomes
of the Scottish Government’s Curriculum for Excellence
and the FSA’s Food Competencies.
The resource was piloted from October 2008 for 26
weeks in Moray and Dundee local authorities. There
was an excellent uptake of schools volunteering to
be part of the pilot in both local authorities. Overall,
teachers felt the resource was fun and educational,
and would effectively introduce FSA key messages
to children.
Once each module has been completed by an officer
they will receive a CPD certificate advising that they
have completed the module.
135 modules were completed over the first month by
local authority officers, following the launch of the
ABC Food Safety online training.
The FSA has made a commitment to distribute a
set of the board and card games to all primary
educational establishments in Scotland during the
2010 school year.
Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health and Sport, and Joe Fitzpatrick MSP, during the
launch with a group of school children and their teacher.
33
Civic Government (Scotland) Act, 1982 - Section 49 Hearing
by Charles Penman, Chartered Environmental Health Officer, North Lanarkshire Council
Following a series of visits to the local area to
substantiate the complaint the Environmental Health
Officer from the Pollution Control Team installed
a Bruel and Kjaer 2250-M MATRON set in the
complainant’s first floor back bedroom overlooking
the dog owner’s back garden. 136 sound recordings
were made by the complainant between 6 and 13
March 2009 and a further 107 sound recordings were
made between 24 and 29 April 2009. The time periods
when the recordings were made were determined by
the availability of the equipment.
Background
In January 2009 the Environmental Services
Department of North Lanarkshire Council received
complaints in relation to persistent dog barking
from two dogs left outside in the back garden by the
owner occupier of a domestic terraced house. The
initial complaints were received from two different
households on either side of the dog owner’s property
via the local councillor.
Initial investigation
Both complainants were separately visited and
interviewed at home. The complainants advised
that the barking had been ongoing for around six
years and had been previously investigated by a
number of agencies including the Housing
Department (prior to the dog owner purchasing
her council house) of North Lanarkshire Council,
the council’s Night Noise Team (disbanded in
2008), Strathclyde Police, the council’s Antisocial
Task Force operated by the Housing Department which
currently investigates domestic noise complaints
in the North Lanarkshire Council area, and the
Environmental Services Department’s Dog Warden
and Pollution Control services. The complainants
advised that intervention by the Environmental
Health Officer in the Night Noise Team had
improved the dog barking into later hours at night
though there remained occasions when the persistent
barking could start from as early as 8.20am and could
continue as late as 10.00pm in the summer months.
Analysis of recordings
The sound recordings were analysed in June and July
2009 over a period of more than 19 hours.
As there is no standardised methodology
for analysing recordings of dog barking each of the
complainant’s recordings was analysed for ‘barking
episodes’ of more than ten seconds duration. Where
there was a natural gap of more than ten seconds
between ‘barking episodes’ this was taken to be
a new episode. Using this conservative methodology
meant that a single bark on the recordings, or a few
barks with a gap of more than ten seconds until the
next bark (although these were many) were not
recognised at all within the analysis.
A number of barking episodes were copied to
compact disc (CD) as examples of the ‘episodes’
referred to in the report.
The report and accompanying CD were issued to the
complainant in July 2009.
The complainants advised that the dog owner had
pleaded guilty to a breach of the peace in the recent
past. Attempts to discuss the matter between the dog
owner and a number of residents in and in neighbouring
streets with back gardens backing onto the dog owner’s
garden had proved unsuccessful over a number
of years and had on occasion, according to the
complainants, served to make the situation worse.
Other evidence
Around this time the complainant also began
to make home video recordings of the barking dogs
with on-screen date and time references. One of the
90 minute tapes of these recordings was transferred
to DVD and edited down to a running time of
approximately 24 minutes and 30 seconds. The fulllength and edited DVDs were issued to the complainant
in late August 2009.
One of the complainants requested assistance
in taking her own action to resolve the problem in
terms of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act, 1982.
The second complainant was not keen during the
initial investigation to give evidence in Court against
the dog owner for fear of retribution. The complainant
was advised that it would be beneficial to her case
to have legal representation, though due to financial
restrictions this was not possible.
Delay in Court proceedings
In the autumn of 2009 a meeting between the local
councillor, Strathclyde Police and local residents was
organised in an attempt to resolve the matter outwith
using the civic government procedure. The Police
advised that the necessary action would be taken
against the dog owner if a Court Order was obtained
but that the matter was not a priority in the absence
of the Order.
34
The complainant organised a petition on the advice of
the local councillor and eighteen names from a number
of local addresses were collected. (The petition was
subsequently noted by the Environmental Services
Committee of the council on 2 February 2010).
A hearing was subsequently arranged for Friday 13
August 2010 with the Sheriff at Airdrie arranging
notification to both complainant and respondent.
The hearing
On 13 August 2010 the Section 49 hearing took
place. Neither complainant nor respondent had legal
representation during the hearing. The Justice of
the Peace, Clerk of the Court and a Court Official
were present. The complainant was required to lead
the evidence of her witnesses. The Environmental
Health Officer gave evidence in relation to the
aforementioned report, using playback of the CD and
DVD footage. The Environmental Health Officer
was on the witness stand for around 55 minutes.
The respondent did not have any questions in relation
to the evidence during cross-examination.
A number of personal issues - a bereavement in the
family, and a subsequent health scare in the autumn and
winter of 2009 - delayed the complainant in lodging
her complaint.
The complainant was notified of an initial hearing date
arranged for 15 March 2010. A procedural error by
the Clerk of the Court resulted in the respondent not
being able to be notified with the statutory timescale
prior to the hearing resulting in postponement.
The complaint petition papers were subsequently ‘lost’
during the transfer of District Court services from the
local councils to the Scottish Court Service. As the
complainant had no legal representation she was left
to make persistent enquiries with the Scottish Court
Service for a hearing to be arranged.
The complainant then called a number of local
residents living in the local area.
Following a short recess the Justice of the Peace
agreed with the complainant, and instructed
the respondent to ensure that the dog barking
was controlled.
In the summer of 2010 the complainant’s local councillor
made enquiries via the local MSP as to when a Court
date was to be arranged.
Both parties were instructed to return to Court on
Friday 27 August 2010 when an Interim Order was
issued. Details of the Interim Order are available
from the author.
***
FOOD LAW ENFORCEMENT PRACTITIONERS (FLEP)
What is FLEP?
The EC-Symposium on ‘Food Control’ in Rome in
1989 identified the need to a create a forum which
would allow representatives of European food control
authorities to meet and discuss issues relating to food
law enforcement.
The Dutch Inspectorate for Health Protection
responded to this challenge by inviting enforcement
directors from other Member States to a meeting in
the Hague in October 1990. During this meeting the
delegates agreed to establish an informal European
Forum of Food Law Enforcement Practitioners
(FLEP).
Colin Wallace (right), the member of the Institute’s
Council with responsibility for Food Safety and Food
Standards matters, with Hadrian Bonello (Malta) and
George Georgallas (Cyprus) during a refreshment
break at the recent meeting of FLEP, held
on the island of Gozo, Malta.
FLEP is an informal grouping of European food
law enforcement practitioners that seeks to share
information, learn from the experience of colleagues
and build up knowledge of good practice.
35
Health and Safety Prosecution by Falkirk Council
by Martin Diamond, Chartered Environmental Health Officer, Falkirk Council
On 12 January 2009 at the Asda Store, Dock Road,
Grangemouth a baker employed by Asda Stores Ltd
suffered a serious injury when his right thumb was
amputated by a dough divider. He underwent emergency
hospital treatment to re-implant his thumb but
suffered permanent impairment and disfigurement.
Conflicting information as to the exact cause of
the accident was obtained during the investigation.
There was confusion as to whether it was the cutting
blade of the machine that caused the injury or the lid
of the hopper falling onto the baker’s thumb.
The Enforcement Management Model was followed
and a report to the Procurator Fiscal was submitted.
This occurred prior to the introduction of the
Primary Authority procedure on 1 April 2009. The
charges are listed below.
Asda Stores Ltd offered to plead not guilty to charges
1 and 2 and guilty to an amended charge 3. This was
not accepted by the Procurator Fiscal and the trial
began on Monday 25 October 2010. After evidence
from the injured person, the not guilty plea to charges
1 and 2 and guilty plea to an amended charge 3 were
accepted. Sentencing took place on 9 November 2010.
Asda Stores Ltd were fined £4,000 reduced from
£5,000 for a guilty plea.
Charges
(1)
Between 1 July 2008 and 12 January 2009
both dates inclusive at Asda Store, Dock Road,
Grangemouth you, Asda Stores Ltd, being an
employer within the meaning of the Health and
Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the aftermentioned
Regulations did fail to make a suitable and sufficient
assessment of the risks to health and safety of your
employees arising out of or in connection with the
conduct by you of your undertaking, for the purpose
of identifying the measures needed to comply with
the requirements and prohibitions imposed upon
you by or under the relevant statutory provisions in
that the risk assessment relative to the operations of
the bakery department equipment failed to identify
the risk to health and safety of your employees or any
other person not in your employment from failing to
isolate the dough divider machine from all sources
of power before accessing the inside of the hopper
of the said machine thereby coming into contact with
the cutting element of said machine.
The dough divider is a Mondial Forni volumetric
dough divider (see photograph) and is used to divide
dough into the appropriate volumes. It is operated by
placing dough into the hopper at the top of the machine.
The dough is pulled down by suction, filling the
weight chamber, cut by a blade and discharged,
divided onto a conveyor belt. The cutting part at the
base of the hopper is identified in the manufacturer’s
instructions as a danger zone with shearing, crushing
and cutting hazards. The hopper lid is fitted with a
switch to prevent the blade of the machine operating
when the hopper lid is opened. The manufacturer’s
instructions require isolation of power to the machine
before accessing moving parts.
Investigations by Environmental Health Officers
(myself and Crawford Sibbald) established that
the dough divider was being operated contrary to
the manufacturer’s instructions in that employees
accessed the moving parts of the machine without
isolating the power. A Prohibition Notice was served
on Asda Stores Ltd on 22 January 2009 to prohibit
persons accessing the inside of the hopper without
disconnecting the power to the dough dividing
machine.
Contrary to the Management of Health and Safety
at Work Regulations 1999, Regulation 3(1) and the
Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 Section 15
and 33(1)(c).
(2)
Between 1 July 2008 and 12 January 2009
both dates inclusive at the Asda Store, Dock Road,
Grangemouth you, Asda Stores Ltd, being an
36
employer within the meaning of the Health and
Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and aftermentioned
Regulations did fail to ensure that measures were
taken in accordance with paragraph (2) of the
aftermentioned Regulations and in particular did (i)
fail to ensure that effective measures were taken to
prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery on
the dough divider machine there (ii) fail to ensure that
effective measures were taken to stop the movement of
dangerous parts of machinery on said machine before
any part of any person entered a danger zone within
said machine (iii) fail to provide such information,
instruction, training and supervision to your
employees to prevent them coming into contact with
dangerous and moving parts of machinery and in
particular at the dough divider machine, and on 12
January 2009 your employee David Walker placed
his hand within a cutting part of said machine whilst it
was in operation to his severe injury, permanent
impairment and permanent disfigurement.
Contrary to the Provision and Use of Work Equipment
Regulations 1998, Regulation 11(1) and (2) and the
Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 Section 33
(1)(c).
(3)
On 12 January 2009 at Asda Store, Dock Road,
Grangemouth you, Asda Stores Ltd, being an employer
within the meaning of the aftermentioned Act did fail
to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of
your employees so far as was reasonably practicable
in that you did fail to ensure that your employees
operating the dough divider machine were operating
said machine in accordance with the manufacturers
instructions and in particular that said machine was
isolated from all sources of power when said employees
had access to moving parts within said machine.
Contrary to Section 2 (1) and Section 33 (1)(a) of the
Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
***
MERITORIOUS ENDEAVOURS IN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AWARD
by Tom Bell, Chief Executive
Professor Hugh Pennington, the 2010 recipient of the
REHIS Meritorious Endeavours in Environmental
Health Award, was presented with a silver medal by
Rod House, the Institute’s President, at the Institute’s
2010 Annual Awards Ceremony in Edinburgh.
On receipt of his award Professor Pennington
addressed the audience of award winners, their families
and invited guests and told them that the award ‘....
makes me immensely proud. To be recognised in
this way by REHIS, an organisation that has been at
the forefront and front line of public health work in
Scotland for well over a century, is a career highlight
for me.’
Professor Pennington was Professor of Bacteriology
at the University of Aberdeen from 1979 to 2003
and is now Emeritus. In 1996-97 he chaired an
Expert Group established by the Secretary of State
for Scotland to make recommendations after the
1996 Central Scotland E.coli O157 outbreak and he
chaired the Public Inquiry into the 2005 South Wales
E.coli O157 outbreak which reported to the First
Minister for Wales in 2009. Professor Pennington
has enhanced Scotland’s international reputation
as a leader in standards for environmental health
and has served to inspire environmental health
professionals across the country. This award
recognises Professor Pennington’s contribution as a
microbiologist to the protection of public health in
Scotland over many years, his support of the Institute’s
objectives and his support for the important role
that the Environmental Health Profession plays in
the improvement and protection of public health
in Scotland. Professor Pennington is indeed a
worthy recipient.
37
DONALD MACKAY MBE,
1917-2010
RONALD DUNN,
1941-2010
Donald MacKay MBE, 1917-2010
Ronald Dunn, 1941-2010
The Institute acknowledges with sadness the death of
Donald MacKay MBE. An appreciation of Donald
MacKay follows.
The Institute acknowledges with sadness the death
of Ronald (Ron) Dunn. An Environmental Health
Officer, Ron was a strong supporter of the Institute
and a long-standing member of its Examination Board.
He was a well-respected professional and, although he
retired a number of years ago, he will be remembered
with great affection by colleagues he worked with
in the City of Edinburgh Council and Dundee City
Council. Ron is survived by his wife June, by his son
Balfour and daughter Kerry and by his grandchildren
Katie and Jake.
An appreciation by George Niblock
Donald MacKay, a former Director of Environmental
Health and Housing in East Kilbride, has
died aged 92. Born on Islay, in the Inner Hebrides,
on 5 November 1917, Donald later left the island
to work at John Brown’s shipyard as a joiner. On the
outbreak of World War II, he joined the Merchant
Navy, travelling to countries like India, South Africa
and Iceland. After his return to civvy street in 1947,
he decided to train as a sanitary inspector. Donald
always claimed that he saw an advert in Glasgow
City Chambers, went in to enquire, and when
approached, said: “I have half a mind to become a
sanitary inspector”. “That’s more than enough!” he
was told - and thus began an illustrious career. Donald
qualified in Glasgow and moved to Dunfermline
where he was deputy sanitary inspector until June
1963. He was then appointed chief sanitary inspector
of the newly formed large burgh of East Kilbride.
Donald worked there, implementing many innovations
and building-up the department until the 1975
reorganisation of local government. At that point he
was appointed Director of Environmental Health and
Housing for the now expanded authority of East
Kilbride District Council, until his retiral in 1982.
His colleagues in East Kilbride included the likes of
Douglas Henry, Alister Baird, Stuart Finlayson,
Robert Howe and myself. Throughout his professional
career Donald gave his employers his total commitment,
not only in a local interest, but also nationally.
He was Chairman of the Scottish Centre Council
of the then Institute of Wastes Management and also
served on the General Council for some years. In both
these positions his knowledge and professionalism
served the profession very well. He was also an
advisor to CoSLA, and was well-respected and admired.
When he eventually retired, his dedicated service was
recognised when he was made an MBE, an achievement
of which he was rightly very proud. Donald had a
long, happy and fulfilling life and gave a great deal
to the communities he served. He has left behind
wife Marion, children Colin, Fiona and Sandra, three
grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
An appreciation of Ron Dunn follows.
An appreciation by Albert Oswald
Ron Dunn was born in Innerwick, East Lothian and
trained with Edinburgh District Council in Johnston
Terrace qualifying as a Sanitary Inspector in 1962.
He then took some time out to play in a band on the
SS Empress of Canada as it cruised the Caribbean.
On disembarking and after working in the private
sector, Ron, now based in Scone, moved back into local
government as an EHO in Dundee District Council’s
Environmental Health Department in the late 1970s.
It was a happy office and Ron slotted in perfectly,
becoming a popular member of staff. In time he
became the manager of the section which dealt with,
among other things, food safety, health and safety
and licensing issues. Although Ron enjoyed the
lighter side of life in an Environmental Health
Department, he was not a man to be trifled with
as many a food business operator was to discover.
He was highly regarded by his staff and elected
members alike and had the trust of the business
community. Ron was always a soft touch when it came
to dogs and if a dog in the council’s kennels needed a
new home, the kennel staff knew whom to phone!
Ron took a keen interest in promoting training and
professional development and was always willing
to offer advice and encouragement to fledgling
Environmental Health Officers and Food Safety
Officers. Although he retired from Dundee City Council
in 2005, Ron maintained his links with the profession
through being a REHIS examiner.
Ron is survived by his wife June, children Balfour and
Kerry and extended family.
38
The Royal Environmental Health
Institute of Scotland
The Institute was incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee on 16th February 1983, to give effect to the
amalgamation of The Royal Sanitary Association of Scotland and The Scottish Institute of Environmental Health.
The Institute was Incorporated by Royal Charter on 8th March 2001, following which the Company was wound
up.
The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland is a registered Scottish charity, Number SC009406.
The objects for which the Institute is established, contained in Article 3 of the Charter, are for the benefit of the
community to promote the advancement of Environmental Health by:
a.
stimulating general interest in and disseminating knowledge concerning Environmental Health;
b.
promoting education and training in matters relating to Environmental Health; and
c. maintaining, by examination or otherwise, high standards of professional practice and conduct on the part
of Environmental Health Officers in Scotland.
The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland is an independent and self-financing organisation. It neither
seeks nor receives grant aid. The Institute’s charitable activities are funded significantly by the subscriptions
received from its members.
The Institute’s affairs are managed by a Council which is elected by members. The Royal Environmental Health
Institute of Scotland is a founding member of the International Federation of Environmental Health.
The Institute frequently uses the acronym: REHIS®.
REHIS and the Crest device are registered trademarks of The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland.
39
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