HPR volume 8 issue 34: news
Updated 23 December 2014
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Chemical Hazards and Poisons Report issue 24
The PHE Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards has published Chemical Hazards and Poisons Report 24 [1] comprising the following articles presented under four main thematic categories:
Incident response
• two articles describing the public health risk assessments undertaken following a large fire – reputedly the largest ever in the region – at a paper and plastics materials recycling and waste management centre in the West Midlands of England in June 2013
• lessons learned following an atmospheric release, from a chemical plant in northern France in January 2013, of a very low odour-threshold chemical that presented no public health risk but generated significant public concern in southern England
• sewers, culverts and other underground pipes – an under-recognised pathway for chemical exposures in acute incidents
• acute risks from contaminated land
• MSC Flaminia – public health assessment and contribution to the places of refuge assessment
Emergency preparedness and response
• collaborative working with local resilience forums to prevent an environmental major incident
• transition to new health arrangements: Public Health England’s exercise assurance programme
• two articles concerned with PHE’s role in implementation of the COMAH Regulations, including the development of off-site emergency plans
• implementation of the EU Decision 1082/2013 on cross-border threats to health from biological, chemical and environmental events
• Alerting, Reporting and Surveillance System for Chemical Health Threats, Phase III (ASHTIII) – update report
• European Chemical Emergency Network (ECHEMNET) – update report
• the development of tools to assist with evaluation of recovery strategies following CBRN events
• assessment of the Government Decontamination Service framework for CBRN scenarios
• impact of response actions on recovery – the importance of a consolidated approach to UK resilience
• a quick tour of social media and emergency preparedness, resilience and response
Environmental and toxicological research
• estimating local mortality burdens associated with long-term exposure to particulate air pollution
• Environment and Health Atlas for England and Wales: a printed and online tool
• asbestos: review of toxicology and epidemiology and an approach for human health risk assessment of low level environmental exposures
• use of fumigants in the transport of goods by sea – health impact
• risk communication in non-infectious disease cluster investigations: a summary of the literature
Natural hazards, extreme events and climate change
• the oak processionary caterpillar and public health: the Dutch approach
• improving the response to flooding: changes implemented in Gloucestershire since the summer 2007 floods
• effective flood resilience in health providers: flooding at a major NHS Blood and Transplant facility
Reference
- Chemical Hazards and Poisons Report issue 24, 28 August 2014, ISSN 1745-3763.