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The REHIS Health and Safety Update and Food Update Courses were presented in the Holiday Inn Edinburgh Hotel, Edinburgh during October.  These events proved to be as popular as ever with over 110 delegates participating over both days. The Health and Safety Course covered Emerging Issues from the HSE, LPG Bulk Tank Inspections, Gas Safety, FAI associated with adventure activities, Noise at Work and Respiratory Protective Equipment . The Food Update Course, presented in partnership with the Food Standards Agency Scotland as  part of the Agency’s Low Cost Training Initiative covered presentations on defending food and drink followed by a workshop on Threat Assessment Critical Control Points, an update from the Food Standards Agency, presentations on Novel Foods, the FSA Foodborne Disease Strategy and a focus on listeria . REHIS takes this opportunity to thank the course presenters, session chairmen, partner organisations and, of course, the delegates for their active participation.

Scotland is more motivated to turn knowledge into action

Over the past 12 years, Scotland has seen clear improvements in health knowledge, motivation and behavior, with many more people actively striving for better long-term health. A report, which analysed data collated by the Health Education Population Survey (HEPS) from 1996 to 2007, has been produced by NHS Health Scotland, Scotland’s national agency for improving health – Know, Feel, Do? Health behaviour change in Scotland, 1996 to 2007 – assessed the direction and extent of change in adult health behaviour, knowledge and motivation across three health topics: smoking, physical activity and healthy eating. In addition, the findings for each topic were combined to assess overall progress in health improvement in the period 1996 to 2007.

See the report at http://www.scotpho.org.uk/home/Publications/scotphoreports/pub_HEPS.asp

The Scottish Government has launched the Scottish Air Quality Discussion Forum as part of the Scottish Air Quality Database and Website.

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.

To join the forum please complete the registration process at: http://www.scottishairquality.co.uk/forum/

The annual REHIS Trainers’ Seminar took place on the 20^th October in the Trades Hall, Glasgow and, as ever, this proved to be a popular event with 120 trainers attending. The Seminar provided an up-date on developments in the areas of infection control, food safety and health and safety.
The event was chaired by Martin Henry, REHIS Council member for Community Training. The early part of the morning included presentations from Graham Walker, REHIS Director of Training and Craig Cunningham, Health and Safety Manager with the Compass Group. Graham gave an update on REHIS community training issues and Craig delivered a presentation on Risk Management in the 21^st Century. After the break Dr Jacqui McElhiney, Food Standards Agency Scotland, continued with a presentation on the FSA Food-borne Disease Strategy and the morning concluded with a presentation on current food borne disease issues by Dr John Cowden, Consultant Epidemiologist, Health Protection Scotland. After lunch Peter Midgley, Food Standards Agency Scotland gave an update on current issues being dealt with at the Food Standards Agency Scotland and this was followed by a presentation on modern food premises design and construction by Adi Schmidt from Encore Catering .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.

Congratulations go to one of our newest International Training Centres, Kumasi Polytechnic based in Kumasi, Ghana.

The Polytechnic was recently approved to deliver the REHIS International Elementary Food Hygiene Certificate Course. They ran their first course on 23 August 2010 and all the candidates achieved excellent pass marks in the examination that followed the course.Some of the candidates are pictured with Professor Kofi Aidoo (centre right), a Fellow of the Institute and a presenter of REHIS food safety courses at Glasgow Caledonian University. On his right is Dr Patricia Owusu-Darko, the Centre contact and on his left is Mr K. Agyei, representative of the Rector of Kumasi Polytechnic and next to him is Mr J.Y.B Bennie, Principal Regulatory Officer (Ghana Food & Drug Board) and next to him is Mr F. Engmann, Head of Department of Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management (HCIM) of the Polytechnic. On Patricia’s right is Mr Addai Acheampong, External Examiner for the HCIM course and on his right is Mrs Naana B. Agyemang, Dean of the School of Business.

Professor Aidoo was awarded a PMI2 Partnership Development grant to visit academic institutions in Ghana by the British Council, UK’s international organization for educational opportunities and cultural relations.

The Institute is grateful for the help and support given to REHIS and Kumasi Polytechnic by Professor Kofi Aidoo in setting up the Centre and hope for a long and successful partnership.

Earlier this year The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS), a Founder Member of the International Federation of Environmental Health, celebrated its 135^th birthday and decided to mark the occasion by launching an International Essay Competition for students of Environmental Health across the world.

The aims of the competition were:

• to raise the profile of international environmental health issues
• to encourage student Environmental Health Professionals to consider Environmental Health in a global perspective, and
• to promote the work of the Federation as the global umbrella organisation for environmental health.

The set topic was: How would you raise the profile of environmental health and make its delivery more relevant to government and policy makers over the next five years?

Competition entries were assessed by a panel of distinguished international environmental health academics and the panel has determined that the winning entry was submitted by:

 WINNER

 Claudette Parker-Allotey from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Claudette is photographed being presented with the winner’s award at the 11th World Congress on Environmental Health in Vancouver by Rod House,REHIS President and Bernard Forteath,President of the International Federation of Environmental Health.

 Claudette is a final year undergraduate student at Concordia University College of Alberta on the Environmental Health After-Degree programme.Claudette will receive £500.00 and a personalised certificate and her submission will be published in the winter edition of the REHIS Journal Environmental Health Scotland.

RUNNER-UP

Gwyneth Kerwin from Stoneyburn, West Lothian, Scotland

Gwyneth graduated in June this year from The University of Strathclyde’s BSc (Hons) Environmental Health degree course.

COMMENDED

John O’ Connor from Edenderry, Co. Offaly, Ireland

John is an undergraduate student about to enter the 2^nd year of the Dublin Institute of Technology BSc Environmental Health degree course.

 COMMENDED

 Sammy Wafula Simiyu from Nairobi, Kenya
Sammy is a 3^rd year undergraduate student at the Kenya Medical Training College on the Diploma in Environmental Health Sciences course.

 All entrants will receive a personalised certificate.

 The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland offers its congratulations to Claudette and takes this opportunity to publicly thank Koos Engelbrecht (South Africa),Barbara Delaney (Ireland),Harold Harvey (Northern Ireland),Tony Grimason (Scotland) and Steve Konkel (USA) for acting as the competition assessors.

Officials from REHIS and the Food Standards Agency Scotland met in Aberdeen recently as part of their ongoing liaison to update each other on developments within their respective organisations; discussions were held on the foodborne disease strategy, food safety enforcement, professional education, training and qualifications and,  the provision of community training courses in food hygiene, HACCP and food and health across Scotland.

 Pictured left to right: Tom Bell, REHIS, Charles Milne, FSAS, Jim Thomson, FSAS, Robert Howe, REHIS, Colin Wallace, REHIS and Graham Walker, REHIS. Also at the meeting but not in the photograph, Peter Midgley, FSAS and Rod House, REHIS

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has developed a new electronic template especially for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) which combines, into one document, the requirements of a health and safety policy, risk assessment and written record of health and safety arrangements. A helpful list of example risk assessments is also available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/getstart.htm

Six ladies enjoyed a celebratory lunch at Dundee College on Friday June 25, when they were presented with their REHIS Elementary Food Hygiene Certificates.

Not only did, Pamela Bruce, Jennifer Paterson, Elizabeth Newlands, Linda Bruce, Isabella Ingram all from Dundee and Elizabeth Adam from Blairgowrie, gain the qualification but they each had to overcome profound deafness in the process.

The group are involved in opening the new Tayside Deaf Hub for deaf and hard of hearing people and, before they start to prepare and serve food at the venue, they decided to gain the certification to help meet the requirements of food safety legislation.

With BSL (British Sign Language) being their first language rather than English, the group had to have two interpreters on hand.

See the full story in the latest REHIS Newsletter at https:/sites/default/files/July%202010%20newsletter.pdf or click on the link above right for more details and other environmental news.

 EXTENSION OF CLOSING DATE FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION UNTIL FRIDAY 9th JULY

Public Health in Scotland 2010 – Annual Conference
Health, Culture and Scotland:
new challenges, new opportunities
11 – 12 November 2010, Doubletree by Hilton Dunblane Hydro

This year’s Annual Scottish Conference is being organised by the Faculty of Public Health in partnership with the West of Scotland NHS Boards. Conference registration and booking details will be circulated in July/August.

This year the conference will focus on Health, Culture and Scotland and will be of interest to those involved in public health at all levels. How can the public health community identify, promote and secure the changes that are needed to improve Scotland’s health? How might the recession affect our thinking? How can we better understand and influence the effect on health cultures in Scotland? And how can we impart the importance of the early years in improving health and tackling inequalities? These are just some of the questions we will explore in this year’s programme which will feature keynote presentations from influential national and international speakers.

The Conference Steering Group has asked the Institute to circulate this information to relevant colleagues and voluntary bodies to ensure that the conference will have a varied attendance on the day.

See the attached flyer for more information and contact details.

They look forward to receiving your abstract applications!

The current Health Protection Scotland Weekly Report contains a link to the Godstone Inquiry website, which in turn has a link to the report.  The HPS Current Note lists the key recommendations from the report, so it’s useful as a quick starter. http://www.documents.hps.scot.nhs.uk/ewr/pdf2010/1024.pdf

 The last paragraph of the Note also links to the HPS “Simple Precautions” leaflet webpage http://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/giz/guidelinedetail.aspx?id=38604 .  This enables access to various farm-related guidance documents – i.e. they are all collected in one place.

The Purpose of the Independent Investigation

In August and September 2009 an outbreak of E. coli O157 led to severe illness in a number of visitors to Godstone Farm in Surrey. The Health Protection Agency established an independent investigation of the outbreak, the factors that contributed to it and its subsequent handling. The purpose of the investigation was to make recommendations to reduce the risk of those who visit Open Farms contracting E. coli O157 and to improve the health protection response to future outbreaks of E. coli O157 infection. In the context of the investigation, an ‘Open’ Farm is defined as one that invites members of the public to visit and facilitates direct contact with the animals. The report covers a wide range of issues and will be of interest to Environmental Health Officers and anyone with an interest in the control of infection. While the report covers an outbreak in England, it addresses many issues that are relevant to Scotland. HPS has welcomed the detailed consideration given to this matter by the independent investigation.The Scottish Government Public Health and Wellbeing Directorate has published a leaflet ‘Shedding light on E coli o157 – What you need to know’. This leaflet is aimed at raising awareness of the risk of infection via animal or environmental contact. It suggests precautions to take to reduce the risk. It is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/publications/2005/03/20839/54388