REHIS News

As part of their Brownfield Summit 2020, Environment Analyst have made a large selection of presentations available on demand to watch anytime.

These include expert talks on ground gas risk assessment, gas protection, installation and verification, groundwater risk assessment and remediation, and data collection and analysis.

https://www.brownfieldsummit.com/book-now

Environment Analyst also provides a number of free webinars, which offer excellent opportunities for professional development.

It is recognised that face to face training courses, meetings and events are not currently being held, and may not be, for the rest of 2020. Members are reminded that CPD needn’t involve attending an event ‘in person’ and can be online learning (with many courses available free of charge), ‘on the job’ learning, attendance at virtual events/meetings, researching a particular piece of work or reading appropriate journals/reports.

The Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland (DWQR) is open for business, although as with all of us – under very different conditions than we were used to.

DWQR is the title of the Regulator herself: Sue Petch, who is independent of Scottish Ministers and is responsible for the scrutiny of the water company in Scotland, Scottish Water, with respect to drinking water quality; and the supervision of local authorities in their regulation of private water supplies.

The NHS Inform website has been updated with guidance regarding Coronavirus and includes information on contact tracing and healthy living, including around diet and exercise, stopping smoking, alcohol misuse.  It also includes information on Coronavirus in a number of different languages.

The Scottish Government, Police Scotland, Health and Safety Executive and local authorities have produced a joint statement on safe workplaces.

The statement’s message is that by employers, workers, unions and regulatory bodies working together can create safe workplaces for all.

The Scottish Government has published new guidance for retailers and manufacturers to consider how people can safely return to work, updated guidance for the construction sector has also been published.

Food Standards Scotland have updated their guidance for food business operators (FBOs). The update takes account of revisions in public health advice and feedback from industry, Scottish Government and Trade Unions.

People across disciplines are invited to take part in a series of hackathons to crunch data to gain new insights into the impact of COVID-19.

Some waste and recycling collection services across Scotland are temporarily disrupted as a result of the coronavirus. This is necessary to prioritise the health of workers in line with government guidance and deal with the impact of staff shortages.

In responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, Councils have undertaken significant work in protecting the health of the public by ensuring social distancing while shopping for essential goods and in protecting employees. One of the key changes in the way they deliver services has been the implementation of new powers to ensure that those businesses which are permitted to open have appropriate social distancing measures in place and to ensure that other businesses remain closed.