Let’s be CO safe abroad, says APPCOG Published:  16 May, 2016 The All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group (APPCOG) has called for greater awareness amongst travellers regarding carbon monoxide (CO) safety, and for both the government and travel industry to act to help keep Britons abroad safe from CO. This follows a recent panel discussion chaired by David Burrowes MP, called following the death of Francesca Dingley from CO poisoning in Chengdu, China in 2015. The panel featured evidence from Mark Dingley, Francesca’s father, alongside the CO All Fuel Forum’s Leigh Greenham, and Angela Hill, destinations services manager at the Association of British Travel Agents. Mr Dingley urged the audience that CO alarms should be seen as an essential travel item, and that the travel industry should do more to promote the need for holidaymakers to take alarms with them when they travel. Additionally, Mr Dingley urged that advice on CO included on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website should be made more prominent, and be delivered more forcefully. Research by the Safer Tourism Foundation has revealed that just 5% of respondents consider CO risks before going on holiday, despite the same research finding that 1 in 10 of the 12,000 respondents surveyed had been affected some way by CO. Image courtesy of Shutterstock/ Leena Robinson Source link

Jersey Water’s application to allow the pesticide oxadixyl to exceed the legal limit in the island’s mains water has been granted. The dispensation, involving a key reservoir that was brought back into service this month, has been approved by Jersey’s environment minister Steve Luce. The regulatory limit for oxadixyl in treated water is 0.1ug/l which is equivalent to one part in 10 billion. The new temporary limit has been set at 0.3ug/l, 100 times lower than the already prudent health-based limit of 30ug/l. Jersey Water said it has so far been able to keep the levels below the regulatory limit but may need to rely on the dispensation in the event that oxadixyl levels increase over the summer. The dispensation will remain in place for up to three years while the company researches and implements a long-term treatment solution to the oxadixyl problem. The company brought Val de la Mare reservoir back in to service at the beginning of June after five months, following the discovery in February of pesticide oxadixyl in streams feeding the reservoir. To enable the water from Val de la Mare to be used over the summer, the company applied for a temporary dispensation under the Water (Jersey) Law 1972 allowing it to exceed the regulatory limits. Jersey Water chief executive Helier Smith said: “The need for a dispensation in this instance is principally a legal and regulatory compliance matter rather than a health-based issue. The water that we supply will remain safe to drink. “The presence of oxadixyl in Val de la Mare reservoir and elsewhere is historic and has arisen due to factors outside of the company’s control. We are working hard to find a way to remove oxadixyl through treatment but in the meantime will work to complying with the lower regulatory limit where it is practical for us to do so.” Val de la Mare Reservoir represents 35 per cent of the company’s water storage capacity. A version of this article first appeared on wwtonline Source link

Molex has announced six partners have joined the new Transcend Alliance, a consortium of companies working together to expand and promote the use of network connected lighting in commercial buildings by developing and implementing new systems and protocols.   New integrated lighting network solutions, such as the Transcend connected lighting system from Molex, are rapidly becoming an integral part of commercial building design. Companies like Molex that create enabling technology will help drive the industry through the transition from traditional lighting to network connected lighting. By utilising the Transcend system of enabling ‘network intelligent components, lighting fixture companies in the Alliance will make a large variety of fixture types available to the market. This provides lighting designers and architects with a wider range of fixture choices, making it easier for them to choose fixtures that are not only appropriate for the building type, but also align with and enhance the brand image of the company that owns or leases the building. With the Transcend system, LED lighting fixtures become intelligent and connected. From LED lighting to the network that supports it, Molex can integrate the entire system. As a Cisco Solutions Technology Integrator (STI), Molex can design and deploy the optimum system integration of Cisco network technology and Molex network connectivity and middleware expertise. In February 2016, Molex was named an inaugural partner in Cisco’s Digital Ceiling Framework, an ecosystem of companies committed to industry standards, open architecture and unified infrastructure for indoor building networks. “A network connected lighting system offers far more than new fixtures,” said Giovanni Frezza, group product manager, Molex. “Integrated network solutions such as the Transcend system are complete LED lighting management systems that can be monitored and controlled for different building environments via sensor data. They not only offer substantial energy savings, but also dramatically improve working and living environments. Members of the Transcend Alliance are dedicated to advancing the network connected lighting concept, and our mission is to help transform the way people use and interact with their indoor environments.” The Transcend system is an intelligent, low-voltage system network that both powers and controls in-building objects that are intelligent, such as LED lighting. The overall system enabling components include Molex Transcend PoE Gateways, sensors, cables and software, as well as luminaries and networking infrastructure from Alliance partners. As Alliance partners, the companies will strive for seamless integration and testing that assures that components will work end to end. Inaugural members of the Transcend Alliance are: JLC Tech LLC, Pembroke, MA, maker of the T-BAR LED Smartlight, and a designer and manufacturer of other lighting products utilising LED technology. MHT Lighting, Staten Island, NY, a leading manufacturer of energy efficient products, including induction and LED lighting and power management optimisation systems. The company is an ISO 9001 approved facility. New Star Lighting, Chicago, a division of 555 International, a leading luminaire manufacturer that offers several of its products with LED light sources and is developing LED light options for the vast majority of its products. Spectrum Lighting Inc., Fall River, MA, a designer and manufacturer of commercial and architectural lighting fixtures Swann Lighting, Lincoln, UK, a manufacturer that specialises in customer-specific luminaires and refurbishing and re-testing existing equipment. Waldmann USA, Wheeling, IL, a developer and manufacturer of professional lighting for industrial, architectural, and medical applications. In addition to improving lighting efficiency, network connected lighting systems can gather valuable data, and the Transcend Alliance will focus on developing applications in this area as well. “These data are expected to open up a new value proposition for commercial buildings, including real-time energy reporting, sensor-based occupancy reporting, light status and environmental monitoring,” said Frezza.   Source link

Severn Trent has successfully prosecuted a restaurant in Codsall, South Staffordshire for blocking the sewers with fat, oil and grease, in a “landmark case”. Café Saffron was ordered to pay a total of £5,495, including costs, at Wolverhampton Magistrates’ Court. This is only the second example of such a case being brought in the UK, and it is a first for Severn Trent. Blockages had been reported on several occasions, with complaints from neighbouring businesses that they could not flush their toilets. The restaurant was found to have caused the blockage by pouring fat used in cooking down the drain and into the sewer, where it coagulated. Severn Trent visited the premises on several occasions, sent various letters and had many conversations with the restaurant owners, asking for grease traps to be installed and warning of the consequences, but the owners refused. Severn Trent managing director of wholesale operations Emma FitzGerald said: “The verdict in this case is an important milestone for us, and we really want this to make other companies think about what they are doing with regards to disposing of fats, oils and grease and how it impacts our customers. “We clear around 45,000 blockages a year and fat contributes to the majority of those, as it binds together all the other things that end up in the sewer rather than the bin and creates huge lumps which block the sewers. “This is totally avoidable and in this case, simply installing a small grease trap could have prevented the situation.  Legal action is a last resort for us, but our customers shouldn’t have to suffer because of the actions of one business not following the rules, and ignoring our advice.” The restaurant has now committed to install a grease trap. Source link

Savills was awarded the Variety Club’s ‘Residential Agent of the Year’ at a ceremony at the London Hilton, Park Lane, this week, beating off competition from Knight Frank and JLLS. Ed Lewis, head of London Residential Development Sales, who collected the trophy says: “This award is testament to the hard work and skill of our teams across the UK in both agency and residential development and I was delighted to accept it on behalf of the business” The Variety Club was founded to provide practical help and memorable childhood experiences for less fortunate children.  Variety’s ‘Props’ Lunch is one of the oldest property industry awards event and has been running for 25 years. Source link