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Newsletter – April 2023

1. Meeting at STEAM, Swindon, March 29th

Our first face-to-face meeting for over three years was held at the STEAM Museum in Swindon on the 29th of March. There were 30 attendees booked including the speakers although a line side fire at Maidenhead that stopped all trains out of Paddington prevented Kevin Bampton of BOHS from reaching us. We shall certainly invite Kevin to another meeting.

Liz Darlison MBE talked about the charity, Mesothelioma UK, and the work it has been doing. She covered the various conditions that asbestos can cause, which are by no means limited to the lungs. She emphasised that Mesothelioma, even once diagnosed, has a very high mortality rate. We urge members to visit their website: https://www.mesothelioma.uk.com and to support this charity.

Jennifer Seavor works for a local solicitor where she has pursued a number of claims for compensation for mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. She told the audience about the industries in Swindon which were the main causes of the disease, which were not limited to the Railway Works where the meeting was being held.

Beth Baker, Group Conservation Manager for the Science Museum Group told us of the many items that they hold that have to be treated with extra care because they are suspected of containing asbestos and how the Museum goes about establishing the presence or otherwise of asbestos and the protection and processes they use to handle the objects. She emphasised that asbestos is not the only problem they have and gave a general overview of other occupational hazards present in the collection. They have oils and other volatile chemicals, lead, radium, uranium and biological materials such as moulds. Visit https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/search to view the collection of nearly 400,000 objects that they hold.

Tony Smith of Sundstrom Safety presented the sorts of respiratory protection preferred by those who remediated structures containing asbestos and the effectiveness of it. Tight-fitting half-masks seem to be preferred though there is a move to hoods with b PAPR Systems.

Sara Mason is a practitioner asbestos consultant where she has to investigate structures for the presence of asbestos. She had points to make about the types of RPE that they had to use and about the difficulties that could be encountered in terms of the sizing of RPE.

There was much robust and lively debate from the assembly. The venue was excellent and some of the attendees took the opportunity to visit the exhibition of engines and other railway paraphernalia in the Museum.

2. Meetingnear Coventry May18th

Our second face-to-face section workshop for 2023 has been confirmed for May 18th at the Coventry Building Society Arena (until recently this was called the RICOH Arena), which is about 5 miles north of the City of Coventry in the English Midlands.

This respiratory protection fit testing workshop, which is being jointly supported by the British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF), will cover the latest developments in respiratory hazards, fit-testing guidance, standards and technology. The intended audience for this key note event is the fit testing community (and targeted healthcare fit testers), Health & Safety professionals, and agencies, RPE and fit test equipment manufacturers, suppliers and duty holders, and ‘RPE fit’ researchers, amongst others. We attach a flyer for this meeting.

Note that BSIF is handling the booking for this meeting, not ISRP. The cost will be £30 +VAT and, as BSIF do not have members, there is no need to prove membership of ISRP. Further details on registration will be provided to the membership when available.

3. Membership for 2023

The section website is now open to receive membership payments. It was down for a couple of weeks while a problem with the payment service provider, Stripe, was resolved. Fees are unchanged from 2022 at £75 for individuals. If you benefited from free membership as part of the fees for the 2022 virtual conference we hope you will join us for 2023. The International Society for Respiratory Protection is the key source of impartial information on respiratory protection worldwide.

 

Professor Dave Crouch at
Chair ISRP European Section

Mike Williams at
Secretary ISRP European Section

April 10th 2023

Newsletter – February 2023

1. Meeting at STEAM, Swindon, March 29th

Our first face-to-face meeting for over three years will be held at the STEAM Museum in Swindon, United Kingdom on March 29th. The subject of the meeting will be Asbestos. The event is being supported by the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS). We sent a flyer for this meeting last month with details of the confirmed key note speakers. Since this flyer was prepared we have added two other speakers.

Jennifer Seavor is a local solicitor who has worked on many compensation claims for mesothelioma caused by asbestos exposures in Swindon industries, mostly from the railway works. Mesothelioma is also known as the “Swindon Disease”.

Our other new speaker is Beth Baker. She is Group Conservation Manager for the Science Museum Group. Their National Collection Centre (NCC) is at Wroughton near Swindon. She will talk about respiratory hazards in the museum sector. The NCC holds over 300,000 objects in store and many of them date from the era when asbestos was commonly used for fire proofing, electrical and thermal insulation and other purposes.

For those who don’t know Swindon it is an hour from London Paddington by train and the venue is within walking distance of the train station. It is about 5 miles from both junctions 15 and 16 of the M4 motorway. Fees for the meeting will be £50 for members and £75 for non-members. Corporate members can register more than 2 members at the member rate. We urge you to book as soon as you can for this event so that we can organise the catering. If there are any problems with booking please contact the Secretary immediately.

We attach a map of the car parks near the venue, which is between the railway line and the National Trust headquarters and next to the Outlet Village. You can park in one of the Outlet Village car parks where you collect a ticket on entry. The staff at STEAM will validate this for you when you leave so that you won’t have to pay. Those who need to park close to the museum need to let the Secretary know and he can arrange access through the barrier.

If you are thinking of staying overnight be warned, two of the hotels nearest to the railway station are being used by our Government to house migrants and are closed to other visitors. These are the Holiday Inn Express and The Thistle. The Ibis next to the Holiday Inn Express, also seems to be closed. The Travel Lodge Swindon Central and The Leonardo (formerly Jury’s) are not being used for migrants and are on Fleming Way within walking distance of the Railway Station and STEAM. Other hotels are available in other parts of the town and near Junctions 15 and 16 of the M4 but are not within walking distance of the Station or STEAM. 

2. Meetingnear Coventry May18th - SAVETHEDATE

A second face to face section workshop has been confirmed for May 18th at the Coventry Building Society Arena (until recently this was called the RICOH Arena), which is about 5 miles north of the City of Coventry in the English Midlands.

This respiratory protection fit testing workshop, which is being jointly supported by the British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF), will cover the last developments in respiratory hazards, fit-testing guidance, standards and technology. The intended audience for this key note event is the fit testing community (and targeted healthcare fit testers), Health & Safety professionals, and agencies, RPE and fit test equipment manufacturers, suppliers and duty holders, and ‘RPE fit’ researchers, amongst others. We attach a flyer for this meeting and registration will be available via the ISRP website after the STEAM meeting.

3. Membership for 2023

The website is now open to receive membership payments. It was down for a couple of weeks while a problem with the payment service provider, Stripe, was resolved. Fees are unchanged from 2022 at £75 for individuals. If you benefited from free membership as part of the fees for the 2022 virtual conference we hope you will join us for 2023. The International Society for Respiratory Protection is the key source of impartial information on respiratory protection worldwide.

3. Retirement of Journal Editor

Ziqing Zhuang has retired from the post of Editor of the Journal of the Society after over 20 years in post. We would like to thank Ziqing for his tireless and diligent work in this role and for his exceptional service to the Society.

 

Dave Crouch at
Chair ISRP European Section

Mike Williams at
Secretary ISRP European Section

February 20th 2023

Newsletter – January 2023

1. 2023 European Section Events

Our first face-to-face meeting since 2019 will be held at the STEAM Museum in Swindon, United Kingdom on March 29th. The subject of the meeting will be Asbestos. We attach a flyer for this meeting with details of the confirmed key note speakers. The event is being supported by the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS). We will circulate details of the venue early in February and will include suggestions for hotels for those who wish to stay overnight. For those who don’t know Swindon it is an hour from London Paddington by train and the venue is within walking distance of the train station. It is about 5 miles from junction 15 of the M4 motorway. Fees for the meeting will be £50 for members and £75 for non-members. Corporate members can register more than 2 members at the member rate.

Mesothelioma, the disease which asbestos can cause, is also known as the Swindon Disease. STEAM is sited in the old railway works, the source of the problem. As a further incentive, if you come to STEAM, you get to look at the old steam engines as well!

A second face to face section workshop has been confirmed for May 18th at the Coventry Building Society Arena (until recently this was called the RICOH Arena), which is about 5 miles north of the City of Coventry in the English Midlands.

This respiratory protection fit testing workshop, which is being jointly supported by the British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF), will cover the last developments in respiratory hazards, fit-testing guidance, standards and technology. The intended audience for this key note event is the fit testing community (and targeted healthcare fit testers), Health & Safety professionals, and agencies, RPE and fit test equipment manufacturers, suppliers and duty holders, and ‘RPE fit’ researchers, amongst others.

Further details on the event will be posted to members in early March and registration will be available via the ISRP section website.

2. Membership for 2023

The website is now open to receive membership payments. It was down for a couple of weeks while a problem with the payment service provider, Stripe, was resolved. Fees are unchanged from 2022 at £75 for individuals. If you benefited from free membership as part of the fees for the 2022 virtual conference we hope you will join us for 2023. 

3. Chairman’s report

The section finished strongly in 2022 holding the last of our three virtual events for the year, in November. When 103 delegates attended the welding webinar, which was held in conjunction with the European Welding Federation (EWF). The executive committee is working hard to make 2023 just as successful as last year. As we plan to move back to a more in-person event schedule. In striving to deliver 3 face-to-face events and several virtual webinars, this year.

More details about these events will be posted as regular updates on the ISRP section website. Please don’t hesitate to contact me or any member of the executive committee if you have any ideas for a future in-person or virtual event. We are always grateful for member input and engagement on what events you would like to see.

Note there were no Newsletters for November or December. Best wishes for 2023.

Dave Crouch at
Chair ISRP European Section

Mike Williams at
Secretary ISRP European Section

January 22nd 2023

Newsletter – October 2022

1. 2022 European Section Webinar Summaries and Future Webinars

This year’s European Section online webinars are to be held in September (Basics), October (Silica) and November (Welding). We have decided to hold the webinar on Asbestos over until 2023 with the ambition to make it an in-person meeting.

The Basics of Respiratory Protection webinar was held on the 22 nd September and comprised of the following speakers:-

  • Dan Warkander - Respiratory physiology – How and why humans breath? - Senior Research Engineer US Navy Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory.
  • Dr Eva Dickson - Fundamentals of Filtering RPDs (Powered & Non-Powered) - Defence Scientist, Royal Military College of Canada and ISRP President
  • Radha Krishnan - How SCBAs and connected systems will solve your respiratory challenges - Segment Marketing Manager, IND SAR and APR. MSA

Number of Attendees: 36 The recording of the webinar can be found at the following link

Basics of Respiratory Protection | Sept 22 2022 | ISRP Education Programme - YouTube

The Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS) webinar was held on the 13 th October and comprised of the following speakers:-

  • Tiny Conroy - What is RCS and where is it used - Pragma and Associates
  • Chris Keen - RCS Controlling Exposure - UK Health & Safety Executive – BOHS President
  • Eric Ball - RCS Case Study: HS2 Transportation Project - Park Health

Number of Attendees: 97 The recording of the webinar can be found at the following link

Respirable Crystalline Silica | ISRP 13 Oct 2022 - YouTube

Here is the link for registration for 24 th November webinar on Welding: The Multi-hazard Process:

Webinar Registration - Zoom

For each of our online webinars, and to support membership networking and collaboration, we are looking for members to present a short 5-10 min introduction to their company, research or other RPE related activity. These shorter ignite-type sessions will be embedded into the main educational webinar to help support membership awareness. Please contact the section chair or secretary, if interested or require further details.

2. Section AGM

The Section AGM was held on-line on the 22nd September. The minutes of the meeting have been sent to the members via email.

3. Other News

The principal officers of the European Section had a face-to-face meeting on October 17th . We have decided to ask Malgorzata Okrasa if she would act as Website Co-ordinator and she has agreed to this.

We agreed that a face-to-face meeting in early 2023 would be a good idea. The Secretary suggested STEAM Museum at Swindon (his home town) as a venue for the meeting on Asbestos. Mesothelioma is also known as the Swindon Disease and STEAM is sited in the old railway works, the source of the problem. We are looking for dates and investigating the capacity of the venue to host a hybrid live/virtual meeting. As a further incentive, if you come to STEAM, you get to look at the old steam engines!

 

Dave Crouch at
Chair ISRP European Section

Mike Williams at
Secretary ISRP European Section

October 24 th 2022

Newsletter – August 2022

1. 2022 European Section Webinars and Seminars

This year’s European Section online webinars are to be held in September (Basics), October (Silica), November (Welding) and December (Asbestos). The September webinar will be held on the 22nd September with a 2PM UK start time with the following speakers:-

  • Dan Warkander - Respiratory physiology – How and why humans breath? Senior Research Engineer US Navy Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory
  • Dr Eva Dickson - Fundamentals of Filtering RPDs (Powered & Non-Powered) Defence Scientist, Royal Military College of Canada and ISRP President
  • Radha Krishnan - Types of RPD -Breathing Apparatus (BA) Segment Marketing Manager, IND SAR and APR. MSA

Here is the link for registration for this meeting:

2. Section AGM

There will be an online AGM, which we would like to hold with the September webinar. Details of the exact time will follow.

 

Dave Crouch at
Chair ISRP European Section

Mike Williams at
Secretary ISRP European Section

August 14th 2022

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