Accepta Newsletter: Issue 25

Welcome to issue 25; this month we feature a series of case studies highlighting pollution control best practice from the UK, news of our forthcoming water test equipment catalogue, ideas to help boost company profits in growth environments, an excellent guide to controlling the risks of infection at work, plus information about our innovative "SafeOx Two", a new two pack powdered chlorine dioxide delivery system.

If you find our newsletter useful please pass it on to friends and colleagues. And if there are any subjects you'd like to see included in future issues please e-mail me at sdooner@accepta.com.

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In this issue:

• Choosing Cost Effective Pollution Control – examples from industry.
• New Accepta Test Equipment Catalogue - pre-order your copy now.
• Business Skills - ways to boost company profits in growth environments.
• Infection at work - controlling the risks.
• Innovation - SafeOx Two, Accepta's new two pack powdered chlorine dioxide delivery system.

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Choosing Cost Effective Pollution Control

Examples from Industry

These Industry Examples describe how six UK companies chose cost-effective pollution control. Each industry example describes the problems faced by the company and the economic and environmental benefits achieved by following an integrated approach to pollution control.....

Reduced Trade Effluent Costs for Bristol Myers Squibb

Bristol Myers Squibb employs 160 people in the manufacture of toiletries at its Cramlington site in Northumberland, United Kingdom. In 1996 the site turnover was £28 million.

Reasons for Considering Pollution Control Equipment

An environmental audit of the site carried out by the company’s corporate environmental department revealed that trade effluent quality limits were breached regularly. The site decided to embark on remedial action to achieve consistent compliance with these limits.

Project Objectives and Constraints

• The ability to achieve the site’s effluent quality limits.
• The limited availability of space at the Cramlington site.

Selection Process

A team of key staff from the Cramlington site inspected effluent treatment plants at other Bristol Myers’ sites around the world, but these would fail to overcome Cramlington’s problems of space and technical performance. Bristol Myers then commissioned consultants to undertake an assessment of appropriate technologies and provide indicative capital costings. A number of activities were carried out in parallel, including:

• characterisation of the flow and the pollutant content of the effluent;
• a technical and cost assessment of short-listed technologies;
• small-scale treatability trials to establish the effectiveness of the technologies in dealing with the effluent from the Cramlington site.

This assessment showed that aerobic treatment using pure oxygen was the only option
capable of meeting Bristol Myers’ performance objectives. This technology was also
compatible....more

Extracted from "Choosing Cost Effective Pollution Control" © Crown copyright

For your complimentary copy of this excellent case study guide please e-mail info@accepta.com quoting the full title of the document.

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New Accepta Test Equipment Catalogue

We’re currently finalising our new Test Equipment catalogue which, for the first time brings together our complete range of water test kits, analysis equipment and replacement reagents. And for those of you who have asked, it also includes full details of our new range of Hach equivalent reagents.

If you’d like to receive your own electronic copy once the catalogue is available please let us know by e-mailing info@accepta.com or calling +44 (0) 161 240 2100.

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Business Skills

Ways to Boost Company Profits in Growth Environments

We’ve compiled a short list of some of the ways you can look to boost company profits during economic growth periods:

• Negotiate better terms for your business with suppliers.
• Increase your gross margins by improving production efficiencies and raising sales prices where possible.
• Free-up your capital by selling off excess stock.
• Examine your operational structure to streamline your business and avoid employing unnecessary back office staff.
• Create more organisational flexibility.
• Work to improve employee morale and offer performance related incentives.
  

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Infection at Work: Controlling the Risks

A guide for employers and the self employed on identifying,
assessing and controlling the risks of infection in the workplace

What is this guide about?

This guide, prepared in consultation with the UK's Health and Safety Executive, by the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens, deals with the risk of infection at work, but it is not aimed at those who deliberately work with micro-organisms, e.g. in laboratories. You should use this guidance if your employees could come into contact with infectious micro-organisms as a result of the kind of work they do, e.g.:

• working with animals (e.g. farming);
• working with people who might be infectious (e.g. patients in hospitals);
• handling waste material that may be contaminated with microorganisms (e.g. refuse disposal);
• working in an environment or with equipment (e.g. sewer maintenance) that could be contaminated.

What do I have to do?

You can deal with the risks from infection at work in the same way as any other health and safety issue. You need to:

• identify the hazards;
• assess the risks;
• control the risks.

As well as considering the risks to your employees, you also need to decide whether the work that you do puts others at risk of infection. For example you may run a farm that is also open to the public. You have a duty under health and safety law to protect your visitors too.

Although some jobs involve dealing with lots of people, eg driving a bus, the risk of infection in the course of such work is likely to be no greater than that of, say, the passenger who uses the bus every day. The risk of infection has to be foreseeable before you need to carry out an assessment and take measures to control the risks. For example someone who cleans buses in certain areas may be at risk from contact with dirty needles and other rubbish. They need to be protected during the course of their work.

Although your employees may well pick up infections from workmates (just as they might from their friends and family outside work) – these infections are not your responsibility under health and safety law. This is because the infection is just as likely to be caught outside the workplace as in it. But there may be other laws which require you to take action.

Carrying out a risk assessment is your responsibility as the employer. You may be able to carry out the assessment yourself but, if not, you should call on help and advice from within your own organisation, or if this is not available, from outside sources, e.g. consultancies.

If you employ more than five people you must write down the significant findings of your assessment. You should record the significant hazards identified in your assessment, and the controls that are in place or are to be used. If you have fewer than five employees, you do not need to write anything down, but you may find it useful to keep a written record of what you have done.

Your risk assessment is a living document and should reflect any changes in the work that you do, new equipment that is used or a new work activity is added if this changes the risk or leads to new hazards being introduced. It is also good practice to review your assessment from time to time to make sure that the controls you are using are working and still appropriate…..more

Extracted from "Infection at work: Controlling the risks" © Crown copyright 2003

For your complimentary copy of this excellent case study guide please e-mail info@accepta.com quoting the full title of the document.

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SafeOx Two

New Two Pack Powdered Chlorine Dioxide Delivery System

Accepta’s SafeOx Two is an innovative two pack chlorine dioxide delivery system that works to create a highly effective eco-friendly sanitiser and disinfectant without the need for specialist equipment. It is already approved under German TVO law, considered by some to be one of the world’s most stringent laws on drinking water. It is also listed as an approved product and process by the UK’s Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) and currently has many other approvals pending.

What is SafeOx Two?

Accepta’s SafeOx Two chlorine dioxide system comprises two separate powdered components that are mixed together in water to create an activated 0.3% solution of chlorine dioxide which is stable for between 30 and 60 days. It has significant advantages, both as a sanitiser and chlorine dioxide delivery system.

Advantages

• Ideal and very cost effective for small to medium users of chlorine dioxide.
• Effective against all water related micro organisms (bacteria, viruses, protozoa, fungi, yeast).
• Improved safety - generating chlorine dioxide using SafeOx Two does not create an explosion hazard; unlike some other methods.
• Generate chlorine dioxide on demand – make as much as you need when you need it. SafeOx Two in its unmixed form has an imperishable shelf life.
• Very cost effective method of generating chlorine dioxide with minimal up-front investment costs in plant, equipment and training.
• SafeOx Two does not require acid activators, nor does it build chlorite or chlorate.
• No release of free chlorine, chlorite, chlorate and chloride.
• The smell, taste and colour of drinking water improves.
• Less load on sewage.
• Reduction of residue in water.
• No resistance building by micro-organisms.
• Removal of Prophylaxis on Bio Films
• Fully operational at pH levels between 4 and 10.

Additional Information

For more information about SafeOx Two, Accepta’s innovative two pack chlorine dioxide delivery system please e-mail info@accepta.com or call us on +44 (0) 161 240 2100.