UK governments

The UK government enquiry into the Piper Alpha disaster in the North Sea in 1988 has had a significant impact on working practices and equipment and has helped to improve offshore safety around the world. One result has been the development of a Safety Management System (SMS) which is a method of integrating work practices, and is a form of quality management system. Major oil companies have each developed their own specific SMS, to suit local environments and modes of operation, but the SMS typically addresses the following areas (recommended by the Cullen Enquiry into the Piper Alpha disaster) ... 

The main conclusion of an expert workshop on endocrine modulators and wildlife in 1997 was that some existing test methods, as defined in guidelines published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), could be adapted to incorporate specific endocrine disrupting endpoints, but that there might also be the need to develop new tests, e.g. for fish. On behalf of the UK Government, the MRC Institute for Environment and Health (lEH)... 

RED LIST The Red List was drawn up by the UK Government in 1989 in response to international... 

Prior to the publication of ISO 9000, several nations had developed national quality system standards, with many used only in the procurement of military equipment. With the emergence of the NATO Quality Control System standards in 1973, the Quality Panel of the UK Society of Motor Manufacturers set out to develop an equivalent standard for non-military applications. The result was BS 4891, which was published in 1972. In 1974 this was followed by BS 5179 with the title Operation and Evaluation of Quality Assurance Systems. However, BS 5179 was intended only as a guide and it was not until 1979, with the publication of BS 5750, that major purchasers in the UK had a standard that could be invoked in contracts. A certification scheme was eventually established in 1983, following the UK government s white paper on competitiveness ... 

This article discusses the UK Government s plan to make incineration with energy recovery play a larger role in waste management, following a report from the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. Recommendations from the report are included. UK,GOVERNMENT UK,ROYAL COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY INDUSTRY GROUP EUROPEAN COMMUNITY EUROPEAN UNION UK WESTERN EUROPE... 

With reference to the latest UK government s attempts to tackle the problem of the disposal and/or recycling of packaging waste, comments are reported from Cameron McLatchie, chief executive of British Polythene Industries. He calls for a landfill levy and increased use of incineration with energy recovery. According to recent studies, the capacity for mechanical recycling is presently insufficient. Statistics relating to waste production are included and the case for incineration in the UK is propounded. 

False. In January 2007 the UK government announced its intention to raise the minimum age at which a person may legally purchase tobacco or tobacco related products from 16 to 18 years. This change is scheduled to take effect in October 2007. In the USA the minimum age at which cigarettes may be purchased is 18 years. 

False. UK government statistics for 2004 indicated that 18 per cent of young people between 11 and 15 years of age had used an illegal drug in the previous... 

False. In January 2007 the UK government announced its intention to raise the minimum age at which a person may legally purchase tobacco or tobacco related... 

UK Government Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, Postnote, No. 229, September 2004. 

The UK Government has, for more than six years, funded the Valid Analytical Measurement (VAM) Programme, which is aimed at improving the quality and comparability of analytical measurements. The work undertaken within VAM is key to the underpinning of a modern physico-chemical and biochemical National Measurement System, By disseminating the activities of VAM across international boundaries and linking with other national measurement system VAM also aims to ensure the comparability of data worldwide. Thus VAM provides an infrastructure under which reliable measurements can be made for trade, regulation and health and safety provision. 

Much of what 1 write in this book will seem controversial, but it is all thoroughly grounded on scientific evidence - evidence that I describe in detail in this book. Furthermore, as controversial as my conclusions seem, there has been a growing acceptance of them. NICE has acknowledged the failure of antidepressant treatment to provide clinically meaningful benefits to most depressed patients the UK government has instituted plans for providing alternative treatments and neuroscientists have noted the inability of the chemical-imbalance theory to explain depression.6 We seem to be on the cusp of a revolution in the way we understand and treat depression. 

Currently, the UK government is taking steps to make psychotherapy for depression more readily available. On 20 January 2005 the Prime Minister s Strategy Unit hosted a seminar in the Cabinet Office, the focus of which was an invited... 

Health IfEa (1999) Risk assessment approaches used by UK government for evaluating Human Health Effects of Chemicals. Risk Assessment, Toxicology Steering Committee (RATSC)... 

Home Office Report (1998). UK Government Home Office. Available at http //www.home office. go v. uk/tacklingdrugs/index. html... 

Various UK government authorities and especially The Crown Suppliers were already "fire conscious" and further extended the use of fabrics of reduced flammability, barrier fabrics and barrier foams, with high resilience PU foams in their purchase specifications for upholstered furniture and bed assemblies for use in the Crown Estate, public buildings, hospitals etc. Typically, products were required to meet cigarette and No. 5 wooden crib sources see Table I when tested to Crown Suppliers Tests (5), (6). ... 

LGC has a strong interest in the quality of analytical measurements and played a lead role in the development of the UK s initiative on Valid Analytical Measurement (VAM). This is a programme supported by the UK government as part of the DTI programmes supporting the national measurement system. 

Tumheim K (2004) Drug therapy in the elderly. Exp Gerontol 39 1731-1738 Wise J (2001) UK government and doctors agree to end blame culture . BM1 323 9... 

Brief details are given of a health-based standard for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, (PAHs) in air, which has been recommended to the UK Government by the Expert Panel on Air Quality. PAHs are organic compounds which are emitted from sources such as road traffic and certain industrial processes. The Panel has recommended 0.25ng/m3 measured as an annual average, suing benzo(a)pyrene as an indicator of the PAH mixture typically found in the air. 

Energy costs should gradually be lowered for many chlorine producers. Less predictable are the interference of governments and the imposition of taxes in the guise of climate change. The UK government got very near to imposing such a tax, which would have shut down a considerable part of the industry. 

The AMFC Directive requires that food control laboratories should be accredited to the EN 45000 series of standards as supplemented by some of the OECD GLP principles. In the UK, government departments have nominated the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to carry out the accreditation of official food control laboratories for all the aspects prescribed in the Directive. However, as the accreditation agency will also be required to comply with the EN 45003 Standard and to carry out assessments in accordance with the EN 45002 Standard, all accreditation agencies that are members of the European Cooperation for Accreditation of Laboratories (EA) may be asked to carry out the accreditation of a food control laboratory within the UK. Similar procedures will be followed in the other Member States, all having or developing equivalent organisations to UKAS. Details of the UK requirements for food control laboratories are described later in this chapter. 

Two major recent reports [ The Stern Review The Economics of Climate Change from the UK government (http //www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent reviews/stern review economics climate change/stern review report.cfm) and Climate Change 2007 The Physical Science Basis from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC http //www.ipcc.ch)] have amplified and emphasised the points made here. 

The considerable inherent uncertainty in our understanding of the way that chemicals interact with the environment means that there will continue to be a risk of serious effects, as a result of the use of chemicals products, that we cannot predict on the basis of our current or foreseeable understanding of these processes. This requires a precautionary approach to chemicals management, and this is best implemented through substitution. ..We recommend that the UK Government adopt substitution as a central objective of chemicals policy." UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, 2003 ... 

The Interdepartmental Group on Health Risks from Chemicals (IGHRC) in the United Kingdom has published a document entitled Uncertainty Factors Their Use in Human Health Risk Assessment by UK Government (IGHRC 2003). The document intended to lay out the principles used in the United Kingdom. 

Chapter 5 of the document reviews the UFs used by UK Government departments, agencies, and their advisory committees in human health risk assessment. Default values for UFs are provided in Table 3 in the UK document with the factors separated into four classes (1) animal-to-human factor, (2) human variability factor, (3) quality or quantity of data factor, and (4) severity of effect factor. The following chemical sectors are addressed food additives and contaminants, pesticides and biocides, air pollutants, drinking water contaminants, soil contaminants, consumer products and cosmetics, veterinary products, human medicines, medical devices, and industrial chemicals. 

IGHRC. 2003. The Interdepartmental Group on Health Risks from Chemicals. Uncertainty factors Their use in human health risk assessment by UK Government. Leicester Institute for Environment and Health, University of Leicester, http //www.silsoe.cranfield.ac.uk/ieh/pdf/cr9.pdf... 

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