On 4th September NEBOSH launched their new-look General Certificate Courses (both National and International). It was no surprise that the launch coincided with NEBOSH 40th anniversary celebrations. The General Certificate course has been the backbone of NEBOSH’s course offerings for many years and has provided the springboard for thousands of careers into occupational health and safety (OHS) management (including my own; see here). There are various sources of information about the new courses available on the NEBOSH website, such as their news article (see here) and a short video (see here). But the best place to look for detailed information on the relevant course information pages (National here; International here).…
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Social Sustainability for Environmental Practitioners
When I’m running face-to-face training courses one of the areas that students sometimes struggle with is the social aspect of sustainable development. Generally the courses I deliver are based around environmental management and delegates usually grasp this side of sustainability. However we should not forget that sustainability has two other subjects related to it: social and economic. Leaving economic sustainability for another time, I thought it would be interesting to identify social issues and how they relate to sustainable development. I’ve noticed over the years that having knowledge of social issues is becoming more and more important as social issue management is increasingly being added to the role of environmental…
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Layers – We All Make Mistakes Part 2
In my last blog, “Human Error – We all make mistakes” (see here), I shared a personal experience involving DIY and a domestic electrical system. Fortunately, or perhaps I should say luckily, one where there was no bad outcome. We got away with it scot-free. The point I made in that blog was that human error was very much in evidence. And the particular human error illustrated was a mistake (from the human failures model in HSG 48: Reducing error and influencing behaviour). Swiss Cheese In this blog I would like to look under the bonnet of the event to look beyond the mistake that was committed. That mistake was,…
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Life Cycle Thinking 101
Every product has a life cycle and understanding the components of the lifecycle is important for getting to grips with its true environmental impact. Traditionally, environmental impact assessments have considered just the manufacturing phase of a product – this would include direct impacts. Direct impacts are those that are physically released by the organisation itself. For example emissions from a boiler on site that causes air pollution or the discharge of oil into a nearby river causing damage to the river. They generally include pollution issues. These can be significant for some organisations and obviously need to be carefully assessed and controlled. Upstream Impacts However, considering direct impacts does not…
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Five Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Environmental destruction is prominent in the media at present, but often we can associate being environmentally friendly with certain actions and products, for example, the combustion engine has been targeted for producing high emissions. What if you considered the fact that almost every lifestyle-related action we take has a carbon footprint attached to it? Meaning, it is almost impossible to live a modern lifestyle with a zero carbon footprint. However, if we can lessen our impact every little helps and small changes are a positive step in the right direction. What is a carbon footprint? This phrase refers to the amount of carbon dioxide that is released into the environment…
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Benefits of Studying IEMA Foundation Certificate in Environmental Management
The IEMA Foundation Certificate in Environmental Management course provides a solid foundation of environmental and sustainability concepts and knowledge. It is aimed at individuals who uphold responsibility for environmental duties, allowing them to improve sustainable practices and increase positive impact on society and the environment. The course covers key learning outcomes such as; supporting change and transformation to improve sustainability, environmental law and regulation, and outlining implications of global environmental trends. Be Part of a Professional Body IEMA is the professional body for everyone working in the environmental and sustainability sectors. By studying the IEMA Foundation Certificate you are entitled to associate membership of IEMA (AIEMA), giving you access to…
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Human Error – We All Make Mistakes
In my early twenties I lodged for 6 months with a married couple who I knew from work. They had just bought a terraced house and had a room going spare. The house needed a bit of work doing on it and Dave was a DIY enthusiast. One wet Sunday afternoon he asked me if I would give him a hand with some electrical wiring work. Now I am not an electrician. Nor was he. But I wanted to show willing so jumped straight in to help. As we got towards the end of the work we came to the critical task of making final connections into the fuse box…
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How Ecosystems Contribute to The Economy
Introduction A concept that has always interested me is that of ecosystem services. In a nutshell, an ecosystem service is a benefit that is provided by nature to humanity. A natural extension of this approach is to then try to value the ecosystem, which involves making an estimation of how much money the service brings to an economy or how much money the service saves. I am a big fan of this approach. Unfortunately, in society the case for protection of ecosystem is made stronger by thinking about what they offer to humanity rather than just looking. If we objectively understand why they are important this should provide a significant…
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The Dangers of Heat Stress
Nice Weather We have been enjoying a relatively warm, dry spell in some parts of the UK recently. For many of us summer has finally arrived after a rather disappointing spring. On my local patch the farmers are making hay while the sun shines. But every silver lining has a cloud and for some people that cloud is heat stress. Heat Stress Heat stress is what happens when your core body temperature starts to creep up above the normal 37oC. The human body has complex thermoregulatory mechanisms to keep core temperature at or close to 37oC. If these mechanisms fail to work effectively then very significant health effects will start…
