The Biocidal Products Committee (BPC) of the European Chemical Agency has adopted opinions supporting the approval of three active substances for use in biocidal products used as preservatives and repellents and one opinion on the comparative assessment for anticoagulant rodenticides. The active substances are: • MIT for product-type 12 • Fludioxonil for product-types 7, 9 and 10 • Margosa extract for product-type 19

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has released provisional energy production and consumption statistics for the year of 2016.

Primary energy production rose by 1.4% per cent above that achieved in 2015 due to rises in oil and gas output. Energy production in 2016 was marginally above the levels of 2012. Renewables energy production rose by 2.3%, with an increase in bioenergy output and nuclear output up 2.0%. Production of coal fell by 51%, to a new record low, due to the closure of all large deep mines, and the remaining mines producing less coal as they come to the end of their operational life. In the last five years coal output has declined by 77%. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-energy-statistics-2016-provisional-data

Risk assessment of pushing and pulling (RAPP) tool.   This tool aids the identification of high-risk pushing and pulling operations and check the effectiveness of any risk-reduction measures.

Two types of pulling and pushing operations can be assessed using this tool:

For each type of assessment there is a flow chart, an assessment guide and a score sheet. The flow charts provide an overview of the risk factors and assessment process, while the assessment guides provide information to help determine the level of risk for each factor.  http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg478.pdf.  This document may also be found in the guidance section of the Simplifi-Solutions website.