City of Quinte West Makes Clever Use of SDS RiskAssist During the Pandemic Shutdown

"When the pandemic hit our area, the City closed all of its facilities but needed workers to be able to continue to provide a level of service to the area. We looked at our departments to see what we could do to ensure that important aspects of our commitment to area residents didn't disappear as we worked through this difficult time.

Teams were split up, moved to different locations and had altered start times so we could social distance and flatten the curve in our area. With the help of Rillea Technologies, we were able to have all of our SOP's, SOG's and some Standards put on the City's dedicated SDS RiskAssist website so that our staff no longer had to enter their work facility to get the information that they required to work safely.

Staff have the capability to access SDS RiskAssist on their electronic devices and the information is at their finger tips, regardless of where they are located. This ensures that they can follow safe work protocols including work setups, required PPE and safe work procedures.

Thank you to the team at Rillea Technologies for continuing to work with us to keep our staff safe while on the job." - Richard Anderson Health, Safety and Employee Services Officer, City of Quinte West.

SDS RiskAssist can be used to host any pdf that clients wish to share broadly. These documents are simply classified as "references" in the E-Binder. Some clients include their asbestos maps for quick reference by employees, others include information on poison ivy, wild parsnip or as in the case of the City of Quinte West, SOP's. Even pathogen safety data sheets can be added for the medical and dental sector.

Clients can also work with Rillea Tech to create 1-page summaries for these references. For example, if certain PPE or special instructions are to be highlighted from an SOP, these can be added to the 1-page summary that a worker sees before they download the reference document. 

If you have a chemical wish list, let's talk. It may be easy for us to meet your needs and save you loads of time and money!

Rillea Tech is Growing! Meet Jackie...

Meet our new Director of Dental Division, Jackie White. A Registered Dental Hygienist, Jackie has almost 30 years of experience in private dental practices. She is a founding member of Council for the provincial regulatory body, the College of Dental Hygienists of Nova Scotia, and is past chair of the Continuing Competency Committee.

We may not think about it as we visit the dentist but dental staff have a myriad of occupational exposures to worry about. In their Handbook of Occupational Hazards and Control for Dental Workers, the Government of Alberta does a great job of articulating hazards and risk mitigation for biological, chemical, physical and psychological hazards in the dental sector.

The key to a long and healthy dental career is being aware of these hazards and mitigating the risk of injury or illness. However, workers have little knowledge and time to dig into the technical documents and regulations to determine chemical hazards. That's why Jackie approached Rillea Technologies to try SDS RiskAssist in the dental sector. She appreciated the help that SDS RiskAssist provided in identifying chemical hazards and the easy access to necessary precautions required to protect herself, patients, co-workers and the environment.

With her unique perspective, Jackie is already improving Rillea Technologies. Take a look at her blog post to see why she believes every dental office can benefit from SDS RiskAssist!

Can Most Workers Interpret WHMIS SDSs?

Often people list time constraints, insufficient resources and complicated information as the reasons why WHMIS safety data sheets are hard to understand. So, if you had all the time you needed, along with the internet's abundance of information at your disposal, would you be able to properly protect yourself? At first, you may be confident that you could find adequate PPE and safety instructions. After some searching without results, your opinion may change.

This personal story probes why protecting yourself from hazards is so difficult, even with access to an overwhelming amount of information. 

Cancer Affects Everyone. Get an Understanding of Carcinogens in Your Workplace.

"Unless we make progress in prevention and treatment, approximately 44% of us will be diagnosed with cancer in our lifetime and 24% of us will die of cancer. Based on what is currently known about the causes of cancer, it has been estimated that approximately half of all cancers, including those caused by the workplace, are preventable."

These are startling statistics found in an independent study commissioned by Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development entitled, Using scientific evidence and principles to help determine the work-relatedness of cancer. But the dire statistics are mixed with the good news that 1/2 of all cancers can be prevented! What we need now is action. Employers have the power to reduce workplace carcinogen exposures by leveraging their own data. They just need the data organized so they can "see" it in actionable context. Read Lisa's blog to find out more.

RilleaTech in the News!

•  SDS RiskAssist to be featured in A TON of Demos, presented by The Ottawa Network on Thursday, July 30th at 7:00 PM EST. Click here to sign up and receive the link for the virtual forum. 
• Rillea Tech's free Webinar entitled The Why, What and How of Disinfecting for Coronavirus has now been viewed by close to 300 organizations through our various online platforms! Make sure you check it out if you are looking for tips to set up disinfecting protocols. 
• Rillea Tech benefits from Queen's University Growth Accelerator.

Let's keep the conversation going!

Follow any or all of our social media feeds to hear news about Rillea Technologies or SDS RiskAssist. We'd love to answer any questions you may have and support your journey in responsible chemical management.

 ^__ Lisa & Rob, Rillea Technologies