Health and Safety

On November 15^th Carole Conroy came to talk about health and safety. She is a charted safety and health practitioner and teaches occupational safety at master’s level at Salford University. She started by trying to get some sort of engagement from us by asking what occupation risks there are and how it can affect people’s health. This was an OK way to get some sort of interaction from people but she probably didn’t get the interaction she would have liked but we kind of know how dangerous work environments can be especially working in labs.

We were told about an Italian man called Ramazzini who is considered to be the founder of occupational medicine. He studied trade diseases and advised doctors to ask patients about their occupations and in doing this in his own way eh created the first style of health and safety examination. She then addressed the industrial revolution which created dangerous environments like factory’s and mines and the change in the way that item were produced added to the dangers creating hazards chemically, physically with long working hours. This environment lead to conditions like infectious diseases, physical injury’s and mental illnesses. An example of this is people who made hats in the 1800’s used mercury in their production and exposure to this without protection lead to mental and physical illness. Carole then moved on to talk about the statistics of injury.

The number of non-fatal injuries in the work place in the UK for 2013/2014 - 2015/2016 was estimated to be over 622,000 people, over 196,000 of these cases were from random accidents but the most prominent one comes from lifting and handling. The number of fatalities in the UK work place in 2015/2016 was 144, from these the most prominent cause of death was from falling from great heights. The most distressing statistic comes from many deaths occur from diseases that have come from the work environment, this is estimated to be over 11,000, this is caused by cancers such as lung cancer and asbestos. From an economical side she told us that the amount of working days lost in 2014/2015 was 27.4 million days due to illness or work place injury which averages at about 15 days off per person and the economic cost to the UK for the year 2014/2015 was £14.1 billion with £8 billion of this coming out of the individuals pocket, £3.3 billion from government and £2.8 billion from employers.

Carole made this relevant to us by highlighting the number of injuries in the pharmaceutical industry which is over 570 people with the largest amount coming handing heavy goods. She developed this further  by showing examples of bad lab practices that can cause injury over the long term from things like stooping, reaching and twisting and that these can lead to things like back problems but can be overcome by having a better ergonomic environment and using COSHH.

On the surface talking about health and safety seems like it would be the most boring thing especially when society views the culture of it with such contempt but I found parts of this interesting especially the parts that were relative, I completely get how after an hour stooping you really feel it in the back and when you stand up straight it feels like a massive relief and that I will want to take my work environment into consideration when it comes to the long term. It was also sad to know that such a high number of people die in what could be in needless ways and all though we complain about health and safety when it wasn’t so prominent in the past people get diseases like asbestos poisoning and were forced to work exhausting hours. From this I feel like I’ve taken away a new appreciation for health and safety I know when I’m being informed about how to lift and signing endless paper work that it’s based on legislation that people would have done anything for in the past so I should have some appreciation for this.

Semi conductors for chemistry students

Richard Pilkington came to the lesson today to talk about the semi-conductor industry and how it can apply to chemistry/biochemistry students like our selves. He started by saying that transistors were first created in 1947 by William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain in America.

A transistor is made of an oxidative layer on the top of an n-type silicon (elements such as phosphorous) and contained inside a p - type silicon (elements such as boron). Silicon is a semi-conductor that which means that it is a material element that acts in the middle ground of plastics and metals in terms of its ability to conduct electricity. The N- type provides free electrons that can carry electrical currents and encourage the flow out of the transistor whereas the P-type has fewer free electrons that encourages electrons to flow into it. When a current flows into a transistor this method amplifies the current that is passing through it.

             After this we were told of Moors law which states that “transistor density on integrated boards doubles every two years” this means that the technology gets smaller and better every two years and he provided us with electrical equipment from 30 years ago that had 16 transistors which is very minor compared to today’s levels such as 256 billion transistors (wow!!!) that are used in iPod’s, this shows how essential the progression of this technology is, it has become some integrated into our everyday lives without realising it. Silicon is the second most abundant element on earth after oxygen and makes 25% of the earth’s crust and can be used in this way in many areas. One of the most prominent technologies that people will hopefully benefit from is in the use of solar panels. Silicon is ideal for this because its abundance makes it cheap and it has a very long life span.

The silicon substrate is made by SiO₂ + C = Si + CO₂, this is done in a 1900 c degree furnace which gives metallurgical grade Si. The Si then goes through purification process of Si + 3HCL = SiHCL₃ + H₂. In the final stage the silicon is refined to reduce impurities through SIHCL₃ + H₂ = Si + 3HCL. He showed us a sample of the refined silicon and it was interesting to handle this because I take for granted such materials but holding such a heavy amount was interesting because I could feel the weight that I did not expect and it was as reflective as a mirror. At the end of his presentation someone asked about how this area could apply to biochemistry and he stated that because our course covers subjects like genetics and physiology we would be in great demand because this area of technology is looking to move into physiology and medicine and biochemists will be needed to bridge the gap of knowledge.

I found this area extremely interesting because it was exploring the engineering side of science and it was good to see how chemistry applies to engineering instead of the biological side of it. I would have liked to know who are these people who are in need of biochemists in this industry, it’s all good saying that people will want my knowledge and skills but I would like to know who these companies are and how I can apply for work with them.

Using social media

Jenny Warburton came to lesson today to talk about how social media can affect our career path. She was very engaging and it didn’t feel like she was saying anything that was irrelevant to the people present in the lesson. Employers these days often look up prospective employee’s social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter, this seems to be so they can get an idea of a person’s character outside of the interviewing environment. Doing this gives them a more accurate idea of what a person is like, if someone’s Facebook constantly has pictures of them drunk covered in puke or has inflammatory language/ideas employers may choose not to hire you because they may view you as a person who might act unprofessional with others or if you’re a heavy drinker they might think you will come to work hungover or have frequent absences.

They may also be concerned about how a person’s individual behaviour reflects on the company they work for and don’t want to be associated with that person if they do something controversial.

An example of this is when in 2013 a girl who was hired to be a youth police and crime commissioner was quit under public pressure because people found language on her social media account from the past that was considered to be racist and homophobic. Many people in the public did not think that this girl should have been able to hold such a public position that is meant to represent and consider the whole of society while she says such things that reflects her thoughts. Because of public pressure she decided to quit her position but the Kent police force came under a lot of pressure for not vetting her properly, she had CRB checks but they did not look at her social media which people considered irresponsible on their behalf furthermore it is likely that she would have been fired for this if she had not of quit.

From this I took away that while we have freedom of speech and free will having an open social media account or excepting a lot of people means that you put yourself out their as a public figure and are judged in the same way and people will define you by what you put on their.

Jenny then moved on to talk about how LinkedIn can help us get work with in our respective industries, she explained that it is similar to other social network sites but this is a purely professional one that is designed for people to make connections with other professionals and company’s and that we might be able to find employment through this system as it is becoming increasing popular way for employers to find the staff they want, Steve also told us that last year 2 graduates were offered positions based on the LinkedIn profile they set up.

I found this very encouraging because it’s hard to know where to start when looking for a job in the science industry and this is a very encouraging starting point. Over all the lesson was very informative and encouraging, the first side of lesson didn’t really apply to me because I don’t have any social media but it was something important for others to consider.