File the following in the "for a work friend" category of blog posts. The TL;DR of dealing with bed bugs is this: Let's imagine that your friend, who works with you but in a different building, has discovered a bed bug infestation in their work space. And, let's imagine that the employer is reluctant to […]
I want to follow-up on my earlier post on workplace incident reporting at York University. Our HSEWB department, which controls resources and processes related to workplace health and safety at York University, continues to insist that documentation -- including workplace incident forms -- be hidden behind password protection access. Hiding health and safety documentation behind […]
Summary The Ontario Workers Health & Safety Training Centre provides training on Indoor Air Quality. It’s valuable training for Joint Health and Safety Committee members to provide them on background to better understand how to go about gathering and analyzing information on indoor air in the workplace. The training covers common issues, limitations, and responsibilities. (preview here) Given the importance of […]
TL;DR: There is little to no evidence to show that coughing into your elbow prevents the spread of disease. Elbow-coughing has long struck me as a cop-out, but some posts on Twitter piqued my interest into digging around in the scientific literature. Thanks to Dr. Christine Peters and Dr. Lee Altenberg for the pointers to […]
If you feel that it's too hot or too cold in your office or classroom, you wouldn't expect your employer to say "Hey! You can't bring a thermometer into the classroom to measure temperature. You need expert training to read and set up that thermometer." Of course not. That's ridiculous. And the same goes for […]
Update! (Nov 30, 2023) It appears that the Workplace Incident Report (WIR) form is back to being hidden behind the PPY authentication wall. These are not state secrets. It is a document related to health and safety and workers have the right to access them without having to jump through authentication hoops that hinder workers […]
The Titan submarine was officially declared destroyed yesterday, and everyone aboard it dead, not far from the wreck of the Titanic. In the days, months and years to come, scientists, engineers and journalists will comb through documents and videos to determine what went wrong and who should be blamed for the tragedy. A number of […]
It's Fall 2022 and the masks are off. Well, officially, masking is a "personal choice". Leadership has dropped the COVID ball and is hoping that nobody is going to pick it up again. So what's left to do? Continue to mask, provide alternatives for everyone that don't require in-person gathering (classes, labs, meetings), get vaccinated […]
The following are a set of preliminary tests I did to determine relative speech sound performance while wearing a mask. I'm particularly interested in the context of mask-wearing in a classroom, but this could be helpful in many other workplaces. I tested a number of masks in my dining room. Audio levels were measured using […]
York University's EECS department has an Aranet4 CO2 sensor available for borrowing. Go to the ground floor of the Lassonde Engineering Building, and go to the sign-out desk in the PRISM computer lab at the south-west corner of the building (near the hallway that leads to the Steacie Library). The location is highlighted in light […]