Skip to main content

British Safety Council launches app for measuring air pollution in London

The British Safety Council (BSC) and Kings College London have launched an app for outdoor workers to measure exposure to air pollution – an increasing preoccupation for the ITS industry. The Canairy app could help improve workzone safety by providing employees, and their bosses, with information to help them reduce exposure to air pollution. The app is being launched as part of the BSC’s ‘Time to Breathe’ campaign, which seeks to encourage companies, policymakers and regulators to take the risks of
March 11, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

The British Safety Council (BSC) and Kings College London have launched an app for outdoor workers to measure exposure to air pollution – an increasing preoccupation for the ITS industry.

The Canairy app could help improve workzone safety by providing employees, and their bosses, with information to help them reduce exposure to air pollution.

The app is being launched as part of the BSC’s ‘Time to Breathe’ campaign, which seeks to encourage companies, policymakers and regulators to take the risks of air pollution to outdoor workers more seriously.

BSC chairman Lawrence Waterman says the campaign will highlight “every employer’s duty of care” for the risks from ambient air pollution. He bemoans the fact that the Health and Safety Executive does not regulate the ‘ambient environment’ and says the UK government’s recent Clean Air Strategy “had little or nothing to say about people who spend their working lives outdoors”.

Canairy draws on the London Air Quality Network pollution map at King’s which shows current pollution levels across London with the worker’s GPS to calculate their exposure to pollution on an hourly basis. Once the exposure exceeds 1819 World Health Organisation (WHO) limits for the concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) the app notifies the user and suggests tips such as working away from traffic or putting up a screen barrier.

The BSC is now calling on London-based employers to trial Canairy to help build an accurate picture of the exposure faced by outdoor workers.

“Given that we don’t even know how many outdoor workers there are in the UK, we need those authorities with responsibility for our health and environment to work together on this issue,” Waterman concludes.

Canairy is available on both 493 Apple and 1812 Android devices.

More information on the BSC is available on the %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external website false https://www.britsafe.org/about-us/introducing-the-british-safety-council/about-the-british-safety-council/ false false%>.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Rapidly-changing mobility environment is challenging policymakers, says UK DfT
    January 25, 2019
    Policy makers are working hard to make sense of a rapidly-changing mobility environment, according to a senior official from the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT). Ella Taylor, DfT’s head, future of mobility, Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (C/AV), says the pace of development in transportation modes, such as e-scooters (not currently allowed in the UK) and e-bikes (which are), presents difficulties for governments trying to create standards and laws. “Across the globe, different modes
  • Getaround brings car-sharing service to Atlanta
    April 8, 2019
    Getaround is launching its car-sharing platform in the US city of Atlanta, allowing residents to earn money by making their car available to rent. The company says the platform utilises cars already on the road and will therefore help to reduce traffic and congestion. Each car is equipped with Getaround Connect, a proprietary technology that allows renters to locate and unlock the car using the company’s app, removing the need to meet the owner in-person for a manual key exchange. Getaround’s safety
  • Uber seeks to resume AV trials nearly eight months after Arizona fatality
    November 6, 2018
    Uber wants to resume testing its self-driving cars on public roads nearly eight months after one of its autonomous vehicles (AV) killed a pedestrian in Arizona. The ride-hailing company has released a voluntary safety report to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which includes safety enhancements to help prevent crashes and fatalities. Uber says its AVs would include two mission specialists – employees who have completed advanced training courses in self-driving vehicle operations. The
  • Ertico reveals new ITS event for 2020 in Russia
    September 17, 2019
    Ertico – ITS Europe has announced it is to hold the first-ever Central Eastern European Congress next year. Hosted by the city of Kazan, in south-west Russia, the event will focus on cooperation with Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (which comprises a number of countries formed after the break-up of the Soviet Union) and Central Eastern countries, says Ertico. It will take place in Kazan, Tatarstan on 21-24 September 2020 and there is a preview of the event in the city next month, on 3-4 Oct