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%>.

Related Content

  • August 2, 2018
    Hertz to provide operational services for Aptiv AVs, Las Vegas
    Car rental company Hertz has partnered with Aptiv to help operate and manage the technology firm’s autonomous vehicles (AVs) in Las Vegas. The initiative is set to launch this autumn and is intended to serve as a guide for the implementation of similar projects in future markets. Aptiv made 30 AVs available to Las Vegas riders using Lyft’s app in May.
  • March 19, 2018
    Insights into Mobility as a Service
    Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is one of, if not the, biggest changes in the transport sector for many decades and ITS International’s stand is the place find out everything there is to know about MaaS - from concept to delivery. Having already run two successful MaaS Market conferences in London, the company is at Intertraffic highlighting its first US conference which is being run with the support of City of Atlanta and Georgia’s State Road & Tollway Authority. The US conference will take place in Atlanta
  • December 19, 2016
    ITS associations highlight road safety, video analysis, new regulations
    ITS Australia has welcomed the country's National Transport Commission's roadmap of regulatory reform for automated vehicles, Ertico-ITS Europe has been appointed as the work-package leader for dissemination, exploitation and standardisation for the EU’s Cloud LSVA, French opportunities in the Italian ITS market formed the theme of ITS France’s first international breakfast meeting, TTS Italia vice president Diego Galletta highlighted the role of new technology solutions, Chris Philip, ITS Canada’s new boar
  • April 11, 2018
    La Sécurité Routière calls for self-driving cars to pass driving test
    French safety agency La Sécurité Routière has proposed that autonomous vehicles (AVs) should be made to pass a standard driving test before deployment on roads – according to a report by The European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL). Through the proposed test, AVs would be set to autopilot mode and be required to participate in a driving examination. Manoeuvres, different driving speeds, parking and navigation would all be under scrutiny.