This past week I had the privilege of attending the 10th Annual Canadian Safe Schools Conference in Toronto. About 1000 education officials from across Canada attended this event to hear presentations and discuss important issues about school safety.

The event was packed. Many of the breakout sessions had standing room only. I spoke with several of the delegates and was impressed by the intensity of these conversations. This was no normal conference. The officials at this event were looking for ways to deal with the safety issues that they confront in their schools on a daily basis.

Richard Fillion, Director General of Dawson College, was one of the keynote speakers. He received a standing ovation for his presentation that was insightful and moving. The full presentation is archived and can be viewed here.

The conference was hosted by the Canadian Safe School Network.

They’re all connected

Risk management is most successful when the regulatory authorities and their stakeholders trust that they can count on each other. When you’re the regulator, your reputation not only precedes you but can also determine how successful you are in achieving your objectives.

Reputation is what other people believe to be true about you. Reputation is built over time by walking your talk. Eventually (ideally) your stakeholders know they can count on you to perform what they think is your role. If you fail to meet those expectations, your reputation suffers. Trust goes down and regulation becomes less effective. (more…)

According to the marketer of a new line of nano paint, this revolutionary product is a “non-toxic coating system which is able not only to stop the appearance of algae and fungal growth but also destroy antibiotic resistant bacteria found in hospitals and medical practices.”

Impressive performance

Whether for shipping or hospitals the paint seems impressive. The company claims the antibacterial paint could help solve the problem of hospital super bugs. Risks The product data sheet for this nano paint raises the spectre of a real pollution concern. It carries the warning, “do not allow to enter drains or watercourses” while other literature advises: “Clean tools and hands immediately after use with soap and water.”

A reader of NewScientist.com where this item appears wonders where that nano-contaminated soap and water will end up if not in drains and watercourses. And what’s the consequence of nano pollutants in the environment? Risk research needed. Read about the key risk research questions that we need answers to in this article, “What’s driving the nanotech revolution and what this means for safety.”

Nanotech development is an industrial revolution based on the control of matter on a scale smaller than one micrometre and the fabrication of incredibly tiny devices.

With nanotech, familiar products can be radically improved. Products that get reengineered using nanotech perform in unimagined ways: wounds heal faster with bandages that stay clean and don’t need to be changed; ultra light and ultra strong materials change the performance of every thing from golf clubs, golf balls, eye glasses and contact lenses.

The marketing mantra “new and improved” will no longer be hype. Nanotech’s growth will be phenomenal. For business, it’s going to be a race for survival. If your products are brand leaders today, there’s a real threat they may not be tomorrow. If you believe that a smart competitor could use nanotech in an innovative way to create a “category killer”-a new product that is so revolutionary and good that it wipes out the competition-you have no choice but to enter the nanotech race. A delayed or cautious start could be deadly for your business.

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