At a recent audit, Phlorum successfully achieved approval to OHSAS 18001 and is now fully UKAS accredited. We are constantly monitoring and correcting our Health and Safety Management system and are also working on incorporating all three systems (QMS, EMS and H&S) into one Integrated Management System therefore streamlining the links between them and consequently creating a more efficient audit trail system.

On Monday 13th October, Jeremy Vine, Radio 2 lunchtime, interviewed Dr Paul Beckett (pictured) in relation to the psylllids that scientists are hoping to introduce in the fight against Japanese knotweed. His words of wisdom explained that the introduction of another alien species would quite possibly bring problems of their own which has happened in the past in other countries.

The Cane Toad in Australia is a particularly good example. This creature was introduced to Australia from Hawaii to eradicate the cane beetles which were destroying the crops but, unfortunately, the toads ate everything except the beetles and, as they are poisonous and will eat almost anything including frogs, birds and small reptiles, they have increased to plague-like numbers.

Our liberal city saw a throng of activistism yesterday when hundred of protestors took to the streets to voice their concerns over the Brighton-based arms manufacturer EDO/ITT. Students and locals alike joined in the demonstration, which took place across the city (including on the beach!) but came to a head not far from the Phlorum offices, where protestors clashed with police. Twelve people were arrested, a similar number to the demonstrations held in May. A spokesman for the demo deemed it successful in raising awareness of the issue, but the police criticised the actions of the protestors.

Fortunately, Phlorum employees got home safely that night as they were hard at work during the majority of the demonstration, locked firmly in battle with knotweed, rather than with police officers.

The BBC is widely covering the problems of the Japanese knotweed invasion this morning. Not only was it on breakfast television, reports were also being broadcast on the hourly news summary on the radio. It mainly focuses on the introduction of a Japanese psyllid to destroy the knotweed in the UK. Click on the link below to read the full story.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7531221.stm

Aphalara Psyllid

CAB International have been researching the idea of using the Japanese insects to help get the knotweed under control but this has to be thought through very carefully as introducing another alien could create another set of problems. To read about their project click on the link below.

http://www.cabi.org/ProjectsDetail.asp?ProjectID=31

Anthony Probert (pictured) started at Phlorum yesterday working on PR and marketing. Although originating from Kent, he took his degree at Brighton University so is quite familiar with his surroundings.

On Friday 19th September, Richard and Paul (Richard is pictured on the right, presumably Paul took the picture!)  took a couple of colleagues to the Goodwood Revival weekend and had a marvellous time. Fortunately the weather was favourable and, apart from a caterpillar in one of the sandwiches, everything went swimmingly!