“It is with great pride that we accept the Quinte Business Achievement Trailblazer of the Year Award”, said Lisa Hallsworth, CEO of Rillea Technologies. “It is awesome to be recognized for our forward-thinking innovation, hard work and the social good that we are leading in Canada and around the world from right here in the Bay of Quinte! This award also fits well with our strategy to help organizations responsibly manage chemicals by the 2020 target set by the United Nations in Goal 12 of their Sustainable Development Goals!”
The Quinte Business Achievement Trailblazer of the Year Award recognizes organizations who demonstrate product or process innovation or technological achievement that has commercial relevance and practicality.
How is Rillea Blazing a Trial?
In August of 2019, Health Canada issued a Request for Information on “An Integrated Strategy for the Protection of Canadian Workers from Exposure to Chemicals”. In the request, Health Canada stated that “The Government of Canada is exploring approaches to modernize chemicals management in Canada. Heath Canada recognizes that enhancing the protection of Canadians from exposure to chemicals in the workplace is a key area of interest for stakeholders.”
In 2015, well before Health Canada’s request, Rillea’s co-founders, both chemical engineers, could see a huge gap in the way that chemicals are being managed in workplaces outside the chemical industry. Most employers and workers are intimidated by chemical documentation. These often go unread, leaving organizations and their stakeholders at high risk to lost time, presenteeism, absenteeism, employee turnover and regulatory fines due to chemical-related workplace exposures. More than that, work-related lung disease and cancer are placing a heavy burden on our healthcare system.
Could Rillea’s team build digital technology to summarize important information to make it easier for people to access, understand and act upon? You bet!
Benefits in the Bay of Quinte and Beyond!
Today, Rillea’s many clients, including the National Research Council of Canada, and local clients the Cities of Belleville and Quinte West, Counties of Northumberland and Lennox and Addington, Research Casting International, GH Manufacturing, FireRein, Loyalist College and Queen’s University, use SDS RiskAssist, to digitize their custom e-binders of WHMIS safety data sheets. The web platform instantly re-organizes this data into simple summaries so that workers, company directors, leaders and safety personnel can understand hazards and prevent exposure. The platform is available in English and French and also allows employers to automate company chemical-handling directives, based on the hazards of the chemical. This risk-based approach to managing chemicals will pay dividends within our social systems today, tomorrow and well into the future by preventing occupational disease and environmental damage.
via Belleville Intelligencer – Quinte Business Achievement Awards celebrate success