In response to increasing public concern about the historical use of McIntyre Powder—an aluminum-based substance once administered to miners in Ontario to prevent silicosis—the client sought expert guidance on managing risk communication related to potential health implications. Widespread media coverage and advocacy had raised public awareness and intensified scrutiny, particularly about possible links between aluminum exposure and long-term respiratory and neurological conditions.

To support its Standards to Support Resilient Infrastructure Program, the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) launched a national consultation campaign to identify and prioritize climate-related standardization needs. SCC required a flexible risk prioritization framework to evaluate the relative urgency and impact of various standardization topics related to climate change adaptation and mitigation, especially in the infrastructure sector.

In support of ongoing efforts to modernize Canada's food inspection system, a request was issued for scientific and analytical expertise to enhance two critical risk-based decision tools: the Establishment-based Risk Assessment (ERA) and Importer Risk Assessment (IRA) models. These models are used to allocate inspection resources across food establishments, importers, hatcheries, feed mills, and renderers in a structured and scientifically defensible manner.

To enhance the effectiveness of health product risk communications, a systematic evaluation was requested to assess the performance of key instruments used to disseminate safety and efficacy information. The aim was to support efforts under the Evaluating the Effectiveness of Risk Communications (EERC) initiative by identifying methodologies and metrics that could measure how well these tools reach their intended audience, how clearly messages are conveyed, and what impact they have on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours.

Environment and Climate Change Canada, with Health Canada, wanted to understand perceptions of the health risks from smoke from wildfires and from residential burning (winter heating using wood stoves, and fireplaces), and public health communication approaches and messages used in these contexts. This information would support revisions of the health messages used in the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI). The AQHI expresses the health risk associated with three common urban air pollutants, and is calculated at monitoring stations in communities across Canada to inform the public of the risk level of current local air quality conditions.

To support the quality and defensibility of regulatory decision-making under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA), Health Canada engaged Risk Sciences International to coordinate an independent external peer review of the Draft Screening Assessment Report (DSAR) for Selected C3-C5 Alcohols, focusing specifically on tert-butanol (CAS RN 75-65-0). This group of substances had been prioritized for risk assessment based on potential human health concerns.

To enhance the methodological rigour of its scientific assessments, EFSA sought to develop a standardised framework for problem formulation (PF) within its non-application scientific assessment protocols. The goal was to support the planning phase of these assessments by establishing a structured, reproducible approach for translating mandates into scientifically answerable questions. This included creating a framework…

Under the supervision of Director Purcell and his cabinet, the six-month project began with an internal review of attitudes, projects, responsibilities and management reporting lines. The work uncovered multiple inconsistencies and inefficiencies. What's more, there were very real risk consequences at the operational level.