To support the Chemicals Management Plan under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), Health Canada sought expert peer consultation for a draft screening assessment report (DSAR) evaluating 47 inorganic substances identified as priorities. The client required independent scientific and technical expertise to assess whether the report’s conclusions—particularly regarding health effects, exposure pathways, and risk characterizations—were sound, complete, and defensible.

The original mandate aimed to find a new direction for the world renowned International Herald Tribune just as both the World Wide Web was in its infancy, and the newspaper faced increased competition from international and regional editions of established newspapers and magazines such as The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times.

The Alliance of Blood Operators (ABO) needed a coherent risk management framework to guide decision-making on the delivery of blood services by its member organizations, which would help produce consistent decision-making processes and outcomes across the different national jurisdictional and regulatory structures. The RBDM approach was meant to support a shift in risk decision-making in national blood services organizations from one focused on minimizing all risks to blood quality and supply, with little concern for costs, to a risk-based approach in which resources are allocated according to risk and the application of financial resources and management rigour is proportional to the risk they are addressing.

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 decision-making around modifications to opioid agonist treatment delivery, a detailed risk assessment was requested to evaluate the integration of secure dispensing devices for direct patient access to hydromorphone. Building on a previously conducted preliminary assessment, the work required a structured framework that would articulate hazards, assess likelihoods and risks, and identify mitigation strategies associated with introducing these devices into service delivery models.

To support more consistent and quantitative assessments of new micro-organisms under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, Health Canada's New Substances Program (NSP) sought to refine the tools and processes within its Microbial Risk Assessment Framework (MRAF). The NSP had previously collaborated with RSI to review and modernize the MRAF and develop a supporting computational tool. However, further work was required to validate the tool and ensure it aligned with current program needs and regulatory expectations.

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.

In response to public and ministerial concerns about the timeliness and adequacy of information shared during a major prescription drug recall, Health Canada commissioned an independent review to assess its response to the event. The situation involved a recall of the oral contraceptive Alysena, issued due to packaging issues that altered the intended dosing sequence and raised questions about potential unintended health risks.

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.