Where To?

Worker blunder to cost firm $11m

Maybe I should send an application in to Nova Chemicals.  It looks like they could do with a bit of help in re-engineering their safety systems.

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From the BBC:

"A worker at one of Canada's largest plastics plants has cost the firm $11m (£6m) after tripping the shut-off switch by mistake.

Nova Chemicals has been forced to halt production for up to two weeks after the blunder at the Ontario plant.

A new steel platform was being put in when a contractor's employee hit a safety button, causing "minor damage".

A company spokesman said he felt some sympathy for the worker. "It has got to be very distressing," he said.

"The switch is a safety thing so if anyone sees something going wrong they have the opportunity to shut down the plant," Nova spokesman Greg Wilkinson told the agency.

"But that's not what happened here. It was not a safety issue. It was simply inadvertent."

Because of the repairs needed to rectify the damage caused by the shutdown at the ethylene plant in Corunna, 220 km (180 miles) south-west of Toronto, Nova Chemicals has declared "force majeure" on shipments of propylene and other products................................................................................

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5107018.stm

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I know a bit about polypropylene, so it might be a good idea to do a bit more digging here.

We’ve lived in the UK in one place or another all our lives. To uproot ourselves is a big move and I want to feel sure that we’ll be gaining as much as we can, so I want to be careful about where we move to. I want it to offer a much higher quality of life. I said in my previous entry that I enjoy the type of work I do. I’m an industrial chemist and I’d like to keep doing that. Canada is growing on us because it seems to offer distinct hot and cold seasons with an autumn.

We want a hot sunny summer too though. We thought Penticton would be ideal for lifestyle, with lakes and mountains and an excellent climate. It just won’t provide us with the work I want.

I’ve been checking out Calgary. I can do oil work, so it looks like a good option except the summer just looks too cold and the winter looks too long

We like the look of Penticton, in British Columbia, Canada. The area has a population of around 40,000 and a supurb climate. It would be great to live amongst lakes and mountains, with dry weather all year round and hot sunny summers with short, not too sharp winters.

The current exchange rate between the pound and the canadian dollar is £1 = $2.07, which puts houses like this in our price range – around £200,000.

The trouble is that there may not be too many work opportunities for us, if any. I’m an industrial chemist and it seems that lakes, mountains and chemistry don’t mix – no doubt much to the relief of people who live in these beautiful areas. I don’t think it would be worth trying to retrain because I enjoy the type of work I do. But it seems to condemn me to living in places that aren’t as appealing as I’d like.

We’re keeping thinking and investigating the options.

Let it be recorded for posterity.

Today's the day we decided to emigrate!

Although we like to think we're unique sort of people, our reasons for leaving the UK are probably no different from many, many other people.

There seems to have been a steady deterioration in British people's willingness to behave civilly to one another - too many people seem to think the histrionic behaviour in East Enders and its ilk is normal - our streets are dirty, criminals are given more consideration than victims, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants run rings around our judiciary, a ticky-tacky house with a postage stamp garden costs a fortune and the skies do seem to be grey all day. There's a lot more besides, but I like to think positively, so that's enough moaning for one day.

We are planning on a move to Australia, New Zealand or Canada. We seem to be able to qualify for all of these countires under their points systems. All we've got to do is decide which one. We've never travelled outside Europe before, so it's going to make for an interesting process as we arrive at our decision.