Most Covid vaccine notifications reported more than one reaction. At 2,125 (62.2 %), the majority of reports were not serious, with 1,294 (37.8 %) reports classified as serious.

The majority of reports were made by healthcare professionals, with 632 reports (18.5 %) coming directly from affected individuals or patients. Those affected were on average 62.5 years old (range 16-101), with 30.3 % being 75 years or older. In cases classified as serious, the mean age was 66.1 years, and in reports temporally related to a death, the mean age was 81.1 years.

The greater proportion of reports involved women (67.4 %), 29.4 % of cases involved men, and some reports (3.2 %) did not specify gender. 1,377 (40.31 %) of the reports involved Pfizer/BioNTech's Comirnaty and 1,983 (58 %) involved Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine. In 59 (1.7 %) of the cases, the vaccine was not specified.

The adverse event reports received and analyzed to date do not alter the positive benefit-risk profile of Covid-19 vaccines used in Switzerland. Known adverse reactions to Covid-19 vaccines are listed in the drug information.

Source: www.swissmedicinfo.ch

Migros is recalling the child car seat "ENO 360 SL Twill Navy" from the manufacturer Osann back. The swivel child seat cannot be locked in place. This can lead to a limited restraint effect, which means that children are not adequately protected in the event of a vehicle accident.

Which products are affected?

The following child car seats are affected by the recall:

• Name: Osann ENO 360° SL Twill Navy child seat
• Item number: 621573200000
• On sale: from May 10, 2021 to June 16, 2021
• Retail price: Fr. 279.-
• Points of sale: Do it + Garden and Do it + Garden Online

Osann child car seats purchased from Do it + Garden before May 10, 2021 and after June 16, 2021 are not affected by this recall.

What should affected consumers do?

Customers who have purchased or ordered the product can return it to a Do it + Garden branch and receive a refund of the purchase price on presentation of the receipt.

Information letter from Migros

Source: Federal Consumer Affairs Bureau 

The Swiss Covid app recorded its 1.19 millionth download two days after its release - after June 27, 2021 - according to the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) - currently 3.18 million people have installed the app. It was the most downloaded app in Switzerland in 2020. A rapid increase was also observed in user numbers. Up to two million people actively use the Swiss Covid app - currently there are 1.7 million.

From an epidemiological point of view, according to the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), it was important in the first phase to find out whether the number of calls received by the Infoline after warnings through the app correlated with the number of cases, i.e. whether enough people were warned by the app. Based on this research, the thresholds used to estimate distance were adjusted to increase effectiveness.

Number of Covid codes entered at 83,117

As early as fall 2020, it was possible to show on the basis of the evaluation of medical notification forms that symptom-free persons had themselves tested after an app warning and received a positive result. By isolating these positively tested persons, chains of infection were interrupted at an early stage. Due to high data protection requirements, it is not possible to collect data on how many individuals received a warning. However, the number of covid codes entered into the app is known: currently, 83,117 covid codes have been entered, which in turn have triggered warnings for other users.

Work is currently underway to expand the Swiss Covid app, which should make it possible to inform even more people anonymously and in an uncomplicated way about a risk of infection. According to the FOPH, notifications from the Swiss Covid app are quick and are intended to motivate people to get tested for the coronavirus.

Source: Federal Office of Public Health 

Suva can look back on a positive operating result last year. All major insurance lines were in financial balance, Suva wrote in a statement. For all future benefits from accidents and occupational diseases, there are provisions in line with requirements. Due to the special effects, policyholders should benefit from low premiums next year. The largest part of a strong investment performance was contributed by equity investments.

Fewer accidents and occupational illnesses as a result of the pandemic

Suva was thus able to invest many parts of its assets in real estate and alternative investments. During the lockdown, the number of accidents also fell from mid-March onwards, by a total of ten percent. The strongest decline with occupational accidents was recorded in aviation, with a drop of 54 percent. In total, Suva received 431,827 reported accidents and occupational illnesses, ten percent less overall than in 2019. In addition, due to the restrictions on recreational sports activities, accidents in team sports were also down. For example, there were 37 percent fewer football accidents. This resulted in an extraordinary surplus of 253 million Swiss francs, which will be refunded to policyholders in the form of lower premiums in 2022. Due to the surpluses and investment income of CHF 779 million, or 22 percent of net premiums, the average premium burden for insured persons will be "historically low" next year, according to Suva

Complex tasks at Suva are also to be increasingly handled by specialists and case managers and more service portals and applications. However, customer proximity will remain a central element in the new structure: All Suva agencies will remain unchanged and will focus even more on important customer concerns, Suva says.

Source: Suva

Mr. Schütz, what are the biggest challenges on your agenda at the moment?  

Operational challenges focus on the proliferation of cyber risks. The example of the Exchange server vulnerabilities shows that security incidents involving widely used products can quickly affect hundreds or thousands of users. Furthermore, it remains our top priority to protect critical infrastructures and the Confederation itself from targeted attacks. Here, in particular, the increasingly sophisticated strategies of attackers and especially attacks via the supply chain are making defense ever more challenging.

Politically, we are faced with the difficulty that, on the one hand, democratic procedures take a lot of time and, on the other, digitization is advancing rapidly internationally. We must plausibly and efficiently incorporate cybersecurity into digitization efforts from the outset in order to promote trust in these technologies among politicians and the general public and keep political decision-making processes correspondingly lean.

Melani registered an increase in ransomware attacks on industrial control systems last year (keyword "Ekans"). To what extent should "Snake"/"Ekans" be understood as a warning that the convergence of IT and ICS or OT has created serious security risks?

The convergence of IT and OT cannot be stopped. This makes it all the more important, for example, to establish correspondingly clear interfaces and security zones. Security must be incorporated into the planning of the infrastructure from the very beginning and implemented throughout the entire development process right up to operation. I recommend the approach of domain-driven design, for example, which allows IT to be optimally aligned with the requirements, including security requirements.

Have you already made Switzerland more secure and what are your most important goals that you want to achieve this year as the Confederation's cyber chief?

Security is difficult to measure, and ultimately others must decide whether my activities have already made a meaningful contribution to Switzerland's cybersecurity. However, I am convinced that we have already achieved quite a bit. We have sharpened and strengthened the organization in the Confederation. Specifically, for example, we have created a national contact point where companies, authorities and citizens can report cyber incidents centrally. This office forwards the inquiries to the responsible office, also outside the federal government. We have also made information on preventive protection more easily available on our new homepage. When it came to the security of the Swiss Covid app, we coordinated the testing of security and not only tested it ourselves, but also involved the public. This, to name just a few examples.

In my view, however, both industry and the authorities still have some catching up to do in various areas of basic protection. Most successful attacks exploit vulnerabilities that have been known for a long time and could have been eliminated. Our long-term goal is for the NCSC to create the necessary framework to enable government agencies and SMEs to take ownership of cyber protection and take advantage of digitalization opportunities at a reasonable cost. By the end of this year, we would like to take several steps to achieve this goal. We will submit a bill to the Federal Council to introduce a reporting obligation for cyber attacks, we will conduct an awareness campaign with partner organizations in May, and we are working with critical infrastructures to expand the exchange of information on cyber risks.

You want to hire more specialists for the National Center for Cybersecurity this year. Will you be able to find them at all? 

The NCSC has so far had no problems in finding suitable specialists. We have a broad network to specialists and are always pleased to note that many of these specialists are motivated to use their expert knowledge for the security of Switzerland.

You can read the full interview in the printed issue of SicherheitsForum 2-2021.
You want to read the articles of this issue? Then close right now here a subscription.

Teleworking in particular has boosted the IT security market. This is because companies increasingly have to invest in a digital infrastructure. Therefore, the desire of the security industry to meet again in person after the pandemic break is great, writes Messe Essen in a statement on Security Essen, which will be held this year from September 20 to 23, 2022, at Messe Essen.

500 exhibitors are expected, half of whom will travel from abroad. The security areas include video, access, mechatronics, mechanical, systems and perimeter, fire, intrusion and systems, as well as services and digital networking security.

A target group-specific supporting program rounds off the trade show. The Digital Networking Security Congress will provide space for additional exchange on the topics of security in networks, IT security and cyber threats. The fire protection forum and special tours for architects and planners are also planned.

Source: www.security-essen.de

On September 9, an accident victim will open the Save conference "Occupational Safety - Learning from Accidents and Drawing the Consequences" and report on what he experienced and how he started his "second" life. Six other presentations from different perspectives on the topic of occupational accidents and accident prevention provide the content framework for the emotionally charged conference.

Accidents are costly and resource-intensive ... this is well known. How can accidents be avoided in everyday working life by means of preventive measures? The Head of EHS provides insights into the company credo "Safety first!" at Merck & Cie. What happens legally in the event of an occupational accident? The view of an injured party's lawyer on the subject provides clarification. What are the consequences of occupational accidents for companies affected by Suva? The head of the occupational safety and health department at Suva gives a first-hand account of these developments and new methods. What Syngenta has actually learned about "learning from accidents" is described personally by the Regional Safety Manager.

In retrospect, one is always smarter! How and why this is the case and what should be done to learn from mistakes instead of punishing those who caused them is explained by a proven industrial and organizational psychologist in his presentation. The final presentation at the conference will focus on a new field of work for a SiBe - the home office! What duties and tasks does this entail for the safety officer? A burning topic. One may be curious.

The current conference answers many questions related to occupational accidents and subsequent lessons and consequences for everyday life.

More about the conference at: save.ch/event/work-safety-learn-from-accidents-and-draw-consequences

Source: Save AG - a company of the Galledia Group

Source: Pixabay

The Ordinance on the Safety and Health Protection of Workers during Construction Work (BauAV) dates from 2005 and no longer meets today's requirements, due in particular to technical progress. Some formulations also proved to be too vague for optimal implementation.

The most important changes concern the fall height as well as the scaffold standards. Inconsistent fall protection regulations in various chapters of the ordinance had led to uncertainty. For example, the revised ordinance provides for the fall height above which fall protection measures must be taken to be standardized at two meters. The chapter on scaffolding was also completely revised, as many provisions have now been regulated in European standards and therefore no longer need to be set out in a federal ordinance.

The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) drafted the total revision of the BauAV in collaboration with Expert Commission 12 "Construction" of the Federal Coordination Commission for Occupational Safety (EKAS), which includes professional associations, social partners, and technical experts from the implementing bodies of occupational safety.

Source: Federal Office of Public Health

In Germany, too, the corona crisis affected the individual trades to varying degrees. However, the process of coming to terms with the effects of the Corona crisis is still ongoing. According to the BHE Bundesverband Sicherheitstechnik e.V. (Federal Association for Security Technology), the megatrends of digitization and networking in security technology have not affected the BHE and Zvei Elektroindustrie associations, but have even further promoted them. The market is developing primarily software-driven with networked products.

Different growth in different areas

Sales of fire alarm technology rose by 1.4 percent in 2020 to around 2.2 billion euros, with an increase of 4.3 percent to 386 million euros. Video systems saw the strongest growth with an increase of 7.1 percent to 650 million euros, according to the BHE's statement. The reasons for the growth are primarily due to the wide range of applications and the flexibility in the use of video security technologies.

Growth in voice alarm technologies was more subdued, with an increase of 114 million euros. Robbery and burglar alarm systems slipped into the red, with a decline of just under two percent to 870 million euros.

The remaining areas, such as smoke and heat exhaust ventilation systems (SHEVS), emergency exit systems, personal assistance call and other systems and components, amounted to below-average growth of 0.4 percent.

Source: BHE

On average, each person is injured at home and during leisure time up to seven times so severely that treatment becomes necessary. According to a report by the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (BFU), 570,000 people are injured each year. More than half of all non-occupational accidents fall under the category of home and leisure accidents. According to the BFU, significantly more people die each year than in sports and road traffic.

Half of all injuries in home and leisure accidents are caused by falls. Around 1700 elderly people die each year as a result of such an accident. Most of these people are older than 64. However, children and young people would have a similarly high risk of being injured in falls as senior citizens. However, the injuries are less severe and less likely to be fatal at a younger age.

In second place among the most serious accidents in the home and leisure sector are accidents in which breathing is made difficult or impossible. These accidents relatively often have serious or fatal consequences and can lead to drowning or suffocation. The risk of this is particularly high among young children.

In third place come accidents involving means of transport other than road traffic, such as accidents involving aircraft, ships or agricultural vehicles. Fatal collisions with trains are the most common.

Source: AAIB

Entry regulations became increasingly confusing during the pandemic. It is not only the question of where to go on vacation this summer that preoccupies the Swiss, but also, of course, which business excursions involve greater circumstances.

In fact, however, 47 percent of the population want to spend their vacations abroad again this summer, according to a survey by TCS. To make it easier for travelers to keep track of entry requirements, the Touring Club Switzerland has compiled the latest information in a map of Europe summarized. For example, you can click on popular destinations such as Italy, Spain and Croatia.

The map also shows where a test is required for entry and how many hours should be allowed for this before departure. The recommendations of the FOPH and the DFA were included. According to TCS, all information was collected and verified in cooperation with its European partners.

The interactive map with the updated entry information can be found on the TCS website.

Source: TCS

According to Avast, Android malware continues to be a major threat on tablets and smartphones. In the last five months, this threat level was at 45 percent. However, fake apps also ranked second at 16 percent, followed by banking Trojans at 10 percent. Other types of malware include downloaders, spyware and mobile ransomware. Adware is advertising that may masquerade as a legitimate app, but can also operate in the form of "ad fraud."

Adware and fake apps

Avast speaks of two types of adware: The traditional type is, for example, gaming, photo, and other lifestyle apps that entice users to download content. In most cases, however, users are then bombarded with further advertising outside of the app. The so-called ad fraud is about the fact that an adware can also start malicious activities in the background while downloading, such as out-of-context ads, ads in notifications, or other aggressive advertising techniques.

Fake apps are the second most widespread mobile threat. These are apps that pretend to be something they are not. Often, such apps are disguised as legitimate apps, such as a Covid-10 tracking app or an adblocker. Thus, the apps may perform unwanted functions that spy on the user, show him unwanted ads or expose him to malicious activities.

Tips in dealing with Android threats

In this context, Avast advises a few tips for dealing with malware on the smartphone: Users should only download official apps from app stores like Google Play. Sometimes the app ratings can also be an indication of whether something is wrong with an application. More stars usually indicate more functionality and less advertising. In addition, a look at the app's permissions can't hurt, or at least at the latest when an app suddenly asks for access to data that a certain app would not need as part of its functionality (for example, a flashlight app that asks for location information).

Source: Avast