22 - Sunday, August 19, 1990 - North Shore News BUSINESS BRIEFS NV couple makes VD'S as safe as possible WHILE DEBATE continues between those who say video display terminals (VDTs) pose health hazards and those who claim they are risk-free, a North Vancouver couple has built a business serving the needs of health-conscious VDT operators. Reach Industries Lid. was in- corporated in 1982. The company manufactures VDT filters. Helen Michael Becker HIGH TECH and Rick Wait began Reach from the basement of their home. When married 16 years ago, the couple vowed to start a business ‘‘in their early 40s.”" But the entrepreneurial catalyst came ‘when Rick, who served 15 years as a corporal with the North Vancouver RCMP, was facing transfer to another detachment. **It was a big decision for Rick to make,’’ remembers Helen Wait. The couple decided to run with a product Wait discovered while working in the import-export business. Their company has since grown to employ 10 people who work from a combination office and manufacturing base on Harbour Avenue. Reach manufactures more than 5,000 screens per month. While not alone in the field, Reach has managed to develop a successful niche by producing all sizes of screen filters. In addition to more Available to you: Private, fully supervised nursing and homemaking services offering the highest quality of home care. Our private care staff work night and day, and as a result of their efforts a lot of people are able to cope standard VDT sizes, filter sizes range from §'4-inch diameter screens for radio direction finders to 25-inch round radar screen filters for airports. The company produces more than 5,000 filters per month. The company’s fine of filters includes eight different kinds of mesh. Three of them are conduc- tive. Explains Wait, ‘They have a wire conductivity. The conductivi- ty stops static and dust build-up on screen. If you are getting a lot of dust attracted when you are close to your computer, that dust is going into your face too."* In addition to eliminating static charge, the mesh screens filter out extremely low and very low fre- quency levels of radiation (ELF and VLF). They also do away with glare and reflection from the screen. Said Wait, ‘'This results in less eye strain and discomfort for the operator. ** Recently, 12 member nations of the European Community endors- ed a resolution calling for tougher regulations segarding computer terminal usage. Each nation is committed to introducing legisla- tion in its own country by Dec. 31, 1992 and must modify existing equipment by the end of this year. Meanwhile research reported from the University of California on the biological effects of static electric fields indicates possible ef- fects caused by the depletion of negative ions, The depletion of negative ions can result in biochemical changes in the body. The connection has been made that stress symptoms reported by pcople who work closely with computer terminals, symptoms including nausea, diz- ziness, irritability, muscular and head aches, may be linked to chronic ionic imbalances. better and live more comfortably in their own surroundings. Call us for a free in-home confidential assessment. para;med \ NORTH SHORE 987-2446 Employment Enquiries Weicome B.C. ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY NOTICE WHERE PROPERTY CURRENTLY USED FOR RESIDENTIAL PURPOSES IS ZONED FOR ANOTHER USE, SPECIAL CONSIDERATION MAY BE GIVEN IN THE VALUATION WHERE THE PROPERTY HAS BEEN OWNED AND OCCUPIED BY THE PRESENT OWNER SINCE JULY Ist, 1980. APPLICATION FORMS AND OTHER INFOR- MATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM YOUR LOCAL ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY OFFICE, AND MUST BE FILED BY OCTOBER 31. 1990. , NEWS phots Mike Wakelleld REACH INDUSTRIES’ Helen Wait holds one of the many custom-sized video display terminal filters produced by her company. 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