Major hazards—Thinking the unthinkable

It is a common experience that public administrations tend to shy away from the explicit acknowledgment of quantitative risk levels. Faced with extreme concentrations of population and of industrial activities, including LPG and liquid chlorine storage, within a very small land area, Hong Kong has faced up to the issue of major man-made hazards by “thinking the unthinkable” and adopting explicit risk guidelines. This article describes how these guidelines were developed and the arguments that led to their adoption. It is emphasized that the risk guidelines are not rigid standards but simply a method of focusing decision making and ensuring that any decision to contravene the guidelines is taken at an appropriately senior level in the administration. The way in which the guidelines have been incorporated intimately into the planning and decision-making process is described and details are given on how this has led to the implementation of a variety of measures that have greatly reduced both societal and individual risk from certain types of chemical storage and chemical processing installations in Hong Kong. The opinions in this paper represent the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the Hong Kong Government.     

中国山区沟谷泥石流危险度的定量判定法

本文根据专家系统调查,确定了一次泥石流冲出物最大方量和泥石流暴发频率作为判定泥石流危险度的主要危险因子。运用灰色关联度分析,优选出10项判定泥石流危险度的次要危险因子,并根据关联序确定了它们的权重。在各危险因子等级划分的基础上,得出了泥石流危险度的定量计算公式。通过实例检验,证明该判定方法具有60％以上的可靠度。     

水稻生产气象灾害危险性分析：—以湖南省常德市水稻生产为例

本文通过对研究区水稻气象灾害规律的研究和危险性评价,计算了不同等级的水稻综合风险率,为保险部门制定水稻保险费率提供了科学依据.     

Is “No-Threshold” a “Non-Concept”?

A controversy prominent in scientific literature that has carried over to newspapers, magazines, and popular books is having serious social and political expressions today: “Is there, or is there not, a threshold below which exposure to a carcinogen will not induce cancer?” The distinction between establishing the existence of this threshold (which is a theoretical question) and its value (which is an experimental one) gets lost in the scientific arguments. Establishing the existence of this threshold has now become a philosophical question (and an emotional one). In this paper I qualitatively outline theoretical reasons why a threshold must exist, discuss experiments which measure thresholds on two chemicals, and describe and apply a statistical method for estimating the threshold value from exposure-response data.     

Adversarial safety analysis: borrowing the methods of security vulnerability assessments

INTRODUCTION: Safety and security share numerous attributes. The author, who heads the (Security) Vulnerability Assessment Team at Los Alamos National Laboratory, therefore argues that techniques used to optimize security might be useful for optimizing safety. OPTIMIZING SECURITY: There are three main ways to attempt to improve security-security surveys, risk assessment (or "design basis threat"), and vulnerability assessments. The latter is usually the most effective. SAFETY ANALOGS: Vulnerability assessment techniques used to improve security can be applied to safety analysis--even though safety is not ordinarily viewed as having malicious adversaries (other than hazards involving deliberate sabotage). Thinking like a malicious adversary can nevertheless have benefits in identifying safety vulnerabilities. SUGGESTIONS: The attributes of an effective safety vulnerability assessment are discussed, and recommendations are offered for how such an adversarial assessment might work. CONCLUSION: A safety vulnerability assessment can potentially provide new insights, a fresh and vivid perspective on safety hazards, and increased safety awareness.     

Health risk assessment of PCDD/F emissions from a hazardous and medical waste incinerator in Turkey

A multimedia risk assessment procedure was conducted to determine the fate and transport of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDD/F) emissions from the Izmit Hazardous and Medical Waste Incinerator (IZAYDAS) in Turkey and their potential health risks. Congener concentrations in ambient air and their deposition rates were determined by an air dispersion model (ISCST3). Their transfer to some plant groups and animal tissues was predicted by food chain modeling. Exposure scenarios were produced based on three receptor groups (urban, semiurban, and rural) and five subgroups determined according to ages. Daily intakes of PCDD/Fs via exposure pathways were determined based on three different emission scenarios for each group and subgroup. Estimated incremental PCDD/F doses caused by the incinerator emissions in central-tendency scenario were computed as between 2.31 x 10(-6) and 0.008 pg TEQ kg(-1) bodyweight (bw) day(-1) on average for all the receptors other than infants in all the settings, while the range was 3.01 x 10(-5)-0.081 pg TEQ kg(-1) bw day(-1) for infants. Sensitivity analysis showed that the consumption of vegetal products and their locally grown fractions are the most significant parameters in the exposure to PCDD/Fs in the area.     

The ecological effects of trichloroacetic acid in the environment

Trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) is a member of the family of compounds known as chloroacetic acids, which includes mono-, di- and trichloroacetic acid. The significant property these compounds share is that they are all phytotoxic. TCAA once was widely used as a potent herbicide. However, long after TCAA's use as a herbicide was discontinued, its presence is still detected in the environment in various compartments. Methods for quantifying TCAA in aqueous and solid samples are summarized. Concentrations in various environmental compartments are presented, with a discussion of the possible formation of TCAA through natural processes. Concentrations of TCAA found to be toxic to aquatic and terrestrial organisms in laboratory and field studies were compiled and used to estimate risk quotients for soil and surface waters. TCAA levels in most water bodies not directly affected by point sources appear to be well below toxicity levels for the most sensitive aquatic organisms. Given the phytotoxicity of TCAA, aquatic plants and phytoplankton would be the aquatic species to monitor for potential effects. Given the concentrations of TCAA measured in various soils, there appears to be a risk to terrestrial organisms. Soil uptake of TCAA by plants has been shown to be rapid. Also, combined uptake of TCAA from soil and directly from the atmosphere has been shown. Therefore, risk quotients derived from soil exposure may underestimate the risk TCAA poses to plants. Moreover, TCE and TCA have been shown to be taken up by plants and converted to TCAA, thus leading to an additional exposure route. Mono- and di-chloroacetic acids can co-occur with TCAA in the atmosphere and soil and are more phytotoxic than TCAA. The cumulative effects of TCAA and compounds with similar toxic effects found in air and soil must be considered in subsequent terrestrial ecosystem risk assessments.     

改进BP算法在煤与瓦斯突出预测中的应用

为了正确预测煤与瓦斯突出的趋势与危险性 ,基于反向BP神经网络 ,笔者提出了一种改进的BP网络模型 :为了加快BP网络的收敛速度 ,增强其跳出局部极小点的能力 ,采用了自适应变步长法和改进模拟退火法 (SA法 )相结合的方法。实际应用表明 ,该模型收敛速度快 ,准确性高 ,具有较高的可靠性和实用性 ,是一种十分有效的煤与瓦斯突出危险性预测方法。     

Adolescent driver risk taking and driver education: evidence of a mobility bias in public policymaking

PROBLEM: Road traffic injury is the leading cause of death among adolescents in high-income countries. Researchers attribute this threat to driver risk taking, which driver education (DE) attempts to reduce. Many North American authorities grant DE graduates earlier access to unsupervised driving despite no evidence of this being a safety benefit. This theoretical article examines risk taking and DE in relation to an apparent mobility bias (MB) in policymaking. METHOD: The MB is defined, the history and sources of driver risk taking are examined, and the failure of DE to reduce collision risk is analyzed in relation to a potential MB in licensing policies. DISCUSSION: The author argues that DE's failure to reduce adolescent collision risk is associated with a MB that has produced insufficient research into DE programs and that influences public policymakers to grant earlier licensure to DE graduates. Recommendations are made regarding future research on DE and risk taking, coordinated improvements to DE and driver licensing, and a plan to reduce collision risk by encouraging parental supervision after adolescent licensure. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Research on adolescent driver risk taking would have direct applications in DE curricula development, driver's license evaluation criteria, graduated licensing (GDL) policies, as well as other aspects of human factor research into the crash-risk problem.     

Distractions and the risk of car crash injury: the effect of drivers' age

PROBLEM: Motor-vehicle accidents are one of the major causes of injury in most motorized countries. Driver distractions have been suggested as a contributor to traffic accidents. Moreover, age of the driver seems to have a role in the relationship between distractions and car crashes. But very few studies have investigated the effect of driver's age on this relationship. This exploratory study investigated the association between distractions, both inside and outside the vehicle, and the increased risk of car crash injury among drivers across different ages. METHOD: This study used a case series design to analyze data routinely collected by the NSW police in Australia. A special focus of this study was on how drivers' age affects the risk of car crash injury, which was determined by using a well-documented risk estimation methodology. RESULTS: The results obtained indicated that drivers of all ages, on the whole, are more susceptible to distractions inside the vehicle than distractions coming from outside. Age was shown to affect the relationship between in-vehicle distraction and the risk of car crash injury. A separate analysis was also conducted on hand-held phone usage while driving with results supplementing previous findings reported in the literature. IMPACT TO INDUSTRY: Safety strategies to countermeasure in-vehicle distractions have been suggested and discussed.