The business cycle and the incidence of workplace injuries: evidence from the U.S.A

Introduction

The current study explored the association between the business cycle and the incidence of workplace injuries to identify cyclically sensitive industries and the relative contribution of physical capital and labor utilization within industries.

Method

Bureau of Labor Statistics nonfatal injury rates from 1976 through 2007 were examined across five industry sectors with respect to several macroeconomic indicators. Within industries, injury associations with utilization of labor and physical capital over time were tested using time series regression methods.

Results

Pro-cyclical associations between business cycle indicators and injury incidence were observed in mining, construction, and manufacturing but not in agriculture or trade. Physical capital utilization was the highest potential contributor to injuries in mining while labor utilization was the highest potential contributor in construction. In manufacturing each effect had a similar association with injuries.

Conclusion

The incidence of workplace injury is associated with the business cycle. However, the degree of association and the mechanisms through with the business cycle affects the incidence of workplace injuries was not the same across industries.

Impact on Industry

The results suggest that firms in the construction, manufacturing, and mining industries should take additional precautionary safety measures during cyclical upturns. Potential differences among industries in the mechanisms through which the business cycle affects injury incidence suggest different protective strategies for those industries. For example, in construction, additional efforts might be undertaken to ensure workers are adequately trained and not excessively fatigued, while safety procedures continue to be followed even during boom times.     

Investigation of Human and Animal Viruses in Water Matrices from a Rural Area in Southeastern Region of Brazil and Their Potential Use as Microbial Source-Tracking Markers

Food and Environmental Virology - This study assessed the sources of contamination of water matrices in a rural area using detection of a host-specific virus (human adenovirus [HAdV], porcine...     

Computer simulation of the coagulation of suspended solids — The applicability of the Müller–Smoluchowski theory

The results of studies carried out using a computer programme simulating the coagulation of suspensions containing spherical sol particles and spherical coagulant particles are reported.The influence of the degree of dispersion of the system on the coagulation reaction kinetics was investigated. The obtained results of kinetic studies were tested in the light of classical Müller–Smoluchowski equations. The influence of the physical properties of the coagulant,such as size, density and mass, on the coagulation rate was tested. It was found that within the range described in this paper, the rate of the simulated coagulation process fulfils both the kinetic equation of a first-order reaction, and the kinetic equation of a second-order reaction.Within the tested range, a significant influence of the mass and size of the coagulant on the coagulation rate was ascertained. The kinetic Müller–Smoluchowski dependence is fulfilled in a broader range of the degree of dispersion, when the coagulant particle mass and the sol particle mass are equal. When the particle mass increases with an increase in the particle radius, the coagulation rate increases faster that it would result from the Müller's dependence.     

Analytical Investigations on a Releasing Agent Application in Aluminium Diecasting (6 pp)

Background, Aims and Scope Releasing agents, applied in the aluminium diecasting process, usually consist of water, oils, waxes, polysiloxanes, as well as of a set of additives like emulsifiers, corrosion inhibitors, and biocides. During spray application and part release, gases and aerosols are emitted into workplace air. The chemical compositions of these emissions are determined by the components of the releasing agents and their reaction products formed during thermal stress of more than 700 °C. In the frame of the joint project, the analytical tasks were to develop an appropriate sampling strategy for this production environment, to draw conclusions about the occurrence of hazardous chemicals from production plant studies and from laboratory-scale thermolysis experiments, and to determine the biodegradability of customary releasing agents. Methods During realistic test production, active air sampling was performed in a production hall using different adsorption materials. Cotton fabric sheets were positioned in the production area as passive samplers. Thermolysis experiments were performed at 600 °C with sealed quartz ampoules. The biodegradability of different releasing agents was determined according to German industry standard DIN 51828 (2000). For analyses, GC/MS (headspace), FTIR, HPLC, IC, and ICP-OES techniques were applied. Results and Discussion The substance spectrum, which was found in workplace air, was dominated by saturated and non-saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons. Besides these, alcohols, alkyl phenols, xylenes and other benzene derivatives, aldehydes, glycols, carboxylic acid esters, and amides were present. The German limiting value of 40 mg/m3 of complex hydrocarbon mixtures in a diecasting workplace atmosphere was clearly under-run. Total hydrocarbon contents ranged between 2.7 and 6.3 mg/m3. Five different PAH were found in the air close to the diecasting machine, with maximum concentrations between 0.05 and 3.06 μg/m3. Concentrations of nonylphenols ranged from 10 to 200 μg/m3, and those of triethanolamine from 20 to 30 μg/m3. From 17 elements analyzed, only B, Fe, P, S, Si, and Ti were emitted in small amounts. It was striking that the PAH patterns resulting from thermolysis experiments were quite the same compared to those determined during the diecasting process. An influence of water and of Fe/Al on the composition of the thermolysis products could mostly be shown. The degrees of biodegradation of three releasing agent extracts after 21 days were 21%, 29%, and 55%, respectively. Conclusion A sampling strategy was developed, which allows an emission assessment for the industrial process of aluminium diecasting. It enabled one to control limiting values, to characterise a wide variety of compounds emitted, and to identify and quantify relevant pollutants. Only a few hazardous substances could be detected during the exemplary use of one releasing agent within the compounds emitted into workplace air. Indications were found, that the prediction of the formation of harmful substances from releasing agent components should be possible via thermolysis experiments. The biodegradability test can serve to assess the expenditure of disposal of the usual leakage run-off of excess agent during production. Recommendation and Outlook Investigations on further differently composed releasing agents, e.g. powders, would be desirable. A substitution of nonylphenol ethoxylates by less harmful components would surely be an improvement of a releasing agent with regard to work safety and health care, because of avoiding the emission of toxic and endocrine active nonylphenols. The surprisingly wide range of biodegradability of the investigated releasing agents points to an optimization potential, that has obviously not yet been considered.     

Detection and Characterization of Hepatitis E Virus Genotype 3 in Wastewater and Urban Surface Waters in Germany

Food and Environmental Virology - In highly populated areas, environmental surveillance of wastewater and surface waters is a key factor to control the circulation of viruses and risks for public...     

Nativ-basierte Grundöle für die Produktion von Kühlschmierstoffen

Aims and Scope

Compared to mineral oil products, cooling lubricants based on fatty acid esters have technological advantages. Moreover, they are more environmentally compatible and make a contribution to a sustainable economy. Nevertheless, they are rarely applied in practice, because of their comparably high price, that is based on raw-material and synthesis costs. Alternatives concerning raw-materials and synthesis pathways are considered and properties of resulting ester products are compared.

Methods

The investigations aimed at three fatty acid-2-ethyl-hexylesters that were synthesized in an enzymatic-catalytic routine based on peanut oil, suet, and waste edible fat and at esters that were conventionally produced from animal and plant fats and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol. Physical properties, fatty acid patterns, contents of free fatty acids, as well as oxidative and hydrolytic stabilities were determined. Thermolysis experiments were performed.

Results

The physical properties of the seven esters, density, viscosity, pourpoint, and flash point, were comparable and gave reason for the assumption, that the products could be used as basis oils in lubricant formulations. Hydrolysis stabilities of the esters were high and thermal stress did not point at high potential of hazardous compounds formation. Especially the enzymatic-catalytically produced esters showed deficits concerning oxidation stabilities and free fatty acid contents.

Outlook

For practice it will be necessary to define minimum qualities for raw-materials and resulting ester oils to be used as lubricant basis oils. Moreover, processes have to be developed, that yield high quality ester products from waste edible and animal fats without loosing the advantage of low-cost raw-materials by high production and refinement costs. Surely, one contribution is the further development of the energy-saving enzymtic alcoholysis for ester production.     

Adenovirus and Norovirus Contaminants in Commercially Distributed Shellfish

Shellfish complying with European Regulations based on quantification of fecal bacterial indicators (FIB) are introduced into markets; however, information on viruses, more stable than FIB, is not available in the literature. To assess the presence of noroviruses (NoVs) GI and GII and human adenoviruses (HAdV) in domestic and imported mussels and clams (n = 151) their presence was analyzed during winter seasons (2004–2008) in north-west Spanish markets through a routine surveillance system. All samples tested negative for NoV GI and 13 % were positive for NoV GII. The role of HAdV as viral indicator was evaluated in 20 negative and 10 positive NoV GII samples showing an estimated sensitivity and specificity of HAdV to predict the presence of NoV GII of 100 and 74 % (cut-off 0.5). The levels of HAdV and NoVs and the efficiency of decontamination in shellfish depuration plants (SDP) were evaluated analyzing pre- and post-depurated mussels collected in May–June 2010 from three different SDP. There were no statistically significant differences in the prevalence and quantification of HAdV between pre- and post-depurated shellfish and between seawater entering and leaving the depuration systems. Moreover, infectious HAdV were detected in depurated mussels. These results confirm previous studies showing that current controls and depuration treatments limiting the number of FIB do not guarantee the absence of viruses in shellfish.