Dry Wetlands: Nutrient Dynamics in Ephemeral Constructed Stormwater Wetlands

Environmental Management - Constructed stormwater wetlands (CSWs) are used to address contaminants in urban stormwater such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), but their performance is variable....     

The presence and partitioning behavior of flame retardants in waste, leachate, and air particles from Norwegian waste-handling facilities

Flame retardants in commercial products eventually make their way into the waste stream.Herein the presence of flame retardants in Norwegian landfills, incineration facilities and recycling sorting/defragmenting facilities is investigated. These facilities handled waste electrical and electronic equipment(WEEE), vehicles, digestate, glass, combustibles, bottom ash and fly ash. The flame retardants considered included polybrominated diphenyl ethers(∑BDE-10) as well as dechlorane plus, polybrominated biphenyls, hexabromobenzene,pentabromotoluene and pentabromoethylbenzene(collectively referred to as ∑FR-7). Plastic,WEEE and vehicles contained the largest amount of flame retardants(∑BDE-10: 45,000–210,000 μg/kg; ∑FR-7: 300–13,000 μg/kg). It was hypothesized leachate and air concentrations from facilities that sort/defragment WEEE and vehicles would be the highest. This was supported for total air phase concentrations(∑BDE-10: 9000–195,000 pg/m~3 WEEE/vehicle facilities, 80–900 pg/m~3 in incineration/sorting and landfill sites), but not for water leachate concentrations(e.g., ∑BDE-10: 15–3500 ng/L in WEEE/Vehicle facilities and 1–250 ng/L in landfill sites). Landfill leachate exhibited similar concentrations as WEEE/vehicle sorting and defragmenting facility leachate. To better account for concentrations in leachates at the different facilities, waste-water partitioning coefficients, Kwastewere measured(for the first time to our knowledge for flame retardants). WEEE and plastic waste had elevated Kwastecompared to other wastes, likely because flame retardants are directly added to these materials. The results of this study have implications for the development of strategies to reduce exposure and environmental emissions of flame retardants in waste and recycled products through improved waste management practices.     

Accident models and organisational factors in air transport: The need for multi-method models

Event analysis is needed to learn and improve safety. In air transport, ‘occurrences’ are routinely reported by pilots and air traffic controllers, and in-flight data analysis systems automatically monitor aircraft system behaviour and capture parameter threshold exceedances. The safety analyst of a large airline has to analyse dozens of occurrences each day. To understand why events happened the analyst has to go beyond the given information and make causal inferences. The analyst is able to do this for causal factors closely related in time and space to the event itself by applying individual knowledge and expertise. But typically the result of the analysis is ad hoc reaction to each individual event. Systematic analysis is needed to find areas of improvement for factors that are further removed from the event (latent factors). New tools are needed to help the analyst in this respect. There is a need for models that represent possible causal event sequence scenarios that include technical, human, and organisational factors. Building such models is a huge task, and requires the combination of detailed knowledge of all aspects of the system, processing huge amounts of data, a substantial mathematical background and the ability to capture this all in a user friendly software tool to be used by the safety analysts. Experience in Causal Modelling of Air Transportation System (CATS) in the Netherlands and similar projects in FAA and Eurocontrol in aviation shows that this is indeed a formidable task, but it has to be done to further improve safety.     

From hanger-on to trendsetter: Decision making on a major safety initiative in a steel company maintenance department

This paper describes a case study of decision making in a steelworks maintenance department, which led to the introduction of a major initiative to improve safety performance. The origin of the decision process lay, however, not with safety, but with an earlier decision to consider outsourcing the maintenance department. When it was decided that this was not feasible a new General Manager was appointed to turn around the performance of the now demoralised department. In his search for solutions and the external developments taking place in parallel he found an initiative which seemed to link his main concerns with a parallel concern for safety improvement. The philosophy behind it and the vision and strategy which was developed to carry it led to a much more participative approach, driven by clearly defined key performance indicators. Safety was chosen as the lead objective. This paper describes the development of the decision process and briefly explains its results.     

Polybrominated diphenyl ether flame retardants in the North American environment

North America consumes over half of the world's production of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants. About 98% of global demand for the Penta-BDE mixture, the constituents of which are the most bioaccumulative and environmentally widespread, resides here. However, research on the environmental distribution of PBDEs in North America has lagged behind that in Northern Europe. Examination of available governmentally maintained release data suggests that Deca-BDE use in the US substantially exceeds that in Canada. Penta-BDE use probably follows a similar pattern. PBDE demand in Mexico is uncertain, but is assumed to be comparatively modest. Recent research examining air, water, sediment, sewage sludge and aquatic biota suggests that Penta-BDE constituents are present in geographically disparate locations in the US and Canada. The less brominated congeners have been observed in areas distant from their known use or production, e.g. the Arctic. PBDEs have been detected in low concentrations in North American air, water and sediment, but much higher levels in aquatic biota. Increased burdens as a function of position in the food web have been noted. PBDE concentrations in US and Canadian sewage sludges appear to be at least 10-fold greater than European levels and may be a useful barometer of release. In general, PBDE concentrations in environmental media reported in North America are comparable or exceed those observed elsewhere in the world. In contrast to Europe, environmental burdens are increasing over time here, consistent with the greater consumption of the commercial mixtures. However, data remain relatively scarce. Deca-BDE in the North American environment appears largely restricted to points of release, e.g. urban areas and those where PBDE-containing sewage sludges have been applied. This lack of redistribution is likely due to its extremely low volatility and water solubility. Penta-BDE and Deca-BDE products are used in different applications and this may also be a factor controlling their environmental release.     

Safety rules: procedural freedom or action constraint?

The paper presents a partial classification of safety rules as constraints imposed from outside on the freedom of choice of individuals or companies. The classification is linked to the Reason model of skill-, rule-, and knowledge-based behaviour. The imposition of constraints is related to a number of criteria concerning the context and use of the rules to arrive at proposals for when and where to apply what type of rule. To illustrate the principles discussed an example is given of the rule from the Dutch Working Environment legislation concerning the requirement to use “current state of the art in prevention” in companies. The paper proposes providing procedural rule support to companies on how to meet the rule, in the form of a data bank of practicable solutions to health and safety problems.     

Training courses for specialists in working conditions: Some survey results

Initial results are presented of a survey in 14 countries into the training of six professional groups in the area of working conditions. The groups are occupational physicians, occupational hygienists, safety advisors/engineers, ergonomists, occupational health nurses and health and safety/labour/ (social) insurance inspectors.The paper concentrates on the diversity of the professional groups involved in working conditions, the level, length and certification of their training, and, for a limited number of the countries surveyed, the overlap in training content between groups.Conclusions are drawn in respect of the potential for sharing of training content and materials.