Moving towards ambitious climate policies: Monetised health benefits from improved air quality could offset mitigation costs in Europe

Air quality and related health effects are not only affected by policies directly addressed at air pollution but also by other environmental strategies such as climate mitigation. This study addresses how different climate policy pathways indirectly bear upon air pollution in terms of improved human health in Europe. To this end, we put in perspective mitigation costs and monetised health benefits of reducing PM_2.5 (particles less than 2.5 μm in diameter) and ozone concentrations.Air quality in Europe and related health impacts were assessed using a comprehensive modelling chain, based on global and regional climate and chemistry-transport models together with a health impact assessment tool. This allows capturing both the impact of climate policy on emissions of air pollutants and the geophysical impact of climate change on air quality.Results are presented for projections at the 2050 horizon, for a set of consistent air pollution and climate policy scenarios, combined with population data from the UN's World Population Prospects, and are expressed in terms of morbidity and mortality impacts of PM_2.5 and ozone pollution and their monetised damage equivalent.The analysis shows that enforcement of current European air quality policies would effectively reduce health impacts from PM_2.5 in Europe even in the absence of climate policies (life years lost from the exposure to PM_2.5 decrease by 78% between 2005 and 2050 in the reference scenario), while impacts for ozone depend on the ambition level of international climate policies. A move towards stringent climate policies on a global scale, in addition to limiting global warming, creates co-benefits in terms of reduced health impacts (68% decrease in life years lost from the exposure to PM_2.5 and 85% decrease in premature deaths from ozone in 2050 in the mitigation scenario relative to the reference scenario) and air pollution cost savings (77%) in Europe. These co-benefits are found to offset at least 85% of the additional cost of climate policy in this region.     

Hands-on assistance improves already successful pollution prevention services of the toxics use reduction institute’s laboratory

In an attempt to improve the adoption rate of the work conducted at the Toxics Use Reduction Institute Lab, a more comprehensive on-site follow-up assistance program was implemented in 2006. The effort was piloted for trichloroethylene replacement in Rhode Island in conjunction with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1.Through hands-on workshops and on-site assistance efforts, the TURI Lab project was able to achieve an 82% reduction in TCE in a two year period. This new methodology for on-site assistance follow-up to the preexisting TURI Lab testing program has been incorporated into the work the Lab conducts for companies in Massachusetts. The Lab had an implementation rate of around 30% without on-site assistance. During the first year of the new process, the adoption rate has jumped to 80% of all companies working with the lab.     

劳动安全卫生管理体系要素中的“方针”和“组织”

全面管理原理是建立和运行劳动安全卫生管理体系的最重要的原则之一。其他原则在文中也简要地说明了。这些原则是组织的价值观和哲学的体现，并决定组织的安全卫生方针。安全卫生文化是组织的价值观、理念、能力和行为方式的产物，是人们的行事方式，在劳动安全卫生管理体系要素之一的“组织”中被体现出来，表现在四个方面，即：控制——管理人员的责任关系，协作——工人参与，通讯联络——共识和共同行动，能力——培训和专家顾     

Causes and consequences of thermal runaway incidents—Will they ever be avoided?

A study of runaway incidents involving thermal chemical reactions in the UK over the past 25 years (1988–2013) has been carried out. The objective of this study is to determine possible causes of thermal runaway incidents. A statistical analysis of the underlying problems that led to thermal runaway incidents has been provided. A comparison of the current study on thermal runaway incidents with those identified prior to 1988 has been carried out. This study clearly shows that lessons have not been learnt from thermal runaway incidents caused by operator errors, management failures and lack of organised operating procedures. These factors have been the possible causes of about 77% of all the thermal runaway incidents analysed in this study. The number of fatalities and injuries as a result of thermal runaway incidents has increased by ∼325% and ∼279%, respectively, in the last 25 years even though the number of incidents was significantly less. On the basis of this analysis, several recommendations have been proposed that could help to minimise the risks associated with any thermal runaway incidents in the future.     

湖南省高职院校学生体质健康影响因素分析

该文主要采用文献资料法、测试比较法、数理统计法等方法对湖南省4所高职院校学生体质健康状况进行实地测试并且进行分析与研究.从湖南省4所高职院校学生体质健康状况中对影响学生体质健康的因素进行研究论证,并进行策略分析,其目的是为了提高高职院校学生体质健康服务.表3,参2.     

Needle stick and sharps injuries among health care workers in Gondar city, Ethiopia

Background

All employees in health care settings handling needles or other sharps are at risk for needle stick and sharps injuries (NSSIs). Health care workers in under developed countries are at greater risk of infection from blood borne pathogens because of the lack of safety devices and the high prevalence of these pathogens.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of NSSIs and associated factors among health care workers in government health institutions in Gondar city, Ethiopia.

Methods

Institution based cross sectional study was conducted from May-December, 2010. The study included 344 health care workers who were selected from the source population using simple random sampling technique. Data were collected through interviews using structured and pre-tested questionnaire and the collected data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0.

Results

The prevalence of NSSIs among health care workers in the preceding 12 months was 106 (30.8%), of which 58 (54.7%) was reported by females. Lack of training on occupational health and safety, working more than 48 h/week, dissatisfaction with work environment and work culture, greater than 10 years of work experience and having low and moderate perception of risk were found to be significantly associated with NSSIs.

Conclusion

The study found high prevalence of NSSIs among health care workers. Effective training, ongoing awareness on the risk of hazards, preventive measures such as engineering control, and post-exposure prophylaxis following NSSIs are essential to reduce the risk of such injuries.     

Dechloranes exhibit binding potency and activity to thyroid hormone receptors

Dechloranes are a group of halogenated flame retardants with a basic bicyclo[2.2.1]heptene, including Dechlorane Plus(DP), Dechlorane 602(Dec 602), Dechlorane 603(Dec 603) and Dechlorane 604(Dec 604). A few epidemiological investigations and animal experiments have shown that DP exhibited thyroid-interfering effects. In the present study, we investigated whether DP and three other dechloranes could interfere the thyroid function through thyroid hormone receptors(TRs, TR α and TR β) signaling pat...     

Assessing Health Benefits of Controlling Air Pollution from Power Generation: The Case of a Lignite-Fired Power Plant in Thailand

The impact pathway approach (IPA) is used to estimate quantitatively the level of health effects caused by particulate matter (PM₁₀) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emission from a lignite-fired power plant located in the Mae Moh area in northern region of Thailand. Health benefits are then assessed by comparing the levels of estimated health impacts without and with the installation of the flue gas desulfurization (FGD) equipment. The US EPA industrial source complex model is used to model air pollution dispersion at the local scale, and the sector average limited mixing meso-scale model is used to model air pollution transport at the regional scale. The quantification of the health end points in physical terms is carried out using the dose–response functions established recently for the population in Bangkok, Thailand. Monetarization of these effects is based on the benefit transfer method with appropriate adjustment. Finally, it has been found that the installation of the FGD to control SO₂ emission at Mae Moh significantly reduces adverse health effects not only on the population living near the power plant but also all over the country. A FGD unit installed at the 300-MW power unit can result, on average, in 16 fewer cases of acute mortality, 12 fewer cases of respiratory and cardiac hospital admissions, and almost 354,000 fewer days with acute respiratory symptoms annually. In monetary terms this benefit is equivalent to US $18.2 million (1995 prices) per annum. This benefit is much higher than the annualized investment and operation costs of FGD (US $7.4 million/yr).     

An Evaluation of Air Pollution Health Impacts and Costs in São Paulo, Brazil

The need to determine cost estimates of the hazardous effects of diseases is important in order to establish the priorities of actions for prevention and health management. The evaluation of air pollution impacts on health, based on expenditures, has been carried out, but there are obvious comparison difficulties among countries, as the health-per-capita investment varies enormously. In order to achieve a standard indicator, we applied the Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) method to estimate the health burden and cost estimate due to air pollution in São Paulo, Brazil. The basic methodology was the utilization of dose–response curves of epidemiological studies conducted in São Paulo to assess air pollution and its health effects. DALY attributable to air pollution in São Paulo added up to 28,212 years annually. An indirect health cost attributable to air pollution resulted in US$ 3,222,676. This estimate refers to the children and the elderly population. These results give a preliminary and underestimated value of the burden of diseases promoted by air pollution.