危险化学品生产企业危险源辨识方法研究

随着经济社会的发展和化工行业投资规模快速增长,社会对危化品的关注日益增长,这就加大了企业安全生产压力。危化品生产企业往往存在着诸多危险源,其中化学性危害因素是在危险源辨识过程中需考虑的重点要素。为了正确辨识危险化学品企业的危险源,保障安全运营,本文梳理了危险源的几种分类,包括物理性危害因素、化学性危害因素、生物性危害因素、心理生理性危害因素、行为性危害因素等,并在此基础上重点研究了工作危害分析、安全检查表、危险与可操作性分析等危险源辨识方法。最后以两个危化公司为样本,介绍了危险源辨识方法的具体内容和操作流程,为企业选用正确方法,科学辨识危险源,顺利排查隐患提供依据。     

建筑企业员工职业病危害认知影响因素的调查分析

随着建筑行业的持续快速发展,建筑企业作业场所中的职业病危害呈现出高发性、复杂性和持续性等特点.通过针对建筑企业员工的实际状况设计调查问卷获取第一手资料,并运用SPSS17.0统计软件建立相关分析、回归分析等模型进行数据分析,可以得知建筑企业作业场所员工遭受职业病危害的可能性与对安全知识的了解程度、从业时间、性别及文化背景这四个因素的线性相关性.通过对建筑企业作业人员职业病危害的调查与分析,辨识出影响职业病危害的人为因素,提出相关的建议措施以改善建筑企业作业场所职业病危害严重的局面,提高建筑企业员工自我保护意识,增加其职业病危害防护知识,减少职业病危害事故的发生.     

The potential implementation of green infrastructure assessment using high-resolution National Agriculture Imagery Program data for sustainable hazard mitigation

As green infrastructure gets its attention in hazard mitigation, it is necessary to improve general understanding on what makes green infrastructure important for hazard and resiliency research. To better understand how green infrastructure fits with more traditional notions of structural and nonstructural mitigation, this study examines the relationship between green infrastructure and ‘structural and nonstructural’ mitigation approaches for hazard mitigation. Also, this study discusses a new measurement of locational aspects and spatial patterns of green infrastructure by utilizing high-resolution data in urban areas, and its potential implementation in hazard mitigation. Compared to previous research using land-use land-cover datasets, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) utilizing National Agriculture Imagery Program dataset provides an ability to capture green infrastructure in greater detail. A visual comparison suggests that the NDVI data are able to capture and identify more types of ‘green’ land uses in Harris County. The total green infrastructure percentages for Harris County, Texas, based on 1-m high resolution were found to be 61.5% of the area, compared to the 51.5% based on the National Land Cover Database. This study provides support for utilizing high-resolution data to establish guidelines for green infrastructure’s spatial characteristics and sustainable hazard mitigation. The outcomes of this study will be helpful in the strategic planning and implementation of green infrastructure in urban areas with hazard issues.     

A Bayesian hierarchical approach to quantifying stakeholder attitudes toward conservation in the presence of reporting error

Stakeholder support is vital for achieving conservation success, yet there are few reliable mechanisms to monitor stakeholder attitudes toward conservation. Approaches used to assess attitudes rarely account for bias arising from reporting error, which can lead to falsely reporting a positive attitude toward conservation (false-positive error) or not reporting a positive attitude when the respondent has a positive attitude toward conservation (false-negative error). Borrowing from developments in applied conservation science, we used a Bayesian hierarchical model to quantify stakeholder attitudes as the probability of having a positive attitude toward wildlife notionally (or in abstract terms) and at localized scales while accounting for reporting error. We compared estimates from our model, Likert scores, and naïve estimates (i.e., proportion of respondents reporting a positive attitude in at least 1 question that was only susceptible to false-negative error) with true stakeholder attitudes through simulations. We then applied the model in a survey of tea estate staff on their attitudes toward Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in the Kaziranga–Karbi Anglong landscape of northeast India. In simulations, Bayesian model estimates of stakeholder attitudes toward wildlife were less biased than naïve estimates or Likert scores. After accounting for reporting errors, we estimated the probability of having a positive attitude toward elephants notionally as 0.85 in the Kaziranga landscape, whereas the proportion of respondents who had positive attitudes toward elephants at a localized scale was 0.50. In comparison, without accounting for reporting errors, naïve estimates of proportions of respondents with positive attitudes toward elephants were 0.69 and 0.23 notionally and at local scales, respectively. False (positive and negative) reporting probabilities were consistently not 0 (0.22–0.68). Regular and reliable assessment of stakeholder attitudes–combined with inference on drivers of positive attitudes–can help assess the success of initiatives aimed at facilitating human behavioral change and inform conservation decision making.     

Effect of admixture of solid inertant on fire hazard of dust layers oriented at varying degrees of inclination

Unlike metallic dust layers, the layer flammability levels (LFL) of non-metallic dust layers exhibit a wide range from Class 1 (No self-sustained combustion) to Class 6 (explosive combustion). However, determinations of layer flammability have not considered the effect of inclination angle, thereby potentially underestimating fire hazard of combustible dust layers in many industrial situations. In this research, inclined dust layers showed greater fire hazard than did horizontally oriented dust layers. For example, LFL of wood dust jumped from class 3 to class 5 when layers were positioned with an incline. Flame spread rate of PMMA dust layers increased from 1.8 to 3.6 mm/s when the angle of inclination increased from 0 to 40°. Even small amounts of solid inertant significantly decreased surface layer fires. The required amount of inertant to completely inert layer fires was far less than that for smoldering layer fires or dust explosions.     

Measuring participation by socially vulnerable groups in hazard mitigation planning,Bertie County,North Carolina

In accordance with the Disaster Mitigation Act, most US counties have a hazard mitigation plan (HMP) to reduce future disaster losses. HMPs are important as they can be used to proactively assess risk, direct future development, raise awareness and build consensus. Using a population-based sample, we interviewed residents of Bertie County, NC, about their awareness of and participation in the HMP process to determine if demographics, social vulnerability or hazard vulnerability were associated with increased awareness or participation. We also assessed whether these factors were associated with knowledge of policy changes and investments that were adopted in the HMP. Overall, the unemployed were the only group less likely to report awareness of or participation in HMP development. African-Americans, mobile home residents, the poor, short-term residents and those with less disaster experience were less likely to be aware of policies and investments prioritised in the HMP. Targeted efforts to increase awareness could potentially improve disaster outcomes among vulnerable populations.     

开敞空间可燃气云爆炸冲击波超压及灾害动力响应研究评述

为了进一步梳理和分析开敞空间可燃云爆炸冲击波超压传播规律及灾害动力响应方面的各项研究成果,推进可燃气体爆炸安全防控,减少人员伤亡和经济损失。在分析现有研究的基础上,总结开敞空间可燃气云爆炸冲击波超压传播规律及灾害动力响应研究等方面存在的不足,提出开敞空间多元混合气体爆炸冲击波超压传播规律研究、多影响参数下可燃气云爆炸冲击波超压传播规律定量分析、基于可燃气云爆炸冲击波超压作用下的承载体动力响应等未来研究的关键技术问题。     

Sensitivity to biologically relevant odours may exceed the sum of component thresholds

Summary In four fruit-eating bats sniff-rate analysis revealed the threshold value for natural banana odour to be 1 × 10^–4 vol% of head-space while the threshold values for its major components were found to be 3–6 orders of magnitude higher; even the total of molecules present at the threshold dilution of banana odour was 2 orders of magnitude below the lowest threshold values obtained for single components. Thus, the responsiveness of the bats to threshold concentration of natural banana odour is discussed as an example of synergism of stimuli.     

Exposure to Selected Heavy Metals Through Water Ingestion in an Area Under the Influence of Tanneries

This study evaluated the potential toxicological risk posed to human health due to the exposure to heavy metals by water ingestion in an area affected by tanneries – the Cadeia-Feitoria hydrographic basin (Brazil). River water was collected at 10 sites, every 3 months, from July 1999 to April 2000. After acid digestion, total metal concentration was determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Zn), flame atomic absorption (Al, Fe, Pb, Mn), or cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (Hg). Cr(VI) was complexed with diphenyl-carbazide and detected by UV–vis spectrometry. In order to quantify the risk of exposure, the risk assessment methodology employed by the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States was applied at a screening level. The assumed scenarios included extreme exposure patterns (ingestion of untreated water, conversion of Cr(III) to Cr(VI), temporal peaks of pollution). Fe, Al, Cd, Hg, and Pb were not included in the risk analysis, since they showed a low toxicity potential or were undetected in the samples. The selected metals presented Hazard Quotients < 1, in the following order of increasing risk: Cu < Cr(III) < Zn < Ni < Mn < Cr(VI). Hazard indexes, representing the additive effect of contaminants, were also low in the basin (< 1), but comparatively increased in the lower reach of Feitoria and Cadeia Rivers. Although noncarcinogenic risk levels did not suggest possible adverse toxicological effects to the human population, a considerable deviation from background conditions was observed downstream the area where tanneries are mainly located.