Systems thinking in a gas explosion accident – lessons learned from Taiwan

On July 31, 2014, at around 23:57, several huge explosions occurred that lasted for 2 h in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. As a result of a gas leak from a ruptured underground pipeline, the catastrophic incident destroyed more than 6 km of roads, killed 32 people, injured 321 people, and damaged 3259 buildings. Pipeline explosions have been reported as a repeatedly occurring problem, indicating that (1) complex systems are difficult to manage and control, and (2) humans are unable to effectively learn from experiences of accidents. Initial analyses results reveal that root causes of this incident were a combination of a series of complex chain reactions, which eventually led to propylene leakage and explosion. This is a systematic problem, which can hardly be investigated or analyzed by traditional research approaches. Based on the investigation reports and “systems thinking” method, this study develops causal loop diagrams for the Kaohsiung gas explosion to explore the root causes of the disaster. The research results indicate that (1) this pipeline explosion incident was the result of the chain reactions and was the output of a complex system; (2) the mental model of “production first” and “experience gap” were the root causes of the disaster; and (3) to achieve a higher safety standard, continuous education to improve the mental model of “safety first and safety over production” are essential. The findings of this study may contribute toward the improvement of the standard operating procedure for disaster management and preventing similar incidents in the future.     

A hybrid decision-making approach based on FCM and MOORA for occupational health and safety risk analysis

IntroductionWith the development of industries and increased diversity of their associated hazards, the importance of identifying these hazards and controlling the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) risks has also dramatically augmented. Currently, there is a serious need for a risk management system to identify and prioritize risks with the aim of providing corrective/preventive measures to minimize the negative consequences of OHS risks. In fact, this system can help the protection of employees’ health and reduction of organizational costs. Method: The present study proposes a hybrid decision-making approach based on the Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM), and Multi-Objective Optimization on the basis of Ratio Analysis (MOORA) for assessing and prioritizing OHS risks. After identifying the risks and determining the values of the risk assessment criteria via the FMEA technique, the attempt is made to determine the weights of criteria based on their causal relationships through FCM and the hybrid learning algorithm. Then, the risk prioritization is carried out using the MOORA method based on the decision matrix (the output of the FMEA) and the weights of the criteria (the output of the FCM). Results: The results from the implementation of the proposed approach in a manufacturing company reveal that the score at issue can overcome some of the drawbacks of the traditional Risk Priority Number (RPN) in the conventional FMEA, including lack of assignment the different relative importance to the assessment criteria, inability to take into account other important management criteria, lack of consideration of causal relationships among criteria, and high dependence of the prioritization on the experts’ opinions, which finally provides a full and distinct risk prioritization.     

上海市工业固体废物处理处置现状分析

详细分析了上海市一般工业固体废物及工业危险废物的产生及处理处置现状,提出:一般工业固废主要以资源化利用为主,危废处置企业实行末位淘汰,实现清洁生产;加强国家提倡的"三位一体"综合处理项目建设,实现集中处理、集中监管,降低运营成本;加强工业危废产生企业申报登记及转移的网络信息化管理,杜绝监管盲区。     

排污权交易之排放跟踪数据校核研究

本文以排污权交易的核心业务排放跟踪管理为出发点,选择电厂二氧化硫指标进行排放跟踪数据过程校核体系研究,探索进一步提高排污权交易体系中排放数据准确性的机制。     

Towards a capability approach of sustainability

Despite having a strong influence on development policies, theories of sustainability have not paid much attention to the capability approach (CA) thus far. Against this backdrop, the present paper argues for the CA’s usefulness of sustainability. In order to avoid just an additional contribution to the already confusing theoretical situation as well as to rely our exploration of the CA’s aptness for a conception of sustainability on a transparent and comparable basis, we will first identify six adequacy conditions for concepts of sustainability. We will then work out a categorial framework for conceptions of sustainability. Finally we will demonstrate how the CA is a promising candidate for filling in the demands of this framework and what further research will be needed.     

环评监测现场采样中应注意的问题

根据环境影响评价监测的要求,提出了环评监测中方案的细化、点位布设方面存在的问题,阐述了如何合理设置监测点位、准确把握采样方法、科学选择分析方法等问题。     

基于社会技术系统的复工企业疫情防控风险路径研究*

为对复工企业疫情防控中的风险致因因素进行分析,探寻复工企业疫情防控的风险路径,基于社会技术系统理论,建立宏观工效学模型,通过查阅并分析国家、地方政府、企业文件以及相关文献,从人员、技术、组织管理、内部环境及外部环境5个子系统出发,识别出16个复工企业疫情失控致因因素;运用社会网络分析（SNA）构建复工企业疫情防控关系网络,对各因素节点中心度进行计算,分析各节点在网络中的位置及影响程度;采用贝叶斯网络（BN）进行参数学习和推理学习,找出复工企业疫情失控的最大致因链。结果表明:复工企业疫情失控关系网络中,存在政府监督管理不力→防疫物资筹备不足→日常监管不到位,政府监督管理不力→ 防疫宣传、培训缺失→员工防疫知识欠缺,政府监督管理不力→防疫宣传、培训缺失→日常监管不到位3条最长风险路径。研究结果可帮助复工企业针对最长风险路径中的因素进行管理,从而有效地为复工企业防疫提供理论支持。     

Cancer and Non-Cancer Health Risk from Eating Cassava Grown in Some Mining Communities in Ghana

Food crops such as cassava, cocoyam and other tuber crops grown in mining communities uptake toxic or hazardous chemicals such as arsenic, and cadmium, from the soil. Cassava is a stable food for Ghanaians. This study evaluated human health risk from eating cassava grown in some mining communities in Ghana such as Bogoso, Prestea, Tarkwa and Tamso, which are important mining towns in the Western Region of Ghana. The study evaluated cancer and non-cancer health effects from eating cassava grown in the study areas in accordance with US Environmental Protection Agency’s Risk Assessment guidelines. The results of the study revealed the following: cancer health risk for Tamso, 0.098 (RME – Reasonable Maximum Exposure) and 0.082 (CTE – Central Tendency Exposure). This means that approximately 10 and 8 out of 100 resident adults are likely to suffer from cancer related cases by RME and CTE parameters respectively. For Prestea, we have 0.010 and 0.12, which also means that approximately 1 out of 100 and 10 resident adults out of 100 are also likely to suffer from cancer related diseases by RME and CTE parameters. The results of the study obtained were found to be above the acceptable cancer risk range of 1× 10⁻⁶ to 1× 10⁻⁴, i.e., 1 case of cancer out of 1 million or 100,000 people respectively.     

农户兼业阶段性分化探析

当前农户兼业的阶段性分化其本质是农户之间兼业进程的不统一,进而导致了严重的农村社会分化问题。本文利用江苏省苏北地区农户调研数据分析了当前农户兼业阶段性分化的现状及其带来的社会后果,利用似不相关双变量Probit模型分析了农户兼业阶段性分化的原因,得出了阻碍农户兼业发展的主要制约因素。结果显示,家庭人力资本稀缺是农户实现兼业生产的主要制约因素,农户无法进行非农工作主要是受到家庭人口规模小、老龄化严重的限制,这一部分农户家庭生活水平低,面临严重的"贫困陷阱"。政府直接干预土地流转使部分农户被动退出了农业生产,形式上实现了农户兼业进程的统一,但损害了农户的土地权益,造成农村土地产权不稳定,降低了农户自发性退农倾向,妨碍了土地市场的进一步发展,因此实质上对农户兼业进程起到了阻碍作用。此外,由于土地承包经营证书对承包经营权权能、地块四至等信息界定不清晰,对农户兼业进程的发展没有刺激作用。综合以上结论可知,土地产权以及农户家庭人力资本是导致当前农户阶段性分化的主要原因。政府不应对农村土地市场进行直接干预,而应通过完善农村社保体系、扶持农户非农就业、加快新一轮土地确权发证工作以促进土地市场与农户兼业进程的发展,在市场机制为主、政府调控为辅的环境下合理实现土地的集中与农业规模经营。     

Are national biodiversity strategies and action plans appropriate for building responsibilities for mainstreaming biodiversity across policy sectors? The case of Finland

The Convention on Biological Diversity's national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) are major mechanisms for mainstreaming biodiversity into national policies. This article examines whether and how the NBSAPs contribute to mainstreaming biodiversity across policy sectors in Finland in order to halt biodiversity loss. We have developed an innovative analytical framework where the concept of responsibility addresses how motivations for mainstreaming can be built, and the concept of social learning outcomes addresses the extent of institutional changes for biodiversity. The Finnish NBSAP processes have been able to build diverse forms of responsibility (liability, accountability, responsiveness and care) in different policy sectors by providing new knowledge, careful process design and developing institutional linkages. Despite pro-biodiversity outcomes in the targeted policy sectors, the responsibilities do not diffuse from the environmental administration to other policy sectors to a sufficient extent. Closing this ‘responsibility gap’ is a key challenge for building effective environmental policies.