Occupational Exposure to Asbestos During Renovation of Oil-Shale Fuelled Power Plants in Estonia

Many thousands of tonnes of asbestos were used in buildings in the past, especially for thermal insulation of pipes and boilers in power plants. Occupational exposure to asbestos dust now mainly occurs during demolition, renovation and routine maintenance activities. The objective of this study was to evaluate occupational exposure to airborne asbestos during renovation of solid oil-shale fuelled power plants carried out in 2001-2003. Air monitoring inside and outside of the renovation area was performed. The concentration of airborne fibres in the working environment increased during renovation but the valid limit value (0.1 fibres/cm³) was not exceeded.     

Body Heat Balance of a Man with Deficient Sweat Rate Subjected to Physical Work in a Hot Environment

The dynamics of physiological stress and thermal balance were investigated in men subjected to endogenous and exogenous heat loads. The study was conducted using the thermometric method. Substantial differences in the dynamics of the tested parameters and their quantitative characteristics were observed in 1 out of 8 participants. In this article, the observed differences are rationalized in terms of the deficient sweat rate mechanism. It is pointed out that it is indispensable to address these cases in work safety regulations.     

Under-Reporting of Accidents Involving Biological Material by Nursing Professionals at a Brazilian Emergency Hospital

Background. Pathogens can be transmitted to health professionals after contact with biological material. The exact number of infections deriving from these events is still unknown, due to the lack of systematic surveillance data and under-reporting. Methods. A cross-sectional study was carried out, involving 451 nursing professionals from a Brazilian tertiary emergency hospital between April and July 2009. Through an active search, cases of under-reporting of occupational accidents with biological material by the nursing team were identified by means of individual interviews. The Institutional Review Board approved the research project. Results. Over half of the professionals (237) had been victims of one or more accidents (425 in total) involving biological material, and 23.76% of the accidents had not been officially reported using an occupational accident report. Among the under-reported accidents, 53.47% were percutaneous and 67.33% were bloodborne. The main reason for nonreporting was that the accident had been considered low risk. Conclusions. The under-reporting rate (23.76%) was low in comparison with other studies, but most cases of exposure were high risk.     

Using urban man-made ponds to reconstruct a 150-year history of air pollution in northwest England

A regional pollution history has been reconstructed for the borough of Halton (northwest England) from four urban ponds in north Cheshire and south Merseyside, using environmental analyses of lake sediment stratigraphies. Mineral magnetism, geochemistry and radiometric dating have produced profiles of pollution characteristics dating from the mid-nineteenth century to present day. These pollution profiles reflect the atmospheric deposition of a range of pollutants over 150 years of intensified industry. Distinct phases of pollution deposition and characteristics are identified reflecting: (1) intensification of industry in the nineteenth century; (2) expansion of industry during the twentieth century; (3) post 1956 Clean Air Acts. This work promotes the potential use of these pollution archives for use in epidemiology to better understand links between human health and environmental pollution, especially for diseases with long latency times, where retrospective pollution exposure assessments are important.     

Benefits and risks associated with consumption of Great Lakes fish containing omega-3 fatty acids and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

正Introduction Assessment of environmental health effects arising from exposure to multiple substances is often very challenging.This is particularly true when humans are exposed to a mixture that contains both beneficial and harmful substances.A good example relates to the risk and benefits of fish consumption.     

500kV户外型变电站作业场所电磁环境实测分析

为了研究500k V户外型变电站作业场所的电磁环境,利用EFA-300电磁场强分析仪对9座不同类型的500 k V变电站作业场所的电磁场强度进行实测。共设置412个测点,覆盖3种典型变电站的室内作业场所和室外作业场所。测试结果显示:室内作业场所电磁场强度均远远低于国家关于公众暴露限值的标准(E≤4 k V/m,B≤100μT);不同类型500k V户外型变电站室外作业场所的电磁场强度平均值由高到低为:HGIS型变电站>AIS型变电站>GIS型变电站,表明GIS型配电方式更有利于减轻电磁污染。室外作业场所共有19.8%的测点电场强度超过我国行业标准(E≤5 k V/m),0.7%的测点磁感应强度超过我国行业标准(B≤500μT),其高电磁场强度区域集中在高压侧设备区以及电抗器密集区,最高电场强度达到14.860 k V/m,最高磁感应强度达到856μT,应重视此类区域工作人员的电磁场防护工作。     

基于IREQ模型的低温环境应急救援人员冷应激分析

为更准确地评估低温环境下应急救援人员冷应激情况,避免低温伤害。基于国家推荐性标准GB/T 24254—2009确定我国低温冰冻灾害应急救援作业工作服装热阻（IREQ）,并引入适合描述我国低温冰冻灾害高强度应急救援作业的人体储热率参数,对所需IREQ模型进行改进。计算分析低温冰冻灾害环境下应急救援人员的修正服装热阻、有限持续暴露时间、体温恢复时间。研究结果表明:改进的 IREQ模型计算所得的基本需求热阻更高,有限持续暴露时间更低,对提高低温环境下的应急救援作业安全性具有一定的科学意义。     

Workers’ exposure to electric fields during the task ‘maintenance of an operating device of circuit breaker from a service platform’ at 110-kV substations

The objective of the study was to investigate occupational exposure to electric fields during the task ‘maintenance of an operating device of circuit breaker from a service platform’ at 110-kV substations. The aim was also to compare the results to Directive 2013/35/EU. At 16 substations, 255 electric field measurements were performed. The highest mean value of the electric fields was 9.6?kV?m^?1. At 63% of substations the maximum values were over 10.0?kV?m^?1, and at 31% of the substations the 75th percentiles were over 10.0?kV?m^?1, which is the low action level (AL) according to Directive 2013/35/EU. All measured values were below the high AL (20.0?kV?m^?1). In the future, it is important to take into account that the measurements were only taken at Finnish 110-kV substations; therefore, it is not possible to generalize these results to other countries and different types of substations.     

某大型机加车间数控机床噪声暴露特点与分析研究

为研究大型机加车间噪声现状和特点,选取某大型机加车间数控机床开展现场实测,并对噪声测量结果进行分析。结果显示:数控机床产生的噪声是非稳态噪声;数控机床产生的噪声在车间传播,声场分布不均匀;加工某转向工件频率在500～5 300 Hz,峰值频率分别为500,800,2 000,5 000 Hz;对机加数控机床操作岗位工作人员的8 h噪声暴露量进行测量,测量值为89.2 dB(A)。研究结果表明:评价大型机加车间噪声,测量重点应选在机床操作岗位和人行通道;应重点关注被测机床周围20 m内的噪声值;机加工作场所测量时间段的选择取决于作业持续时间。     

Estimating young novice drivers' compliance with graduated driver licensing restrictions: A novel approach

Objectives: Current methods of estimating compliance with graduated driver licensing (GDL) restrictions among young drivers with intermediate driver's licenses—which include surveys, direct observations, and naturalistic studies—cannot sufficiently answer many critical foundational questions: What is the extent of noncompliance among the population of young intermediate drivers? How does compliance change over the course of licensure? How does compliance differ by driver subgroup and in certain driving environments? This article proposes an alternative and complementary approach to estimating population-level compliance with GDL nighttime and passenger restrictions via application of the quasi-induced exposure (QIE) method.

Methods: The article summarizes the main limitations of previous methods employed to estimate compliance. It then introduces the proposed method of borrowing the fundamental assumption of the QIE method—that young intermediate drivers who are nonresponsible in clean (i.e., one and only one responsible driver) multivehicle crashes are reasonably representative of young intermediate drivers on the road—to estimate population-based compliance. I describe formative work that has been done to ensure this method can be validly applied among young intermediate drivers and provide a practical application of this method: an estimate of compliance with New Jersey's passenger restrictions among 8,006 nonresponsible 17- to 20-year-old intermediate drivers involved in clean 2-vehicle crashes from July 2010 through June 2012.

Results: Over the study period, an estimated 8.4% (95% confidence interval, 7.8%, 9.0%) of intermediate drivers' trips were not in compliance with New Jersey's GDL passenger restriction. These findings were remarkably similar to previous estimates from more resource-intensive naturalistic studies (Goodwin et al. 2006 Goodwin AH, Wells JK, Foss RD, Williams AF. Encouraging compliance with graduated driver licensing restrictions. J Safety Res. 2006;37(4):343–351.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Klauer et al. 2011 Klauer SG, Simons-Morton B, Lee SE, Ouimet MC, Howard EH, Dingus TA. Novice drivers' exposure to known risk factors during the first 18 months of licensure: The effect of vehicle ownership. Traffic Inj Prev. 2011;12(2):159–168.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).

Conclusion: Studies can practically apply proposed methods to estimate population-level compliance with GDL passenger and night restrictions; examine how compliance varies by relevant driver, vehicle, and environmental factors; and evaluate the implementation of a GDL provision or other intervention aimed at increasing compliance with these restrictions. Important considerations and potential limitations and challenges are discussed.