CCall--healthy and successful work in call centres.

Call centre workplaces are in many ways a challenge to occupational health and safety. The occupation itself can be described as an IT information technology-supported, communication-intensive form of work with often unusual working hours and a high rate of part-time employment. Data on the employee turnover as well as absenteeism related to occupational disability is quite contradictory. Occupational safety and its proponents still have to find new ways into the corporate structures and cultures of this relatively new and rapidly growing branch of industry. In a 2-year research and development project, using a holistic approach and under consideration of all the relevant disciplines, call centre workplaces were studied, and organisational measures were developed and field tested by putting them into practice. Practical help was developed for a sustainable strategy for successful and healthy work in call centres.     

Biomonitoring verkehrsbedingter Platin-Immissionen

Traffic related platinum deposits on, or near to, the roads. Platinum accumulation was studied using the method of standardised culture of grass (Lolium multiflorum) at locations with different traffic exposure in the region of Munich. Grass cultures from 6 locations with high traffic exposure, and 3 reference locations far away from traffic emissions, were analysed in 1992 and 1993. The results show a good indication of the platinum emissions byLolium multiflorum. The platinum concentrations rose with the increasing traffic. They diminished with growing distance from the verge of the road. The highest average platinum concentrations were measured at locations close to highly frequented urban roads, in the range 0.8 to 2.9 μg/kg dm. The average platinum concentration at locations far from emissions was found in the range of 0.17 to 0.51 μg/kg dm in 1992 and 1993. The good correlation between the platinum concentrations in grass cultures and the concentrations of other traffic-related elements, like antimony, chromium and lead, verifies the dependence of platinum accumulation from traffic.     

The use of polymer compounds in the deposits from the combustion of briquettes in domestic heating as an identifier of fuel quality

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The utilisation of waste wood from furniture production brings new problems connected with an incomplete thermochemical decomposition of additives...     

Trends in summer sulphate in Europe

A trend analysis of the sulphate concentration in Europe in the summer half-year was performed. Data from various measuring networks were analysed, but only stations with quality assured sampling methods and a record of more than 10 years were included in the study. 1978 served as the reference year for the trend, because in that year most stations started operation. The relatively dense network in Belgium provided the most valuable data, as evidenced by the fact that two sites at a distance of only 10 km apart correlated better than 95% over a month. The two sites also show a correlation of better than 90% over a season with two other stations at distances of 45 and 95 km. The relative decrease in summer-sulphate at the four stations in Belgium, as analysed by linear regression, was 3.3% per year which corresponds to an absolute decrease of 0.42 μgm⁻³ per year. In the Netherlands the average yearly decrease in summer-sulphate at two stations was 3.5% (−0.34 μgm⁻³). In other countries stations were further apart or only a single site wits in use, which limits the representativeness of the data. In northwestern Germany, a region with several monitoring stations, a yearly averaged decrease of 3.0% occurred. The lower absolute decrease (0.25 μgm⁻³) per year compared to that in the two neighbouring countries reflects the lower summer-time sulphate concentrations. In the remainder of Germany the average decrease was 1.6%. In South-Scandinavia the yearly relative decrease at two sites was 2.6% (0.13 μgm⁻³ absolute). There was no significant trend in the U.K. Al the Polish station the levels increased, it decreased at the Hungarian and Austrian station and remained constant at the Czechoslovakian site. Reasons for omission of the data from France from the trend analysis are discussed.