Specific Contributions of Politics,Economics, and Toxicology in Setting Socially Consensual Limit Values

/ Limit values are legal limits for the concentrations of substances in the environment. They must be agreed upon in a consensual procedure between science, economics/technology, and political forces. This is a crucial political precondition for their social acceptance. The arguments put forward to justify their expediency and numerical level are based not only on risk-benefit considerations but also on the aspect of the technical avoidability of direct and indirect exposure. The critical assessment of the direct benefit of specified exposures falls within the responsibility of economics/technology, whereas criteria for their potential adverse effects (direct and indirect) are provided by medicine/biochemistry and/or ecology. Within this concept, the avoidance of nonbeneficial-even if not openly adverse-exposure is the essential aim of environmental hygiene and should be promoted by politics/science. In general, society or segments thereof reject adverse, accept beneficial, and tolerate unavoidable exposure. Conflicts of interest arise when different groups of society simultaneously define a given exposure as being adverse, beneficial, and unavoidable. Therefore, from the viewpoint of society as a whole, an optimal exposure lies as far as reasonably achievable at a level lower than known or plausible adverse effect thresholds (as defined by toxicology or ecology). This optimal level of exposure must be determined using a transparent and, hence, public procedure.KEY WORDS: Legal limit values; Benefit threshold; Social acceptance; Social tolerability; Adverse effect threshold; Avoidable exposure; Tolerance threshold; Environmental hygiene     

A review of public acceptance of nature-based solutions: The ‘why’, ‘when’, and ‘how’ of success for disaster risk reduction measures

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognized as sustainable approaches to address societal challenges. Disaster risk reduction (DRR) has benefited by moving away from purely ‘grey’ infrastructure measures towards NbS. However, this shift also furthers an increasing trend of reliance on public acceptance to plan, implement and manage DRR measures. In this review, we examine how unique NbS characteristics relate to public acceptance through a comparison with grey measures, and we identify influential acceptance factors related to individuals, society, and DRR measures. Based on the review, we introduce the PA-NbS model that highlights the role of risk perception, trust, competing societal interests, and ecosystem services. Efforts to increase acceptance should focus on providing and promoting awareness of benefits combined with effective communication and collaboration. Further research is required to understand interconnections among identified factors and how they can be leveraged for the success and further uptake of NbS.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01502-4.     

The predictive validity of safety climate

PROBLEM: Safety professionals have increasingly turned their attention to social science for insight into the causation of industrial accidents. One social construct, safety climate, has been examined by several researchers [Cooper, M. D., & Phillips, R. A. (2004). Exploratory analysis of the safety climate and safety behavior relationship. Journal of Safety Research, 35(5), 497-512; Gillen, M., Baltz, D., Gassel, M., Kirsch, L., & Vacarro, D. (2002). Perceived safety climate, job Demands, and coworker support among union and nonunion injured construction workers. Journal of Safety Research, 33(1), 33-51; Neal, A., & Griffin, M. A. (2002). Safety climate and safety behaviour. Australian Journal of Management, 27, 66-76; Zohar, D. (2000). A group-level model of safety climate: Testing the effect of group climate on microaccidents in manufacturing jobs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(4), 587-596; Zohar, D., & Luria, G. (2005). A multilevel model of safety climate: Cross-level relationships between organization and group-level climates. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(4), 616-628] who have documented its importance as a factor explaining the variation of safety-related outcomes (e.g., behavior, accidents). Researchers have developed instruments for measuring safety climate and have established some degree of psychometric reliability and validity. The problem, however, is that predictive validity has not been firmly established, which reduces the credibility of safety climate as a meaningful social construct. The research described in this article addresses this problem and provides additional support for safety climate as a viable construct and as a predictive indicator of safety-related outcomes. METHODS: This study used 292 employees at three locations of a heavy manufacturing organization to complete the 16 item Zohar Safety Climate Questionnaire (ZSCQ) [Zohar, D., & Luria, G. (2005). A multilevel model of safety climate: Cross-level relationships between organization and group-level climates. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(4), 616-628]. In addition, safety behavior and accident experience data were collected for 5 months following the survey and were statistically analyzed (structural equation modeling, confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis, etc.) to identify correlations, associations, internal consistency, and factorial structures. RESULTS: Results revealed that the ZSCQ: (a) was psychometrically reliable and valid, (b) served as an effective predictor of safety-related outcomes (behavior and accident experience), and (c) could be trimmed to an 11 item survey with little loss of explanatory power. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Practitioners and researchers can use the ZSCQ with reasonable certainty of the questionnaire's reliability and validity. This provides a solid foundation for the development of meaningful organizational interventions and/or continued research into social factors affecting industrial accident experience.     

谈建设项目竣工验收监测质量控制

质量控制是贯穿环境监测全过程的技术手段和管理程序,文章通过对建设项竣工验收监测质量控制进行阐述,其目的是为了提高我们的监测水平和能力,更好的保护好我们的生态环境。     

生活垃圾填埋场项目竣工环保验收应注意的问题

生活垃圾填埋场建设项目竣工环境保护验收制度是环境保护工作的重要制度。垃圾填埋场项目竣工环境保护验收情况是环保部门对改项目运行后进行环境管理的主要依据。根据垃圾填埋场项目竣工环境保护验收规范要求和实际工作经验,总结出竣工项目环境保护验收中需要注意的问题,并就问题的原因分析提出注意要点。     

基于生产工艺的水泥工业项目竣工环保验收监测重点分析研究

基于水泥工业的生产工艺特点,说明新型干法生产时代,水泥生产的主要产污环节及特征污染物,并分析其对生态环境的影响和危害,表明该行业属高能耗、高污染的产能过剩行业.根据建设项目竣工环境保护验收规范要求和工作实践经验,结合生产工艺、特征污染物和污染物总量控制等要求,从废水监测、废气监测、噪声监测等方面阐明水泥行业项目竣工环保验收的侧重点和注意事项,并指出污染防治设施、总量控制等几方面应重点关注的问题.     

糖蜜酒精厂环境保护验收清洁生产评价研究

糖蜜是糖厂榨糖后的副产品,含有可发酵性的糖45％∽52％,是直接用于发酵生产酒精的较好的原料.文章以广西某糖蜜酒精厂为例,在调查了解酒精厂生产工艺与装备、资源能源利用指标、污染物产生指标、废物回收利用率和环境管理要求等五个方面的基础上,认真细致分析环境保护竣工验收监测数据及生产报表数据,按照（HJ 581-2010）《清洁生产标准酒精制造业》（国家环境保护部）的要求对酒精厂清洁生产水平进行评价,并根据评价结果提出进一步提高清洁生产水平的建议和要求.     

细水雾灭火剂在商用厨房中的应用研究

商用厨房火灾的最主要原因是油锅的持续高温引发食用油自燃起火,食用油极易复燃的火灾行为大大增加了其扑救难度,通过实验表明,细水雾灭火剂极强的冷却作用能够有效扑救食用油火灾.     

建设项目竣工环境保护验收监测应注意的问题

针对建设项目竣工环境保护验收监测中存在的问题,阐述了工况控制、总量监测、环境相容性等环节的技术要求和注意事项,并就与之相关的公众参与、监测人员的素质等问题展开了讨论。     

Result-oriented approaches to the management of drinking water catchments in agricultural landscapes

Management of water quality in drinking water catchments is of ongoing, high importance as nitrate concentrations are often still very high. We analysed the Augsburg catchment in Germany, a unique example where a result-oriented approach has been implemented. We investigated the historical evolution of the water protection programme, the result-oriented payment contracts with farmers, and farmer satisfaction with the contracts, based on interviews with the water utility and farmers as well as an analysis of the literature. Today, the water protection programme has been successfully implemented, and a significant reduction of nitrate concentration was achieved due to the following factors: (1) investment of non-negligible amounts of money for high compensation and remuneration payments, (2) different contract options, (3) farmers’ participation in the negotiation process for result-oriented payment contracts, (4) involvement of “outside” people and institutions in negotiation processes, (5) anticipation of starting a programme when nitrate levels were still far below legislative thresholds, and (6) a political and legislative framework allowing direct decisions by a water supplier.