Suchergebnisse

In landslide areas, after assessing the risk level, the obligatory questions from government authorities, communities, civil protection managers, and researchers are: What can we do? What should we do? What must we do? There are different strategies to reduce the vulnerability and risk: (a) increasing the knowledge of the population, (b) establishing an early warning system, and (c) selecting and constructing structures. The aim of this chapter is to present the methodology to select stabilizing construction works to avoid a landslide, through the "valuation factors," which are parameters to assess the intrinsic and trigger instability factors (morphology, geology, hydrogeology, vegetation, rainfall, earthquake, erosion, human activity, etc.). The valuation factors are presented in graphs, equations, and tables; based upon them, the different construction works are selected, including (a) geometric adjusting for reducing destabilizing forces; (b) reinforcement elements, anchors, and pile barriers to increase the resistive forces; (c) drainage for eliminating surface runoff water or lowering the hydrostatic pressure; (d) retaining walls to support the horizontal pressure; and (e) surface protection to prevent rock falls and reduce erosion and infiltration. The methodology has been used successfully in several mountainous regions: Puebla, Hidalgo, Chiapas, Baja California in México, and Ocaña in Colombia.

Risks involved in new technologies or arising from novel configurations of old technologies recurrently result in major accidents. For example, the new bioleaching technology to extract nickel from ore was taken into use in Finland in 2008. Later, one of the personnel died as a victim of hydrogen sulfide exposure and there were unplanned releases of process waters that contaminated lakes and rivers. Several risk analyses were performed but none of them considered the local climate and surrounding environmental circumstances. A comprehensive risk assessment process combining the knowledge of different stakeholders, authorities, and citizens would have helped to avoid the sad outcome. A single enterprise has a very clear picture of the risk figure on its own, but is reluctant to reveal commercially sensitive information to others, and even incapable of understanding all the expectations and constraints that the natural and built environments may impose. Only governmental authorities are in a position to form a comprehensive picture of all the risks. This paper presents a new approach for a proactive risk identification method based on collaborative integrated assessment. It states that by implementing this method society is able to utilize the science-based information in an efficient way for managing the emerging technogenic risks.

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) encompass a large class of chemical contaminants that can originate from human usage and excretions and veterinary applications. These pollutants have captured the attention of scientists, governments, and the public as several studies across the globe reveal their widespread occurrence in low-level concentrations in wastewater and the aquatic environment. Most of the research on PPCPs has been generated from efforts in highly developed countries, primarily North America and Europe, although investigations and reports are emerging from Southeast Asia and China. With the increased concern of potential threats triggered by the occurrence of these chemicals in the environment, environmental risk assessment (ERA) strategies for such compounds have considerably evolved over the past decade. Regulations are in effect or planned in several western nations, however, there is no global standard for conducting ERAs. As the scope of the problem evolves, substantial research will be imperative to address these contaminants and their occurrence in the environment. This chapter will discuss the evolution of the risk associated with the occurrence of PPCPs in the environment, the challenges faced by their existence here, and the colloquy about solutions to address this escalating issue.

This scientific approach has been initiated in the context of the rapid and unpredictable developments of climatic factors that generate a major challenge for military critical infrastructure protection systems. The proposed methodology integrates on a specially designed decision-making platform the two approaches specific to risk management: adaptive-preventive (risk assessments at the local area based on the connection between climate change vectors–the asset of infrastructure–the potential impact on medium and long term) and adaptive-reactive (real-time event monitoring using emerging technologies: integration of sensors on a robotic aerial platform). The architecture of the research model was designed to meet both user requirements (modular, flexible, scalable) and the needs to overlap the stages of the risk management process. Model testing on simulated scenarios under laboratory conditions demonstrated the functionality and highlighted the expected performance.

Free circulation of goods is the major pillar of the single united market of European Union's (EU) member states and main motivated power of competitiveness and economical acceleration in EU. By using the legislative were defined base requirements on goods and also high level of authorized interest protection of goods users. The main changes in H&S (Health and Safety) management and also in Machinery safety started after implementation the Framework Directive 89/391/EEC and Directive 89/392/EEC in 1989 year. Directive 89/391/EEC implements systematical tools in H&S management as: H&S politics, Risk Management, education requirements, review activities, employee's involvement in H&S procedures. Directive 89/392/EEC, on the present time 2006/42/EC directive, implements for machinery producer or its contractor duties to access risk for each stage of machinery life cycle and implement adequate measures. These legislative requirements had changed all procedures and rules, which were used in H&S area.

This book chapter brings to attention the dramatic impact of large earthquake disasters on local communities and society and highlights the necessity of building and enhancing the earthquake culture. Iran was considered as a research case study and fifteen large earthquake disasters in Iran were investigated and analyzed over more than a century-time period. It was found that the earthquake culture in Iran was and is still conditioned by many factors or parameters which are not integrated and do not work harmoniously towards building and sustaining an earthquake culture in Iran. A historical possibility of an earthquake culture in Iran was mainly severed by culture, especially beliefs, strong geopolitics in Iran and in Middle East, a complex and dynamic political landscape in Iran, foreign invasions and wars. However, there is a great potential in Iran for the earthquake culture to be built and developed. The earthquake culture is recommended to be integrated within earthquake disaster risk assessment and earthquake disasters risk management studies which are performed and carried out in Iran and other countries at seismic risk. The contribution of this book chapter is towards the earthquake disasters studies and policies for the countries at earthquake risk.