Environmental Health Impact Assessment Research Articles

Simulating desegregation through affordable housing development: An environmental health impact assessment of Connecticut zoning law

Residential segregation drives exposure and health inequities. We projected the mortality impacts among low-income residents of leveraging an existing 10% affordable housing target as a case study of desegregation policy. We simulated movement into newly allocated housing, quantified changes in six ambient environmental exposures, and used exposure-response functions to estimate deaths averted. Across 1000 simulations, in one year, we found on average 169 (95% CI: 84, 255) deaths averted from changes in greenness, 71 (49, 94) deaths averted from NO2, 9 (4, 14) deaths averted from noise, 1 (1, 2) excess death from O3, and 2 (1, 2) excess deaths from PM2.5, with rates of deaths averted highest among non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White residents. Strengthening desegregation policy may advance environmental health equity.

The Performance of Environmental and Health Impact Assessment Implementation: A Case Study in Eastern Thailand.

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) performance has remained of interest, and over the past ten years, the evaluation technique has evolved. Thailand implemented an EIA with a health impact assessment (HIA) as an environmental health impact assessment (EHIA), which necessitated investigating and developing these instruments; however, its implementation performance has been questioned. The main goal of this study is to comparatively assess how well EIAs and EHIAs are performed in projects in an area in Thailand. Six projects in various sectors that were implemented in Eastern Thailand were studied. The 162 residents (nine local authorities and 153 villagers) closest to the project completed a survey and evaluated the performance according to three aspects (i.e., substantive, procedural, and transactive), using a rating scale and evaluation checklists. The results were presented as a percentage of the total scores and interpreted according to the five scales. The overall performance reached a satisfactory level, albeit not significantly different between cases; however, it was pointed out that the shortcomings of EHIAs and EIAs, particularly their dependability, lack of public involvement, and the need for more transparency, could be addressed through the establishment of an open access database, which would help to simplify the assessment of all stages of EIAs and EHIAs.

Importance of Strategic Environmental Assessment (Sea) Process and Environmental Health Impact Assessment (Ehia) Process Towards Sustainable Climate Change And Control

Importance of Strategic Environmental Assessment (Sea) Process and Environmental Health Impact Assessment (Ehia) Process Towards Sustainable Climate Change And Control

Evaluation of pollutant exposure using virtual walkers and large-eddy simulation: Application to an idealised urban neighbourhood

Urban air quality studies have primarily focused on pollutant dispersion; however, spatial or temporal concentrations collected at discretely distributed grid points (or fixed receptors) do not reflect the actual pollutant exposure of pedestrians. Using large-eddy simulation (LES) with virtual walkers implemented, this study investigates pollutant exposure of walking agents (or moving receptors) in an urban turbulent boundary-layer flow developed over an aligned building array under the influence of different wind directions. The spatial variability of the exposure risks are found to be better captured by the moving receptors than the fixed receptors along the same agent walking tracks. We demonstrate that the actual exposure can differ significantly from results interpreted from data recorded by the fixed receptors (corresponding to Eulerian estimates) and show that large discrepancies occur in avenues near the source, wherein dispersion of the point release has not occurred on larger spatiotemporal scales. In most scenarios, optimal evacuation routes are shown to be ones that deviate as much as possible from the dominant wind direction; however, one needs to decide the priority of moving to further avenues first or immediately adjusting the walking direction. The results should serve as a useful baseline reference for environmental health impact assessment and evacuation route planning against hazardous releases of air pollutants in more complex urban environments.

Total Quality Management (Tqm) As a Prerequisite For Improving The Competitiveness In Waste Management And Waste Reprocessing Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises To Achieve Business Excellence

Total Quality Management (Tqm) As a Prerequisite For Improving The Competitiveness In Waste Management And Waste Reprocessing Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises To Achieve Business Excellence

Assessment of Environmental Impacts on Health: Examples from the Pacific Basin.

Assessing environmental impacts on health in the Pacific Basin is challenged by significantly varying data types - quantities, qualities, and paucities - because of varying geographic sizes, environments, biodiversity, ecological assets, and human population densities, with highly varied and unequal socio-economic development and capacity to respond to environmental and health challenges. We discuss three case-based methodological examples from Pacific Basin environmental health impact assessments. These methods could be used to improve environmental health evidence at all country and regional levels across a spectrum of big data availability to no data. These methods are, 1) a risk assessment of airborne particulate matter in Korea based on the chemical composition of these particulates; 2) the use of system dynamics to appraise the influences of a range of environmental health determinants on child health outcomes in remote Solomon Islands; and 3) precision environmental public health methodologies based on comprehensive data collection, analyses, and modelling (including Bayesian belief networks and spatial epidemiology) increasing precision for good environmental health decision making to prevent and control a zoonotic disease in Fiji Islands. We show that while a common theme across the three examples is the value of high quality and quantity data to support stronger policy decisions and appropriate prioritizing of investment, it is also clear that for many countries in the Pacific Basin, sufficient data will remain a challenge to inform decision makers about environmental impact on health.

Long-term exposure to ozone and cardiovascular mortality in China: a nationwide cohort study

The evidence for a causal relationship between long-term ozone exposure and cardiovascular mortality is inconclusive, and most published data are from high-income countries. We aimed to investigate the association between long-term exposure to ozone and cardiovascular mortality in China, the most populous middle-income country. We did a nationwide cohort study comprising Chinese adults aged 18 years and older from the 2010-11 China Chronic Disease and Risk Factors Surveillance project; participants were followed up until Dec 31, 2018, or the date of death. Data on participants' deaths were obtained through linkage to the Disease Surveillance Point system, a national death registration database. Residential ozone exposure was estimated with a previously developed random forest model. We applied stratified Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the associations of ozone with mortality due to overall cardiovascular diseases, ischaemic heart disease, and stroke. The models were stratified by age and sex and adjusted for a set of individual-level and regional covariates. Warm-season average ozone concentration for the previous 1-3 years was added as a time-varying variable. We also did subgroup analyses by age, sex, level of education, smoking status, urban or rural residence, and geographical region. Data were analysed for 96 955 participants. The warm-season average ozone concentration during the follow-up period was 89·7 μg/m3 (SD 14·4). In the fully adjusted models, we observed significant and positive associations between ozone and mortality from overall cardiovascular diseases (hazard ratio [HR] 1·093 [95% CI 1·046-1·142] per 10 μg/m3 increase in warm-season ozone concentrations), ischaemic heart disease (1·184 [1·099-1·276] per 10 μg/m3 increase in warm-season ozone concentrations), and stroke (1·063 [1·002- 1·128] per 10 μg/m3 increase in warm-season ozone concentrations). After adjusting for fine particulate matter, the associations with overall cardiovascular disease and ischaemic heart disease mortality were almost unchanged, whereas the association with stroke mortality lost statistical significance. The association of long-term ozone exposure with cardiovascular mortality was more prominent in people aged 65 years and older than in those younger than 65 years. We did not find any effect modification of sex, level of education, smoking status, urban or rural residence, and geographical region. We observed an almost linear exposure-response relationship between ozone and cardiovascular mortality. This study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first nationwide cohort study to show that long-term ozone exposure contributes to elevated risks of cardiovascular mortality, particularly from ischaemic heart disease, in a middle-income setting. The exposure-response function generated from this study could potentially inform future air quality standard revisions and environmental health impact assessments. National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process for business, economics, management, and eco-tourism, towards sustainable development

Industry 4.0 protocol for SEA process is helpful for the sustainable business, economics, management and business, economics, management, and eco-tourism development. The SEA treaty protocol pertains to federal and official Government procedures that help make much earlier decisions than the EIA process. Therefore, it is a key tool for sustainable development. The objective of the study is to conceptualize the SEA process for the business, economics, management, and eco-tourism scientific sector based on fifteen sustainable detailed project reports. The design of the study is cross-sectional. Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) process has been conducted for China nuclear power plant/ IGCAR Nuclear Power plant at Kalpakkam, India to consider the safety and health impacts to mitigate psychological health loadings on workers and nearby residents. The significance of the research work is mainly confirmatory SEA process for achieving sustainable business, economics, management, and eco-tourism for Industry 4.0. Keywords: Assessment; business; economics; environment; eco-tourism; sustainability.

Considering ‘non-acoustic factors’ as social and environmental determinants of health equity and environmental justice. Reflections on research and fields of action towards a vision for environmental noise policies

Despite being an overall objective of European policies, health equity and environmental justice have not yet been systematically implemented in environmental policies. Taking control over one’s environment as an element of health equity, we consider intractable exposure to transportation noise as a highly relevant policy field. The European Environmental Noise Directive is designed as a sectoral policy dealing with one environmental health determinant (noise) and drawing on the Global Burden of Disease framework, whereas health equity demands an investigation of the manifold variations in the population by combining adverse noise exposure with salutogenetic (psycho-)social and environmental resources. Such resources or the lack thereof have been referred to as ‘non-acoustic factors’ in noise- and soundscape-related research and can presumably account for vulnerability to transportation noise exposure caused by social and environmental determinants. Thus, we aim to link the current discourse on ‘non-acoustic factors’ with health equity driven by the need to go beyond average exposure–response-relations. After summarising challenges of environmental noise-related health impact assessment from a health equity perspective, we focus on residents’ control – both procedurally and environmentally – to illustrate how social and environmental determinants can cause vulnerability. We advocate to consider ‘non-acoustic factors’ as leverage to promote health equity and environmental justice through three fields of potential action: (1) developing a theoretical and methodological groundwork and multi/interdisciplinary training of students and professionals, (2) introducing comprehensible information and inclusive participation methods, and (3) creating supportive institutional frames and governance modes. The contents of this paper were derived from a workshop held at the University of Bremen in September 2020.

Exploring the potential for planning support systems to bridge the research-translation gap between public health and urban planning

BackgroundThere is consensus that planning professionals need clearer guidance on the features that are likely to produce optimal community-wide health benefits. However, much of this evidence resides in academic literature and not in tools accessible to the diverse group of professionals shaping our cities. Incorporating health-related metrics into the planning support systems (PSS) provides an opportunity to apply empirical evidence on built environment relationships with health-related outcomes to inform real-world land use and transportation planning decisions. This paper explores the role of planning support systems (PSS) to facilitate the translation and application of health evidence into urban planning and design practices to create healthy, liveable communities.MethodsA review of PSS software and a literature review of studies featuring a PSS modelling built environmental features and health impact assessment for designing and creating healthy urban areas was undertaken. Customising existing software, a health impact PSS (the Urban Health Check) was then piloted with a real-world planning application to evaluate the usefulness and benefits of a health impact PSS for demonstrating and communicating potential health impacts of design scenarios in planning practice.ResultsEleven PSS software applications were identified, of which three were identified as having the capability to undertake health impact analyses. Three studies met the inclusion criteria of presenting a planning support system customised to support health impact assessment with health impacts modelled or estimated due to changes to the built environment. Evaluation results indicated the Urban Health Check PSS helped in four key areas: visualisation of how the neighbourhood would change in response to a proposed plan; understanding how a plan could benefit the community; Communicate and improve understanding health of planning and design decisions that positively impact health outcomes.ConclusionsThe use of health-impact PSS have the potential to be transformative for the translation and application of health evidence into planning policy and practice, providing those responsible for the policy and practice of designing and creating our communities with access to quantifiable, evidence-based information about how their decisions might impact community health.

Associations of perceived indoor environmental quality with stress in the workplace.

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is a general indicator of the quality of conditions inside a building. We investigated associations of perceived IEQ including air quality, thermal comfort, noise, and light quality with stress at work and the extent to which workplace location modifies these associations. We recruited 464 full-time workers from four companies in Singapore. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle/health-related factors, and workplace factors were collected through self-administered questionnaires. Perceived IEQ satisfaction scores of all four factors were collected using the validated OFFICAIR questionnaire. We fitted a logistic regression model to assess associations between each perceived IEQ score and stress at work, adjusting for potential confounders. The odds ratio for stress at work associated with a 1-unit increase in perceived air quality score was 0.88 (0.82-0.94), 0.89 (0.82-0.97) for thermal comfort, 0.93 (0.87-0.98) for noise, and 0.88 (0.82-0.94) for light quality. Significant associations were found in office and control rooms for all four perceived IEQ, except for thermal comfort in office rooms. Higher satisfaction levels of perceived air quality, thermal comfort, noise, and lighting, were significantly associated with a reduction in stress at work. Our findings could potentially provide a useful tool for environmental health impact assessment for buildings.

Environmental health impact assessment of chrome composite leather-clad rollers used by Indian cotton roller ginning industries and design and development of Eco-friendly alternatives

This research article realises the hazards of chromium contamination and pollution caused by using chrome composite leather-clad (CCLC) rollers that are commonly used in the cotton roller ginning industries and attempts to eliminate the chromium contamination and pollution during the cotton ginning process. The chromium traces found contain hexavalent chromium being adsorbed from chromium-contaminated lint, yarn, fabrics, seeds, by-products and textile effluent. Chromium acts in three ways on humans, viz. (i) local action explained as dermatitis or absorption through skin, (ii) direct inhalation and (iii) ingestion or absorption into the stomach. Toxic effects are produced by prolonged contact with airborne or solid or liquid chromium compounds even in small quantities because of their properties, viz. carcinogenicity, mutagenicity and corrosiveness. Traces of Cr (VI) are found even in analar grade trivalent compounds, and complications do arise due to reduction in the nature of these traces that affect the organic tissues of the body. These regenerating effects occur rapidly and are dependent on the dose. This research article realises the hazards of chromium contamination and pollution caused by the use of dust-producing grinding of CCLC rollers that are commonly used in the cotton roller ginning industries and attempts to nullify this problem during cotton ginning. This research has been carried out with the following objectives: to identify and study the environmental health effects existing with the present CCLC rollers being used in the Indian cotton roller ginning industries; to conduct an environmental health impact assessment in Indian cotton roller ginning factories during the research years of 1998–2018; to design and develop an eco-friendly chrome-free roller and evaluate its performance with reference to environmental health effects and techno-commercial aspects in the ginning industries. With the author’s research background and practical experience in cotton ginning and textile industries, this study is attempted to eliminate the environmental health impacts to a great extent at the source itself, through a suitable design and development of an eco-friendly, pollution-free, chromeless roller for cotton roller gins. An eco-friendly roller ginning process has been designed and developed for replacing the conventional CCLC roller ginning process, to eliminate the chromium contamination and pollution from cotton roller ginning industries and to meet the requirements of World Health Organisation standards, while maintaining high-quality spun yarns and woven fabrics which meet the international standards.
 
 Keywords: Assessment, chromium, ginning, health, impact.

Health Impact Assessment and its Association with the Environment: an integrative review

Abstract To identify and analyze the contents of scientific literature on Health Impact Assessment in relation to the environment. An integrative literature review carried out by searching for studies in the Periodicals Portal of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel. A total of 38 studies were included; the period with the greatest number of publications was between 2012 and 2014, with studies developed mainly in Europe and North America. The categories that emerged were Health Impact Assessment practice; Health Impact Assessment and Urban Planning; Environmental Impact Assessment and Health Impact Assessment; and Environment and Health. There is a movement for the integration of Health Impact Assessment into Environmental Impact Assessment and the consequent institutionalization of that integration since Environmental Impact Assessment already has a consolidated legal base.

Using human epidemiological analyses to support the assessment of the impacts of coal mining on health.

The potential impacts of coal mining on health have been addressed by the application of impact assessment methodologies that use the results of qualitative and quantitative analyses to support their conclusions and recommendations. Although human epidemiological analyses can provide the most relevant measures of risk of health outcomes in populations exposed to coal mining by-products, this kind of studies are seldom implemented as part of the impact assessment methods. To review the use of human epidemiological analyses in the methods used to assess the impacts of coal mining, a systematic search in the peer review literature was implemented following the PRISMA protocol. A synthesis analysis identified the methods and the measures used in the selected publications to develop a thematic review and discussion. The major methodological approaches to assess the impacts of coal mining are environmental impact assessment (EIA), health impact assessment (HIA), social impact assessment (SIA) and environmental health impact assessment (EHIA). The measures used to assess the impacts of coal mining on health were classified as the estimates from non-human-based studies such as health risk assessment (HRA) and the measures of risk from human epidemiological analyses. The inclusion of human epidemiological estimates of the populations exposed, especially the general populations in the vicinity of the mining activities, is seldom found in impact assessment applications for coal mining. These methods rather incorporate HRA measures or other sources of evidence such as qualitative analyses and surveys. The implementation of impact assessment methods without estimates of the risk of health outcomes relevant to the potentially exposed populations affects their reliability to address the environmental and health impacts of coal mining. This is particularly important for EIA applications because these are incorporated in regulatory frameworks globally. The effective characterization of the impacts of coal mining on health requires quantitative estimates of the risk, including the risk measures from epidemiological analyses of relevant human health data.

Prevalence of sick building syndrome and its association with perceived indoor environmental quality in an Asian multi-ethnic working population

BackgroundSick building syndrome (SBS) is a condition affecting occupants of a building from which they may experience a series of non-specific symptoms from being in that building. We aimed to (1) estimate the prevalence of SBS (2), assess the association between perceived indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in aboveground and underground workspaces, and to what extent workspace location modifies these associations. MethodsA total of 329 workers in aboveground and underground workspaces were followed-up in three assessments for 12 months in Singapore. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle/health-related factors, and workplace factors were collected through self-administered questionnaires. Perceived IEQ satisfaction score of air, temperature, noise, and light were collected using the OFFICAIR questionnaire. We used generalised estimating equation models to assess the association between perceived IEQ and SBS, adjusting for potential confounders. SBS was defined as having two or more symptoms at least twice per week. ResultsThe prevalence of SBS declined significantly from 17.9% to 8.5% over the assessments. The odds ratio for SBS associated with 1-unit increase in perceived air quality score was 0.93 (95% CI: 0.89–0.97) in both workspaces combined and 0.91 (0.86–0.97) in aboveground workspaces. The odd ratio associated with 1-unit increase in perceived temperature comfort score was 0.94 (0.89–1.00) in both workspaces combined and 0.87 (0.78–0.96) in underground workspaces. No modification effect of workspace location was observed. ConclusionPerceived indoor environmental quality can provide a useful tool for environmental health impact assessments. Our findings have potential implications for the development of healthy building policies.

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Process towards the Sustainable Design and Construction of Computer, Communication, Network Engineering, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Systems

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Process towards the Sustainable Design and Construction of Computer, Communication, Network Engineering, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Systems

Environmental and human health impact assessment of major interior wall decorative materials

Despite the growing interest in green products in the interior wall decorative material market, knowledge gaps exist because determining which product is more environmental and user friendly than the others is difficult. This work assesses the environmental and human health profiles of interior latex and wallpaper. Two interior latex products of different raw material ratios and one non-woven wallpaper product are considered. The environmental impact assessment follows life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology and applies Building Environmental Performance Analysis System (BEPAS). The human health impact is based on impact-pathway chain and is performed using Building Health Impact Analysis System (BHIAS). The assessment scope, associated emissions, and territorial scope of various emissions are defined to facilitate comparison study of interior wall decorative products. The impacts are classified into 15 categories belonging to three safeguard areas: ecological environment, natural resources, and human health. The impacts of categories are calculated and monetized using willingness to pay (WTP) and disability-adjusted life year (DALY) and summarized as an integrated external cost of environmental and human health impacts. Assessment results reveal that the integrated impact of interior latex is lower than that of non-woven wallpaper, and the interior latex of low quality causes low life cycle integrated impact. The most impacted categories are global warming, respiratory effects, and water consumption. Hotspots of product manufacturing are recognized to promote green product design.

The Integrated Environmental Health Impact of emissions from a steel plant in Taranto and from a power plant in Brindisi, (Apulia Region, Southern Italy)

to estimate the environmental and health impact attributable to PM2.5 emissions from the ex-ILVA steel plant in Taranto and the ENEL power plant in Brindisi (Apulia Region, Southern Italy). a SPRAY Lagrangian dispersion model was used to estimate PM2.5 concentrations and population weighted exposures following the requirements of the Integrated Environmental Authorization (IEA) of the two plants under study. Available concentration-response functions (OMS/HRAPIE and updates) were used to estimate the number of attributable premature deaths. residents in the 40 municipalities of the domains of the VDS (assessment of health damage, according to the Regional Law n. 21/2012) of Brindisi (source: Italian National Institute of Statistics 2011 Census) and residents in Taranto, Statte, and Massafra (source: cohort study). mortality from natural causes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and lung cancer attributable to PM2.5. Incremental lifetime cumulative risks (ILCRs) for lung cancer associated to PM2.5 exposure. there was a reduction of the estimated impacts from the pre to the post IEA-scenarios in both Taranto and Brindisi. In Taranto, ILCRs greater than 1x10-4; were estimated in 2010 and 2012; the ILCR was greater than 1x10-4; in the district of Tamburi (near the plant) also for the 2015 scenario. ILCRs estimated for Brindisi were between 1x10-6; and 4x10-5;. the Integrated Environmental Health Impact Assessment confirmed the results of the VDS conducted according to the toxicological risk assessment approach. An unacceptable risk was estimated for Tamburi also for the 2015 scenario, characterized by a production of 4.7 million tons of steel, about half compared to one foreseen by the IEA (8 mt.).

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Process for Sustainable Industrial Automation, Electrical, Mechanical and Robotics Systems—Sustainabilty Excellence Achievements

This research has been focussed in to the design and development of sustainable ozone layer to restore back global warming potential into original conditions deliberating production and use of ozone friendly substances in process. The Sustainable ozone layer is a kind of new Ozone layer development that meets the needs of the present generation’s ultraviolet radiation protection requirements without compromising the ability and efficacy of the future generations to meet their own ultraviolet radiation protection requirements. Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process for industrial automation, electrical, mechanical and robotics systems has been discussed. Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process can be broadly defined as a study of the impacts of a proposed project, plan, project, policy or legislative action on the environment and sustainability. SEA process has been aimed to incorporate environmental and sustainability factors in to project planning and decision-making process such as project formulation and appraisal of Matsushita Carbon Company (MCC) plant in 1979 at Tada and cotton roller ginning plant as well as certain other projects that included policies, programs, plans and legislative actions. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process can be defined as the systematic identification and evaluation of the potential environmental impacts (effects) of proposed projects, plans, programs, policies or legislative actions with respect to the physical, chemical, physico-chemical, biological, biochemical, cultural, archaeological and socioeconomic environmental components relative to the total environment. The primary purpose of the EIA process is to encourage the consideration of the environment in Organizational’s planning and decision-making process (OPDM) and to arrive at actions that are environmentally compatible. OPDM process should include the integrated consideration of technical or engineering, economic, environmental, safety, and health, social and sustainability factors to achieve business excellence. Prior to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process in 1970 in the USA, technical and economic factors dominance the World’s projects. The objective of the study design conceptualization of SEA process based on fifteen number of sustainable detailed project reports (DPRs) submitted by the extension learners of Diploma in Entrepreneurship and Business Management (DEBM) course conducted by the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (The EDI of India) during the research year (RY) 1999 to 2018 under the author’s counsellorship. The design of the study is cross sectional. Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) process has been conducted for projects to consider the safety and health impacts to mitigate psychological health loadings on workers and nearby residents. Social Impact Assessment (SIA) process can be defined as the systematic identification and evaluation of the potential social impacts (effects) of proposed projects, plans, programs, or legislative action such that social consideration is encouraged in OPDM process and to arrive at actions that are socially compatible. SEA process concerns to environment and sustainability effects in OPDM process and arrive at proposed projects, plans, programs, and legislative actions that are compatible with respect to environment and sustainability issues. International EIA process required multi-disciplinary approach that has been conducted very early stage of Japanese Matsushita carbon rod project in 1982 for

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Process for Green Materials and Environmental Engineering Systems towards Sustainable Development-Business Excellence Achievements

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Process for Green Materials and Environmental Engineering Systems towards Sustainable Development-Business Excellence Achievements