Hazard Ranking Research Articles

Decision-making for the hazard ranking of water distribution networks using the TOPSIS method

Abstract Owing to the consecutive occurrence of water quality incidents, such as the black and red water situation in Incheon, Mullae (Seoul), and Pohang, as well as the tap water larval events in Incheon and Jeju in 2020, South Korea's Ministry of Environment announced the new addition of Article 12-2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Water Supply and Waterworks Installation Act 2021. Additionally, the importance of intensive management for vulnerable areas where water quality incidents and complaints may occur repeatedly was specified. Therefore, this study suggests the hazard ranking of district-metered areas in the study area using the deterioration of the water distribution network, complaints (water quality, leakage), and modeling results (water pressure, residual chlorine concentration) to support the establishment of a reasonable water distribution network maintenance plan. The effective and sustainable maintenance of the water distribution network is possible if the hazard ranking is regularly determined using the suggested methodology proposed herein and the water distribution network intensive management area is managed.

Hazardous and contaminated sites within salt marsh migration corridors in Rhode Island, USA

As salt marshes attempt to migrate upland due to sea level rise, they will encounter many kinds of land development and infrastructure in highly populated, urbanized coastal communities. Hazardous and contaminated sites (HCSs) -- facilities and infrastructure that store, use, or release harmful substances -- are particularly concerning obstacles to salt marsh migration because of their potential to release contaminants if their structural integrity is compromised. Inventorying HCSs within migration pathways can inform coastal resilience planning. To understand what kinds of HCSs migrating marsh may encounter in Rhode Island, USA, we inventoried sites from federal and state sources, assigned contaminant hazard rankings to most sites, and overlayed them with projected marsh migration corridors. We found that HCSs are extensive across marsh migration corridors in the state, especially in urban areas. Among the most common HCSs in and around Rhode Island salt marshes are stormwater outfalls, underground storage tanks, and facilities registered with EPA's Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) or EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). These sites pose varying hazards to human and aquatic life if breached, with some sites representing little or no threat but most posing some degree of hazard to their surroundings. This coastal HCSs inventory can inform prioritization and management of coastal salt marshes subject to accelerated sea level rise. Management decisions such as allowing marsh migration, implementing adaptation actions to build salt marsh elevation, or erecting physical barriers at marsh sites will influence future salt marsh extent, marshes' ability to provide ecosystem services, and public health exposures to toxic releases. In addition, as Rhode Island and other coastal states work to promote coastal resiliency, this type of inventory can inform decisions about which HCSs to prioritize for remediation and other climate adaptation actions. Marsh migration is just one potential consequence of sea level rise, so many of the considerations outlined here are widely applicable to the broader goal of preparing coastal communities for rising seas.

Risk ranking of chemical hazards in foods: comparison of aggregating methods using infant formula as an example

The aim of this study was to rank several chemical hazards present in one food item, namely infant formula. We first identified the substances potentially present in infant foods according to the results of the French infant Total Diet Study and to the available scientific literature. Second, we built three criteria to rank the hazards: severity, contribution to the total exposure, and risk characterisation. Each criterion was scored using quantitative or semi-quantitative scales. Third, in order to rank the chemical hazards, two approaches of aggregation of the three criteria were deployed. On the one hand, a multi-criteria decision analysis outranking method and on the other hand a semi-quantitative risk-matrix type method. We then tested these approaches on follow-on formulae for the 7–12 months population, for which contamination data from the French infant Total Diet study were available. The results of both methods showed that the six prioritised substances are the same even if not in the exact same order (acrylamide, inorganic arsenic, furan, chromium VI, lead and PCDD/Fs) demonstrating the robustness of these approaches.

Predicting burn severity for integration with post-fire debris-flow hazard assessment: a case study from the Upper Colorado River Basin, USA

Background Burn severity significantly increases the likelihood and volume of post-wildfire debris flows. Pre-fire severity predictions can expedite mitigation efforts because precipitation contributing to these hazards often occurs shortly after wildfires, leaving little time for post-fire planning and management. Aim The aim of this study was to predict burn severity using pre-fire conditions of individual wildfire events and estimate potential post-fire debris flow to unburned areas. Methods We used random forests to model dNBR from pre-fire weather, fuels, topography, and remotely sensed data. We validated our model predictions against post-fire observations and potential post-fire debris-flow hazard estimates. Key results Fuels, pre-fire weather, and topography were important predictors of burn severity, although predictor importance varied between fires. Post-fire debris-flow hazard rankings from predicted burn severity (pre-fire) were similar to hazard assessments based on observed burn severity (post-fire). Conclusion Predicted burn severity can serve as an input to post-fire debris-flow models before wildfires occur, antecedent to standard post-fire burn severity products. Assessing a larger set of fires under disparate conditions and landscapes will be needed to refine predictive models. Implications Burn severity models based on pre-fire conditions enable the prediction of fire effects and identification of potential hazards to prioritise response and mitigation.

Evaluating earthquake-induced widespread slope failure hazards using an AHP-GIS combination

Landslides and slope failures are often caused by earthquakes. This study proposes a method to map earthquake-induced slope failure hazards that uses the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and a geographic information system (GIS) for four districts where many slope failures were induced by earthquakes (the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi, 2016 Kumamoto, 2008 Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku, and 2004 Mid Niigata Prefecture earthquakes). The assessment system, which was based on the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience landslide distribution maps, was analyzed using the methods of previously published. We considered the relationships between the earthquake-induced slope failure distributions and landslide hazard factors (elevation, slope angle, slope type, catchment degree, geology, and vegetation). These relationships were utilized for pairwise comparisons of the factors in the AHP analysis. The slope angle, slope type, and catchment degree exerted the highest effects on the slope failure distribution in the four districts. The four earthquake-induced slope failure distributions were highly consistent with the slope failure hazard rank. These results provide a practical method for evaluating earthquake-induced slope-failure hazards.

Aviation safety ranking values and bird species at Trabzon International Airport, Türkiye

The study investigated bird species at Trabzon International Airport (TIA) in Türkiye and their Aviation Safety Ranking Values (ASRV). During the study period between February 2021 and February 2022, 75 observations were carried out using direct and indirect observation methods (camera traps, bird nests, eggs, feathers and; pellets) to identify species. As a result, 109 bird species were identified belonging to 39 families. Migration status of the observed birds ranged from overwintering (27), to summer visitors (26), residents (17), wintering and passage migrants (14), passage migrants (9), residents and wintering (8), residents and summer visitors (5), and residents and passage migrants (3). The bird hazard ranking system is based on bird size, average weights, flocking characteristics, and flight behaviour. According to the criteria of the ASRV, a total of 36 bird species at TIA with hazard levels of intermediate (3), high (4), and very high (5) were determined. Among the species identified, 25 weighed between 700 and 2200 grams. Wildlife professionals should be assigned to all airports to successfully control bird strikes and increase flight safety, and bird observations should be performed regularly.

Occupational health and safety risk assessment using a fuzzy multi-criteria approach in a hospital in Chennai, India

Objectives. Hospitals provide direct and indirect employment benefits to medical professionals. Accidents in hospitals often lead to disastrous consequences such as fatalities, property damage and economic losses. It is, therefore, imperative to have an occupational health and safety (OHS) policy that aims to reduce work-related accidents to acceptable levels. This study aims to investigate health risks to staff from various hazards and suggest control measures to prevent recurrence of accidents. Methods. A two-stage fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach incorporating the fuzzy analytical hierarchical process (FAHP) and fuzzy technique for order preference for similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) was applied to assess the hazards in a leading multi-speciality hospital in Chennai. Results. The top three hazards identified in the workplace were electrical hazards, faulty medical equipment, and ventilation and air conditioning hazards. Subsequently, control measures were suggested to reduce the recurrence of hazards. Finally, a survey of hospital accidents occurring in India between 2010 and 2020 was conducted and compared with the results of this study. Conclusions. The survey findings show similarity to the hazard rankings obtained in this work, thus validating the methodology used for the assessment of hazards in hospitals. Electrical hazards and faulty medical equipment should be monitored.

Comparing different surface modifications of zinc oxide nanoparticles in the developmental toxicity of zebrafish embryos and larvae

Nanotechnology allows for a greater quality of life, but may also cause environmental and organismic harm. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) are one of the most commonly used metal oxide nanoparticles for commercial and industrial products. Due to its extensive use in various fields, there has already been much concern raised about the environmental health risks of ZnONPs. Many studies have investigated the toxicological profile of ZnONPs in zebrafish embryonic development; however, the specific characteristics of ZnONPs in zebrafish embryonic/larval developmental damage and their molecular toxic mechanisms of liver development are yet to be fully elucidated. This study aimed to reveal the hazard ranking of different surface modifications of ZnONPs on developing zebrafish and the toxicological mechanisms of these modified ZnONPs in liver tissue. The ~30 nm ZnONPs with amino- (NH2- ZnONPs) or carboxyl- (COOH-ZnONPs) modification were incorporated during the embryonic/larval stage of zebrafish. Severe toxicity was observed in both ZnONP groups, especially NH2-ZnONPs, which presented a higher toxicity in the low concentration groups. After prolonging the exposure time, the long-term toxicity assay showed a greater retardation in body length of zebrafish in the NH2-ZnONP group. Response data from multiple toxicity studies was integrated for the calculation of the EC50 values of bulk ZnO and ZnONPs, and the hazard levels were found to be decreasing in the order of NH2-, COOH-ZnONPs and bulk ZnO. Notably, NH2-ZnONPs induced ROS burden in the developing liver tissue, which activated autophagy-related gene and protein expression and finally induced liver cell apoptosis to reduce liver size. In conclusion, our findings are conducive to understanding the hazard risks of different surface modifications of ZnONPs in aquatic environments and will also be helpful for choosing the type of ZnONPs in future industrial applications.

New model for occupational health and safety risk assessment based on Fermatean fuzzy linguistic sets and CoCoSo approach

Nowadays, occupational health and safety management has gained more and more importance by organizations around the world because it positively impacts on the productivity, competitiveness and reputation. The occupational health and safety risk assessment (OHSRA) is a critical activity to identify and evaluate the most serious work-related hazards for corrective actions. In this study, a new OHSRA model using Fermatean fuzzy linguistic sets (FFLSs) and combined compromise solution (CoCoSo) approach is proposed for the risk evaluation and prioritization of occupational hazards. Specifically, the scientific contributions of this study are as follows: The FFLSs are used to cope with the complex and vague risk evaluations obtained from experts; the CoCoSo approach is utilized to determine the risk priority of the identified occupational hazards; an extended block-wise rating the attribute weighting method is introduced for specifying risk criteria weights. Finally, the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed OHSRA model are demonstrated by an occupational risk assessment example along with simulation experiments and a comprehensive comparative analysis. The major advantages of the proposed model are higher flexibility in handling experts’ intricate and fuzzy assessment information and effective in providing a reliable risk ranking of occupational hazards with high discriminability.

Hazard ranking of wastewater sources in a highly polluted river in northern Taiwan by using positive matrix factorization with metal elements

Improving water quality is a critical issue worldwide. However, the general parameters (i.e., temperature, pH, turbidity, total solids, fecal coliform, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, phosphates, and nitrates) used in water quality index estimations are unable to identify pollution from industrial wastewater. This study investigated pollution sources at a river pollution hotspot by using the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model. A two-phase sampling collection along a highly polluted river in northern Taiwan was designed. The sampling spots were distributed along the river in Phase I to monitor the spatial variation of river pollutants. A pollution hotspot was determined based on two indices, namely the summed concentrations of metal elements and a metal index (MI). In Phase II, the river water samples were collected from the hotspot twice daily over 30 consecutive days to monitor the temporal variation of river pollutants. Source profiles of metal elements were obtained during the monitoring period. The Phase II samples were then factorized using the PMF model. Factor profiles retrieved from the PMF model were further assigned to industrial categories through Pearson correlation coefficients and hierarchical classification. The results indicated that the main pollution source was bare printed circuit boards (BPCB), which contributed up to 92% of the copper in the pollution hotspot. In terms of MI apportionment of 11 metals related to health effects, BPCB contributed 91% of the MI in high pollution events. Overall, the MI apportionment provides linkages between pollution level and human health. This is an evidence for policymakers that the regulation of the effluents of BPCB is an effective means to controlling copper concentrations and thus improving water quality in the study area.

ESG Poster ESG2: Quantifying the reduction of rehabilitation needs and safety risks in the use of innovative well and flowline decommissioning tools

Poster ESG2 This paper identifies, measures and demonstrates both the reduction in safety risk and in Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) factors, associated with the traditional cut and cap methods for gas/oil wells and flowlines compared to new innovative internal cutting methods. In 2017 Summit Canada recognised the need to improve the safety of personnel in the oil and gas fields of Canada, during decommisioning of both wellheads and flowlines. The traditionally established method was to excavate a bellhole around the infrastructure and to subsequently cut the wellhead or flowline at 1.5 m below ground level using an oxy-torch. This usually involved an individual standing on a step ladder under a suspended load in an excavation which was often a confined space, not adequately benched or sloped. Comparative data from 5 years of North American and 2 years of Australian experience in decommissioning old wells using internal cuts as opposed to the excavation method are used in the study. The safety risk associated with each method can generally be quantified and given a Hazard Ranking established from crew sizes, kilometres driven and work methods undertaken. Similarly, the ESG factors associated with each method can be quantified in terms of area of disturbance, as well as landholder inconvenience and emissions resulting from number of trucks and personnel movements. A significant reduction in safety risk was the key finding, with the silver lining of also reducing the ESG impacts of gas well and flowline decommissioning activities. To access the poster click the link on the right. To read the full paper click here

A hybrid multi-criteria decision-making approach for analysing operational hazards in Heavy Fuel Oil-based power plants

Hazard identification and prioritisation practices are very important for power plants to continue their operations without disruption. Systematic operational hazard analysis is not a very common practice at the Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) based power plants in Bangladesh. Hence, a structured hazard evaluation framework can greatly benefit them to ensure their operational safety. This study has been conducted to identify and prioritise the operational hazards of the HFO-based power plants through using a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach in a fuzzy environment, and then, to explore the appropriate mitigation methods for the top-ranked hazards and to find the interrelationships that exist among the mitigation methods. First, the most common hazards in HFO-based power plants have been identified from the expert feedbacks. Then, a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) method has been used to determine the weights of the evaluation criteria and a fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) method, has been used for the final ranking of the potential hazards. Afterwards, mitigation methods for the top 25 hazards have been identified and interrelationship among those mitigation methods has been explored through using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and a matriced impacts croisés multiplication appliquée à un classement (MICMAC) analysis. The study finds that ‘explosion of high-pressure steam drum of the gas boiler’, ‘crankcase explosion and fire hazard due to oil pressure rise’ and ‘explosion of the compressed air reservoir’ are the top three hazards in the hazard ranking. ‘Standard operating procedure (SOP) and training’ have been found to be the most driving mitigation methods for the top-ranked hazards based on the ISM-MICMAC analysis. The findings of this study are expected to provide the managers of power plants with valuable insights, which can help them to prepare sustainable operational strategies to ensure the least hazardous work environment.

Quantifying the reduction of rehabilitation needs and safety risks in the use of innovative well and flowline decommissioning tools

This paper identifies, measures and demonstrates both the reduction in safety risk and in Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) factors, associated with the traditional cut and cap methods for gas/oil wells and flowlines compared to new innovative internal cutting methods. In 2017 Summit Canada recognised the need to improve the safety of personnel in the oil and gas fields of Canada, during decommisioning of both wellheads and flowlines. The traditionally established method was to excavate a bellhole around the infrastructure and to subsequently cut the wellhead or flowline at 1.5 m below ground level using an oxy-torch. This usually involved an individual standing on a step ladder under a suspended load in an excavation which was often a confined space, not adequately benched or sloped. Comparative data from 5 years of North American and 2 years of Australian experience in decommissioning old wells using internal cuts as opposed to the excavation method are used in the study. The safety risk associated with each method can generally be quantified and given a Hazard Ranking established from crew sizes, kilometres driven and work methods undertaken. Similarly, the ESG factors associated with each method can be quantified in terms of area of disturbance, as well as landholder inconvenience and emissions resulting from number of trucks and personnel movements. A significant reduction in safety risk was the key finding, with the silver lining of also reducing the ESG impacts of gas well and flowline decommissioning activities.

Selection of at-grade highway-rail crossings for grade separation

ABSTRACT Highway-rail at-grade crossings (HRGCs) are critical spatial locations of utmost importance for transportation safety. Using the national HRGC inventory database and 5 years of accident data in Oklahoma, a data-driven hierarchical evaluation process was developed for identifying and prioritizing potential HRGCs as candidates for grade separations, which includes four sequential levels of analyses: the practice guidelines, hazard index-based ranking, safety analysis, and full investment analysis. Various types of benefits, in terms of traffic safety, travel time, vehicle operating cost, and environment, were considered. The top-ranked HRGCs were identified and their ranking results were compared among the different methods. The prioritization results were mostly consistent while with several exceptions. This study relied on existing analysis tools and developed a comprehensive while practical sequential prioritization process, which can be directly implemented at state highway agencies for statewide selection of grade separation projects.

Development of Measures to Amend the Labour Protection Regulations of the Chemical and Petrochemical Industry of Kazakhstan

The chemicals and petrochemicals industry is currently one of the world's leading international economies. But at the same time it also remains an industry where harmful, difficult and hazardous working conditions for workers are present. All occupational safety and health protection measures must be aimed at achieving the main objective of reducing the level of occupational diseases on the basis of, first and foremost, preventive work on risk factors. Professional activity at chemical and petrochemical enterprises reveals the necessity to develop a clear algorithm of occupational risk analysis, which has a common basis with assessment of other technical risks. The chemical and petrochemical industry is an industry with a large number of risks: risk of fire, risk of explosion, risk of leakage of harmful chemicals, risk of evaporation of harmful chemicals. All these risks entail risks of getting sick: respiratory tract cancer, etc. and the resulting disability or disablement.
 This article examines some methods of occupational risk assessment in the chemical and petrochemical industry. Analysis of methodologies such as the ranking of occupational hazards, the Kwij Al-Dalemi occupational risk assessment, as well as the French experience of the Laboratory Laboratory Network-Prevention Network-National Surveillance for Occupational Diseases (Research National de Vigilance et de Prevention des Pathologies Professionneles, RNV3P) and the US experience of LHAT-Laboratory for Hazardous Substances Assessment in Iowa State in the USA. The article details the methodology for ranking occupational hazards in chemical plants and shows the ranking of occupational hazards by priority and their short- and long-term exposure.

An expert‐elicited approach to inform proactive risk assessments for chronic wasting disease in white‐tailed deer

AbstractOne of the most rational and successful ways to mitigate the effects of wildlife disease is to perform proactive management efforts that can either prevent disease prior to first exposure or detect and eradicate disease prior to its establishment. However, estimating the risk of wildlife disease in new locations is often challenged by a lack of tractable linkages between known or presumed disease hazards and comprehensive risk of introduction and spread. In this study, we present a low‐cost approach that estimated comprehensive risk of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Michigan, United States, based on the localized knowledge of experts and the use of existing datasets. We controlled for sources of expert bias, avoided group conflict that may challenge qualitative risk assessments, and generated estimates of risk that aligned with known positives and can be used in targeted surveillance and mitigation efforts. We found that 97% of CWD detections fell within high risk counties, with only 3 out of 117 cases (3%) falling in counties at low risk. Furthermore, we found coherence between indirect expert‐elicited risk estimates and direct hazard rankings, suggesting that an indirect approach maximized expert knowledge sharing while controlling for sources of potential bias. Lastly, our approach required limited time commitment from group participants and thus, represented a low‐cost decision‐making approach. Taken together, our study may provide an opportunity to mount proactive wildlife disease management in a way that has often been promoted but rarely accomplished.

Ranking of potential hazards from microplastics polymers in the marine environment

Microplastics (MPs) have been detected globally in the marine environment. MP polymers of various kinds have different toxicity potentials when decomposed into monomers. Also, the toxicity of MPs is influenced by the particle size distribution of MPs. Based on these parameters, a semi-quantitative risk assessment model has been developed in this study to rank MP polymers of potential health concern emerging from marine exposure pathways. A screening strategy was used to categorize three probability factors and two impact factors and calculate the final risk scores. Four different scenarios were assessed to investigate the influence of risk factors on the model output. The screening strategy prioritised PUR, PVC, PAN, ABS, PMMA, SAN, TPU, UP, PET, PS, and HDPE as the top-ranking polymers of concern (descending order). The sensitivity analysis revealed parameters that influenced the final risk score were hazard score based on monomer classification (RF5 coefficient +0.60)> particle size distribution of MPs (RF4 +0.54)> annual global waste generation (RF1 +0.52)> status of degradation in the marine environment (RF3 +0.32)> mean density of polymers (RF2 +0.16). The outcome of this study can inform the scientific community and the policymakers for better management of MPs where regulation and guidelines need to be considered.

Analysis of dangerous situations generated by explosive materials in non-compliant operations performed on industrial locations intended for their storage

Design and efficient implementation of OSH management in the field of explosives for civilian use, having the effect of optimizing the activity of preventing unwanted events blast type specific to industrial locations intended for the preparation / storage of explosives for civil use, constitutes it explosion risk assessment which represents the integrated expression of the configuration components of this type of risk within the different accident scenarios. No matter what it's about a component within the location or his integral technical infrastructure such an analysis allows the identification and ranking of site specific accident hazards to be assessed, in order to properly allocate security resources for priority measures to prevent and combat / eliminate the causes of these types of dangerous events. To this end, the ”Security Document” specific to the industrial site intended for specific operations with explosive materials must demonstrate that: an appropriate accident prevention policy and an effective safety management system have been implemented; the dangers of injury are identified and the necessary measures are taken to prevent them and to limit their consequences for man and the environment; in design any installations has been incorporated adequate safety and reliability for construction, operation and maintenance; emergency plans have been drawn up.

Surface functionalisation-dependent adverse effects of metal nanoparticles and nanoplastics in zebrafish embryos

High throughput imaging is used to assess hatching, lethality and malformations in zebrafish embryos and is suitable for hazard ranking of different nanomaterials.

Prioritization decision for hazard ranking of water distribution network by cluster using the Entropy-TOPSIS method

Prioritization decision for hazard ranking of water distribution network by cluster using the Entropy-TOPSIS method