Optimized acid rain abatement strategies using ecological goals
In: Environmental management: an international journal for decision makers, scientists, and environmental auditors, Band 16, Heft 1, S. 133-141
ISSN: 1432-1009
7 Ergebnisse
Sortierung:
In: Environmental management: an international journal for decision makers, scientists, and environmental auditors, Band 16, Heft 1, S. 133-141
ISSN: 1432-1009
In: Environmental management: an international journal for decision makers, scientists, and environmental auditors, Band 21, Heft 6, S. 865-875
ISSN: 1432-1009
In: Air quality, atmosphere and health: an international journal, Band 11, Heft 4, S. 409-422
ISSN: 1873-9326
In: Ecotoxicology and environmental safety: EES ; official journal of the International Society of Ecotoxicology and Environmental safety, Band 71, Heft 1, S. 138-148
ISSN: 1090-2414
In: Annals of work exposures and health: addressing the cause and control of work-related illness and injury, Band 63, Heft 8, S. 829-841
ISSN: 2398-7316
Abstract
Objectives
Approximately 2 billion workers globally are employed in informal settings, which are characterized by substantial risk from hazardous exposures and varying job tasks and schedules. Existing methods for identifying occupational hazards must be adapted for unregulated and challenging work environments. We designed and applied a method for objectively deriving time-activity patterns from wearable camera data and matched images with continuous measurements of personal inhalation exposure to size-specific particulate matter (PM) among workers at an informal electronic-waste (e-waste) recovery site.
Methods
One hundred and forty-two workers at the Agbogbloshie e-waste site in Accra, Ghana, wore sampling backpacks equipped with wearable cameras and real-time particle monitors during a total of 171 shifts. Self-reported recall of time-activity (30-min resolution) was collected during the end of shift interviews. Images (N = 35,588) and simultaneously measured PM2.5 were collected each minute and processed to identify activities established through worker interviews, observation, and existing literature. Descriptive statistics were generated for activity types, frequencies, and associated PM2.5 exposures. A kappa statistic measured agreement between self-reported and image-based time-activity data.
Results
Based on image-based time-activity patterns, workers primarily dismantled, sorted/loaded, burned, and transported e-waste materials for metal recovery with high variability in activity duration. Image-based and self-reported time-activity data had poor agreement (kappa = 0.17). Most measured exposures (90%) exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) 24-h ambient PM2.5 target of 25 µg m−3. The average on-site PM2.5 was 81 µg m−3 (SD: 94). PM2.5 levels were highest during burning, sorting/loading and dismantling (203, 89, 83 µg m−3, respectively). PM2.5 exposure during long periods of non-work-related activities also exceeded the WHO standard in 88% of measured data.
Conclusions
In complex, informal work environments, wearable cameras can improve occupational exposure assessments and, in conjunction with monitoring equipment, identify activities associated with high exposures to workplace hazards by providing high-resolution time-activity data.
In: Air quality, atmosphere and health: an international journal, Band 6, Heft 4, S. 759-767
ISSN: 1873-9326
In: Environmental science and pollution research: ESPR, Band 29, Heft 48, S. 72946-72956
ISSN: 1614-7499