Economic Losses of Heat-Induced Reductions in Outdoor Worker Productivity: a Case Study of Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Orlov ◽  
Jana Sillmann ◽  
Asbjørn Aaheim ◽  
Kristin Aunan ◽  
Karianne de Bruin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Losses ◽  
Worker Productivity ◽  
Outdoor Worker

SEISMIC RISK AND RESILIENCE ASSESSMENT OF INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES: CASE STUDY ON A BLACK CARBON PLANT

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Karagiannakis
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Risk ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Fragility Curves ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Risk And Resilience ◽  
Industrial Plants ◽  
Plant Equipment

This paper deals with state of the art risk and resilience calculations for industrial plants. Resilience is a top priority issue on the agenda of societies due to climate change and the all-time demand for human life safety and financial robustness. Industrial plants are highly complex systems containing a considerable number of equipment such as steel storage tanks, pipe rack-piping systems, and other installations. Loss Of Containment (LOC) scenarios triggered by past earthquakes due to failure on critical components were followed by severe repercussions on the community, long recovery times and great economic losses. Hence, facility planners and emergency managers should be aware of possible seismic damages and should have already established recovery plans to maximize the resilience and minimize the losses. Seismic risk assessment is the first step of resilience calculations, as it establishes possible damage scenarios. In order to have an accurate risk analysis, the plant equipment vulnerability must be assessed; this is made feasible either from fragility databases in the literature that refer to customized equipment or through numerical calculations. Two different approaches to fragility assessment will be discussed in this paper: (i) code-based Fragility Curves (FCs); and (ii) fragility curves based on numerical models. A carbon black process plant is used as a case study in order to display the influence of various fragility curve realizations taking their effects on risk and resilience calculations into account. Additionally, a new way of representing the total resilience of industrial installations is proposed. More precisely, all possible scenarios will be endowed with their weighted recovery curves (according to their probability of occurrence) and summed together. The result is a concise graph that can help stakeholders to identify critical plant equipment and make decisions on seismic mitigation strategies for plant safety and efficiency. Finally, possible mitigation strategies, like structural health monitoring and metamaterial-based seismic shields are addressed, in order to show how future developments may enhance plant resilience. The work presented hereafter represents a highly condensed application of the research done during the XP-RESILIENCE project, while more detailed information is available on the project website https://r.unitn.it/en/dicam/xp-resilience.

Case Study: Enhancing Human Reliability With Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality Tools for Nuclear Maintenance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Momin ◽  
Raj Panchal ◽  
Daniel Liu ◽  
Sharman Perera
Keyword(s):  
Augmented Reality ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Human Error ◽  
Nuclear Industry ◽  
Industrial Accidents ◽  
Worker Productivity ◽  
Energy Agency ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Critical Feedback

Human error accounts for about 60% of the annual power loss due to maintenance incidents in the fossil power industry. The International Atomic Energy Agency reports that 80\% of industrial accidents in the nuclear industry can be attributed to human error and 20\% to equipment failure. The Personal Augmented Reality Reference System (PARRS) is a suite of computer-mediated reality applications that looks to minimize human error by digitizing manual procedures and providing real-time monitoring of hazards present in an environment. Our mission is to be able to provide critical feedback to inform personnel in real-time and protect them from avoidable hazards. PARRS aims to minimize human error and increase worker productivity by bringing innovation to safety and procedural compliance by leveraging technologies such as augmented reality, LiDAR, computer machine learning and particulate mapping using remote systems.

scholarly journals Geomatic-Based Flood Loss Assessment and Its Application in an Eastern City of China

Water ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Youjie Jin ◽  
Jianyun Zhang ◽  
Na Liu ◽  
Chenxi Li ◽  
Guoqing Wang
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Loss Rate ◽  
Flash Flood ◽  
Economic Loss ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Risk Level ◽  
Loss Assessment ◽  
Flood Loss ◽  
Flood Disasters

Flash-flood disasters pose a serious threat to lives and property. To meet the increasing demand for refined and rapid assessment on flood loss, this study exploits geomatic technology to integrate multi-source heterogeneous data and put forward the comprehensive risk index (CRI) calculation with the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE). Based on mathematical correlations between CRIs and actual losses of flood disasters in Weifang City, the direct economic loss rate (DELR) model and the agricultural economic loss rate (AELR) model were developed. The case study shows that the CRI system can accurately reflect the risk level of a flash-flood disaster. Both models are capable of simulating disaster impacts. The results are generally consistent with actual impacts. The quantified economic losses generated from simulation are close to actual losses. The spatial resolution is up to 100 × 100 m. This study provides a loss assessment method with high temporal and spatial resolution, which can quickly assess the loss of rainstorm and flood disasters. The method proposed in this paper, coupled with a case study, provides a reliable reference to loss assessment on flash floods caused disasters and will be helpful to the existing literature.

scholarly journals Study on Seismic Reliability of UHVDC Transmission Systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Yao ◽  
Jiang Qian
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Equipment ◽  
Transmission System ◽  
Electric Power System ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Seismic Reliability ◽  
High Voltage Direct Current ◽  
Design Requirements ◽  
State Enumeration

Electric power system is critical to maintain the welfare of the general public with impact on economic losses and other cascading. In this paper, the seismic reliability of the ultra-high-voltage direct current (UHVDC) transmission system was evaluated from a perspective of the subsystem fault logic. An assessment model of system seismic reliability was proposed based on the state enumeration method. A case study was presented by taking a typical 800 kV UHVDC transmission system as the example. The finite element models of major components in the UHVDC transmission system were established to evaluate their seismic reliability. The results reveal that though the seismic reliability of major components seems satisfactory overall, the UHVDC transmission system may still suffer from seismic hazards to a certain degree due to the complexity of the full system. This calls for a further enhancement in seismic design requirements of the electrical equipment.

scholarly journals Use of avoidance behaviours to reduce the economic impacts of the EU Landing Obligation: the case study of a mixed trawl fishery

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (6) ◽  
pp. 1554-1566
Author(s):  
Fabien Pointin ◽  
Fabienne Daurès ◽  
Marie-Joëlle Rochet
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Grid Method ◽  
Fishing Effort ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Otter Trawl ◽  
Trawl Fishery ◽  
Nested Grid ◽  
Fishing Practices ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The EU Landing Obligation (LO) is designed to reduce bycatch (i.e. unwanted catch) through more selective fishing practices, such as avoidance behaviours which consist in allocating fishing effort to other species, fishing grounds or seasons. Incentives for fishers to change their behaviours depend on their economic performances as well as their ability to avoid bycatch. Changes in economic performances under the LO are evaluated based on cost and revenue equations. The nested grid method is then used to explore the spatial and temporal distribution of landings and discards, and to suggest alternative effort allocation to avoid bycatch. This article is focussed specifically on the French otter trawl fishery in the eastern English Channel and southern North Sea. Results suggest that under the LO the choke species problem will curtail fishing activities earlier in the year, leading to significant economic losses. In the absence of significant quota top-ups (at least 75%), a change in fishing practices consisting in reducing overall bycatch by 30% is insufficient to reduce losses. With a particular attention to choke species, more economically efficient avoidance strategies can be found thanks to the nested grid method.

scholarly journals Global flood hazard map and exposed GDP comparison: a China case study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerom P. M. Aerts ◽  
Steffi Uhlemann-Elmer ◽  
Dirk Eilander ◽  
Philip J. Ward
Keyword(s):  
Return Period ◽  
Flood Hazard ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Flood Protection ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Return Periods ◽  
Hazard Maps ◽  
High Exposure ◽  
Pluvial Flooding

Abstract. Floods are among the most frequent and damaging natural hazard events in the world. In 2016, economic losses from flooding amounted to $56 bn globally, of which $20 bn occurred in China (Munich Re, 2017). National or regional scale mapping of flood hazard is at present providing an inconsistent and incomplete picture of floods. Over the past decade global flood hazard models have been developed and continuously improved. There is now a significant demand for testing of the global hazard maps generated by these models in order to understand their applicability for international risk reduction strategies and for reinsurance portfolio risk assessments using catastrophe models. We expand on existing methods for comparing global hazard maps and analyse 8 global flood models (GFMs) that represent the current state of the global flood modelling community. We apply our comparison to China as a case study and, for the first time, we include industry models, pluvial flooding, and flood protection standards in the analysis. We find substantial variability between the flood hazard maps in modelled inundated area and exposed GDP across multiple return periods (ranging from 5 to 1500 years) and in expected annual exposed GDP. For example, for the 100 year return period undefended (assuming no flood protection) hazard maps the percentage of total affected GDP of China ranges between 4.4 % and 10.5 % for fluvial floods. For the majority of the GFMs we see only a small increase in inundated area or exposed GDP for high return period undefended hazard maps compared to low return periods, highlighting major limitations in the models’ resolution and their output. The inclusion of industry models which currently model flooding at higher spatial resolution, and which additionally include pluvial flooding, strongly improves the comparison and provides important new benchmarks. Pluvial flooding can increase the expected annual exposed GDP by as much as 1.3 % points. Our study strongly highlights the importance of flood defenses for a realistic risk assessment in countries like China that are characterized by high concentrations of exposure. Even an incomplete (1.74 % of area of China) but locally detailed layer of structural defenses in high exposure areas reduces the expected annual exposed GDP to fluvial and pluvial flooding from 4.1 % to 2.8 %.

Multi-Hazard Resilience Assessment of a Coastal Community Due to Offshore Earthquakes

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (02) ◽  
pp. 1950008 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Capozzo ◽  
A. Rizzi ◽  
G. P. Cimellaro ◽  
M. Domaneschi ◽  
A. Barbosa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cascadia Subduction Zone ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Fragility Functions ◽  
Earthquake Intensity ◽  
Tsunami Inundation ◽  
Ground Failure ◽  
Cascading Effects ◽  
Innovative Methodology ◽  
The Pacific

It has been observed in different parts of the world that offshore earthquakes occurred in coastal regions were followed by tsunamis and catastrophic damages due to cascading effects. In this paper, an innovative methodology for the estimation of direct damage losses and resilience for a given community is presented. It combines two existent methodologies, including both earthquake and tsunami hazards. In detail, fragility functions related to earthquake intensity, ground failure and tsunami inundation are combined with regional hazard data to estimate damages and direct economic losses of buildings and bridges. The coastal city of Seaside in Oregon has been used as a case study and as one of the most vulnerable town in the Pacific North United States due to the proximity of a nearfield Cascadia Subduction Zone. The results indicate that, when the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami inundation are considered together, there is an overwhelming increase in the loss estimates in comparison to the case when the tsunami is separately considered.

scholarly journals Identification of Heracleum sosnowskyi-Invaded Land Using Earth Remote Sensing Data

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 759
Author(s):  
Jūratė Sužiedelytė Visockienė ◽  
Eglė Tumelienė ◽  
Vida Maliene
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Invasive Plant ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Unsupervised Classification ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Classification Methods ◽  
Earth Remote Sensing ◽  
Heracleum Sosnowskyi

H. sosnowskyi (Heracleum sosnowskyi) is a plant that is widespread both in Lithuania and other countries and causes abundant problems. The damage caused by the population of the plant is many-sided: it menaces the biodiversity of the land, poses risk to human health, and causes considerable economic losses. In order to find effective and complex measures against this invasive plant, it is very important to identify places and areas where H. sosnowskyi grows, carry out a detailed analysis, and monitor its spread to avoid leaving this process to chance. In this paper, the remote sensing methodology was proposed to identify territories covered with H. sosnowskyi plants (land classification). Two categories of land cover classification were used: supervised (human-guided) and unsupervised (calculated by software). In the application of the supervised method, the average wavelength of the spectrum of H. sosnowskyi was calculated for the classification of the RGB image and according to this, the unsupervised classification by the program was accomplished. The combination of both classification methods, performed in steps, allowed obtaining better results than using one. The application of authors’ proposed methodology was demonstrated in a Lithuanian case study discussed in this paper.

scholarly journals A Typhoon Shelter Selection and Evacuee Allocation Model: A Case Study of Macao (SAR), China

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiujuan Zhao ◽  
Peng Du ◽  
Jianguo Chen ◽  
Dapeng Yu ◽  
Wei Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Analysis ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Distance Constraint ◽  
Special Administrative Region ◽  
Allocation Model ◽  
Shelter Selection ◽  
Typhoon Disaster ◽  
The Government ◽  
Shelter Construction

Typhoon disaster represent one of the most prominent threats to public safety in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China and can cause severe economic losses and casualties. Prior to the landing of typhoons, affected people should be evacuated to shelters as soon as possible; this is crucial to prevent injuries and deaths. Various models aim to solve this problem, but the characteristics of disasters and evacuees are often overlooked. This study proposes a model based on the influence of a typhoon and its impact on evacuees. The model’s objective is to minimize the total evacuation distance, taking into account the distance constraint. The model is solved using the spatial analysis tools of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). It is then applied in Macao to solve the evacuation process for Typhoon Mangkhut 2018. The result is an evacuee allocation plan that can help the government organize evacuation efficiently. Furthermore, the number of evacuees allocated to shelters is compared with shelter capacities, which can inform government shelter construction in the future.

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