scholarly journals Advancing the framework for considering the effects of climate change on worker safety and health

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 847-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.A. Schulte ◽  
A. Bhattacharya ◽  
C.R. Butler ◽  
H.K. Chun ◽  
B. Jacklitsch ◽  
...  
2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 916-936 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lance W. Saunders ◽  
Andrew P McCoy ◽  
Brian M. Kleiner ◽  
Helen Lingard ◽  
Tracy Cooke ◽  
...  

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge on the advantages of integrating safety earlier in the construction project lifecycle. Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach is used to collect data from construction sites in the USA, which performs poorly in construction safety and health, and Australia (AU), which performs well in construction safety and health. Qualitative data are collected to determine how and when safety is considered in the project lifecycle in both countries, and then the results are benchmarked to determine the benefits of addressing safety earlier in the process. Findings – Data show that addressing a potential hazard earlier in the project lifecycle has performance benefits in terms of the level of hazard control. Research limitations/implications – The processes that are identified as possibly explaining the performance difference are just based on qualitative data from interviews. Targeted research addressing the relationship between these processes and safety outcomes is an opportunity for further research. Practical implications – The case study data are used to identify specific processes that are used in AU that might be adopted in the USA to improve performance by integrating safety earlier into the decision-making process. Social implications – This paper highlights the advantages of integrating safety as a decision factor early in the process. Worker safety is not just an issue in the construction industry, and thus the findings are applicable to all industries in which worker safety is an issue. Originality/value – This paper advances the safety in design literature by quantitatively supporting the link between when a hazard is addressed and performance. It also links the results to specific processes across countries, which advances the literature because most research in this area to data is within a single country.


e-mentor ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-63
Author(s):  
Dominika P. Brodowicz ◽  

Today's cities face many challenges, including those related to the aging of the population, climate change, or broadly understood public safety and health. Examples from many places around the world show that without access to modern technologies, cities, companies, and public institutions could not function, provide services or care for the safety of billions of people living in urban areas. That is especially vital in conditions of the threat to many people's health and life and shutdown of economies caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, the article aims to present selected examples of smart solutions used in cities in the face of the challenges related to ensuring security. Their functionality in pandemic conditions is also described both at present and if the state of emergency continued for the following years. The study proved that the importance of smart solutions for contemporary cities' functioning is growing in the face of the threat to the residents' health and life caused by COVID-19. That mainly applies to tools in the area of e-government, e-education, and e-services in the healthcare sector, including applications for reporting and informing about clusters of virus infections.


2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Celenza

When a disaster strikes, FEMA activates the worker safety and health provisions (annex document) of the National Response Plan (NRP). The annex describes actions needed to ensure that threats to safety and health are recognized, evaluated, and controlled consistently so that responders are properly protected during incident management operations. The activation of the Worker Safety and Health Annex gives the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) the responsibility to coordinate a comprehensive response involving federal, state, and local agencies and private-sector organizations to ensure the safety and health needs of responders are met. There is confusion, however, as to whether OSHA is acting as an advisory “coordinator” or as an enforcement agency. OSHA personnel at the WTC and the Gulf region reported they were not clear what role they must perform (and the language in the National Response Plan is not explicit). Thus, the need for a clear and comprehensive mandatory program.


2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah A Felknor ◽  
Paul A Schulte ◽  
Teresa M Schnorr ◽  
Regina Pana-Cryan ◽  
John Howard

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie Gauthier ◽  
Pierre Bernier ◽  
Philip J. Burton ◽  
Jason Edwards ◽  
Kendra Isaac ◽  
...  

Climate change is affecting Canada’s boreal zone, which includes most of the country’s managed forests. The impacts of climate change in this zone are expected to be pervasive and will require adaptation of Canada’s forest management system. This paper reviews potential climate change adaptation actions and strategies for the forest management system, considering current and projected climate change impacts and their related vulnerabilities. These impacts and vulnerabilities include regional increases in disturbance rates, regional changes in forest productivity, increased variability in timber supply, decreased socioeconomic resilience, and increased severity of safety and health issues for forest communities. Potential climate change adaptation actions of the forest management system are categorized as those that reduce nonclimatic stressors, those that reduce sensitivity to climate change, or those that maintain or enhance adaptive capacity in the biophysical and human subsystems of the forest management system. Efficient adaptation of the forest management system will revolve around the inclusion of risk management in planning processes, the selection of robust, diversified, and no-regret adaptation actions, and the adoption of an adaptive management framework. Monitoring is highlighted as a no-regret action that is central to the implementation of adaptive forest management.


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