Simulation of Electronic Waste Reverse Chains for the Sao Paulo Circular Economy: An Artificial Intelligence-Based Approach for Economic and Environmental Optimizations.

The objective of this study was to apply simulation and genetic algorithms for the economic and environmental optimization of the reverse network (manufacturers, waste managers, and recyclers in Sao Paulo, Brazil) of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) to promote the circular economy. For the economic evaluation, the reduction in fuel, drivers, insurance, depreciation, maintenance, and charges was considered. For the environmental evaluation, the impact of abiotic, biotic, water, land, air, and greenhouse gases was measured. It was concluded that the optimized structure of the WEEE reverse chains for Sao Paulo, Brazil provided a reduction in the number of collections, thus making the most of cubage. It also generated economic and environmental gains, contributing to the strategic actions of the circular economy. Therefore, the proposed approach is replicable in organizational practice, which is mainly required to meet the 2030 agenda of reducing the carbon footprint generated by transport in large cities. Thus, this study can guide companies in structuring the reverse WEEE chains in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and other states and countries for economic and environmental optimization, which is an aspect of great relevance considering the exponential generation of WEEE.

Moderating effect of OHS actions based on WHO recommendations to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in multinational companies.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the moderating effect of Occupational Health and Safety actions based on the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations to mitigate the negative effect of COVID-19 on the operational, logistical, marketing (OLMP), and health and safety performance (OHSP) of workers in multinational industries. The development of surveys in companies was the method adopted, which had confirmatory evaluations through Structural Equations Modelling (SEM). As a result, it was confirmed that this is one of the few scientific studies that expectedly validates that the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted operational, logistical, market, and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) performance. This is also one of the few research projects to assess the moderating effect of OHS practices based on WHO to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. According to our findings, those practices were able to reduce by at least 50% the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on operational, logistical, and marketing performance. However, they minimize by only 1.8% the negative effects of health and safety performance for the worker, generating absenteeism increasingly due to physical and mental problems. This number could be higher if the social distance could be provided in public transportation and if employees were more aware of the risks of COVID-19 contamination during their social activities.

Performance evaluation of occupational health and safety in relation to the COVID-19 fighting practices established by WHO: Survey in multinational industries.

The coronavirus pandemic meant that companies had to adapt quickly to survive the challenging scenario and avoid losing market share or even going bankrupt. In this sense, employees dedicated to Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) activities within organizations played a key role in ensuring that the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) were properly implemented. Even so, no studies were identified in the literature that investigated how the practices to combat COVID-19 improved the performance related to employee safety and occupational health. This is what motivates the accomplishment of this work; evaluate how these practices improve safety and health-related performance. For this, a survey of multinational companies was carried out and, together with this research, a model for structural equations was developed. In the end, a correlation test was performed. The main results showed that practices to combat COVID-19, such as the provision of sanitizers, the adoption of social distance, the creation of new work shifts, and the disinfection of workplaces were related to improvements in safety and health performance through the implementation of a risk management and biological risk mitigation program. Meanwhile, the provision of emergency assistance has found stronger relationships with managerial and strategic actions.