Organic and Inorganic Mercury in Biological Samples of Flouresecent Lamp Industries Workers and Health Risks.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aims to investigate the concentrations of Hg and its aspects methyl mercury (Me-Hg) and inorganic mercury (I-Hg) in the biological samples (BSs) of fluorescent lamp industries workers (FLIWs). METHODOLOGY: Different BSs including red blood cells (RBCs), plasma, urine, hair and nails were collected from the workers exposed to Hg and unexposed persons were selected as control group to measure both the T-Hg concentration as well as its species in different biological samples through quantitative analysis. Health data was collected through questionnaire survey. RESULTS: The mean concentrations of T-Hg (31.9 µg/L), Me-Hg (27.7 µg/L), and I-Hg (5.36 µg/L) in RBCs were found significantly ( P < 0.001) higher among the workers ( n = 40) as compared to the control group ( n = 40). Similarly the mean Hg concentrations in plasma, urine, hair and nails were also significantly higher among the workers than the control group. The statistical relation between Hg concentration and demographic characteristics observed that workers experience and fish consumption has increased the Hg concentration while age, weight and smoking found no significant effect on Hg concentration in the BSs. CONCLUSION: The study observed that the workers were highly exposed to high concentration of Hg and they are at a high health risk.

Resilience Analysis of a Remote Offshore Oil and Gas Facility for a Potential Hydrocarbon Release.

Resilience is the capability of a system to adjust its functionality during a disturbance or perturbation. The present work attempts to quantify resilience as a function of reliability, vulnerability, and maintainability. The approach assesses proactive and reactive defense mechanisms along with operational factors to respond to unwanted disturbances and perturbation. This article employs a Bayesian network format to build a resilience model. The application of the model is tested on hydrocarbon-release scenarios during an offloading operation in a remote and harsh environment. The model identifies requirements for robust recovery and adaptability during an unplanned scenario related to a hydrocarbon release. This study attempts to relate the resilience capacity of a system to the system's absorptive, adaptive, and restorative capacities. These factors influence predisaster and postdisaster strategies that can be mapped to enhance the resilience of the system.