Protocolo de bioseguridad frente al COVID-19 para actividades del sector minero / Biosafety protocol against COVID-19 for activities in the mining sector

Establecer los lineamientos y procedimientos de bioseguridad y salud en el marco de la prevención del contagio, atención y seguimiento de casos sospechosos y casos de contactos con pacientes COVID-19 para el Sector Minero.

Health concerns associated with unconventional gas mining in rural Australia.

CONTEXT: Many governments globally are investigating the benefits and risks associated with unconventional gas mining for shale, tight and coal seam gas (coalbed methane) to determine whether the industry should proceed in their jurisdiction. Most locations likely to be developed are in rural areas, with potential impact on farmers and small communities. Despite significant health concerns, public health knowledge and growing evidence are often overlooked in decision-making. It is difficult to gain a broad but accurate understanding of the health concerns for rural communities because the evidence has grown very recently and rapidly, is complex and largely based in the USA, where the industry is advanced. In 2016, a concerned South Australian beef and lamb farmer in an area targeted for potential unconventional gas development organised visits to homes in developed unconventional gas areas of Pennsylvania and forums with leading researchers and lawyers in Pennsylvania and New York. Guided by priorities identified during this trip, this communication concisely distils the research evidence on these key concerns, highlighting the Australian situation where evidence exists. It summarises key information of particular concern to rural regions, using Australia as an example, to assist rural health professionals to be better prepared to engage in decision-making and address the challenges associated with this new industry. ISSUES: Discussions with communities and experts, supported by the expanding research from the USA and Australia, revealed increasing health concerns in six key areas. These are absence of a safe solution to the toxic wastewater management problems, air pollution, land and water competition, mental health and psychosocial wellbeing risks, fugitive methane emissions and lack of proven regulatory regimes. Emerging epidemiological studies suggesting interference with foetal development and birth outcomes, and exacerbation of asthma conditions, are particularly concerning to rural families and livestock. LESSONS LEARNED: Rural residents in potentially affected areas should be supported to access and interpret the best current evidence regarding the multiple health concerns associated with unconventional gas mining. This knowledge should be part of wider discourse and decision-making processes driving local economic development and national and global energy choices.

Offshore produced water management: A review of current practice and challenges in harsh/Arctic environments.

Increasing offshore oil and gas exploration and development in harsh/Arctic environments require more effective offshore produced water management, as these environments are much more sensitive to changes in water quality than more temperate climates. However, the number and scope of studies of offshore produced water management in harsh/Arctic environments are limited. This paper reviews the current state of offshore produced water management, impacts, and policies, as well as the vulnerability, implications and operational challenges in harsh/Arctic environments. The findings show that the primary contaminant(s) of concern are contained in both the dissolved oil and the dispersed oil. The application of emerging technologies that can tackle this issue is significantly limited by the challenges of offshore operations in harsh/Arctic environments. Therefore, there is a need to develop more efficient and suitable management systems since more stringent policies are being implemented due to the increased vulnerability of harsh/Arctic environments.

[Heavy metals and hydrocarbons content in soils of settlements of the Yamal-Nenets autonomous region].

In August 2015 there were executed investigations on the study of the soils diversity of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. One of the directions of this work got be the study of urban soils of settlements of the Yamal-Nenents Autonomous Okrug. The sectors for the observation were settlement of Harsaim, village Aksarka, city of Salekhard, settlement Harp and city of Labytnangi. About 20 soil samples were collected during the field work. Samples were collected from a depth of 0-5 cm and 5-20 cm. Heavy metals (HM) were detected with the use of X-ray fluorescent analyzer "Spectroscan-MAX". The HM content values were compared with the corresponding Approxible Permissible Concentrations and Maximum Allowable Concentrations (MAC) adopted in Russia. Hydrocarbons content was determined by gravimetric method. Values of the hydrocarbons content in studied soils were compared with the existing regulations of the Russian Federation. The levels of soil contamination by hydrocarbons were determined. The study of soil samples from different settlements allowed to reveal characteristic features of soil contamination of separate settlements by HM and hydrocarbons and to compare them against each other. The vast majority of samples are characterized by arsenic exceedance of MAC, which should indicate to a high regional background of this element. For a more adequate assessment of the Zc meaning as the value of the total pollution index of soils there were used not only arithmetical average values of the coefficients of the chemical composition concentration (Kc), but also their average geometric values. According to levels of total soil contamination most of soil samples are characterized as non-hazardous (Zc<16). Calculation of soil pollution index showed that the most of soil samples have values less than 1. It characterizes soils as unpolluted. Statistical processing of obtained data in the media of the analytical software interface STATISTICA 10 showed a statistically significant difference in the content ofHM and hydrocarbons for the layer of 0-20 cm of the soils for three elements (Cu, Zn, Ni).

[Longitudinal sstudy of differences between functional state of the body in workers at the chrysotile asbestos plant].

There were performed biochemical and cytological studies of blood in healthy workers of chrysotile asbestos plant in order to determine the functional state of the body, depending on the length of service and working conditions. Mentioned differences between the functional state of the organism were determined in the longitudinal study, under construction on schedule time series with the test group at specified intervals (every year for 7 years surveyed, the same group of healthy workers). The differences between the indices allow one to discriminate different levels of the functional state of the organism for the workers employed at processing complex with experience of 4 and 5 years, and for the employees in the mining and transport workshop with the experience of 5 and 6 years. As a result the work experience of 5 years is considered to be an occupational hazard for workers at processing complex, and 6 years of experience - as an occupational hazard for workers of mining and transport workshop.

[Choice of informative laboratory biomarkers for the early identification of changes in neurohumoral regulation and carbohydrate exchange in workers of the mining and mechanical engineering industry].

The diagnostic significance of hormones and integral indices of pituitary-adrenal, pituitary-thyroid and pituitary-gonadal system and carbohydrate metabolism (ACTH (corticotropin), aldosterone, cortisol, TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone), free triiodothyronine (fT3), free thyroxine (fT4), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), total and free testosterone, insulin, integral pituitary-adrenal index (IPAI), the pituitary-thyroid index (PTI), indices of carbohydrate metabolism (Caro and HOMA-IR) was studied for the early diagnostics of disorders of neurohumoral regulation in workers of mining and mechanical engineering industries. The most informative indices, permitting to identify disorders of carbohydrate metabolism are established to be indices of insulin resistance (index Caro and index NOMA-IR) and the determination of insulin in serum. For the identification of changes in pituitary adrenal, pituitary-thyroid and pituitary-gonadal system in patients with vibration disease, sensory-neural hearing loss, comorbidity indexes IGNI, ITI, concentrations of LH and total testosterone are of the most diagnostically significance.

Methane emissions from natural gas compressor stations in the transmission and storage sector: measurements and comparisons with the EPA greenhouse gas reporting program protocol.

Equipment- and site-level methane emissions from 45 compressor stations in the transmission and storage (T&S) sector of the US natural gas system were measured, including 25 sites required to report under the EPA greenhouse gas reporting program (GHGRP). Direct measurements of fugitive and vented sources were combined with AP-42-based exhaust emission factors (for operating reciprocating engines and turbines) to produce a study onsite estimate. Site-level methane emissions were also concurrently measured with downwind-tracer-flux techniques. At most sites, these two independent estimates agreed within experimental uncertainty. Site-level methane emissions varied from 2-880 SCFM. Compressor vents, leaky isolation valves, reciprocating engine exhaust, and equipment leaks were major sources, and substantial emissions were observed at both operating and standby compressor stations. The site-level methane emission rates were highly skewed; the highest emitting 10% of sites (including two superemitters) contributed 50% of the aggregate methane emissions, while the lowest emitting 50% of sites contributed less than 10% of the aggregate emissions. Excluding the two superemitters, study-average methane emissions from compressor housings and noncompressor sources are comparable to or lower than the corresponding effective emission factors used in the EPA greenhouse gas inventory. If the two superemitters are included in the analysis, then the average emission factors based on this study could exceed the EPA greenhouse gas inventory emission factors, which highlights the potentially important contribution of superemitters to national emissions. However, quantification of their influence requires knowledge of the magnitude and frequency of superemitters across the entire T&S sector. Only 38% of the methane emissions measured by the comprehensive onsite measurements were reportable under the new EPA GHGRP because of a combination of inaccurate emission factors for leakers and exhaust methane, and various exclusions. The bias is even larger if one accounts for the superemitters, which were not captured by the onsite measurements. The magnitude of the bias varied from site to site by site type and operating state. Therefore, while the GHGRP is a valuable new source of emissions information, care must be taken when incorporating these data into emission inventories. The value of the GHGRP can be increased by requiring more direct measurements of emissions (as opposed to using counts and emission factors), eliminating exclusions such as rod-packing vents on pressurized reciprocating compressors in standby mode under Subpart-W, and using more appropriate emission factors for exhaust methane from reciprocating engines under Subpart-C.

Occupational injury proneness in young workers: a survey in stone quarries.

OBJECTIVES: Workplace injuries are of concern in adolescent and child workers. The factors of such injuries are important for injury prevention. This study explored the predictors of injury in such workers. METHODS: This study was carried out in stone quarries and included 147 children and adolescent workers (81 males and 66 females). The mean age of the subjects was 11.3 years. An interviewer-administered questionnaire survey was performed to collect personal, occupational, morbidity and injury details. Descriptive analysis followed by logistic regression was undertaken to obtain the contribution of different factors on workplace injury occurrence. RESULTS: Age (OR: 0.73 95% CI: 0.53-0.99), nature of work (OR: 29.4 95% CI: 2.5-340.7), work hours per day (OR: 1.77 95% CI: 1.3-2.3), musculoskeletal complaint (OR: 15.8 95% CI: 4.8-52.2) and education (OR: 0.24 95% CI: 0.08-0.7) showed significant effects on workplace injuries. However, duration of employment and body mass index had no significant contribution. CONCLUSIONS: This study stresses the need to strictly stop employment of child labor in such occupations in accordance with the national law. It shows that apart from nature of job, age of worker, work hours/day, musculoskeletal morbidity and education are significant predictors of occupational injuries and that training of such workers with regard to safe practices, provision for education, alleviation of musculoskeletal morbidity, suitable restriction of work hours/day and awareness generation among parents regarding the imminent danger of such labor in their children will ensure a positive impact in protecting young and child workers from occupational injuries.

[Evaluating exposure of population to dust, with consideration of components and dispersion contents of industrial discharges from enterprise extracting and processing mineral raw materials (discussion)].

The article covers results of study concerning disperse content of solid components of discharges from main dust- generating technologic operations in extraction and processing of mineral raw materials (pouring ore to conveyor, drying with combustion gas in fluid-bed, pouring of end product, sorting ore on riddle, drying on vibration dry and cool device, etc). Findings are that fractions under 10 and 2.5 micrometers approach 50% in general structure of dust discharges. Maximal share of low-disperse dust enters ambient air from vibraion dry and cool devices, riddles and pouring places. Exceeded reference values for acute and chronic exposure are registered on TSP and PM10 at a sanitary protection zone border and in the nearest living area points--that can forecast intolerable risks for health of population exposed and necessitate instrumental confirmation of the detected jeopardy level.

[Assessement of combined impact of hazards on petrochemical and chemical workers' health].

We have conducted a study on working conditions and health status of petrochemical workers. The main hazardous factor of work environment and manufacture process has been found to be work environment air pollution caused by Class 2-3 hazards. Depending on the composition of the current complex of hazards, the manufacture workers comprise three groups determined by the impact of aromatic hydrocarbons, olefin oxides and their combinations. It has been shown that the combined impact of aromatic hydrocarbons and olefin oxides combination may produce a more pronounced hazardous impact on workers' health compared with the impact of aromatic hydrocarbons or olefin oxides taken separately. This may be due to the summing up of biological effects.

Potential of best practice to reduce impacts from oil and gas projects in the Amazon.

The western Amazon continues to be an active and controversial zone of hydrocarbon exploration and production. We argue for the urgent need to implement best practices to reduce the negative environmental and social impacts associated with the sector. Here, we present a three-part study aimed at resolving the major obstacles impeding the advancement of best practice in the region. Our focus is on Loreto, Peru, one of the largest and most dynamic hydrocarbon zones in the Amazon. First, we develop a set of specific best practice guidelines to address the lack of clarity surrounding the issue. These guidelines incorporate both engineering-based criteria and key ecological and social factors. Second, we provide a detailed analysis of existing and planned hydrocarbon activities and infrastructure, overcoming the lack of information that typically hampers large-scale impact analysis. Third, we evaluate the planned activities and infrastructure with respect to the best practice guidelines. We show that Loreto is an extremely active hydrocarbon front, highlighted by a number of recent oil and gas discoveries and a sustained government push for increased exploration. Our analyses reveal that the use of technical best practice could minimize future impacts by greatly reducing the amount of required infrastructure such as drilling platforms and access roads. We also document a critical need to consider more fully the ecological and social factors, as the vast majority of planned infrastructure overlaps sensitive areas such as protected areas, indigenous territories, and key ecosystems and watersheds. Lastly, our cost analysis indicates that following best practice does not impose substantially greater costs than conventional practice, and may in fact reduce overall costs. Barriers to the widespread implementation of best practice in the Amazon clearly exist, but our findings show that there can be great benefits to its implementation.

The use of health impact assessment for a community undergoing natural gas development.

The development of natural gas wells is rapidly increasing, yet little is known about associated exposures and potential public health consequences. We used health impact assessment (HIA) to provide decision-makers with information to promote public health at a time of rapid decision making for natural gas development. We have reported that natural gas development may expose local residents to air and water contamination, industrial noise and traffic, and community changes. We have provided more than 90 recommendations for preventing or decreasing health impacts associated with these exposures. We also have reflected on the lessons learned from conducting an HIA in a politically charged environment. Finally, we have demonstrated that despite the challenges, HIA can successfully enhance public health policymaking.

Assessing the compatibility of the management of standardized procedures with the complexity of a sociotechnical system: case study of a control room in an oil refinery.

Although the need for the management of complex socio-technical systems (STS) to be compatible with the nature of those systems is widely recognized, there are few guidelines on how to determine the actual extent of this compatibility. The purpose of this study is to assess how compatible the management of standardized procedures (SPs) is with the nature of a complex STS. To this end, a case study was made of a control room in an oil refinery, involving the following stages: (a) delimitation of the investigated STS; (b) description of the STS according to a set of characteristics of complex STS; (c) application of two types of questionnaires to thirty workers - one of them to assess their perceptions about the applicability of seven principles of SPs management in complex STS and the other to determine their perceptions about the actual use of these principles; and (d) a feedback meeting with workers to discuss the results of the assessment. The assessment is discussed in terms of its limitations, usefulness and ease of use of the data collection and analysis tools.

Dynamics of safety performance and culture: a group model building approach.

The management of occupational health and safety (OHS) including safety culture interventions is comprised of complex problems that are often hard to scope and define. Due to the dynamic nature and complexity of OHS management, the concept of system dynamics (SD) is used to analyze accident prevention. In this paper, a system dynamics group model building (GMB) approach is used to create a causal loop diagram of the underlying factors influencing the OHS performance of a major drilling and mining contractor in Australia. While the organization has invested considerable resources into OHS their disabling injury frequency rate (DIFR) has not been decreasing. With this in mind, rich individualistic knowledge about the dynamics influencing the DIFR was acquired from experienced employees with operations, health and safety and training background using a GMB workshop. Findings derived from the workshop were used to develop a series of causal loop diagrams that includes a wide range of dynamics that can assist in better understanding the causal influences OHS performance. The causal loop diagram provides a tool for organizations to hypothesize the dynamics influencing effectiveness of OHS management, particularly the impact on DIFR. In addition the paper demonstrates that the SD GMB approach has significant potential in understanding and improving OHS management.

Human factors engineering in oil and gas--a review of industry guidance.

Oil and gas exploration and production activities are carried out in hazardous environments in many parts of the world. Recent events in the Gulf of Mexico highlight those risks and underline the importance of considering human factors during facility design. Ergonomic factors such as machinery design, facility and accommodation layout and the organization of work activities have been systematically considered over the past twenty years on a limited number of offshore facility design projects to a) minimize the occupational risks to personnel, b) support operations and maintenance tasks and c) improve personnel wellbeing. During this period, several regulators and industry bodies such as the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM), the UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Oil and Gas Producers (OGP), and Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) have developed specific HFE design standards and guidance documents for the application of Human Factors Engineering (HFE) to the design and operation of Oil and Gas projects. However, despite the existence of these guidance and recommended design practise documents, and documented proof of their value in enhancing crew safety and efficiency, HFE is still not well understood across the industry and application across projects is inconsistent. This paper summarizes the key Oil and Gas industry bodies' HFE guidance documents, identifies recurring themes and current trends in the use of these standards, provides examples of where and how these HFE standards have been used on past major offshore facility design projects, and suggests criteria for selecting the appropriate HFE strategy and tasks for future major oil and gas projects. It also provides a short history of the application of HFE to the offshore industry, beginning with the use of ASTM F 1166 to a major operator's Deepwater Gulf of Mexico facility in 1990 and the application of HFE to diverse world regions. This latter point highlights the need to consider user populations when selecting HFE design criteria, an aspect strongly emphasized in current industry guidance.

[Cardiovascular risk factors in workers of oil and gas extraction enterprises].

The article deals with data on levels of biochemical markers of response to chemical risk factors (benzol, toluene) of cardiovascular diseases in workers engaged into oil and gas extraction. Findings are reliable differences between the workers groups in serum benzol and toluene levels, in classic biochemical effect markers of cardiovascular diseases (total cholesterol level, low density lipoproteins, uric acid), in activity of lipid peroxidation products deteriorating endothelial dysfuction.