Safety, Health and Environmental Aspects

AECL has evaluated some of the basic information and development requirements in some detail (24, 25) and has outlined the type of fuel recycle development program which would be required. It would involve research and development of thorium fuels and fuel fabrication methods, reprocessing, demonstration of fuel management techniques and physics characteristics in existing CANDU reactors and demonstration of technology in health, safety, environmental, security and economics aspects of fuel recycle. 

Government and University Research. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) offers copies of ergonomic-related studies in downloadable files. This government-agency Web site contains links to many published research articles on various aspects of ergonomics. The landmark 1997 study about musculoskeletal disorders and workplace factors is one that is available to any business or individual. Others include the research of violence in the workplace and musculoskeletal pain with regard to nursing-home workers published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine. This was the first study of the hazard of workplace violence as linked to work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The results showed that the incidence of musculoskeletal pain increased from 40 percent in those workers that were not assaulted to 70 percent in victims of workplace violence. 

Not all the safety and health policies given as examples meet the criteria of naming each aspect of safety and health, such as disease prevention, environmental control, etc. It is generally accepted that when the organizations quote safety, they include all aspects and do not necessarily list them individually. For a successful near miss system to be incorporated, it is advisable to include it as a special line item in the policy and essential for a written standard to be drafted to guide the system. 

A generally accepted division of sustainability is to divide it into economic, environmental, and social sustainability. From a company s point of view, corporate responsibility is the term used to cover these aspects. Safety and health are important parts of corporate responsibility which is integral for social sustainability. Therefore, workers safety and health are among the sustainability indicators used (Al-Sharrah et al., 2010). 

The rationale of the inherent safety concept makes it attractive for adoption to the environmental and health aspects (Hassim, 2010). Kletz (1984) visualized the potential of also applying the concept to the prevention of pollution (environmental aspect) and the avoidance of small continuous leaks into the atmosphere of the workplace (occupational health/industrial hygiene aspect), but he did not evolve it further. 

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