Industrial risk index

NCRP recommends that risks to hypothetical individuals at waste disposal sites should be evaluated in classifying waste, as described in the following section, and that the risk to an individual that arises from disposal of any hazardous substance be expressed in the form of a dimensionless risk index (RI). The risk index for the ith hazardous substance (Rid is defined in terms of the risk that arises from disposal of that substance relative to a specified allowable risk for an assumed type of disposal system (e.g., municipal/industrial landfill for disposal of exempt waste) as ... 

Exempt waste Any waste containing hazardous substances that is generally acceptable for disposition as nonhazardous material (e.g., disposal in municipal/industrial landfill) Based on a risk index less than unity for all hazardous substances and assumption that risk or dose to hypothetical inadvertent intruder at disposal site should not exceed negligible levels... 

Use of the risk index in classifying waste is illustrated in Figure 6.2. Classification of waste essentially is a two-step process. The first step involves a determination of whether a waste can be classified as exempt, based on an assumed negligible risk and an exposure scenario for inadvertent intruders appropriate to disposal of waste in a municipal/industrial landfill for nonhazardous waste. If the waste is not exempt, the second step involves a determination of whether a waste can be classified as low-hazard, based on an assumed acceptable (barely tolerable) risk and an exposure scenario for inadvertent intruders appropriate to disposal in a dedicated nearsurface facility for hazardous wastes. 

Despite the common misperception of chemical process industry being dangerous to occupants and surrounding communities, which is promoted by isolated case histories, such as the Bhopal tragedy, regular statistics show a very different picture. According to the data presented by Sanders (2005) the relative risk index of workplace accidents in chemical and allied products industry (value of 0.6) is about 20 times less than the relative risk faced by Fishermen (index of 21.3) and Timber cutters (index of 20.6). It is even less than the relative risk of an average job (index of 1.0). This fact is further emphasized when it comes to the fatal accidents and death. 

Cross-comparing the risks of various activities is difficult because of the lack of a common basis of comparison, however Cohen and Lee, 1979 provide such a comparison on the basis of loss of life expectancy. Solomon and Abraham, 1979 used an index of harm in a study of 6 occupational harms - three radiological and three nonradiological to bracket high and low estimates of radiological effects. The index of harm consists of a weighting factor for parametric study the lost time in an industry and the worker population at risk. The conclusions were that the data are too imprecise for firm conclusions but it is possible for a radiation worker under pessimistic health effects assumptions to have as high index of harm as the other industries compared. 

Solomon, K. D. and S. C. Abraham, 1979, The Index of Harm A Measure for Comparing Occupational Risk across Industries, Rand report R-2409-RC, June. 

TSCATS is an online index to unpublished, nonconfidential studies covering chemical testing results and adverse effects of chemicals on health and ecological systems. The studies are submitted by US industry to EPA under several sections of the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA). There are four types of documents in the database Section 4 chemical testing results, Section 8(d) health and safety studies, Section 8(e) substantial risk of injury to health or the environment notices, and voluntary documents submitted to EPA known as a For Your Information (FYI) notice. 

Environment Canada recently developed an evaluation system based on effluent toxicity testing, capable of ranking the environmental hazards of industrial effluents [185]. This so-called Potential Ecotoxic Effects Probe (PEEP) incorporates the results of a variety of small-scale toxicity tests into one relative toxicity index to prioritize effluents for sanitation. In the index no allowance has been made for in-stream dilution, therefore the acmal risk for environmental effects is not modeled. The tests performed on each effluent are the following bacterial assay [V.fisheri (P. phosphoreum), Microtox], microalgal assay S. capricornutum) crustacean assay (C. dubiay, and bacterial genotoxicity test E. coli, SOS-test). 

As to the hnancial risk taken o n by investo rs in publicly traded pharmaceutical companies, these are no larger than the risk one assumes in investing in a broad stock-market index, such as the Standard Poor s 500 index, which reflects the risk and returns for some 500 publicly traded companies (Myers 1999), a point revisited below in the section on the economics of the industry. 

Klienwort Wasserstein both published reports on climate change and the Pan-European utility sector. WestLB has published a report on the scope of financial value at risk in the economy overall and by specific industries. UBS, Credit Suisse First Boston, and Citigroup have published reports on the implications of carbon trading. Goldman Sachs has published an environmental and social index for the global oil and gas industry.31... 

Here, it is recommended to calculate the partial index values for each pollutant, and then to calculate the total index as a sum of the five highest values. Thus, we estimated the integral pollution of the atmospheric air as a sum of lAPs of each pollutant in a given year for five main atmosphere pollutants posing risk for vegetation. Mean annual indices of integral pollution of the atmospheric air were calculated for the big industrial centres of Uzbekistan. Some of them are presented on Figure 15. 

A detailed examination of HERP-index did not provide the possibility to conclude that the risk of exposure to industrial carcinogens and pesticides outside the workplace are trivial compared with those of naturally occurring carcinogens found mostly in the diet... 

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