Public exposure

Fig. 5. Long-term magnetic field exposure limits for general public exposures in uncontrolled environment, where A is the 50/60 Hz window, according to B, IRPA C, VDE (Germany) D, NRPB (U.K.) and E (IEEE C95.1, 1991). To convert T to G, multiply by 10/...

Accident frequencies were evaluated separately for the two types of activity mainline transit and rail yard classification. When an accident occurs and the tank car is damaged, the severity of public exposure depends on several factors, including tlie likelihood of a breach in tlie tank car, the severity level of tlie release (i.e., tlie rale or volume of spillage), the likelihood of an explosion, tlie magnitude of tlie explosion, and die dispersion pattern of the unignited vapors. Recall tliat Part II of tliis book deals witli explosions and tlieir effects Part III treats tliis subject of dispersion. Table 21.3.1 smnmarizes tlie transportation risk data for tlie mainline and rail yard segments of tlie tank car journey. 

Ritter L. 1997. Report of a panel on the relationship between public exposure to pesticides and cancer. Cancer 80 2019-2033. 

Several site control procedures can be implemented to reduce worker and public exposure to chemical, physical, biological, and safety hazards69 70 102-105 ... 

The location of storage tanks to adjoining property or exposures on adjacent exposures should be treated the same as would be case with exposure to or from a refinery process, however the added consideration of public exposure should not be overlooked. 

Boundary and Offsite - Especially critical for locations near to public exposures, an IR beam detector can be used to signal if vapors or gases may be released to offsite locations. 

Medical waste has been a growing concern because of recent incidents of public exposure to discarded blood vials, needles (sharps), empty prescription botdes, and syringes. Medical waste can typically include general refuse, human blood and blood products, cultures and stocks of infectious agents, laboratory animal carcasses, contaminated bedding material, and pathological wastes. 

Storm DL. 1994. Chemical monitoring of California s public drinking water sources Public exposures and health impacts. In Wang RGM, ed. Water Contamination and Health New York, NY Marcel Dekker, Inc, 67-124. 

Reports that certain of the mono- and dinitroarenes found in the exhausts from diesel and gasoline engines, and in ambient air, were animal carcinogens and possible human carcinogens (e.g., see Table 10.14 and IARC, 1989) accelerated research in this new area. In subsequent years, the phenomenon of public exposure to... 

Chapter 4 discusses chemical risks that are public goods. Risks like air pollution are collectively consumed, and individuals generally cannot avoid them simply by acquiring information and making choices. While torts and regulations theoretically can produce efficient levels of public exposure, they usually fall short. 

Chemical exposures are not always private. But the ingredients for optimal private exposure also pertain to public exposure basic knowledge about the effects of exposure on healfh, dissemination of that knowledge, the transaction costs of becoming informed about numerous exposure risks, equity considerations, and struggles between emitters and emittees. This chapter does not repeat the discussions of Chapter 3 but discusses the additional considerations relevant to managing public exposures. 

The main difference between public and private chemical exposures is that the level of public exposures must be equal for all those in the same airshed or watershed. That, of course, eliminates the primary method of reducing conflict associated with private goods individual differences in consumption. 

Class-action torts can play a role in limiting public exposures when the number of plaintiffs is large and the number of defendants is small. As with the other remedies, the major limitation of torts is the inability of courts to determine the sum of the marginal benefits from pollution reduction. 

The basic difference befween public and private chemical exposures is that a major method of conflict resolution in private exposures—differences in individual exposure governed by personal choice—is not available with public exposures. Within the same airshed or watershed, all must consume the same exposure level. 

Command-and-control regulation is a rather blunt instrument for achieving an efficient level of public exposure. Its primary defect is its inability to allow emissions to vary across emitters in proportion to their marginal costs of abatement. That inability raises the cost of any specific level of ambient exposure reduction. Empirical analysis of regulatory decisions suggests that agencies are sensitive to the costs and benefits of risk reduction but demand far more reducfion in public exposure risks than individuals require for private risks. 

Simple torts are an inadequate institutional response to public exposures because the benefits of a court decision cannot be restricted to those who bring suit. Class-action torts solve the problem by including as plaintiffs all possible beneficiaries of a successful suit. The use of class action solves the free-rider problem, but all the other trade-offs discussed in the context of torts and private exposures remain. 

A second impediment is the inability of courfs fo vary fheir judg-menfs fo fit the variation in preferences within the class of plainfiffs. Remember that optimal public exposure equates the sum of fhe marginal benefits with marginal costs. How are courts to determine the nature of the benefits of exposure reducfion across individuals within the class ... 

Emissions-rights solutions to public exposure disputes reduce conflict through the use of individual choice and differenfiafion. Once created, emissions rights would allow the environmentally concerned to purchase rights and bank them, thus reducing exposure. And firms that wished to increase emissions could expand the supply of rights by compensating exposed citizens. 

Guidance on Occupational and Public Exposure Resulting from Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine Procedures Practical Guidance on the Evaluation of Human Exposures to Radiofrequency Radiation... 

In the framework for regulating public exposures to all substances that cause stochastic effects proposed by Kocher and Hoffman (1991), three regions of risk depicted in Figure 3.14 are defined ... 

KOCHER, D.C. (1999). Regulation of public exposures to radionuclides and hazardous chemicals—Seeking common ground, Radiat. Prot. Manage. 16, 23-50. 

Sources and Magnitude of Occupational and Public Exposures from Nuclear Medicine Procedures (1996)... 

Catastrophic medication errors, particularly when someone dies, are a newsworthy event. Health care is not immune. Such errors are not likely to remain secret. As a result of the adverse public exposure, reputations will be diminished, with potentially significant consequences for individual practitioners and institutions. The only means available, at least initially, to rehabilitate individual and institutional reputations is an appropriate message and response through the media. 

The assessment which is undertaken by NICNAS covers the assessment of the health and aquatic toxicity hazards of the chemical, occupational exposure, public exposure and environmental exposure and fate. A risk assessment is performed and recommendations are made to control and minimise the risks. The results of the assessment are published in a report which is made available to the public via the NICNAS Web site [3]. 

In the early days, the Bronfmans had to run all the risks of the smuggler s profession. They had to dodge the law, stay one step ahead of the desperadoes on the other side of the border, and whenever things went wrong, face the humiliation of public exposure and scandal. As a result, the family acquired a considerable reputation. 

The annual radiation exposure of nuclear workers is limited to 5 rem, and the limit for public exposure (not radiation workers) from licensed activities is 100 mrem/year although people living near a nuclear power station are on average only exposed to <1 mrem/year.8 The government also puts limits on fatality risk levels due to a nuclear accident ... 

Generally, workplace exposures to chemical substances are considered to be at higher levels than for public exposures. Material safety data sheets (MSDSs) should always contain an indication of carcinogenic potential. The Report on Carcinogens (RoC) is an informational scientific and public health document first ordered by the U.S. Congress in 1978. This report has identified agents, substances, mixtures, or exposure circumstances that may pose a hazard to human health by virtue of their carcinogenicity. 

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