The application of the method for assessing the level of safety at work starts with a document that contains the cover page, the description of the company (name, location, core business, organizational chart etc.), description of the work system, a detailed list of its components, and a brief description of the assessment method. It continues with a Microsoft Excel document, which represents the actual application of the method and, finally, there is another document presenting conclusions, proposals, and prioritizations, which leads to the execution of the Prevention and Protection Plan. The present paper approaches the issue of developing the Microsoft Excel document, an essential part of the method for assessing the level of safety at work. The document is divided into a variable number of worksheets, showing the risk categories of general, specific, and management.
Zinc biodegradable alloys attracted an increased interest in the last few years in the medical field among Mg and Fe-based materials. Knowing that the Mg element has a strengthening influence on Zn alloys, we analyze the effect of the third element, namely, Y with expected results in mechanical properties improvement. Ternary ZnMgY samples were obtained through induction melting in Argon atmosphere from high purity (Zn, Mg, and Y) materials and MgY (70/30 wt%) master alloys with different percentages of Y and keeping the same percentage of Mg (3 wt%). The corrosion resistance and microhardness of ZnMgY alloys were compared with those of pure Zn and ZnMg binary alloy. Materials were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), linear and cyclic potentiometry, and immersion tests. All samples present generalized corrosion after immersion and electro-corrosion experiments in Dulbecco solution. The experimental results show an increase in microhardness and indentation Young Modulus following the addition of Y. The formation of YZn12 intermetallic phase elements with a more noble potential than pure Zinc is established. A correlation is obtained between the appearance of new Y phases and aggressive galvanic corrosion.
1 January 2018 in Environmental Engineering and Management Journal
Ensuring the safety of the operational personnel involved in the intervention actions is a priority for the institutions responsible for the prevention and management of the emergency situations, that's why special attention is paid to the protective performances of the individual protective equipment used. The safety and health of rescuers depend on how the materials used in the manufacture of protective equipment for the action of risk factors behave. This paper presents the conditions that fire protection gloves have to meet, materials used in their manufacture and protective features that ensure the safety of users.
A new non-sparking metallic material, Cu-Ti, with applications in potentially explosive environments is proposed as an alternative to CuBe, to reduce the processing and toxic effects of Be. Using high-purity Cu and Ti materials, a Cu (~3–4 wt%) Ti alloy with good chemical and structural homogeneity was fabricated in an induction furnace under an Ar atmosphere. The hot-rolled material was tested in an explosive gas mixture (10% H2 or 6.5% CH4) under extremely severe wear tests for 15,000 cycles, and no hot sparks were produced to ignite the medium. The material was investigated as hot-rolled plates (600 s at 950 °C and 10% reduction). The microstructures and surface of the wear test samples were investigated by light optical microscopy (LOM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The chemical compositions were determined by energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). The corrosion behavior was studied using electrochemical techniques: open-circuit, linear, and cyclic potentiometry in saline electrolyte solutions. The mechanical properties, such as microhardness and friction coefficient, were determined using UMT equipment. The results showed that the alloy is suitable for applications requiring non-ignition properties, with good hot rolling deformability and chemical composition homogeneity. Regarding the corrosion analysis and mechanical properties of the experimental CuTi alloy, minor differences were observed between the cast- and hot-rolled material.
The paper describes a new method of occupational health and safety risk assessment. This method, called MEVA, unlike the old ones, focuses more on reduce or eliminate subjective issues in determining the probability of manifestation of risk factors and is based on a deductive reasoning, with the help of which is studied the chain between two or more events. The novelty of the method consists in combining risk assessment techniques with evaluation of compliance with legal and other requirements, aiming to provide a more objective results of the risk assessment. In the MEVA method, the risk matrix is defined by 5 classes of severity and 5 probability classes, resulting in 5 levels of risk. After quantifying the risk factors, prevention measures are proposed for all the identified risk factors and each partial risk level is recalculated as a result of the proposed measures. The five levels of risk were grouped into three categories: acceptable, tolerable and unacceptable. The MEVA method is a simple method and it can be used for assessing various workplaces, with different characteristics of complexity, activity domain or occupational health and safety recordings.