When it comes to human health and safety, the extractive industry represents one of the most hazardous activities. When accidents occur in mines, quarries or processing plants, consequences are usually very serious. A description of Italy’s state of the art is made herein, with a special focus on occupational injuries occurred during the 2012-2019 period of time as well as fatal injuries of the last...
Since the last decade, numerous free and open-source software (FOSS) has been developed: this new approach, thanks to its quick update and its affordability, has guaranteed the employment of FOSS both by public and private bodies. In the field of open tools, the development of geographic software (GFOSS) became particularly relevant, whose distribution increased enormously and whose innovations are constantly...
Mechanical behaviour of clastic formations at shallow – medium depths which bear hydrocarbon reservoirs could exhibit an important non-linear influence of the strain on the formation stiffness during depletion. Particularly in the early reservoir production stage, characterized by high uncertainty and little ground movement data for back-analysis, reliable determination of formation stiffness at...
The residual presence of critical components (e.g. Asbestos Containing Materials – ACMs) still represents one of the main criticalities for the Occupational Safety and Health – OS&H in many large public facilities. The very first step for an effective Risk Assessment and Management is obviously a clear definition of the different approaches, complying with the Italian general and special OS&H...
The building sector is considered strategic to reach new scenarios for a low-carbon society. Beside this awareness, in the current trend there is not a real change to achieve targets set in terms of emissions containment defined by international agreements. Through an econometric model based on Choice Experiments, the present study aims to understand the individuals’ perceptions towards energy retrofit...
Photogrammetric and remote sensing techniques are increasingly getting used in precision agriculture to improve monitoring and management of the crops and at the same time to increase the crop yield and reduce the environmental impacts derived from the treatments. The entire production sector can benefit from the advance in technologies and the development of lightweight sensors for UAV (uncrewed aerial...
Deep aquifers represent a strategic resource because of their quality, generally better than rivers and shallow aquifers. More specifically, in Piedmont Region (Italy) they represent a key source of drinking water and therefore must be protected from qualitative and quantitative degradation.
In...
The residual presence of critical components (e.g. Asbestos Containing Materials – ACMs) still represents one of the main criticalities for the Occupational Safety and Health – OS&H in many large public facilities (Lee and Van Orden, 2007).
Since...
The management of health and safety at work is represented by the set of preventive and protective measures to minimize the exposure of workers to risks that may cause the onset of diseases or increase the number of accidents.
Data on occupational accidents...
The paper offers a reflection on the evolution of Occupational Safety approaches through the ages until the Industry 4.0. A brief overview on the constant increase of the system complexity is discussed to introduce the problem. Later, the study shows how Safety can be approached in different ways discussing pros and cons. Then, the paper proposes two applications of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality...
Although the European panorama is experiencing a profound change in advance to the Industry 4.0, revolutionizing the world of work with technical, technological and information innovations, in Italy even today we have to deal with the “old” problem of work related injuries and fatalities. In particular, the accident indices of the last few years do not seem to differ much from those typical of the...
Accidents and fatalities at work have always had a huge social and economic impact. In recent years the phenomenon in Italy does not seem to regress, indeed, the official data of fatality at work report a significant increase; this notwithstanding the widespread legislative activity both at European and national level.
An...
When major accident scenarios are considered, the effects of major events which give rise to a serious, immediate or deferred danger to human health or the environment, inside or outside the production or storage area due to the presence in high quantities of one or more dangerous substances are being considered. Events of this type, except in exceptional cases, have always had important consequences...
The availability and accessibility of new technologies is also transforming the world of underground construction sites, where applications developed in the mining industry are rapidly spreading.
Many of these have positive repercussions for safety and...
TELT is the public sponsor of one of the world’s most important projects, the cross-border section of the new Turin-Lyon line. In 2015 the company became a member of the United Nations Global Compact, adhering to the ten principles in terms of human rights, the environment, the fight against corruption and compliance with international labour standards. This commitment led to the undertaking to constantly...
A global overview of the technologies that can be applied for modern tunnelling construction taking into account the OS&H aspects is shortly presented in the paper.
The author describes the decision-making processes that led to the adoption of the pedestrian detection system, from the risk analysis phase in the specific site to the management one, through the implementation of the Z-safe project. The completion of the system was possible thanks to the different tests conducted on in situ devices.
Nowadays, occupational exposure to airborne dust is still one of the most concerning problems our society should face, since both airborne dust is a common pollutant in almost all the NACE sectors activities, and the occupational exposure quantification is critical. One of the possible causes can be identified in determining the real conditions of dust pollution in the workplaces, attributable to the...
The University of Cagliari (Italy) has carried out extensive research on the use and application consultant, La Loggia (TO), Italy of diamond wire in basalt quarries, with the objective of assessing the effectiveness of sawing. The focus of the research has been on time-measurements, in order to produce better data about sawing speed rather than what has already been highly documented by diamond wire...
The interaction between tunnels and underground water is a complex topic and it is of great relevance taking into account the environment, the protection of drinkable water and the interference with tunnel construction method. Due to the great importance of the topic, in the following are presented and discussed the most relevant technologies for water management in tunnelling with a specific attention...
The aim of this study is to investigate the possible correlation between the value of occupational risk from whole body vibrations and the main anthropometric characteristics of the subjects exposed to such vibrations. Directive 2002/44/EC, which defines the minimum requirements in order to guarantee the health and safety of workers exposed to such a risk, states that Risk Assessment may be conducted...
The majority of rural areas in developing countries live in a state of chronic emergency, due for the most part to the lack of sanitary assistance and food. Covid-19 aggravates this situation, complicating the action of International Cooperation in these countries. To this extent, the case study of the Nosy Mitsio island (Madagascar) is presented. The partnership between H4O, Kukula and Politecnico di...
The paper provides an overview of the several scientific and technical issues and challenges to be addressed for underground storage of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and mixtures of hydrogen and natural gas. The experience gained on underground energy systems and materials is complemented by new competences to adequately respond to the new needs raised by transition from fossil fuels to renewables. The experimental...
Rockfall net fences and drapery meshes constitute two of the most adopted protective structural works against rockfall hazard. During their life, they are subject to ageing, corrosion, and impact loads, with a consequent loss of efficiency or even effectiveness. Due to the variability of the environment and, more in general, to external conditions, a definition of a service life, although not unique but...
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Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP): 0.381
SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 0.163
