Prevalencia de la pérdida auditiva y factores correlacionados en una industria cementera

Environmental, Human Health and Socio-Economic Effects of Cement Powders: The Multicriteria Analysis as Decisional Methodology

The attention to sustainability-related issues has grown fast in recent decades. The experience gained with these themes reveals the importance of considering this topic in the construction industry, which represents an important sector throughout the world. This work consists on conducting a multicriteria analysis of four cement powders, with the objective of calculating and analysing the environmental, human health and socio-economic effects of their production processes. The economic, technical, environmental and safety performances of the examined powders result from official, both internal and public, documents prepared by the producers. The Analytic Hierarchy Process permitted to consider several indicators (i.e., environmental, human health related and socio-economic parameters) and to conduct comprehensive and unbiased analyses which gave the best, most sustainable cement powder. As assumed in this study, the contribution of each considered parameter to the overall sustainability has a different incidence, therefore the procedure could be used to support on-going sustainability efforts under different conditions. The results also prove that it is not appropriate to regard only one parameter to identify the ‘best’ cement powder, but several impact categories should be considered and analysed if there is an interest for pursuing different, often conflicting interests.

The global burden of occupational noise-induced hearing loss

BACKGROUND

Excessive noise is a global occupational health hazard with considerable social and physiological impacts, including noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). This paper describes the worldwide morbidity of occupational NIHL in the year 2000.

METHODS

The proportion of the population exposed to occupational noise was estimated using noise exposure data from the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), adjusted by data on the distribution of the work force by occupational category and economic sector, and economic activity rates in each WHO subregion. These values for the exposed population and risk measures for NIHL were used to develop estimates of the attributable fraction (AF) of adult-onset hearing loss resulting from occupational noise exposure. The AFs were applied to WHO estimates of total disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from adult-onset hearing loss to estimate the DALYs due to occupational noise.

RESULTS

Worldwide, 16% of the disabling hearing loss in adults (over 4 million DALYs) is attributed to occupational noise, ranging from 7% to 21% in the various subregions. The effects of the exposure to occupational noise are larger for males than females in all subregions and higher in the developing regions.

CONCLUSIONS

Occupational noise is a significant cause of adult-onset hearing loss. The majority of this NIHL burden can be minimized by the use of engineering controls to reduce the generation of noise at its source.