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Personal protective equipment (PPE)

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Prevention is better than cure. It is wise someone to be prepared to take precautions towards a possible danger instead of dealing with its effects.

According to the EU Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthy workplace for their employees.

It is a fact that dangerous substances are still a major health and safety issue in the workplace. The effects of exposure to hazardous substances include temporary and mild health damage such as skin irritation, to severe acute and chronic diseases such as lung obstruction, but also potentially fatal diseases such as asbestosis and cancer.

Various hazardous substances are also flammable or explosive, resulting in additional safety risks. In addition, some substances have acute toxic and fatal effects, e.g. gases produced by sewage or gases leaking from cooling systems.

One of the biggest health problems caused by workplaces across Europe, and indeed throughout the world, is the work related cancer. It accounts for an estimated 53 % of all work-related deaths in the European Union (EU) and other developed countries. The disease can have multiple causes, and its causes and their interplay are not fully understood. According to the Roadmap on Carcinogens in 2016, about 120,000 work-related cancer cases occur each year as a result of exposure to carcinogens at work in the EU, leading to approximately 80,000 fatalities annually.

Risk assessment is the first and key step towards risk prevention

The starting point and key to risk reduction and prevention is risk assessment. Every company in Europe must perform risk assessments according to the Framework Directive (Directive 89/391/EEC, the OSH Framework Directive of 12 June 1989).

More precisely:

1. An inventory should be made of dangerous substances in the workplace and those generated by work processes, i.e. combustion processes, diesel exhaust in warehouses, dust from drilling or grinding (rocks, stone, wood, metals, etc.), fumes from welding or soldering, degeneration products from recycling and waste industries, etc.

2. Information should be collected on the specific hazards, e.g. on chemical products from safety data sheets and on process generated substances.

3. The exposure to the identified dangerous substances should be assessed by looking at the type, intensity, length, frequency and occurrence of exposure to workers.

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4. An action plan should be drawn up that lists the steps that must be taken, in order of priority, to reduce the risks to workers. It should specify by whom, how and by when each step should be taken. The possibility of elimination or substitution has to be considered first.

5. Risk assessment should also take into account any workers that may be particularly at risk. The measures necessary to protect them and any additional training and information needs should be specified. Furthermore, workers can also be exposed, when doing maintenance or repair work or accidentally, to, for example, intermediary products from a chemical production process that is usually closed.

6. The risk assessment should be regularly revised and updated.

7. The impact and improvement of the preventive measures should be assessed, and they should be revised if necessary.

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GGBS (Ground granulated blast-furnace Slag)

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In the ever-evolving world of sustainable construction, 3M Glass Bubbles have emerged as a pivotal innovation. These unique materials are redefining the efficiency of roof coatings by significantly boosting their solar reflectance. This article delves into how 3M Glass Bubbles are offering a ground breaking, energy-saving alternative to conventional materials in the building industry.

Traditional cement manufacturing consumes a large quantity of energy and emits high amounts of carbon dioxide due to calcination of limestone and combustion of fossil fuel. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is known as the main heat-trapping gas largely responsible for most of the average global warming over the past several decades. Given its high emissions and critical impact on environment, the cement industry is an obvious field to refer to in order to reduce CO2 emissions.

The combination of GGBS into cementitious mortars production could provide various characteristics during application such as:

 

  • Temperature reduction during concrete hydration in massive structures
  • Lessening of the water permeability, porosity and improvement of the cement strength relationship 
  • Durability in Chloride Attack
  • Effect on pH stability

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A sustainable building environment with GGBS

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International researchers warn that excessive carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere will, in the long run, degrade the quality of life on the planet. The production of cement, the most important structural material in the modern era, contributes to the burden of the atmosphere since, during its synthesis, it produces from 500-900kg CO2 for each ton of final product.

In particular, during the production of cement, greenhouse gases are released both directly through the production of carbon dioxide when calcium carbonate decomposes thermally, producing lime and carbon dioxide, as well as through energy use, especially from the burning of fossil fuels. As a result, 600-900 kg of CO2 is emitted for the production of each ton of cement, representing 88% of the emissions related to the average product from the concrete mix.

 Building materials with an ecological footprint

  • Did you know that the production of OPC cement, the most important building material in the modern era, contributes to the burden of the atmosphere during its production with ~650kg CO2 for each ton of finished product?
  • Did you know that for the construction of a house ~ 200 m2 the load of the atmosphere, only from the basic building materials based on cement, exceeds 60tons while the use of various forms of cement required for its construction exceeds ~ 80ton. Imagine how much it takes for a public project or a dam or a bridge!
  • In our country, about 10,000,000 tons of CO2 are emitted annually only for the production of cement, since its process requires the burning of fossil fuels and electricity.

The built-in energy of cement mixtures

The built-in energy of cement mixtures can be reduced due to the addition of other aggregates and pozzolanic materials that are relatively abundant and do not absorb energy for their production. Of course, we exclude the transport charge that can reach 7% of the total built-in energy of a mixture (e.g. concrete), but cement production alone represents 70% of the total blends.

The evolutions in the field

Several emission reduction programs are being developed by governments and regulators, through the introduction of new regulations, environmental taxes and rising fuel prices. However, to support these effects, other available minerals or useful wastes may be suitable for mixing with OPC as substitutes or in some cases substituting as binders.

To face the aforementioned waste of energy and additional environmental burden we can alternatively use zero energy waste materials to achieve lower total integrated energy e.g. 469.4 kWh/tonne compared to that of a 70% cementitious blend that reaches ~ 850 kWh/tonne. This is achieved if we replace the cement with GGBS by 20%. The replacement ratio of cement with high-grade slag can reach up to 70% depending on the use. It is estimated that every 1% replacement of cement with GGBS represents a 0.7% reduction in kWh / ton energy consumption.

Therefore, in order to reduce the built-in energy contained in cement-based mixtures such as concrete and various other mortars, it will be necessary to replace OPC with materials of equal hydraulic and mechanical value such as furnace slag (GGBS) which is a zero integrated energy material (except transport).

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