Oil Spills and Safety – Community Outreach and Education in Oil Spill Response

2003 ◽  
Vol 2003 (1) ◽  
pp. 877-883
Author(s):  
Scott McCreery ◽  
Michael Myers ◽  
Anita White
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Community Outreach ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Outreach Program ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
Public Health And Safety

ABSTRACT In the summer of 2001, an oil spill into the Strait of Georgia occurred from a tank vessel docked at the BP Cherry Point Refinery. The resultant sheen impacted approximately three miles of pristine beach. While the spill volume was relatively small, odors from the spill of mixed slop materials were strong enough to prompt several residents to evacuate their homes. In response to this experience, the BP Cherry Point Refinery developed a community outreach program focused on educating local residents about the nature of oil spills, including oil spill response and issues of public health and safety. Rooted in both research and past experience with risk communication, this approach provides a model for engaging local communities in educational efforts to ensure public health and safety in the event of a spill, and for addressing public perceptions regarding response effectiveness.

The Nature Cure

2019 ◽  
pp. 79-100
Author(s):  
John Macdonald ◽  
Charles Branas ◽  
Robert Stokes
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
Space Planning ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
Mere Presence ◽  
Human Desire ◽  
Public Health And Safety

This chapter looks at interventions for land and open spaces and their impact on public health and safety. Abandoned, vacant, and neglected land is of great and growing concern in many cities. The chapter considers recent efforts to address this sort of land-based blight and how planners can partner with scientists to implement and evaluate land-remediation and zoning strategies to best improve public health and safety. In many ways, these changes represent the innate human desire for nature and green spaces. Without action from planners and landscape architects, such natural spaces would not exist in many of the cities. The chapter then showcases several studies that provide evidence that the mere presence of green spaces have healing and calming effects, an effect that occurs even if residents do not actively use these spaces. Indeed, there have been myriad efforts over the past decade or so by cities to revisit and reinvigorate their green and open-space planning efforts. Much of this effort has been to insert managed green spaces into smaller parcels and equitably distribute them across neighborhoods that lack access to larger green spaces. This pocket-park movement has economic drivers but, in some cities, also seeks to leverage the likely health benefits to local residents.

Fishing and Harvesting Bans in Oil Spill Response

1999 ◽  
Vol 1999 (1) ◽  
pp. 693-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. H. Moller ◽  
Brian Dicks ◽  
K. J. Whittle ◽  
Michel Girin
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
North America ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Marine Pollution ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Rational Basis ◽  
Consumer Markets ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Oil Spill Response

ABSTRACT Fishing and aquaculture harvesting bans are increasingly used as an oil spill management tool, with the intention of protecting public health and consumer markets. Such bans are easily imposed, but a rational basis is needed for maintaining and lifting them. Scientific criteria offer the best prospect for administering fishery bans in a consistent way, but recent marine pollution incidents reveal contradictions in their application. Inconsistencies can be found when comparing oil spills in different countries, and also when the response to different types of pollutant are compared. This paper explores the approaches for managing activity bans in the fisheries sector following oil spills. Examples are drawn from recent oil spills attended in North America, Europe, and Asia. Recommendations are made for caution to be exercised in the application of fishing and harvesting bans and for the adoption of sound criteria for monitoring their effectiveness.

ECOLOGICAL AND GEOMORPHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE VULNERABILITY OF THE COASTS OF THE KARA SEA TO THE OIL SPILL

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Ermolov ◽  
Alexander Ermolov
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
International System ◽  
Kara Sea ◽  
Coastal Protection ◽  
Sensitivity Index ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Expert Assessments ◽  
International Systems

International experience of oil spill response in the sea defines the priority of coastal protection and the need to identify as most valuable in ecological terms and the most vulnerable areas. Methodological approaches to the assessing the vulnerability of Arctic coasts to oil spills based on international systems of Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) and geomorphological zoning are considered in the article. The comprehensive environmental and geomorphological approach allowed us to form the morphodynamic basis for the classification of seacoasts and try to adapt the international system of indexes to the shores of the Kara Sea taking into account the specific natural conditions. This work has improved the expert assessments of the vulnerability and resilience of the seacoasts.

scholarly journals The Fine Line: Rural Justice, Public Health and Safety, and the Coronavirus Pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422110031
Author(s):  
Jennifer Sherman ◽  
Jennifer Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Personal Liberty ◽  
Local Law Enforcement ◽  
Local Law ◽  
Sheriff's Department ◽  
Public Health And Safety

In this article, we provide an early glimpse into how the issues of public health and safety played out in the rural United States during the coronavirus pandemic, focusing on Washington State. We utilize a combination of news articles and press releases, sheriff’s department Facebook posts, publicly available jail data, courtroom observations, in-depth interviews with those who have been held in rural jails, and interviews with rural law enforcement staff to explore this theme. As elected officials, rural sheriffs are beholden to populations that include many who are suspicious of science, liberal agendas, and anything that might threaten what they see as individual freedom. At the same time, they expect local law enforcement to employ punitive measures to control perceived criminal activity in their communities. These communities are often tightly knit, cohesive, and isolated, with high levels of social support both for community members and local leaders, including sheriffs and law enforcement. This complex social context often puts rural sheriffs and law enforcement officers in difficult positions. Given the multiple cross-pressures that rural justice systems faced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we explore the circumstances in which they attempted to protect and advocate for the health and safety of both their incarcerated and their nonincarcerated populations. We find that certain characteristics of rural communities both help and hinder local law enforcement in efforts to combat the virus, but these characteristics typically favor informal norms of social control to govern community health. Thus, rural sheriff’s departments repeatedly chose strategies that limited their abilities to protect populations from the disease, in favor of appearing tough on crime and supportive of personal liberty.

scholarly journals Next-Generation Smart Response Web (NG-SRW): An Operational Spatial Decision Support System for Maritime Oil Spill Emergency Response in the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6585
Author(s):  
Mihhail Fetissov ◽  
Robert Aps ◽  
Floris Goerlandt ◽  
Holger Jänes ◽  
Jonne Kotta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Situational Awareness ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Response Strategy ◽  
Spatial Decision Support System ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
The Baltic

The Baltic Sea is a unique and sensitive brackish-water ecosystem vulnerable to damage from shipping activities. Despite high levels of maritime safety in the area, there is a continued risk of oil spills and associated harmful environmental impacts. Achieving common situational awareness between oil spill response decision makers and other actors, such as merchant vessel and Vessel Traffic Service center operators, is an important step to minimizing detrimental effects. This paper presents the Next-Generation Smart Response Web (NG-SRW), a web-based application to aid decision making concerning oil spill response. This tool aims to provide, dynamically and interactively, relevant information on oil spills. By integrating the analysis and visualization of dynamic spill features with the sensitivity of environmental elements and value of human uses, the benefits of potential response actions can be compared, helping to develop an appropriate response strategy. The oil spill process simulation enables the response authorities to judge better the complexity and dynamic behavior of the systems and processes behind the potential environmental impact assessment and thereby better control the oil combat action.

Leveraging blockchain based decentralized apps for the Tokyo Olympics amid the COVID-19 pandemic

First Monday ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rishi Sabarigirisan ◽  
Aditi Biswas ◽  
Ridhi Rohatgi ◽  
Shyam KC ◽  
Shekhar Shukla
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Strategic Objectives ◽  
Crowd Management ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Smooth Contact ◽  
Public Health And Safety

The COVID-19 pandemic has induced a cloud of uncertainty over the mega sports event, the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Cancelling or re-scheduling the event could have serious repercussions on the economic, social and environmental well-being for the involved stakeholders. Thus, it becomes critical to conduct events of this magnitude by adopting appropriate public health measures. In this research, we primarily focus on two main premises relative to public health and safety, contact tracing and crowd management. We explore and evaluate the usability of blockchain based decentralized apps in crowd management and contact tracing for the Tokyo Olympics using value-focused thinking (VFT). A VFT framework aids in narrowing fundamental and strategic objectives that need to be addressed for smooth contact tracing and crowd management by understanding stakeholder viewpoints. We established an equivalence of the objectives identified through VFT with blockchain technology properties. Further, we also present a conceptual ideation of contact tracing and crowd management through blockchain based decentralized apps for the Tokyo Olympics. This work could potentially assist decision-makers, researchers and stakeholders involved in organizing the Tokyo Olympics in understanding and analysing the utility of blockchain based decentralized apps for crowd management and contact tracing.

Bogus Doctor Deceptions during Multi-Casualty Events and Disasters

2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antony Nocera ◽  
Anne M. Newton
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Medical Literature ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Medical Practitioner ◽  
Security Threat ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
Secure Systems ◽  
Public Health And Safety

AbstractBogus doctors pose a threat to public health and safety, and they present a security threat at disaster and multi-casualty event sites. A “bogus doctor” is an individual who misrepresents him/herself as a registered medical practitioner by their demeanour, actions, dress, or surroundings, while not entitled to be on a register of medical practitioners. There are very few reports in the medical literature, but practitioners have encountered them at the site of a disaster or multi-casualty event. This paper examines the five cases identified in the literature. Secure systems that confirm a health professional's identity and qualifications are required to avoid unnecessary delays and to protect the victims and health professionals providing the care.

scholarly journals Understanding Why Codes and Standards Fail

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Batzer ◽  
John S. Morse ◽  
Dong Y. Don Lee
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Asymmetric Information ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Information Cost ◽  
Minimal Level ◽  
Corporate Behavior ◽  
Adverse Impacts ◽  
Public Health And Safety

The enduring issues regarding codes and standards for consumer products and corporate behavior are discussed in this paper. It has been frequently asserted that the adherence of a product to a recognized government or private standard ensures that the product has a minimal level of safety, and that said product is therefore presumably non-defective. The agencies which promulgate these codes and standards are ostensibly impartial and informed, and have the public’s best interests in mind. This conviction is undoubtedly true in some instances, but is also unquestionably false in others. The issues regarding codes and standards and their impact upon products and the trusting public include, but are not limited to, asymmetric information, cost concerns, ethics, foreseeable misuses, non-alignment of interests, and technological advancements after the standards were adopted. In short, the adherence to the letter, rather than the spirit, of individual codes and standards is a manifestation of the Principal-Agent conflict, in which the agent, acting on behalf of the principal, has a different set of incentives than does the principal. This conflict and the underlying issues listed above are discussed. Case studies of numerous products with possible, known, and unforeseen adverse impacts upon public health and safety will be used as illustrations of products that were within the letter of the code or standard, but manifestly defective.

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