Evaluating the ecological and public health risks imposed by the Concrete Products Manufacturing industrial sector in Abu Dhabi Emirate

摘要

In continuation of its efforts to protect and preserve the environment in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) permits, inspects and monitors 1400 industrial facilities belonging to 50 distinctly different industrial sectors currently in operation in Abu Dhabi. Other than the daily permitting and inspection activities conducted by the Environment Quality Sector in EAD, EAD's environmental inspectors conduct industrial sector-specific surveys and data collection to create baseline data for each industrial sector in Abu Dhabi. Following the data collection, a Sector Assessment Report (SAR) is compiled. This SAR consists of: (1) Sector Background information that presents the general technical information about the industrial sector; (2) Sector Profile that describes all the attributes of the industrial facilities within the specific industrial sector, provides facility-specific process description, explains the specific environmental control measures that each facility implements, and calculates the environmental releases from the facilities in the sector; (3) Sector Risk Profile that is formulated by using the Risk Characterization and Hazard Evaluation System (RiCHES) developed by RTI International in collaboration with EAD to identify high risk facilities or high risk Industrial sectors in the emirate. In this abstract, the risk profile of the Concrete Products Manufacturing sector in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi will be analyzed. RiCHES will utilize the data collected about the raw material inputs, manufacturing processes, environmental releases, HSE management practices adopted by each facility to control its emission releases to establish a relative risk rank for facilities in this industrial sector compared to other industrial sectors in the emirate. RiCHES evaluates risk in four risk dimensions: (1) First Responder; (2) Process Hazard; (3) Ecological Risk; and (4) Public Health, and will then calculate the overall risk score of the four dimensions. These relative risk scores will be compared between facilities in the same sector and between industrial sectors. In conclusion, evaluating an entire industrial sector allows EAD to investigate the primary risk drivers for each of the risk modules at each facility and across the sector and propose relevant mitigation measures that the concrete manufacturing facilities could implement in order to reduce the risks. The results may be used as a tool that establishes a baseline study/ data for this specific industrial sector that may be used to help decision makers to formulate new work practices or legislation.