Onze leef- en werkomgeving heeft invloed op onze gezondheid, maar het nauwkeurig bepalen van persoonlijke blootstelling aan verschillende milieufactoren blijft een uitdaging. Toch is dit wel van belang, omdat bijvoorbeeld de blootstelling aan fijnstof, stikstofdioxide en ozon jaarlijks al leidt tot 12.000 vroegtijdige sterfgevallen in Nederland (Gezondheidsraad, 2018). In werkomgevingen zijn er behalve voor de genoemde stoffen ook nog andere vluchtig organische stoffen en chemicalen waarvan de blootstelling op de korte of lange termijn tot negatieve gezondheidseffecten kan leiden. Ook fysische blootstellingen kunnen negatieve gezondheidseffecten hebben, zoals geluid, UV-straling, elektromagnetische velden en trillingen.
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Summary Project objectives This study fits into a larger research project on logistics collaboration and outsourcing decisions. The final objective of this larger project is to analyze the logistics collaboration decision in more detail to identify thresholds in these decisions. To reach the overall objectives, the first step is to get a clearer picture on the chemical and logistics service providers industry, sectors of our study, and on logistics collaboration in these sectors. The results of this first phase are presented in this report. Project Approach The study consists of two parts: literature review and five case studies within the chemical industry. The literature covers three topics: logistics collaboration, logistics outsourcing and purchasing of logistics services. The five case studies are used to refine the theoretical findings of the literature review. Conclusions Main observations during the case studies can be summarized as follows: Most analyzed collaborative relationships between shippers and logistics service providers in the chemical industry are still focused on operational execution of logistics activities with a short term horizon. Supply management design and control are often retained by the shippers. Despite the time and cost intensive character of a logistics service buying process, shippers tendering on a very regular basis. The decision to start a new tender project should more often be based on an integral approach that includes all tender related costs. A lower frequency of tendering could create more stability in supply chains. Beside, it will give both, shippers and LSPs, the possibility to improve the quality of the remaining projects. Price is still a dominating decision criterion in selecting a LSP. This is not an issue as long as the comparison of costs is based on an integral approach, and when shippers balance the cost criterion within their total set of criteria for sourcing logistics services. At the shippers' side there is an increased awareness of the need of more solid collaboration with logistics service providers. Nevertheless, in many cases this increased awareness does not actually result in the required actions to establish more intensive collaboration. Over the last years the logistics service providers industry was characterized by low profit margins, strong fragmentation and price competition. Nowadays, the market for LSPs is changing, because of an increasing demand for logistics services. To benefit from this situation a more pro-active role of the service providers is required in building stronger relationships with their customers. They should pay more attention on mid and long term possibilities in a collaborative relation, in stead of only be focused on running the daily operation.
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Particulate matter (PM) exposure, amongst others caused by emissions and industrial processes, is an important source of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. There are situations in which blue-collar workers in roadwork companies are at risk. This study investigated perceptions of risk and mitigation of employees in roadwork (construction and maintenance) companies concerning PM, as well as their views on methods to empower safety behavior, by means of a mental models approach. We held semi-structured interviews with twenty-two employees (three safety specialists, seven site managers and twelve blue-collar workers) in three different roadwork companies. We found that most workers are aware of the existence of PM and reduction methods, but that their knowledge about PM itself appears to be fragmented and incomplete. Moreover, road workers do not protect themselves consistently against PM. To improve safety instructions, we recommend focusing on health effects, reduction methods and the rationale behind them, and keeping workers’ mental models into account. We also recommend a healthy dialogue about work-related risk within the company hierarchy, to alleviate both information-related and motivation-related safety issues. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2019.06.043 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-bolte-0856134/
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Agricultural/horticultural products account for 9% of Dutch gross domestic product. Yearly expansion of production involves major challenges concerning labour costs and plant health control. For growers, one of the most urgent problems is pest detection, as pests cause up to 10% harvest loss, while the use of chemicals is increasingly prohibited. For consumers, food safety is increasingly important. A potential solution for both challenges is frequent and automated pest monitoring. Although technological developments such as propeller-based drones and robotic arms are in full swing, these are not suitable for vertical horticulture (e.g. tomatoes, cucumbers). A better solution for less labour intensive pest detection in vertical crop horticulture, is a bio-inspired FW-MAV: Flapping Wings Micro Aerial Vehicle. Within this project we will develop tiny FW-MAVs inspired by insect agility, with high manoeuvrability for close plant inspection, even through leaves without damage. This project focusses on technical design, testing and prototyping of FW-MAV and on autonomous flight through vertically growing crops in greenhouses. The three biggest technical challenges for FW-MAV development are: 1) size, lower flight speed and hovering; 2) Flight time; and 3) Energy efficiency. The greenhouse environment and pest detection functionality pose additional challenges such as autonomous flight, high manoeuvrability, vertical take-off/landing, payload of sensors and other equipment. All of this is a multidisciplinary challenge requiring cross-domain collaboration between several partners, such as growers, biologists, entomologists and engineers with expertise in robotics, mechanics, aerodynamics, electronics, etc. In this project a co-creation based collaboration is established with all stakeholders involved, integrating technical and biological aspects.
Thermoset materials find use in almost all industrial sectors, especially where lightweight, stiffness, resistance and dimensional stability are key performance requirements. However, traditional thermosets suffer from several drawbacks: they are made of fossil-based non-reversible polymers and toxic monomers; more importantly, thermosetting materials are virtually neither recyclable nor reprocessable, due to their crosslinked microstructure. Currently, most thermoset materials are incinerated or accumulated in landfills at the end of their life. Landfill waste degrades to liquids known as landfill leachates that lead to health and environmental problems. A significant part of these wastes originate from thermoset materials used in paints, coatings, sealants and adhesives applied as a thin film to all sorts of surfaces. These unrecyclable materials contribute to nano- and microplastic formation. Despite many efforts in the past years in this context, substantial further developments are required. Production of thermosets from biobased feedstocks using safe and sustainable-by-design approaches is therefore crucial to address the well-being of people and to have a healthy planet.SMARTCASE aims to develop safe and circular carbohydrate-derived reactive polyester resins for coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers for application in the building and interior sectors. The new two-component (‘2K’) formulations are designed to replace currently used fossil-based epoxy and urethane resins by biobased and GHS-label-friendly alternatives. This not only improves the safety of workers and end-users of these materials, but also reduces the dependency on fossil resources and facilitates the transition towards abundantly available biobased raw materials.A new class of biobased polyesters resins and thermosets will be designed in SMARTCASE using safe and sustainable by design approaches allowing for more sustainable and feasible end-of-life options. Biobased polyesters in general meet the requirements of circularity, as they can be efficiently recycled back to their monomers at end-of-life. Accordingly, the recycling and degradation behavior of the developed formulations under thermal, mechanical and chemical conditions and their biodegradation will be studied. Hence, the output of the project contributes to the main goals of the NGF BioBased Circular program.The project follows a value-cycle approach with a multi-disciplinary and balanced consortium of industrial representatives from every part of the value chain, from carbohydrate feedstock suppliers to resin formulators and end users. This enables a system innovation instead of a (single) product innovation. The following results are expected within 10 years (mostly by the end of the project ): - Sustainable feedstock platform for novel biobased (BB) platform chemicals- Access to novel monomers and building blocks- Access to safe and novel polyester-based resin components- Access to high performance, safe and circular thermoset formulations- Scale-up of the best thermoset formulations- Validated performance of novel thermoset formulations in industrial applications- Sustainable and circular-by-design thermoset formulations with defined end-of-life solutions - Data on LCA, TEA, toxicity and sustainability- Engaged stakeholders and effective dissemination of project outcomes By ensuring these results are implemented by industrial partners both during and after the project, they will benefit not only stakeholders, chemical industries, and consortium partners but also the general public.
