Juan Carlos Rubio Romero

Analysis of construction accidents in Spain, 2003-2008.

INTRODUCTION The research objective for this paper is to obtain a new extended and updated insight to the likely causes of construction accidents in Spain, in order to identify suitable mitigating actions. METHOD The paper analyzes all construction sector accidents in Spain between 2003 and 2008. Ten variables were chosen and the influence of each variable is evaluated with respect to the severity of the accident. The descriptive analysis is based on a total of 1,163,178 accidents. RESULTS Results showed that the severity of accidents was related to variables including age, CNAE (National Classification of Economic Activities) code, size of company, length of service, location of accident, day of the week, days of absence, deviation, injury, and climatic zones. CONCLUSIONS According to data analyzed, a large company is not always necessarily safer than a small company in the aspect of fatal accidents, experienced workers do not have the best accident fatality rates, and accidents occurring away from the usual workplace had more severe consequences. IMPACT ON THE INDUSTRY Results obtained in this paper can be used by companies in their occupational safety strategies, and in their safety training programs.

DE DÓNDE PROCEDEN LOS PRINCIPALES RIESGOS LABORALES EN LAS ALMAZARAS ESPAÑOLAS

El presente trabajo tiene por objeto el examen de las condiciones de trabajo en la industria de las almazaras en Espana. Conocer las condiciones de trabajo, asi como los procesos productivos y equipos utilizados en este tipo de industria, puede ayudar a definir y poner en practica mejores estrategias y acciones de seguridad y salud. Despues de las visitas, inspecciones y entrevistas llevadas a cabo en tres fabricas de aceite de oliva, se elaboro un cuestionario. Con la colaboracion de la Autoridad Laboral, durante un periodo de investigacion de dos anos, 2009-2010, estos cuestionarios se hicieron llegar a los gerentes de 184 almazaras. Nuestra encuesta estaba dirigida a un analisis estadistico de la organizacion de la produccion y la prevencion de las empresas, con especial interes en la salud y la politica de gestion de la seguridad. Las principales caracteristicas de esta industria que van a determinar las condiciones de trabajo y como consecuencia, los posibles riesgos laborales son: las fluctuaciones de actividad y plantilla a lo largo del ano, los cambios en los turnos de trabajo, el empleo extendido de los sistemas de extraccion continuos y el alto nivel de ruido generado y la falta de orden y limpieza. Por el contrario, el creciente uso del metodo de dos etapas ha reducido significativamente las aguas residuales generadas.

LA NORMA ISO 14006 COMO GUÍA PARA EL ECODISEÑO

ABSTRACT: In October 2011 the standard ISO 14006 was published which establishes the guidelines to incorporate ecodesign into an Environmental Management System (EMS) and the different stages to take into account in an ecodesign project. This process involves the consideration and integration of environmental issues, especially in the design and developmental stages of a specific product. The objective is to achieve an effective reduction of the negative environmental impact, and consequently the inherent advantages; emphasizing that all the stages of its life cycle should be taken into account. This paper addresses and analyses this standard, the first international norm on ecodesign, and explains its connection with other international standards such as ISO 14001:2004 and ISO 9001:2008. A case study is also presented which focuses on the implementation of the standard ISO 14006 in a company and a specific product. The methodology used demonstrates the real possibility of the application of ecodesign in any other product or organisation. It is also shown that the potential benefits obtained are significantly more important than the problems inherently associated with its implementation and development.

UN PASO MÁS ALLÁ DEL TRIÁNGULO Y EL TETRAEDRO. EL MODELO QF7 PARA EL CONOCIMIENTO DEL FUEGO

Historically, simple graphical models have been used to describe the processes of combustion and fire. The fire triangle and its variants, the fire tetrahedron and pentahedron, are some of these models. However, none of them consider characteristics such as color, smoke or flame, This short communication based on Finite Projective Geometry presents a 7 sided model called QF7, which introduces these features in the representation of the process of fire.