A risk based approach to evaluating the impacts of Zayanderood drought on sustainable development indicators of riverside Urban in Isfahan-Iran

In recent years, the Zayanderood River in Isfahan-Iran has been encountered by hydrological imbalance and drought. Literature review shows that long-term climate change, drought, and disruption of the river's water supply has led to depletion of underground aquifers and, consequently, gradual subsidence of the river and serious damage to old buildings and structures along the riverbank. This fact would be followed up by adverse environmental, social, and economic effect that could threaten the sustainable development of urban space. Therefore, it is necessary to use efficient risk identification and assessment approaches toward a more effective risk management. The goal of this study is to identify and prioritize the risks of river drought with regards to all three sustainable development areas including environmental, social, and economic. The research methodology was a mixed field method that included a set of questionnaires and interviews. To evaluate collected data, the analytic network process (ANP) method was used. Eighteen important risks were identified. Based on the results, decrease in the groundwater level, climate change, and gradual soil degradation were ranked first, second, and third, respectively. As this study examined the impacts of river drought on all three areas of sustainable development simultaneously and comprehensively, it is expected that the results will fill the existing theoretical and practical gap affecting improvements in assessment and management of sustainable development risks. © 2019 by the authors

Health and safety in refurbishment projects involving demolition work

Refurbishment is any upgrade, alteration, modification in the current status of the building to improve performance and efficiency of the structure. Refurbishment projects involve structural alteration, retention and partial demolition which merely coincide with different risks. The importance of considering safety issues and developing management strategies applicable for refurbishment practice arise as a result of increase in the total number of the refurbishment projects and growth of the fatality rate caused by refurbishment work. Increase in the number of accidents may affect project team in many aspects. Financial losses and delay in the completion of work are the typical consequences caused by refurbishment activities. On the critical cases, the public image of the contractors, clients, and management team as general, will be damaged. Therefore, providing a safety and health check list may assist to reduce incompliance with health and safety regulations and to improve communication flow in refurbishment projects. Further, this check list may be used as a basis for the health and safety trainings for the workers. To achieve this target, demolition techniques, methods and accident reports on the refurbishment project has been identified and reviewed. Next, a semi-structured interviewed was conducted to provide a list of common hazards occurring in the site and appropriate precautions that can be applied in the project to prevent accidents in working place. The obtained result was organized in a check list of activities, preventive actions and recommendations

A Risk Based Approach to Evaluating the Impacts of Zayanderood Drought on Sustainable Development Indicators of Riverside Urban in Isfahan-Iran

In recent years, the Zayanderood River in Isfahan-Iran has been encountered by hydrological imbalance and drought. Literature review shows that long-term climate change, drought, and disruption of the river’s water supply has led to depletion of underground aquifers and, consequently, gradual subsidence of the river and serious damage to old buildings and structures along the riverbank. This fact would be followed up by adverse environmental, social, and economic effect that could threaten the sustainable development of urban space. Therefore, it is necessary to use efficient risk identification and assessment approaches toward a more effective risk management. The goal of this study is to identify and prioritize the risks of river drought with regards to all three sustainable development areas including environmental, social, and economic. The research methodology was a mixed field method that included a set of questionnaires and interviews. To evaluate collected data, the analytic network process (ANP) method was used. Eighteen important risks were identified. Based on the results, decrease in the groundwater level, climate change, and gradual soil degradation were ranked first, second, and third, respectively. As this study examined the impacts of river drought on all three areas of sustainable development simultaneously and comprehensively, it is expected that the results will fill the existing theoretical and practical gap affecting improvements in assessment and management of sustainable development risks