Encouraging Inherently Safer Production in European Firms: A Report from the Field

Abstract It is now generally recognized that in order to make significant advances in accident prevention, the focus of industrial firms must shift from assessing the risks of existing production and manufacturing systems to discovering technological alternatives, i.e. from the identification of problems to the identification of solutions. Encouraging the industrial firm to perform (1) an inherent safety opportunity audit (ISOA) to identify where inherently safer technology is needed, and (2) a technology options analysis (TOA) and to identify specific inherently safer options will advance the adoption of primary prevention strategies that will alter production systems so that there are less inherent safety risks. Experience gained from a methodology to encourage inherently safer production in industrial firms in the Netherlands and Greece is discussed. Successful approaches require both technological and managerial changes. Firms must have the willingness, opportunity, and the capability to change. Implications for the EU Seveso, IPPC, and EMAS Directives are also discusse

The Feasibility of Encouraging Inherently Safer Production in Industrial Firms

Summary Inherent Safety is generally recognised as an important concept in the design of chemical plants. It is, however, often regarded as the sole province of engineers. Inspired by the successful development in the last decade from cleaner technology towards cleaner production, we explored in this research the feasibility of what we call Inherently Safer Production. Four pilot cases were carried out, two in the Netherlands and two in Greece; three in existing plants, one at the design stage. A methodology to generate inherently safer technological options was developed and tested. In all four cases, a number of options for inherently safer production were identified, while more traditional safety options were also identified. The great majority of options was shown to have pay back times of less than two years. Overall, twenty-five percent of the options were implemented during the project. In existing plants, the option generation process can be organised as a collective learning and inspiring effort. This can be of considerable value on its own, apart from the implementation of the (technological) options identified. We conclude that inherently safer production is a feasible concept, that it has great potential for simultaneous improvement of safety and economic performance, and that it deserves to be further develope

Measuring microtubule dynamics

Microtubules are key players in cellular self-organization, acting as structural scaffolds, cellular highways, force generators and signalling platforms. Microtubules are polar filaments that undergo dynamic instability, i.e. transition between phases of growth and shrinkage. This allows microtubules to explore the inner space of the cell, generate pushing and pulling forces and remodel themselves into arrays with different geometry and function such as the mitotic spindle. To do this, eukaryotic cells employ an arsenal of regulatory proteins to control microtubule dynamics spatially and temporally. Plants and microorganisms have developed secondary metabolites that perturb microtubule dynamics, many of which are in active use as cancer chemotherapeutics and anti-inflammatory drugs. Here we summarise the methods used to visualise microtubules and to measure the parameters of dynamic instability to study both microtubule regulatory proteins and the action of small molecules interfering with microtubule assembly and/or disassembly