Lahore School MPhil & PhD Theses
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/467
2024-03-28T13:14:39ZEvaluation of Occupational Health and Safety and Process Risk Assessment of the Medical WasteIncinerator Located in Lahore- A Case Study
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/17774
Evaluation of Occupational Health and Safety and Process Risk Assessment of the Medical WasteIncinerator Located in Lahore- A Case Study
Arusa Maqsood
Rapid increase in the population, economic boom, urbanization, industrial growth, and changing socioeconomic conditions have caused an increase in the medical waste (MW) generation. MW disposal is a significant concern, especially in underdeveloped and developing countries. Incineration is the viable option for treating such waste in developing countries. A detailed Process Risk Assessment was carried
out at the Lahore incinerator plant to evaluate the health and safety hazards associated with medical waste incineration and gauge its impact on the environment. Twenty of the occupational hazards and risks identified at each of the processes occurring at the plant were within the tolerable range and seven were within the acceptable
range due to reasonable existing controls. Only two were found to be unacceptable (Ergonomic Hazards: repetitive movements & wrong posture). None of the workers reported skin allergy and burn. 2 out of 10 workers reported watery eyes whereas 3 out of 10 workers reported back pain and 6 out of 10 workers reported headache
occasionally. Majority of the workers had reported no visual disruption, dizziness, hearing and respiratory issues. This study also monitored the wastewater and groundwater composition, gaseous emissions, ash, soil and noise level during incineration. All the values/levels were within the safe limits except noise level (near incinerator)
78.3 dB due to the operations occurring in the burning chamber. A thorough walk-through survey and individual interviews were conducted to identify any potential hazards for the workers. Information regarding medical waste incineration was collected with the help of secondary data (available literature). Primary data was collected through the survey of the plant. This study elaborates on incineration's existing and putative risks and provides
the basis for risk management decisions and communication. It also compares the health and safety status of the site with the standard requirements of the International Labor Organization and results shown that the incineration facility complied with the ILO's occupational health and safety standards.
PP. 85; ill
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZOPTIMIZATION OF THIN FILM COMPOSITE NANOFILTRATION MEMBRANE FOR THE REMOVAL OF HEAVY METALS
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/17773
OPTIMIZATION OF THIN FILM COMPOSITE NANOFILTRATION MEMBRANE FOR THE REMOVAL OF HEAVY METALS
Tooba Sahar
Prevalent in both wastewater and drinking water, heavy metals pose a risk to human health and the environment. Adsorption, membrane, chemical, electric, and photocatalytic treatments could be used to remove these metals from wastewater. Membrane-based separation processes such as nanofiltration, have emerged as a viable substitute for conventional separation processes due to lower energy consumption, higher separation efficiency, and various other advantages. Thin film composite (TFC) membranes that consist of a highly porous polymeric support and an ultrathin selective layer are industrially made nanofiltration membranes that have shown a strong potential for heavy metal removals from wastewater. The current study aims to identify the optimal conditions for fabricating TFC nanofiltration membranes for maximum rejection of heavy metal ions. To accomplish this, monomer concentration, reaction time, curing temperature, and curing time were targeted to optimize the interfacial polymerization (IP) process. Polyimide (P84) was employed as a support for IP between two monomers, i.e., trimesoyl chloride and piperazine. TFC membranes were characterized to determine functional groups and hydrophilic properties by Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and water contact angle respectively. The optimum IP conditions were 0.2 w/v%, 2.0 w/v%, and 2 minutes, for TMC monomer concentration, PIP monomer concentration, and IP reaction time respectively with a curing temperature of 40°C for 10 minutes in the oven. Under these optimal conditions, the optimized membrane showed an arsenic rejection of 90%, chromium rejection of 99%, and a high-water permeability of 16.9 Lm-2h-1bar-1.
PP. 59; ill
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZEvaluation of Occupational Health and Safety and Process Risk Assessment of the Industrial Waste Incinerator Located in Kala Shah Kaku- A Case Study
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/17772
Evaluation of Occupational Health and Safety and Process Risk Assessment of the Industrial Waste Incinerator Located in Kala Shah Kaku- A Case Study
Syeda Hafsa Arshad
Rapid rise in the population, economic boom, urbanization, industrial growth, and changing socioeconomic conditions have caused an increase in the solid waste (SW) generation. Landfilling, composting, and incineration are the widely practiced methods to handle SW. This study determined the occupational health and safety risks at an industrial waste incineration facility by conducting a thorough Process Risk Assessment
at the plant located in Kala Shah Kaku. The air emission levels, waste water and groundwater composition, gaseous emissions, ash and noise levels were also monitored in order to assess the environmental impacts of incineration at the facility. Information regarding the waste incineration was collected with the help of secondary data. Primary data was collected through the survey of the plant. The results indicated that the
majority of the health and safety risks at the site range from minor to moderate due to reasonable existing controls and only requires some logical and systematic steps to alleviate those risks. Musculoskeletal issues are a major risk at the site due to manual handling of the waste and require additional mitigation and control measures. All the environmental parameters are within the standard limits and do not pose any harm. This
study elaborates the existing as well as the putative risks associated with incineration and provides the basis for risk management decisions and risk communication. It also compares the health and safety status of the site with the standard requirements of International Labor Organization.
PP. 117; ill
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZESTIMATION AND HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT OF SELECTED HEAVY METALS (Cd, Cr, Pb, Cu and Ni) IN CHILDREN TOYS
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/17771
ESTIMATION AND HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT OF SELECTED HEAVY METALS (Cd, Cr, Pb, Cu and Ni) IN CHILDREN TOYS
Wajeeha wajid
The potential risk that heavy metals cause during the early stages of childhood
development makes it a global health concern. Main aim of this study is to determine
the concentration of cadmium, chromium, nickel copper, and chromium (VI) to carry
out dose response assessment, evaluating questionnaire responses given by children’s
parents in Lahore, Pakistan and calculating hazard quotient (HQ) in order to evaluate
whether concentrations are above or below permissible limit. The concentrations
detected by AAS in digested samples ranged from 83.7 mg/kg to -0.087 mg/kg for
Cd, 806 mg/kg to -0.05 mg/kg for Cr (VI), 1001 mg/kg to -0.008 mg/kg for Pb, 822
mg/kg to -0.07 mg/kg for Cu, and 3000 mg/kg to -0.9 mg/kg for Ni. 40% samples for
Cd, 5% samples for Cr (VI), 55% samples for Pb, and 5% samples for Ni exceeded
the EU limit. Based on the HQ values detected, trend of concentration of heavy metals
exceeding EU regulations was Pb > Cd > Cr (VI) > Ni. Copper did not exceed any
regulation yet present in considerable amount of samples. On the basis of data from
questionnaire responses and dose response assessment using hazard quotient, heavy
metal poisoning has been confirmed as a significant hazard due to the fact that there
are a number of health problems linked with it. Once heavy metals get into the living
organisms, and the organism is exposed many times heavy metals are bio
accumulated and hence it can be harmful to mental health and functioning of the
central nervous system.
PP. 66; ill
2023-01-01T00:00:00Z