| 1. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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A method for human health impact assessment in social LCA: lessons from three case studies
- 2018
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Ingår i: International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1614-7502 .- 0948-3349. ; 23:3, s. 690-699
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose Improving human health is a long-lasting endeavour of mankind. In the field of social life cycle assessment (SLCA), the importance of human health is often highlighted, and further development of impact assessment methods has been recommended. The purpose of this article is to present a method for assessing human health impacts within SLCA. Methods By using a systematic combining approach, knowledge and experience about assessing human health impacts were obtained from three previously conducted case studies. The first case study was about an airbag system, the second about a catalytic converter and the third about gold jewellery. The disability-adjusted life years (DALY) indicator was used for impact assessment in all three case studies. Results and discussion Both positive and negative human health impacts associated with the products were identified and assessed in the three case studies. For the airbag system, avoided health impacts in the use phase outweighed health impacts during production. For the catalytic converter, whether health impacts avoided exceeded health impacts caused or not depended on which time perspective regarding impacts was employed. Gold jewellery does not help avoiding any health impacts but caused considerable health impacts when produced at a certain location. Based on experience from these case studies, a generic human health impact assessment method was developed, and a life cycle human health typology for products was developed based on the method. The method provides a basis for analysis and interpretation of health impacts along product life cycles, and it is therefore important to report both positive and negative health impacts separately for different actors. Conclusions The developed human health impact assessment method involves the assessment and comparison of both positive and negative human health impacts along product life cycles. In addition to the products assessed in the three case studies, we suggest additional products that could be particularly interesting to assess with the developed method, including medicines, seat belts, other conflict minerals, alcoholic beverages and products with a high chemical impact.
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| 2. |
- Beheshtinia, Mohammad Ali, et al.
(författare)
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Prioritizing healthcare waste disposal methods considering environmental health using an enhanced multi-criteria decision-making method
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environmental Pollutants and Bioavailability. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 2639-5932 .- 2639-5940. ; 35:1, s. 250-269
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Healthcare Waste Disposal Method Selection (HCWDMS) is a complicated problem due to multiple and often contradictory criteria with different importance degrees. Thus, decision-makers are restored to multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods to prioritize and select the best HCW disposal methods. This study introduces an enhanced MCDM method to deal with the HCWDMS problem. To address the problem, a comprehensive list of criteria and HCW disposal methods are identified. All the criteria are categorized into four main criteria, and Fuzzy Analysis Hierarchy Process is used to determine the weights of considered criteria and sub-criteria. The study results show that environmental, economic, technical, and social criteria are the most important in selecting disposal methods, respectively. Moreover, the sub-criteria of ‘Health Risk’, ‘Release with health effects’, and ‘Capital cost’ have the highest importance, respectively. Additionally, the methods of ‘Microwave’, ‘Sterilization by autoclave’, and ‘Reverse polymerization’ have the highest priority, respectively.
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| 3. |
- Grankvist, Gunne, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Values and willingness-to-pay for sustainability-certified mobile phones
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1350-4509 .- 1745-2627. ; 26:7, s. 657-664
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigated whether endorsement of personal values is associated with willingness to pay more for mobile phones with an environmental or social sustainability label. Participants were students in Sweden, Norway and Germany. A self-report inventory was used to measure willingness to pay and the importance attached to values of Schwartz's circular model. In Sweden and Norway, participants were willing to pay, on average, 18% extra for a mobile phone with labels for environmental or social sustainability. In Germany, the corresponding share was 12%. To strive for self-enhancement values, that is, social status and prestige, as well as control and dominance over people and resources, was associated with a lower willingness to pay for mobile phones with labels for environmental or social sustainability in all three countries. Furthermore, women were willing to pay more than men for mobile phones with both kinds of sustainability labels. In Sweden and Norway, participants were, on average, willing to pay more for a mobile phone with a label for social sustainability compared to a mobile phone with a label for environmental sustainability. © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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| 4. |
- Langer, Sarka, 1960, et al.
(författare)
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Impacts of fuel quality on indoor environment onboard a ship: From policy to practice
- 2020
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Ingår i: Transportation Research Part D-Transport and Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 1361-9209 .- 1879-2340. ; 83
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Environmental considerations, concerning the negative impacts of ship exhaust gases and particles on ambient air quality, are behind the requirements of cleaner marine fuels currently applied in designated emission control areas (ECAs). We investigated the impact of a ship operating on two types of fuel on the indoor air quality onboard. Gaseous and particulate air pollutants were measured in the engine room and the accommodation sections on-board an icebreaker operating first on Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO, 1%-S), and later Marine Diesel Oil (MDO, 0.1%-S). Statistically significant decrease of SO2, NOx, PM2.5 and particle number concentration were observed when the ship was operating on MDO. Due to the higher content of alkylated PAHs in MDO compared to HFO, the concentration of PAHs increased during operation on MDO. The particulate PAHs classified as carcinogens, were similar to or lower in the MDO campaign. Chemical analysis of PM2.5 revealed that the particles consisted mainly of organic carbon and sulfate, although the fraction of metals was quite large in particles from the engine room. Principal Component Analysis of all measured parameters showed a clear difference between HFO and MDO fuel on the indoor environmental quality on-board the ship. This empirical study poses a first example on how environmental policy-making impacts not only the primary target at a global level, but also brings unexpected localized benefits at workplace level. The study emphasizes the need of further investigations on the impact of new marine fuels and technologies on the indoor air environments on board.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Wagrell, Sofia, et al.
(författare)
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Building sustainable hospitals : A resource interaction perspective
- 2022
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Ingår i: Industrial Marketing Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0019-8501 .- 1873-2062. ; 106, s. 420-431
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In response to a growing influence of patients, higher specialisation, technological advancement and the need to provide care services more efficiently, the issue of sustainability in healthcare has gained prominence. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the social and economic sustainability of healthcare are dependent on interconnecting resources across organisational borders and in different settings over time. Adopting a product development process perspective, the paper explores the gap between a planned healthcare facility and how it actually came to be used, through a longitudinal case study of the Skandion clinic, a small, highly specialised, hospital in Sweden. The findings suggests that integration of healthcare resources over time is central to achieve social and economic sustainability goals. The results hereby contend the prevailing view of hospitals as inde-pendent organisational units and highlights the need for more holistic analyses of sustainability in healthcare. Analyses which take into account the complex interdependencies stretching across networks of interconnected facilities and organisational units.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Boberg, Linn, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental impact of single-use, reusable, and mixed trocar systems used for laparoscopic cholecystectomies
- 2022
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 17:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- INTRODUCTION: Climate change is one of the 21st century's biggest public health issues and health care contributes up to 10% of the emissions of greenhouse gases in developed countries. About 15 million laparoscopic procedures are performed annually worldwide and single-use medical equipment is increasingly used during these procedures. Little is known about costs and environmental footprint of this change in practice.METHODS: We employed Life Cycle Assessment method to evaluate and compare the environmental impacts of single-use, reusable, and mixed trocar systems used for laparoscopic cholecystectomies at three hospitals in southern Sweden. The environmental impacts were calculated using the IMPACT 2002+ method and a functional unit of 500 procedures. Monte Carlo simulations were used to estimate differences between trocar systems. Data are presented as medians and 2.5th to 97.5th percentiles. Financial costs were calculated using Life Cycle Costing.RESULTS: The single-use system had a 182% higher impact on resources than the reusable system [difference: 5160 MJ primary (4400-5770)]. The single-use system had a 379% higher impact on climate change than the reusable system [difference: 446 kg CO2eq (413-483)]. The single-use system had an 83% higher impact than the reusable system on ecosystem quality [difference: 79 PDF*m2*yr (24-112)] and a 240% higher impact on human health [difference: 2.4x10-4 DALY/person/yr (2.2x10-4-2.6x10-4)]. The mixed and single-use systems had a similar environmental impact. Differences between single-use and reusable trocars with regard to resource use and ecosystem quality were found to be sensitive to lower filling of machines in the sterilization process. For ecosystem quality the difference between the two were further sensitive to a 50% decrease in number of reuses, and to using a fossil fuel intensive electricity mix. Differences regarding effects on climate change and human health were robust in the sensitivity analyses. The reusable and mixed trocar systems were approximately half as expensive as the single-use systems (17360 € and 18560 € versus 37600 €, respectively).CONCLUSION: In the Swedish healthcare system the reusable trocar system offers a robust opportunity to reduce both the environmental impact and financial costs for laparoscopic surgery.
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| 10. |
- Das, Atanu Kumar, et al.
(författare)
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COVID-19 pandemic and healthcare solid waste management strategy – A mini-review
- 2021
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 778
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Healthcare waste comprises the waste generated by healthcare facilities, medical laboratories and biomedical research facilities. Improper treatment of this waste poses serious risks of disease transmission to waste pickers, waste workers, health workers, patients, and the community in general through exposure to infectious agents. Poor management of the waste emits harmful and deleterious contaminants into society. However, contamination of highly contagious agents such as the COVID-19 virus has created enormous instability in healthcare waste handling and subsequent recycling because of the volume of the waste generated and its contagious nature. Several countries have adopted safety measures to combat this contamination and manage healthcare waste; however, these measures are insufficient and vary depending on the context of the country. In addition, the WHO has set out guidelines for management of healthcare waste. These guidelines are helping to manage the highly contagious healthcare waste resulting from the current pandemic. Proper healthcare waste management may add value by reducing the spread of the COVID-19 virus and increasing the recyclability of materials instead of sending them to landfill. Disinfecting and sorting out healthcare waste facilitates sustainable management and allows their utilization for valuable purposes. This review discusses the different healthcare solid waste management strategies practiced in different countries, the challenges faced during this management, and the possible solutions for overcoming these challenges. It also provides useful insights into healthcare solid waste management scenarios during the COVID-19 pandemic and a possible way forward.
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