Small businesses and researchers in Colombia reduce environmental impact and protect occupational health
Researchers from the Buga regional campus of the Universidad del Valle (Univalle) and local companies from the same municipality are working together to reduce the environmental impacts of industrial activities and protect workers' health.
Despite the existence of international standards for workers' health and safety (ISO 45001) and the environment (ISO 14001), according to the researchers, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) do not always have the necessary resources to implement them and to analyze and solve environmental and labor problems in an integrated manner.
Risk studies related to physical and chemical hazards were conducted in two SMEs in Buga were conducted by researchers led by Professor María del Pilar Rivera Diaz, a professor at the regional headquarters of Buga, attached to the Industrial Engineering program of the Faculty of Engineering of Univalle.
"Our goal was to analyze the impact caused by all the pollutants present on the worker's health and the work environment based on the current legal regulations, to propose strategies that allow companies to know their environmental performance and the possible risks to the worker in a viable and sustainable way, within the process of the production of balanced feed," the professor said.
The researchers were able to provide SMEs with the tools to implement a self-diagnosis that allows them to periodically evaluate the environmental-labor risks encountered, in an integrated manner to control them permanently.
Photo: Experimental air quality gauge. Credit: María del Pilar Rivera Diaz.
The Research
According to Professor Rivera, since the companies are dedicated to the production and distribution of balanced feed, several contaminants were identified that affect worker health and the quality of the working environment, but the most significant was the presence of particulate matter, specifically, breathable dust, which can penetrate the lungs with a diameter of 2.5 microns.
The researchers equipped five employees in the most critical areas (dosing, pelletizing, bagging, milling and micro-ingredients) that have an environmental impact and affect workers' health in terms of illness.
"Companies must identify the risks, measure them, evaluate them in order to prioritize them and carry out, mitigation and prevention measures," Professor Rivera explained.
With measuring instruments, during 8 hours in their working day and in three months of observation, the concentration of physical and chemical hazards, such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, oxygen, humidity, lower limits of explosiveness, silica analysis and particulate matter, were evaluated and then compared with the permissible limit values proposed by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) to determine the acceptability of the risk.
"Large companies have the necessary resources and expertise to implement ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards, but the lack of knowledge of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) creates uncertainty in terms of time and costs," Professor Rivera said.
In addition, the project not only generated benefits for the workers and the companies, but also for the students who supported the project.
"It is important to mention that we have graduates from the campus working in these areas in companies in the municipality, who support the Industrial Engineering program and who have been linked to them through their professional internships," Professor Rivera said.
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Photo: Universidad del Valle's Buga campus. Credit: Andrew James/NCC-FI/Univalle
The Buga Campus
The Buga campus was inaugurated on October 6, 1986 and is located in the central part of the department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia, where it serves the nearby municipalities of Guacarí, El Cerrito, Ginebra, Yotoco, Restrepo and Darién.Professor Laura Salas Arbeláez, the director of the Universidad del Valle sede Buga said Professor Rivera's work is "unparalleled."
"From her knowledge and relationship with the companies, she has encouraged to them constantly turn to Universidad del Valle Buga to solve different problems, especially those associated with the environment and the occupational health and safety system," Professor Arbeláez said.
Professor Arbeláez stated that it is vitally important for the regional offices to have their own research groups, as they can meet the needs of different disciplines and fields of knowledge such as philosophy, engineering, administration, accounting and economics.
"They also allow students from the regional offices to articulate the solution of problems in their own context and not have to work on cases that are alien to their own reality," Professor Arbeláez said.
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