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Abstract Self-rated health (SRH) is one of the most frequently used indicators in health and social research. Its robust association with mortality in very different populations implies that it is a comprehensive measure of health status and may even reflect the condition of the human organism beyond clinical diagnoses. Yet the biological basis of SRH is poorly understood. We used data from three independent European population samples (N approx. 15,000) to investigate the associations of SRH with 150 biomolecules in blood or urine (biomarkers). Altogether 57 biomarkers representing different organ systems were associated with SRH. In almost half of the cases the association was independent of disease and physical functioning. Biomarkers weakened but did not remove the association between SRH and mortality. We propose three potential pathways through which biomarkers may be incorporated into an individual’s subjective health assessment, including (1) their role in clinical diseases; (2) their association with health-related lifestyles; and (3) their potential to stimulate physical sensations through interoceptive mechanisms. Our findings indicate that SRH has a solid biological basis and it is a valid but non-specific indicator of the biological condition of the human organism.

This paper presents a systematic heuristic framework to assist process designers and engineers in assessing inherent occupational health during process development and design. Different methods for inherent occupational health assessment are available and can be selected based on the availability of the most comprehensive data at the stage of the assessment. A more detailed and accurate assessment can be performed in the process and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs) stage via the Occupational Health Index method (OHI) due to the availability of more precise data on the process (i.e., detailed piping, instruments and equipment). In the event of P&ID is not available, Health Quotient Index (HQI) method can be adopted to assess chronic inhalative health risk due to fugitive emission from process components (e.g., valve, flange, etc.) in the stage where process flow sheet diagrams (PFDs) are already generated. A qualitative health assessment can be conducted using the Inherent Occupational Health Index (IOHI) if the detailed information is still lacking because it only requires the data from process reaction chemistries and the properties of the chemical substances present. It is worth mentioning that the proposed framework acts as a guideline for design engineers in systematically selecting the appropriate index and methodology to assess inherent occupational health in process industry.

The accident rate in the chemical process industry (CPI) is not decreasing although the large majority of accident causes are known, foreseeable and could be prevented by existing knowledge. Continuous learning and improvement on experience feedback system is essential for process safety. In this paper, the experience feedback system is used to generate accident knowledge and understanding on accident mechanism. Accident data such as accident contributors are analysed and their interconnection matrix is develop. The matrix reveals three main functional groups of contributor to accident. Therefore, the likelihood of chronological event of accident could be predicted.

The paper studies the application of emergy analysis into process flowsheeting for sustainability evaluations. Emergy analysis is an energy-focused environmental accounting method that expresses all the process inputs and outputs in solar energy equivalents. Normally the emergy analysis is done separately from flowsheeting but because of growing demand for sustainability evaluations during design, an integrated assessment with flowsheeting would be valuable. Therefore an approach for integrated emergy assessment with process simulation is discussed. The approach is demonstrated by a lignocellulosic ethanol case study.

Screening of chemical reaction pathway appears to be one of the most critical tasks in new chemical process development. Various methods for synthesis of chemical reaction pathway such as logic-centered, direct associative methods and optimization–based approaches have been proposed. However, majority of the previous works are focusing on economic and environmental performance; while very few have taken inherent safety and health into consideration. In order to develop a sustainable chemical reaction pathway, all inherent SHE aspects and economic should be considered. The application of inherent approach during early design stage allows the reduction and elimination of hazards intrinsically and avoids costly modification or add-on system. In this work, fuzzy optimization is adapted for screening of sustainable chemical reaction pathway by minimizing the impacts of inherent safety, health and environment whilst maximizing the economic performance. To illustrate the proposed approach, a case study on synthesis of methyl methacrylate (MMA) is presented.

Systematic computer-aided tool was developed for early inherent health hazards assessment during process research and development stage. Themethodis based on the earlier manual-based approach called the Inherent Occupational Health Index method. The tool was developed using MATLAB®(R2010b) and is presented in the Graphical User Interface (GUI). Electronic chemical properties database of almost 800 chemicals was constructed and this database was integrated with the computer-aided tool. The database further enhances the attractiveness of the proposed tool as users need only to key in process conditions data and the remaining material related data will be directly imported from the database. The tool was applied on six process routes to produce methyl methacrylate. It was found that with the proposed computer-aided tool the inherent occupational health evaluation has now become much easier and faster. Besides, the method also can be integrated with existing CAPE tools.

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