Thesis (Ph. D.)--Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. / Bruce R. Ellingwood, Committee Chair ; Abdul-Hamid Zureick, Committee Member ; James I. Craig, Committee Member ; Reginald DesRoches, Committee Member ; Kenneth M. Will, Committee Member.

The focus of this thesis is the regulatory aspects of environmental hazard and risk assessment of chemicals, with a particular emphasis on whether current regulatory requirements are sufficient for assessing the risks chemicals pose to the environment. Since the way that chemicals are currently regulated on a global, regional or national level is complex and challenging, it is not surprising that there are faults with the current system. Legislations and regulations, such as the European regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restrictions of Chemicals (REACH), specifically indicates that unnecessary testing should be avoided wherever possible. However, this has not been the case for all hazard evaluations and some substances may have been assessed unnecessarily, or incorrectly resulting in significant underestimation of the potential effects to the environment. The aim of this research was to identify the major pitfalls and flaws with how environmental risk assessments are being performed, and to find a more harmonious approach to properly ensure that chemicals are regulated more appropriately. Within this thesis, there are examples of ecotoxicity studies for substances that should have little or minimal environmental consequences but which have been required for regulatory reasons. Such an example highlighted in this thesis is the artificial sweetener sucralose or silica fume. Conversely, other substances which are likely to have severe adverse environmental impacts could have been authorised for use inappropriately without the additional research that was carried out. Examples of potentially harmful chemicals not being regulated sufficiently, detailed in this thesis, include benzoylurea pesticides, used in aquaculture, and novel antifoulant substances such as thiophenones used in industrial processes. The papers in this thesis indicate that there is a large disparity between how some substances are being regulated. In order to improve the current situation and to aid environmental risk assessors and regulatory authorities, integrated strategies have been proposed incorporating all available data to collectively inform on for example the bioaccumulative properties of a substance. In addition, recommendations for improving the risk assessment processes are discussed with the aim of better regulating chemicals and harmonizing future environmental risk assessments.

This thesis uses statistical modelling to better understand the relationship between insured losses and hazard footprint characteristics for European windstorms (extra- tropical cyclones). The footprint of a windstorm is defined as the maximum wind gust speed to occur at a set of spatial locations over the duration of the storm. A better understanding of this relationship is required because the most damaging historical windstorms have had footprints with differing characteristics. Some have a large area of relatively low wind gust speeds, while others have a smaller area of higher wind gust speeds. In addition, this insight will help to explain the surprising, sharp decline in European wind related losses in the mid 1990’s. This novel exploration is based on 5730 high resolution model generated historical footprints (1979-2012) representing the whole European domain. Functions of extreme footprint wind gust speeds, known as storm severity measures, are developed to represent footprint characteristics. Exploratory data analysis is used to compare which storm severity measures are most successful at classifying 23 extreme windstorms, known to have caused large insured losses. Summarising the footprint using these scalar severity measures, however, fails to capture different combinations of spatial scale and local intensity characteristics. To overcome this, a novel statistical model for windstorm footprints is developed, initially for pairs of locations using a bivariate Gaussian copula model; subsequently extended to represent the whole European domain using a geostatistical spatial model. Throughout, the distribution of wind gust speeds at each location is modelled using a left-truncated Generalised Extreme Value (GEV) distribution. Synthetic footprints, simulated from the geostatistical model, are then used in a sensitivity study to explore whether the local intensity or spatial dependence structure of a footprint has the most influence on insured loss. This contributes a novel example of sensitivity analysis applied to a stochastic natural hazards model. The area of the footprint exceeding 25ms−1 over land is the most successful storm severity measure at classifying extreme loss windstorms, ranking all 23 within the top 18% of events. Marginally transformed wind gust speeds are identified as being asymptotically independent and second-order stationary, allowing for the spatial dependence to be represented by a geostatistical covariance function. The geostatistical windstorm footprint model is able to quickly (∼3 seconds) simulate synthetic footprints which realistically represent joint losses throughout Europe. The sensitivity study identifies that the left-truncated GEV parameters have a greater influence on insured loss than the geostatistical spatial dependence parameters. The observed decline in wind related losses in the 1990’s can therefore be attributed to a change in the local intensity rather than the spatial structure of footprint wind gust speeds.

This dissertation uses the institutional setup in the market for NBA players to test important hypotheses about how the labor market functions. Sports markets provide an ideal setting to study economic phenomena because of the wealth of publicly available information on productivity and compensation. In Chapter one, I analyze the effort incentives created by the existence of long-term contracts that guarantee players a wage irrespective of performance. I use a panel of all NBA players from 1999 to 2007 to show that player performance improves as the expiration date of the current contract draws nearer. Players perform ten percent better in the last year of their contract than in the penultimate one, an effect attributable to their interest in gaining a new contract. Despite the adverse effort incentives, teams may still prefer to sign players to multi-period contracts because risk-averse players are willing to accept lower salaries in return for greater security. In Chapter two, I use the fact that the NBA draft provides us with a quasi-natural experiment to analyze the impact of peers on player productivity and earnings. Using information for first round draft picks for a fourteen-year span I find that better teammates have a negative but statistically insignificant effect, on player performance. Teammate quality has a statistically and economically significant adverse impact on player wages. Thus the market appears to penalize players for having better teammates. I focus on the NBA's push to raise the minimum age of entry into the league in Chapter three. This phenomenon seems surprising since one naturally expects employers to encourage and entrenched workers to discourage entry of new workers into the labor market, as this should push wages down. I construct a three-period theoretical model in which the surplus accruing to teams can be higher when entry is restricted, even if the average productivity of NBA players declines. In our setting this outcome is driven by the existence of a fixed wage for rookies, which implies that the rents extracted from new entrants increase when entry is restricted.

The overall aim of this thesis is to corroborate whether the Situation Awareness (SA) of older drivers is deficient to that of younger driving groups, due to the onset of age-related cognitive decrements. This is important to ascertain due to a presumed linkage between the concept and accident causation. In addition, the research undertaken to date to investigate this linkage has exclusively utilised rather artificial driving simulators and simulations. Thus there is a need for data from more ecologically valid methods. The research studies reported here have sought to preference on-road assessments (of different complexity), and to capture what information was selectively perceived, comprehended and reacted to; rather than, as in previous work, what was recalled. To achieve this, a Think aloud methodology was chosen to produce narratives of a driver s thoughts. This method was advantageously unobtrusiveness, but also flexible - it could additionally be used to compare an individual's SA to a driving performance measure, Hazard Perception. The driving-based studies undertaken found that for a relatively non-taxing route, an older driver group could produce cohesive awareness in parity with a younger driver group. However, the concepts from which that awareness was based upon drew more on general, direction based, concepts, in contrast to the younger group s focus on more specific, action based, concepts, and rearward and safety-related cues. For a more cognitively taxing route, the younger group produced significantly higher (p < 0.024) individual SA-related scores than their older counterparts. But the concepts/cues both groups relied upon remained similar - particularly in regards to the ratio of those indicative of a rearward and/or a safety-related focus. In a video-based study, however, and in contrast, the older driver group s SA scores improved sufficient to outperform a younger group, but, despite this, not for video-based scores indicative of Hazard Perception (HP). In this latter regard, age-related decrements appeared to be more influential, as the older group felt they were under time pressure during a HP test. However, the difficulty this presented appeared to advantageously bring more attention and effort to the task, which were argued as important factors for the uplift in their SA scoring. The thesis also showed that older groups judgement of the actual complexity of a driving task could potentially be deficient to that of younger driver groups. This could cause problems as incorrect perceptions could deflate the relevance and cohesiveness of information being processing. In contrast, the perceived complexity of a task could bring a rise or fall in SA score for both groups. Such results raised questions as to the impact of cognitive decrements, relative to task difficulty and related effort whilst driving. It also provided evidence that Situation Awareness, rather than being uniformly good or bad, could, like any other psychological construct, be prone to change. These aspects were drawn together in a proposed model of driving SA.

O aumento da população em grandes centros urbanos, dos problemas ambientais, e as mudanças climáticas globais são alguns dos fatores que têm influenciado numa maior intensidade e a frequência de eventos extremos e de desastres naturais em todo o globo. A região sul do Brasil aparece como uma das mais afetadas, sofrendo com estiagens e inundações recorrentes. O presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar o risco de inundação da bacia hidrográfica do arroio Feijó que sofre frequentemente com inundações. Baseia-se na abordagem metodológica do Índice de Vulnerabilidade, que contempla dados demográficos e sociais dos setores censitários (IBGE). Abrange áreas dos municípios de Porto Alegre, Alvorada e Viamão, no estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Ao longo do período analisado, de 1980 a 2015, foram registradas 36 inundações em 19 anos, com a probabilidade de 53% ocorrência de um novo evento danoso a cada ano. Os meses com maior frequência são fevereiro setembro e outubro. Ainda que 63% dos anos com inundações tenham apontado atuação do fenômeno El Niño – Oscilação Sul, não é possível apontar influência direta dos mesmos nesses processos. Entendendo o risco como a relação do perigo ou ameaça de ocorrência de eventos adversos com a vulnerabilidade dos elementos expostos gerou-se a espacialização desses fatores e o mapa de risco de inundação. O perigo expressa a probabilidade quantitativa ou qualitativa de recorrência, abrangência, intensidade que ocorre o processo. Por meio da mancha de inundação de tempo de retorno de 100 anos, obteve-se o mapa de perigo. Os setores apontados com alto a muito alto perigo localizam-se nos bairros de Alvorada (Passo do Feijó, Umbu, Jardim Algarve e Americana) e Porto Alegre (Rubem Berta), apresentando de 50% a 80% das suas áreas com possibilidade de serem inundadas. O levantamento por meio do índice de vulnerabilidade proposto apontou os setores mais vulneráveis de toda a bacia em geral, bem como os que indicam qual população está mais exposta aos eventos adversos. Os municípios de Alvorada e Viamão foram os que apontaram mais setores com índice de elevado de vulnerabilidade. Setores que apontam baixo desenvolvimento social e baixa capacidade de enfretamento aos desastres. Por meio do mapa de risco, foram identificadas as áreas com baixo a muito alto riscos de inundação da BHAF, os setores censitários mais críticos, encontram-se nos bairros Passo do Feijó e Americana em Alvorada. A análise de risco demostra ser importante ferramenta para identificar áreas que necessitem maior atenção do poder público e investimentos em ações de proteção, prevenção e mitigação. A metodologia demonstrou ser eficaz, sendo de fácil execução, implementação e baixo custo. Pretende-se dessa forma, contribuir através desse estudo para uma gestão de riscos e desastres mais eficiente na área. / The increase in population in large urban centers, enviromental issues and global climate changes, among others factors, have increased the frequency and the intensity of extreme events and natural disasters across the globe and in this country. The south appears to be the most affected region, suffering from droughts and floods. This study aims to analyze the risks of flooding at the Feijo stream basin which often suffers from floods. The study is based on the methodological approach of the vulnerability index, which includes demographic and social data from the census tracts (IBGE). It covers areas of the municipalities of Porto Alegre, Alvorada e Viamão, at the Rio Grande do Sul state. Over the period analyzed, from 1980 to 2015, 36 floods were recorded in 19 years, with the probability of a 53% occurrence of a new damaging event each year. The most frequent months are February, September and October. Although 63% of the years with the occurrence of floods have also shown the occurrence of El Niño - South Oscillation phenomenon, it is not possible to indicate direct influence. Recognizing risk as the relation of danger or threat of adverse occurring events with the vulnerability of the elements exposed is how the spatialization of these factors and the flood risk map were generated. The hazard expresses the quantitative or qualitative probability of recurrence, extent, intensity in which the process occurs. By means of the 100-year return time flood spot the hazard map was obtained. The high-risk areas are located in the Alvorada (Passo do Feijó, Umbu, Jardim Algarve and Americana) and Porto Alegre (Rubem Berta) neighborhoods, pointing to 50% to 80% of these areas with the possibility of being flooded. The survey using the proposed Vulnerability index showed the most vulnerable sectors of the entire basin, as well as which population groups are most exposed to adverse events. The municipalities of Alvorada and Viamão were those that indicated more sectors with a high index of vulnerability. These are sectors that show low social development and low ability to cope with disasters. By means of the risk map, the areas with low to very high flood risks of BHAF (the most critical census tracts) were identified in the Passo do Feijó and Americana neighborhoods in Alvorada. The risk analysis proves to be an important tool to identify areas that need greater public attention and investments in protection, prevention and mitigation actions. The methodology proved to be effective, being to put into effect and implement, and at a low cost. The aim is to contribute through this study to a more efficient risk and disaster management in the area.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:33:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-07-23Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:45:18Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 magagnini_mam_me_botfm.pdf: 799353 bytes, checksum: ab2a1f8d6a820443033187b7b925857d (MD5) / Fundação para o Desenvolvimento Médico e Hospitalar (Famesp) / Secretaria de Saúde do Estado de São Paulo / O presente estudo teve como objetivos caracterizar os profissionais da equipe de enfermagem que sofreram acidentes com material biológico no período de 2001 a 2006; verificar a ocorrência de soroconversão pelos vírus da hepatite B e C e HIV por meio de exames comprobatórios e compreender o significado dos acidentes de trabalho com material biológico atribuído pelos profissionais. Estudo exploratório e descritivo de caráter retrospectivo, com abordagem quantitativa e qualitativa. No período estudado ocorreram 87 acidentes com material biológico entre os profissionais da equipe de enfermagem. Pela análise quantitativa verificou-se a maior ocorrência de acidentes nos anos de 2003, 2005 e 2006, nas unidades de Clínica médico-Cirúrgica e Pronto Socorro. Ao analisarmos os dados relacionados ao sexo, o feminino, foi o mais acometido, sendo este em maior número na instituição, pela a análise proporcional ao número total de trabalhadores, o masculino destacou-se. Empregando o mesmo cálculo, o enfermeiro foi o que mais se acidentou proporcionalmente ao número de profissionais por categoria. A lesão percutânea predominou nos acidentes, envolvendo o sangue. Em relação aos EPIs a maioria dos profissionais faziam uso no momento da exposição. Ocorreram oito acidentes com pacientes comprovados para hepatite B e C e HIV, após o seguimento desses profissionais não houve soroconversão. Ao indagar esses profissionais sobre o significado dos acidentes, emergiram quatro categorias: situação de risco, percepção de perigo, fatalidade e sentimentos envolvidos após a exposição; que permitiram correlacionar as unidades temáticas ao profissional e a organização de trabalho. Os acidentes constituiram-se em um agravo sério a esses profissionais, e permitiram uma reflexão, por parte destes, no desempenho de suas funções... / This study aimed at characterizing nursing team professionals who had suffered accidents involving biological material in the period ranging from 2001 to 2006; observing the occurrence of serum conversion by the hepatitis-B and hepatitis-C viruses and HIV through confirmatory tests and understanding the meaning of labor accidents involving biological material to such professionals. It is an exploratory, descriptive and retrospective study with a quantitative and qualitative approach. Eighty-seven accidents involving biological material occurred among nursing team professionals in the period. According to quantitative analysis, it was observed that most accidents took place in 2003, 2005 and 2006 at the medical surgery clinic and emergency units. When analyzing sex-related data, it was found that females were mostly affected as there was a larger number of female staff in the institution. The numbers of males affected was distinctive when a proportional analysis on the total numbers of staff was conducted. By using similar calculation procedures, nurses were mostly victimized by accidents proportionally to the number of professionals in each category. Percutaneous lesions predominated in the accidents involving blood. As regards individual protection equipment (IPE), most professionals were using it at the moment of exposure. Eight accidents involving patients with confirmed diagnoses for B and C hepatitis and HIV occurred. Serum conversion was not observed after the professionals’ follow-up. When the professionals were questioned about the meaning of the accidents, four categories emerged: risk situation, perception of danger, fatality and feelings involved after the exposure, which made it possible to correlate the meaning units to the professionals and the work organization. The accidents constituted a serious damage to these professionals and enabled... (Complete abstract, click electronic access below)

O aumento da população em grandes centros urbanos, dos problemas ambientais, e as mudanças climáticas globais são alguns dos fatores que têm influenciado numa maior intensidade e a frequência de eventos extremos e de desastres naturais em todo o globo. A região sul do Brasil aparece como uma das mais afetadas, sofrendo com estiagens e inundações recorrentes. O presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar o risco de inundação da bacia hidrográfica do arroio Feijó que sofre frequentemente com inundações. Baseia-se na abordagem metodológica do Índice de Vulnerabilidade, que contempla dados demográficos e sociais dos setores censitários (IBGE). Abrange áreas dos municípios de Porto Alegre, Alvorada e Viamão, no estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Ao longo do período analisado, de 1980 a 2015, foram registradas 36 inundações em 19 anos, com a probabilidade de 53% ocorrência de um novo evento danoso a cada ano. Os meses com maior frequência são fevereiro setembro e outubro. Ainda que 63% dos anos com inundações tenham apontado atuação do fenômeno El Niño – Oscilação Sul, não é possível apontar influência direta dos mesmos nesses processos. Entendendo o risco como a relação do perigo ou ameaça de ocorrência de eventos adversos com a vulnerabilidade dos elementos expostos gerou-se a espacialização desses fatores e o mapa de risco de inundação. O perigo expressa a probabilidade quantitativa ou qualitativa de recorrência, abrangência, intensidade que ocorre o processo. Por meio da mancha de inundação de tempo de retorno de 100 anos, obteve-se o mapa de perigo. Os setores apontados com alto a muito alto perigo localizam-se nos bairros de Alvorada (Passo do Feijó, Umbu, Jardim Algarve e Americana) e Porto Alegre (Rubem Berta), apresentando de 50% a 80% das suas áreas com possibilidade de serem inundadas. O levantamento por meio do índice de vulnerabilidade proposto apontou os setores mais vulneráveis de toda a bacia em geral, bem como os que indicam qual população está mais exposta aos eventos adversos. Os municípios de Alvorada e Viamão foram os que apontaram mais setores com índice de elevado de vulnerabilidade. Setores que apontam baixo desenvolvimento social e baixa capacidade de enfretamento aos desastres. Por meio do mapa de risco, foram identificadas as áreas com baixo a muito alto riscos de inundação da BHAF, os setores censitários mais críticos, encontram-se nos bairros Passo do Feijó e Americana em Alvorada. A análise de risco demostra ser importante ferramenta para identificar áreas que necessitem maior atenção do poder público e investimentos em ações de proteção, prevenção e mitigação. A metodologia demonstrou ser eficaz, sendo de fácil execução, implementação e baixo custo. Pretende-se dessa forma, contribuir através desse estudo para uma gestão de riscos e desastres mais eficiente na área. / The increase in population in large urban centers, enviromental issues and global climate changes, among others factors, have increased the frequency and the intensity of extreme events and natural disasters across the globe and in this country. The south appears to be the most affected region, suffering from droughts and floods. This study aims to analyze the risks of flooding at the Feijo stream basin which often suffers from floods. The study is based on the methodological approach of the vulnerability index, which includes demographic and social data from the census tracts (IBGE). It covers areas of the municipalities of Porto Alegre, Alvorada e Viamão, at the Rio Grande do Sul state. Over the period analyzed, from 1980 to 2015, 36 floods were recorded in 19 years, with the probability of a 53% occurrence of a new damaging event each year. The most frequent months are February, September and October. Although 63% of the years with the occurrence of floods have also shown the occurrence of El Niño - South Oscillation phenomenon, it is not possible to indicate direct influence. Recognizing risk as the relation of danger or threat of adverse occurring events with the vulnerability of the elements exposed is how the spatialization of these factors and the flood risk map were generated. The hazard expresses the quantitative or qualitative probability of recurrence, extent, intensity in which the process occurs. By means of the 100-year return time flood spot the hazard map was obtained. The high-risk areas are located in the Alvorada (Passo do Feijó, Umbu, Jardim Algarve and Americana) and Porto Alegre (Rubem Berta) neighborhoods, pointing to 50% to 80% of these areas with the possibility of being flooded. The survey using the proposed Vulnerability index showed the most vulnerable sectors of the entire basin, as well as which population groups are most exposed to adverse events. The municipalities of Alvorada and Viamão were those that indicated more sectors with a high index of vulnerability. These are sectors that show low social development and low ability to cope with disasters. By means of the risk map, the areas with low to very high flood risks of BHAF (the most critical census tracts) were identified in the Passo do Feijó and Americana neighborhoods in Alvorada. The risk analysis proves to be an important tool to identify areas that need greater public attention and investments in protection, prevention and mitigation actions. The methodology proved to be effective, being to put into effect and implement, and at a low cost. The aim is to contribute through this study to a more efficient risk and disaster management in the area.

As áreas urbanas precárias, também denominadas de favelas são as mais frequentemente afetadas por escorregamentos e também as mais vulneráveis, gerando danos sociais de maior monta. Este cenário resultou na demanda e no desenvolvimento de uma série de ações do poder público em diferentes municípios e estados brasileiros, culminando com o estabelecimento de um programa federal, vinculado ao Ministério das Cidades, voltado à mitigação destes riscos com o desenvolvimento de mapeamentos e a implantação de planos preventivos de defesa civil, de obras de estabilização e de reurbanização nestas áreas de risco. No estado de São Paulo, o mapeamento de escorregamento em encostas urbanas precárias vem sendo realizado desde 1990, através das iniciativas de órgãos públicos e com a participação de diversas instituições. O método de mapeamento atualmente mais utilizado emprega como técnicas principais a realização de vistorias sistemáticas de campo, investigações de superfície, utilização de fichas descritivas para armazenar as informações coletadas e a delimitação de setores de risco em imagens aéreas recentes e de grande escala e de detalhe. Este método é bastante aplicado e muitas vezes consegue subsidiar satisfatoriamente as ações de mitigação dos riscos de escorregamentos, indicando os locais prioritários para receberem estas ações. Por outro lado, o método também é questionado pelo meio técnico devido sua abordagem qualitativa, pela pouca utilização dos métodos clássicos de mapeamento geotécnico e de análise de estabilidade de taludes e pelo grau elevado de subjetividade que pode agregar, podendo produzir resultados de baixa confiabilidade. A contribuição da presente pesquisa é o aprimoramento do método de mapeamento de perigo e de risco de escorregamentos em áreas urbanas, diminuindo a subjetividade na comparação e na hierarquização dos setores, sem modificar sua abordagem fundamental e suas técnicas principais atualmente utilizadas. Para tornar o método mais sistemático, propõe-se incorporar o Processo de Análise Hierárquica (AHP) na análise dos indicadores e na hierarquização dos setores de perigo. Comparou-se o mapeamento de perigo com a aplicação do AHP com o mapeamento de risco de escorregamentos realizado em São Sebastião (SP) pelo IG-SMA em 2005, verificando-se que os resultados do mapeamento de perigo com a aplicação do AHP foram mais conservadores em algumas áreas. Entretanto, os resultados com a aplicação do AHP, diminuiu a subjetividade e evidenciou a facilidade e praticidade em se verificar a contribuição (em forma de peso) dos indicadores de perigo na classificação do perigo nos setores mapeados. Também foram analisadas as opiniões de três especialistas nos julgamentos paritários dos indicadores de perigo de escorregamentos. Os resultados não mostraram discrepâncias na classificação do perigo. / The poor urban areas, also called slums are the most frequently affected by landslides and also the most vulnerable, leading to greater social harm mounts. This situation pushed a series of actions by public authorities in several Brazilian cities and states. In the federal level was, established a program, under the auspice of the Ministry of Cities, aimed to mitigating these risks with the development of hazard and risk mapping projects and implementation of preventive plans for civil defense, works of stabilization and redevelopment in these areas of risk. In the State of São Paulo, the landslide mapping on poor and slum urban areas has been held since 1990 in several municipalities, through the initiatives of government agencies and with the participation of many institutions. The mapping method employs currently more used as main techniques to carry out systematic field surveys, surface investigations, use of fact sheets to store the information collected and the delimitation of areas of hazard and risk in aerial images, and recent large-scale and detail. This mapping method has been widely applied and often gave satisfactorily support to the initiatives to mitigate the risks of landslides, indicating the prior sites to receive those initiatives. Nevertheless, the method is questioned by the specialists because of its qualitative approach, the lack of use of traditional methods of geological and geotechnical investigation and analysis of slope stability and the high degree of subjectivity that sometimes can produce unreliable results. The expected contribution to this research is to enhance the method of hazard mapping and risk of landslides in poor and slum urban areas by reducing its subjectivity for the comparison and ranking of sectors. It is not the intent of the research to change, its fundamental approach and its main techniques currently used. To this end, it is proposed to incorporate to the method the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in the systematic analysis of the indicators and the ranking of hazard sectors. We compared the hazard mapping with the application of the AHP and landslide risk mapping conducted in São Sebastião - SP by the IG-SMA in 2005, verifying that the results of the hazard mapping in the application of the AHP were more conservative in some areas. However, the results from the application of the AHP, decreased the subjectivity and demonstrated the ease and convenience to verify the contribution (in the form of weight) of the hazard indicators in the ranking of hazard in the areas mapped. We also analyzed the opinions of three experts in the trials of parity landslides hazard indicators. The results showed no discrepancies in the ranking of hazard.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar na cadeia produtiva do camarão Litopenaeus vannamei os perigos à saúde animal e à saúde pública e as respectivas medidas de controle, a partir de levantamentos bibliográficos. Os principais perigos à saúde animal identificados foram os vírus da Mancha Branca, Cauda Amarela, Mionecrose Infecciosa, síndrome da Taura e bactérias hepatonecrosantes dos camarões, que ocasionam grandes prejuízos para a cadeia produtiva, devido à queda da produtividade e às elevadas taxas de mortalidade. Esses perigos apresentam riscos à saúde animal, quando se mantêm viáveis nas plantas de cultivo, decorrente das práticas inadequadas de manejo sanitário e da queda de qualidade da água nos viveiros. Quanto aos riscos à saúde humana, alguns patógenos como: Vibrio spp, Salmonella spp e Staphylococcus aureus apresentam perigo se presente e viável no camarão contaminado. O uso abusivo e indiscriminado de metabissulfito de sódio em diferentes concentrações nas plantas de processamento, de contaminantes inorgânicos e resíduos de medicamentos veterinários nas criações podem resultar em níveis elevados de toxicidade aos animais e ao ambiente, precisando, consequentemente ser corrigido com a adoção de boas práticas de manejo do ambiente, implantação de vazio sanitário e estabelecimento de parâmetros microbiológicos e ambientais nos viveiros. Por ser uma atividade promissora para o desenvolvimento socioeconômico do país, é de extrema importância a adoção de medidas de controle destes perigos, que incluem a aplicação dos princípios das &quot;Boas Práticas&quot; e da &quot;Análise de Perigos e Pontos Críticos de Controle&quot; no manejo ambiental e sanitário em todos os elos da cadeia produtiva, dos criatórios até o consumo. / The objetive of this study was to identify in the production chain of shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei the hazards to animal health and public health and their control measures, from the literature. The main hazards to animal health were identified: viruses White Spot, Yellow Tail, Infectious Myonecrosis, Taura syndrome and Hepatonecrotysing bacteria of prawns, which promote large losses in the supply chain due to a drop in productivity and high mortality rates. They are considered dangerous to animal and human health, because they maintain viable pathogens in crop plants, resulting from inadequate health management practices and falling water quality in the ponds. In relation to chemical hazards, the indiscriminate use of sodium metabisulphite, inorganic contaminants and residues of veterinary drugs and pesticides can result in situations of high toxicity to animals and the environment, and must be controlled by adopting good environmental management practices, implementation of depopulation and the establishment of microbiological parameters and environmental conditions in nurseries. Physical hazards can be related to any failure in the process of industrialization and commercialization, in which the detection of foreign objects should be checked by visual inspection and the use of metal detectors. Since it is a promising socio-economic development of the country, it is extremely important to adopt measures to control these hazards, including the principles of &quot; Good Practice&quot; and &quot;Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points &quot; in the management of environment and health in all links in the production chain, from the farms to the consumers.