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are usually trained from a technical, procedural and physical point of view. Still, during rescue simulations and competitions, technical training is not the only element involved. Participants work under time pressure, external evaluation, uncertainty and responsibility, and these conditions may generate strong emotional reactions. If these reactions are not regulated, they can affect attention, decision-making, coordination with the team and recovery after the task. The current paper starts from the practical ne...

Environmental pollution with microplastics is a global concern, accompanied by a large body of research primarily focused on aquatic environments. Microplastic contamination has a considerable impact on both the biological diversity of aquatic ecosystems and human health. In this context, the present paper provides an overview of technologies and measures aimed at reducing the presence of microplastics in surface waters, emphasizing two complementary approaches: the removal of microplastics from transfer pathways ...

In modern industry, the safety of employees and equipment in potentially explosive environments is a major challenge, such as in companies handling hydrogen and other flammable gases. In this context, the selection and psychological assessment of emergency personnel and the mental health of employees are essential elements for team safety and success of emergency interventions. The paper aims to propose a potential methodological framework for the assessment of relevant psychological traits in these professions, u...

In light of the current challenges faced by rescuers during intervention operations, it is essential to place special emphasis on modernizing training infrastructure. Rescuers are often exposed to difficult and unpredictable conditions, whether operating in surface industries or underground environments. Adequate training and constant updates of training equipment are fundamental to ensuring both efficiency and safety in emergency interventions. The use of modern equipment and advanced technologies not only enhanc...

Following the vehicle painting process, residual gases containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released into the atmosphere through exhaust pipes. Entrepreneurs are legally obliged to report to the Environmental Protection Agency, which, in turn, reports to the European Union to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The current paper investigates the temporal variation of VOC concentrations correlated with technological processes carried out in vehicle painting shops. Thr...

Resilience is an essential psychological trait for rescuers, as their work involves responding to emergencies and disasters in challenging and often dangerous environments. In the case of rescuers, resilience enables them to remain calm and focused under pressure, cope with the physical and emotional demands of their job, and recover from the traumatic experiences they may encounter in the course of their work. Rescuers often face a range of stressful and challenging situations, such as working in confined spaces,...

On the way to a climate-neutral Europe and a cleaner planet in general, it is important to rethink energy supply and build a fully integrated energy system within the framework of the European Green Deal. According to research, renewable energies could provide a substantial part of the European energy mix until 2050. In this mix, hydrogen could represent up to 20%, respectively between 20-50% of energy needed in transport and between 5-20% of energy needed in industry. An economy based on renewable hydrogen can si...

Psychosocial risks are defined by the International Labor Organization in terms of interactions between job content, work organization and management, and other environmental and organizational conditions, on one hand, and employee conditions, skills, and needs, on the other. Thus, psychosocial risks refer to those interactions that prove to have a dangerous influence on employees' health through their perceptions and experience. Long-term involvement in stressful work situations can lead to onset of burnout syndr...

In recent years, virtual reality developers have managed to create an artificial environment that can simulate reality so that the user has the impression of an almost real physical presence in the virtual world. By overlapping and synchronizing projected images with spatial sounds and even with forces that interact with the user, the user is detached from the real environment and an all-encompassing involvement in the virtual world occurs. Virtual reality is frequently present in aviation, medicine, military trai...

Despite all technical and technological advances, most industries are experiencing damage resulting in human casualties and property damage. Thus, the presence of special intervention and rescue teams at economic agent’s units is essential to limit / eliminate damage that generates toxic / explosive / flammable environments and rescue those caught in such events. The intervention activity in such special conditions can be carried out exclusively by trained and authorized personnel in this respect, personnel using ...

The nature of their work places intervention and rescue personnel at the top of professions that face a considerable number of occupational health and safety risks, which are sometimes unavoidable. Often, this occupational category does not face a single safety risk, but a complex combination of risk factors, including unpredictability of situations in which they are required to work. The growing issue of protecting emergency workers against occupational health and safety risks has been highlighted as a priority b...

At present, the issue of waste management is becoming more acute because of increased quantity and diversity of waste, as well as because of its more and more pronounced negative impact on the environment. The current paper showcases a study carried out at a compliant household waste landfill where the following were monitored: quality of air containing wind driven suspensions, gases coming from the warehouse surface or from trapping and burning methane resulted from landfill?s cells as well as odorants released i...

Stress agents are only potentially stressful, generating psychological stress only under certain conditions, even if some of them are able of generating stress reactions in most individuals. Therefore, effects of stressors depend not only on their own characteristics but also on attributes of the subject receiving their action such as quality and breadth of emotional responses, adaptive strategies available and mobilized in the created interaction etc. Specific responses to a situation that potentially endangers l...

Both surface but especially underground rescue activities in industrial environments presenting risk of explosive / flammable or toxic gases, are difficult because of major risk of fires or explosions in a very short time. Dense smoke can make rescue work even more difficult and time becomes an extremely important factor, especially when workers are caught in the affected area and it is assumed that they could be alive. The technological development of last years has allowed the miniaturization of equipment and oc...

Vulnerability to stress occurs during the person's biography, depending on psycho-emotional trauma, experiences of severe psychological stressful situations, including how the individual succeeded in managing them. Some people have a constitutional or psychological vulnerability to the action of traditional stressors, being more prone to psychic stress. The multifactorial complex of non-specific factors that modulate the individual response necessarily includes personality traits, acquired during the individual's ...

Psychological research makes progress in associating personality traits with specific actions and behaviours, seeking individual differences in brain anatomy and physiology, in body functions and processes of self-regulation, sensation and perception, in information processing and thinking patterns, in behaviour and emotional regulation, in interpersonal interactions and many other psychological indicators. Depending on the characteristics of the work environment, various psychological indicators are involved in r...

When it comes to workplaces characterized by a high degree of hazard and liability, such as mine intervention and rescue in major risk environments the most important element is the convergence of the skills required by job and skills of the individual, this being the guarantee of successful vocational selection. Along with psychological selection, training / retraining and physical training in conditions as close as possible to the reality of future interventions, under the action of stress factors that cause neg...

In our century and especially in recent decades the noise level reached an increasing width, becoming a polluting source of the same severity as chemical pollution. Increasing power and work speed of equipments has contributed to diversifying and increasing the number of noise sources and thus increased number of people exposed. Noise generating sources in technological procedures of processing may be of continuous nature (pneumatic energy production, water transport) or intermittent (systems for transporting mine...