The impact of occupational exposures on infection rates during the COVID-19 pandemic: a test-negative design study with register data of 207 034 Dutch workers

Objective This study aimed to investigate the effects of occupational exposures on the risk of a positive COVID-19 test, and whether this differed across pandemic waves. Methods Data from 207 034 workers from The Netherlands with test data on COVID-19 from June 2020 until August 2021 were available. Occupational exposure was estimated by using...

Validation of a COVID-19 Job Exposure Matrix (COVID-19-JEM) for Occupational Risk of a SARS-CoV-2 Infection at Work: Using Data of Dutch Workers

Objectives A COVID-19 Job Exposure Matrix (COVID-19-JEM) has been developed, consisting of four dimensions on transmission, two on mitigation measures, and two on precarious work. This study aims to validate the COVID-19-JEM by (i) comparing risk scores assigned by the COVID-19-JEM with self-reported data, and (ii) estimating the associations...

Wave propagation modelling of induced earthquakes at the Groningen gas production site

Gas extraction from the Groningen natural gas field, situated in the Netherlands, frequently induces earthquakes in the reservoir that cause damage to buildings, and pose a safety hazard and a nuisance to the local population. Due to the dependence of the national heating infrastructure on Groningen gas, the short-term mitigation measures are...

The influence of risk mitigation measures on the risks, costs and routing of CO 2pipelines

The aim of this study was to analyze whether, and if so, in what way risks would influence the design,costs and routing of CO2pipelines. This article assesses locational and societal risks of CO2pipelinetransport and analyses whether rerouting or implementing additional risk mitigation measures is themost cost-effective option. The models...

A barrier for low frequency noise from starting aircraft: Comparison between numerical and scale model results

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has organized a competition to design a noise mitigating measure along the 'Polderbaan' runway. Its main goal is to reduce the low frequency (LF) ground noise from starting aircraft. The winning concept is a flexible parabolic shaped noise barrier positioned relatively close to the runway. There is a large distance...

On the relevance of nonacoustic factors influencing the annoyance caused by environmental sounds - A literature study

The annoyance caused by environmental sounds is only in part related to the noise dose. Nonacoustic factors have systematic effects on annoyance also. In the present literature study we explored what nonacoustic factors may be considered as potential tools to reduce the annoyance. Studies designed to test the effect of the nonacoustic factors in...

The acoustic source strength of high-energy blast waves: combining measurements and a non-linear model

In the densely populated area of the Netherlands, the objective of the Netherlands Ministry of Defence is to find an optimal balance between military training and the impact on the surrounding civilian community. A special case concerns large weapons, such as artillery or demolitions, which create high-energy blast waves. These waves have a low...

A numerical technique to design blast noise mitigation measures

Large weapons, such as armor, artillery or demolitions, create a high-energy blast wave. It has a low frequency content, typically between 15 and 125 Hz, and can propagate over large distances. As a result it is a relative important cause for annoyance. Mitigation measures need to be close to the source for best effectiveness, but due to the...

SAKAMATA: A tool to avoid whale strandings

World-wide a concern exists about the influence of man-made noise on marine life, and particularly of high power sonar. Most concern lies with marine mammals that use acoustics for hunting, communication and/or navigation. This concern is fed by recent strandings of whales that could be related to military sonar transmissions and seismic...