Environmental Project, 907 – LCA and the working environment

LCA and the Working Environment

Summary and conclusions

The report consists of two parts, i.e. a main report and an Appendix.

The main report is a description of a new methodology for working environmental aspects in LCA, including an extensive database. It is suggested to replace the methodology that was developed in the original EDIP project. The new methodology is based on two types of Danish statistical information regarding economic sectors, i.e. information on the amounts being produced (in weight units) in a number of sectors, and information on the number of reported work-related diseases and damages in the same sectors. By combing the statistics it is possible to establish a figure for working environment impacts per produced unit that can be used together with information on the impacts in the external environment.

The following impact categories are included in the assessment of the working environment:

Fatal accidents
Total number of accidents
CNS function disorder
Hearing damages
Cancer
Muscolo-sceletal disorders
Airway diseases (allergic)
Airway diseases (non-allergic)
Skin diseases
Psycho-social diseases

In contrast to the original EDIP methodology the new method doesnot include assessment of single processes in the companies. The main advantage of this is that it becomes much easier to collect and process the necessary information for a working environmental LCA. Another advantage is that the uncertainty in combining information from very different sources is avoided. Finally, it is possible to establish the same type of information for other countries, thereby facilitating the development of an even more extensive database.

The main limitation when using a sector assessment is that the level of detail cannot be increased beyond the level allowed by the basic statistical information. Assessment of specific processes is outside the scope of the methodology, and only larger companies can be expected to possess a set of statistics that can replace the average information from the whole sector. The method is, thus, not well suited for assessing the effect on the overall results following changes in the choice of specific processes or materials in a single company.

The established database covers about 80 economic sectors that are divided into four groups, i.e. raw material production (e.g. energy resources, metals, paper, etc.), production of intermediates and components (e.g. wood products, plastics, ceramics, metal products, etc.), production of final products (e.g. furniture and various electromechanical products) and transportation. The database is at present not integrated in the EDIP PC tool, but is available in the form of a spreadsheet.

The report also describes how comparable information can be derived from companies whose activities are not included in the database. This type of information is most often significantly less detailed, but can be used to indicate the relative importance of a given activity.

It is concluded that the new methodology and the associated database can be used to make life cycle assessments of the working environment. This is demonstrated in a case study of an office chair, in which the magnitude of the actual impacts is examined along with the relative importance of the single activities. It is also possible to get an overview of which activities that are most important for each of the impact categories included in the methodology.

The data format in the case study matches that for the other impact categories in the EDIP methodology, i.e. it is possible to make an impact assessment and subsequently normalise the results.

The Appendix describes the process of developing the new method. The main content of the Appendix is a description of the methods for working environmental LCA that were available at the start of the project. The descriptions were presented together with practical experiences at a mid-project workshop, where about 65 LCA practitioners and working environmental professionals participated.

The discussions at the workshop showed that there is a large interest in working environmental LCA at least in Denmark and Scandinavia, but also that the existing methodologies did not fulfil the requirements from the audience. Some criticism was voiced, especially regarding the lack of precision and usability of the methods in relation to the time that is necessary to produce the results.

It is the hope that the new methodology will serve the primary purpose of including the working environment in LCA, i.e. to avoid environmental improvement of products and products systems at the expense of the working environment. It is also the hope that the basics of the methodology will gain international acceptance, thereby increasing the usefulness for all LCA practitioners and at the same time help improve the working environment also outside Denmark.