regulations Archives

Regulations or Risk-based regulations for mine waste management

In these days of increased scrutiny by regulators and public opinion pressure we face a conundrum: Regulations or Risk-based regulations for mine waste management? The 2015 South African regulations reportedly specify design standards for mining waste disposal facilities based on the character of waste. As discussed in our recent blog post on mine waste classification systems waste characterization is a measure of the waste hazard and not of the risks generated by those wastes. Regulations based on hazards are ubiquitous…

Lac Megantic, biases, incomplete consequences, and regulations

Lac Megantic, biases, incomplete consequences, and regulations Lac Megantic, Canada, railroad derailment tragedy reportedly brought direct destruction and casualties on a radius of 200-400m when a number of hydrocarbon tank cars exploded. Once again media and public opinion realized later on that the immense suffering endured by the community extends it’s shadow far away from the point and time of the tragedy with far reaching indirect consequences (exclusions zone, logistic, loss of market share, bankruptcies, increase of jobless, depression, environmental,…