NATURAL SCIENCES

Journal of fundamental
and
applied researches

Technogenic hazards: A threat to human life activity

2013. №1, pp. 36-43

Tatarintsev Sergey A. - post-graduate student, Astrakhan State University, 1 Shaumian Sq., Astrakhan, 414000, Russian Federation, estnauki@rambler.ru

Barmin Alexander N. - D.Sc. (Geography), Head of Chair, Astrakhan State University, 1 Shaumian Sq., Astrakhan, 414000, Russian Federation, abarmin60@mail.ru

Kolchin Eugeny A. - Ph.D. (Geography), Senior Lecturer, Astrakhan State University, 1 Shaumian Sq., Astrakhan, 414000, Russian Federation, eakol4in@rambler.ru

Shuvaev Alexey S. - graduate student, Astrakhan State University, 1 Shaumian Sq., Astrakhan, 414000, Russian Federation, shuvns@rambler.ru

This article discusses technogenic (man-made) hazards, defining the dynamics of their development, their environment, and the socio-economic consequences wreaked by them upon the environment and human society. It adds that scientific and technological progress has not only helped to improve productivity and enhance social welfare, but also led to an increase in new threats for the individual and for civilization in general. In the modern technosphere, the document says, new negative factors have been formed. It notes that work and life conditions have a stronger effect than does adaptation upon the physiological and psychological capabilities of an organism. Moreover, as the rate of technological progress increases, the economic impact of human activities on nature will likely become more destructive and capable of inflicting a series of man-made disasters (fires, explosions, chemical releases, etc.). The results of their influence, in the critique’s view, would be to decrease the potential well-being of the region’s economic, social and environmental conditions. The reasons for such technogenic hazards could include the inefficient allocation of potentially hazardous production facilities, failures in the economic and social infrastructure, technological backwardness of production, and low implementation of resource-,energy-saving and secure technologies. Alternatively, the hazards could have been caused by a depreciation in the security of the means of production, reaching, in some cases, pre-emergency levels. It follows that these might raise the volume of transportation and storage, as well as the probable application of hazardous and harmful substances and materials. These would, the commentary asserts, reduce the professional level of the employees and detract from the quality of their work culture, thereby lowering the monitoring level for the critical infrastructure. In conclusion, the blueprint suggests that the most acute problems at present are those related to ensuring the security of human life, of identifying patterns of dangerous anthropogenic processes and of assessing their potential impact on the regional environment and population.

Key words: life activity,environment,technogenic hazard,accident,destruction of technical equipment (facilities),emergency,engineering systems,the ’human factor’