OSHA's interest in chemical plant safety

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been required by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 to promulgate a process safety management (PSM) standard for the prevention of catastrophic incidents and to protect the safety and health of employees in the covered plants. The law requires the OSHA standard to cover at least 14 areas or issues and to cover highly hazardous chemicals which include toxic, flammable, highly reactive and explosive substances. The paper will describe in detail how OSHA has responded to this statute and what we have accomplished in the rulemaking effort. Also the interface with other relevant OSHA standards, including the Hazard Communication standard, the Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response standard, the Control of Hazardous Energy Sources (Lockout/Tagout) standard, and others will be discussed. In addition other recent laws that relate to and impact the OSHA PSM standard such as the Hazardous Materials Transportation Uniform Safety Act of 1990, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986, will be explained as to their relationship to PSM. The emergency preparedness efforts required of employers under PSM and the relationship to SARA Title III efforts by local community emergency response organization will be covered, as well as the interface with the EPA Risk Management Program initiative that EPA must do under the Clean Air Act Amendments.     

试论工程量清单计价模式

推行工程量清单计价是“控制量、放开价、由企业自主报价、最终由市场形成价格,,的改革思路的体现。在工程量清单计价模式下工程造价由分部分项工程费、措施项目费、其他项目费、规费和税金等构成。采用工程量清单计价的一般工作程序为编制工程量清单、投标人依据工程量清单确定单价、确定投标总价、公开开标、评标定标、中标签订合同等。在这种模式下进行投标报价的关键是落实招投标法“三公”原则,以及“合理低价中价．不低于成本’’的原则。章最后提出了应注意的一些问题。     

美国拟征收碳关税中国当如何应对

美国众议院2009年6月底通过了《美国清洁能源安全法案》。法案允许美国对来自没有采取与美国相当的温室气体减排措施国家的高能耗、初级进口产品征收碳关税。尽管相应的法案还有待美国参议院通过,但中国应未雨绸缪,采取适当策略加以应对。中国应适时向世界预示何时对其温室气体排放总量进行控制,消除美国通过实施碳关税指责中国的把柄;应综合考量确定排放总量,承诺控制排放应循序渐进,由易而难,留有过渡期和相对应的承诺;应充分利用气候变化国际框架公约搭建的平台,有效应对碳关税。     

Technical Note: New Depreciation Rules from the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002 and their Impact on Capital Investment

United States President George W. Bush recently signed an economic stimulus bill into law entitled the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act. The law issues a number of directives aimed at increasing corporate capital expenditures in hopes of revitalizing a sagging economy. In this article, we focus on the increased amount of depreciation allowed in the first year following a qualifying capital investment. Specifically, an “additional” 30% of depreciation is allowed in the first year for ail personal property assets (20-year asset classes or less). This is clearly a significant change. Here, we derive “new” depreciation tables for personal property classes with the adjusted rule, both for MACRS and AMACRS, and illustrate the impact on capital investment decisions.     

我国清单计价与英式清单计价的对比分析

随着新定额的颁布实施，被呼吁多年的量价分离在新定额中得到应用，工程造价计价方法也发生了重大变化，国外先进国家的工程造价计价方法被采用，但是，由于工程量清单计价的应用处于初始阶段，清单计价与英式计价还存在着一定的距离，笔通过对比分析，提出了清单计价的发展方向。     

A Preliminary Investigation into the Effects of the Federal Override of State Usury Ceilings on the Supply of Mortgage Funds by FSLIC-Insured S&Ls in New York and New Jersey

Examined is the economic theory that restrictive usury ceilings reduce the supply of residential mortgage funds and tighten terms of the mortgage instrument. Studied are the mortgage policies adopted by New York and New Jersey FSLIC-insured S&Ls during periods when there were restrictive usury ceilings and when these usury ceilings were removed. The results clearly confirm the theory that effective elimination of usury ceilings increases the supply of mortgage funds and also liberalizes the terms of the mortgage instrument.     

Telecommunications evolution and inequities of current tax policies: A case analysis for New Jersey

Telecommunications technologies, services and regulatory policies have been on a rapid spiral of evolution in recent years. However, state policies on taxation of telecommunications services and service providers and the systems of compensation of local governments for the use of public resources by cable television and telecommunications companies, have not kept pace with this rapid change. This paper examines the case of the State of New Jersey. It provides a baseline profile of revenues, taxes and user fees of telecommunications service providers for 1999 through 2005. The paper illustrates the effect of convergence and discusses the need for updating tax policies.     

The role of antitrust in a small open economy: The Commerce Act in New Zealand

This paper reviews the New Zealand antitrust regime represented by the Commerce Act 1986. The context is a rapidly liberalising, small open economy with light-handed regulation. New Zealand antitrust draws on recent US microeconomics for its underlying economic principles, but more on the Australian Trade Practices Act for its legal framework. The influences of these and other countries on the operation of New Zealand antitrust are traced through precedent and an analysis of major cases. Increasingly interpretations have differed from those in Australia, with more weight being put on the promotion of efficiency and less on traditional competition objectives.I acknowledge the assistance of G. Connors, J. Feil, D. Round, G. Sellens and M. Malan. The views expressed are those of the author, and not the institutions with which he is associated.     

工程变更对建设项目投资控制的影响

分析了工程量清单-工程变更-投资控制三者之间的关系，阐述了可能出现问题的原因及结果，提出了预防问题出现的方法及措施，浅议了解决问题的程序及办法。     

Mitigation of hazardous emergency release source terms via quench tanks

Analyses and test data indicate that for many hazardous materials the use of a passive quench tank can effictively eliminate airborne releases. New test data on quench tank performance indicate similarities between condensation, absorption and neutralization reactions. Both two-phase and all-gas releases are considered.     

Chemical accident prevention under the clean air act amendments of 1990

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 enacted recently contain provisions for the prevention of chemical accidents under Title III—Hazardous Air Pollutants. Some of these provisions include: a general duty clause, preparation of a list of substances and thresholds, requirements for the preparation of risk management plans by industry, specific accident prevention regulations, establishment of a Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, and requirements for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to promulgate a process safety management standard. These provisions, approaches with respect to process safety management by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and coordination with OSHA will be discussed.     

有形建筑市场完善与规范运作的探讨

虽然在我国大多数城市已经建立了有形建筑市场．但是由于市场经济的不完善．有形建筑市场在其运作过程中仍存在一些问题。如评标办法不完善．业主行为不规范．投标方行为不规范．以及其它相关主体行为不规范等。解决这些问题的对策是改革现行工程计价体系．推行实物工程量招标投标，规范有形建筑市场的主体开工．完善建设工程交易市场的管理制度。建立简明的质疑程序等办法。     

Did Affordable Housing Legislation Contribute to the Subprime Securities Boom?

We use a regression discontinuity approach and present new institutional evidence to investigate whether affordable housing policies influenced the market for securitized subprime mortgages. We use merged loan‐level data on nonprime mortgages with individual‐ and neighborhood‐level data for California and Florida. We find no evidence that lenders increased subprime originations or altered loan pricing around the discrete eligibility cutoffs for the Government‐Sponsored Enterprises' (GSEs) affordable housing goals or the Community Reinvestment Act. Although we find evidence that the GSEs bought significant quantities of subprime securities, our results indicate that these purchases were not directly related to affordable housing mandates.     

Geographical Cost of Living Differences: An Update

This article develops a method for estimating current geographical differences in the cost of living index for all states for 1981–1990. These estimates based on BLS data are shown to correspond closely to statewide cost of living estimates for 1989 based on the American Chamber of Commerce Research Association data for selected cities.
Living costs are highest in Hawaii, Alaska, Connecticut, Washington D.C., New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, and California. They are lower in Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, Idaho, and Utah. The basic pattern persists since 1977 with shifts related to economic growth rates.     

工程造价管理信息化解决方案

实行工程造价管理的信息化,是进行工程造价管理的有效手段。工程造价管理覆盖建设工程前期决策及实施的各个阶段,目前工程造价管理的软件很多,但在实际应用过程中,这些软件存在着一些共性的缺陷。仅靠单一的工程造价软件是无法进行工程造价管理的。为了解决这一问题,可以从工程造价全过程管理的需求出发,把企业数据库,估算编制、工程量清单编制、电子评标、工程造价指标分析等子系统集成在一个协同平台上,对工程造价信息进行数据处理和交换,集中管理,实现企业工程数据共享。     

浅议电网企业应收账款的融资

介绍了商业票据贴现、保理融资、应收账款质押贷款、应收账款信托贷款等融资方式在电网企业应收账款融资方面的应用,比较分析了各种方法的优缺点,发现这些融资方式不仅操作简单、风险低,还可以优化融资结构。与现有半年期短期贷款利率相比,商业票据贴现最多可节省42%的融资成本,大大降低电网企业的成本。     

Gaining added value from centres of excellence in the UK medical equipment industry

New technologies and the transfer, exchange and pooling of existing technologies are impacting, at the strategic level. Research on joint activities has emphasised the industry sectoral differences and the need for more in-depth analysis at these levels. This study of eleven companies' joint activities with government research institutes, university medical schools and other companies, in developing thirty-four medical equipment innovations, details the mechanisms by which the expected added value from joint activities is realised.
The manufacturers gained added value by:
1. Appropriating user knowledge to them-selves
2. Transferring costs to the users
3. Increasing private returns through co-operation with the user in gaining market penetration
4. Diffusion of costs and the capturing of benefits through intermediary-manufactureruser interactions
5. The coupling of 'outside product champions' to 'inside product champions'.     

Guidelines for technical management of chemical process safety

The American Institute for Chemical Engineers formed the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) in March, 1985, shortly after the Bhopal tragedy. CCPS has published several technical guidelines and has sponsored needed research projects to fill gaps in technology. In addition, CCPS has sponsored several international symposia in the interest of providing forums for the interchange of the latest technology in the prevention of catastrophic events.     

Still on hold? A retrospective analysis of competitive implications of the Telecommunication Act of 1996, on its 10th year anniversary

This study provides a retrospective analysis exploring competition in the US telecommunication industry, a decade after passage of the highly deregulatory Telecommunications Act of 1996. Using history as a guide, it reviews recent merger activity facilitated by the Act, profiles the present state of concentration in cable and telephony and explores prospects for cross-media competition permitted by the Act.     

浅议工程量清单计价招标方法

随着《建设工程工程量清单计价规范》的颁布实施,采用工程量清单计价更加能满足招标投标竞争定价和经评审合理低价中标的要求。相对于现行招投标计价方式,工程量清单计价能够更准确地反映工程的实际成本,有利于通过公开的竞争形成工程造价,同时工程量清单计价从技术上便于规范招投标入的计价行为,避免“暗箱操作”,增加透明度。由传统的工程招标方式向工程量清单招标法转变,还有很多问题值得关注和探讨,需要解决。