Bashevaya T., Stepanenko T.

Donbas national academy of civil engineering and architecture, Ukraine

EFFECT OF LOCAL AREA’S OPERATION CONDITIONS FOR POPULATION’S SAFETY

“Safety is greater category than majesty” said French cardinal Richelieu in the 17th century and this statement has been truth up to now. A great number of scientific works are devoted to the safety of work and of the population in emergency situations. However it should be noticed that a person spends at his home two thirds of his time (house, apartment and plot). So that a very urgent question is reducing of hazards that affect people in residential area.

A lot of technics, transport, buildings and people are located on a limited area of the modern city. This situation makes for urban living environment is qualitatively different from the natural native environment. Mainly a person destroys the biosphere in big cities, so as he’s a part of it he feels the consequences of this strain himself. Such situation is largely exacerbated by the lack unified strategy of architects, builders, hygienists and sanitary inspectors in the organization of the living environment.

Ukrainian legislation established that the local area is a territory around the building for serving this house. Local area includes driveways, sidewalks, guest parking, children's playgrounds, recreations, areas to set garbage bins and areas for domestic use; areas for dogs, playgrounds, gardens paths, paths for walking, transit tracks; green spaces - lawns, trees, shrubs, flower beds, gardening equipment and small architectural forms. Some hazards can be on local areas and the degree of their injurious effect is depended on proper factors. All dangerous and harmful factors are divided into four groups by the character and action. There are: physical, chemical, biological and physiological. The result of dangerous manifestations is accidents, damages, which can lead to death, lifetime decrease, damage health and the environment, destroy the society or individuals.

The physical factors are noise, vibration, radioactivity, air ionization, electromagnetic fields and other. The sources of these hazards in local areas are transport, power lines, children's and sports playgrounds.

One of the most неблагоприятных factors of the urban environment is noise. 1500 residents of noisy streets were surveyed and the results showed that 75.9% complained about traffic noise, 22% complained about the noise of industrial enterprises and 21% about household noise. The noise concerned 37.5% of respondents, irritated 22% of them and only 23% of respondents don’t complain about it. Noise affects various centers of brain through sound analyzer’s pathways, changes the relations of processes of higher nervous activity and destroys the balance of excitation and inhibition. Long noise effect activates structures of the reticular formation, which results persistent disruption of the different body systems. Many people feel bad in areas with high levels of noise, visits doctors often and take sedatives. The most problems had people with damage nervous, cardiovascular and digestive systems. Permanent residence in such conditions can cause stomach ulcers, gastritis due to violation of the secretory and motor functions of the stomach and intestines. In urban houses along the highways, people often complain about poor speech perception, due to masking of some speech sounds by the traffic noise. It was noticeable that the noise destroys speech intelligibility especially when its level exceeds 70 dB So the person doesn’t understand from 20 to 50% of words. Sleep is destroyed under the sound level over 35 dB It’s the level of subdued conversation by the noise scale. According to normative facts the apartment can be relaxed if the maximum level of the noise intensity is below 55 dB at day and less 30 dB at night (whispering, clock’s ticking).

Electric and magnetic fields effect on all biological objects in the range of their influence powerfully. They are caused by television and radio stations, radar devices, power lines (PTL). As a result of a long-term exposure can be a weakness, irritability, fatigue, memory loss, sleep disturbance. PTL effects on the nervous system and causes problems with memory, complication of understanding, insomnia, depression, chronic headaches, imbalance, disorientation in space, dizziness, and muscle fatigue. The influence of PTL on the cardiovascular system causes hypotension, pain in the heart, ischemia, susceptibility to strokes and infarctions. Sex (reproductive) system (impotence, decreased libido, infertility) is exposed to the influence of PTL. Moreover endocrine and immune systems are suffered too. Probability of oncological diseases increases in several times. Electromagnetic radiation is so dangerous for children.

Chemical risk factors are chemicals that penetrate to the human body through the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract or the skin and mucous membranes. The main sources of chemical hazards for the population at the local areas are vehicles near residential houses, garbage storages, boiler plants and industrial enterprises near residential areas.

In cities the main part of cars is placed in the yards of houses, on green lawns and recreation areas. Firstly this circumstance worsens living conditions of the population. Observations showed that the residents of the houses near the road (10 meters) suffer from cancer more often in 3 – 4 times than the residents of the houses are placed 50 m away from the road. Exhaust gases have more than 1000 different harmful substances which effect on people and the environment poorly. The main of them are carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, aldehydes, sulfur compounds, particulate matter and carcinogens which include complex aromatic polycyclic hydrocarbons (the main element of them is benzpyrene), lead compounds. Unapproved stops and parking near houses have the main influence on residents. Parking inside closed areas near residential buildings is the most dangerous for people’s breathing due to high concentration of harmful substances. From the ecological point of view yards of 10 m or less are referred to the first the most dangerous group of households and they need immediate action

Yards, with the characteristic size of 10 m or less, referred to the first, the most dangerous from an ecological point of view, the group of households, and require immediate action to free them from a parked car. Dead zones appear under conditions of cramped building, where forced wind dashes’ transfer is practically absent during windless weather and dashes’ dispersion is realized owing to free convection. The results of unfavorable weather conditions’ modeling and the distance of 2-3 m from parked cars were analyzed and they showed that the concentration of impurities in the air, infiltrating the living space can be up to 1-3 floors (2-3) MPC.

It should be noted that the car parks where at least 50 vehicles on a considerable distance (>30 m) from buildings are not dangerous from the point of view of high concentrations of pollutants in people’s breathing zone.

Garbage disposal and utilization are the main problems of many cities. Household waste and other rubbish are often removed so irregularly. Harmful gases and toxic substances which are released during garbage decomposition and smoke generated during its burning affect population’s health negatively. Besides of harmful substances are mixed with the soil, pollute it and fall into the water, which is used for people’s needs. Generally wastes contain more than a hundred of toxic and hazardous substances such as dioxins, heavy metals, etc.

Indigested places of garbage accumulation are also sources of biological and psychophysiological (aesthetic) hazards. If the waste hasn’t been removed in time it accumulates around the tanks as landfill, the wind begins to spread it throughout the local area and it attracts homeless animals and small rodents which are carriers of dangerous infectious diseases (such as leptospirosis, rabies). Aesthetic problems are so important too. Clean local area affects residents’ emotional state. Moreover waste which lies on the street promotes further pollution of the territory. Visual dominants’ changes affect negative parameters which determine human’s life quality and cause even psychophysical disorders and other changes of people’s health.

We can conclude from the foregoing that incorrect organization of house service increases the risk of population’s diseases of the cardiovascular and nervous systems, respiratory and digestive system.

We recommend the following measures to reduce negative effect of characterized dangerous sources for people:

1. Correct location of playgrounds and sports grounds in order to reduce the level of noise exposure. The minimum distance from the border areas to the windows of residential buildings is 12 meters. This distance should be increased to 40 m for adults’ playgrounds for exercise, games, volleyball, basketball, handball, etc.

2. Timely garbage disposal and the use of solid waste’s sort method.

3. In order to protect the population from the effects of the electric field that is made by air power lines control areas are established (certain types of activities and accommodation are restricted or discouraged on the territories along the power lines); the valid approximation of dwellings to the line of sanitary protection or buffer zone is kept; the design of scanner assemblies will be improved; reducing of the radiation power is carried by residential areas’ shielding with high buildings of reinforced concrete structures (radiation intensity is 1.5-2 times less) and multi-row plantings of greenery are created along the spreading of electromagnetic waves (green zone with a width of 15-20 m reduces emission intensity by 10-15%).

4. Storages of vehicles should be placed by the sanitary standards. The distance from the car park to houses should be at least 10-40 meters. Parking area’s coverage should be firm. A border should be placed around the parking from the direction of green area. Its height should be no less than 0,15 m. Plantings should be provides as hedge of high dust and gas resistance bush. Each of these measures can change the traffic noise level by 10 dB.

Progressive trend in storage solutions for private vehicles is the construction of multi-storied garages. The single-stage method of storage (in the one-story garages, boxes, outdoor parking) needs 25-30 m² of land per vehicle, but the storage in multilevel parking garages needs not more than 15 m². The most appropriate type of storage facility is a multi- storied car garage for 500-1000 cars.

5. Landscaping. Placement of trees and shrubs, open lawns and flower beds should be interconnected with the location of grounds, their sizes and configurations, with different constructions, residential and public buildings. Plantings should defend against dust, noise, wind currents and isolate different planning elements of the area. The high densities of building, guest parking and utilities have an active influence on the state of green space and landscaping in general. Expansion of car parks’ network reduces green areas distinctly. Planting of greenery in garages’ and buildings roofs, underground and semi-underground structures is recommended in order to set off a green areas “loss” partly. Moreover mobile and compact techniques of planting should be applied. They include the use of vases, portable containers, flower flies and other devices.

Creation of comfortable environment also means perfection of its aesthetic qualities. There are various natural landscape, artificial creation of the natural landscape with the aim to satisfice human’s needs to be closer with the nature. It has so important psychophysiological meaning for human’s health protection and harmonious development.