International Journal of Occupational Hygiene (Sep 2021)
Development of a Tool for Environmental Performance Evaluation in Ports: A Case Study based on the Delphi Technique
Abstract
Introduction: Ports, as the most important part of the maritime transport system, play a high role in world trade. The set of designed and implemented processes in ports can have significant environmental effects. Therefore, the environmental consequences associated with a variety of activities and processes in ports can threaten sustainable global development. So, this study was designed and conducted with the aim of developing a tool to environmental performance evaluation in ports. Methods: twenty-five experts in the field of environment and marine sciences had participated in the present study. This study is conducted in three rounds based on Delphi technique in the 2019-2020. index of coefficient of variation (CV) and acceptance criteria for each of the parameters in this study are considered <20% and 4≤, respectively. The validity of this tool has been evaluated using content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio (CVR) and its reliability has been evaluated with Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Results: CV index in the third round of this Delphi was estimated to be 0.08. Therefore, the green ports performance evaluation questionnaire was developed with six factors and 32-parameters after three Delphi rounds. These six factors of environmental performance were included reactive performance (5 parameters), proactive performance (5 parameters), sustainability (5 parameters), socio-cultural (6 parameters), economic (5 parameters) and governance (6 parameters). The results of validity evaluation showed that the CVR and CVI of this developed questionnaire were calculated to be 0.875 and 0.906, respectively. In addition, based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient, the reliability of this tool was estimated, α=0.92. Conclusion: The findings indicated that the developed tool for evaluating environmental performance in ports has good validity and reliability. Therefore, the use of this tool can lead to an acceptable estimate of the environmental performance of ports in the maritime transport system.
