Search results for: management of radiological safety

Authors: Ivana Kašparová, Emilie Pecharová

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The experience of radiological contamination of land, especially after the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters have shown the need to explore possibilities to the capture of radionuclides in the area affected and to adapt the landscape management to this purpose ex –ante the considered accident in terms of prevention. The project‚ Minimizing the impact of radiation contamination on land in the emergency zone of Temelin NPP‘ (2012-2015), dealt with the possibility of utilization of wetlands as retention sites for water carrying radionuclides in the case of a radiation accident. A model artificial wetland was designed and adopted as a utility model by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic. The article shows the conditions of construction of designed wetlands in the landscape with regard to minimizing the negative effect on agricultural production and enhancing the hydrological functionality of the landscape.

Keywords: artificial wetland, land use/ land cover, old maps, surface-to-water transport of radionuclides

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Authors: Muhammad Tufail, Jawad Hussain, Hammad Hussain, Imran Hafeez, Naveed Ahmad

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Road safety performance index is a composite index which combines various indicators of road safety into single number. Development of a road safety performance index using appropriate safety performance indicators is essential to enhance road safety. However, a road safety performance index in developing countries has not been given as much priority as needed. The primary objective of this research is to develop a general Road Safety Performance Index (RSPI) for developing countries based on the facility as well as behavior of road user. The secondary objectives include finding the critical inputs in the RSPI and finding the better method of making the index. In this study, the RSPI is developed by selecting four main safety performance indicators i.e., protective system (seat belt, helmet etc.), road (road width, signalized intersections, number of lanes, speed limit), number of pedestrians, and number of vehicles. Data on these four safety performance indicators were collected using observation survey on a 20 km road section of the National Highway N-125 road Taxila, Pakistan. For the development of this composite index, two methods are used: a) Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and b) Equal Weighting (EW) method. PCA is used for extraction, weighting, and linear aggregation of indicators to obtain a single value. An individual index score was calculated for each road section by multiplication of weights and standardized values of each safety performance indicator. However, Simple Average technique was used for weighting and linear aggregation of indicators to develop a RSPI. The road sections are ranked according to RSPI scores using both methods. The two weighting methods are compared, and the PCA method is found to be much more reliable than the Simple Average Technique.

Keywords: indicators, aggregation, principle component analysis, weighting, index score

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Authors: Seyed Abolhassan Naeini, Hamed Yekehdehghan

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One of the factors that affect the constructions adjacent to a slope is stability. There are various methods for the stability of the slopes, one of which is the use of concrete group piles. This study, using FLAC3D software, has tried to investigate the changes in safety coefficient because of the use of concrete group piles. In this research, furthermore, the optimal position of the piles has been investigated and the results show that the group pile does not affect the toe of the slope. In addition, the effect of the piles' burial depth on the slope has been studied. Results show that by increasing the piles burial depth on a slope, the level of stability and as a result the safety coefficient increases. In the investigation of reducing the distance between the piles and increasing the depth of underground water, it was observed that the obtained safety coefficient increased. Finally, the effect of the resistance of the lower stabilizing layer of the slope on stabilization was investigated by the pile group. The results showed that due to the behavior of the pile as a deep foundation, the stronger the soil layers are in the stable part of a stronger slope (in terms of resistance parameters), the more influential the piles are in enhancing the coefficient of safety.

Keywords: safety coefficient, group pile, slope, stability, FLAC3D software

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Authors: Rania Albsoul, Muhammad Ahmed Alshyyab, Baraa Ayed Al Odat, Nermeen Borhan Al Dwekat, Batool Emad Al-masri, Fatima Abdulsattar Alkubaisi, Salsabil Awni Flefil, Majd Hussein Al-Khawaldeh, Ragad Ayman Sa’ed, Maha Waleed Abu Ajamieh, Gerard Fitzgerald

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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of operating room staff towards the use of the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist in a tertiary hospital in Jordan. Design/methodology/approach: This was a qualitative descriptive study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 21 healthcare staff employed in the operating room (nurses, residents, surgeons, and anaesthesiologists). The interviews were conducted in the period from October to December 2021. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings: Three main themes emerged from data analysis, namely compliance with the surgical safety checklist, the impact of the surgical safety checklist, and barriers and facilitators to the use of the surgical safety checklist. The use of the checklist was seen as enabling staff to communicate effectively and thus accomplish patient safety and positive outcomes. The perceived barriers to compliance included excessive workload, congestion, and lack of training and awareness. Enhanced training and education were thought to improve the utilization of the surgical safety checklist and help enhance awareness about its importance. Originality/value: While steps to utilize the surgical safety checklist by the operation room personnel may seem simple, the quality of its administration is not necessarily robust. There are several challenges to consistent, complete, and effective administration of the surgical safety checklist by the surgical team members. Healthcare managers must employ interventions to eliminate barriers to and offer facilitators of adherence to the application of the surgical safety checklist, therefore promoting quality healthcare and patient safety.

Keywords: patient safety, surgical safety checklist, compliance, utility, operating room, quality healthcare, communication, teamwork

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Authors: Tara Hunter, Kristine Concepcion, Wendy Cheng, Brianna Pike, Jane Estoesta, Anne Stuart

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In 2015, Family Planning NSW was contracted by the NSW Ministry of Health to design and deliver Sexual Safety Policy training (SSPT) to mental health professionals across NSW. The training was based on their current guidelines and developed in consultation with an expert reference group. From October 2015 to April 2017 it was delivered to over 2,400 mental health professionals with a view to supporting implementation of consistent prevention and intervention related to sexual safety in the mental health setting. An evaluation was undertaken to determine the knowledge and confidence of participants related to sexual safety before and after the training, and whether any improvements were translated into changes in practice. Participants were invited to complete a survey prior to the training, upon completion and three to six months thereafter. Telephone interviews were conducted among service managers and mental health champions six months post-training. Prior to training, the majority of mental health professionals reported being slightly to moderately confident in identifying a sexual safety incident. When asked on their understanding of sexual safety, gender sensitive practice and trauma informed care, they reported no confidence, slight confidence and moderate confidence. Immediately after the training, 54.5% reported being very confident and 10.9% extremely confident in identifying a sexual safety incident. More than half felt very confident or extremely confident in their understanding of sexual safety principles. The impact survey (six months later) found that the majority of participants (91%) were highly confident in identifying a sexual safety incident. Telephone interviewees reported a change in workplace culture and increased awareness after the training. Mental health professionals experienced increased knowledge and confidence about sexual safety principles following the training and were able to implement positive changes and concrete actions to better address sexual safety issues in their workplace.

Keywords: sexual safety, mental health professionals, trauma informed care, policy training

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Authors: Bouchaib Gazzaz, Mounir Mehdi

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In order to ensure consumer food protection, the food industry has a legal obligation to provide food products that comply with the requirements of the legislation in force. National regulations in this area occupy an important place in the food control system in terms of consumer protection. This article discusses the legal and regulatory framework of food safety and consumer protection in Moroccan law. We used the doctrinal research approach by analyzing the judicial normative and bibliographic legal research. As a result, we were able to present the basic principles of consumer food protection by showing to what extent the food safety law provides effective consumer protection in Morocco. We have concluded that there is an impact -in terms of consumer legal protection- of food law reform on the concept of food safety.

Keywords: food safety, Morocco, consumer protection, framework, food law

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Authors: Sanjeev Kumar Appicharla

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This paper presents the results of the modelling and analysis of the European Railway Traffic Management (ERTMS) safety-critical incident to raise awareness of biases in the systems engineering process on the Cambrian Railway in the UK using the RAIB 17/2019 as a primary input. The RAIB, the UK independent accident investigator, published the Report- RAIB 17/2019 giving the details of their investigation of the focal event in the form of immediate cause, causal factors, and underlying factors and recommendations to prevent a repeat of the safety-critical incident on the Cambrian Line. The Systems for Investigation of Railway Interfaces (SIRI) is the methodology used to model and analyze the safety-critical incident. The SIRI methodology uses the Swiss Cheese Model to model the incident and identify latent failure conditions (potentially less than adequate conditions) by means of the management oversight and risk tree technique. The benefits of the systems for investigation of railway interfaces methodology (SIRI) are threefold: first is that it incorporates the “Heuristics and Biases” approach advanced by 2002 Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences, Prof Daniel Kahneman, in the management oversight and risk tree technique to identify systematic errors. Civil engineering and programme management railway professionals are aware of the role “optimism bias” plays in programme cost overruns and are aware of bow tie (fault and event tree) model-based safety risk modelling techniques. However, the role of systematic errors due to “Heuristics and Biases” is not appreciated as yet. This overcomes the problems of omission of human and organizational factors from accident analysis. Second, the scope of the investigation includes all levels of the socio-technical system, including government, regulatory, railway safety bodies, duty holders, signaling firms and transport planners, and front-line staff such that lessons are learned at the decision making and implementation level as well. Third, the author’s past accident case studies are supplemented with research pieces of evidence drawn from the practitioner's and academic researchers’ publications as well. This is to discuss the role of system thinking to improve the decision-making and risk management processes and practices in the IEC 15288 systems engineering standard and in the industrial context such as the GB railways and artificial intelligence (AI) contexts as well.

Keywords: accident analysis, AI algorithm internal audit, bounded rationality, Byzantine failures, heuristics and biases approach

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Authors: Jakub Kraus, Vladimír Plos, Peter Vittek

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This article focuses on the issue of airport emergency plans, which are documents describing reactions to events with impact on aviation safety or aviation security. The article specifically focuses on the use and creation of emergency plans, where could be found a number of disagreements between different stakeholders, for which the airport emergency plan applies. Those are the friction surfaces of interfaces, which is necessary to identify and ensure them smooth process to avoid dangerous situations or delay.

Keywords: airport emergency plan, aviation safety, aviation security, comprehensive management system, friction surfaces of airport emergency plan, interfaces of processes

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Authors: Abeer K. Jameel, Harry Evdorides

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Iraq is a middle income country where the road safety issue is considered one of the leading causes of deaths. To control the road risk issue, the Iraqi Ministry of Planning, General Statistical Organization started to organise a collection system of traffic accidents data with details related to their causes and severity. These data are published as an annual report. In this paper, a review of the available crash data in Iraq will be presented. The available data represent the rate of accidents in aggregated level and classified according to their types, road users’ details, and crash severity, type of vehicles, causes and number of causalities. The review is according to the types of models used in road safety studies and research, and according to the required road safety data in the road constructions tasks. The available data are also compared with the road safety dataset published in the United Kingdom as an example of developed country. It is concluded that the data in Iraq are suitable for descriptive and exploratory models, aggregated level comparison analysis, and evaluation and monitoring the progress of the overall traffic safety performance. However, important traffic safety studies require disaggregated level of data and details related to the factors of the likelihood of traffic crashes. Some studies require spatial geographic details such as the location of the accidents which is essential in ranking the roads according to their level of safety, and name the most dangerous roads in Iraq which requires tactic plan to control this issue. Global Road safety agencies interested in solve this problem in low and middle-income countries have designed road safety assessment methodologies which are basing on the road attributes data only. Therefore, in this research it is recommended to use one of these methodologies.

Keywords: road safety, Iraq, crash data, road risk assessment, The International Road Assessment Program (iRAP)

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Authors: Marin Neio Demirci, Jan Mei Soon, Carol A. Wallace

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Muslims follow the religion of Islam and the food they eat should be Halal, meaning lawful or permissible. Muslims are allowed to eat halal and wholesome food that has been provided for them. However, some of the main prohibitions are swine flesh, blood, carrion, animals not slaughtered according to Islamic laws and alcoholic drinks. At present Halal assurance is in a complicated state, with various Halal standards differing from each other without gaining mutual acceptance. The world is starting to understand the need for an influential globally accepted standard that would open doors to global markets and gain consumer confidence. This paper discusses issues mainly related to food safety in Halal assurance. The aim was to discover and describe the approach to food safety requirements in Halal food provision and how this is incorporated in the Halal assurance systems. The position of food safety regulation within Halal requirements or Halal standards’ requirements for food safety is still unclear. This review also considers whether current Halal standards include criteria in common with internationally accepted food hygiene standards and emphasizes the potential of using the HACCP system for Halal assurance.

Keywords: certification, GHP, HACCP, Halal standard

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Authors: Kenneth O. Otasowie, Matthew Ikuabe, Clinton Aigbavboa, Ayodeji Oke

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Subcontracting has become a fundamental feature in the construction industry, particularly as most projects in South Africa (SA) are executed by subcontractors. However, the sector in SA contributes to the high level of occupational hazards and injuries recorded, despite Health and Safety (H&S) regulations being enforced in the industry. Hence, this study aims to evaluate the barriers to health and safety practices by subcontractors in SA Construction Industry. A survey design was adopted. A total number of one hundred and forty-four (144) questionnaires were administered to quantity surveyors, construction managers, construction project managers, project managers, architects, and civil and structural engineers, who are owners or work in small and medium enterprises in Guateng Province, SA and eighty-three (83) were returned and found suitable for analysis. Collected data were analysed using percentage, mean item score, standard deviation, and one-sample t-test. The findings show that lack of skilled workers, lack of safety training, and insufficient safety awareness are the most significant barriers to health and safety practices in SA Construction Industry. Therefore, the study recommends the improvement in skills of staff and adequate training for the safe execution of work be provided to all employees and supervisors in these subcontracting firms. These will mitigate the rate of accident occurrence on construction sites.

Keywords: barriers, health and safety, subcontractors, South Africa

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Authors: Chenxu Fang, Qikai Guan

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Riverside public space in mountainous cities has unique scenic resources and humanistic connotations and is an important place indispensable to the activities of urban residents. In recent years, with the continuous development of society and the expansion of the city, the public space along the riverside has been affected to a certain extent. Based on this, this study is based on the concept of health and safety through the study of riverfront space in the local section of Jialing River in Chongqing City; according to the actual use function of riverfront public space, the riverfront public space in mountainous cities is categorized into leisure and recreational riverfront space, ecological conservation waterfront space, and composite function waterfront space. Starting from the health and safety elements affecting the environment in the riverfront public space, the health and safety influencing factors of the riverfront public space are categorized into three major categories, namely, material, non-material, and social, and through the field research and questionnaire collection, combined with the analysis of the Likert scale, the important levels of the health and safety influencing factors of different types of the riverfront public space of the mountainous cities are clarified. We summarize the factors affecting the health and safety of mountainous riverside spaces, map their importance levels to the design of different types of riverside spaces, and put forward three representative paths for the governance of the safety and health of mountainous riverside public space.

Keywords: health and safety, mountain city, riverfront public space, spatial governance, Chongqing Jialing River

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Authors: Xueyang Li

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This thesis investigates the impact of self-viewing on team creativity in virtual teamwork and examines the role of objective self-awareness and psychological safety in this context. The study uses a quantitative research approach and collects data from 304 participants working in virtual teams. We hypothesized that observing oneself in online meetings would lead to a heightened sense of objective self and thus lower team creativity and that psychological safety would moderate their relationship. We tested these hypotheses in a laboratory experiment manipulating whether participants were able to observe themselves during the completion of an online team creativity task and manipulating whether participants were subjected to a psychological safety intervention. The results indicate that self-observation has a negative effect on team creativity in virtual teamwork, while objective self-awareness mediates this relationship, and psychological safety plays a moderating role. We discuss several aspects of the theoretical explanation of the findings. This study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the importance of self-observation in virtual teamwork and provides practical implications for managers and team leaders to promote creativity in virtual teams.

Keywords: objective self-awareness, psychological safety, self-viewing, team creativity, virtual teamwork

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Authors: Shittu Bisi Agnes

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Ebola virus Diseases outbreak in Nigeria caused a lot of concerns considering the mode of transmission and no known cure discovered. Therefore a lot of safety measures were taken which eventually led to the eradication of the virus in Nigeria. This therefore attempted to determine the various safety measures, how socio-economic characteristic of the people affected adherence to safety measures. And provide reasonable recommendations for total eradication of the virus, future outbreak and general environmental safety Data were collected with the aid of well structured questionnaires and administered 180 randomly selected of the state and oral interview was also utilize. Data collected were analysed using both descriptive tools and inferential statistics vis-a-vis regression analysis. Finding showed that 70.5% was strongly adhere to almost all the measures, 15.2% was fairly advent, 3% was poorly observing the selected measures while 1.3% was in different. 65% of the respondents was strongly aware of the advent of ebola virus diseases, 20% was fairly in awareness, 8.5% was poorly in awareness while 6.55% was in aware of any disease outbreak. Safety measures put forwards were; hand washing, use of hand sanitize-rs, no shaking of hands non-consumption of wildlife games(Bush Meat) and general health and environmental safety measures. It was recommended that policy instrument to increase peoples income will accelerate eradication of diseases as this will enable households to pay for monetary safety measures, health and environmental education, in form of talk shop, workshop, lectures could be organised at the political ward levels, schools, market women, religious bodies functional unions and mass media.

Keywords: ebola diseases, pay, safety, outbreak

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Authors: Yousefi Aryian, Ghanbaripour Amir naser

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Record of 2 million trips during a day by subway makes it the most application and the most efficient branch of public transportation. Great safety, energy consumption reduction, appropriate speed, and lower prices for passengers in comparison with private cars or buses, are some reasons for this remarkable statics. This increasing popularity compels the author to evaluate the safety of subway stations and tunnels against fire and fire extinguishing systems in Tehran subway network and then compare some of its safety parameters to other countries. This paper assessed the methods and systems used in different parts of Tehran subway and then by comparing the facilities and equipment necessary to declare and extinguish the fire, the solutions and world standards (NFPA) are explored.

Keywords: subway station, tunnel, fire alarm, extinguishing fire, NFPA standards

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Authors: Muhammad Dawood Idrees, Arsalan Ansari

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Construction industry is considered as one of the most dangerous industry because workers' safety is always a major concern due to extensive number of accidents, injuries, and casualties at worksites. There are various causes of accidents at construction sites, several factors are influencing on the perception of safety of workers and psychological factors are one of them. Perception of safety varies from region to region and it also varies by demographics of workers, such as gender, age, education, job level, etc. However, research on different level of workers, such as labor and managerial staff to evaluate the impact of psychological factor is limited. Objective of this research is to evaluate the effect of psychological factors with different job level of workers. An extensive literature review was conducted to find the casual relationship between psychological factors and perception of safety, and a hypothetical structure model was developed based upon literature review. A survey instrument based upon psychological factors was developed and data was obtained from several construction sites. Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) technique was adopted in order to examine the effect of psychological factors on the perception of safety of workers with different job levels of workers. The results of this analysis reveal that job security and organizational relationships are most affecting factors in labor staff, therefore job satisfaction, mental stress, and workload are dominant in managerial staff.

Keywords: accidents, job level of workers, perception of safety, structural equation modeling

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Authors: Sharda Kumari, Saiman Shetty

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Autonomous trucking is just one of the numerous significant shifts impacting fleet management services. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has defined six levels of vehicle automation that have been adopted internationally, including by the United States Department of Transportation. On public highways in the United States, organizations are testing driverless vehicles with at least Level 4 automation which indicates that a human is present in the vehicle and can disable automation, which is usually done while the trucks are not engaged in highway driving. However, completely driverless vehicles are presently being tested in the state of California. While autonomous trucking can increase safety, decrease trucking costs, provide solutions to trucker shortages, and improve efficiencies, logistics, too, requires advancements to keep up with trucking innovations. Given that artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automated procedures enable people to do their duties in other sectors with fewer resources, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) can be applied to the autonomous trucking business to provide the same level of efficiency. In a society witnessing significant digital disruptions, fleet management is likewise being transformed by technology. Utilizing strategic alliances to enhance core services is an effective technique for capitalizing on innovations and delivering enhanced services. Utilizing analytics on CRM systems improves cost control of fuel strategy, fleet maintenance, driver behavior, route planning, road safety compliance, and capacity utilization. Integration of autonomous trucks with automated fleet management, yard/terminal management, and customer service is possible, thus having significant power to redraw the lines between the public and private spheres in autonomous trucking logistics.

Keywords: autonomous vehicles, customer relationship management, customer experience, autonomous trucking, digital transformation

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Authors: Janki Shankar, Shu-Ping Chen

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This Canadian study explored the perspectives of recent immigrant workers regarding occupational health and safety (OHS) and workplace conditions that increase workers’ vulnerability to sustaining injury or illness. Using an interpretive research approach and semi structured qualitative interviews, 42 recent immigrant workers from a range of industries operating in two cities in a province in Canada were interviewed. A constant comparative approach was used to identify key themes across the workers’ experiences. The findings revealed that these workers have an incomplete understanding of OHS. In many workplaces, poor job training, little worker support, lack of power in the workplace, and a poor workplace safety culture make it difficult for recent immigrant workers to acquire OHS information and implement safe work practices. This study proposes workplace policies and practices that will improve worker OHS awareness and make workplaces safer for immigrant workers.

Keywords: new immigrant workers, occupational health and safety, workplace challenges, policy, practice

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Authors: Bahareh Montakhabi

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Earthquake is known as one of the deadliest natural disasters, with a high potential for damage to life and property. Some of Iran's cities were completely destroyed after major earthquakes, and the people of the region suffered a lot of mental, financial and psychological damage. Tehran is one of the cities located on the fault line. According to experts, the only city that could be severely damaged by a moderate earthquake in Earthquake Engineering Intensity Scale (EEIS) (70% destruction) is Tehran because Tehran is built precisely on the fault. Seismic risk assessment (SRA) of cities in the scale of urban areas and neighborhoods is the first phase of the earthquake crisis management process, which can provide the information required to make optimal use of available resources and facilities in order to reduce the destructive effects and consequences of an earthquake. This study has investigated strategies to promote safety and reduce the vulnerability of worn-out urban textures in the District 12 of Tehran to the potential risk of earthquake aimed at prioritizing the factors affecting the vulnerability of worn-out urban textures to earthquake crises and how to reduce them, using the analytical-exploratory method, analytical hierarchy process (AHP), Expert choice and SWOT technique. The results of SWAT and AHP analysis of the vulnerability of the worn-out textures of District 12 to internal threats (1.70) and external threats (2.40) indicate weak safety of the textures of District 12 regarding internal and external factors and a high possibility of damage.

Keywords: risk management, vulnerability, worn-out textures, earthquake

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Authors: Denis Spirjakin, Alexander Baranov, Saba Akbari, Natalia Kalenova, Vladimir Sleptsov

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In this paper we propose the approach to power management in wireless combustible gas sensors. This approach makes possible drastically prolong sensor nodes autonomous lifetime. That is necessary to tie battery replacement to every year technical service procedures which are claimed by safety standards. Using this approach the current consumption of the wireless combustible gas sensor node was decreased from 80 mA to less than 2 mA and the power consumption from more than 220 mW to 4.6 mW. These values provide autonomous lifetime of the node more than one year.

Keywords: Gas sensors, power management, wireless sensor network

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Authors: Atheer Al-Nuaimi, Harry Evdorides

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Daily, many individuals die or get harmed on streets around the globe, which requires more particular solutions for transport safety issues. International road assessment program (iRAP) is one of the models that are considering many variables which influence road user’s safety. In iRAP, roads have been partitioned into five-star ratings from 1 star (the most reduced level) to 5 star (the most noteworthy level). These levels are calculated from risk factors which represent the effect of the geometric and traffic conditions on rod safety. The result of iRAP philosophy are the countermeasures that can be utilized to enhance safety levels and lessen fatalities numbers. These countermeasures can be utilized independently as a single treatment or in combination with other countermeasures for a section or an entire road. There is a general understanding that the efficiency of a countermeasure is liable to reduction when it is used in combination with various countermeasures. That is, crash diminishment estimations of single countermeasures cannot be summed easily. In the iRAP model, the fatalities estimations are calculated using a specific methodology. However, this methodology suffers overestimations. Therefore, this study has developed a calibration method to estimate fatalities numbers more accurately.

Keywords: crash risk factors, international road assessment program, low-income countries, road safety

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Authors: Livhuwani Muthelo

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The health and safety of the miners in the South African mining industry are guided by the regulations and standards which are anticipated to promote a healthy work environment and fatalities. It is of utmost importance for the miners to comply with these regulations/standards to protect themselves from potential occupational health and safety risks, accidents, and fatalities. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate strategies to enhance compliance with the Health and safety standards within the mining industries of Limpopo province in South Africa. A mixed-method exploratory sequential research design was adopted. The population consisted of 5350 miners. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants in the qualitative strand and stratified random sampling in the quantitative strand. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among the occupational health nurse practitioners and the health and safety team. Thematic analysis was used to generate an understanding of the interviews. In the quantitative strand, a survey was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS version 26.0. A descriptive statistical test was used in the analysis of data including frequencies, means, and standard deviation. Cronbach's alpha test was used to measure internal consistency. The integrated results revealed that there are diverse experiences related to health and safety standards compliance among the mineworkers. The main findings were challenges related to leadership compliance and also related to the cost of maintaining safety, Miner's behavior-related challenges; the impact of non-compliance on the overall health of the miners was also described, the conflict between production and safety. Health and safety compliance is not just mere compliance with regulations and standards but a culture that warrants the miners and organization to take responsibility for their behavior and actions towards health and safety. Thus taking responsibility for your well-being and other miners.

Keywords: perceptions, compliance, health and safety, legislation, standards, miners

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Authors: Parveen Kundu, Zile Singh, Kunika Kundu, Swaran Kaur

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Context: Tuberculous osteomyelitis is a relatively uncommon condition that can present with various clinical and radiological features, often mimicking bone tumors or tumor-like lesions. In endemic countries like India, tuberculosis should be considered as a potential differential diagnosis for lytic bone lesions. This study aimed to highlight the different presentations of tuberculosis that can mimic tumors or tumor-like lesions in bone and emphasize the successful outcome of antitubercular therapy (ATT) in treating these cases. Research Aim: The main objective of this research was to explore the varied presentations of tuberculosis that mimic bone tumors or tumor-like lesions both clinically and radiologically, focusing on different bones. The study aimed to raise awareness among clinicians about this possibility and highlight the importance of histopathological confirmation before initiating treatment for lytic bone lesions. Methodology: This study utilized a retrospective review of 22 patients with suspected lytic bone lesions, who were subsequently diagnosed with tuberculous osteomyelitis through histopathological examination. The cases were collected over a period of ten years. Eleven cases required curettage for extensive lesions with sequestrations, while all 22 patients received 12 months of antitubercular therapy. Findings: The study included 14 male and 8 female patients, ranging in age from 3 to 61 years, with an average age of 22.05. The clinical and radiological presentations varied, with examples including bone cysts in the metaphyseal area of long bones, lesions resembling chondroblastomas, giant cell tumors, and osteoid osteoma, as well as multifocal lytic lesions resembling metastasis or multiple myeloma. One patient had lesions in both the clavicle and hand. Lesions mimicking chondromas were also observed in the phalanges of the hand and foot metatarsal. All patients showed resolution of the lesions and no residual disability following ATT. Theoretical Importance: This study highlights the importance of considering tuberculosis as a potential differential diagnosis for lytic bone lesions, particularly in endemic regions. It emphasizes the need for histopathological confirmation to accurately diagnose tuberculous osteomyelitis, as this is considered the gold standard. Data Collection and Analysis Procedures: Data for this study were collected retrospectively from medical records and radiological images of the 22 patients. The cases were analyzed based on clinical presentation, radiological findings, and histopathological confirmation. The outcomes of antitubercular therapy were also assessed. The data were summarized and presented descriptively. Question Addressed: This study aimed to address the question of how tuberculosis can mimic different bone tumors and tumor-like lesions clinically and radiologically. It also aimed to assess the successful outcome of antitubercular therapy in treating these cases. Conclusion: Tuberculous osteomyelitis can present with varied clinical and radiological features, often mimicking bone tumors or tumor-like lesions. Clinicians should consider tuberculosis as a potential diagnosis for lytic bone lesions, especially in endemic areas. Histopathological confirmation is essential for accurate diagnosis. Antitubercular therapy is an effective treatment for tuberculous osteomyelitis, leading to the resolution of the lesions with no residual disability.

Keywords: tuberculosis, tumor, curettage, bone

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Authors: Livhuwani Muthelo, Tebogo Maria Mothiba, Rambelani Nancy Malema

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Background: Despite occupational legislation/standards being in place in the industry, there are many reported health and safety incidents, including both occupational injuries and illnesses in the South African mining industry. Purpose: This systematic literature review aimed to describe and identify the existing gaps in health and safety compliance within the South African mining industry and propose future research areas. Methodology: A systematic literature review was conducted using the key concepts of health and safety, compliance, standards, and mining. A total of 102 papers issued from 1994 to April 2020 were extracted from an online database search, which included a combination of South African and international government OHS legislation documents, policies, standards, reports from the mineral departments and international labour office, qualitative and quantitative journal articles, dissertations, seminars and conference proceedings. Results: The literature review revealed that, though there are laws, regulations, standards to guide the industry on health and safety issues in South Africa, the main challenge is with the compliance with the existing health and safety systems, wherein systems are not being implemented. Conclusion: Gaps between research, policy, and implementation in occupational health practice in the South African mining industry were also identified.

Keywords: circumstances, non-compliance, health and safety, standards, mining industry

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Authors: Ching Louis Liu, Edmund Kazmierczak, Tim Miller

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Safety analysis for multi-agent systems is complicated by the, potentially nonlinear, interactions between agents. This paper proposes a method for analyzing the safety of multi-agent systems by explicitly focusing on interactions and the accident data of systems that are similar in structure and function to the system being analyzed. The method creates a Bayesian network using the accident data from similar systems. A feature of our method is that the events in accident data are labeled with HAZOP guide words. Our method uses an Ontology to abstract away from the details of a multi-agent implementation. Using the ontology, our methods then constructs an “Interaction Map,” a graphical representation of the patterns of interactions between agents and other artifacts. Interaction maps combined with statistical data from accidents and the HAZOP classifications of events can be converted into a Bayesian Network. Bayesian networks allow designers to explore “what it” scenarios and make design trade-offs that maintain safety. We show how to use the Bayesian networks, and the interaction maps to improve multi-agent system designs.

Keywords: multi-agent system, safety analysis, safety model, integration map

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Authors: Lucas Bublitz, Michael Herdrich

Abstract:

By achieving the first commercialization approval in San Francisco the Autonomous Driving (AD) industry proves the technology maturity of the SAE L4 AD systems and the corresponding software and hardware stack. This milestone reflects the upcoming phase in the industry, where the focus is now about scaling and supervising larger autonomous vehicle (AV) fleets in different operation areas. This requires an operation framework, which organizes and assigns responsibilities to the relevant AV technology and operation stakeholders from the AV system provider, the Remote Intervention Operator, the MaaS provider and regulatory & approval authority. This holistic operation framework consists of technological, processual, and organizational activities to ensure safe operation for fully automated vehicles. Regarding the supervision of large autonomous vehicle fleets, a major focus is on the continuous field monitoring. The field monitoring approach must reflect the safety and security criticality of incidents in the field during driving operation. This includes an automatic containment approach, with the overall goal to avoid safety critical incidents and reduce downtime by a malfunction of the AD software stack. An End-to-end (E2E) field monitoring approach detects critical faults in the field, uses a knowledge-based approach for evaluating the safety criticality and supports the automatic containment of these E/E faults. Applying such an approach will ensure the scalability of AV fleets, which is determined by the handling of incidents in the field and the continuous regulatory compliance of the technology after enhancing the Operational Design Domain (ODD) or the function scope by Functions on Demand (FoD) over the entire digital product lifecycle.

Keywords: field monitoring, incident management, multicompliance management for AI in AD, root cause analysis, database approach

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Authors: Asanka U. K. Godamunne

Abstract:

Road traffic accidents (RTA) are a leading cause of death globally as well as in Sri Lanka and results in a large proportion of disability especially among young people. Ninety-percent of world’s road traffic deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. The gross disparities in injury outcomes relate to immediate post-crash and hospital management. Emergency management, methods of patient transportation following road traffic accidents and safety measures are important factors to reduce mortality and morbidity. Studies in this area are limited in Sri Lanka. The main objective of this research was to assess the emergency management and proper method of transportation of road traffic accident victims. This offers the best way to explore the ways to reduce the mortality and morbidity and raise the public awareness. This study was conducted as a descriptive cross-sectional study. All the consecutive road traffic accident victims admitted to surgical wards at District General Hospital, Matale, Sri Lanka, over a period of three months were included in the study. Data from 387 victims were analyzed. The majority were in the 20-30 year age group. Seventy six percent of the patients were males. Motorcycles and trishaws were most affected. First-aid was given to only 2% of patients and it was given by non-medical persons. A significant proportion of patients (75%) were transported to the hospital by trishaws and only 1% transported by ambulance. About 86% of the patients were seated while transport and 14% were flat. Limbs and head were the most affected areas of the body. As per this study, immediate post-crash management and patient transportation were not satisfactory. There is a need to strengthen certain road safety laws and make sure people follow them.

Keywords: emergency management, patient transportation, road traffic accident victims, Sri Lanka

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Authors: Mariam Musaddiq, Muhammad Ali Asadullah

Abstract:

Psychological safety is referred as a 'nonthreatening' and 'predictable' work environment leading employees, particularly interested to contribute positively to the organization, to engage and express their true selves at work without suffering negative results. We posit that the employee who is feeling psychologically safe experiences positive emotions, feels happy and shows helping behavior towards his coworkers and supervisors. Particularly, the supervisor reciprocates this helping behavior in form of greater satisfaction to the employee showing helping behavior. We tested our hypothesis in light of Feedback system theory and functional motive theory. We collected data from 453 employees and their supervisor in Pakistani hotels and restaurants through survey method. Result showed that positive affect and helping behavior mediate the relationship between psychological safety and supervisor satisfaction. Cross sectional design of the study is a major limitation of the study. Moreover, we focused on psychological safety only that is one of three dimensions of psychological conditions.

Keywords: affect, helping behavior, psychological safety, supervisor, supervisor satisfaction

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Authors: Eunjoo Lee

Abstract:

Background: As the number of surgeries increases, the incidence of adverse events is likely to become more prevalent. Patients who are somewhat knowledgeable about surgery-related adverse events are more likely to engage in safety initiatives to prevent them. Objectives: To evaluate the impact of a smartphone application developed during the study to enhance patients’ knowledge of surgery-related adverse events during hospitalization. Design: Non-randomized, one group, measured pre- and post-intervention. Participants: Thirty-six hospitalized patients admitted to the orthopedics unit of a general hospital in South Korea. Methods. First, a smartphone application to enhance patients’ knowledge of surgery-related adverse events was developed through an iterative process, which included a literature review, expert consultation, and pilot testing. The application was installed on participants’ smartphones, and research assistants taught the participants to use it. Twenty-five true/false questions were used to assess patients’ knowledge of preoperative precautions (eight items), surgical site infection (five items), Foley catheter management (four items), drainage management (four items), and anesthesia-related complications (four items). Results: Overall, the percentage of correct answers increased significantly, from 57.02% to 73.82%, although answers related to a few specific topics did not increase that much. Although the patients’ understanding of drainage management and the Foley catheter did increase substantially after they used the smartphone application, it was still relatively low. Conclusions: The smartphone application developed during this study enhanced the patients’ knowledge of surgery-related adverse events during hospitalization. However, nurses must make an additional effort to help patients to understand certain topics, including drainage and Foley catheter management. Relevance to clinical practice: Insufficient patient knowledge increases the risk of adverse events during hospitalization. Nurses should take active steps to enhance patients’ knowledge of a range of safety issues during hospitalization, in order to decrease the number of surgery-related adverse events.

Keywords: patient education, patient participation, patient safety, smartphone application, surgical errors

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Authors: Abeer K. Jameel, Harry Evdorides

Abstract:

The Assessment of the road safety performance is a challengeable issue. This is not only because of the ineffective and unreliability of road and traffic crash data system but also because of its systematic character. Recent strategic plans and interventions implemented in some of the developed countries where a significant decline in the rate of traffic and road crashes considers that the road safety is a system. This system consists of four main elements which are: road user, road infrastructure, vehicles and speed in addition to other supporting elements such as the institutional framework and post-crash care system. To assess the performance of a system, it is required to assess all its elements. To present an understandable results of the assessment, it is required to present a unique term representing the performance of the overall system. This paper aims to develop an overall performance indicator which may be used to assess the road safety system. The variables of this indicators are the main elements of the road safety system. The data regarding these variables will be collected from the World Health Organization report. Multi-criteria analysis method is used to aggregate the four sub-indicators for the four variables. Two weighting methods will be assumed, equal weights and different weights. For the different weights method, the factor analysis method is used. The weights then will be converting to scores. The total score will be the overall indicator for the road safety performance in a national scale. This indicator will be used to compare and rank countries according to their road safety performance indicator. The country with the higher score is the country which provides most sustainable and effective interventions for successful road safety system. These indicator will be tested by comparing them with the aggregate real crash rate for each country.

Keywords: factor analysis, Multi-criteria analysis, road safety assessment, safe system indicator

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