Search results for: safety and health

Authors: Olajumoke Adetoun Ojeleye

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The study assessed the safety culture, mindfulness and safe behaviors of students residing in the halls of residence of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to assess the level of safety mindfulness of students residing in the halls of residence of OAU, examine their safety culture and establish whether these students are involved in unsafe practices. The study employed a cross-sectional research design and instrument used for data collection was a self-structured, self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was tested for validity and reliability with its reliability coefficient at 0.71 before being used for data collection. Respondents were selected by multi-stage sampling technique and the sample size was 530. Data collection took 2 weeks and analysed using descriptive statistical techniques. Results showed that about half of the respondents’ population (49.8%) was between the ages of 20-24 years. There were more males (56.2%) than females (43.8%). Although data demonstrated that majority (91.7%) of the respondents are highly safety minded and the safety culture of an equally high proportion (83.4%) was adjudged fair, a lot of improvement is needed in the area of alerting or informing management of impending dangers and studying the hall handbook to internalize its contents. The study further showed that only 43.6% of respondents had good safety practices and behaviors and majority (56.4%) had fair safety practices and behaviors. One accidental discovery of the study is the finding that not a few of the students squat their counterparts. The study recommended the establishment of clearly written out complaint procedure that is accessible and available to all hall residents, building more hostels with adequate facilities to address the issue of overcrowding and also putting systems in place in order to encourage residents to report incidences/accidents.

Keywords: safe behaviours, safety culture, safety mindfulness, student

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Authors: B. Sathyanarayana

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As per the report of World Health Organization, more than 80% of world population uses medicines made from herbal and natural materials. They have stood the test of time for their safety, efficacy, cultural acceptability and lesser side effects. Quality assurance and control measures, such as national quality specification and standards for herbal materials, good manufacturing practices (GMP) for herbal medicines, labelling, and licensing schemes for manufacturing, imports and marketing, should be in place in every country where herbal medicines are regulated. These measures are vital for ensuring the safety and efficacy of herbal medicines. In the case of herbal products challenge begins at the stage of designing itself except the classical products. Selection of herbal ingredients, officinal parts to be used, proportions are vital. Once the formulation is designed one should take utmost care to produce the standardized product of assured quality and safety. Quality control measures should cover the validation of quality and identity of raw materials, in process control (as per SOP and GMP norms) and at the level of final product. Quality testing, safety and efficacy studies of the final product are required to ensure the safe and effective use of the herbal products in human beings. Medicinal plants being the materials of natural resource are subjected to great variation making it really difficult to fix quality standards especially in the case of polyherbal preparations. Manufacturing also needs modification according to the type of ingredients present. Hence, it becomes essential to develop Standard operative Procedure for a specific herbal product. Present paper throws a light on the challenges that are encountered during the design and development of herbal products.

Keywords: herbal product, challenges, quality, safety, efficacy

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Authors: Ernesto Ghini

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Workplace accidents are an unfortunate reality. However, they are also predictable and avoidable. We conducted research into a variety of legislation covering lone working, and conducted a study into the use of connected technology and how it can help improve the safety of lone workers in Latin America. We implemented quantitative research into regulations coupled with case study research into a real-life scenario that demonstrated the benefits of technology, and discuss our findings in this paper. Connected safety solutions can improve the bottom line, delivering significant return on investment in terms of improved efficiency and the avoidance of cost associated with worker injury. And, most importantly, such solutions, as demonstrated through our research, make the difference between life and death in time-critical incident situations.

Keywords: ione worker, legislation, technology, connected safety, connectivity

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Dekie Rawung, Abdul L. Abadi, Toto Himawan, Siegfried Berhimpon

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A case study on consumer' knowledge, attitude, and behavior on food safety issue related to pesticide residues in cabbage was conducted in the area of Manado and Tomohon city, North Sulawesi. A sample of 150 consumers were selected randomly on location (open market and supermarket) while they were purchasing vegetables. The data on consumers’ perception, knowledge, attitude and behavior on food safety issue regarding pesticide residues were collected using a 5-point, two-section Likert-Scale questionnaire, and the relationship of knowledge, attitude, and behavior on food safety issues were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). It was found that, among many food safety issues, the illegal, non-food chemical preservatives were considered the most important one (by more than 35% respondents), followed by high cholesterol content and textile coloring chemical (> 27% respondents). The pesticide residues issue was only in the 4th place. The same results were seen on the issue of quality factors that determine the product selection during purchasing. The pesticide-free and organic products labels were considered much less important quality factors as compared with freshness and nutrition value which were considered the most and the second most important quality factors (almost 65% of respondents). SEM analysis showed that only knowledge and attitude on food safety that had the significant relation (coefficient value of 0.38), whereas those with behaviors were not significant.

Keywords: cabbage, consumer, food safety, pesticide residues

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Authors: Henok Girma Abebe

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The Vision Zero is a long-term goal of preventing all road traffic fatalities and serious injuries which was first adopted in Sweden in 1997. It is based on the assumption that death and serious injury in the road system is morally unacceptable. In order to approach this end, vision zero has put in place strategies that are radically different from the traditional safety work. The vision zero, for instance, promoted the adoption of the best available technology to promote safety, and placed the ultimate responsibility for traffic safety on system designers. Despite Vision Zero’s moral appeal and its expansion to different safety areas and also parts of the world, important philosophical concerns related to the adoption and implementation of the vision zero remain to be addressed. Moreover, the vision zero goal has been criticized on different grounds. The aim of this paper is to identify and systematically categorize criticisms that have been put forward against vision zero. The findings of the paper are solely based on a critical analysis of secondary sources and snowball method is employed to identify the relevant philosophical and empirical literatures. Two general categories of criticisms on the vision zero goal are identified. The first category consists of criticisms that target the setting of vision zero as a ‘goal’ and some of the basic assumptions upon which the goal is based. Among others, the goal of achieving zero fatalities and serious injuries, together with vision zero’s lexicographical prioritization of safety has been criticized as unrealistic. The second category consists of criticisms that target the strategies put in place to achieve the goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries. For instance, Vision zero’s responsibility ascription for road safety and its rejection of cost-benefit analysis in the formulation and adoption of safety measures has both been criticized as counterproductive. In this category also falls the criticism that Vision Zero safety measures tend to be too paternalistic. Significant improvements have been recorded in road safety work since the adoption of vision zero, however, for the vision zero to even succeed more, it is important that issues and criticisms of philosophical nature associated with it are identified and critically dealt with.

Keywords: criticisms, systems approach, traffic safety, vision zero

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Authors: Weic-Ting Chen, Jo-Ming Tseng

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Ammonium nitrate (AN) has caused many accidents in the world, which have caused a large number of people’s life and serious economic losses. In this study, the safety of the AN production process was discussed deeply, and the influence of incompatible substances was estimated according to the change of their heat value by mixing them with incompatible substances by thermal analysis techniques, and their safety parameters were calculated according to their kinetic parameters. In this study, differential scanning calorimeters (DSC) were applied for the temperature rise test and adiabatic thermal analysis in combination with the Advanced Reactive System Screening Tool (ARSST). The research results could contribute to the safety of the ammonium nitrate production process. Manufacturers can better understand the possibility of chemical heat release and the operating conditions that will cause a chemical reaction to be out of control when storing or adding new substances, so safety parameters were researched for these complex reactions. The results of this study will benefit the process of AN and the relevant staff, which also have safety protection in the working environment.

Keywords: ammonium nitrate, incompatible substances, differential scanning calorimeters, advanced reactive system screening tool, safety parameters

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Authors: Assile Abou Diab, Shadi Najjar

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Fiber-reinforcement is an effective soil improvement technique for applications involving the prevention of shallow failures on the slope face and the repair of existing slope failures. A typical application is the stabilization of cohesionless infinite slopes. The objective of this paper is to present a probabilistic, reliability-based methodology (based on Monte Carlo simulations) for the design of a practical fiber-reinforced cohesionless infinite slope, taking into consideration the impact of various sources of uncertainty. Recommendations are made regarding the required factors of safety that need to be used to achieve a given target reliability level. These factors of safety could differ from the traditional deterministic factor of safety.

Keywords: factor of safety, fiber reinforcement, infinite slope, reliability-based design, uncertainty

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Authors: Saeed Nazari, Masoom Nazari, Ali Hejazi, Siamak Sanoobari Ghazi Jahani, Mohammad Dehghani, Javad Vakili

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More than ever, digitization is an imperative for businesses to keep their competitive advantages, foster innovation and reduce paperwork. To design and successfully implement digital transformation initiatives within process safety management system, employees need to be equipped with the right tool, frameworks, and best practices. we developed a unique full stack application so-called SHEQTool which is entirely dynamic based on our extensive expertise, experience, and client feedback to help business processes particularly operations safety management. We use our best knowledge and scientific methodologies published by CCPS and OSHA Guidelines to streamline operations and integrated them into task management within Petrochemical Companies. We digitalize their main process safety management system elements and their sub elements such as hazard identification and risk management, training and communication, inspection and audit, critical changes management, contractor management, permit to work, pre-start-up safety review, incident reporting and investigation, emergency response plan, personal protective equipment, occupational health, and action management in a fully customizable manner with no programming needs for users. We review the feedback from main actors within petrochemical plant which highlights improving their business performance and productivity as well as keep tracking their functions’ key performance indicators (KPIs) because it; 1) saves time, resources, and costs of all paperwork on our businesses (by Digitalization); 2) reduces errors and improve performance within management system by covering most of daily software needs of the organization and reduce complexity and associated costs of numerous tools and their required training (One Tool Approach); 3) focuses on management systems and integrate functions and put them into traceable task management (RASCI and Flowcharting); 4) helps the entire enterprise be resilient to any change of your processes, technologies, assets with minimum costs (through Organizational Resilience); 5) reduces significantly incidents and errors via world class safety management programs and elements (by Simplification); 6) gives the companies a systematic, traceable, risk based, process based, and science based integrated management system (via proper Methodologies); 7) helps business processes complies with ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 31000, best practices as well as legal regulations by PDCA approach (Compliance).

Keywords: process, safety, digitalization, management, risk, incident, SHEQTool, OSHA, CCPS

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Authors: Amy Williamson, Kerry Armstrong, Jason Edwards, Patricia Obst

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Australian national policy endorses a responsive approach to work health and safety (WHS) regulation, combining positive motivators (education and guidance), with compliance monitoring and enforcement to encourage and secure compliance with legislation. Despite theoretical support for responsive regulation, there is limited evidence regarding how to achieve best results in practice. Using positive psychology as a novel paradigm, this study aims to investigate how non-punitive regulatory interactions can be improved to further encourage regulatory compliance in the construction industry. As part of a larger project, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 35 inspectorate staff and 11 managers in the Australian (Queensland) construction industry. Using an inductive, grounded approach, an in-depth qualitative investigation was conducted to identify the positive psychological principles which underpin effective use of the non-punitive aspects of responsive regulation. Results highlighted the importance of effective engagement between inspectors and industry managers. This involved the need to interact cooperatively and encourage compliance with WHS legislation. Several strategies were identified that assisted regulatory interactions and the ability of inspectors to engage. The importance of communication and interpersonal skills was reported to be critical to any interaction, regardless of the nature of the visit and regulatory tools used. In particular, the use of clear and open communication fostered trust and rapport which facilitated more positive interactions. The importance of respect and empathy was also highlighted. The need for provision of guidance and direction on how to achieve compliance was also reported. This related to ensuring companies understand their WHS obligations, providing specific advice regarding how to rectify a breach and meet compliance requirements, and ensuring sufficient follow up to confirm that compliance is successfully achieved. In the absence of imminent risk, allowing companies the opportunity to comply before further action is taken was also highlighted. Increased proactive engagement with industry to educate and promote the vision of safety at work was also reported. Finally, provision of praise and positive feedback was reported to assist interactions and encourage the continuation of good practices. Evidence from positive psychology and organisational psychology was obtained to support the use of each strategy in practice. In particular, the area of positive leadership provided a useful framework to consider the factors and conditions that drive positive interactions within the context of work health and safety and the specific relationship between inspectors and industry managers. This study provides fresh insight into key psychological principles which support non-punitive regulatory interactions in the area of workplace health and safety. The findings of this research contribute to a better understanding of how inspectors can enhance the efficacy of their regulatory interactions to improve compliance with legislation. Encouraging and assisting compliance through effective non-punitive activity offers a sustainable pathway for promoting safety and preventing fatalities and injuries in the construction industry.

Keywords: engagement, non-punitive approaches to compliance, positive interactions in the workplace, work health and safety compliance

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Authors: Jessica Gladden

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Yoga has been accepted in the majority of communities in the United States as a method of assisting individuals with improving their physical health. Both community yoga classes and yoga-based therapy have been shown to be highly useful for individual’s mental health. Yoga-based therapy has been supported by research to be an evidence-based practice for individuals experiencing anxiety, depression, and disordered eating and for those experiencing post traumatic stress disorder in the wake of trauma. Many individuals who have experienced trauma, as well as other mental health diagnoses, are either very disconnected from their physical bodies or feel unsafe in their bodies. Yoga can be a method of creating safety and control in the body. This is recommended by some of the leading researchers in trauma therapy as a beginning step towards finding safety in the body in order to begin to work on the additional mental health challenges before addressing other long-term challenges. Unfortunately, yoga for physical and mental health is underutilized in black and brown communities despite the research regarding the benefits. Very few studies have examined the barriers to access to yoga for black, brown, and indigenous individuals. This study interviewed 15 yoga practitioners who identified as black or brown and explored the barriers they see in their communities related to accessing yoga and yoga-based services. Several of the themes reported include not feeling welcome, cost of services, time, and cultural/ religious components. Methods for reducing barriers will also be discussed.

Keywords: yoga, sport, barrier, black

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Authors: Boo-Sung Koh, Seung-Eock Kim

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In this paper, a direct design using a nonlinear inelastic analysis is suggested. Also, this paper compares the load carrying capacity obtained by a nonlinear inelastic analysis with experiment results to verify the accuracy of the results. The allowable stress design results of a railroad through a plate girder bridge and the safety factor of the nonlinear inelastic analysis were compared to examine the safety performance. As a result, the load safety factor for the nonlinear inelastic analysis was twice as high as the required safety factor under the allowable stress design standard specified in the civil engineering structure design standards for urban magnetic levitation railways, which further verified the advantages of the proposed direct design method.

Keywords: direct design, nonlinear inelastic analysis, residual stress, initial geometric imperfection

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Authors: Michael Scott Evans, Andrew Smith

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The feeling of fatigue at work could potentially have devastating consequences. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the well-established objective indicator of fatigue – the Fatigue Risk Index (FRI) calculator used by the rail industry is an effective indicator to the number of safety incidents, in which fatigue could have been a contributing factor. The study received ethics approval from Cardiff University’s Ethics Committee (EC.16.06.14.4547). A total of 901 safety incidents were recorded from a single British rail franchise between 1st June 2010 – 31st December 2016, into the Safety Management Information System (SMIS). The safety incident types identified that fatigue could have been a contributing factor were: Signal Passed at Danger (SPAD), Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) activation, Automatic Warning System (AWS) slow to cancel, failed to call, and station overrun. From the 901 recorded safety incidents, the scheduling system CrewPlan was used to extract the Fatigue Index (FI) score and Risk Index (RI) score of all train drivers on the day of the safety incident. Only the working rosters of 64.2% (N = 578) (550 men and 28 female) ranging in age from 24 – 65 years old (M = 47.13, SD = 7.30) were accessible for analyses. Analysis from all 578 train drivers who were involved in safety incidents revealed that 99.8% (N = 577) of Fatigue Index (FI) scores fell within or below the identified guideline threshold of 45 as well as 97.9% (N = 566) of Risk Index (RI) scores falling below the 1.6 threshold range. Their scores represent good practice within the rail industry. These findings seem to indicate that the current objective indicator, i.e. the FRI calculator used in this study by the British rail franchise was not an effective predictor of train driver’s FI scores and RI scores, as safety incidents in which fatigue could have been a contributing factor represented only 0.2% of FI scores and 2.1% of RI scores. Further research is needed to determine whether there are other contributing factors that could provide a better indication as to why there is such a significantly large proportion of train drivers who are involved in safety incidents, in which fatigue could have been a contributing factor have such low FI and RI scores.

Keywords: fatigue risk index calculator, objective indicator of fatigue, rail industry, safety incident

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Authors: Eun Hak Lee, Young-Hyun Seo, Hosuk Shin, Seung-Young Kho

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Among traffic crashes, driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol is the most dangerous behavior in Seoul, South Korea. In 2016 alone 40 deaths occurred on of 2,857 cases of DUI. Since DUI is one of the major factors in increasing the severity of crashes, the intensive management of DUI required to reduce traffic crash deaths and the crash damages. This study aims to investigate the relationship between DUI and traffic safety in order to establish countermeasures for traffic safety improvement. The analysis was conducted on the habitual drivers who drove under the influence. Information of habitual drivers is matched to crash data and fine data. The descriptive statistics on data used in this study, which consists of driver license acquisition, traffic fine, and crash data provided by the Korean National Police Agency, are described. The drivers under the influence are classified by statistically significant criteria, such as driver’s age, license type, driving experience, and crash reasons. With the results of the analysis, we propose some countermeasures to enhance traffic safety.

Keywords: driving under influence, traffic safety, traffic crash, traffic fine

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Mahmoud Ahmed Farrag, Ali Zain Elabdeen Heikal, Mohamed Shawky Ahmed, Ahmed Osama Amer

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Crowd-sourced data refers to data that is collected and shared by a large number of individuals or organizations, often through the use of digital technologies such as mobile devices and social media. The shortage in crash data collection in developing countries makes it difficult to fully understand and address road safety issues in these regions. In developing countries, crowd-sourced data can be a valuable tool for improving road safety, particularly in urban areas where the majority of road crashes occur. This study is -to our best knowledge- the first to develop safety performance functions using crowd-sourced data by adopting a negative binomial structure model and the Full Bayes model to investigate traffic safety for urban road networks and provide insights into the impact of roadway characteristics. Furthermore, as a part of the safety management process, network screening has been undergone through applying two different methods to rank the most hazardous road segments: PCR method (adopted in the Highway Capacity Manual HCM) as well as a graphical method using GIS tools to compare and validate. Lastly, recommendations were suggested for policymakers to ensure safer roads.

Keywords: crowdsourced data, road crashes, safety performance functions, Full Bayes models, network screening

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Authors: C. Bay, A. Mahr, H. Groneberg, F. Döpper

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Additive Manufacturing processes are becoming increasingly established in the industry for the economic production of complex prototypes and functional components. Laser beam melting (LBM), the most frequently used Additive Manufacturing technology for metal parts, has been gaining in industrial importance for several years. The LBM process chain – from material storage to machine set-up and component post-processing – requires many manual operations. These steps often depend on the manufactured component and are therefore not standardized. These operations are often not performed in a standardized manner, but depend on the experience of the machine operator, e.g., levelling of the build plate and adjusting the first powder layer in the LBM machine. This lack of standardization limits the reproducibility of the component quality. When processing metal powders with inhalable and alveolar particle fractions, the machine operator is at high risk due to the high reactivity and the toxic (e.g., carcinogenic) effect of the various metal powders. Faulty execution of the operation or unintentional omission of safety-relevant steps can impair the health of the machine operator. In this paper, all the steps of the LBM process chain are first analysed in terms of their influence on the two aforementioned challenges: reproducibility and work safety. Standardization to avoid errors increases the reproducibility of component quality as well as the adherence to and correct execution of safety-relevant operations. The corresponding lean method 5S will therefore be applied, in order to develop approaches in the form of recommended actions that standardize the work processes. These approaches will then be evaluated in terms of ease of implementation and their potential for improving reproducibility and work safety. The analysis and evaluation showed that sorting tools and spare parts as well as standardizing the workflow are likely to increase reproducibility. Organizing the operational steps and production environment decreases the hazards of material handling and consequently improves work safety.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, lean production, reproducibility, work safety

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Authors: Mohsen Shirani, Micaela Demichela

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Food supply chain is one of the most complex supply chain networks due to its perishable nature and customer oriented products, and food safety is the major concern for this industry. IT system could help to minimize the production and consumption of unsafe food by controlling and monitoring the entire system. However, there have been many issues in adoption of IT system in this industry specifically within SMEs sector. With this regard, this study presents a novel approach to use IT and tractability systems in the food supply chain, using application of RFID and central database.

Keywords: food supply chain, IT system, safety, SME

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Authors: Ramadhan Febriansyah, Sarah Novianti, Santi Agustini

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Indonesia is a big country with Moslem population. The government must fulfill all needs of the people. However, we do not have a good policy yet especially on healthy, safety and halal food. We try to offer a new solution to overcome this with ASUH (Aman, Sehat, Utuh, Halal) or in English is SHIH (Safe, Healthy, Intact, Halal) as alternative Indonesian policy on food security. This policy is Indonesian Government’s commitment to support Sustainability Development Goals program for the zero hunger (end hunger, to achieve food security and improved nutrition for Indonesian people, of course, to promote sustainable agriculture). Hopefully, it not only can increasing quality on food especially on livestock goods (meat, egg, milk) but also to guarantee the halal food. However, this policy can be an example to others country especially Moslem countries to support SDG’s programs. This research conducted means of the descriptive method; the authors find compare the secondary data obtained from journals, textbook and scientific articles in order to determine the factors that influence food safety and food security. Relevant data used and contain a description of SDG’s as well as about the system food safety and food security that SHIH (Safe, Healthy, Intact and Halal) so these ideas can be implemented.

Keywords: food safety, food security, food sovereignty, halal SDG's

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Authors: Himansu, Bedanga Talukdar

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The aim of present study is to investigate the prevalence of various health outcomes and quality of life and analyzes the moderating role of social capital on health outcomes (i.e., self-rated good health (SRH), depression, functional health and quality of life) among elderly in India. Using WHO Study on Global AGEing and adults health (SAGE) data, with sample of 6559 elderly between 50 and above (Mage=61.81, SD=9.00) age were selected for analysis. Multivariate analysis accessed the prevalence of SRH, depression, functional limitation and quality of life among older adults. Logistic regression evaluates the effect of social capital along with other co-founders on SRH, depression, and functional limitation, whereas linear regression evaluates the effect of social capital with other co-founders on quality of life (QoL) among elderly. Empirical results reveal that (74%) of respondents were married, (70%) having low social action, (46%) medium sociability, (45%) low trust-solidarity, (58%) high safety, (65%) medium civic engagement and 37% reported medium psychological resources. The multivariate analysis, explains (SRH) is associated with age, female, having education, higher social action great trust, safety and greater psychological resources. Depression among elderly is greatly related to age, sex, education and higher wealth, higher sociability, having psychological resources. QoL is negatively associated with age, sex, being Muslim, whereas positive associated with higher education, currently married, civic engagement, having wealth, social action, trust and solidarity, safeness, and strong psychological resources.

Keywords: depressive symptom, functional limitation, older adults, quality of life, self rated health, social capital

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Authors: Krzysztof J. Czarnocki, F. Silveira, E. Czarnocka, K. Szaniawska

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Research background: Problems related to the occupational health and decreasing level of safety occur commonly in the construction industry. Important factor in the occupational safety in construction industry is scaffold use. All scaffolds used in construction, renovation, and demolition shall be erected, dismantled and maintained in accordance with safety procedure. Increasing demand for new construction projects unfortunately still is linked to high level of occupational accidents. Therefore, it is crucial to implement concrete actions while dealing with scaffolds and risk assessment in construction industry, the way on doing assessment and liability of assessment is critical for both construction workers and regulatory framework. Unfortunately, professionals, who tend to rely heavily on their own experience and knowledge when taking decisions regarding risk assessment, may show lack of reliability in checking the results of decisions taken. Purpose of the article: The aim was to indicate crucial parameters that could be modeling with Risk Assessment Model (RAM) use for improving both building enterprise productivity and/or developing potential and safety climate. The developed RAM could be a benefit for predicting high-risk construction activities and thus preventing accidents occurred based on a set of historical accident data. Methodology/Methods: A RAM has been developed for assessing risk levels as various construction process stages with various work trades impacting different spheres of enterprise activity. This project includes research carried out by teams of researchers on over 60 construction sites in Poland and Portugal, under which over 450 individual research cycles were carried out. The conducted research trials included variable conditions of employee exposure to harmful physical and chemical factors, variable levels of stress of employees and differences in behaviors and habits of staff. Genetic modeling tool has been used for developing the RAM. Findings and value added: Common types of trades, accidents, and accident causes have been explored, in addition to suitable risk assessment methods and criteria. We have found that the initial worker stress level is more direct predictor for developing the unsafe chain leading to the accident rather than the workload, or concentration of harmful factors at the workplace or even training frequency and management involvement.

Keywords: safety climate, occupational health, civil engineering, productivity

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Authors: Mirad Böhm, Diede De Kok

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It goes without saying that for many NGOs a high level of safety and security are crucial issues, which often necessitates the support of military personnel to varying degrees. The relationship between military and NGO personnel is usually a difficult one and while there has been progress, clashes naturally still occur owing to different interpretations of mission objectives amongst many other challenges. NGOs tend to view safety and security as necessary steps towards their goal instead of fundamental pillars of their core ‘business’. The military perspective, however, considers them primary objectives; thus, frequently creating a different vision of how joint operations should be conducted. This paper will argue that internalizing safety and security into the NGO organizational culture is compelling in order to ensure a more effective cooperation with military partners and, ultimately, to achieve their goals. This can be accomplished through a change in perception of safety and security concepts as a fixed and major point on the everyday agenda. Nowadays, there are several training programmes on offer addressing such issues but they primarily focus on the individual level. True internalization of these concepts should reach further by encompassing a wide range of NGO activities, beginning with daily proceedings in office facilities far from conflict zones including logistical and administrative tasks such as budgeting, and leading all the way to actual and potentially hazardous missions in the field. In order to effectuate this change, a tool is required to help NGOs realize, firstly, how they perceive and define safety and security, and secondly, how they can adjust this perception to their benefit. The ‘safety culture ladder’ is a concept that suggests what organizations can and should do to advance their safety. While usually applied to private industrial scenarios, this work will present the concept as a useful instrument to visualize and facilitate the internalization process NGOs ought to go through. The ‘ladder’ allows them to become more aware of the level of their safety and security measures, and moreover, cautions them to take these measures proactively rather than reactively. This in turn will contribute to a rapprochement between military and NGO priority setting in regard to what constitutes a safe working environment.

Keywords: NGO-military cooperation, organisational culture, safety and security awareness, safety culture ladder

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Authors: Mohammad Raihan Mukhlis, M. Abdur Rahman Bhuiyan

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Bangladesh is a developing country in which a lot of multi-span simply/continuous supported flyovers are being constructed in its major cities. Being situated in a seismically active region, seismic safety evaluation of flyovers is essential for seismic risk reduction. Effects of site amplification on seismic safety evaluation of flyover piers are the main concern of this study. In this regard, failure mode, lateral strength and displacement ductility of piers of a typical multi-span simply supported flyover have been evaluated by Japan Road Association (JRA) recommended guidelines, with and without considering site amplification. Ultimate flexural strengths of piers have been computed using the pushover analysis results. Shear capacity of piers has been calculated using the guidelines of JRA. Lateral strengths have been determined depending on the failure modes of the piers. Displacement ductility of piers has been computed using yield and ultimate displacements of the piers obtained from the pushover analysis results. Selected earthquake time history is used in seismic safety evaluation of the flyover piers. Finally, the ductility design method is used to conduct the seismic safety evaluation of the piers with and without considering site amplification. From the numerical results, it has been revealed that the effects of site amplification on seismic safety evaluation of bridge structures should be carefully taken into account.

Keywords: displacement ductility, flyover pier, lateral strength, safety evaluation, site amplification

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Authors: Eija Raatikainen

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The aim of the study is to examine psychological safety in the context of change in working life and continuous learning in social- and educational organizations. The participants in the study are social workers and vocational teachers working as employees and supervisors in the capital region of Finland (public and private sectors). Research data has been collected during 2022-2023 using the qualitative method called empathy-based stories (MEBS). Research participants were asked to write short stories about situations related to their work and work community. As researchers, we created and varied the framework narratives (MEBS) in line with the aim of the study and theoretical background. The data were analyzed with content analysis. According to the results, the barriers and prerequisites for psychological safety at work could be located in four different working culture dimensions. The work culture dimensions were named as follows: 1) a work culture focusing on interaction and emotional culture between colleagues, 2) communal work culture, 3) a work culture that enables learning, and 4) a work culture focused on structures and operating models. All these have detailed elements of barriers and prerequisites of psychological safety at work. The results derived from the enlivening methods can be utilized when working with the work community and have discussed psychological safety at work. Also, the method itself (MEBS) can prevent open discussion and reflection on psychological safety at work because of the sensitivity of the topic. Method aloud to imagine, not just talk and share your experiences directly. Additionally, the results of the study can offer one tool or framework while developing phycological safety at work.

Keywords: psychological safety, empathy, empathy-based stories, working life

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Authors: Hoda Rahmani, Gary Weckman

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The body of research examining the integration of drones into various industries is expanding rapidly. Despite progress made in addressing the cybersecurity concerns for commercial drones, knowledge deficits remain in determining potential occupational hazards and risks of drone use to employees’ well-being and health in the workplace. This creates difficulty in identifying key approaches to risk mitigation strategies and thus reflects the need for raising awareness among employers, safety professionals, and policymakers about workplace drone-related accidents. The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of and possible risk factors for drone-related mishaps by comparing the application of drones in construction with manufacturing industries. The chief reason for considering these specific sectors is to ascertain whether there exists any significant difference between indoor and outdoor flights since most construction sites use drones outside and vice versa. Therefore, the current research seeks to examine the causes and patterns of workplace drone-related mishaps and suggest possible ergonomic interventions through data collection. Potential ergonomic practices to mitigate hazards associated with flying drones could include providing operators with professional pieces of training, conducting a risk analysis, and promoting the use of personal protective equipment. For the purpose of data analysis, two data mining techniques, the random forest and association rule mining algorithms, will be performed to find meaningful associations and trends in data as well as influential features that have an impact on the occurrence of drone-related accidents in construction and manufacturing sectors. In addition, Spearman’s correlation and chi-square tests will be used to measure the possible correlation between different variables. Indeed, by recognizing risks and hazards, occupational safety stakeholders will be able to pursue data-driven and evidence-based policy change with the aim of reducing drone mishaps, increasing productivity, creating a safer work environment, and extending human performance in safe and fulfilling ways. This research study was supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health through the Pilot Research Project Training Program of the University of Cincinnati Education and Research Center Grant #T42OH008432.

Keywords: commercial drones, ergonomic interventions, occupational safety, pattern recognition

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Authors: Royia Soliman, Salma ElAnsary, Akram Amin Abdellatif, Florian Holzapfel

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Model-Based Safety Analysis (MBSA) is an approach in which the system and safety engineers share a common system model created using a model-based development process. The model can also be extended by the failure modes of the system components. There are two famous approaches for the addition of fault behaviors to system models. The first one is to enclose the failure into the system design directly. The second approach is to develop a fault model separately from the system model, thus combining both independent models for safety analysis. This paper introduces a hybrid approach of MBSA. The approach tries to use informal abstracted models to investigate failure behaviors. The approach will combine various concepts such as directed graph traversal, event lists and Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSP). The approach is implemented using an Object Oriented programming language. The components are abstracted to its failure logic and relationships of connected components. The implemented approach is tested on various flight control systems, including electrical and multi-domain examples. The various tests are analyzed, and a comparison to different approaches is represented.

Keywords: flight control systems, model based safety analysis, safety assessment analysis, system modelling

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Authors: Saif Ul Haq

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The current study intends to examine the safety and quality considerations of clients of housing projects and their impact on the adoption of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) by the construction firm. Mixed method research technique has been used to collect and analyze the data wherein a survey was conducted to collect the data from 220 clients of housing projects in Saudi Arabia. Then, the telephonic and Skype interviews were conducted to collect data of 15 professionals working in the top ten real estate companies of Saudi Arabia. Data were analyzed by using partial least square (PLS) and thematic analysis techniques. Findings reveal that today’s customer prioritizes the safety and quality requirements of their houses and as a result, construction firms adopt QFD to address the needs of customers. The findings are of great importance for the clients of housing projects as well as for the construction firms as they could apply QFD in housing projects to address the safety and quality concerns of their clients.

Keywords: construction industry, quality considerations, quality function deployment, safety considerations

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: Atul Khurana, Rajul Rastogi, Hans-Joachim Gamperl

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The pharmaceutical companies are getting more inclined towards patient support programs (PSPs) which assist patients and/or healthcare professionals (HCPs) in more desirable disease management and cost-effective treatment. The utmost objective of these programs is patient care. The PSPs may include financial assistance to patients, medicine compliance programs, access to HCPs via phone or online chat centers, etc. The PSP has a crucial role in terms of customer acquisition and retention strategies. During the conduct of these programs, Marketing Authorisation Holder (MAH) may receive information related to concerned medicinal products, which is usually reported by patients or involved HCPs. This information may include suspected adverse reaction(s) during/after administration of medicinal products. Hence, the MAH should design PSP to comply with regulatory reporting requirements and avoid non-compliance during PV inspection. The emergence of wireless health devices is lowering the burden on patients to manually incorporate safety data, and building a significant option for patients to observe major swings in reference to drug safety. Therefore, to enhance the adoption of these programs, MAH not only needs to aware patients about advantages of the program, but also recognizes the importance of time of patients and commitments made in a constructive manner. It is indispensable that strengthening the public health is considered as the topmost priority in such programs, and the MAH is compliant to Pharmacovigilance (PV) requirements along with regulatory obligations.

Keywords: drug safety, good pharmacovigilance practice, patient support program, pharmacovigilance

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Authors: Xuewei Li, Jingfeng Yuan, Jianliang Zhou

Abstract:

The 21st century has been called the century of human exploitation of underground space. Due to the characteristics of large quantity, tight schedule, low safety reserve and high uncertainty of deep foundation pit engineering, accidents frequently occur in deep foundation pit engineering, causing huge economic losses and casualties. With the successful application of information technology in the construction industry, building information modeling has become a research hotspot in the field of architectural engineering. Therefore, the application of building information modeling (BIM) and other information communication technologies (ICTs) in construction safety management is of great significance to improve the level of safety management. This research summed up the mechanism of the deep foundation pit engineering accident through the fault tree analysis to find the control factors of deep foundation pit engineering safety management, the deficiency existing in the traditional deep foundation pit construction site safety management. According to the accident cause mechanism and the specific process of deep foundation pit construction, the hazard information of deep foundation pit engineering construction site was identified, and the hazard list was obtained, including early warning information. After that, the system framework was constructed by analyzing the early warning information demand and early warning function demand of the safety management system of deep foundation pit. Finally, the safety management system of deep foundation pit construction site based on BIM through combing the database and Web-BIM technology was developed, so as to realize the three functions of real-time positioning of construction site personnel, automatic warning of entering a dangerous area, real-time monitoring of deep foundation pit structure deformation and automatic warning. This study can initially improve the current situation of safety management in the construction site of deep foundation pit. Additionally, the active control before the occurrence of deep foundation pit accidents and the whole process dynamic control in the construction process can be realized so as to prevent and control the occurrence of safety accidents in the construction of deep foundation pit engineering.

Keywords: Web-BIM, safety management, deep foundation pit, construction

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Authors: Samaneh Arasteh

Abstract:

Neighbourhood satisfaction and safety are the two main components of urban life and have a substantial impact on residents’ quality of life. The relationship between these two components, especially in areas surrounding our individual private dwellings, is highly influential on many social, economic, and wellbeing activities that may benefit neighbourhood residents. Neighbourhood and urban design – which are liable to be affected by the perceived quality of local public spaces – are likely to be significant factors influencing broader residents’ feelings of safety. With this in mind, this study reviews recent normative literature on how these design processes have influenced neighbourhood satisfaction including perceived safety with a focus on different aspects of public spaces including planning, management, and design in a mix-tenure neighbourhood. Following the study aim, Riverwood in Sydney’s southwest was chosen as a case study to gain a detailed understanding of the context by engaging with community members, residents, non-government organisations, and experts. Moreover, archival studies on neighbourhood satisfaction and safety, expert interviews, and resident questionnaires are presented to shed light on the relationship between neighbourhood satisfaction and perception of safety. The study argues that for the safer neighbourhood in urban areas, social-cultural factors need to be aligned toward strengthening physical factors and since making the environments safer, it is important to understand practical and achievable mechanisms which are required to improve existing estates. Findings show that increasing the clarity of community social and physical environmental involvements can promote residents’ feelings of safety and following neighbourhood satisfaction.

Keywords: neighbourhood satisfaction, public space, Riverwood, urban safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 181

Authors: Miklos Taliga

Abstract:

In the present case study we examined the development and testing methods of systems that contain safety-critical elements in different industrial fields. Consequentially, we observed the classical object-oriented development and testing environment, as both medical technology and automobile industry approaches the development of safety critical elements that way. Subsequently, we examined model-based development. We introduce the quality parameters that define development and testing. While taking modern agile methodology (scrum) into consideration, we examined whether and to what extent the methodologies we found fit into this environment.

Keywords: safety-critical elements, quality managent, unit verification, model base testing, agile methods, scrum, metamodel, object-oriented programming, field specific modelling, sprint, user story, UML Standard

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Authors: Shalini Priyadarshini

Abstract:

The notion of performance measurement has held great appeal for the industry and research communities alike. This idea is also true for the construction sector, and some propose that performance measurement and productivity analysis are two separate management functions, where productivity is a subset of performance, the latter requiring comprehensive analysis of comparable factors. Labor productivity is considered one of the best indicators of production efficiency. The construction industry continues to account for a disproportionate share of injuries and illnesses despite adopting several technological and organizational interventions that promote worker safety. Specialty trades contractors typically complete a large fraction of work on any construction project, but insufficient body of work exists that address subcontractor safety and productivity issues. Literature review has revealed the possibility of a relation between productivity, safety and other factors and their links to project, organizational, task and industry performance. This research posits that there is an association between productivity and performance at project as well as organizational levels in the construction industry. Moreover, prior exploration of the importance of safety within the performance-productivity framework has been anecdotal at best. Using structured questionnaire survey and organization- and project level data, this study, which is a combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal research designs, addresses the identified research gap and models the relationship between productivity, safety, and performance with a focus on specialty trades in the construction sector. Statistical analysis is used to establish a correlation between the variables of interest. This research identifies the need for developing and maintaining productivity and safety logs for smaller businesses. Future studies can design and develop research to establish causal relationships between these variables.

Keywords: construction, safety, productivity, performance, specialty trades

Procedia PDF Downloads 277