Advances in Safety Management and Human Factors

The Workplace incident investigation methodology has typically developed alongside our understanding of accident causation and the ever-evolving associated models. The research-practice gap that has existed and continues to exist, presents an interesting area for discussion and future research. Through analysis of literature in the field of incident/accident investigation methodologies, this paper focuses on a number of models in the context of practice within a small to mid-sized enterprise and in particular looks at what can be considered as best practice for such an enterprise.

Work psychologists play a crucial role in today’s work systems, where psychological stressors are on the rise. However, the occupational profile of work psychologists is not clearly defined by Austrian law and atypical employment might be common among Austrian work psychologists. In our study, we identified aspects of an undefined and insecure occupational profile and hypothesized a positive association with role ambiguity, which in turn was supposed to affect psychological wellbeing negatively. Finally, we hypothesized that well-functioning cooperation with occupational physicians would buffer experiences of role ambiguity in work psychologists. 31 experts were interviewed and salient topics served as a base for an Austria-wide online survey study with N = 122 participating work psychologists. Regression analyses supported the assumed effects. The results highlight the importance of a more clearly defined occupational profile for work psychologists. We discuss viable approaches to improve working conditions for work psychologists in Austria.

According to current prognosis, an excess of age is expected for the working population. Therefore, dealing with age-related impairments of sensory functions such as hearing impairment, is a central issue. Age and age-related impairments might influence employees’ performance especially in exhausting and stressful working situations. Furthermore, reduced hearing capacity bears a serious safety risk. To improve the communication especially regarding safety, communication friendly working procedures can be implemented.A field study with white-collar workers was conducted. Audiometric data results showed that 57.9% of the participants had a slight hearing loss, 34.2% showed a mild to moderate hearing impairment. Most of the participants reported that they do strongly rely on communication at their workplace. Based on interviews and workshops difficult hearing situations were identified and procedures to prevent misunderstandings were derived. Furthermore, examples of procedures to improve the hearing environment are presented.

Knowledge is in the heads of people. Managing knowledge is more than maintaining data bases, but making sure, that relevant knowledge is transferred from head to head. This is especially difficult regarding tacit knowledge on both, individual and collective level. In this applied research project, two methods aiming at improving an organization’s knowledge management were developed: (a) A method for evaluating existing knowledge management processes from a comprehensive point of view providing concrete measures for improvement and (b) a method especially referring to the elicitation of team specific collective tacit knowledge aiming at facilitating cooperation awareness and triggering individual as well as joint learning. Both methods were developed in close cooperation with industrial partners and pilot tested. They delivered valuable insights for improvements.

The twenty-first century has seen many changes, together with improvements in health and safety performance in some sectors. These improvements are testimony that the combined effects of regulatory enforcement, proactive leadership and investments in safety technology are bringing in some tangible benefits overall. However; organisational accidents still occur, raising the question of whether key learnings from previous disasters are used for informing organisational health and safety management practices. This paper, based on an analysis of findings from the Mocando Well Blowout and Fukushima Disasters, seeks to explore this very research question. This paper first discusses key factors identified in reports of the above disasters, followed by an introduction to organisational learning. Safety through organisational learning is proposed as a method, and a number of suggestions made for advancing research and practice in safety management through these approaches in the general industry.

Although it is clear that we must satisfy both economy and safety, we sometimes place more emphasis on economy than safety, which leads to a critical disaster or crash. The reason must be identified for the further enhancement of safety. This study explored why one cannot satisfy both economy and safety. We attempted to explain the reason using the collapse model of proper balance between safety and economy (efficiency) induced by the following cognitive biases: (i) mental accounting, (ii) loss aversion, and (iii) discount of safety. The measure or remedy of this collapse of the proper balance between safety and economy (efficiency) was proposed as (a) disclosure system, (b) commitment approach to safety, and (c) mechanism design.

The U.S. dairy industry has had consistently high rates of occupational injuries. Occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMSs) have potential to reduce injury rates, but lacking a regulatory mandate for such a system, it is uncertain if U.S. dairy farmers will adopt an OHSMS. Needs assessment interviews were developed and validated to assess the attitudes, experiences, and interests of dairy workers and managers about OHSMS approaches to worker safety. Non-parametric statistical methods were applied to determine whether there were differences between the mean responses of workers and managers and whether their expressed attitudes and interests were significantly strong in favor or against OHSMSs. Thirty-two dairy workers and four managers from four farms completed the interviews. There were no significant differences in attitudes or interests between dairy workers and management. Most of the attitudes and interests were strongly favorable of OHSMS approaches, suggesting that dairy farmers may be willing to adopt an OHSMS voluntarily.

During the process of construction, accidents may happen in different ways. In this paper, we firstly review the literature related to the asymmetric information on construction site. Next, the author will report some interviews and questionnaires used to study the causes of construction accidents that happen in different types of buildings (such as building sites, bridges and tunnels). The author will draw a conclusion at the end of the paper to summarize the causes of construction accidents in different kinds of buildings.

This study is focused on an airplane crash case to analyze and identify the accident contributing factors. The accident occurred on 27th of December 1991 in a few minutes after a Scandinavian Airlines System plane departed from Stockholm on a route to Copenhagen, Denmark. It was found that the cause of this accident is a combination of several factors. Errors can result from ambiguously written procedures, inadequate training, unexpected operational situations or individual judgments. Situational awareness, environmental and crew coordination factors, as well as shortcomings in pilot technical knowledge, skills and experience, also can cause incidents. Other mistakes might be the result of improper airspace design or crew coordination.

The study reported in this paper analyzed the determinants of occupational accidents from a social and a working conditions combined perspective, considering the level of analysis of the European nation. Fatal and non-fatal work accidents in 2014, collected and provided by Eurostat, are correlated with country by country results of the 7th European Social Survey (ESS) (2014 data). This informs on work accident determinants of the European Social Dimensions reported on the ESS. Moreover, considering data from the 6th European Working Conditions Survey (2015 data), working conditions, on a country by country basis as well, are further considered and analyzed from the perspective of fatal and non-fatal accidents and from the perspective of social dimensions. This multiple pronged study of association unveils interesting associations between fatal and non-fatal work accidents and working conditions, as well as between fatal and non-fatal work accidents and social dimensions, and also, between social dimensions and working conditions, taking the European country as a unit of analysis. The findings shed light on the interconnectedness of the distinct domains under study, as well as informing policy development towards creating tailor made approaches suiting each particular country reality within the countries encompassed in the analysis.

Since the introduction of the concept of culture in the safety domain, much effort has been put into its assessment. Such assessments are typically carried out to come to a diagnosis and, possibly, a culture improvement. While the relationship between culture and behavior remains ambiguous and the odds of steering a culture into a desirable direction are equally uncertain, the development process of culture might offer more solace. Skipping the assessment altogether, the process offers both cultural insight and opportunities to influence the culture more towards a culture for safety. To establish such a culture, it is important that people can voice their concerns and share information openly.

The idea that an organizational workforce as a collective can have the attribute of being ‘collectively mindful’ points towards a readiness to respond through stable cognitive processes and variability in actions which are needed to maintain system functioning and manage system fluctuations when the unexpected happens. This paper reviews recent theory and research on the concepts of Organizational Mindfulness and Mindful Organizing with a view to imparting understanding on how the collective workforce plays a key role in the management of the unexpected by using the five principles of organizational collective mindfulness. Suggestions for strategically enhancing these organizational mindfulness concepts are discussed to enable enhancement of an organizational resilience safety culture.

Regulator safety culture is a relatively new area of investigation, even though deficiencies in regulatory oversight have been identified in a number of public inquiries (e.g., Piper Alpha, Deep Water Horizon). More recently, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report into the Fukushima disaster specifically identified the need for regulatory bodies to have a positive safety culture. While there are clear parallels between duty holder safety culture and regulator safety culture there are also likely to be differences. The present study adopted a two-phase approach that (1) used literature review and interviews with 13 safety culture experts to develop a framework on regulator safety culture and (2) used leanings from Study 1 in combination with items developed by a safety culture working group to develop and evaluate a regulator safety culture survey. The importance of regulator safety culture incites the need to develop valid and reliable tools to assess this construct.

Emotions play an important role in risk perception. There are many ways in which users’ personal feelings can impact their evaluation of and reaction to product risks. Strong emotions and overall affect can influence behavior and decision-making in a manner distinct from related stimuli. In order to explore this relationship, the process of risk-benefit analysis is observed through an evaluation of several different activities and products, such as adrenaline sports, gambling, and smoking.

This paper aims mainly to present the methodology and the main results of the diagnosis on safety culture (or human and organizational factors) carried out in two offshore production platforms in Brazil. The main methodological stages were: (i) application of a questionnaire on safety culture and (ii) group discussion of the divergences of perception among the different hierarchical levels. The integration among the platforms’ operating teams and the company’s engineering areas may be pointed as the main condition for the development of the proactive and generative safety culture.

The concern for human lives on construction sites is a major issue not only for construction stakeholders but also for relevant agencies and bodies responsible for general health and safety of people in a particular society. In this study, the level of importance of various construction safety guidelines were examined with a view to creating better awareness for improved performance of construction projects. The analysis of the data revealed a minimum mean item score (MIS) of 4.13 out of the possible 5.00 for analysed safety related variables. This implies that there is a high level of awareness of various safety guidelines while the problem of implementation and enforcement of the guidelines persist. There is therefore the need for consistent and continuous training on practical implementation of the guidelines and programs by relevant construction training agencies such as Construction Education Training Agency (CETA).

In our interrelated world with global market the responsibility and hence the potential to improve machinery safety lays on several actors including designers, manufacturers, end users and regulatory, standardization, representative, lobby organizations. On one hand according to the “free movement of goods” concept machinery safety is regulated like the safety of other products, including involvement of notified bodies, conformity assessment and international standards with mandatory requirements. On the other hand the provision of a safe and healthy workplace is a well respected value therefore national regulations are there on the use of tools including machinery in workplaces by workers. In both area the basic concept of safety is the management of risk, but the two approaches differ due to the differences in the quantity and diversity of machinery handled and due to the knowledge on target group and on the use. Although there several ways to link design and usage including e.g. standardization, acquisition, user-oriented design, the risk of machinery at the workplaces is not eliminated and workplace accidents with machinery still occur. This paper shows how risk assessment at workplaces and risk assessment in machinery safety should be connected, how knowledge of workers can be utilized in the design and how in general usability methodology evolved in software ergonomics can be applied in machinery design to improve workplace safety.

In order to prevent accidents related to undergraduates on campus, contributory factors of undergraduates’ unsafe acts were analyzed. By conducting a survey and data analysis, factors leading to unsafe acts and quantitative relationship among these factors and unsafe acts were studied. A structural equation model (SEM) expressing causes to unsafe acts was built. The results showed that university safety investment, university safety management, safety awareness of undergraduates and influences from their family had direct impacts on unsafe acts of undergraduates, and safety awareness had the most significant impact. It was also revealed that safety training at university, safety education at secondary school, relationship among students had indirect or less influence on preventing undergraduates’ unsafe acts.

Falling from high is an accident type with high frequency and high death rate in construction industry. It occupies nearly 60% of the total accidents in construction industry in China. Human factors contribute to most of this accident type. 56 accidents were analyzed utilizing 24 Model in this paper, which was an accident causation model developed by one of the author. 19 categories of unsafe acts were identified from the falling accident analysis. Unsafe acts involving both frontline workers and managers were studied. Moreover, 2 key unsafe acts, insufficient training on workers and defects on usage of safety belt or safety helmet, were identified to contribute to nearly 80% of the accident. The results provided guidelines to develop interventions for preventing falling accidents. Results obtained in this paper can be used by companies in their occupational safety strategies and design of safety training programs.

In the international context, the issue of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in the Civil Construction sector is still a problem related to a lack of safety culture, lack of resources and means, short implementation times, lack of effective supervision, the lack of basic or sectoral training of some actors in this industry, among other causes. Construction accidents cause many human tragedies, discourage workers, interrupt the construction process, adversely affect the costs, productivity and reputation of this industry and slow down the progress of society (Integrating Safety and Health Performance into Construction, 1997). Portugal is one of the countries of the European Union that has one of the highest labor loss rates, with a higher incidence in the Civil Construction sector. The importance of this sector to the Portuguese economy is very well known, since it is a direct source of employment of workers. Its activity moves several sectors, upstream and downstream of its production chain, which is why it is considered one of the driving forces of the national economy, not only because of its specific weight in wealth creation but also in employment, taking into account the Its obvious multiplier effect, and is therefore a fundamental activity for the growth of the economy. This is a sector with a low-skilled workforce, presenting a great precariousness and job instability, offering low salaries and demanding high levels of income. It is also characterized by a large and constant displacement of personnel from site to site, who are also required a frequent change of place and job within each work. It also requires a great deal of versatility on the part of workers in that it has a huge diversity of activities and professions. Therefore it is urgent to change this paradigm, in favor of occupational safety and prevention.

While remarkable progress has been made recently to improve the state of occupational safety, the number of occupational accidents is still unacceptable. In addition, the organizational costs related to these safety problems in the workplace are staggering. Therefore, effective strategies are needed to guide the continuous improvement of safety performance. Common approaches include setting safety goals, identifying the key activities/interventions to reach those goals, and evaluating performance. The most challenging and fundamental issue within these approaches is evaluating safety performance. While it has been a focus of safety professionals, concerns still exist among researchers with regard to how safety performance can be appropriately and accurately measured to improve decision support systems. Recently, researchers in the field of safety have begun directing efforts towards new approaches for measuring safety performance by addressing leading indicators. However, because of its nature and utility, the ideas and concepts of leading indicators have remained unclear. In an effort to overcome this challenge, this study attempts to distinguish between the two common aspects of safety performance, observable activities and outcomes. The importance of using leading indicators for steering safety performance is then highlighted. In order to meet these objectives, the results chain model, which has been introduced by several researchers for outlining the program development, is employed. The elements of the results chain model are then interrelated with relevant safety concepts. As a result, the relationship between the leading and lagging indicators and safety performance is identified. A set of leading indicators that predict safety performance is proposed. Further, the important implications of this study for both academic communities and practitioners are discussed as well.

Motigravity is a new immersive instrument developed by Mars Planet where one or more persons interact with a virtual environment using a visual and biomechanical system. The applications of this system are various; here, applications in space operations simulation and rehabilitation medicine, in particular, are presented. This paper aims to bring to the scientific community knowledge about this recently developed virtual reality technology in order to motivate cooperation, development, and application of this facility.

This study reexamined data from an earlier study by the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health addressing the after-reach speed of press operators—a speed that is a key part of standards for locating two-hand actuator buttons from the point of operation. The 60 participating press operators performed four reaches in each of two button placements. The investigators reported on the fastest of the four for each operator. They concluded that the 1.6 m/s value is inadequate to protect many of the faster press operators. For this paper, all reach speeds were analyzed and used to identify the percentiles of all after-reaches that were slower than several common percentile.

There are many ways that product manufacturers can communicate risk to consumers. The hazard control hierarchy describes the fundamental elements and appropriate methodology for implementation of research-supported concepts and provides effective techniques for risk communication. Distinctions among types of risk communication and relevant standards are reviewed. Comprehension of risk information by product users is an essential part of the communication process. Label conspicuity and placement on the product are considered as to how they impact the efficacy of a warning, and are evaluated in real-world applications. Anti-warnings: communications that downplay risks and/or undermine warnings are also important to consider and are discussed relative to their effect on warning communications.

The article concerns problems of electromagnetic compatibility, and protection from exposure of electromagnetic fields of living organisms. The article mainly focus on the impact of electromagnetic fields coming from the Military Communications Systems for the soldier. Article presents the impact of electromagnetic fields for the living cells, characterized protection regulations from exposure of electromagnetic fields at the Military Operations. Article shown the results of measurements and analyzes the values of the intensity of electric and magnetic fields coming from backpack radio used by the soldiers.

This article aims at demonstrating employees’ opinions on consequences of changes in psychophysical strain on employees, resulting from anticipated changes in the scope of work automation. The authors present the theoretical directions of research connected with automation issues and transformations resulting from that process, with regard to the risks of hazardous and onerous factors. This article in particular addresses the psychophysical strain. In the subsequent part of the article the authors discuss the research methodology and analyze the research results. The last part of the article contains conclusions derived from the analysis.

This study reports on the accuracy of smartphone-based illuminance measurement applications and whether they may be employed for occupational lighting measurements. A sample of nine mobile phones on three platforms (Android, iOS and Windows) was assembled and 14 apps were selected for testing. Testing conditions comprised four pre-specified illuminance levels (300 lx, 500 lx, 750 lx and 1000 lx) accomplished with three light sources presenting different Correlated Color Temperatures (2700 K; 4000 K; 6500 K). The results reveal extremely variable and sometimes large deviations from the reference levels and suggest smartphones are not appropriate for use in occupational lighting assessments.

Skill development precariousness of disaster security management induces an ungoverned society in emergency situations. It is noted a gap in leadership competence in critical scenarios, with a demand for leaders with profiles focused on crisis management. The present work develops a discussion, to propose a crisis management training model. In this simulated model, it is understood that it is possible to identify a risk scenario evolution, such as a public building fire, as well as to evaluate the operative group’s ability to cope with crisis, in a leadership role or in an accident course. This work develops a training model for leaders and performs a way of monitoring leaders’ performance, according to which corresponds to procedures that are considered ideas and the presented result at the end of the simulation, an indication of increased competences of more assertive actions. From the training protocol implementation, it is expected society will cohabitate in an improved comfort position, where leaders are prepared to act in emergencies, in a relationship of cognitive knowledge and emotional balance, for crisis management, in progressive stress stages as well as in mass disasters.

It may encounter some severe problems when simulating a crowd evacuation using human’s data collected from other countries. Thus, to ensure the safety of people in buildings, it becomes quite important to gather and analyze human’s behavior and reaction in fire, with consideration of different culture backgrounds, behavior habits, different physiology and psychology characteristics et al. In this study, we designed questionnaires and analyzed human’s individual characters, cognition degree of fire, sociological behaviors, as well as daily behavior characteristics statistically in multi-ethnics jumping-off of China. We bridged the gap between the human’s characteristics (such as gender, age, education, job, environment cognition and toxic tolerance) and human’s behavior in fire.

Majority of the incidents and accidents in complex high-risk systems that exist in the construction industry and other sectors have been attributed to unsafe acts of workers. The purpose of this paper is to asses Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) in construction accident prevention. The study was conducted through the use of secondary data from journals, books and internet to achieve the objective of the study. The review of literature looked into details of different views from different scholars about HFACS framework in accidents investigations. It further highlighted on various sections or disciplines of accident occurrences in human performance within the construction. The findings from literature review showed that unsafe acts of a worker and unsafe working conditions are the two major causes of accident in the construction industry. The most significant factor in the cause of site accident in the construction industry is unsafe acts of a worker. The findings also show how the application of HFACS framework in the investigation of accident will lead to the identification of common trends. Further findings show that provision for the prevention of accident will be made based on past accident records to identify and prioritize where intervention is needed within the construction industry.

Malaysian construction industry is crucial in the development of the country towards becoming a developed nation. However, the positive growth of Malaysian construction industry is being affected with high fatality rate. There are four main elements contributing to occupational accidents in the industry comprising of immediate factor (human and worksite) and underlying factor (management and external). Human element is considered the most significant and obvious contributing factor towards occupational accidents in the construction industry. This element is formulated by the four sub-elements, human physical, experience, attitude and behavior. 13 residential projects comprising of seven high-rise and six low-rise projects were chosen in Penang, Malaysia. 135 and 13 respondents were selected for questionnaire survey and interview respectively. Attitude and behavior registered the highest mean average in human element. Comparison made between high-rise and low-rise projects respondents shown that there is no significant difference in the perspective of these two groups towards human element.

Tailing dams are used to store mining tailings as uneconomic fraction of an ore after separating the valuable fraction. Tailing dams are mostly hazardous. Therefore, release of a large amount of tailings could lead to serious and long term ecological effects with very high cleanup costs. A literature survey shows that the main causes of tailing dam failure are poor design, improper site, irresponsibility and lack of control. To avoid of tailing dam failure awareness about the root causes and the severity of impacts on environment and human health is very important. This study is focused on a case to identify the causes as a base for proposing some important safety factors to prevent failure of tailing dams. The past experiences show that efforts should be put on prevention rather than reacting after the event.

The objective of this study is to discuss the Brazilian industrial accident evaluation model in chemical and petrochemical companies located in the metropolitan region of Salvador and to propose a transition model from guilt culture to an environment where workers have equal conditions before companies and can efficiently collaborate in investigations and implementations of countermeasures thus reducing the occurrence or recurrence of unwanted events, a just culture environment.

The aim of the present study is to diagnosis, assess and present prevention procedures of electrocuting and burning risk, taking as a case study electrocuting and burning situations in an Algerian setting “INFRAFER” specialized in the production of railway concrete sleepers, based in Oran. All the workers of the welding and cutting workshop (N = 38) participated in the study. ILO/IEA ergonomic checkpoints were used for the diagnostic of electrocution and burning risks. The Methodology for Analyzing System Failures (MADS) approach was used to assess the risk of electrocuting and burning. The study revealed the following results: (1) a Constant frequency of electrocuting and burning risk facing the workers of the workshop; (2) a strong dose of exposure to risk; (3) a high level of exposure to risk; (4) the risk of electrifying and burning has serious impact but without complications; (5) the level of seriousness calls for rapid intervention. By identifying the priority level, the present study recommended that “collective protection strategy” is the appropriate action to prevent this category of risks.

Climbing is an important fundamental skill that children acquire in early childhood. Children love to climb everything, including consumer products, such as furniture, that are not designed to be climbed on. This puts children at risk of severe injuries. To prevent injuries, it is critical to understand how children climb on objects. The purpose of this study is to collect children’s climbing behavior data to clarify the relationship between climbing behavior and object features.

The financial market has been evolving as an increasingly complex sociotechnical system, ever since it experienced expansion on account of information technology developments. Our approach is rooted in engineering-based accident analysis, or so-called systems-theoretic accident modeling and processes (STAMP). From the STAMP model, systems-theoretic process analysis (STPA) can be developed on the basis of the accident analysis method and hazard analysis. STPA attempts to systematically inspect accidents, and is involved in system redesigns that, had they been implemented, could have precluded those accidents. Through the lens of STPA, we aim to pinpoint the overarching causes of problems in the South Korean disclosure system and find more effective remedies. Having suspected Hanmi Pharmaceutical of being part of an insider trading scandal, South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service investigated that company. By applying the STAMP model, we derive more insightful recommendations regarding the timely disclosure of company information, and thus the prevention of suspicious (and possibly illegal) short selling in the stock market.

Several distinct but intrinsically related sections are discussed from an epidemiological standpoint including the epidemiology of risks, individual versus population risks, intervention and prevention. A number of specific risk factors identified in published research are considered and categorized for either individual or population-level effect. Risk factor assessment, with an emphasis on the concept of risk level among individuals through their life span is specified, with a focus on consumption patterns. The efficacy of prevention is evaluated among intervention approaches, with case studies provided for context.

Gold mining is a major economic activity in the Philippines participated in by large-scale, artisanal and small-scale entities. Small-scale gold mining has been a source of opportunities for jobs and livelihood to thousands of people. However, this sector is described as an informal and unregulated industry with minimal standards. This situation has raised concerns on risks that may affect its sustainability. Locally, a working organization is required to undergo self-assessment and inspection. In the absence of a risk assessment tool, this paper presents the development of this tool for a systematic examination and identification of the hazards on small-scale gold mining in the Philippines. To assess its usability, officials of the Provincial Environmental Natural Resources Office and the miners/operators used the tool at sites engaged in surface, underground or compressor mining. The results showed low compliance to standards and violations for the gold small-scale mining activities is due to the lack of information regarding the standards. It also showed that the top hazards identified in specific site depends on the choice of mining and extraction processes. Based on user evaluation, the risk assessment tool is effective, easy to learn and covers most hazards in small-scale mining in the Philippines.

The construction sector has a set of very specific and unique characteristics that demarcate it from all other sectors. This is associated with a strong precariousness and labor turnover, plus the widespread practice of subcontracting. The pertinence of the study carried out is framed in the necessity of evaluating and valuing the management indicators, through accident rates that are statistically valid. In order to obtain the indices as a function of sectoral and market management variables, several statistical models were developed with the capacity to predict the behavior of these indices. Exogenous variables, such as the unemployment rate and the GDP growth rate of Portugal, were included for this purpose. These statistical models function as predictive models, provided that the coefficients of the independent variables are significant. Linear regressions were used because, due to the temporal shortage of data, the other types of regression would hardly prove to be robust. Also, were tested dozens of models, and the overwhelming majority did not show any statistical significance. Nevertheless, we obtained 3 (three) partially significant multiple linear regression models. Thus, as a final result of this work, it was verified that only (2) two models, demonstrated to have good predictability and reliability for future use. Being that these appear as relevant variables, the unemployment rate and the training costs per worker. These models can be used by companies in the industry, such as tools for the prevention of accidents at work.

Non-wearable sensors utilizing advanced image-processing and sensing technologies for capturing an individual’s behavior in real-world settings are now available. Wearable sensors are difficult to use, especially for long-term recordings, because the batteries for these sensors must be exchanged or recharged. Behavioral data collected using non-wearable sensors can be used for precision nursing, which indicates individualized risk management and intervention plan based on the understanding of individual risk and other health status. In this study, we applied the developed non-wearable technologies to evaluate a person’s gait ability, which is an important factor for creating a fall prevention program.

The study of the occupational thermal environment must take into account the need to obtain acceptable conditions in terms of health and comfort. The aim of the present study was to evaluate thermal comfort in a meat processing industry. Measurements of temperature, relative humidity and air velocity were carried out for all workstations. Measurements (N = 21) were performed during 5 min, for each thermal amplitude, with the presence of the worker after analyses of workers clothing. After the measurements, “Predicted Mean Vote” and “Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied” were calculated, for a subsequent proposal of prevention and protection measures. The results demonstrate the need to implement preventive measures to mitigate possible health effects for workers exposed to various thermal environments (design, organizational, material/structural, personal protection and medical surveillance). In conclusion an inadequate thermal environment can rise to psychological discomfort, absenteeism, reduced productivity, increased frequency of accidents and physiological effects.

Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) issues has been a major challenge to the Ghanaian government. The purpose of the study was to examine OHS practices in Ghana. The study looked at various views from different scholars about OHS practices in order to achieve the objective of the study. Literature review was conducted on OHS in Ghana. Findings from the study shows Ministry of Roads and Transport (MRT) and Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing (MWRWH) are two government ministries in charge of construction and implementation of the construction sector policy. The Factories, Offices and Shops Act 1970, Act 328 and the Mining Regulations 1970 LI 665 are the two major edicts. The study presents a strong background on OHS practices in Ghana and contribute to the body of knowledge on the solution to the current trends and challenges of OHS in the construction sector.

The prevalence and use of portable electronic devices have contributed to the sedentary lifestyle of children. When used, these devices often cause children to remain in astatic posture for minutes and even hours within a day. This study investigated the possible effects of smart phone use on the musculoskeletal system of children. The focus was on children 10 to 12 years of age. Nine participants and parents completed a questionnaire. A goniometer was used to measure neck flexion and a measuring tape was used to measure viewing distance. While all participants reported feelings of discomfort after using a cell phone, all parents reported their child never complained of any discomfort. Seven of eight children identified feelings of pain in one or more body regions. Neck flexion ranged from 3° to 56°. Findings raise concern about the increased risks of children developing cumulative trauma disorders.

This paper presents a posture assessment tool which utilizes the depth sensing techniques of a 3D imaging sensor for ergonomic risk assessment of seated worker’s postures during controlled manual handling tasks. The tool, which has been developed to utilize the manual handling guidelines by the Health and Safety Regulators of some selected countries to measure and assess the postures of the upper bodies of Operators, is tested to ascertain its effectiveness in assessing seated postures. The tool offers real-time posture assessment with real-time feedback to inform Operators on when to adjust awkward seated postures. An experiment has been performed to record, assess and display the work postures of some seated Operators in real-time with ‘Good’ and ‘Awkward’ postures identified with real-time feedback provided to the Operators. Results show that the tool can assess seated work postures in real-time which helps to reduce the rate of occurrence of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders.

In the future workplaces, the new technology devices will be present at all times, so new spaces will need a new approach to lighting design, and in order to achieve this it will be necessary that the lighting systems, and the workplaces get smarter. New technology turns the present-day workplaces less efficient. In lighting, there are new luminaires that help us to manage our physiological and psychological needs. Besides, there is also smart glasses which are a very recent innovation that can help us to take advantage from the positive form of the sun, the promotion of vitamin D production. To achieve such goals the research will be conducted throughout literature review. We expect to conclude that LED is the most efficient lighting system but we suspect that it is not any kind of LED system that will respond, and manage, our circadian, as well as, our visual needs.

Obesity is an emerging health problem and its incidence has been increasing throughout the workforce. In occupational contexts, the vertical handling tasks, including lifting and lowering loads, are common and can produce significant musculoskeletal overloads for the involved workers. In this field, the Infrared Thermography (IRT) has emerged as a potential technique to analyze risk factors for Work related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSD). Thus, this study aims at comparing the surface temperature changes over 16 Regions of Interest (ROI) across a sample of individuals with different levels of obesity, when performing a vertical handling task. The results pointed out that, for all considered ROI, the skin temperature decreases after the task and obese subjects seems to present a higher decrease, comparing with the non-obese. Negative temperature variations may present a higher risk of WMSD due to blood flow restriction. This study provides evidences that obesity is a WMSD risk factor during handling tasks.

The importance of safety culture has been the focus of research attention in many sectors in Malaysia for many years in order to achieve a positive safety environment at a workplace. However, the safety culture among teachers in education sector has rarely been examined especially in school. Four factors were focused in this study; safety policies, safety procedures, safety training and safety committee as factors that leads to safety culture in school. Self-administered questionnaires that included a demographic and the factors focused in this research were used to collect data from 111 schools in Kelantan, which is one of the states in Malaysia. The number of returned valid questionnaires was 408. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with Amos 19 was used to analyze the data. The measurement model shows that the four factors of situational dimensions lead to the safety culture among teachers in school. The results of the analysis indicated that safety policy, safety training and the safety committee would do well to increase the safety culture in education sector.

In many industrial systems, equipment failures and worker accidents result from contributing events which occur in a certain sequence in time. These events must be analyzed, assessed and prioritized. This endeavor can be hindered by the fact that, in real life, often, the data associated with these events are not known precisely. Fuzzy numbers, provide a method for taking into account the uncertainty problem. Dynamic fault trees and Markov analyses, on the other hand, provide a means of handling the sequential character of events which can lead to work accidents. Thus, in this paper, a system safety analysis is performed using fuzzy dynamic fault tree method and Markov analysis. A simple example is used to demonstrate this approach. In the first part of this paper, the relevant dynamic fault tree and Markov diagram are drawn and the fuzzy probability of occurrence of the accident under consideration is evaluated. The probability is calculated, not on the basis of theoretical values but, rather, on qualitative evaluation given by press brake operators in the field.

Enhancing the safety and health at work has significant economic importance, as addressing issues related to safety and health to create favourable work conditions and work relations brings optimization of work process and a positive economic effect. It also brings reduction of losses, greater productivity, efficiency and quality of work – that means greater prosperity for the company and the whole society. To ensure the continuous prosperity of the company, it is important to implement a control mechanism to ensure the proper functioning of the business entity. There is a general principle that only 15% of problems should be left to be solved by employees and 85% should be secured by a management system. As in other areas of business management, also in occupational health and safety, it is necessary to establish an effective management system. An example is the standard OHSAS 18001:2007, which aims to systematically limit the occupational risks that may endanger the safety and health of all persons affected by activities, products or services of the organization. The aim of the standard is to help organizations manage occupational health and safety (hereinafter OH&S) risks and improve product quality or services and organizational performance by preventing injuries and occupational diseases. This article presents the pilot version of implementation of OH&S management system in a manufacturing organization where the management decided to adopt this new structure and implement a project of the preparation of the implementation according to the requirements of the new standard ISO 45001:2017.

Safe use of plants, equipment and moving machineries on construction sites are complex and delicate and these are determined by the immense number of brands and types of moving equipment options. Continuously Ghanaian operators get injured and even killed in plant associated accident in the construction industry. This is due to lack of occupational health and safety education to both the employer and their operatives. The construction industry is faced with problems of cost reduction, as accidents add to the cost of the construction, thereby reducing profit margins. The aim of this study is to investigate the safe use of plants on construction site. The objectives are to identify the causes of plant accidents on construction sites and to determine the level of enforcement of safety laws and rules. The study was conducted on finding out the problems associated with the safety of operators on construction sites in some selected sites in Central Region of Ghana. Convenient sampling technique method was used to select three DlKl construction companies and fifteen (15) operatives and three health and safety officers were selected. The research instrument that was used includes questionnaires, personal interviews and observations. The data was analyzed using the descriptive statistics that comprises mean and tables. The findings revealed that respondents with a mean score of 3.5 confirmed that competent persons are used to carry out the erection, dismantling and height alternation of tower cranes. However inadequate training and fatigue of operators are one of the main reasons causing unsafe practices of tower crane operations.

With the rapid development of computer technology and information control theory, information systems become more complex and intelligent. Transportation hub monitoring system, nuclear power control system, environmental monitoring system, and other large systems have evolved from the traditional control mode to digital control mode. Because digital information interaction interfaces are characterized by the large quantity of information and complicated information relationships, operators may enter the complex cognition and lead to task failures and even serious system failures or major accidents due to operators’ slipping, misreading, misjudgment, late feedback, and other cognitive difficulties. It is urgent to obtain the rational design way of dynamic and digital information in the interaction interface. This paper aims to analyze interaction mechanism between error and cognition and explore the physiological reaction mechanism for error factors of information interaction interface during the visual cognition from the perspective of the cause of task failures, error factors. The project results can provide theoretical supports for the rational design of digital information interface and guarantee the full performance and accurate implementation of large systems.

This paper reports results of a study dealing with the ergonomic design quality of the alarm system and alarm management in 15 process control systems from different sectors of industrial production. Based on available guidelines and ergonomic evidence, a checklist was designed and applied to these systems to test for compliance with these guidelines. The results show that there is a great deal of non-compliance with the requirements, leading to severe impairments of process safety. The main areas of design deficiencies have been found in the lack of prioritization of alarms, a lack of action guides in the presentation of alarms, lack of continuous improvement of the alarm system, a lack of systematic training concepts and training of alarm handling. Feeding back the results to the companies involved clearly showed that they were looking for help in dealing with these problems.

Order picking activities are most labour-intensive process in retail warehouse. Although order picking automation is possible, it still requires human worker’s activities. There have been various order picking systems in the field for decades but after amazon’s KIVA system was introduced, the interest in this field has been rising. Most advanced order picking system can be classified into AS/RS type and moving robot type. Both types are goods-to-picker systems, the purpose of the systems is reducing picker’s travel time to find a locations of products and move to pick them in accordance with customer’s request. In many researches, the efficiency and effectiveness of the automated order picking systems are focused on the system performance aspect. Although humans are essential actors in the order picking system and key factors for both effectiveness and efficiency of order picking process, the human factors of these systems are rarely evaluated. In this paper, we focus on the ergonomic aspects of order picking system. We compared the ergonomic factors of two types of the system- moving robot and AS/RS type using digital human modeling (DHM) application (Delmia Human) and the assessment of risk factors for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) was conducted. We collected the data and information of automated order picking systems which are popular and applied on the site, and created virtual work place scenarios for two order picking systems. Diverse human factors were analyzed in DELMIA software with digital manikins considering various anthropometric data.

In order to prevent medical accidents related to drugs, not only developing safe drugs but also their proper use is important. In this paper, we proposed the method to measure look-alikeness between not only backside designs but also front side designs. Since the major difference between backside designs and front sides is the existence of tables or capsules, we applied image inpainting technique to convert the original PTP front side images to “tabletless” PTP sheet images. In order to employ inpainting technique, a neural network was used to obtain a mask image which masks tablet/capsule parts. To the resultant images, the similarity index calculation was applied as proposed in our previous study.

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) affect millions of workers in Europe and cost employers billions of Euros. Quality control workstations usually demand the adoption of awkward and uncomfortable postures for long periods, which may stress and fatigue supporting muscles and tendons, leading to the development of MSDs. An Ergonomic Work Analysis covered the working conditions of an industrial quality section and the main risks factors were highlighted. The main objectives were: to assess the actual working conditions; to establish relationships between these and the complaints workers presented; to characterize each task in terms of the associated MSDs development risk; to present preventive measures. Rapid Entire Body Assessment and Ovako Working Posture Analyzing System analyzed seventeen postures. Both methods scored three and five postures, respectively, with a high risk of developing MSDs whereas ten postures were qualified as of medium risk. Technical and organizational solutions were proposed and implemented.

To improve the staff interactive relationship and promote the development of the enterprise, we deliver the questionnaire of “The influential factors of staff interaction relationship” to the staff of an enterprise. Software SPSS is used to analyze and verify the collected data. The structural equation model and confirmatory factor analysis are used to study the influential factors of staff, and we also use them to analyze the relationship between the various factors and the level of staff interactive relationship. The result of the study shows that the overall influential factors of staff index of this enterprise is 69.8, and it’s in the middle grade. In addition, the communication skills of the staff and the external environment of the enterprise need to be improved.

The impact of night shift work on workers’ wellbeing and the relationship to gender is currently unclear. This study identifies the potential health impact of night-shift between male and female workers. Ninety workers (M = 45, F = 45) were surveyed. Males reported being sad and depressed 12% more than females. Females reported a higher incidence (18% higher) of finding it more difficult to sleep after work. Males were 7% more nervous and very fidgety than females after nightshift work. Females are more likely (8%) than their male counterparts to “more than usual have difficulty making decisions after work.” The effects of night-shift schedule on both genders demands an immediate intervention. This study could be a wake-up call for the OSHA to intervene in workers’ schedules.

Like high risk industries such as aviation and mining, occupational health and safety issues in the mental hospitals cannot be underestimated. For instance, although some conceptual and empirical studies have focused on patient safety in mental hospitals, the safety and health management of nurses in the mental health sector has largely been ignored. This paper seeks to examine the relationship between occupational health and safety management and two work outcomes such as engagement and turnover intention in a large mental hospital in Ghana. Results of the correlation coefficient indicated a positive relationship between occupational health and safety and engagement, and a negative relationship with turnover intention. The hierarchical regression results revealed a positive influence of safety procedure and safety leadership on mental health nurses engagement. In addition, only safety supervision and safety leadership had negative effect on the mental health nurses’ turnover intention. Finally, job satisfaction of the mental health nurses moderated the relationships between safety supervision and safety leadership, and intention to turnover.

In order to reduce the load by improving the posture, it is necessary to know the load to the lumbar intervertebral disk when patients are in various motions. In this study, we propose a method to noninvasively estimate the load of the lumbar disc during motion. In the proposed method, we consider that the change in the gap between the vertebrae due to the posture change is determined only by the deformation of the intervertebral disc. And the internal changes are estimated indirectly by measuring the shape of the lumbar part from outside the body. And the deformation of the disc is estimated with this, and it will be evaluated as an intervertebral disc load. In this study, a disc load of sneezing motion was estimated and the load on lumber intervertebral disk during motion could be estimated with the proposed method.

Tourist drivers belong to a category of drivers that are more vulnerable to road accidents due to their unfamiliarity of the road network at a destination. This paper presents a method followed to develop a tool that alert tourist drivers of their accident risks based on situational factors obtained from mobile phone sensors and knowledge distilled from historical records of traffic accidents. The knowledge necessary for the development of a context aware mobile accident warning application was extracted from a spatiotemporal analysis of historical accidents data, to identify patterns of conditions that lead to accidents. Results from this analysis were used to develop heuristics rules that were programmed in a mobile application. The developed system warns travelers of possible threats on the road network of Nicosia, given driver’s location and situational factors. The system aims to improve tourists’ safety.

The automotive industry is currently focused in the goal of developing advanced autonomous driving systems (ADAS) and its supporting technologies. A main condition for achieving this goal is to ensure drivers’ safety and comfort during the ride. The driving task is often described as complex and dynamic and can be considered as the single most risky task that the individual has to perform on a daily basis. Since the mean age of the population in industrialized countries is gradually increasing, one of the ADAS objective is to enhance mobility of seniors by easing the task of driving to levels with which they are able to comply. This paper aimed at researching present key workload indicators that can be used by the car autonomous driving systems to establish the more efficient means to keep the senior drivers informed about the driving task and surrounding environment, allowing them to benefit from other entertainment applications and safely resume the driving task.

Travelling to any educational institutions in the Republic of Mauritius is a free service provided by the government, but because of hectic lifestyles of parents and heavy traffic congestions, many parents avail of the services of school vans. However, the image of such vans has been tarnished due to some serious incidents while commuting the children to and from school. This study uses the KABP constructs to assess school van driver’s perceptions in ensuring children health and safety when commuting to and from school. Questionnaires were distributed to sixty-eight school van drivers. Findings indicated that drivers have sound Knowledge, positive Attitude, good Practices and proper intentional Behaviours in order to ensure the health and safety of the children commuting in their school vans. The study has helped in identifying the relevant relationships between Knowledge, Attitude, Behaviour and Practices of school van drivers in Mauritius.

It has been suggested that we have moved into an adaptive age of safety and that one of the key accident prevention strategies in this age is that of ‘organisational learning’. Effective safety management in this age requires organisations to investigate and learn from (major/serious) incidents. This paper aims to outline some of the most significant barriers to organisational learning following major events, through an integrative review, by reviewing the current literature around incident reporting. This review identified five key themes in the published literature, and a gap between knowledge and actual practice in industry. As a community of safety professionals there is much we can do to close this gap, through empirical studies aimed to further understanding and break down some of these learning barriers.

With the rapid development of society around the world, the population of cities such as Beijing and Shanghai has increased dramatically, and large social activities have been increasing. Safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of citizens and strengthening public safety is one of the most important problems. Therefore, it is a very important research topic to study the aggregation phenomenon and the evacuation characteristics of the public places, to explore the reasonable group organization and evacuation mode, and to find ways and means to reduce the risk of accidents. When a sudden event occurs in a public place, the crowd is evacuated using the particle swarm algorithm. In addition, the shortcomings of the traditional particle swarm optimization are improved, and the influence of obstacle on individual evacuation path selection is fully considered. Finally, the thermodynamic diagram is used to simulate the model, and the feasibility of the model is verified.