The role of behavioral factors on safety management in underground mines

Traditional approaches on the prevention of accidents/injuries in mines reached its limit of effectiveness in improving safety performance and a fresh approach is utmost required. Behavioral safety analysis has been identified as an effective alternative in many industries. This paper is therefore sought to examine the role of behavioral factors on the occurrence of mine accidents and injuries through a case study. Data were collected from two neighboring underground coalmines operating under a large public sector organization of India. High–low plots and t-test were done to explore the differences between behavioral characteristics of accident involved (case) and non-involved (control) workers. How these differences could cause accidents/injuries in mines was estimated through structural equation modeling. The case study results show that accident group of workers (cases) are more job dissatisfied, negatively affected, and highly risk taking compared to the non-accident group of workers (controls). The accident model path analysis shows that negative affectivity, job dissatisfaction, and risk taking behaviors predict an increased number of injuries in mines. Apart from direct influences to work injuries, negative affectivity and job dissatisfaction make workers to take more risks and behave unsafely. These findings contribute to the design of safety programs including safety training, which should be behaviorally motivated. Mine safety management of the case study mines should outskirt their age old belief that accidents/injuries are due to hazardous nature of mining and only engineering control and regulatory monitoring are sufficient for improving safety of the mines. The multivariate analysis also shows that experience bears no relationships with work injury indicating that a less experienced worker is equally likely to be injured as an experienced worker. It implies that experience though helps workers in understanding the physical hazards, however, avoiding the imminent danger is much more behavioral. The variables negative affectivity, job dissatisfaction, and risk taking behaviors are therefore crucial in avoiding accident/injuries in mines.     

Occupational and public health and safety in a changing work environment: An integrated approach for risk assessment and prevention

During recent years the work environment has undergone significant changes regarding working time, years of employment, work organization, type of employment contracts and working conditions. In this paper, consequences of these changes on occupational and public health and safety are examined. These include the disruption of human biological rhythms, the increase of workers fatigue due to changes in patterns of working hours and years of employment, job insecurity and occupational stress, which have a serious impact on workers’ health and may result in an increase in occupational accidents. Unsafe work practices related to workload and time pressure, the impact of work changes on public safety and the deterioration of workers’ living conditions with respect to income, social-family life, health and insurance benefits, are also described. In this context, difficulties that occur due to the changing work environment in conducting effective occupational risk assessments and implementing OSH measures are discussed (for example, frequent changes between tasks and workplaces, underreporting of occupational accidents and diseases, lack of methodological tools, etc.). A fundamental criterion used while studying consequences on health and safety and the relative preventive measures is that health and safety must be approached as ‘the promotion and maintenance at the highest degree of the physical, mental and social well-being of workers’ and not only as retention of their work ability. Limits in combining “flexibility” at work and overall protection of occupational and public safety and health in a competitive market are put forward for discussion.     

Fatal workplace accidents in outsourced operations in the manufacturing industry

Several studies have indicated that outsourcing increases the risk of accidents and presented some explanations for this phenomenon. For example, higher accident proneness of external employees has been presented, but the common causes of accidents have not been reviewed in depth. This paper provides information about typical accidents, the contributing factors, and preventive measures of fatal occupational accidents that occurred in outsourced manufacturing tasks. This paper also compares whether these factors differ from accidents that occurred when tasks were performed in-house in the manufacturing industry. The focus is on operations executed in the factory area for or by an organization operating in the manufacturing business. The accident analysis is based on information gathered from accident reports for fatal workplace accidents that occurred in Finland during 1999–2008. At outsourced operations in manufacturing, accidents occur most commonly when installations or work preparations are being performed. According to the reports, dangerous work practices and insufficient hazard identification most frequently contributed to accidents. In order to prevent typical accidents, e.g., occupational instructional and guidance, hazard identification, work practices, supervision, and task planning should be improved. Statistical differences between outsourced and in-house operations were also found, mainly within the contributing factors. Therefore, the safety of outsourced manufacturing operations should be considered in detail in order to prevent accidents and ensure occupational safety also when operated with other performers.     

Work-Related Accidents Among Young Workers in Finland

The aim of this study was to discover accident factors specific to young workers, using two accident data sets gathered at the same time but with different methods. The first data set consisted of 99 serious occupational accidents, which occured in Southern Finland in 1988 and 1989. The second data set was based on the interview study of over 13,000 people of whom 792 were involved in an accident at work. Both data sets showed consistently that the accident frequency of young workers was higher than that of older workers. The accidents of young workers, however, were less severe. Young accident victims hurt themselves more often when feeding or cleaning machines. Incautiousness contributed more often to accidents of young workers. In order to prevent occupational accidents of young workers, companies should introduce training programmes for new employees.     

Economic cost of occupational accidents: Evidence from a small island economy

Though a number of occupational accidents have occurred amongst the working population in Mauritius, no study has been carried out to measure the costs associated with such accidents to the best of our knowledge. This study bridges this gap by measuring the economic costs of occupational accidents by using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The results show that occupational accidents result in costs amounting to nearly Rs. 168 mn of which a major part is accounted for, by loss in productivity. Alongside the highest rate of accidents took place within small enterprises and younger workers are the one taking higher risks mainly due to lack of knowledge and risk awareness. The findings also reveal that only 4% employers believe that investment in safety and health is important for maintaining good business partly because most of the costs are borne by the state. Such a situation therefore requires the need for awareness on practical health and safety systems and procedures among both employees and employers with a view to prevent accident and injuries.     

Exploring the organisational preconditions for occupational accidents in food industry: A qualitative approach

The continuing high frequency of occupational accidents in the Swedish food industry calls for new approaches to better understand the underlying factors. In the present study, 54 accidents involving hand injuries were investigated from the operators’ perspective, to explore the organisational preconditions. In-depth interviews were conducted with operators and their supervisors, and 24 of these interviews were analysed using the grounded theory method. The core category ‘safety as a process’ was identified encompassing the perception of the process of the accident at operative level and organisational preconditions that increased the risk of occupational accidents. These preconditions were open factors: deficiencies in technical/physical environment and work organisation; and concealed factors: insufficient communication and learning, a high level of responsibility in combination with low control, conflicting goals and a gap between procedures and practice. These preconditions lead to risk acceptance, resignation towards improved safety and normalisation of risk. Through the analysis a five-step hypothesis was empirically generated.     

Relationships between certain individual characteristics and occupational accidents

Background. Work accidents and injuries are an occupational health and safety problem. Methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted for 404 frontline workers who were randomly selected from the Arya Sasol Petrochemical Company in Bushehr, Iran, during 2016. A statistical analysis was performed using the χ² test and the logistic regression model with SPSS version 18. Results. The overall occupational accident rate among the participants was found to be 9.2%. Statistically significant differences were observed for body mass index, education, job experience, smoking habit, consumption of sedative pills and presence of sleep disorders. Three factors had significant adjusted odds ratios (ORs): body mass index (OR 2.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.16, 5.04]), education (OR 0.25, 95% CI [0.07, 0.85]) and job experience (OR 0.29, 95% CI [0.15, 0.57]). Conclusions. Preventive programs should be implemented for industrial workers, especially young workers, workers who smoke, overweight workers and workers with psychosomatic disease.     

Temporary jobs and the severity of workplace accidents

Introduction. From the point of view of workplace safety, it is important to know whether having a temporary job has an effect on the severity of workplace accidents. We present an empirical analysis on the severity of workplace accidents by type of contract. Method. We used microdata collected by the Italian national institute managing the mandatory insurance against work related accidents. We estimated linear models for a measure of the severity of the workplace accident. We controlled for time-invariant fixed effects at worker and firm levels to disentangle the impact of the type of contract from the spurious one induced by unobservables at worker and firm levels. Results. Workers with a temporary contract, if subject to a workplace accident, were more likely to be confronted with severe injuries than permanent workers. When correcting the statistical analysis for injury under-reporting of temporary workers, we found that most of, but not all, the effect is driven by the under-reporting bias. Conclusions. The effect of temporary contracts on the injury severity survived the inclusion of worker and firm fixed effects and the correction for temporary workers' injury under-reporting. This, however, does not exclude the possibility that, within firms, the nature of the work may vary between different categories of workers. For example, temporary workers might be more likely to be assigned dangerous tasks because they might have less bargaining power. Practical implications. The findings will help in designing public policy effective in increasing temporary workers' safety at work and limiting their injury under-reporting.     

Working conditions,psychological/physical symptoms and occupational accidents. Bayesian network models

Each day thousands of workers suffer occupational accidents of varying degrees of severity. Accidents at work render workers incapable of carrying out their day to day activities, either temporarily or permanently, and they also have detrimental effects on family life, the company, and the general public. In order to reduce the occupational accident rate, it is necessary to determine the causes of those accidents. Although there are many different types of accidents, they generally stem from poor working conditions. The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of working conditions on occupational accidents from data gathered in the VI National Survey of Working Conditions (VI NSWCs) in 2007. This survey utilized a random sample of the active population of Spain. The sample comprised 11,054 people (5917 males and 5137 females). In order to carry out the study, a probabilistic model was built using Bayesian networks. The model included the following variables: hygiene conditions, ergonomic conditions, job demands, physical symptoms, psychological symptoms, and occupational accidents. The study demonstrated that there were strong relationships between hygiene conditions and occupational accidents; it has been shown that poor hygienic conditions duplicate the probability of accident. Physical symptoms increased almost 50% due to poor ergonomic conditions. And finally, high job demands almost duplicated the psychological symptoms. The investigation also showed a high degree of interdependence between physical and psychological symptomatologies and the relationship between these and occupational accidents.     

Noise exposure as related to productivity, disciplinary actions, absenteeism, and accidents among textile workers

A sample of 2458 workers exposed to average noise levels ranging from 80 to 99 dBA in different operations of three textile mills was studied with respect to their productivity, work rule violations, absenteeism, and accidents. The three mills were in rural, suburban, and urban locations. Noise exposure levels were measured in individual departments of the mills, and workers were interviewed to ascertain socioeconomic background, work history data, and health status. Workers' job attitude was rated by their supervisors, and data about their productivity, disciplinary reports, absenteeism, and accidents were collected from plant records. Results of the study suggested that workers in departments with high noise levels (above 90 dBA) had more disciplinary actions and absenteeism and lesser productivity than those in departments with low noise exposure (below 90 dBA). Disciplinary actions showed the greatest difference between the high-noise and low-noise departments followed by production incentives, production efficiency, and absenteeism. Noise appeared to affect the quality of work as reflected by disciplinary actions for material damage, and this effect was higher in weaving and spinning operations which involved vigilance tasks. The frequency and severity rates of accidents in highnoise departments were greater than in low-noise departments. Certain personal and socioeconomic factors affected high vs. low noise exposure differences found among workers for the investigated variables. These effects were most apparent for absenteeism and, to a lesser extent, productivity. Disciplinary actions did not appear to be influenced by any such individual factors. It was concluded that noise abatement in the textile industry could be beneficial to worker productivity and well being and contribute to more economically effective operation.     

安全生产“十二五”规划若干统计指标考量

生产安全事故统计指标是安全生产监督管理及宏观决策重要依据。为进一步完善我国职业伤害统计指标体系,对安全生产规划中若干指标的科学性和实用性以及存在问题进行了探索。在进行初步实验计算、理论分析和国内外安全生产事故主要统计指标特点对比研究后,提出：在该规划指标中调整或删去＂亿元国内生产总值死亡率＂;增加非致死性事故统计数据,以能更好代表职业伤害事故总量;适度应用重特大事故起数指标和提高十万人死亡率统计指标精确性等几点建议。作者认为应加强职业伤害指标体系研究,从而尽快实现我国统计指标与国际接轨,在《国际劳工统计年鉴》中重现中国职业伤害统计数据。     

Occupational Safety and Health in Finland

In Finland, occupational safety is the responsibility of the employer, while the occupational safety and health laws are enforced by the Labour Inspection Service, an organization of the state. The Labour Inspection is divided in 11 administrative districts, and it employs 360 professionals. They are mandated to carry out site visits without prearranged appointments to inspect safe work situations, working hours, construction safety, or any aspect of accident risks. The inspectors are also mandated to verify the existence of sufficient occupational health services as prescribed by the Occupational Health Services Act for all employees. The occupational health services are typically provided by enterprise-owned medical departments, by mutually owned health care centers, by private practitioners, or by municipal health care centers. The latter are required by law to provide all services as prescribed by the legislation to anyone who comes to the facility. This situation is prevalent in the countryside, where there are very few private caregiving centers. Declaring occupational accidents and disease cases is mandatory, and the Inspection districts examine all accidents to establish causes and consequences, and to initiate prosecution in case of criminal negligence. Labour Inspection Districts are also notified of the new occupational disease cases as they are declared to insurance companies. Insurance for occupational disease, accidents, and death is an obligation of the employer, although they can choose the insurance company. The medical confidentiality between the workers and their occupational health care providers is very strict. Official statistics are maintained by the state Statistics Finland organization, and they may be used, for example, for research purposes by scientific institutes like the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. Construction industry accounts for 25% of all fatal accidents (120 cases per 1 million working hours), followed by mechanical, wood, metal, machinery, and pulp and paper industry (10% each of fatal accidents) with rates ranging from 100–160 cases per 1 million working hours. There are some 5,000 occupational disease cases per year (rate 22/10,000 employed). The major disease categories include repetitive strain injuries (1,300 cases), respiratory allergies (600 cases), occupational skin diseases (1,000 cases), and 900 cases of noise-caused hearing loss. In 1998, 589 cases of asbestos-related diseases were reported.     

Occupational injuries of immigrant and Finnish bus drivers

Problem

With baby boomers reaching retirement age, Western countries may need more immigrant workers to ensure productivity. Many studies have suggested a higher occupational injury frequency among immigrant workers, which could considerably reduce their contribution to society. The aim of this study was to examine whether immigrant workers have a higher injury frequency compared to Finnish workers when performing the exact same tasks under the same working conditions.

Method

A total of 176 Finnish and 130 immigrant bus drivers were asked about their occupational injuries during the past 12 months via a questionnaire. In addition, the data contained 134 injuries reported by the transport firm to an insurance company.

Results

There was no significant difference in reporting occupational injuries by self-reporting or by company-records. Because there were more accident-repeaters among Finnish drivers, their injury frequency (114) was higher than that of immigrant drivers (78).

Application/Impact

This study showed that immigrant workers did not have a higher injury frequency than other workers when they worked in the exact same conditions. Immigrant workers can work as safely as native-Finnish workers, when their working conditions and job contracts are at the same level as those of the original population. Immigrant workers can compensate for the shortage of workforce caused by an aging population.     

Occupational injuries and health problems in the Egyptian Mediterranean fisheries

Marine fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations. So far, no studies addressing occupational safety and health in the Egyptian fisheries have been conducted. The objective of this study is to explore and identify the types and causes of, as well as some factors associated with, occupational accidents and illnesses in the Egyptian marine fisheries. A sample of 686 fishermen in El-Maaddiya fishing port were interviewed for collecting relevant data. This paper presents the types of injuries mentioned by the interviewed fishermen and their potential causes in terms of accident type and involved agency/agency part. Also, major health problems and potential causes are presented. Furthermore, a logistic regression analysis was performed to study the significance of the association of some factors, such as age, experience, education and fishing gear with the occurrence of injuries and illnesses. The results of this study show that the Egyptian fishing industry involve many hazardous work conditions and practices that result in high morbidity and mortality rates, and high injury rates. The study recommends further research on suitable measures for the management of this problem.     

Occupational electrical injuries in the United States, 1992-1998, and recommendations for safety research

PROBLEM: CFOI and SOII data show that 2,287 U.S. workers died and 32,807 workers sustained days away from work due to electrical shock or electrical burn injuries between 1992 and 1998. METHOD: The narrative, work activity, job title, source of injury, location, and industry for each fatal electrical accident were examined. A primary causal factor was identified for each fatality. RESULTS: Electrical fatalities were categorized into five major groups. Overall, 44% of electrical fatalities occurred in the construction industry. Contact with overhead power lines caused 41% of all electrical fatalities. DISCUSSION: Electrical shock caused 99% of fatal and 62% of nonfatal electrical accidents. Comprising about 7% of the U.S. workforce, construction workers sustain 44% of electrical fatalities. Power line contact by mobile equipment occurs in many industries and should be the subject of focused research. Other problem areas are identified and opportunities for research are proposed. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Improvements in electrical safety in one industry often have application in other industries.     

A survey of forest workers in New Zealand. Do hours of work, rest, and recovery play a role in accidents and injury?

PROBLEM: A number of structural and organizational changes have occurred recently within the New Zealand Forestry Industry, with concerns being raised about the impact of these changes on the forestry worker in terms of fatigue, sleepiness, and compromised safety. This study explored the relationship of fatigue, and some of its key determinants, with accidents and injuries in a group of forestry industry workers in New Zealand. METHOD: A total of 367 forestry workers responded to a self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: Fatigue was found to be commonly experienced at work in the forest, with 78% of workers reporting that they experienced fatigue at least "sometimes." This study found that certain groups of workers reported long working hours, reduced sleep, compromised recovery time, and intensely paced work. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that recent sleep, number of breaks taken during the workday, and specific job/tasks were independently associated with reporting of high fatigue levels at work. Near-miss injury events were significantly more common among those reporting a high level of fatigue at work. Accidents and lost-time injury were associated with length of time at work, ethnicity, and having had near-miss injury events. DISCUSSION: Together, these results suggest that fatigue and aspects of work organization, which are likely to be fatiguing, may be associated with compromised safety for forest workers. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: With an already slim margin of error present in forest operations, an impairment due to increased fatigue may constitute a significant risk factor for accidents and injuries in this workforce. The results indicate the need for further examination of shift and workload management among forestry workers, as well as a role for improving industry awareness about the causes and consequences of fatigue.     

Applying Hierarchical Loglinear Models to Nonfatal Underground Coal Mine Accidents for Safety Management

Underground mining is considered to be one of the most dangerous industries and mining remains the most hazardous occupation. Categorical analysis of accident records may present valuable information for preventing accidents. In this study, hierarchical loglinear analysis was applied to occupational injuries that occurred in an underground coal mine. The main factors affecting the accidents were defined as occupation, area, reason, accident time and part of body affected. By considering subfactors of the main factors, multiway contingency tables were prepared and, thus, the probabilities that might affect nonfatal injuries were investigated. At the end of the study, important accident risk factors and job groups with a high probability of being exposed to those risk factors were determined. This article presents important information on decreasing the number accidents in underground coal mines.     

Self-reported incidents,accidents, and use of protective gear among small-scale forestry workers in Sweden

Self-reported data were collected from 156 self-employed small-scale forestry workers regarding their work, including use of safety gear and number and type of incidents and accidents. About 40% of the respondents reported that during the previous 24 months they had some kind of work-related accident where an injury occurred, and/or experienced in incident, a close call that could have resulted in an injury. Of those injured or involved in an accident, 50% reported that at the time of the accident or incident they were not fully using their safety gear. Sixty-seven percent of the accident victims reported seeking medical attention for their injuries. No significant relationships were found between production level, age, use of safety gear or sensation seeking tendencies and the reports of accidents and incidents. Accidents and incidents were most likely to occur during felling, thinning and transportation activities and were usually caused by unforeseen interactions with falling trees/branches or equipment. Compared to earlier surveys of Swedish small-scale forestry workers, consistent use of all required safety gear was down by 10% to 50%. Protective pants and gloves were the items least likely to be used while ear, eye and foot protection were most likely to be used. The results indicate that better planning during felling processes may be the key to reducing the number of accidents for this population.