A fuzzy model for assessing risk of occupational safety in the processing industry

Managing occupational safety in any kind of industry, especially in processing, is very important and complex. This paper develops a new method for occupational risk assessment in the presence of uncertainties. Uncertain values of hazardous factors and consequence frequencies are described with linguistic expressions defined by a safety management team. They are modeled with fuzzy sets. Consequence severities depend on current hazardous factors, and their values are calculated with the proposed procedure. The proposed model is tested with real-life data from fruit processing firms in Central Serbia.     

Occupational injury in America: An analysis of risk factors using data from the General Social Survey (GSS)

IntroductionAlthough much is known about the distribution of occupational injury in terms of various job and employment factors, considerably less is known about other possible risk factors, particularly those involving psychosocial and organizational factors. These factors have not been emphasized in most injury surveillance systems or large scale, population based surveys.MethodIn this study, data from the 2002 General Social Survey (GSS) and NIOSH Quality of Work Life (QWL) module were used to examine the risk of occupational injury in terms of socio-demographic factors, employment characteristics, and organizational factors.ResultsThe most informative results were obtained from Poisson regression analyses, which identified race, occupational category, and work-family interference as risk factors, and safety climate and organizational effectiveness as protective factors for occupational injury. These results provide guidance for targeting interventions and protective measures to curtail occupational injury in the United States.     

木制家具生产行业的职业危害与个体防护

通过对木制家具生产工艺流程及加工过程的调研分析,归纳出木粉尘、噪声、有机挥发物、机械伤害等10种主要危害因素,将各种危害因素对安全健康的影响和致病形式进行总结,并对木制家具生产企业进行现场调查。指出企业在职业危害防护措施方面的欠缺与不足,同时对木制家具生产行业职业危害的防护措施、个体防护装备的选用以及防护装备使用中的注意事项进行说明。研究认为,木制家具生产行业中危害因素多且危害程度严重,安监部门应加强对企业的监督管理,企业应为职工提供有效防护措施和个体防护装备。     

The unequal distribution of occupational health and safety risks among immigrants to Canada compared to Canadian-born labour market participants: 1993–2005

ObjectivesTo examine the prevalence of occupational health and safety risk factors among immigrants to Canada compared to Canadian-born labour force participants.MethodsUsing data from Statistic Canada’s Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, we examined the differential probabilities of six different occupational health and safety risks: non-membership in a union or collective bargaining agreement; employment in physically demanding occupations; employment in a workplace with less than 20 employees; regular shift work; irregular shift work; and having non-permanent employment. Our main independent variables were length of time in Canada, visible minority status, mother tongue, and location where highest level of education was attained. Models were adjusted for age, gender, education, marital status, province of residence, living in an urban or rural location, and industry group.ResultsOf the six occupational health and safety risks examined we found that our main independent variables describing aspects of immigration status were associated with five; the exception being irregular shift work. Adjustment for industry did not attenuate these relationships to a large extent.ConclusionsImmigrants to Canada are faced with many occupational health and safety risks compared to Canadian-born respondents. These risks may be heightened among immigrants as they may not have knowledge of workplace rights and protections or have problems communicating health and safety risks or concerns. The timely provision information on occupational health and safety to immigrants before they start working should be a priority as they integrate into the Canadian labour market.     

The interactive effect on injury severity of driver-vehicle units in two-vehicle crashes

IntroductionThis study sets out to investigate the interactive effect on injury severity of driver-vehicle units in two-vehicle crashes.MethodA Bayesian hierarchical ordered logit model is proposed to relate the variation and correlation of injury severity of drivers involved in two-vehicle crashes to the factors of both driver-vehicle units and the crash configurations. A total of 6417 crash records with 12,834 vehicles involved in Florida are used for model calibration.ResultsThe results show that older, female and not-at-fault drivers and those without use of safety equipment are more likely to be injured but less likely to injure the drivers in the other vehicles. New vehicles and lower speed ratios are associated with lower injury degree of both drivers involved. Compared with automobiles, vans, pick-ups, light trucks, median trucks, and heavy trucks possess better self-protection and stronger aggressivity. The points of impact closer to the driver's seat in general indicate a higher risk to the own drivers while engine cover and vehicle rear are the least hazardous to other drivers. Head-on crashes are significantly more severe than angle and rear-end crashes. We found that more severe crashes occurred on roadways than on shoulders or safety zones.ConclusionsBased on these results, some suggestions for traffic safety education, enforcement and engineering are made. Moreover, significant within-crash correlation is found in the crash data, which demonstrates the applicability of the proposed model.     

Enhancing safety competencies of young adults: A randomized field trial (RCT)

IntroductionYoung workers are exposed to various occupational hazards, often with limited experience and skills. In this study, we investigated the effects of the Attitude to Work Program on the safety competencies of young workers. Based on the social cognitive theory, the intervention was developed to help young people adopt an active role in preventing occupational hazards and overcoming barriers to safe work.MethodThe program was implemented in eight upper secondary-level vocational schools in Finland during 2015. A total of 464 students participated in the cluster randomized field trial. Those in the intervention group (n = 229) participated in the Attitude to Work Program. During the program, students identified and practiced behavioral strategies to prevent occupational hazards. Students in the control condition (n = 235) received written material about the same safety-related topics.ResultsThe short-term follow-up showed that the intervention significantly increased safety preparedness and the internal safety locus of control among the students in the intervention condition in comparison to those in the control condition. Students in the intervention condition also showed reduced risk-taking attitudes relative to those in the control condition. Furthermore, those who benefited most from the program were high conscientiousness students. The sensation-seeking level or vocational track did not moderate any of the intervention effects.ConclusionThe results demonstrated that safety competencies can be modified by intervention techniques based on a social-cognitive framework.Practical implicationsThis study provides tools for school-based safety training and future intervention development. Further research is needed to study the relationships between cognitive factors, safety behavior, and accidents.     

Application of SHERPA to Identify and Prevent Human Errors in Control Units of Petrochemical Industry

Introduction. Studying human errors as a risk factor in the occurrence of accidents is necessary. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify, predict and control human errors in industrial control units. Method. This is a case study carried out using SHERPA in the first unit of Zagros Methanol of Asalooyeh, Iran, and its subunits. To collect the required data, various methods were used: observing, interviewing processing specialists and control unit operators, and studying technical documents and records. Results. In total, 222 human errors were identified in various occupational tasks. This study showed that 48.62% of them were action errors, 31.97% were checking errors, 6.75% were retrieval errors, 11.70% were communication errors and 0.90% were selection errors. Conclusion. It can be inferred that this method is appropriate for different industries, and it is useful for identifying human errors leading to hazardous accidents.     

《废气治理环保项目劳动安全卫生设计专篇》编写要求

强调了劳动安全卫生设计的重要性，就《废气治理环保项目劳动安全卫生设计专篇》的编写方法进行了说明。指出了环保项目中常见的危险危害因素，并提出相应的防范技术措施。     

Determinants of safety outcomes and performance: A systematic literature review of research in four high-risk industries

IntroductionIn spite of increasing governmental and organizational efforts, organizations still struggle to improve the safety of their employees as evidenced by the yearly 2.3 million work-related deaths worldwide. Occupational safety research is scattered and inaccessible, especially for practitioners. Through systematically reviewing the safety literature, this study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of behavioral and circumstantial factors that endanger or support employee safety.MethodA broad search on occupational safety literature using four online bibliographical databases yielded 27.527 articles. Through a systematic reviewing process 176 online articles were identified that met the inclusion criteria (e.g., original peer-reviewed research; conducted in selected high-risk industries; published between 1980-2016). Variables and the nature of their interrelationships (i.e., positive, negative, or nonsignificant) were extracted, and then grouped and classified through a process of bottom-up coding.ResultsThe results indicate that safety outcomes and performance prevail as dependent research areas, dependent on variables related to management & colleagues, work(place) characteristics & circumstances, employee demographics, climate & culture, and external factors. Consensus was found for five variables related to safety outcomes and seven variables related to performance, while there is debate about 31 other relationships. Last, 21 variables related to safety outcomes and performance appear understudied.ConclusionsThe majority of safety research has focused on addressing negative safety outcomes and performance through variables related to others within the organization, the work(place) itself, employee demographics, and—to a lesser extent—climate & culture and external factors.Practical applicationsThis systematic literature review provides both scientists and safety practitioners an overview of the (under)studied behavioral and circumstantial factors related to occupational safety behavior. Scientists could use this overview to study gaps, and validate or falsify relationships. Safety practitioners could use the insights to evaluate organizational safety policies, and to further development of safety interventions.     

Investigating ethnic minorities' perceptions of safety climate in the construction industry

IntroductionAn increasing number of ethnic minorities (EMs) have been employed in the construction industry to alleviate severe labor shortages in many countries. Unfortunately, statistics show that EMs have higher fatal and non-fatal occupational injury rates than their local counterparts. However, EMs are often underrepresented in safety climate (SC) research as they are difficult to reach and gauge their perception. A positive relationship has been widely found between SC and safety performance. Understanding the safety perceptions of EMs helps to reduce injuries and improve their safety performance.MethodBased on a sample of 320 EMs from 20 companies in the construction industry, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to identify the SC factors of EMs, and validate the extracted factors, respectively. Multivariate analysis of variance was undertaken to examine mean differences in perceptions of SC by personal characteristics.ResultsThree SC factors for EMs encapsulating 16 variables were identified through EFA. The hypothesized CFA model for a three-factor structure derived from EFA showed a satisfactory goodness-of-fit, composite reliability, and construct validity.ConclusionsThree SC factors were identified, namely: (a) safety management commitment, safety resources, and safety communication; (b) employee's involvement and workmate's influence; and (c) perception of safety rules, procedures and risks. The perceptions of SC differed significantly by nationality, marital status, the number of family members supported, and drinking habit.Practical applicationsThis study reveals the perception of EMs toward SC. The findings highlight the areas for safety improvement and provide leading indicators for safety performance of EMs. The findings are also enlightening for countries with a number of EMs, such as the United Sates, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, and the Middle East.     

The relationship between patient safety climate and occupational safety climate in healthcare – A multi-level investigation

IntroductionPatient safety climate/culture is attracting increasing research interest, but there is little research on its relation with organizational climates regarding other target domains.The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between patient safety climate and occupational safety climate in healthcare.MethodThe climates were assessed using two questionnaires: Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture and Nordic Occupational Safety Climate Questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 1154 nurses, 886 assistant nurses, and 324 physicians, organized in 150 work units, within hospitals (117 units), primary healthcare (5 units) and elderly care (28 units) in western Sweden, which represented 56% of the original sample contacted.ResultsWithin each type of safety climate, two global dimensions were confirmed in a higher order factor analysis; one with an external focus relative the own unit, and one with an internal focus. Two methods were used to estimate the covariation between the global climate dimensions, in order to minimize the influence of bias from common method variance. First multilevel analysis was used for partitioning variances and covariances in a within unit part (individual level) and a between unit part (unit level). Second, a split sample technique was used to calculate unit level correlations based on aggregated observations from different respondents. Both methods showed associations similar in strength between the patient safety climate and the occupational safety climate domains.ConclusionsThe results indicated that patient safety climate and occupational safety climate are strongly positively related at the unit level, and that the same organizational processes may be important for the development of both types of organizational climate.Practical applicationsSafety improvement interventions should not be separated in different organizational processes, but be planned so that both patient safety and staff safety are considered concomitantly.     

实施清洁生产,预防职业性危害

随着经济的发展 ,环境问题日趋严峻 ,同时由职业性危害因素导致的职业性危害或灾难也日趋增加 ,为了遏制环境的日益恶化 ,目前世界上大多数国家都实施了清洁生产 ,从源头控制环境污染已成为潮流。而在一定的劳动条件下或生产经营活动中 ,职业性危害因素主要存在于生产过程、劳动过程和生产环境 3个方面 ,而企业在实施清洁生产时 ,为诊断企业“不清洁”的因素 ,也要从这 3个方面来识别和评价。基于上述观点 ,笔者提出了结合企业的清洁生产来识别职业性危害因素 ,以预防职业性危害的发生和发展 ,并提出了具体预防职业性危害的清洁生产措施以及用职业健康监护来检验这些措施的效果 ,以实施安全生产 ,保护劳动者的生命安全与健康。     

6th National Occupational Injury Research Symposium: Advancing Occupational Injury Research Through Integration and Partnership

IntroductionThe National Occupational Injury Research Symposium (NOIRS) is the only regularly held forum exclusively dedicated to occupational injury research and prevention.MethodThe 2015 conference theme, advancing occupational injury research through integration and partnership, shaped the conference and is reflected in articles selected for this special issue.Results' ConclusionThe 6th NOIRS, held May 19–21, 2015, brought together more than 250 researchers, occupational safety practitioners and students to share and discuss occupational injury research. Articles in this special issue highlight some of the research presented at the conference, reflect multiple scientific disciplines and approaches, cover a breadth of occupational injury causes and worker populations, and provide examples of research advanced by partnerships.Practical ApplicationsThe next NOIRS, tentatively scheduled for 2018, will build upon the theme of integration and partnership as well as feedback from conference attendees.     

造船厂职业病危害因素识别与分析

尽管采用了新型的造船模式,而且在我国的现代化造船厂中得到了广泛的应用,但是造船企业的职业病危害问题并没有得到根本性的解决;那么,如何有效控制造船行业职业病的发生,就成了所有造船企业面临的一个共同难题。本文通过识别某造船厂存在的主要职业病危害因素,检测危害因素的浓度或强度,并结合现场调查结果,分析造船企业工作场所中相关的危害因素超标原因,确定超标作业点,也就明确了造船企业职业病危害关键因素和严重危害区域,达到根据作业特点、场所、工种的不同,有针对性地采取职业病危害工程技术和个体防护措施的目的,为帮助造船企业在日常生产中进一步做好职业病危害因素的防控工作具有现实意义。     

Risk and safety perception on urban and rural roads: Effects of environmental features,driver age and risk sensitivity

Objective: The ability to detect changing visual information is a vital component of safe driving. In addition to detecting changing visual information, drivers must also interpret its relevance to safety. Environmental changes considered to have high safety relevance will likely demand greater attention and more timely responses than those considered to have lower safety relevance. The aim of this study was to explore factors that are likely to influence perceptions of risk and safety regarding changing visual information in the driving environment. Factors explored were the environment in which the change occurs (i.e., urban vs. rural), the type of object that changes, and the driver's age, experience, and risk sensitivity.

Methods: Sixty-three licensed drivers aged 18–70 years completed a hazard rating task, which required them to rate the perceived hazardousness of changing specific elements within urban and rural driving environments. Three attributes of potential hazards were systematically manipulated: the environment (urban, rural); the type of object changed (road sign, car, motorcycle, pedestrian, traffic light, animal, tree); and its inherent safety risk (low risk, high risk). Inherent safety risk was manipulated by either varying the object's placement, on/near or away from the road, or altering an infrastructure element that would require a change to driver behavior. Participants also completed two driving-related risk perception tasks, rating their relative crash risk and perceived risk of aberrant driving behaviors.

Results: Driver age was not significantly associated with hazard ratings, but individual differences in perceived risk of aberrant driving behaviors predicted hazard ratings, suggesting that general driving-related risk sensitivity plays a strong role in safety perception. In both urban and rural scenes, there were significant associations between hazard ratings and inherent safety risk, with low-risk changes perceived as consistently less hazardous than high-risk impact changes; however, the effect was larger for urban environments. There were also effects of object type, with certain objects rated as consistently more safety relevant. In urban scenes, changes involving pedestrians were rated significantly more hazardous than all other objects, and in rural scenes, changes involving animals were rated as significantly more hazardous. Notably, hazard ratings were found to be higher in urban compared with rural driving environments, even when changes were matched between environments.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that drivers perceive rural roads as less risky than urban roads, even when similar scenarios occur in both environments. Age did not affect hazard ratings. Instead, the findings suggest that the assessment of risk posed by hazards is influenced more by individual differences in risk sensitivity. This highlights the need for driver education to account for appraisal of hazards’ risk and relevance, in addition to hazard detection, when considering factors that promote road safety.     

Flexible Management System for Occupational Safety and Quality

Abstract

In the 10 analysed companies it is necessary to create a management for flexible processes and a structured flexibilisation of these processes. This represents the basis for the retention of existing flexibility and occupational safety.

The strategy for a management of flexible processes leads,

? firstly, to a structuring of company procedures whilst still retaining the necessary flexibility and certification ability as laid down by standards No. DIN EN ISO 9000ff. and,

? secondly, to the keeping of the demands of an occupational safety management system.

In this article the inclusion of co-workers stands in the foreground. This will be combined with the goal to utilise their experience and their acceptance of the solutions worked out.     

Occupational Cognitive Failures and Safety Performance in the Workplace

Introduction. The majority of industrial accidents occur because of human errors. Human error has different causes, however, in all cases cognitive abilities and limitations of human play an important role. Occupational cognitive failures are cognitively-based human errors that occur at work. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between occupational cognitive failures and safety consequences. Method. Personnel of a large industrial company in Iran filled out an occupational cognitive failure questionnaire (OCFQ) and answered questions on accidents. Univariate and multiple logistic regression analysis were used to determine the relationship between cognitive failures and safety consequences. Results. According to developed regression models, personnel with a high rate of cognitive failure, in comparison to low rate, have a high risk of minor injury involvement (OR 5.1, 95% CI [2.62, 10.3]); similar results were for major injury and near miss. Discussion. The results of this study revealed usefulness of the OCFQ as a tool of predicting safety-related consequences and planning preventive actions.     

Safety analysis of urban signalized intersections under mixed traffic

IntroductionThis study examined the crash causative factors of signalized intersections under mixed traffic using advanced statistical models.MethodHierarchical Poisson regression and logistic regression models were developed to predict the crash frequency and severity of signalized intersection approaches. The prediction models helped to develop general safety countermeasures for signalized intersections.ResultsThe study shows that exclusive left turn lanes and countdown timers are beneficial for improving the safety of signalized intersections. Safety is also influenced by the presence of a surveillance camera, green time, median width, traffic volume, and proportion of two wheelers in the traffic stream. The factors that influence the severity of crashes were also identified in this study.Practical applicationAs a practical application, the safe values of deviation of green time provided from design green time, with varying traffic volume, is presented in this study. This is a useful tool for setting the appropriate green time for a signalized intersection approach with variations in the traffic volume.     

Safety climate and firefighting: Focus group results

BackgroundFirefighting is a hazardous occupation and there have been numerous calls for fundamental changes in how fire service organizations approach safety and balance safety with other operational priorities. These calls, however, have yielded little systematic research.MethodsAs part of a larger project to develop and test a model of safety climate for the fire service, focus groups were used to identify potentially important dimensions of safety climate pertinent to firefighting.ResultsAnalyses revealed nine overarching themes. Competency/professionalism, physical/psychological readiness, and that positive traits sometimes produce negative consequences were themes at the individual level; cohesion and supervisor leadership/support at the workgroup level; and politics/bureaucracy, resources, leadership, and hiring/promotion at the organizational level. A multi-level perspective seems appropriate for examining safety climate in firefighting.ConclusionsSafety climate in firefighting appears to be multi-dimensional and some dimensions prominent in the general safety climate literature also seem relevant to firefighting. These results also suggest that the fire service may be undergoing transitions encompassing mission, personnel, and its fundamental approach to safety and risk.Practical applicationsThese results help point the way to the development of safety climate measures specific to firefighting and to interventions for improving safety performance.     

某市区重点行业职业病危害因素现状调查研究

对某市区重点行业15家企业职业病危害因素进行检测与评价,对普查结果进行综合分析。结果表明:15家企业工作场所化学有害因素职业卫生现状情况良好,但噪声危害程度较大;在6个重点行业中,电子制造行业有害因素合格率最低,为84%,其次是纺织行业,有害因素合格率为85%,其他化学原料及化学制品、化工、木制家具、石材加工四个行业合格率均较高;市直以上企业职业卫生现状情况优于区属企业,300-2000人之间较大规模的企业职业卫生现状情况优于300人以下的企业。同时,对企业提出了职业危害现状的改进措施与建议。