Identification, analysis and dissemination of information on near misses: A case study in the construction industry

Near misses are well-known for providing a major source of useful information for safety management. They are more frequent events than accidents and their causes may potentially result in an accident under slightly different circumstances. Despite the importance of this type of feedback, there is little knowledge on the characteristics of near misses, and on the use of this information in safety management. This article proposes guidelines for identifying, analyzing and disseminating information on near misses in construction sites. In particular, it is proposed that near misses be analyzed based on four categories: (a) whether or not it was possible to track down the event; (b) the nature of each event, in terms of its physical features (e.g. falling objects); (c) whether they provided positive or negative feedback for the safety management system; and (d) risk, based on the probability and severity associated with each event. The guidelines were devised and tested while a safety management system was being developed in a healthcare building project. The monitoring of near misses was part of a safety performance measurement system. Among the main results, a dramatic increase in both the number and quality of reports stands out after the workforce was systematically encouraged to report. While in the first 4 months of the study – when the workforce was not encouraged to report – there were just 12 reports, during the subsequent 4 months – when the workforce was so encouraged – there were 110 reports, all of them being analyzed based on the four analytical categories proposed.     

Risk assessment of safety and health (RASH) for building construction

In this research Risk Assessment of Safety and Health RASH method for building construction has been developed with risks classified into Safety Risks and Health Risks. 11 factors representing safety risks and 8 factors representing health risks were identified based on field survey in Oman. 40 Safety and Health specialists were involved in carrying out risk assessment using the existing method of risk analysis RA and the proposed RASH method. It was found that RASH method resulted in superior accuracy for assessment of risk zones than the existing RA method. The accuracy by RASH was almost twice the accuracy by RA. The overall percentages of the correct answers for the four scenarios using the RASH method and the RA method were 72.5 percent and 40 percent respectively. The proposed RASH method gave fewer errors than the existing RA method for all scenarios. Two scenarios were found to be the most problematic ones with largest overestimation of risks occur when using the existing RA method. Wilcoxon Ranked Test showed that the two methods are significantly different (z = −3.357, p > 0.01). The new method RASH is statistically acceptable and it resulted in better response in terms of estimating the risk than the RA method.     

Vibrating hand-held machines in the construction industry

The aim of this study was to investigate and measure vibration levels of the most commonly used machines within the construction industry. In the report 186 hand-held machines divided into more than 15 different machine groups have been studied. The project is a joint venture between Bygghälsan (The Constructions Industry's Organization for Working Environment, Safety & Health) and the National Institute of Occupational Health.     

What is most important for safety climate: The company belonging or the local working environment? – A study from the Norwegian offshore industry

Obtaining knowledge about factors affecting health, safety and environment (HSE) is of major interest to the petroleum industry, but there is currently a severe shortage of relevant studies. The aim of this study was to examine the relative influence of offshore installation (local working environment) and company belonging on employees’ opinions concerning occupational health and safety. We analyzed data from a safety climate survey answered by 4479 Norwegian offshore petroleum employees in 2005 on the dimensions “Safety prioritisation”, “Safety management and involvement”, “Safety versus production”, “Individual motivation”, “System comprehension” and “Competence” using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), effect size and mixed model. The companies differed significantly for “Safety prioritisation”, “Safety versus production”, “Individual motivation”, “System comprehension” and “Competence”. The local offshore installation explained more of the safety climate than the company they were employed in or worked for did.     

Safety climate, attitudes and risk perception in Norsk Hydro

The aims of this paper are to test mental images of risk and to present some results of a survey of safety climate, employee attitudes, risk perception and behaviour among employees within the industrial company Norsk Hydro. Two mental images were tested. They are both based on the assumption that it is possible to make a distinction between cognitive and affective processes involved in risk perception. The first model was the ‘rationalistic’ approach, which assumes that the affective component of risk perception is influenced by cognitive judgements. The justification for the second model is found in Zajonc's [Zajonc, R.B., 1980. Feeling and thinking. Preferences need no inferences. American Psychologist 35 (2), 151–175] conclusion that emotions are precognitive. In this model, entitled the ‘mental imagery’ approach, emotion is seen as the driving force affecting cognition of risk and safety. Employees at 13 plants have answered a self-completion questionnaire. The plants belonged to the agricultural, aluminium, magnesium and petrochemical divisions within Norsk Hydro. A total of 731 respondents replied to the questionnaire. The mental imagery approach was somewhat better fitted to the data than a rationalistic approach. Safety climate and employee attitudes towards safety and accident prevention contributed significantly to the variance in employee occupational risk behaviour. Worry and the extent to which the employee felt safe/unsafe was the most important predictor for the cognitive judgement of risk. Acceptability of rule violations seemed to be the most important predictor of behaviour, probably because acceptability also affected how often the respondents took chances and broke safety rules.     

What-You-Look-For-Is-What-You-Find – The consequences of underlying accident models in eight accident investigation manuals

Accident investigation manuals are influential documents on various levels in a safety management system, and it is therefore important to appraise them in the light of what we currently know – or assume – about the nature of accidents. Investigation manuals necessarily embody or represent an accident model, i.e., a set of assumptions about how accidents happen and what the important factors are. In this paper we examine three aspects of accident investigation as described in a number of investigation manuals. Firstly, we focus on accident models and in particular the assumptions about how different factors interact to cause – or prevent – accidents, i.e., the accident “mechanisms”. Secondly, we focus on the scope in the sense of the factors (or factor domains) that are considered in the models – for instance (hu)man, technology, and organization (MTO). Thirdly, we focus on the system of investigation or the activities that together constitute an accident investigation project/process. We found that the manuals all used complex linear models. The factors considered were in general (hu)man, technology, organization, and information. The causes found during an investigation reflect the assumptions of the accident model, following the ‘What-You-Look-For-Is-What-You-Find’ or WYLFIWYF principle. The identified causes typically became specific problems to be fixed during an implementation of solutions. This follows what can be called ‘What-You-Find-Is-What-You-Fix’ or WYFIWYF principle.     

Coping with accelerating socio-technical systems

In 1997 a workshop was held on the subject of how to cope with accelerating technologies. These are industries such as aviation, air traffic control and biotechnology, amongst others, where the rate of technological development is significant. A number of papers were presented from a range of viewpoints and in a variety of different industrial contexts. The papers ranged from theoretical models to help understand the process of acceleration and its impact on organisational learning, to practical analyses of future potential risks in specific accelerating industries such as air traffic control. The aim of the papers and the workshop as a whole was to provide insight into the problems associated with accelerating technologies, and thereby derive measures to control or cope with such acceleration. The problems arising from acceleration, as predicted by the theoretical models and evidenced by experiences in accelerating industries (e.g. aviation) are manifold. Two examples of particular problems are unforeseen risks in an industry (a lack of forward vision), and a failure to learn adequately (i.e. in time) from incidents occurring in an organisation (a lack of constructive hindsight). There is also an incipient danger of society being driven by technology rather than being led by social needs. Even if each technology ultimately becomes ‘ultra-safe’, it will nevertheless have its own ‘event horizon’, limiting useful further progress. Each of the papers from the workshop is summarised and integrated into a three-part synopsis of the workshop. This covers the context of accelerating technologies, modelling their impacts, and deriving coping strategies. Four of the papers are included in their entirety as separate papers in their own right in this special issue of Safety Science.     

Risk perception by offshore workers on UK oil and gas platforms

This paper reports the first investigation of risk perception by workers on offshore oil and gas installations on the UK Continental Shelf, following changes in offshore safety legislation in the wake of the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988. The Offshore Safety Case regulations (Health and Safety Executive, 1992, A Guide to the Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations) put the onus on the operator to identify the major hazards and to reduce the risks to As Low As is Reasonably Practicable (ALARP). The regulations specifically state that Quantitative Risk Assessments (QRA) must be used when preparing the Safety Case. However, people do not use QRA when making everyday judgements about risk; they make subjective judgements known as risk perceptions, which are influenced by a number of different factors. This study was designed to complement the extensive QRA calculations that have already been carried out in the development of Safety Cases. The aim was to measure subjective risk perception in offshore personnel and examine how this relates to the more objective risk data available, namely accident records and QRA calculations. This paper describes the Offshore Risk Perception Questionnaire developed to collect the data and reports on UK offshore workers' perceptions of the risks associated with major and minor hazards, work tasks and other activities aboard production platforms.     

Validation of a questionnaire about the perception of occupational biohazard in Spanish companies

Objectives. The aim of this work was to develop, validate and test a new questionnaire to assess the biological risk in workers with intentional or unintentional exposure to biological agents. Methods. A questionnaire including 34 questions was developed to study the perception of workers against occupational biohazard. Content Validity Index (CVI) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR) were calculated for the analysis of content validity. A pilot study was carried out with 60 workers from 17 companies performing analysis of Cronbach's α to assess the internal consistency or reliability. Results. A total of 518 workers from 51 Spanish companies in which there is exposure to biological agents participated in the study yielding a response rate of 90%. The final questionnaire obtained a Cronbach's α > 0.759 with a stable test–retest result. The questionnaire validation demonstrates that it could be used to evaluate the biological risks and help the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases. Discussion. This study has validated the need to evaluate worker's perception against occupational risks, as well as the application of prevention methods and protective equipment. It is a first step towards developing an occupational biohazards assessment method including all the requirements set by the European Health and Safety Strategy 2013–2020.     

建设项目职业病危害预评价方法探讨

目前,建设项目职业病危害预评价方法比较单一,只能反映拟建项目在职业病危害方面与现行法规、标准的符合程度,并不能对项目进行全面、动态的评估,也无法评价职业危害事故风险。通过分析环境影响评价、安全评价中相关的评价方法在评价职业病危害因素分布、长期作用的影响、危害分级、事故风险等方面的优势,探讨其在建设项目职业病危害预评价中的应用。笔者提出,合理借鉴环境影响评价、安全评价方法,可拓展职业病危害预评价的深度和广度,在拟建项目职业病防治、建设项目职业危害分级管理和职业危害事故防范等方面都具有积极的指导作用。     

Mass balance of anionic surfactants through up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket based sewage treatment plants

The outcome of a 21-month monitoring study on anionic surfactants (AS) at five (27–70 ML/d) up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) based sewage treatment plants (STPs) is described. The average removals of AS were around 8–30%. Appreciable concentrations of AS were being discharged to the watercourse (average 4.30 mg/L; range 3.60–4.91 mg/L). On an average dried sludge contained 1452 mg AS/kg dry weight. Mass balance at three STPs indicated that, AS load of the order of 5–17% and ≈12% is removed by adsorption in UASB reactors and polishing ponds (PP) respectively. Biodegradation of AS under anaerobic conditions in UASB reactors and PP does not seem to take place. In the sludge stream, appreciable biodegradation (≈46%) of adsorbed AS under aerobic conditions on the sludge drying beds takes place. If influent AS mass flux is normalized to 100 units, than average of ≈74 and ≈7 units are discharged with treated effluent and dried sludge respectively, while 12 and 6 units are adsorbed/settled in PP and aerobically biodegrade on sludge drying beds respectively. At two STPs (34 and 56 ML/d), the filterable fluxes in UASBR increased so that the mass balance could not be computed.     

Building Safety indicators: Part 2 – Application,practices and results

Petroleum exploration and production in the Barents Sea is a controversial topic. The Goliat field outside the northern coast of Norway will be the first offshore oil development in this region, with planned production start in 2013–2014. Avoiding major accidents at Goliat is critical; not only to reduce the risks to human lives and the environment, but also to gain political acceptance. Providing early warnings of major accidents for Goliat is one of the main objectives of the research project ‘Building Safety’. The objective of this paper is to describe the development of early warnings in the form of indicators. In addition, the paper includes an overview of current status of early warnings of accidents in other major hazard industries; the nuclear power industry, the chemical process industry, and aviation. Experiences from these industries, including lessons learned from recent major accidents, have been used as important input to the development of early warning indicators.     

Slip resistance and the UK Slip Resistance Research Group

Kime, G.A., 1991. Slip resistance and the UK Slip Resistance Research Group. Safety Science, 14: 213–219.This paper highlights some of the problems concerned with slipping accidents and gives the history of the UK Slip Resistance Group and the use of dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) to characterise the various slidder rubbers. Discussion concerning the theory of slipping and the influences other than the coefficient of friction that make up slip resistance, and the clarification of the parameters for a safe floor surface are presented.     

A matrix-based risk assessment approach for addressing linear hazards such as pipelines

Pipelines represent a linear risk source that can create unique challenges when assessing risks. In the past, risk has been managed by identifying construction requirements and setbacks based on population densities and types of land use. In the current risk assessment a matrix-based approach has been developed so as to determine the risks associated with high-vapor pressure liquids pipelines. The approach involved the development of a matrix representing each 100 m section of the reviewed pipeline along with approximately 30 risk factors that describe that section of the pipeline. Further, a receptor matrix was constructed to account for each hectare of land within 1 km of the reviewed pipeline system. This approach has allowed for the determination of risk as a function of location and separation from the pipeline and in turn has allowed for the determination of those areas where peak risks exist. In addition, this approach has ensured that the linear geometry related to pipeline risks has been accurately modeled. The resulting estimated risks have been evaluated against MIACC risk thresholds (geographic risk-based measures) and against proprietary internal corporate standards (societal risk-based measures). In this way the acceptability of the risk from the perspective of both the potentially impacted community and that of the pipeline operator can be measured. The net result is that the company has a clear picture of the risks associated with its pipeline and is better able to optimize its risk management and pipeline integrity programs.     

Personal protectors and working behaviour of loggers

Safety measures have not always been as effective as anticipated. If workers change their behaviour, e.g. by taking more risks, the benefit of the safety improvement is lost. This phenomenon is called risk compensation. There is some indirect evidence for and against risk compensation among Finnish loggers as regards the use of personal protectors. Two studies suggest that the accident rate would have risen 3–5.5-fold if all the cases prevented by the protectors had been injurious. In Study 1 (n = 1200) the use of personal protectors did not reduce accident injuries. In Study 2 (n = 225), 90% of the test persons had noted that the use of personal protectors enhances the feeling of safety. Nearly half of the loggers reported that their work behaviour changed when they wore personal protectors; they became more careless, faster, bolder, and they anticipated less dangers. In Study 2, the use of protectors reduced accident injuries. This finding does not support the hypothesis of complete behavioural adaptation. The conclusion drawn on the basis of these two studies is that the change in behaviour when using protectors does not entirely nullify the protecting effect of protectors, so that the compensation could rather be partial.     

Overview of GHS (Globally Harmonized System) in Korea and the direction of further development

Many chemicals are being developed with the growth of science technology. Such chemicals bring many advantages to humans but also cause many social problems because of the hazards of the materials. Therefore, it is necessary to have a system which identifies the hazards of chemicals. Some acts or regulations about information on warning labels or MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) information for chemicals are similar in each country but there are differences in definitions of degree of hazard, standard classification of harmful level, and indication methods. GHS is the indication method of worldwide integrated classification standard in order to prevent damage caused by disease or risks of accidents resulting from confusion by the users. In keeping pace with the world trend, Korea has conducted translation of the GHS manual from UN and selected it as the official GHS manual of the Korean government. The official Korean GHS translated version was published in July 2005. After that, the Korea Ministry of Employment and Korea Labor and the Ministry of Environment have implemented GHS MSDS for chemical substances since July 1, 2010 so that manufacturers and importers are required to apply it. The full implementation for compound materials will start on July 1, 2013. In Korea, database information for chemicals is provided by four organizations including The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency. However, domestic information on chemicals provided by domestic information providers has problems including differences in basic content and incorrect recording because of trade secrets. Efforts for improvement including reinforcing training for manufacturers and importers on recording consistent information for different organizations are urgently needed.     

Determination of explosion limits – Criterion for ignition under non-atmospheric conditions

Many industrial processes are run at non-atmospheric conditions (elevated temperatures and pressures, other oxidizers than air). To judge whether and if yes to what extent explosive gas(vapor)/air mixtures will occur or may be generated during malfunction it is necessary to know the safety characteristic data at the respective conditions. Safety characteristic data like explosion limits, are depending on pressure, temperature and the oxidizer. Most of the determination methods are standardized for ambient conditions. In order to obtain determination methods for non-atmospheric conditions, particularly for higher initial pressures, reliable ignition criteria were investigated. Ignition tests at the explosion limits were carried out for mixtures of methane, propane, n-butane, n-hexane, hydrogen, ammonia and acetone in air at initial pressures up to 20 bar. The tests have been evaluated according to different ignition criteria: visual flame propagation, temperature and pressure rising. It could be shown that flame propagation and occasionally self-sustained combustion for several seconds occurred together with remarkable temperature rise, although the pressure rise was below 3%. The results showed that the combination of a pressure rise criterion of 2% and a temperature rise criterion of 100 K seems to be a suitable ignition criterion for the determination of explosion limits and limiting oxidizer concentration at higher initial pressures and elevated temperatures. The tests were carried out within the framework of a R&D project founded by the German Ministry of Economics and Technology.     

Did Child Restraint Laws Globally Converge? Examining 40 Years of Policy Diffusion

Objective: The objective of the current study is to determine what factors have been associated with the global adoption of mandatory child restraint laws (ChRLs) since 1975.

Methods: In order to determine what factors explained the global adoption of mandatory ChRLs, Weibull models were analyzed. To carry out this analysis, 170 countries were considered and the time risk corresponded to 5,146 observations for the period 1957–2013. The dependent variable was first time to adopt a ChRL. Independent variables representing global factors were the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank's (WB) road safety global campaign; the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic; and the United Nation's (UN) 1958 Vehicle Agreement. Independent variables representing regional factors were the creation of the European Transport Safety Council and being a Commonwealth country. Independent variables representing national factors were population; gross domestic product (GDP) per capita; political violence; existence of road safety nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); and existence of road safety agencies. Urbanization served as a control variable. To examine regional dynamics, Weibull models for Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Commonwealth were also carried out.

Results: Empirical estimates from full Weibull models suggest that 2 global factors and 2 national factors are significantly associated with the adoption of this measure. The global factors explaining adoption are the WHO and WB's road safety global campaign implemented after 2004 (P <.01), and the UN's 1958 Vehicle Agreement (P <.001). National factors were GDP (P <.01) and existence of road safety agencies (P <.05). The time parameter ρ for the full Weibull model was 1.425 (P <.001), suggesting that the likelihood of ChRL adoption increased over the observed period of time, confirming that the diffusion of this policy was global. Regional analysis showed that the UN's Convention on Road Traffic was significant in Asia, the creation of the European Transport Safety Council was significant in Europe and North America, and the global campaign was in Africa. In Commonwealth and European and North American countries, the existence of road safety agencies was also positively associated with ChRL adoption.

Conclusions: Results of the world models suggest that the WHO and WB's global road safety campaign was effective in disseminating ChRLs after 2004. Furthermore, regions such as Asia and Europe and North America were early adopters since specific regional and national characteristics anticipated the introduction of this policy before 2004. In this particular case, the creation of the European Transport Safety Council was fundamental in promoting ChRLs. Thus, in order to introduce conditions to more rapidly diffuse road safety measures across lagging regions, the maintenance of global efforts and the creation of road safety regional organizations should be encouraged. Lastly, the case of ChRL convergence illustrates how mechanisms of global and regional diffusion need to be analytically differentiated in order better to assess the process of policy diffusion.     

Lifting technique and abdominal belt usage: a biomechanical, physiological and subjective investigation

Some 10 male subjects carried out a repetitive lifting task for 15 min under four conditions on separate days. Subjects used either a squat lifting or a stoop lifting technique with or without an abdominal belt on each day. Measurements of spinal shrinkage, heart rate, perceived exertion and regional body pain were made under each condition. Although there was a significant difference in spinal shrinkage under all lifting conditions compared with shrinkage during 15 min of quiet standing (4.36 ± 2.24 vs. 1.13 ± 1.18 mm), there were no significant differences in shrinkage between the conditions. The subjects' heart rates were higher during the squat lift than the stoop lift (123 vs. 97 beats/min; p < 0.001). While the squat lift was perceived to be the safest lift by 90% of the subjects, 60% regarded this lift as the least preferred method (with or without the belt). Although all 10 subjects perceived the safest lifting method to involve the use of the belt, 50% rated the belt as their least preferred lifting condition. The findings cast doubt on the efficacy and acceptability of both abdominal belts and the practice of training workers in ‘safe’ lifting techniques and indicate that individual characteristics and preferences need to be considered when attempting to improve the safety of manual handling operations in industry.     

Injuries among electric power industry workers, 1995–2013

IntroductionWorkers in the electric power industry face many risks of injury due to the high diversity of work tasks performed in potentially hazardous and unpredictable work environments.MethodWe calculated injury rates by age, sex, occupational group, and injury type among workers in the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) Occupational Health and Safety Database (OHSD), which contains recordable injury, medical claims, and personnel data from 18 participating electric power companies from 1995 to 2013.ResultsThe OHSD includes a total of 63,193 injuries over 1,977,436 employee-years of follow-up, for an overall injury rate of 3.20 injuries per 100 employee-years. Annual injury rates steadily decreased from 1995 to 2000, increased sharply in 2001, and subsequently decreased to their lowest rate of 1.31 injuries per 100 employee-years in 2013. Occupations with the highest injury rates were welders (13.56 per 100 employee-years, 95% CI 12.74–14.37), meter readers (12.04 per 100 employee-years, 95% CI 11.77–12.31), and line workers (10.37 per 100 employee-years, 95% CI 10.19–10.56). Males had an overall higher injury rate compared to females (2.74 vs. 1.61 per 100 employee-years) although some occupations, such as meter reader, had higher injury rates for females. For all workers, injury rates were highest for those in the 21 to 30 age group (3.70 per 100 employee-years) and decreased with age. Welders and machinists did not follow this trend and had higher injury rates in the 65 + age group. There were 63 fatalities over the 1995 to 2013 period, with 21 fatalities (33.3%) occurring among line workers.ConclusionsAlthough injury rates have decreased over time, certain high-risk groups remain (i.e., line workers, mechanics, young males, older welders and machinists, and female meter readers).Practical applicationsProtective measures and targeted safety programs may be warranted to ensure the safety of electric power workers.