Assessing disabling and non-disabling injuries and illnesses using accepted workers compensation claims data to prioritize industries of high risk for Oregon young workers

Introduction: Young workers are especially vulnerable to occupational injuries and illnesses. There is a continued need to investigate injury burden among young workers across demographics and industry to inform targeted interventions. Workers compensation (WC) claims are important for quantifying work-related injuries and illnesses, however published studies have focused on disabling claims. This study extended previous research on Oregon young workers by including the most recent WC claims data to identify patterns of injury and high risk industries. Methods: We obtained all accepted disabling claims (N = 13,360) and a significant portion of non-disabling claims (N = 24,660) on workers aged 24 years and under from 2013 to 2018. Claim count, rate and cost were calculated by year, age, gender, industry, and injury type. A prevention index (PI) method was used to rank industries in order to inform prevention efforts. Results: Average annual disabling and non-disabling claim rates were 111.6 and 401.3 per 10,000 young workers. Workers aged 19–21 (disabling: 119.0 per 10,000 and non-disabling: 429.3) and 22–24 years (115.7 and 396.4) and male workers (145.3 and 509.0) had higher claim rates than workers aged 14–18 (80.6 and 297.0) and female workers (79.8 and 282.9). The most frequent injury types were “struck by/against” (35.6%) and “work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs)” (19.5%). High risk industries included agriculture, construction, and manufacturing for both genders combined. For female young workers, the highest risk industry was healthcare. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the added value of non-disabling WC claims data. Using both disabling and non-disabling data and PI method, agriculture, construction, manufacturing and healthcare industries were identified as priority workplaces to prevent common and costly injuries among Oregon young workers. Practical Applications: While the industries identified are considered hazardous for all workers, findings in this study can guide targeted research and prevention efforts specific to young workers.     

Evolution of working conditions under the impact of ICTs

IntroductionInformation and communication technologies (ICTs) play a major role in the current evolution of work. They are both a great tool for emancipating human beings from the most tedious and most dangerous tasks and an effective vector for intensifying work.MethodsOn the basis of three foresight exercises carried out in recent years and by describing concrete examples of work organizations, the authors highlight the main possible trends for the changes to come.ConclusionsThey conclude on a few general principles that could allow the establishment of a win–win policy.     

Insight into the safety distance of ground and underground installations in typical petrochemical plants

Petrochemical plants are continuously turning into large-size corporations, the installations of facilities show a developing trend from ground to underground because of the difference in land using rate. In this regard, the safety distance of petrochemical equipment buried in both ground and underground cases were investigated based on risk assessment. As a case study, gasoline tank and LPG tank set on the ground and underground are singled out to compare the risks involved. The research showed that the setting case of installation had a great influence on safety distance. Two cases have 80% reduction of equivalent safety distance compared with the rest of the cases. It was found that when the gasoline storage tank was placed underground alone, the PLL value decreased by 36.7%. Only LPG tank was placed underground, and the PLL decreased by 6.33%, and the gasoline and LPG storage tanks were placed underground simultaneously, the PLL value declined by 42.3%. Thus, the layout of plants could be further optimized, which can greatly improve the performances of land use efficiency and safety. In addition, this paper, the selection of embedding methods and the sensitivity of underground case to overpressure was resumed from two aspects: soil properties and burial depth. For the soil properties, it was found that the water saturated sandy soil with high air content and the low density unsaturated sandy soil had better effects on weakening overpressure. Such properties are particularly beneficial to reducing the occurrence rate of accidents. In terms of burial depth, it can be observed that as the burial depth was changed from 0.5m to 1.1m, the value of overpressure has dropped dramatically. When the burial depth was 2m, the damage to personnel and buildings has been greatly reduced beyond 2m from the explosion center.     

Inhibiting effects by Fe2O3 on combustion and explosion characteristics of ABS resin

The global increase in the use of, and reliance on, plastics has prompted the demand for acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) resin in various fields. With this increased requirement, numerous failures have occurred in the ABS process. Those incidents, resulting from electrostatic discharge, powder accumulation, heat accumulation, construction sparks, and plant fires, have caused dust fire and explosions.In this study, the ABS resin was gleaned from the site and tested for its explosion parameters, including minimum ignition temperature of dust cloud (MIT_C), minimum ignition energy (MIE), and minimum explosion concentration (MEC). To improve loss prevention in the manufacturing process, ferric oxide (Fe₂O₃) as an inert additive was added in the ABS powder. According to the MIE test, Fe₂O₃ has an apparent inhibiting effect on dust explosion for the ABS dust. With the proportion of Fe₂O₃ increased from 25 to 50 mass% in ABS, the MIE increased from 67 to 540 mJ. The explosion tests via 20-L apparatus indicated that Fe₂O₃ mixed with ABS could not increase the MEC significantly. However, the explosion pressure dropped by increasing in the ratio of Fe₂O₃ in ABS. This inerting strategy of ABS was deemed to substantially lessen the probability and severity of fire and explosion.     

Assessment of the effect of technical and management characteristics on the frequency of release from piping: An application to a gas storage facility

The assessment of the frequencies of release from piping due to losses of containment is an essential step in the preparing Safety Reports, drawn up as required by the so-called “Seveso” Directive. These are usually calculated starting from the frequencies of random rupture included in international databases and are not plant-specific, furthermore, the quantification of the effect of the safety management system of the facility is not easy. A simple and flexible approach quantifying technical and management characteristics of the plant has been proposed by Milazzo and co-workers in 2010; it is based on the modification of the frequency taken from literature, through the use of the percentages of failure causes actually possible in that plant, and the judgment about their management. The data about the failure causes are taken from the literature and modified by using corrective factors to adapt them to the industrial context. To make possible the application of the method to a large number of major-hazard industry types, some aspects of the approach needed to be improved; these have been identified during a development project coordinated by RINA Consulting, on behalf of Saipem, with the collaboration of the University of Messina. The improvement of the approach focused on two main points, the development of a method to calculate the corrective factors for the failure causes associated with corrosion and erosion phenomena and the strengthening of the methodology for the formulation of the judgment about the safety management. This paper illustrates the fully improved method, as well as an application to a typical gas storage plant.     

高效复合菌在木薯酒精废液处理中的应用研究

对酒精废液生物处理反应器内颗粒污泥中的微生物进行分离纯化.分离出的8株高效优势菌,初步鉴定结果:1号为皮杆菌属;2号为棒杆菌属;3号、4号为微小杆菌属;5号为乳杆菌属;6号为纤维单胞菌属;7号为丙酸杆菌属;8号为红长命菌属.对8种纯化后的菌株进行混合培养,确定了复合菌群生长最佳培养温度为37℃,最适pH值为6.8.在处理过程中投加适量葡萄糖、硝酸铵和微量元素能够提高复合菌群的处理效果.最佳添加量为:葡萄糖0.5g/L,硝酸铵1g/L,Fe2 5mg/L和Ca2 25mg/L.在日处理量100 m3的UASB生物反应器中投加该复合菌群后,木薯酒精废液的COD去除率明显提高,达到90%以上.处理系统运行稳定.     

湘江干流水环境健康风险评价

为研究湘江水环境污染对人体健康产生的危害风险,在简要介绍健康风险评价方法及国内外研究、应用进展的基础上,建立了水环境健康风险评价模式,应用2000年的水质监测资料,对湘江干流主要断面进行了水环境健康风险评价.结果表明,在所评价断面中,非致癌物质由饮水途径所致健康危害的个人年风险按大小排列为Pb＞Hg＞NH3＞酚;化学致癌物质由饮水途径所致健康危害的个人年风险按大小排列为As＞Cd;化学致癌物质对人体健康危害的个人年风险远超过非致癌物质;污染最为严重的为松柏断面,其次是五星断面和三叉矶断面.湘江干流衡阳以上江段水质良好,衡阳以下江段水质较差.研究对湘江干流水污染防治方略的制定具有一定价值.     

模糊综合评价法在道路运输企业安全评价中的应用

我国道路运输企业交通安全形势比较严峻,推行道路运输企业安全综合评价是降低道路运输企业交通事故的有效途径之一.本文运用Delphi法和AHP法建立了道路运输企业安全层次分析模型,构建了安全综合评价指标体系.选用基于"差动"原理的赋权法--G1法计算各指标的权重,应用模糊综合评价法对其进行安全综合评价.采用平均加权法对评价因素的各项指标进行量化处理,从而得到道路运输企业安全的综合评价结果.最后,对陕西省一家道路运输企业进行了实际验证,比较真实地反映了此企业的安全状况.     

卷烟厂通风空调系统中聚积物燃烧特性研究

选取某烟厂车间通风空调系统,分别对风管内表面及设备部件表面附着的聚积物进行实测与分析.通过对所采集样品的C、H、N、S等的元素分析、工业分析、自然状态下的着火点参数以及灰熔融性参数等的实验分析,得到了烟厂建筑的通风空调系统中聚积物的燃烧特性,为工业建筑火灾的预测评价及防排烟设计提供了参考.     

基于模糊聚类关联分析法的煤与瓦斯突出程度分析

运用模糊聚类分析方法对煤与瓦斯突出的样本集合进行分类,建立了不同突出程度的模糊模式.用关联分析确定待分析样本与模式的关联程度,以此预测预报样本的煤与瓦斯突出危险程度.实例分析表明,与模糊聚类分类后、将模式与待预报样本组成新样本集合进行聚类分析并以此分类结果进行预报的方法相比,这种预报方法不仅可靠程度高,而且能定量描述待报样本与模式的亲和程度.