Trends in chemical hazards in Japan

In the past, the chemical industry in Japan has been the cause of a number of major industrial accidents. Subsequent to each accident, specific lessons have been learned. These lessons learned have been implemented in terms of safety education of the employees and/or safety measures of the equipment and facilities resulting in a rapid decrease of corresponding accident frequencies. In this paper, we summarized both recent and past major accidents caused by chemical substances in fixed installations in Japan. Case studies show that runaway reactions are among the main causes of major accident occurrences in the chemical process industry in Japan. A recent fatal poisoning accident caused by H₂S gas generated during maintenance work again highlights the necessity of adequate safety management in a chemical factory. Therefore, even if hazard evaluation of chemical substances and chemical processes is necessary to prevent runaway reactions, human error is also an important factor contributing to reaction hazards [Wakakura, M. (1997) Human factor in chemical accidents, J. Safety Eng. High Press. Gas. Safety Inst. Japan, 34, 846].     

An evaluation of occupational accidents in the wooden furniture industry - A regional study in South East Asia

Studies on the rate of occupational accidents among workers in the wooden furniture industry is sparse, although the industry is deemed to be highly accident prone. Therefore, the rate of occupational accidents among workers in the wooden furniture industry in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam were studied, in 240 furniture manufacturing factories, using a structured questionnaire. The findings of the study suggest that contract workers are less prone to occupational accidents compared to their permanent counterparts, and hence, are more productive. Further, the results also revealed that the contract workers have a more positive attitude towards the work, and hence, pick up the essentials of safe working practices quickly. It must therefore be recognized that the “production oriented mentality” prevalent in the wooden furniture industry, which has been argued to compromise occupational safety and health standards in the industry may be debatable. In this context, it is essential for the policy makers to re-examine the employment of contract workers for the furniture manufacturing industry, as changing the psycho-economic parameters of the industry may be warranted before the industry is deemed attractive to a permanent workforce.     

Global trend according to estimated number of occupational accidents and fatal work-related diseases at region and country level

Background

Although occupational accidents and work-related diseases have been of interest for a long time, due to lack of proper recording and notification systems the official numbers of occupational accidents and work-related diseases are missing for many countries. Presently, the demand for effectiveness and an interest in the economic aspects of accidents have increased prevention activities at company and country levels.

Methods

Occupational accident data of selected countries and of World Health Organization regional divisions together with the global burden of disease were used in estimating global occupational accidents and fatal work-related diseases. The trend of global occupational accidents and work-related diseases is presented at region and country levels. The years 1998, 2001, and 2003 are compared in the case of occupational accidents and the years 2000 and 2002 in the case of work-related diseases.

Results

The total number of occupational accidents and fatal work-related diseases has increased, but the fatality rates per 100,000 workers have decreased. There were almost 360,000 fatal occupational accidents in 2003 and almost 2 million fatal work-related diseases in 2002. Every day more than 960,000 workers get hurt because of accidents. Each day 5,330 people die because of work-related diseases.

Conclusions

Information on occupational accidents and work-related diseases is needed so that countries may understand better the importance of occupational health and safety at country and company level. Especially companies in developing countries are not familiar with occupational safety and health. Statistical data is essential for accident prevention; it is a starting point for the safety work.     

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。     

提高天津市安全生产水平对策研究

根据对天津市2000—2004年工伤事故分析和研究,总结出的天津市工伤事故的规律和特点,以及事故致因的有关理论,提出对策研究的总体思路,并对照天津市及其重点行业的经济发展状况及安全监管的现状,提出了从总体上控制天津市工伤事故、不断提高安全生产水平的对策,即加强安全生产监管体系的建设、建立自律与激励机制、从制度上解决企业安全费用投入不足的问题、加大对重大危险源的监控以期杜绝特大事故的发生、尽快建立安全应急救援体系、加强事故管理、完善地方安全法规的建设使监管做到有法可依、强化安全检查等8项措施。     

Process industry accidents in Sri Lanka: Analysis and basic lessons learnt

Accidents in the process industry could be prevented or reduced by having good safety management measures. Such preventive measures could be further improved through the experiences and lessons learnt from past accidents. Therefore, analysis results of past accidents are valuable sources of information for determining root causes and as case material to prevent and reduce the adverse consequences of accidents in the process industry.This paper looks at accidents in the process industry that have occurred in the past 10 years from 1997 to 2006 in Sri Lanka to gain an understanding of the nature and consequences of accidents. Lessons and main areas of concern to improve safety in the Sri Lanka process industry are discussed. The analysis is done for different event types based on specific operating process stage during which the accident occurred such as processing, loading and unloading, repair and maintenance and storage, the immediate effect types such as fire, explosion, chemical releases and emissions and the consequences of each accident. Fire incidents were observed in 38 accidents analyzed. The results show that the highest number of accidents has occurred during processing operations followed by accidents during maintenance and repair work. The cause analysis shows that many accidents have occurred due to technical and human failures.The accidents are then classified according to the severity of the consequences in order to compare the nature of accidents experienced in Sri Lanka with respect to accidents in other countries in the world.     

Safety Management in Coal Mines—Risk Assessment

The present state of accident hazard at work in the Polish mining industry is presented. A comparison is made of the accident indices in relation to other countries. A reference is made to the work safety management system implemented in the mines. Safety management is discussed in terms of risk management. On the basis of the natural death index and that of accidents at work, numerical scales are presented defining the limits of the inadmissable, tolerable, and acceptable risk. The course of variation of risk indices for fatal, serious, and minor accidents is evaluated. The results of the assessment for all kinds of accidents at work in the mining industry are presented.     

露天采石场边坡稳定因素浅析

忽视对露天采石场边坡稳定问题的分析研究,放松管理必然导致重大事故的发生。通过对1984—2001年河南省露天采矿场重、特大事故分析得出如下结论:18年间重特大事故共发生27起。分为两类,一类是放炮事故,一类是边坡坍塌事故。放炮事故3起、死亡13人,事故起数和死亡人数分别占11.11%和10.08%;坍塌事故24起、死亡116人,事故起数和死亡人数分别占88.89%和89.92%。统计分析和经验告诫:深入了解露天采石场边坡稳定因素,加强边坡管理是实现露天采石场安全生产的重中之重。     

Electric Accidents in the Production,Transmission, and Distribution of Electric Energy: A Review of the Literature

Many work related electric accidents occurred in electric energy industries and they were very often fatal. The situation of electric accidents in electric companies worldwide is investigated by reviewing the scientific literature, to offer perspectives on the types and kinds of statistics available, the factors regarded as influencing their occurrence, their consequences, and also methodological shortcomings.

Worldwide, reliable comparable data exist and indicate a downward trend in fatal electric accidents. Difficulties were encountered in compiling international statistics because of differences in how accident data were defined and recorded, variations in mandatory practices, lack of suitable data and indices, accident insurance systems, and lack of correlation between technical, financial, and medical aspects.     

我国“十二五”期间生产安全死亡事故直接经济损失估算

对“十二五”期间发生的、已经公布的生产安全死亡事故报告进行检索,选择事故调查报告要素比较齐全、具有代表性的生产安全死亡事故219起进行直接经济损失统计分析,计算每死亡1个人造成的直接经济损失。建立以事故死亡人数测算全国生产安全死亡事故直接经济损失的计算模型,根据公开的年度生产安全事故死亡人数,估算全国年度生产安全事故直接经济损失。估算结果表明,“十二五”期间我国生产安全死亡事故直接经济损失达到4 651亿元,约占国内生产总值的0.16%,占全国财政收入的0.72%,生产安全死亡事故的直接经济损失巨大。     

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.     

逻辑在安全生产中的应用

对逻辑在安全生产中的应用和作用,进行了较全面的分析和探讨。逻辑在职业安全卫生领域里的应用十分广泛,在分析、预防事故,探求其规律,以及在职业危害方面,起着十分重要的作用。随着安全系统工程等现代安全技术和劳动安全卫生预评价方法的拓展,逻辑学的应用更加深入,从演绎逻辑到归纳逻辑、辩证逻辑,特别是由数理逻辑诞生而发展起来的现代逻辑,以及现代模拟类比,均被有效地应用。因此,安全逻辑已成为逻辑的一个新分支,也成为安全科学的一个重要组成部分。它对安全生产的发展有着重要的实用价值和指导意义     

Fatal accidents in nighttime vs. daytime highway construction work zones

INTRODUCTION: Awareness about worker safety in nighttime construction has been a major concern because it is believed that nighttime construction creates hazardous work conditions. However, only a few studies provide valuable comparative information about accident characteristics of nighttime and daytime highway construction activities. METHOD: This study investigates fatal accidents that occurred in Illinois highway work zones in the period 1996-2001 in order to determine the safety differences between nighttime and daytime highway construction. The lighting and weather conditions were included into the study as control parameters to see their effects on the frequency of fatal accidents occurring in work zones. RESULTS: According to this study, there is evidence that nighttime construction is more hazardous than daytime construction. The inclusion of a weather parameter into the analysis has limited effect on this finding. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The study justifies establishing an efficient work zone accident reporting system and taking all necessary measures to enhance safety in nighttime work zones.     

Understanding factors associated with misclassification of fatigue-related accidents in police record

IntroductionFatigue is one of the riskiest causes of traffic accidents threatening road safety. Due to lack of proper criteria, the identification of fatigue-related accidents by police officers largely depends on inferential evidence and their own experience. As a result, many fatigue-related accidents are misclassified and the harmfulness of fatigue on road safety is misestimated.MethodIn this paper, a joint model framework is introduced to analyze factors contributing to misclassification of a fatigue-related accident in police reports. Association rule data mining technique is employed to identify the potential interactions of factors, and logistic regression models are applied to analyze factors that hinder police officers' identification of fatigue-related accidents. Using the fatigue-related crash records from Guangdong Province during 2005–2014, factors contributing to the false positive and false negative detection of the fatigue-related accident have been identified and compared.ResultsSome variables and interactions were identified to have significant impacts on fatigue-related accident detection.ConclusionsBased on the results, it can be inferred that the stereotype of certain groups of drivers, crash types, and roadway conditions affects police officers' judgment on fatigue-related accidents.Practical applicationsThis finding can provide useful information for training police officers and build better criteria for fatigue identification.     

生产作业区重大危险源评估方法研究

危险源是危险的根源,是系统中存在的可能发生意外释放能量的危险物质,开展重大危险源评估工作可有效预防和控制生产作业区重大安全事故的发生,保障人民群众生命财产安全,同时也为生产作业区安全监督管理提供依据。以某生产作业区为例,研究了生产作业区重大危险源辨识标准及分类分级方法,研究了重大危险源安全现状及危害等级的安全评估方法,指出了企业在重大危险源安全管理上应采取的安全技术措施和安全管理措施,为提高生产作业区安全管理水平,制定重大危险源专项应急预案提供了依据,上述辨识和评估思路和方法可为其他企业借鉴参考。     

机械加工工艺危险性控制研究

机械安全是制造业赖以生存和发展的基础,涉及到国民经济各个部门和人民的安全与健康。为了有效地控制机械加工工艺的危险性,防止机械事故发生,减少人员伤亡和财产损失,运用事故统计方法,对我国机械加工行业各类生产事故进行统计分析,从不同伤害形式的角度出发,将机械伤害事故类型从绞伤、碾压伤害、夹挤伤害等方面进行研究,重点以锻工、车工、铣工、钳工等11种常见加工工艺为研究对象,分析其操作过程中发生的事故原因和事故类型,得出我国机械加工行业事故发生规律和各加工工艺危险性的大小。与以往机械伤害事故类型统计不同,本文将机械伤害从不同工种和不同伤害形式进行分类统计,更能体现机械加工事故伤害特点,对加强我国机械加工行业的安全生产管理有一定的参考意义。     

我国小企业安全生产现状与对策

安全生产关系人民群众的生命财产安全 ,关系改革发展和社会稳定大局。但是 ,目前我国的安全生产形势依然严峻 ,特别是改革开放以来 ,随着各种经济成分 ,尤其是三资企业、私营企业、乡镇企业和个体经济组织大量产生 ,小企业的安全生产普遍存在无人管和不会管的问题 ,重特大事故频频发生。根据国家安全生产监督管理局统计显示 ,近年来发生的特大事故中 ,70 %以上集中在小企业。笔者就中国小企业的界定标准、安全生产状况、事故频发的原因、采取的对策及取得的成绩作一简要介绍。     

Differences in the lethality of occupational accidents in OECD countries

International comparisons of the frequency of occupational accidents are rare because figures reported by each country are influenced by factors other than differences in the occurrence of actual accidents. In this study, we performed an international comparison of occupational accidents which distinguishes between fatal cases and all reported accidents, in order to control for the effects of other factors in accident reporting. Annual data on the numbers of fatal and non-fatal occupational accidents in member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) between 1993 and 1998 were obtained from the Labour Statistics Database, which is operated by the International Labour Organization (ILO). The average incidence of all accidents across OECD countries ranged from 17 to 4608 per 100,000 persons in the labor force, whereas the incidence of fatal accidents across OECD countries ranged from 1 to 12 per 100,000 persons in the labor force. Lethality rates per 10,000 total accident cases ranged from 9 (Germany) to 3252 (Turkey). When comparing countries using the same statistical definition of accidents, three or more absence days, the difference in lethality of reported accidents within the same industrial sector is reduced to a sixfold difference (49 for the United Kingdom versus 333 for Ireland). Furthermore, the difference in lethality decreased to about twofold (18 for Spain versus 35 for Czech Republic) in the group using definitions with a criteria of one absent day. The results suggest that reported differences in lethality can reflect artificial administrative factors rather than the harmful factors that cause actual occupational accidents. To make more valid comparison of occupational accident between countries, harmonization of accident statistics is required.