Developing a new fuzzy inference system for pipeline risk assessment

The problem of less and/or even lack of information and uncertainty in modeling and decision making plays a key role in many engineering problems; so that, it results in designers and engineers could not reach to sure solutions for the problems under consideration. In this paper, an application of the fuzzy logic for modeling the uncertainty involved in the problem of pipeline risk assessment is developed. For achieving the aim, relative risk score (RRS) methodology, one of the most popular techniques in pipeline risk assessment, is integrated with fuzzy logic. The proposed model is performed on fuzzy logic toolbox of MATLAB^® using Mamdani algorithm based on experts' knowledge. A typical case study is implemented and a comparison between the classical risk assessment approach and the proposed model is made. The results demonstrate that the proposed model provides more accurate, precise, sure results; so that, it can be taken into account as an intelligent risk assessment tool in different engineering problems.     

OHS inspectors and psychosocial risk factors: Evidence from Australia

Legislation giving prominence to psychosocial risk factors at work has changed the role of government occupational health and safety (OHS) inspectors in many countries. Yet little is known about how inspectorates have responded to these changes. Between 2003 and 2007 an Australian study was undertaken on OHS standards, entailing detailed documentary analysis, interviews with 36 inspectorate managers and 89 inspectors, and observations made when researchers accompanied inspectors on 120 typical workplace visits. Our study found that general duty provisions in OHS legislation clearly incorporated psychosocial hazards and inspectorates had introduced guidance material, pursued campaigns and increased interventions in this area. However, the regulatory framework remained narrow (focused on bullying/harassment, occupational violence and work stress) and workplace visits revealed psychosocial hazards as a marginal area of inspectorate activity. These findings were reinforced in interviews. While aware of psychosocial hazards inspectors often saw the issue as problematic due to limited training, resourcing constraints, deficiencies in regulation and fears of victimisation amongst workers. In order to address these problems a number of changes are required that recognize the distinctiveness of psychosocial hazards including their ‘invisibility’. Notable here are revisions to regulation (both general duty provisions and specific codes), the development of comprehensive guidance and assessment tools to be used by inspectors, greater use of procedural enforcement, and enhanced inspectorate resourcing and training. There is also a need to recognize complex inter-linkages between psychosocial hazards and the industrial relations context.     

Assessment model for equipment risk management: Petrochemical industry cases

This study presents an assessment model that examines quantity and quality factors for equipment risk management in the petrochemical industry. The proposed model has five dimensions—financial performance, logistical support, service level, learning and innovation, and risk control. This evaluation model uses 13 strategy subjects and 78 performance-measurement indicators. Performance assessment indicators are initially established and revised based on expert opinions collected via a questionnaire. Further, the analytical network process (ANP) is utilized to calculate the weights of indicators in each layer and to construct assessment models with applicable and valuable references. To determine model practicability, this study assesses four subsidiaries of the case company. Each subsidiary has a capitalization exceeding TWD 50 billion. In addition to evaluating company performance in terms of each dimension and indicator, the proposed model provides a valuable reference for decision-making in equipment risk management.     

Development and evaluation of a risk management methodology for pedestrian surfaces

This paper describes the development and evaluation of the Pedestrian Surface (PS) priority indicator (PS priority indicator). This tool was developed to comply with Australian Standard AS 4360: 2004 (Risk Management). Pedestrian surfaces should be evaluated to identify hazards and assess the level of risk calculated in order to ensure that the surfaces do not have a significant level of risk. If a significant level of risk is present, then control measures should be implemented. Pedestrian surfaces for the purposes of this research are classified as same level surfaces (excluding stairways) where pedestrians on foot (or by wheelchair) travel from one place to another.     

Assessing regulatory effectiveness with exogenously declining risk: a case study of the CPSC's 1973 mattress standard

INTRODUCTION: This paper examines the contribution of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) 1973 cigarette ignition mattress flammability standard to reduce mattress fires since 1980, when the U.S. Fire Administration's National Fire Incident Reporting System became fully operational. METHOD: The paper attempts to separate the effect of the cigarette ignition standard from the declining trend in mattress fires that would have resulted without the standard. We analyze the impact of the 1973 cigarette standard on smoking material ignition fires, deaths, and injuries as well as its effect on fires, deaths, and injuries from all ignition sources (smoking material ignitions, open-flame ignitions, and other ignition sources). Impacts on Industry: The results suggest that the 1973 mattress standard has effectively reduced the mattress fire risk and that further reductions in risk via actions tied specifically to cigarette ignition are likely to be difficult to achieve.     

The role of burnout syndrome as a mediator for the effect of psychosocial risk factors on the intensity of musculoskeletal disorders: a structural equation modeling approach

This study examined the hypothesis that burnout syndrome mediates effects of psychosocial risk factors and intensity of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among hospital nurses. The sample was composed of 415 nurses from various wards across five hospitals of Iran's Hamedan University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected through three questionnaires: job content questionnaire, Maslach burnout inventory and visual analogue scale. Results of structural equation modeling with a mediating effect showed that psychosocial risk factors were significantly related to changes in burnout, which in turn affects intensity of MSDs.     

HSE管理中的风险分析方法——以中油国际委内瑞拉公司HSE管理经验为例

HSE管理的出发点应是预防为主。因此尽早识别风险、评估可能的风险是HSE管理的关键。风险分析最重要的是要承认：石油勘探开发活动不可能绝对安全，风险总是客观存在的。风险分析就是尽早识别、分析和评估可能的风险所在、大小和频率。风险管理就是在风险分析的基础上，采取有针对性地措施将风险消减到可接受的水平。本文在总结近年国内外HSE管理中风险分析方法的基础上，结合CNPC在委内瑞拉运行石油项目的经验，提出了一套风险分析的定性和定量方法，包括系统风险分析、节点风险分析、概率统计分析等。由于大力推广和应用这些方法，使CNPC在委内瑞拉运行石油项目9年来没有发生任何HSE大事故，被委内瑞拉国家石油公司誉为“国际石油投资者HSE工作的典范”。     

Motives for occupational risk management in large uk companies

This paper attempts to explain why large UK corporations undertake measures to reduce the risks to which their employees are exposed, namely those of occupational injury and/or redundancy. Empirical results are based on a postal questionnaire survey of 127 corporate risk and finance managers selected from a population of the 350 largest UK companies. This survey shows that the primary motives associated with occupational risk management are those of regulatory compliance and avoidance of legal liabilities. In addition, the importance attached to these incentives appears to be influenced by a number of firm-specific characteristics and is positively related to capital intensity. This result has implications for government safety policy, since effectiveness of government regulations could be increased if safety inspectors were able to identify firms that place a high priority on the management of occupational risk.     

A systemic methodology for risk management in healthcare sector

The recent biomedical, technological, and normative changes have led healthcare organizations to the implementation of clinical governance as a way to ensure the best quality of care in an increasingly complex environment. Risk management is one of the most relevant aspects of clinical governance and approaches put forward in literature highlight the necessity to perform comprehensive analyses intended to uncover root causes of adverse events.Contributing to this field, the present paper applies Reason’s theory of failures to work out a systemic methodology to study risks impacting not only directly but also indirectly on patients. Also, the steps of such approach are organized around Human Reliability Assessment phases, in order to take into account the human component of healthcare systems. This framework is able to foster effective decision making about reducing failures and waste and to improve healthcare organizations’ maturity towards risk management.The developed methodology is applied to the pharmacy department of a large Italian hospital. An extensive validation in different healthcare settings is required to fully prove benefits and limitations.     

The role of policy for the management of psychosocial risks at the workplace in the European Union

A number of significant developments towards the management of psychosocial risks have been achieved at the policy level in the European Union (EU) since the introduction of the 1989 European Commission Council Framework Directive 89/391/EEC on Safety and Health of Workers at Work on which a new EU risk prevention culture has since been established, combining legislation, social dialogue, best practices and building partnerships. However, it has been widely acknowledged that initiatives aiming to promote workers’ health have not had the impact anticipated both by experts and policy makers and the main reason for this has been the gap that exists between policy and practice. This paper discusses the findings from the PRIMA-EF project, a policy-orientated project, which focussed on the development of a European framework for psychosocial risk management at the workplace. In particular, the paper presents the results of an EU stakeholder survey and interviews with EU policy level experts to assess their awareness, understanding and evaluation of the impact of policy initiatives for psychosocial risk management.     

Biotechnological research on the most dangerous pathogens: Challenges for risk governance and safety management

Biotechnological research on the deadliest pathogens has rapidly grown into a vast enterprise in the United States. With over $50 billion from federal agencies, thousands of projects are conducted at hundreds of university laboratories and other facilities in a national effort to gain the knowledge and methods for preventing the natural occurrence of pathogenic disease and protecting against bioterrorism. This paper describes this enterprise, defines several risk scenarios unrelated to terrorism which threaten lab workers and the public with lethal and contagious pathogenic disease, and evaluates the official policy framework for decision-making with regard to preventing and responding to the risk scenarios. It finds that the framework emphasizes physical security and secrecy to prevent terrorist exploitation of the enterprise, but fails to sufficiently address prevention of lab mishaps, accidental releases, and other incidents during the routine conduct of research which would expose workers and the public to the lethal pathogens. Nor does the framework effectively provide for the emergency response measures needed to prevent an accidental release of the more highly contagious pathogens from spiraling into a local or larger scale disease epidemic. These findings, supported by the growing number of near misses and small-scale incidents and lawsuits, point to major weaknesses in federal oversight and regulation, official disregard for siting criteria, inadequate self-regulation and management of lab safety practices, breakdowns in reporting systems, and obstacles to organizational learning and emergency response created by secrecy and security policies. Recommendations are made regarding these inadequacies of the federal framework and urge application of lessons learned from safety science experience with other hazardous technologies where increasing attention is being given to safety culture initiatives.     

Carbon capture and storage-desirability from a risk management point of view

Environmental and safety risks related to carbon capture and storage concern leakages and accidental releases during transport and geological storage. Based on principles widely accepted in the EU and beyond in the discussion about the where’s and why’s of nuclear waste repositories, this paper discusses the desirability of carbon capture and storage from a risk management point of view, focusing on environmental risks on the global level (climate change). On this basis it is concluded that, if the key energy issue of coming generations, not just in Europe but all around the world, is not the abundance of fossil resources but rather an unacceptably high probability of global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, then the solution should not include any massive hiding of the emissions but entirely focus on the avoidance based on improved technology in power plants and other industrial installations.     

危险品道路运输过程风险管理体系探讨

危险品道路运输是一个复杂的系统,风险管理涉及危险品运输规划和事故应急响应。本文介绍了现有的危险品运输风险管理模式和基本管理原则,基于运输风险评估、运输路径优化、应急单位优化选址和选线、人员疏散管理以及事件决策管理等构建了危险品道路运输过程风险管理体系,阐述了系统基本要素之间的相互关系。危险品道路运输过程风险管理是一个持续改进的结构化过程风险管理体系,有助于减少危险品运输事故概率和降低运输沿线影响人员风险,为政府监管部门和危险品生产经营单位的运输安全管理、优化选线以及应急救援等工作提供技术依据,合理规划危险品运输系统。     

A quantitative risk management framework for dust and hybrid mixture explosions

Dust and hybrid-mixture explosions continue to occur in industrial processes that handle fine powders and flammable gases. Considerable research is therefore conducted throughout the world with the objective of both preventing the occurrence and mitigating the consequences of such events. In the current work, research has been undertaken to help move the field of dust explosion prevention and mitigation from its current emphasis on hazards (with an accompanying reliance on primarily engineered safety features) to a focus on risk (with an accompanying reliance on hierarchical, risk-based, decision-making tools). Employing the principles of quantitative risk assessment (QRA) of dust and hybrid-mixture explosions, a methodological framework for the management of these risks has been developed.The QRA framework is based on hazard identification via credible accident scenarios for dust explosions, followed by probabilistic fault-tree analysis (using Relex – Reliability Excellence – software) and consequence severity analysis (using DESC – Dust Explosion Simulation Code – software). Identification of risk reduction measures in the framework is accomplished in a hierarchical manner by considering inherent safety measures, passive and active engineered devices, and procedural measures (in that order). An industrial case study is presented to show how inherent safety measures such as dust minimization and dust/process moderation can be helpful in reducing dust and hybrid-mixture explosion consequences in a 400-m³ polyethylene storage silo.     

Developing a new alternative risk assessment framework in the work sites by including a stochastic and a deterministic process: A case study for the Greek Public Electric Power Provider

An individual method cannot achieve the optimum risk-assessment result in the worksites, and future perspectives should focus on the parallel application of a deterministic approach with a stochastic approach. In particular, the risk analysis and assessment techniques of the deterministic (DET) approach are classified into three main categories: (a) the qualitative, (b) the quantitative, and (c) the hybrid techniques (qualitative-quantitative, semi-quantitative). Furthermore, the stochastic (STO) approach includes the classic statistical approach (CSA) and the accident forecasting modeling (AFM). The objective of this paper is triple: (a) the presentation and classification of the main risk analysis and risk assessment methods and techniques of the deterministic approach and the stochastic approach as well, (b) the development and presentation of a new alternative risk assessment framework (called as STODET) including a stochastic and a deterministic process, and (c) the application of STODET in the Greek Public Power Corporation (PPC) by using occupational accidents that have been recorded, during the 17-year period of 1993-2009. In particular, the STODET application proves that required actions (or suppressive measures) are essential and must be taken in a medium-term period (1 working year) for abolishing the hazard sources.     

Fire risk management system for safe operation of large atmospheric storage tanks

This paper has been prepared by its authors to show the benefits coming from the application of the fire risk assessment methodology prepared by the “LastFire^© Project” group of experts. Now a days this methodology seems to be very effective to face the fire risk connected with large atmospheric storage tanks. It has been developed during the period 1997–2005 the HSE & operations experts from experts 16 worldwide operating oil companies. The authors, by “ad hoc” created software package, show the benefit coming from the applications of the LastFire^© methodology and how, from this, using the methodology and the supporting tad, realize a coherent fire strategy in the form of a Fire Risk Management System. Same workflow could also be extended to the issues connected with other problems related with large atmospheric tanks storing hydrocarbons, such as environmental impact by soil pollution, to create a common frame walk of assessment not can be shared with authorities as well. The proposed methodology, moving from the original project, sets as an effective “Fire Hazard Management Approach” in line with the most recent trends (even enforced by the regulations) shared at international levels, that propose the integration of risk assessment with prevention and protection measures selection based on achieved risk reduction, costs, time needed, etc.     

基于风险预控的煤矿安全管理长效机制构建

根据风险预控原理,指出煤矿企业应当正确区分隐患和危险源,遵循危险源辨识-监测-控制的基本思路,建立了煤矿风险预控的流程,并界定了危险源辨识、危险源监测和危险源控制的内容。在风险预控理论的基础上,从制度保证和体制支撑两个方面设计了煤矿安全管理的长效机制。分析认为：为保障煤矿的长治久安,应从理顺安全管理体制,落实安全责任制度;实施危险源闭环管理;加强安全培训,实施安全管理人员准入制度;健全安全考核制度,实行奖惩激励四个方面加强安全管理。     

Dynamic approach to risk management: Application to the Hoeganaes metal dust accidents

Several major accidents caused by metal dusts were recorded in the past few years. For instance, in 2011, three accidents caused by iron dust killed five workers at the Hoeganaes Corp. facility in Gallatin, Tennessee (USA). In order to prevent such accidents, a dynamic approach to risk management was defined in this study. The method is able to take into account new risk notions and early warnings and to systematically update the related risk. It may be applied not only in the design phase of a system, but also throughout the system lifetime as a support to a more precise and robust decision making process. The synergy of two specific techniques for hazard identification and risk assessment was obtained: the Dynamic Procedure for Atypical Scenarios Identification (DyPASI) and the Dynamic Risk Assessment (DRA) methods. To demonstrate its effectiveness, this approach was applied to the analysis of Gallatin metal dust accidents. The application allowed collecting a number of risk notions related to the plant, equipment and materials used. The analysis of risk notions by means of this dynamic approach could have led to enhanced hazard identification and dynamic real-time risk assessment. However, the approach described is effective only if associated to a proper safety culture, in order to produce an appropriate and robust decision making response to emerging risk issues.