Evidence-based safety (EBS) management: A new approach to teaching the practice of safety management (SM)

Introduction: In safety management (SM), it is important to make an effective safety decision based on the reliable and sufficient safety-related information. However, many SM failures in organizations occur for a lack of the necessary safety-related information for safety decision-making. Since facts are the important basis and foundation for decision-making, more efforts to seek the best evidence relevant to a particular SM problem would lead to a more effective SM solution. Therefore, the new paradigm for decision-making named “evidence-based practice (EBP)” can hold important implications for SM, because it uses the current best evidence for effective decision-making. Methods: Based on a systematic review of existing SM approaches and an analysis of reasons why we need new SM approaches, we created a new SM approach called evidence-based safety (EBS) management by introducing evidence-based practice into SM. Results: It was necessary to create new SM approaches. A new SM approach called EBS was put forward, and the basic questions of EBS such as its definition and core were analyzed in detail. Moreover, the determinants of EBS included manager's attitudes towards EBS; evidence-based consciousness in SM; evidence sources; technical support; EBS human resources; organizational culture; and individual attributes. Conclusions: EBS is a new and effective approach to teaching the practice of SM. Of course, further research on EBS should be carried out to make EBS a reality. Practical applications: Our work can provide a new and effective idea and method to teach the practice of SM. Specifically, EBS proposed in our study can help safety professionals make an effective safety decision based on a firm foundation of high-grade evidence.     

Enhancing older driver safety: A driving survey and evaluation of the CarFit program

Objective

To evaluate CarFit, an educational program designed to promote optimal alignment of driver with vehicle.

Methods

A driving activity survey was sent to 727 randomly selected participants living in retirement communities. Drivers (n = 195) were assigned randomly to CarFit intervention (n = 83, M age = 78.1) or Comparison (n = 112, M age = 79.6) groups. After 6 months, participants completed a post-test of driving activity and CarFit recommendations.

Results

Nonconsenting drivers were older and participated in fewer driving activities. CarFit participation was moderate (71%) with 86% of the participants receiving recommendations. 60% followed the recommendations at the 6-month re-evaluation). The CarFit (67.6%) and Comparison (59.3%) groups reported at least one type of self-regulation of driving activity at baseline. There was no significant change in the driving behaviors at the six-month follow-up.

Conclusion

CarFit was able to detect addressable opportunities that may contribute to the safety of older drivers.

Impact on industry

CarFit recommendations may need stronger reinforcement in order to be enacted by a participant.     

Implementing and evaluating novel safety training methods for construction sector workers: Results of a randomized controlled trial

Introduction: The construction industry is regarded as one of the most unsafe occupational fields worldwide. Despite general agreement that safety training is an important factor in preventing accidents in the construction sector, more studies are needed to identify effective training methods. To address the current research gap, this study evaluated the impact of novel, participatory safety training methods on construction workers’ safety competencies. Specifically, we assessed the efficacy of an immersive virtual reality (VR)-based safety training program and a participatory human factors safety training program (HFST) in construction industry workplaces. Method: In 2019, 119 construction sector workers from eight workplaces participated in a randomized controlled trial conducted in Finland. All the study participants were assessed using questionnaires at baseline, immediately after the intervention and at one-month follow-up. We applied generalized linear mixed modeling for statistical analysis. Results: Compared to lecture-based safety training, VR-based safety training showed a stronger impact on safety motivation, self-efficacy and safety-related outcome expectancies. In addition, the construction sector workers who participated in the VR-based safety training showed a greater increase in self-reported safety performance at one-month follow-up. Contrary to our study hypotheses, we found no significant differences between the study outcomes in terms of study participants in the HFST training condition and the comparison condition without HFST training. Conclusion: Our study indicates that VR technology as a safety training tool has potential to increase safety competencies and foster motivational change in terms of the safety performance of construction sector workers. In the future, the efficacy of participatory human factors safety training should be studied further using a version that targets both managerial and employee levels and is implemented in a longer format. Practical implications: Safety training in virtual reality provides a promising alternative to passive learning methods. Its motivating effect complements other safety training activities.     

Exploratory field trial of motorcycle autonomous emergency braking (MAEB): Considerations on the acceptability of unexpected automatic decelerations

Objective: Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) acts to slow down a vehicle when an unavoidable impending collision is detected. In addition to documented benefits when applied to passenger cars, AEB has also shown potential when applied to motorcycles (MAEB). However, the feasibility of MAEB as practically applied to motorcycles in the real world is not well understood.

Methods: In this study we performed a field trial involving 16 riders on a test motorcycle subjected to automatic decelerations, thus simulating MAEB activation. The tests were conducted along a rectilinear path at nominal speed of 40 km/h and with mean deceleration of 0.15 g (15% of full braking) deployed at random times. Riders were also exposed to one final undeclared brake activation with the aim of providing genuinely unexpected automatic braking events.

Results: Participants were consistently able to manage automatic decelerations of the vehicle with minor to moderate effort. Results of undeclared activations were consistent with those of standard runs.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated the feasibility of a moderate automatic deceleration in a scenario of motorcycle travelling in a straight path, supporting the notion that the application of AEB on motorcycles is practicable. Furthermore, the proposed field trial can be used as a reference for future regulation or consumer tests in order to address safety and acceptability of unexpected automatic decelerations on a motorcycle.     

The multiphase optimization strategy (MOST) and the sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART): two novel evaluation methods for developing optimal training programs

Current methodologies in training evaluation studies largely employ a single method entitled random confirmatory trials, prompting several concerns. First, practitioners and researchers often analyze the effectiveness of their entire omnibus training, rather than the individual elements or identifiable components of the training program. This slows the testing of theory and development of optimal training programs. Second, a common training is typically administered to all employees within an organization or workgroup; however, certain factors may cause individualized training to be more effective. Given these concerns, the current paper presents two training evaluation methodologies to overcome these problems: the multiphase optimization strategy and sequential multiple assignment randomized trials. The multiphase optimization strategy is a method to evaluate a standard training, which emphasizes the importance of a multi‐stage training evaluation process to analyze individual training elements. In contrast, sequential multiple assignment randomized trial is used to evaluate an adaptive training that varies over time and/or trainees. These methodologies jointly overcome the problems noted earlier, and they can be integrated to address several of the key challenges facing training researchers and practitioners. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The importance of (process safety) leadership

It is indeed an honour to be invited to contribute the inaugural Trevor Kletz & Sam Mannan Guest Perspective on Process Safety. Unfortunately I did not ever meet Trevor, though I worked at a plant he was a design consultant on, but I worked with Sam for several years, together focused on how we could improve process safety outcomes.For this paper I want to write about a key area in process safety that I believe underpins everything we do. If we get it really wrong, we can't come back from the brink. If we get it a little wrong, we can usually recover, with a lot of work and effort. If we get it right, things just work. So, what am I talking about, is it design, maintenance, operations? No, I am talking about leadership. This underpins everything else we do in process safety yet is an oft neglected aspect. I think this is a fitting start to this series, because both Trevor and Sam believed in effective communication, which is a key element of leadership. I hope it will set the scene for future articles to incorporate aspects of leadership when others will delve into more detailed topics.     

Supervision of young children in parking lots: Impact on child pedestrian safety

Introduction: Pedestrian injuries are a significant pediatric public health concern worldwide. Younger children are at particular risk for pedestrian injuries in parking lots, but there is limited research regarding children's pedestrian behaviors in parking lots. Method: This study examined children's behaviors and safety risks in parking lots through unobtrusive and unannounced observation of 124 children ages 2–10 years and their adult supervisors as they crossed a parking lot from their parked vehicle into a community recreation center. Results: Adult supervision was inadequate: over 67% of children 10 years of age and younger were unsupervised in the parking lot at some point between the vehicle parking and the child entering into the building. Approximately 90% of all children were outside of arm's length of the accompanying adult at some point while in the parking lot. Additionally, children exited the vehicle prior to the adult in over 50% of observations. Age was associated with safety risk, with older children being unsupervised more often than younger ones. Conclusions: Adult supervision of children in a parking lot setting was poor, creating significant safety risks. In addition, many children failed to follow basic pedestrian safety practices themselves, such as looking for moving cars. Injury prevention strategies should be implemented. Practical applications: As researchers gain better understanding about the safety risks for children in parking lots, interventions could target adult and child behaviors through improved supervision, altered perception of risk, and mandated behavioral guidelines for child behavior, such as how and when children exit vehicles in parking lots.     

Recent application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in process safety and loss prevention: A review

In recent years, significant progress has been made to ensure that process industries are among the safest workplaces in the world. However, with the increasing complexity of existing technologies and new problems brought about by emerging technologies, a strong need still exists to study the fundamentals of process safety and predict possible scenarios. This is attained by conducting the corresponding consequence modeling and risk assessments. As a result of the continuous advancement of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools and exponentially increased computation capabilities along with better understandings of the underlying physics, CFD simulations have been applied widely in the areas of process safety and loss prevention to gain new insights, improve existing models, and assess new hazardous scenarios. In this review, 126 papers from 2010 to 2020 have been included in order to systematically categorize and summarize recent applications of CFD for fires, explosions, dispersions of flammable and toxic materials from accidental releases, incident investigations and reconstructions, and other areas of process safety. The advantages of CFD modeling are discussed and the future of CFD applications in this research area is outlined.     

Development of worksystem safety capability index (WSCI)

This study proposes a new way of analyzing and evaluating worksystem safety based on probability models, control charts, loss functions and safety capability index. The step-by-step procedures for development of worksystem safety capability index (WSCI) are presented. The development starts with the adoption of process approach to model safety. The key feature of this development is the effective assimilation of quality engineering concepts into safety study. A case study was done in an underground coal mining situation to operationalize the development. Time between occurrences (TBO) of injuries and number of injuries (NOI) per month are considered as safety performance variables. The application shows encouraging results for safety improvement through adoption of control charts, expected loss and WSCI. The development opportunity, application potential and future scope of research are discussed.     

A comparative analysis of process safety management (PSM) systems in the process industry

The root cause of most accidents in the process industry has been attributed to process safety issues ranging from poor safety culture, lack of communication, asset integrity issues, lack of management leadership and human factors. These accidents could have been prevented with adequate implementation of a robust process safety management (PSM) system. Therefore, the aim of this research is to develop a comparative framework which could aid in selecting an appropriate and suitable PSM system for specific industry sectors within the process industry. A total of 21 PSM systems are selected for this study and their theoretical frameworks, industry of application and deficiencies are explored. Next, a comparative framework is developed using eleven key factors that are applicable to the process industry such as framework and room for continuous improvement, design specification, industry adaptability and applicability, human factors, scope of application, usability in complex systems, safety culture, primary or secondary mode of application, regulatory enforcement, competency level, as well as inductive or deductive approach. After conducting the comparative analysis using these factors, the Integrated Process Safety Management System (IPSMS) model seems to be the most robust PSM system as it addressed almost every key area regarding process safety. However, inferences drawn from study findings suggest that there is still no one-size-fits-all PSM system for all sectors of the process industry.     

开车前安全审核（PSSR）的理解及运用

PSSR是基于对安全要求不断提高,对过程安全控制不断完善的目标下发展和建立起来的,其目的在于判定新改扩建项目及停运再投运的设备能否安全启动,是国外大多数高危行业过程管理中的一个必须的要素。本文通过对独石化公司1000万吨/年炼油及120万吨/年乙烯改扩建工程项目成功实施开车前安全审核（PSSR）进行总结,阐明了与以往开工前竣工验收的区别,运用中应注意的问题,以及成功实施PSSR的因素。为今后的其它新改扩建项目的顺利开工提供参考。     

A sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) to detect changes and process safety monitoring

Detecting anomalies is an important problem that has been widely researched within diverse research areas and application domains. The early detection of faults may help avoid product deterioration, major damage to the machinery itself and damage to human health. This study proposes a robust fault detection method with an Artificial Neural Network-Multi-Layer Perceptron (ANN-MLP) and a statistical module based on Wald's sequential probability ratio test (SPRT). To detect a fault, this method uses the mean and the standard deviation of the residual noise obtained from applying a NARX (Nonlinear Auto-Regressive with eXogenous input) model. To develop the neural network model, the required training and testing data were generated at different operating conditions. To show the effectiveness of the proposed fault detection method, it was tested on a realistic fault of a distillation plant at the laboratory scale.     

Challenges in building resilience engineering (RE) and adaptive capacity: A field study in a chemical plant

Safety issue in a chemical plant is absolutely critical because loss of control can result in a catastrophic consequence which is not limited to the boundaries of the plant. Thus, a risk assessment system is required for (a) preventing accidents by anticipation, (b) surviving disturbances by recovery, and (c) handling disruptive events by adaptation. RE is a proactive approach claiming to achieve all these objectives. The present research tries to identify challenges in the procedure of building RE and its adaptive capacity in a chemical plant. Primary data were collected through on-site observations and interviewing personnel. The results indicated the main challenges could be classified into nine categories of: lack of explicit experience about RE, intangibility of RE level, choosing production over safety, lack of reporting systems, ‘religious beliefs’, out-of-date procedures and manuals, poor feedback loop, and economic problems. Finally, it is concluded that the management insight about safety in such systems should avoid hindsight bias and tend to create foresight. Changing this insight can lead to achieve high reliability and resilience in the plant.     

Improving the safety of distracted pedestrians with in-ground flashing lights. A railway crossing field study

Introduction: Current signage at intersections is designed for attentive pedestrians who are looking ahead. Such signage may not be sufficient when distracted by smartphones. Illuminated in-ground LED lights at crossings are an innovative solution to alert distracted pedestrians. Method: We conducted a field study at a railway crossing equipped with in-ground lights to assess whether distracted pedestrians (N = 34, Mean age 33.6 ± 8.6 years) could detect these lights and how this impacted on their visual scanning and crossing behaviour. This involved a 2 × 3 repeated measures design exploring the impact of the presence (treatment) or absence (control) of in-ground lights (treatment) at a crossing, and a distractor task presented through a mobile device (none, visual, and audio) on eye movements recorded using an eye tracker, and verbal reporting of when participants detected the lights. Results: Participants engaged in the distraction tasks as evidenced by their accuracy and reaction times in all conditions. With both the audio and visual distraction tasks, participants looked at the in-ground LEDs and detected their activation as accurately as when not distracted (95%). While most participants detected the lights at their activation, visual distraction resulted in 10% of the detections occurring as participants entered the rail corridor, suggesting effectiveness in gaining pedestrians’ attention. Further, participants were significantly less likely to check for trains when visually distracted (70%), a 10% reduction compared to the no or audio distractor conditions (80% and 78% respectively). The introduction of the in-ground lights resulted in appropriate scanning of the rail tracks (77% and 78% for the visual and auditory distractor tasks respectively) similar to that of non-distracted participants for the crossing without lights (80%). Conclusions: Our findings indicate that illuminated in-ground lights could be useful in attracting the attention of distracted pedestrians at railway level crossings, and possibly at other road intersections. Practical Applications: Illuminated in-ground lights can be installed at rail and road intersections with known pedestrian distraction as a countermeasure. Further research is necessary to understand their long-term effects.     

Using a cluster randomized controlled trial to determine the effects of intervention of battery and hardwired smoke alarms in New South Wales,Australia: Home fire safety checks pilot program

IntroductionIn 2014, Fire & Rescue New South Wales piloted the delivery of its home fire safety checks program (HFSC) aimed at engaging and educating targeted top “at risk” groups to prevent and prepare for fire. This pilot study aimed to assess the effectiveness of smoke alarms using a cluster randomized controlled trial.MethodsSurvey questionnaires were distributed to the households that had participated in the HFSC program (intervention group). A separate survey questionnaire was distributed to the control group that was identified with similar characteristics to the intervention group in the same suburb. To adjust for potential clustering effects, generalized estimation equations with a log link were used.ResultsMultivariable analyses revealed that battery and hardwired smoking alarm usage increased by 9% and 3% respectively among the intervention group compared to the control group. Females were more likely to install battery smoke alarms than males. Respondents who possessed a certificate or diploma (AOR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.00–1.70, P = 0.047) and those who were educated up to years 8–12 (AOR = 1.32, 95% CI 1.06–1.64, P = 0.012) were significantly more likely to install battery smoke alarms than those who completed bachelor degrees. Conversely, holders of a certificate or diploma and people who were educated up to years 8–12 were 31% (AOR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.52–0.93, P = 0.014) and 24% (AOR = 0.76, 95% CI 0.60–0.95, P = 0.015) significantly less likely to install a hardwired smoke alarm compared to those who completed bachelor degrees.ConclusionsThis pilot study provided evidence of the benefit of the HFSC in New South Wales. Practical Applications: Fire safety intervention programs, like HFSC, need to be targeted to male adults with lower level of schooling even when they are aware of their risks.     

The Ergonomic Program Implementation Continuum (EPIC): Integration of health and safety - A process evaluation in the healthcare sector

IntroductionThis article presents a health and safety intervention model and the use of process evaluation to assess a participatory ergonomic intervention.MethodThe effectiveness of the Ergonomic Program Implementation Continuum (EPIC) was assessed at six healthcare pilot sites in Ontario, Canada. The model provided a framework to demonstrate evaluation findings.ResultsParticipants reported that EPIC was thorough and identified improvements related to its use. Participants believed the program contributed to advancing an organizational culture of safety (COS). Main barriers to program uptake included resistance to change and need for adequate funding and resources. The dedication of organizational leaders and consultant coaches was identified as essential to the program's success.Impact on IndustryIn terms of impact on industry, findings contribute to the evidence-based knowledge of health and safety interventions and support use of the framework for creating a robust infrastructure to advance organizational COS and link staff safety and wellness with patient safety in healthcare.     

Impact of Adaptive Front-lighting Systems (AFS) on road safety: Evidences and open points

Almost four years after the entry into force of Regulation ECE 123 on Adaptive Front-lighting Systems (AFS) for motor vehicles, and once the first cars bearing them start to circulate, a comparison between the original idea of AFS and their potential impact in safety and accident prevention is possible. In this work, we present the basic concepts of this new way to light roads and analyse some unforeseen consequences that might arise within the ECE regulatory framework once the presence of AFS becomes massive. This paper also pretends to be an useful guide for some countries like China, still considering the best way to definitively regulate these complex systems whose impact on road safety is expected to be huge.     

Making safety training stickier: A richer model of safety training engagement and transfer

Introduction: Compared to other types of occupational training, safety training suffers from several unique challenges that potentially impair the engagement of learners and their subsequent application or “transfer” of knowledge and skills upon returning to the job. However, existing research on safety training tends to focus on specific factors in isolation, such as design features and social support. The aim of this research is to develop an overarching theoretical framework that integrates factors contributing to training engagement and transfer. Method: We conducted a comprehensive qualitative review of safety training research that was published between 2010 and 2020. We searched Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar, yielding 147 articles, and 38 were included. We content analyzed article summaries to arrive at core themes and combined them with contemporary models of general occupational training to develop a rich model of safety training engagement and transfer. Results: We propose that training engagement is a combination of pre-training factors such as individual, organizational, and contextual factors, that interact with design and delivery factors. Safety training engagement is conceptualized as a three-component psychological state: affective, cognitive, and behavioral. Organizations should prioritize pre-training readiness modules to address existing attitudes and beliefs, optimize the safety training transfer climate, and critically reflect on their strategy to design and deliver safety training so that engagement is maximized. Conclusions: There are practical factors that organizations can use before training (e.g., tailoring training to employees’ characteristics), during training (e.g., ensuring trainer credibility and use of adult learning principles), and after training (e.g., integrating learned concepts into systems). Practical Applications: For safety training to ‘stick,’ workers should be affectively, cognitively, and behaviorally engaged in learning, which will result in new knowledge and skills, improvements in attitudes, and new safety behaviors in the workplace. To enable engagement, practitioners must apply adult learning principles, make the training relevant, and tailor the training to the job and individual needs. After training, ensure concepts are embedded and aligned with existing systems and routines to promote transfer.     

Importance of awareness in improving performance of emergency medical services (EMS) systems in enhancing traffic safety: A lesson from India

Objective: India has been slow in implementing a central emergency medical services (EMS) system across the country. “108 services” is one of the most popular services that is functional under the public–private partnership model. Limited available literature shows that despite access to services, many traffic crash victims are transported using private vehicles. The objective of this study is to understand the effectiveness of 108 services from a traffic safety perspective.

Method: A questionnaire survey is conducted to understand the awareness of EMS and their function. Using traffic-related fatalities as the dependent variable, a fixed effect panel data model is developed to analyze the effectiveness of the 108 services in improving the traffic safety.

Results: The results from the survey show that, in general, people are not aware of the 108 services. A majority of the population prefers taking victims to the hospital using their personal vehicles or any other vehicles available compared to calling an ambulance. Results from panel data analysis show that despite having an efficient system, these services failed to make significant improvement in the safety of road users in the states in which their services were subscribed.

Discussion: The lack of awareness of an important safety service is alarming. This could be a major reason for lower utilization of 108 services for transporting victims of traffic crashes. This article shows the importance of having efficient awareness campaigns to improve the efficiency of any similar programs that are aimed to enhance the safety of a region.