New findings regarding the significance of pavement skid resistance for road safety on Swiss freeways

INTRODUCTION: The significance of the influence of poor pavement skid resistance values on accident frequency in wet pavement conditions has been the object of many studies over several years. The various investigations have produced very diverse findings. Only seldom, however, has detailed consideration been given to the central question of whether pavement skid resistance is a decisive parameter in the occurrence of local accident "black spots." Until now, the focus has been more on describing a relationship between pavement skid resistance and accident frequency. METHOD AND RESULTS: In the course of the network-wide survey of the states of pavements and of accident occurrence on Switzerland's freeways from 1999 to 2003, it emerged that a relationship with inadequate pavement skid resistance was provable for only a small proportion of accident black spots. These findings were used to frame a guideline for authorities and highway operators about how to treat skid resistance when assessing pavements and accident occurrence on freeways.     

The INDICATE safety program: evaluation of a method to proactively improve airline safety performance

A number of recent and highly publicised fatal aircraft accidents, within the Australian regional airline industry, has highlighted the need for operators of regular public transport aircraft to be more proactive in identifying and addressing aviation safety hazards. Despite this need, there are currently few proactive safety management programs that are practical, simple, cost effective and which reliably demonstrate improvements in airline safety performance. This paper outlines a new proactive airline safety program called INDICATE (Identifying Needed Defences In the Civil Aviation Transport Environment) that has been applied within the Australian regional airline industry. To evaluate the INDICATE program, a major Australian regional airline agreed to implement the program in one of its operational bases while another base was used as a control group. Five evaluation criteria were applied to determine whether the program would have a positive influence on the airline's safety performance. These criteria included airline safety culture, staff risk perception of aviation safety hazards, willingness of staff to report safety hazards, action taken on identified safety hazards and staff comments about safety management within the airline. Results from the trial suggest that the program can have a positive influence on airline safety performance, specifically: improving staff confidence in how safety is managed, increasing staff willingness to report safety hazards and incidents, improving organisational safety culture and reducing staff perceptions of the severity and likelihood of safety hazards occurring within the airline. The success of the trial has resulted in a number of Australian and International airlines adopting the program.     

The Merseyside Accident Information Model (MAIM) can reveal components of accidents that lead to attendance at fracture clinics and cause disability: a new approach to accident prevention

The objectives of this study were to identify components of accidents that cause the most disability and to discover the principal sources of injuries treated in the fracture clinics. Patients attending fracture clinics of the Royal Liverpool University Hospital were interviewed using a portable computer-based questionnaire, the Merseyside Accident Information Model (MAIM). Patients were followed up by telephone interview or letter to enquire about disability continuing after discharge. Disability was measured by the pre-accident to post-discharge changes in scores for 11 normal functions. Of the 1326 patients interviewed, 900 (68%) were successfully followed up and 37% reported disability after discharge. First events ‘tripping’, ‘slipping’ and ‘other underfoot events’ accounted for 433 patients (194 reporting disability), and ‘collapsed/fainted — no other event' for 66 patients (27 reporting disability). Activities at the time of accident most frequently associated with disability involved moving about on foot. Among first event objects, ground surfaces and underfoot hazards were reported in 35%. Sources of injuries included underfoot accidents (48%), sport (13%), and transport accidents (12%.). Underfoot accidents contributed to 58% of patients reporting disability, sport 6% and transport accidents 11%. Underfoot accidents together with ‘collapsed/fainted — no other event’ accounted for 79% of female patients reporting disability and 50% of men. Such data could be used for cost-effective targeting of preventative measures, and to study the effectiveness of accident prevention initiatives.     

Motivational factors underlying the intention to drink and drive in young male drivers

Problem: Anyone drinking and driving has a high risk of being involved in an accident. Young male drivers, however, run the highest risk at the same levels of blood alcohol as other candidates, as they have more accidents than any other group. A better understanding of their motivations toward drinking and driving is needed to help create effective prevention. Method: In the present study, 115 male drivers aged 18–24 completed a questionnaire—based on Ajzen's theory of planned behavior—designed to study the motivational factors leading to drinking and driving. Results: Young males' intention to drink and drive is predicted by their attitudes, their perceived behavioral control (PBC), and, to a lesser degree, subjective norms. Impact on Industry: The results showing slightly positive PBC over driving after drinking suggest that work aimed at reducing this perception to a more realistic level is a potential prevention avenue.     

电动轮自卸车事故分析与监控系统研究

电动轮自卸车是集发动机、发电机、电动机、液压系统、电控系统于一体的大型运输车辆,发生安全事故会造成重大损失。笔者对造成事故的人为因素和设备因素进行了研究,并用故障树对电动轮起火事故作了较详细的分析,确定了造成事故的重要因素。在此基础上设计了基于CAN总线的安全监控系统。该系统以单片计算机为核心,采用模块化结构,组成控制器局域网络,进行分布式控制。监控系统由硬件系统和软件系统两部分构成。对发电机、电动机、发动机进行技术状态监测的同时监测驾驶员的疲劳状态和违章操作情况,可以减少由人为因素和设备因素造成的安全生产事故。对大型工矿设备的安全技术保障有一定的借鉴作用。     

我国环境污染事故源解析研究

收集了2000²010年我国环境污染事故统计数据,并从污染事故的风险致灾因子、引发原因和主要涉及行业3个角度,对11年间的1065起污染事故案例展开深度剖析。结果表明:20002010年我国环境污染事故统计数据,并从污染事故的风险致灾因子、引发原因和主要涉及行业3个角度,对11年间的1065起污染事故案例展开深度剖析。结果表明:2000²010年间我国环境污染事故的主要风险致灾因子是工业废水,其造成的污染事故占事故总数的比例高达43%,应成为环境风险管理关注重点;人为因素引起的环境污染事故占事故总数的87.98%,是引发环境污染事故的主要原因;污染事故主要涉及的行业包括采矿业、制造业、电力燃气水的生产和供应业、交通运输业及废物治理业,其中,化学原料及化学品制造业发生的环境污染事故累计次数较高,达82起。因此企业需积极提高自身,同时相关部门需加强对重点行业、主要风险因子的监督审查力度。     

Risk assessment in support to land-use planning in Europe: Towards more consistent decisions?

Recognising the importance of establishing appropriate separation distances between hazardous installations and vulnerable residential areas for mitigating the effects of industrial accidents, the European legislation for the control of major accident hazards - the so-called Seveso II Directive - calls for procedures ensuring that technical advice is taken systematically into account for land-use planning (LUP) purposes. Due to historical, administrative, cultural and other reasons, these European Union’s Member States which have consolidated procedures for addressing this issue, have employed different approaches, methods and criteria, with a potential for great divergence in the resulting land-use planning decisions. In order to address this situation and to increase consistency and ‘defendability’ of land-use planning decisions in the EU, a European Working Group has been established and is operating under the coordination of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). This Group, consisting of experts from the EU Member States, the industry and the academia, is trying to understand the different approaches and their implications to LUP decision-making, to develop guidelines in support to these decisions and to examine data sources and tools for consistent application of risk assessment in support to LUP. This paper presents the activities of the Group, reviews the situation with respect to LUP in Europe and discusses whether a direction towards more consistent LUP decisions is being followed in Europe.     

Urban ecological systems: scientific foundations and a decade of progress

Urban ecological studies, including focus on cities, suburbs, and exurbs, while having deep roots in the early to mid 20th century, have burgeoned in the last several decades. We use the state factor approach to highlight the role of important aspects of climate, substrate, organisms, relief, and time in differentiating urban from non-urban areas, and for determining heterogeneity within spatially extensive metropolitan areas. In addition to reviewing key findings relevant to each state factor, we note the emergence of tentative "urban syndromes" concerning soils, streams, wildlife and plants, and homogenization of certain ecosystem functions, such as soil organic carbon dynamics. We note the utility of the ecosystem approach, the human ecosystem framework, and watersheds as integrative tools to tie information about multiple state factors together. The organismal component of urban complexes includes the social organization of the human population, and we review key modes by which human populations within urban areas are differentiated, and how such differentiation affects environmentally relevant actions. Emerging syntheses in land change science and ecological urban design are also summarized. The multifaceted frameworks and the growing urban knowledge base do however identify some pressing research needs.     

利用承台与桩基协同工作和土的抗力作用处理桩基事故

湖南省某企业职工住宅楼成孔灌注桩基础 ,部分桩单桩承载力经静载试验后不能达到设计要求 ,必须进行处理。本文通过对事故原因分析 ,处理方案的确定 ,结构和构造措施的采用等方面 ,分析与处理了这个工程事故 ,并在技术经济效果方面进行了对比。