Safety climate in university and college laboratories: impact of organizational and individual factors

INTRODUCTION: Universities and colleges serve to be institutions of education excellence; however, problems in the areas of occupational safety may undermine such goals. Occupational safety must be the concern of every employee in the organization, regardless of job position. Safety climate surveys have been suggested as important tools for measuring the effectiveness and improvement direction of safety programs. Thus, this study aims to investigate the influence of organizational and individual factors on safety climate in university and college laboratories. METHOD: Employees at 100 universities and colleges in Taiwan were mailed a self-administered questionnaire survey; the response rate was 78%. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that organizational category of ownership, the presence of a safety manager and safety committee, gender, age, title, accident experience, and safety training significantly affected the climate. Among them, accident experience and safety training affected the climate with practical significance. RECOMMENDATIONS: The authors recommend that managers should address important factors affecting safety issues and then create a positive climate by enforcing continuous improvements.     

Research on three-dimensional visualization system of Natech events triggered domino accidents in oil-gas depots

Natech events and domino accidents happen worldwide and usually lead to severe consequences, especially in hazardous areas such as Oil-Gas depots. With the continuous development of the Oil-Gas industry and information technology, it is essential to realize the three-dimensional management and monitoring of hazardous substances. To evaluate the consequences caused by Natech events triggered domino accidents (accident chain), a matrix loop method was proposed to calculate the probability and evolution path of the accident chain. The actual layout and the real-time data of the Oil-Gas depot are input into the evaluation method in matrices, thus making the results reliable and updated. Besides, a B/S architecture system is developed to present the evaluation consequences of the proposed method. The three-dimensional visualization effects of natural disasters, technological accidents and the dynamic propagation process of the accident chain are also realized in the system to enhance the user's experience. A system application regarding lightning-triggered domino accidents was carried out to demonstrate the feasibility and rapidity of the proposed evaluation method and perform the system's operation process and visualization effects. The application results show that the system can provide effective decision-making assistance to safety management workers before the accident and guidance for emergency rescue operations during the accident.     

Carbon dioxide pipelines: A statistical analysis of historical accidents

Carbon dioxide pipeline is an essential carrier in carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). Statistically revealing the accident rate and risk of carbon dioxide pipelines is conducive to integrity management. Based on 112 accident records collected from Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, this work analyzes the frequency, rate, and risk of accidents. In addition, the impact of relevant factors on risk is further discussed. Some primary conclusions are as follows: (1) For carbon dioxide pipelines, the leak is the leading form of accident. Most carbon emissions are generated in the form of leakage, but economic losses are mainly generated in other forms. (2) The pipelines that have been in service for 0–10 years have the highest frequency of accidents and the highest proportion of carbon emissions, but the pipelines that have been in service for 11–20 years have caused the most economic losses. (3) Among the accident causes, the number of accidents caused by equipment failure is the highest, while the economic loss caused by natural force damage is the highest, and the carbon emission caused by material failure is the highest.     

Dynamic accident modeling for high-sulfur natural gas gathering station

Dynamic accident modeling for a gas gathering station is implemented to prevent high-sulfur natural gas leakage and develop equipment inspection strategy. The progress of abnormal event occurring in the gas gathering station is modeled by the combination of fault tree and event sequence diagram, based on accident causal chain theory, i.e. the progress is depicted as sequential failure of safety barriers, then, the occurrence probability of the consequence of abnormal event is predicted. Consequences of abnormal events are divided into accidents and accident precursors which include incidents, near misses and so on. The Bayesian theory updates failure probability of safety barrier when a new observation (i.e. accident precursors or accidents data) arrives. Bayesian network then correspondingly updates failure probabilities of basic events of the safety barriers with the ability of abductive reasoning. Consequence occurrence probability is also updated. The results show that occurrence probability trend of different consequences and failure probability trend of safety barriers and basic events of the safety barriers can be obtained using this method. In addition, the critical basic events which play an important role in accidents occurrence are also identified. All of these provide useful information for the maintenance and inspection of the gas gathering station.     

Development of a theoretical framework for the evaluation of risk connected to accidental oxygen releases

A short-cut methodology for a fast estimation of hazards from oxygen releases and the evaluation of safety distances is presented. Starting from a historical survey on accidents involving oxygen releases and consequent scenarios, the approach includes analytical models for the quantification of incremental hazards due to oxygen releases, in non-obstructed areas, both for continuous and nearly instantaneous scenarios, adopting a simple Gaussian dispersion model. An example of the application of the model in a real case-study and relevant quantitative results are presented.     

永磁同步曳引机冲顶事故分析

依据现行电梯标准中对安全控制的基本要求,从事故现象入手,对一起永磁同步曳引机冲顶事故进行分析,指出了电梯在电气控制回路设计和部件选型中存在的一些常见问题,模拟分析出了可能的事故过程,最后对改进电梯控制系统设计提出了一些建议。希望在电梯控制回路的绝缘保护等问题上能够引起业内人士对电路控制结构安全设计的足够重视。     

Social desirability effects in driver behavior inventories

Problem

The use of lie scales to control for common method variance in driver behavior inventories has been very limited. Given that such questionnaires often use self-reported safety variables as criteria, and have social implications, the risk of artefactual associations is high.

Method

A questionnaire containing scales from several well known driver inventories that have been claimed to predict traffic accident involvement was distributed three times to a group of young drivers in a driver education program, as well as a random group twice. The Driver Impression Management scale (DIM) was used to control for socially desirable responding.

Results

For all behavior scales, the correlation with the DIM scale was substantial. If a scale correlated with self-reported crashes, the amount of predictive power was more than halved when social desirability was controlled for. Results were similar for both samples and all waves. The predictive power of the behavior scales was not increased when values were averaged over questionnaire waves, as should have been the case if the measurement and predictive power were valid. Results were similar for self-reported penalty points. The present results indicate that even the most well-known and accepted psychometric scales used in driver research are susceptible to social desirability bias.

Discussion

As social desirability is only one of a number of common method variance mechanisms that can create artefactual associations, and the great popularity of the self-report methodology, the problem for traffic research is grave.

Impact on industry

Organizations that fund traffic safety research need to re-evaluate their policies regarding what methods are acceptable. The use of self-reported independent and dependent variables can lead to directly misleading results, with negative effects on traffic safety.     

应急监测在处置突发性环境污染事故中的思考

针对环境监测部门在处置突发性环境污染事故中承担的任务,提出了应急监测软件支持系统建设内容、目前应着力解决的问题及能力建设的思路与对策。目的是使监测部门从基础信息、技术装备、能力培养和资金渠道等方面全面满足环境应急监测的需要。为有关部门采取控制污染措施、减轻污染危害赢得宝贵时间,最大限度地减少污染造成的损失和危害。     

Mechanisms to exclude local people from forests: Shifting power relations in forest transitions

Forest transitions may significantly contribute to climate change mitigation but also change forest use, affecting the local people benefiting from forests. We analyze forest transitions as contested processes that simplify multifunctional landscapes and alter local livelihoods. Drawing on the Theory of Access, we develop a conceptual framework to investigate practices of multifunctional forest use and the mechanisms that exclude local forest use(r)s during forest transitions in nineteenth century Austria and twenty-first century Lao PDR. Based on historical sources, interviews and secondary literature, we discuss legal, structural and social-metabolic mechanisms to exclude multifunctional forest practices, marginalizing peasants and shifting cultivators. These include, for example, the increasing enforcement of private ownership in forests or the shift from fuelwood to coal in Austria and restrictive land use planning or the expansion of private land concessions in Laos. By integrating political ecology and environmental history in forest transitions research we unravel shifting power relations connected to forest change.     

我国高速公路交通事故趋势分析

对高速公路交通事故的主要原因、事故类型和发展趋势作了分析和预测 ,拟合出每百公里交通事故起数的预测公式 ,指出应加强对超速行车、通车初期和恶劣天气时的交通控制。分析结论是 :高速公路交通事故总体上呈下降趋势 ;事故的绝对数将继续增长 ,但每百公里事故起数将逐年平缓下降 ;在高速公路交通事故中 ,单方事故居多 ,超速行驶是引发事故的主要原因 ,追尾是事故的主要形态 ;在高速公路通车初期和恶劣气候条件下 ,事故呈上升趋势