Analysis of bus collision and non-collision incidents using transit ITS and other archived operations data

Introduction

This paper analyzes factors contributing to bus operations safety incidents at TriMet, the transit provider for the Portland Oregon metropolitan region.

Method

The analysis focuses on 4,631 collision and non-collision incidents that occurred between 2006 and 2009. Empirical analysis of these incidents draws on a wide array of operator-level data recovered by transit ITS technologies in combination with information from TriMet's human resources, scheduling, and customer relations databases. Incident frequencies are estimated in relation to operators' demographic characteristics, employment status, assigned work characteristics, service delivery and performance indicators, temporal factors, and customer information.

Results

Apart from identifying factors that are empirically related to the frequency of safety incidents, the findings offer insights into operations policies and practices that hold promise for improving safety.

Impact on Industry

Potential for safety improvement based on analysis of archived operations and human resource data.     

What kinds of injuries do OSHA inspections prevent?

Objective

OSHA's enforcement program is one of the major public efforts to protect American workers. We examine both the scope of injury prevention that inspections can contribute and the types of standards that contribute the most.

Methods

We linked Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry files for lost-time injuries and employment to calculate injury rates for 1998-2005 for all single-establishment manufacturing firms. We linked these to OSHA inspection records.

Results

Inspections with penalties did affect injury types unrelated to standards as well as those related. We also found again that citations for violations of the standard requiring personal protective equipment had the largest impact on preventing injuries.

Impact on Industry

Programs requiring protective equipment use deserve added attention from consultants and inspectors. In addition, some inspections spur managers to undertake safety measures that go beyond compliance with standards.     

基于隶属函数的高速公路安全距离模型研究

为了改善高速公路防追尾安全距离模型,对模型中的驾驶员反应时间进行研究,分析不同车速时驾驶员反应时间对安全距离的影响。驾驶员反应时间受驾龄、应变能力、性别、心理生理状况、车速等多种因素的影响。基于模糊数学中隶属函数的有关理论,利用Matlab软件,在驾驶员反应时间大小允许的范围内,综合考虑各种主要因素,确定驾驶员反应时间。通过具体实例说明该方法的应用,结果证明,应用模糊数学,可以计算出不同的驾驶员,在不同的车速时的反应时间。     

城市生活垃圾填埋场渗滤液生化处理过程中重金属离子问题

我国对城市生活填埋场渗滤液处理技术的研究主要集中在COD与NH4 -N的去除上,对渗滤液中重金属离子的专项研究几乎未见报道.本文首先总结了国内外城市生活垃圾渗滤液中重金属的种类及浓度,在渗滤液中的存在状态,渗滤液中重金属与其他成分(有机物、氨氮)的相互作用关系,辨证分析了重金属在渗滤液生化处理过程中的有益作用和毒性,归纳了重金属在渗滤液生化处理过程中的变化规律,同时总结分析了重金属的去除技术.     

Perception and Attitude of Residents Toward Urban Green Spaces in Guangzhou (China)

Fast economic and social changes in recent years in China have brought massive expansion, redevelopment, and restructuring of cities. These changes offer cities the opportunity to improve environmental quality through urban green spaces (UGSs) and to address the challenges of meeting community aspirations. This study explored peoples’ minds concerning UGSs in Guangzhou city in south China in relation to the following: (1) knowledge and perception of 25 ecosystem services and 8 negative impacts; (2) attitude toward site condition and management; (3) expectation of landscape design; and (4) preference ranking of venues. A questionnaire was designed to solicit opinions from 340 respondents randomly chosen from residents living in the study area. The results indicated widespread recognition of ecosystem services and strong support of UGS programs. Negative responses were weakly expressed. Amelioration of urban microclimate and environmental quality were emphasized. Environmental functions stressed in publicity programs, together with aggravating environmental problems in the city, tended to focus respondents’ attention on UGS benefits. Wildlife habitat, species conservation and other natural ecosystem services drew limited concerns. Awareness of economic benefits was very low. Visual-landscape contributions with strong preference for naturalistic design and recreational benefits were highlighted. Compared with other countries, Guangzhou residents were characterized by visual–scenic–recreation orientation and pragmatic–utilitarian perception of UGSs, reflecting underlying differences in the understanding of inherent ecosystem services of green spaces. Relevant UGS policies and practices could adopt the approaches of market survey, citizen participation, and precision planning in order to meet increasingly mature and refined demands. Citizens’ understanding of high-order ecosystem services could be enhanced to encourage appreciation of nature and their associated benefits.     

胶州湾沉积物中的磷及其环境指示意义

研究了胶州湾沉积物中磷形态的地球化学分布特征、控制因素及环境意义,将胶州湾沉积物中的磷分为可交换态磷、铝结合态磷、铁结合态磷、闭蓄态磷、自生钙磷、碎屑态磷和有机磷7种不同的形态,并结合210Pb测年法计算了不同年代各形态磷的埋藏通量,在此基础上,分析了胶州湾沉积物中磷所给出的环境信息.结果表明,无机磷是胶州湾沉积物中磷的主要形态,有机磷只占较小的比例,无机磷中钙磷占的比例相对较大,其中碎屑态磷是含量最高.磷的含量及埋藏通量的垂向分布受到pH、盐度、温度、生物扰动、沉积速率等环境因子的影响.相关分析及元素的OC/OP比值分析证明,近20a,陆源输入是胶州湾沉积物主要来源,并且沉积速率不断增大.由于近年来采取的较为得力的治污与排放措施,胶州湾的环境状况已有明显改观.研究还表明,Fe-P,Al-P和Oc-P的含量与海域污染程度有较密切的关系,可作为表征海洋沉积环境污染状况的指示因子之一.     

Does the potential safety risk affect whether particular construction hazards are recognized or not?

Introduction: Evidence from the global construction industry suggests that an unacceptable number of safety hazards remain unrecognized in construction workplaces. Unfortunately, there isn’t a sufficient understanding of why particular safety hazards remain unrecognized. Such an understanding is important to address the issue of poor hazard recognition and develop remedial interventions. A recent exploratory effort provided anecdotal evidence that workers often fail to recognize safety hazards that are expected to impose relatively lower levels of safety risk. In other words, the research demonstrated that the underlying risk imposed by a safety hazard can affect whether a hazard will be recognized or not. Method: The presented research focused on empirically testing this preliminary finding. More specifically, the study tested the proposition that Construction workers are more likely to recognize safety hazards that impose higher levels of safety risk than those that impose relatively lower levels of safety risk. The research goals were accomplished through a number of steps. First, a set of 16 construction case images depicting a variety of construction operations that included a number of known safety hazards was presented to a panel of four construction safety experts. The experts were tasked with examining each of the known safety hazards and providing a rating of the relative safety risk that the individual hazards impose. Having obtained an estimate of the underlying safety risk, a hazard recognition activity was administered to 287 workers recruited from 57 construction workplaces in the United States. The hazard recognition activity involved the examination of a random sample of two construction case images that were previously examined by the expert panel and reporting relevant safety hazards. Results: The results of the study provided support for the proposition that workers are more likely to recognize hazards that impose relatively higher levels of safety risk. Practical Applications: The findings of the study can be leveraged to improve existing hazard recognition methods and develop more robust interventions to address the issue of poor hazard recognition levels.     

Allocation of performance shaping factors in the risk assessment of an offshore installation

Offshore oil production is one of the most important human productive activities. There are many risks associated with the process of constructing a subsea well, pumping oil to the platform, and transporting it to refineries via underwater pipes or oil tankers. All actions performed by workers in those operations are influenced by specific working conditions, involving the use of complex systems. Contextual factors such as high noise, low and high temperatures and hazardous chemicals are considered to be contributors to unsafe human actions in accident analysis and also give a basis for assessing human factors in safety analysis. Some failure modes are particularly dangerous and can result in severe accidents and damage to humans, the environment and material assets. Fires and explosions on oil rigs are some of the most devastating types of offshore accidents and can result in long-term consequences. The most typical root causes related to accidents include equipment failure, human error, environmental factors, work organization, training and, communication, among others. The principal objective of this study is to propose a methodological framework to identify the factors that affect the performance of operators of an offshore unit for oil processing and treatment. In this phase, an ergonomics approach based on operators' work analysis is used as a supporting tool. After identification of factors that affect the performance of operators, a decision-making model based on AHP (analytic hierarchy process) is applied to rank and weight the principal performance shaping factors (PSFs) that influence safe operations. The next step involves the use of the SHELLO model to group the main PSFs in elements named software, hardware, environment, liveware and organization. In the last phase, a relevant accident that occurred aboard a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is analyzed. The allocation process of the factors that affect the operator's performance in risk assessment was developed through fuzzy logic and the ISO 17776 standard.     

PDE accident model from a safety information perspective and its application to Zhangjiakou fire and explosion accident

Accident models can provide theoretical frameworks for determining the causes and mechanisms of accidents, and thus are theoretical bases for accident analysis and prevention. The role of safety information in accident causation is profound. Thus, safety information is an important and essential perspective for developing accident models. This study presents a new accident model developed from a safety information perspective, called the Prediction—Decision—Execution (PDE) accident model. Because the PDE accident model is an emerging accident model that was proposed in 2018, its analysis logic and viability remain to be discussed. Thus, the main contributions of this study include two aspects: (i) detailed explanation of the analysis logic of the PDE accident model, and (ii) case-study examination of the Zhangjiakou fire and explosion accident, a serious accident that occurred in China in 2018, to demonstrate the viability of the PDE accident model. Results show that this is a safety-information-driven accident model that can provide a new and effective methodology for accident analysis and prevention, and safety management.