Safety assessment for accident of cooling loop failure (ACLF) in lunar nuclear power reactor (LNPR)

The safety assessment of an accident in the lunar base power plant is investigated for the stability of the operation. The lunar surface reactor is modeled for this study. The accident of cooling loop failure (ACLF) is one of the important scenarios for the virtual case in the moon nuclear power plant (NPP). The newly designed lunar nuclear power reactor (LNPR) is suggested for the commercial purpose. The system dynamics (SD) is used for the simulation of the safety assessment. The cyclic variation of the lunar surface temperature can affect to the physical situation of the coolant, which is expressed by the time step. The result shows the performance possibility of the long term cooling increases slightly in the short period of the time step. The dynamical simulation of the lunar environment is performed for the conceptual design of the NPP.     

Use of safety barriers in operational safety decision making

Operational personnel in complex hazardous industries are regularly called upon to make decisions that balance the production and safety objectives of their organisation. Regulations and industry standards focus on defining and complying with operating limits of various kinds as the primary method of achieving the right balance. Such limits remove the need in many cases for in-the-moment judgements about safety and production priorities.Focussing solely on the compliance with a pre-defined envelope underestimates the direct contribution to safety from operational managers based on their professional judgement. Research in a chemical plant, a nuclear power station and an air navigation service provider has identified a “line in the sand” approach taken by experienced operating personnel when abnormal situations arise. In developing these situation-specific self-imposed limits, operational managers focus on the status of safety barriers, rather than considering risk from first principles. This approach could form the basis of a new procedure, which lays out the process to be followed in determining how best to proceed (similar to job safety analysis or permit to work). This would acknowledge that such decisions are necessary, assist operational personnel in making better choices and open such decisions to appropriate audit and scrutiny.     

Psychosocial safety climate: Conceptual distinctiveness and effect on job demands and worker psychological health

Psychosocial safety climate is an emerging construct that refers to shared perceptions regarding policies, practices, and procedures for the protection of worker psychological health and safety. The purpose of the research was to: (1) demonstrate that psychosocial safety climate is a construct distinct from related climate measures (i.e., physical safety climate, team psychological safety, and perceived organizational support); and (2) test the proposition that organizational psychosocial safety climate determines work conditions (i.e., job demands) and subsequently worker psychological health. We used samples from two different cultures; an Australian sample (N = 126 workers in 16 teams within a primary health care organization) and a Malaysian sample (N = 180 workers in 31 teams from different organizations and diverse industries). In both samples confirmatory factor analysis verified that psychosocial safety climate is a construct distinct from related climate measures. Using hierarchical linear modeling, psychosocial safety climate was superior to other team level climate measures in its negative relationship to both job demands and psychological health problems. Results supported a mediation process, psychosocial safety climate → job demands → psychological health problems, corroborating psychosocial safety climate as a preeminent stress risk factor, and an efficient target for intervention. We found both physical and psychosocial safety climates were stronger in the Australian, compared with the Malaysian work context. Levels of psychosocial safety climate were significantly lower than those of physical safety climate in both countries indicating a ‘universal’ lack of attention to workplace psychological health.     

At-risk behaviour analysis and improvement study in an academic laboratory

Academic laboratories contain inherently substantial risk conditions that students could expose to chemical and physical hazards. Procedures and guidelines related to laboratory safety are commonly available for students to adhere. However, many injuries and accidents or even fatalities are reported due to students’ violated safety practices while working in the laboratory. There was no reported proactive method or systematic technique to monitor and control students’ at-risk behaviour in the laboratory. This paper presented a program known as laboratory at-risk behaviour and improvement system (Lab-ARBAIS) to monitor and control students’ at-risk behaviours in the laboratory. Lab-ARBAIS used computer database for data acquisition and analysis on students’ at-risk behaviours observed. Pre-program questions on students’ at-risk behaviours that frequently violated safety regulations were utilized by observers to give observation feedback. The collected feedback was analysed and the results were posted in students’ portal to allow everyone to acknowledge their safety habits and practices. The routine observations and posted results are to instill a psychology effect in student’s habitual safety practices by reminding them on their frequently violated safety regulations. The implementation of the Lab-ARBAIS program to chemical engineering laboratory as a case study had shown a significant improvement on students’ frequent at-risk behaviours. The Lab-ARBAIS can easily be adopted in any academic laboratories to manage students’ at-risk behaviours to ensure safe work environment. With minor enhancement, the Lab-ARBAIS can easily be extended to be used in industrial laboratories.     

Understanding “communication gaps” among personnel in high-risk workplaces from a dialogical perspective

Our primary aim in this paper is to argue for a discourse analytical take on questions of how risk and safety are managed by personnel in high-risk workplaces, with a special focus on constructions of “us” and “them”. Thus, we approach the same issue investigated in many other studies, i.e., diverging safety-related understandings between people representing various occupational groups. We choose to examine so-called communication gaps as they are “talked into being” in discourse, meaning that we treat them as primarily socially constructed. A case analysis based on interviews will be used to illustrate how we can understand this phenomenon from a communicative perspective inspired by Linell’s (1998a) dialogue theory. While previous discourse and safety culture research emphasizes broad patterns and differences between entire professions and departments, we argue that researchers should hesitate to reinforce the notion of homogeneous groups. Instead, there is great value in demonstrating collective social construction processes and commonalities so as to facilitate inter-group solidarity and possibly productive change.     

Accident investigation in the Norwegian petroleum industry - Common features and future challenges

In their regulations, the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) states that the companies responsible for oil and gas exploration and production activities in Norway shall record and investigate accidents and serious incidents. This paper introduces a general model for the accident investigation process in the Norwegian petroleum industry, and presents some results derived from a comparative study of causal factors identified in offshore accident investigation reports from 2002 to 2006. The paper also offers a discussion of the improvement potential in the use of investigation methods. Finally, a discussion of future challenges in accident investigations is provided.     

Availability organisational analysis: Is it a hazard for safety?

This main issue of this article analyses the possible way to use for availability improvement, the organisational analysis methodology initially developed for accident safety investigations. As the last decade examples in the industrial world prove that some organisational weaknesses could either impact safety or availability, we have for purpose to make some important clarifications, with the help of the organisational paradigm, and grounded on our knowledge of safety accidents or local inquiries in hazardous technical complex systems.We will first give our definition of an availability event, by comparison with a safety event and recall what is for us an organisational analysis. Then we will consider the safety organisational paradigm pathogenic factors in wondering if these factors could also be seen as pathogenic factors for availability; or if specific availability pathogenic factors can be inferred from these safety pathogenic factors.In the end we will try to assess the common points and the differences between an availability oriented organisational analysis and a safety oriented one, with a particular attention to possible negative follows-up on safety issues and to the methodology issue.     

Instruction of hazard analysis of methods for chemical process safety at the university level

Young practicing chemical engineers must be able to operate safely in an industrial setting. Therefore, chemical process safety education is essential for undergraduate chemical engineers and ABET (the University Accreditation Board) supports this initiative by requiring that university graduates understand the hazards associated with chemical processes. One way to understand the hazards associated with processes is to conduct a process hazard analysis. This analysis can be conducted in an experiential learning environment by collaborating with an industrial partner or by utilizing facilities on the university campus. In this environment students are able to see and interact with the processes under normal operating conditions. Utilizing industrial or research mentors allows students to receive formative feedback as they analyze the process. In addition, these process hazard analyses require students to practice “soft skills” such as teamwork, problem solving, and oral and written communication which are essential work place skills. This paper reviews teaching hazard analysis methods to chemical engineering students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Covered are examples of how students are introduced to the checklist and bowtie analysis methods, and the conduction of a HAZOP. Examples of the different resources that can be utilized are described. Ultimately, from these experiences, students are more prepared to enter the chemical process industries with first-hand knowledge of how to conduct various hazard analyses before reaching their place of employment.     

Modelling of pitting corrosion in marine and offshore steel structures – A technical review

Corrosion is a major cause of structural deterioration in marine and offshore structures. It affects the life of process equipment and pipelines, and can result in structural failure, leakage, product loss, environmental pollution and the loss of life. Pitting corrosion is regarded as one of the most hazardous forms of corrosion for marine and offshore structures. The total loss of the structure might be very small, but local rate of attack can be very large and can lead to early catastrophic failure. Pitting corrosion is a localized accelerated dissolution of metal that occurs as a result of a breakdown in the protective passive film on the metal surface. It has been studied for many years; however, the structural failure due to pit characteristics is still not fully understood. Accurate pit depth measurements, precise strength assessment techniques, risk analysis due to pitting, and the mathematical relationship of the environmental factors that causes pitting failure are also factors, which need further understanding. Hence this paper focuses on these issues. It reviews and analyses the current understanding of the pitting corrosion mechanism and investigates all possible factors that can cause pitting corrosion. Furthermore, different techniques employed by scientists and researchers to identify and model the pitting corrosion are also reviewed and analysed. Future work should involve an in-depth scientific study of the corrosion mechanism and an engineering predictive model is recommended in order to assess failure, and thereby attempt to increase the remaining life of offshore assets.     

Enhancing environmental integration in strategic environmental assessment (SEA): insight from sensitivity analysis

This paper explores the potential of sensitivity analysis to improve the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process and enhance environmental integration. It applies the Sensitivity Model Prof. Vester® to the England SEA process, following two objectives: (1) establishing how different strategic environmental assessment (SEA) elements affect environmental integration; and (2) establishing the sensitivity of the SEA process in terms of response to change. The findings showed that no single element was critical to enhancing environmental integration. Several elements, acting as sources of uncertainty, leverage or stability in the process, were also identified, highlighting their potential as priority targets for process improvement. It is concluded that sensitivity analysis can supplement current expert-led approaches to SEA improvement by (1) identifying elements likely to influence environmental integration and (2) testing the likely performance of recommendations for process improvement.