Animal-related injuries: a population-based study of a five-state region in the upper Midwest: Regional Rural Injury Study II

PROBLEM: While agricultural injury has been identified among the major causes of occupational injury mortality and morbidity, data have been limited pertinent to the magnitude, consequences, and potential risk factors for animal-related injuries -- a major source of morbidity among agricultural operations. METHODS: Demographics, exposure, and injury data were collected for 1999 and 2001 among agricultural households in a five-state region. Causal models facilitated survey design, data analyses, and interpretation of results; directed acyclic graphs guided multivariate modeling. RESULTS: From 7,420 households (84% response of eligible), a total of 5,045 injury events were reported; 1,016 (20.1%) were animal-related. Multivariate analyses revealed increased risks for those <20 years; residents of all states compared to Minnesota; all age groups compared to 0-4 years; >0 hours worked; and prior agricultural injury history. For those 20+ years, increased risks were identified for: South Dakota residents; males; >0 hours worked; and prior agricultural injury history. For those cases <20 and 20+ years of age, 58% and 46%, respectively, resulted in lost work time on their agricultural operations (31% and 50%, one week or more). CONCLUSIONS: Animal-related injury has a major impact on the agricultural industry. Results serve as a basis for interventions and further research. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The impact of animal-related injuries on the agricultural industry appears significant; among age groups <20 and 20+, 85% and 82%, respectively, had some resulting restriction. For all events combined, 29% and 30%, respectively, involved restriction from one week to 3+ months; 12% and 15% involved restriction for one month or more. Among those <20 and 20+ years of age, 58% and 46%, respectively, lost work time on their own agricultural operation as a result of injuries associated with their own operation; 22% and 15% lost one week or more. Moreover, of the non-agriculture-related injuries, 31% and 50% resulted in lost work time on their own operation; 15% and 28%, respectively, lost one week or more. Restrictions such as these can affect the productivity of the operation, resulting in financial impacts, especially on small operations that have few people to manage the required tasks.     

Work-related fatal injuries in parking lots, 1993-2002

PROBLEM: Although parking facilities are a common feature of the landscape in the United States, little is known about their safety. METHOD: A dataset of parking lot fatalities for 1993-2002, created from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injury (CFOI) research file, was analyzed. RESULTS: The most common events in parking lots were contact with objects (15%), pedestrian fatalities (13%), homicides (36%), and suicides (11%). The perpetrators of parking lot fatalities, compared to all workplace homicides, were more likely to be known to the victim. CONCLUSION: The 206 work-related fatalities per year in parking lots present challenges to the safety community. Although much of the risk results from the usage of motor vehicles, violent acts are even more prominent. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Because homicides are most prevalent in parking lots, both administrative and environmental measures may lower the risk of homicide. Although difficult to assess, various elements of the design of parking facilities may have an influence on the occurrence of injuries.     

Investigation of head injuries by reconstructions of real-world vehicle-versus-adult-pedestrian accidents

A sizeable proportion of adult pedestrians involved in vehicle-versus-pedestrian accidents suffer head injuries, some of which can lead to lifelong disability or even death. To understand head injury mechanisms, in-depth accident analyses and accident reconstructions were conducted. A total of 120 adult pedestrian accident cases from the GIDAS (German in-depth accident study) database were analyzed, from which 10 were selected for reconstruction. Accident reconstructions initially were performed using multi-body system (MBS) pedestrian and car models, so as to calculate head impact conditions, like head impact velocity, head position and head orientation. These impact conditions then were used to set the initial conditions in a simulation of a head striking a windshield, using finite element (FE) head and windshield models. The intracranial pressure and stress distributions of the FE head model were calculated and correlated with injury outcomes. Accident analysis revealed that the windshield and its surrounding frames were the main sources of head injury for adult pedestrians. Reconstruction results indicated that coup/contrecoup pressure, Von Mises and shear stress were important physical parameters to estimate brain injury risks.     

船舶溢油事故等级评估方法比较

船舶溢油事故等级评估是船舶溢油应急计划研究的重要内容,它受到溢油量、事故发生位置等多种因素的影响,是复杂的多属性分类问题.利用熵值法、关联度法和BP神经网络法3种目前常用的事故等级评估方法,对上海港1984─2003年发生的12起船舶溢油事故进行了危害等级判定,以期探索溢油事故等级合理量化评估技术方法.对比了3种方法在结果一致性、误差精度上的优劣性及实际适用性.结果表明:BP神经网络和关联度法适用性较好,熵值法必须结合专家打分才能得到较好的判定结果;同时BP神经网络法的评估结果一致性比率较高,误差率较低,但存在建模成本高和对噪声较敏感的缺点.      

Practical aspects of occupational EMF exposure assessment

Electromagnetic fields exposure assessment methodology is briefly presented. The basic problems defined for the practical use of electromagnetic fields measurements and numerical calculations carried out for workers exposure assessment in real occupational situations are discussed. The examples of data from real workplace are presented, focusing: spatial distribution of electromagnetic fields affecting worker’s body, complex characteristics of the frequency content, workers activities/moving in the workplace, field impedance, etc. The situation when the use of calculations is required is discussed. The basic requirements for workers exposure assessment protocols are presented. The possible range of the use of internal and external measures of exposure level is also discussed.     

基于企业职业伤害风险和违法处罚的分级监察模型研究

对企业实施分级监察的基础是企业监察级别的确定。分级监察是以“风险优先”为基本的原则风险管理思想。本文在对我国现有的安全生产法规政策和安监部门的部分执法文书以及企业违法处罚情况进行分析总结的基础上,建立了企业违法处罚情况的量化模型,并以企业职业伤害风险和企业违法处罚结果为影响因素,建立了二元分级监察模型。运用所建立的模型对辽宁省某市的159家调研企业的监察级别进行了划分,并对分级结果进行了简要分析。     

Characteristics of worker accidents on NYSDOT construction projects

INTRODUCTION: This paper aims at providing cost-effective safety measures to protect construction workers in highway work zones, based on real data. Two types of accidents that occur in work zones were: (a) construction work area accidents, and (b) traffic accidents involving construction worker(s). METHODOLOGY/RESULTS: A detailed analysis of work zone accidents involving 36 fatalities and 3,055 severe injuries to construction workers on New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) construction projects from 1990 to 2001 established that five accident types: (a) Struck/Pinned by Large Equipment, (b) Trip or Fall (elevated), (c) Contact w/Electrical or Gas Utility, (d) Struck-by Moving/Falling Load, and (e) Crane/Lift Device Failure accounted for nearly 96% of the fatal accidents, nearly 63% of the hospital-level injury accidents, and nearly 91% of the total costs. These construction work area accidents had a total cost of $133.8 million. Traffic accidents that involve contractors' employees were also examined. Statistical analyses of the traffic accidents established that five traffic accident types: (a) Work Space Intrusion, (b) Worker Struck-by Vehicle Inside Work Space, (c) Flagger Struck-by Vehicle, (d) Worker Struck-by Vehicle Entering/Exiting Work Space, and (e) Construction Equipment Struck-by Vehicle Inside Work Space accounted for nearly 86% of the fatal, nearly 70% of the hospital-level injury and minor injury traffic accidents, and $45.4 million (79.4%) of the total traffic accident costs. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this paper provide real statistics on construction worker related accidents reported on construction work zones. Potential preventions based on real statistics have also been suggested. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The ranking of accident types, both within the work area as well as in traffic, will guide the heavy highway contractor and owner agencies in identifying the most cost effective safety preventions.     

Work domain analysis for air traffic controller weather displays

INTRODUCTION: Adverse weather conditions have a major impact on National Airspace System (NAS) operations. They create safety hazards for pilots, constrain the usable airspace for air traffic control (ATC), and reduce the overall capacity of the NAS. A system-wide dissemination of weather information to controllers could theoretically improve safety and efficiency. PROBLEM: However, it is currently unclear what weather information would be beneficial for tactical operations. Furthermore, no previous research has empirically evaluated optimal presentation designs for ATC weather displays. Ill-designed weather displays can cause safety hazards by presenting redundant information (i.e., by increasing the cognitive load) and display clutter (e.g., by interfering with the visual extraction of traffic data). METHOD: In the present paper, we outline our use of cognitive work analysis (CWA) techniques for the assessment of weather information needs for terminal controllers. RESULTS: Specifically, we describe how the CWA modeling tools helped us reveal instances in the terminal domain where weather information is lacking or insufficiently disseminated. We used our CWA results to drive the development of weather display concepts and to set up a high-fidelity simulation capability. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: By means of high-fidelity simulations, we can empirically evaluate controller weather information needs in order to propose weather displays for increased aircraft safety and efficiency of terminal operations.     

井喷点火过程天然气爆炸后果分析

井喷失控事故发生后，尽快点火是减少人员伤亡的最有效措施之一。然而，点火过程中一旦发生天然气爆炸，其可能的爆炸伤害范围、破坏范围以及是否在可接受风险范围，就成为决策能否点火的关键。本文应用蒸汽云爆炸的肿当量模型和冲击波峰值超压模型，提出了天然气井喷失控后，发生天然气爆炸的人员死亡区、重伤区和轻伤区的计算方法；假设井喷的天然气无阻流量，计算了可能的人员伤害范围，并对计算结果进行了分析。分析发现，在井喷失控后，最大限度地减少井喷失控时间，以及最大限度地防止天然气在某一区域的大量积聚，是减轻井喷失控天然气爆炸后果的最佳措施。     

浅谈应急心理干预对事故影响的作用

随着大工业的发展，其所带来的重大事故或自然灾害导致的事故后果常常可以和战争相提并论，其后果影响给与人们带来的心理恐慌和应急时产生的心理危机已经影响人们的正常生活，并逐渐被人们重视。因此心理危机干预已经逐渐成为抢险救灾的一个当然的组成部分，心理干预技术已经是成熟的，在国际上已经普遍被采用。当突发事故发生或当遇到突发事件伤害时，克服紧张情绪，沉着冷静并学会如何与人沟通，解决各种应急事件导致的心理障碍是非常重要的任务。