Realistic evaluation as a new way to design and evaluate occupational safety interventions

Recent debates regarding the criteria for evaluating occupational health and safety interventions have focused on the need for incorporating qualitative elements and process evaluation, in addition to attempting to live up to the Cochrane criteria. Reflecting fundamental epistemological conflicts and shortcomings of the Cochrane criteria in evaluating intervention studies, the debate challenges the traditional (quasi-) experimental design and methodology, which are often used within safety research. This article discusses a revised ‘realistic evaluation’ approach as a way to meet these challenges.Evidence from the literature as well as examples from an integrated (leader-based/worker-based) safety intervention study (2008-2010) in a large wood manufacturing company are presented, with focus on the pros and cons of using randomised-controlled-trials and a revised realistic evaluation model.A revised realistic evaluation model is provided which includes factors such as role behaviour, leader and worker motivation, underreporting of accidents/injuries, production pressure, unplanned organisational change and accounting for multilayer effects. These can be attained through qualitative and/or quantitative methods, allowing for the use of realistic evaluation in both large and small scale studies, as well as in systematic reviews. The revised realistic evaluation model offers a promising new way of designing and evaluating occupational safety research. This model can help safety science move forward in setting qualitative and/or quantitative criteria regarding context, mechanisms and processes for single studies and for reviews. Focus is not limited to whether the expected results appear or not, but include suggestions for what works for whom, under what circumstances, in what respects and how.     

Operator competence and capacity - Lessons from the Montara blowout

The blowout of the Montara H1 well in the Timor Sea off the northwest coast of Australia in August 2009 was the first such incident in Australian offshore waters for 25 years. This article seeks to draw lessons for management of complex hazardous activities from these events by analysing critical decisions regarding well control barriers. Concepts such as trial and error learning, sensemaking and the need for multiple barriers are used to demonstrate why the organisation was blind to the developing problems and hence why lack of technical competence alone is not sufficient to explain the events that occurred. Three organisational improvements are proposed - providing active supervision, improved technical integrity assurance and better use of risk assessment. The article concludes with an appeal for changes in regulatory policy regarding safety to include organisational issues in addition to the traditional technical focus.     

基于ARCGIS的水泥行业碳排放点源分布与变化分析

首先对水泥行业产能与产量数据进行调研,对不同的工艺采用不同的CO2排放因子系统地计算了2000—2009年各点源企业水泥生产的CO2排放量,在点源企业排放量数据的基础上分析计算了各省份及全国总排放量的年度增长趋势。其次利用ARCGIS绘制了全国水泥行业排放点源年度分布图并分析了其空间分布特征,调查分析了我国水泥企业CO2排放源点源分布与变化规律,对水泥工业节能减排、发展低碳经济的工作具有重要的意义。     

化工园区外围控制距离的确定及环境影响减缓措施

指出制定化工园区周边控制距离过程中需要考虑的重要因素,确定了化工园区外围控制距离中的严禁建设区域和缓冲区域的范围,为城市规划中化工园区外围地域的合理规划提出了依据。同时提出减缓化工园区对园区外影响的措施。     

[HPMo][OTAC]2/SiO2的制备及其催化柴油氧化脱硫的研究

采用溶胶-凝胶法制备不同负载量的[HPMo][OTAC]2/SiO2,通过红外光谱、比表面积和孔结构分析对[HPMo][OTAC]2/SiO2进行表征,考察负载量、催化剂用量、氧化剂用量、反应温度和反应时间对模拟柴油脱硫效果的影响。结果表明,掺杂后的催化剂保持了Keggin结构,[HPMo][OTAC]2/SiO2在最佳反应条件下,苯并噻吩的脱除率达到48.3%,二苯并噻吩的脱除率达到67.2%。     

富勒烯甘氨酸铜盐的制备及表征

以富勒烯和甘氨酸为原料合成富勒烯甘氨酸,再与硝酸铜反应得到富勒烯甘氨酸铜盐。通过单因素方法探讨了反应温度、反应时间、反应物物料比对目标物富勒烯甘氨酸铜盐中铜质量分数的影响。获得最佳工艺条件为:富勒烯甘氨酸和硝酸铜的摩尔比1∶5,反应时间2.0 h,反应温度35℃。此时富勒烯甘氨酸铜盐中铜质量分数为17.8%。同时用FT-IR、MS、元素分析及原子吸收等方法表征了产物的结构。用差热仪测试了富勒烯甘氨酸铜盐的热稳定性,表明产物具有良好的热稳定性。     

不同物质对铬价态测定结果的影响

采用单波长法和双波长法,分别考察了KH2PO4、H3PO4、H2SO4、KNO3、牛肉膏和蛋白胨对Cr(III)和Cr(VI)质量浓度测定的影响。结果显示,Cr(III)和Cr(VI)在测量中是相互影响的,并且Cr(III)对Cr(VI)影响较显著。在单波长法测定中,牛肉膏、蛋白胨及2种酸对Cr(III)和Cr(VI)的影响较钾盐对其影响更为显著,H3PO4和H2SO4对Cr(III)和Cr(VI)的特征吸收峰值影响最大,降低幅度在20%～50%。这些物质对双波长法测定Cr(VI)几乎没有影响;但对Cr(III)测定中,H2SO4和H3PO4的影响较大,其相对误差分别为14.57%和8.87%,其余物质产生的相对误差均小于1.6%。因此,双波长法可用于生物样品中Cr(III)和Cr(VI)的测定,线性范围分别为0～160 mg/L和0～80mg/L。     

Perceived importance of sustainability dimensions in the Portuguese metal industry

The growing interest of stakeholders regarding the contribution of organizations to Sustainable Development is influencing organizational behavior and strategic planning. The purpose of the present paper is to analyze the perception of the importance of organizational sustainability dimensions in a relevant economic sector: the metal industry. Survey data was collected from a sample of 211 Portuguese industries, and non-parametric statistical tests were used to validate five research hypotheses regarding the importance of the economic, environmental, social and cultural dimensions of sustainability. The results obtained demonstrate awareness of the sampled industries regarding all sustainability dimensions, recognizing that their importance has been increasing over the years, and prospecting that this importance will continue to increase in the future. The industries in this sample revealed different degrees of perceived importance for the different sustainability dimensions: the highest importance was given to the economic dimension, and culture was considered the least important sustainability dimension. However, the perception of the respondents is that these differences will be less relevant in the future. The results also show that companies with certified management systems reveal a higher perceived importance regarding sustainability dimensions. Also, industries with higher values of annual turnover, number of employees and export sales tend to give higher degrees of importance to sustainability dimensions. Considering the economic, environmental and social impacts of metal industries at an international level, the awareness of this industrial sector regarding the importance of sustainability is a relevant step to the commitment towards Sustainable Development.     

Exploration of relationships between safety performance and unsafe behavior in the Chinese oil industry

Safety performance is comprised of two components, safety compliance and safety participation. However, relationships between safety performance and unsafe behavior have not been thoroughly investigated. In this work, scales for safety compliance and safety participation were revised for use in the oil industry, and job burnout scale was developed on the basis of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS). A structural equation model was then employed to investigate the interactions of these factors for 238 front-line oil workers from the PetroChina Huabei Oilfield Company in China. From the results, it was determined that workers' unsafe behavior could not be reduced significantly solely from these two dimensions of safety performance. Compared with safety participation, safety compliance was found to have a greater influence on unsafe behavior. However, job burnout was found to be a significant moderator between these two components and unsafe behavior. Furthermore, it was determined that oil workers' occupational psychological health conditions must be taken into account to improve organizational safety management and reduce workers’ unsafe behavior.     

Interactive mechanism of working environments and construction behaviors with cognitive work analysis: an elevator installation case study

Unsafe behavior is a leading factor in accidents, and the working environment significantly affects behaviors. However, few studies have focused on detailed mechanisms for addressing unsafe behaviors resulting from environmental constraints. This study aims to delineate these mechanisms using cognitive work analysis (CWA) for an elevator installation case study. Elevator installation was selected for study because it involves operations at heights: falls from heights remain a major cause of construction worker mortality. This study adopts a mixed research approach based on three research methodology stages. This research deconstructs the details of the working environment, the workers’ decision-making processes, the strategies chosen given environmental conditions and the conceptual model for workers’ behaviors, which jointly depict environment–behavior mechanisms at length. By applying CWA to the construction industry, environmental constraints can easily be identified, and targeted engineering suggestions can be generated.