Expert system application for prioritizing preventive actions for shift work: shift expert

Introduction. Shift patterns, work hours, work arrangements and worker motivations have increasingly become key factors for job performance. The main objective of this article is to design an expert system that identifies the negative effects of shift work and prioritizes mitigation efforts according to their importance in preventing these negative effects. The proposed expert system will be referred to as the shift expert. Methods. A thorough literature review is conducted to determine the effects of shift work on workers. Our work indicates that shift work is linked to demographic variables, sleepiness and fatigue, health and well-being, and social and domestic conditions. These parameters constitute the sections of a questionnaire designed to focus on 26 important issues related to shift work. The shift expert is then constructed to provide prevention advice at the individual and organizational levels, and it prioritizes this advice using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process model, which considers comparison matrices provided by users during the prioritization process. An empirical study of 61 workers working on three rotating shifts is performed. After administering the questionnaires, the collected data are analyzed statistically, and then the shift expert produces individual and organizational recommendations for these workers.     

Driver’s mental workload prediction model based on physiological indices

Developing an early warning model to predict the driver’s mental workload (MWL) is critical and helpful, especially for new or less experienced drivers. The present study aims to investigate the correlation between new drivers’ MWL and their work performance, regarding the number of errors. Additionally, the group method of data handling is used to establish the driver’s MWL predictive model based on subjective rating (NASA task load index [NASA-TLX]) and six physiological indices. The results indicate that the NASA-TLX and the number of errors are positively correlated, and the predictive model shows the validity of the proposed model with an R² value of 0.745. The proposed model is expected to provide a reference value for the new drivers of their MWL by providing the physiological indices, and the driving lesson plans can be proposed to sustain an appropriate MWL as well as improve the driver’s work performance.     

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.     

Safety I–II,resilience and antifragility engineering: a debate explained through an accident occurring on a mobile elevating work platform

Occupational health and safety (OHS) represents an important field of exploration for the research community: in spite of the growth of technological innovations, the increasing complexity of systems involves critical issues in terms of degradation of the safety levels. In such a situation, new safety management approaches are now mandatory in order to face the safety implications of the current technological evolutions. Along these lines, performing risk-based analysis alone seems not to be enough anymore. The evaluation of robustness, antifragility and resilience of a socio-technical system is now indispensable in order to face unforeseen events. This article will briefly introduce the topics of Safety I and Safety II, resilience engineering and antifragility engineering, explaining correlations, overlapping aspects and synergies. Secondly, the article will discuss the applications of those paradigms to a real accident, highlighting how they can challenge, stimulate and inspire research for improving OHS conditions.     

露天矿山隐伏盲空区精确探测及爆破优化设计

隐伏盲空区是严重威胁露天矿山正常采矿作业的安全隐患,应予以探明并处置。针对露天矿隐伏盲空区探测难度大、崩落处置爆破设计精度差等问题,以白马铁矿1号溜井盲空区为例,首先基于矿山历史资料,利用钻探手段,初步圈定盲空区异常分布范围;然后运用钻孔激光扫描设备进行三维精确扫描,获得盲空区塌腔三维形态和真实边界,并以实测数据为基础,利用逆向建模方法,构建盲空区三维可视化模型;最后根据盲空区的三维空间特征和分布条件,进行爆破分区及参数优化设计。结果表明:采用钻探圈定结合三维激光精确扫描建模的综合探测方法,可获得露天矿山盲空区的可靠信息,准确掌握盲空区垮塌现状,进而为制定更为精准的爆破设计方案提供重要依据,最终达到消除盲空区的目的。研究结果对保障矿山安全生产具有重要意义,同时可为类似工程提供有益参考。     

中国安全生产标准现状统计分析

安全生产标准是规范企业安全生产工作的基础性规范,是安全生产法律体系的重要组成部分,也是安全生产监管监察执法的重要依据。为掌握安全生产标准现状,收集、梳理了已发布的安全生产标准603项和正在研制阶段的标准385项,对标准发布年份、在研标准计划年份、标准领域分布、标准级别和标准性质多个维度进行分析,总结标准工作存在的问题,提出安全生产标准制（修）订及发展建议,为安全生产标准工作的持续完善提供参考。     

基于煤矿安全生产标准化的双控机制APP系统研究

针对我国煤矿安全生产标准化工作中数据采集的时效性差、数据录入工作量繁琐、数据汇总分析不明确的问题,利用易安卓编程语言与SQLite数据库技术,采用瀑布生命周期模型的软件开发方法,以《煤矿安全生产标准化考核定级办法》中双控机制的基本内容为依据,设计包括个人信息管理、法律知识库检索、安全风险分级管控、事故隐患排查治理、数据可视化分析、其他6大功能模块的APP系统。结果表明:该系统可提供适合相关管理人员使用的可视化界面,减少了复杂繁琐的工作量,为标准化工作的定点巡检与数据的完整性提供了良好的技术支持,也为非煤矿山、冶金、石油化工等行业的标准化工作实现信息化管理提供了较好的应用模式。     

Overtime work as the antecedent of employee satisfaction,firm productivity,and innovation

Overtime work has been blamed for the deterioration of employee satisfaction and productivity. However, the organization‐level implications of overtime work as a normative expectation remain unclear. In this study, such effects were analyzed through human capital theory and a causal attribution approach. Various organizational outcomes and boundary conditions were explored in explaining these implications. The analysis of time lagged data from 273 firms affirmed that a firm's overtime level was related negatively to employee satisfaction. However, it was positively related to the firm's productivity and curvilinearly (inverted U‐shaped) related to innovation. The effects of the firm's overtime level on firm productivity and innovation were also moderated by organizational trust. This study highlights the costs and benefits of overtime work as tools for utilizing human capital and reveals the critical contingency of organizational trust that enables firms to attenuate the costs of the overtime level and accentuate its potential benefits.     

On the subjective experience and correlates of downtime at work: A mixed‐method examination

In the current paper, we studied downtime at work. Downtime represents a unique aspect of work time, as employees have low workload and more discretion about their activities but are still paid to be at work. Despite its prevalence and potentially significant implications for productivity and well‐being, the experience of downtime has not been a focus in the literature. To study this phenomenon, we first used a qualitative method involving 15 focus groups. Results from 95 employees showed that downtime is distinct from formal breaks and withdrawal behavior and is generally a negative subjective experience. Categories of antecedents of experience and downtime activities were classified. Next, to further explore the phenomenon, and based on Study 1 and relevant literature, we proposed several hypotheses and tested them using an experience sampling method. Results from 86 employees (across 5 workdays and 689 data points) indicated that the amount of downtime was negatively related to day level job satisfaction, job performance, and subjective health. The duration of relaxation activities during downtime mitigated the negative effects of downtime on fatigue. The effects of enjoyment level of the activities, job autonomy, work engagement, and boredom proneness were also examined. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.     

External relational attributions: Attributing cause to others' relationships

I present an attributional approach to understanding how people perceive and respond to the effects of others' relationships in the workplace by suggesting that people perceive others' relationships to be causal sources of workplace outcomes. Specifically, I suggest that individuals' responses to negative outcomes at work can be better understood by differentiating between two types of external attributional explanations: external relational attributions and external nonrelational attributions. This research focuses on the conceptual development of external relational attributions, which are defined as those attributional explanations made for outcomes or behaviors experienced or observed by a focal individual that locate the cause of an outcome within the relationship between two others (people, groups, organizations, or any combination), not including the focal individual. Further, I propose situational antecedents and behavioral outcomes of external relational attributions, with an emphasis on individuals' behaviors toward others' relationships. Lastly, I highlight the advantages of considering the role of others' relationships when applying attribution theory to a variety of organizational phenomena and present directions for future research.