Advances in Safety Management and Human Factors

AHFE International

Accelerating Open Access Science in Human Factors Engineering and Human-Centered Computing

Advances in Safety Management and Human Factors

book-cover

Editors: Pedro Arezes, Paulo Carvalho

Topics: Safety Management and Human Factors

Publication Date: 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4951-2100-5

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100142

Articles

Evaluating Firefighter Crawling Performance in a Controlled Environment

State mandated firefighter training is both highly structured and physically challenging. Firefighting is typically performed in harsh environments, necessitating personal protective equipment (PPE) which adds weight, restricts mobility, and decreases metabolic heat removal. For the most part, firefighter training is highly controlled and repetitive in nature, with each trainee performing required training exercises numerous times under close supervision. One such skill involves crawling, which is a physically intensive activity that firefighters utilize during training exercises, indoor fire suppression, and search and rescue activities. The ability to have firefighters crawl nearly identical, closely observed, routes is not easily accomplished for many fire departments. This pilot study observed trainees participating in a fire department training school using a unique crawling apparatus in their curriculum. Young, healthy male firefighter trainees (N=10) participated in a crawling exercise conducted in a modified commercial semi-trailer that was configured with varying crawling paths and fitted with infra-red cameras. Trainees crawled in full turnout gear while wearing forced air respirators to complete the course. Dependent variables included heart rate, compressed air usage, and time to complete the course. Incorporating such observations and measures into firefighting training curriculums has the potential to provide instantaneous feedback to trainees on their performance, potential areas of improvement, and facilitates the comparison of their physiological performance to the demands of the crawling task.

Jerry Davis, Ruoliang Tang, Rich Sesek, Sean Gallagher

Conference Proceedings

Electric System Control Room Operators: Cognitive Task Analysis and Human Error

Despite the increasing level of automation in electric system control centers, human action in the supervision and control of the process remains essential for maintaining system security. This study is about operators’ tasks in managing real-time occurrences of low voltage level in an electric system. The operation aims to restore the power supply. The study comprehends the operators’ task and the potential errors analysis in order to subsidize the creation of a training simulator. Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) and Systematic Human Error Reduction and Prediction Approach (SHERPA) were the methods used in the research. The results show that operators are involved in action planning and decision-making, whose errors can result in serious consequences for the system. It is possible that the analysis of a large amount of information together with real-time decision-making in the emergencies significantly influences operators' errors. Task analysis proved useful in identifying situations that may compose simulation scenarios for training. A disadvantage of the method is not considering work context and its implications for operators’ errors.

Rosemary Cavalcante Gonçalvesa, Regina Heloisa Maciela

Conference Proceedings

Biofeedback Assistant to Improve Control Room Operators Reliability

Control room operators’ reliability is a focal issue in automation not only because of the famous major industrial catastrophes like Chernobyl, Bhopal or Three Mile Island, but because of the high persisting human-related risks in e.g. transport, chemistry, energy plants. Extended research has been made on the genesis and prevention strategies of human error, as well as on the physiological and behavioural aspects of the control room operators performance. The concept presented in this paper includes the “actual attention need of the automation system” which is a prediction based on the general state and trends of the behaviour of the process controlled, and redefines the “expected / desired operator’s state” accordingly. The experimental system presented includes the data acquisition, the data processing, the intervention function and the interface to the automation system. The system monitors the operators’ physiological and behavioural data related to their readiness, the intervention function executes various feedback mechanism, meanwhile the data processing unit chooses the desired actions. This biofeedback assistant helps to improve the whole system reliability, because it can prevent the falling asleep, can detect the absence of the operator, or can initiate an unscheduled system review during under loaded time periods.

Gyula Szabó, Ákos Jóvér

Conference Proceedings

Virtual Environments for Studies of Nuclear and Radiological Emergencies

For resilience engineering and ergonomics, complex systems must be studied from the understanding of the variability occurring within and around the system. It is necessary to consider since the microscopic interactions located inside of organizations to the macroscopic context of the organization and where it fits. Therefore this article aims to create a tool to reproduce virtual environments for studies of nuclear and radiological emergency response from the perspective of resilience engineering and ergonomics.

Daniel Mól Machadoab, André Cotellia, Daniel Chellesa, Antonio C.A. Móla, Paulo V. R.Carvalhoa, Mario Cesar R. Vidal b

Conference Proceedings

Creating Accessibility to Web Contents for Colorblind People

The color is a very important asset when comes the time of interacting with other people and the ambient world, where the color may turn into the message itself. As known, about 5% of the people all over the world suffer from colorblindness, also formally called color vision deficit (CVD). It is clear that this visual impairment compromises the way those people see and interpret their surroundings and the visual messages they receive continuously. This is particularly relevant not only for those who need to correctly interpret the traffic lights — and recall that color blind because people see reds and greens in the same way —, but also for those who use the web for leisure and professional purposes daily. With this critical problem in mind, this paper proposes a new algorithm to adjust those colors that shed confusion on dichromate people (deuteranopes and protanopes). This algorithm takes advantage of a simple formula that operates on the HSV color space. The implementation of the algorithm was made by using web compliant languages, which confirm the appliance viability on web, which contributes to achieve a more inclusive visual communication. The final goal is the integration on system with the ability of performing the recoloring automatically images and text blocks, providing a better accessibility to the web pages to the CVD people, so reaching a more ergonomic design.

Madalena Ribeiro a b, Abel Gomes a

Conference Proceedings

Development of Interactive Educational Games about Human Error for Railway Personnel

One approach to prevent accidents caused by human errors is to promote understanding of errors by those who are required to be safety-conscious in their work. We report the process of developing a serious game, in which people working for the railway learn a slip, a human error of an action that is carried out incorrectly. To help players understand that anyone can make a slip, we have been developing games to give them with a chance to experience their own error. In one of the games, the player’s task is to classify (or categorize) each of the presented images into one of two categories under time pressure. After making the basic features of the game, we carried out experimental trials to examine impacts of factors related to the setting. We plan to reflect the findings of these trials on the setting of the game to increase the likelihood of the players’ slip. We continue to develop this game and the additional short commentary about a slip tailored towards railway personnel. This game will support people who work in railway companies to comprehend a human error and operate safely, resulting in reduction of accidents caused by a human error.

Midori Inabaa, Ryo Nakamuraa*, Takashi Imaizumia, Osamu Onoderaa

Conference Proceedings

Human Factors Contributions to Consumer Product Safety

The mission of the Office of Hazard Identification and Reduction at the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC, Commission) drives the Division of Human Factors to evaluate corrective action plans and propose redesigns of consumer products. Human factors studies and research focus on consumer product-related injuries, including assessing system design hazards for the general United States consumer population, ranging from newborns to seniors. These assessments include: usability, safety features, choking hazards, and evaluation of potential misuse of a product that could lead to injury or death. This paper will provide an overview of human factors work conducted at the CPSC and discuss how this specialized work contributes to reducing risk to the American public.

Rana Balci-Sinha, Bonnie B. Novak

Conference Proceedings

Ergonomic Assessment of Activities of Front Office Worker in Selected Hospitality Units and Record Related Health

Often when we imagine the kind of workers who get workplace injuries, we think of those who need to exert a lot of physical energy on the job. It is true that employees in these work environments may be at greater risk for injury, but office workers are also at risk. Front Office work is rapidly changing, as new developments in computer technology come along which can make our jobs easier, but which also can present new problems for both management and employees. There is enough information contained here to allow a single employee to set up their own workstation to suit the way they work. This paper provides with the information and tools necessary to analyze office jobs related health problems. A descriptive research enumerates the existing conditions in which the researcher has no control over the variables and can report only actual conditions. The interview schedule was found to be an appropriate tool, which would adequately gather information pertaining to research work. Considering the objective of the study, research was carried out at Pancham Hotel of Bareilly. A sample size is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population. Total sample sizes of 30 were selected. Many office injuries are caused by the repetitive tasks that put strain on our muscles and joints. There are several health related problems faced by office workers which affect their daily working schedule such as chronic back pain, gastric bronchial, asthma, diabetes, depression, arthritis, anaemia and headache. Sixty percent respondents quite seldom suffered from digestion difficulties whereas 12 percent respondents quite often and only 16 percent respondent almost always suffered from digestion difficulties. Several research studies reveals that gastrointestinal complaints of gastric upset, gas, constipation, poor eating etc. are strongly correlated with front office work.

Neha Mehra, Sandhya Rani, Promila Sharma, Pratibha Joshi

Conference Proceedings

Common and Chronic Problems Among Nurses Working in Healthcare Units of Uttrakhand State of India

Nursing, the profession of caring for the sick and the convalescent, the disabled and the helpless, is one of the noblest professions throughout the world. From the general ward to the operation theatre in the hospital, nursing is the most important component of patient care. The process of restoring patients to normal health depends as much, if not more, on nurses as on doctors or surgeons. In fact, the availability of effective nursing services is an indicator of the health of a country's medicare system. Stress in the nursing profession is an ongoing worldwide problem. Of all health care professionals, nurses have been found to have especially high levels of stress. A study among a large sample of Swedish nurses revealed that more than 80 per cent of the nurses reported high or very high job strain. Job stress in the nursing profession has been associated with decreased job satisfaction, increased psychological and physical complaints and absenteeism. Work conditions that have been associated with stress outcomes are inappropriate levels of formalization of work procedures (too much or too little formalization of work procedures), lack of adequate communication within the organization, and organizational politic. On the whole, it was observed that 40 per cent of nurses were suffering from headache and few nurses i.e. 17.5 per cent having back pain. The individual observation of government nurses (27.14 per cent) reported headache from the job which were temporary in nature. However, skin rashes and allergy was reported by 17.14 per cent. Further, 17.14 per cent government nurses suffered from temporary cough and cold due to other sources then their work. Occurrence of common illness among private nurses reveals that maximum of 42 per cent nurses were suffering from temporary back pain from job and only 8 per cent reported skin rashes and allergy which was due to their job. Temporary cough, cold and fever were reported by 24 per cent of private nurses from other sources. Most prevalent chronic illness was anemia among 19.17 per cent nurses. A very few of 1.67 per cent of nurses were having thyroid problem. The prevalence of chronic illness among government nurses indicates that 8.57 per cent nurses suffering from temporary respiratory disease. Anemia due to other sources (apart from job) which was temporary in nature was reported by 15.17 per cent nurses. Continuous problem of blood pressure was prevalent among 17.14 per cent government nurses which were originated due to long hours of job. Again a few proportion of government nurses (15.71 per cent) reported problem of diabetes mellitus. In case of private nurses, each of 12 percent nurses reported problems of anemia and gastrointestinal disorder. Only, 4 per cent nurses were suffered from temporary respiratory diseases. However, 8 per cent nurses reported continuous problem of diabetes mellitus and blood pressure.

Indu Karki, Promila Sharma, S.K. Rastogi, Pratibha Joshi

Conference Proceedings

Automotive Central Console Interface Design

This work was aimed at enhancing driving experience and safety by understanding the possibility of improving the central console physical interface experience, ergonomics and usability when dealing with in-vehicle tasks. An examination was carried out about some of the physical central console interfaces, measuring which one performed better concerning driver distraction and ease of use in double task situations. For that, a driving simulator was built, and a series of dual task tests were conducted to retrieve driving and performance data. The telemetry data about the driving line comparisons relative to a reference path, and the mean speed through the test sectors was compared to the eye tracking data, which was then compared and related to the modified self-perception subjective workload NASA Raw TLX test. It is expected that from this analysis some conclusions could be achieved that lead to an improvement opportunity to the central console interfaces. This could result from a combination of the systems, or could even give opportunity to develop an alternative new solution or a good practice guide for future design and developments.

Fernando T. Soares a, Paulo Simões abc, Ricardo Simoes ad

Conference Proceedings

An Attempt to Predict Point in Time with High Risk of Accident by Trend Analysis-Method for Detecting Significant Trend of Change of Behavioral Measures-

From the practical viewpoint, only behavioral measures (in this study, eight behavioral measures) were used for drowsiness prediction. A variety of baseline of drowsiness (arousal state) was used in this study. More concretely, each behavioral measure was used as the base line of drowsiness (arousal state) as well as the self-reported evaluation of drowsiness, and thus we made an attempt to predict the participant’s drowsiness for each base line. Trend analysis of each evaluation measure was carried out by using a single regression model where time and base line of drowsiness (one of evaluation measures) corresponded to an independent variable and a dependent variable, respectively. Using the result of trend analysis, we proposed a new approach to predict the point in time (we call this the point in time of virtual accident) when the participant would have encountered a crucial accident if he was driving a car. On the basis of results of all participants, the proposed approach could identify the point in time of virtual accident, and was promising for identifying and predicting the time zone with potentially high risk (probability) of inducing an accident due to drowsy driving in advance, and for warning drivers of such a state.

Atsuo MURATA, Kohei FUKUDA, Taiga KORIYAMA

Conference Proceedings

Effectiveness of Back and Foot Pressures for Assessing Drowsiness of Drivers

A lot of studies on prediction or evaluation of drowsy driving are conducted using physiological measures in order to prevent traffic accidents due to drowsy driving. Although such physiological measures are to some extent useful for assessing drowsiness, there are some practical limitations such as necessity of attachment of measurement instruments to drivers. Therefore, in order to make drowsiness prediction system more practically usable, it is necessary to find behavioral measures which can be more easily measured than physiological measures. This study paid attention to the behavioral measures (the pressures on the backrest of the driving seat (back pressure) and the pressure on the soles of the foot (foot pressure)) while driving, and explored the effectiveness of these behavioral measures for predicting or evaluating drivers’ drowsiness. The behavioral measures (the back and the foot pressure) during the driving are promising and can be used effectively to evaluate and predict the drivers’ drowsiness.

Atsuo MURATA, Akira NAKATSUKA, Makoto MORIWAKA

Conference Proceedings

Exploration of Possibility of Driver’s Drowsiness Prediction with High Accuracy using Both Physiological and Behavioral Measures

The aim of this study was to explore the effectiveness of physiological and behavioral evaluation measures for predicting drivers’ subjective drowsiness. EEG, heart rate variability (RRV3), and blink frequency were physiological measures. Behavioral measures included neck vending angle (horizontal and vertical), back pressure, foot pressure, COP on sitting surface, frequency of body movement, tracking error in driving simulator task, and standard deviation of quantity of pedal operation. Drowsy states were predicted by using multinomial logistic regression model where physiological and behavioral measures and subjective evaluation of drowsiness corresponded to independent variables and a dependent variable, respectively. The prediction accuracy was obtained for a variety of combinations of the evaluation measures above. The maximum and minimum prediction accuracies were 0.962 and 0.876, respectively. Almost all combinations led to the prediction accuracy of more than 0.9. Moreover, it has been made clear that the proper interval used for attaining higher prediction accuracy is a 20-s interval between 20s and 40s before prediction.

Atsuo MURATA, Kensuke NAITOH, Taiga KORIYAMA, Makoto MORIWAKA

Conference Proceedings

A Consumers’ Testing Approach to the Usability of Medical Technology - Insulin Pumps and CGM Systems

Five different insulin pumps and three systems for continuous glucose monitoring were subjected to usability tests at the School of Technology and Health. Each pump was trialed and rated by 30 respondents; 20 students with no experience of diabetes and 10 diabetic pump users. Each of the CGM systems was trialed and rated by 10 non-diabetic students. All participating students were enrolled in Medical Technology (Royal Institute of Technology) or Occupational Therapy (Karolinska Institute). The technical performance of pumps and CGM systems was tested independently. The respondents handled the insulin container, the software, the buttons, the screen and the manual through five scenario-based tasks. The trials and the accompanying attitude items were based on the ISO definition of usability. Efficiency was measured as the proportion of respondents succeeding to perform the tasks in less than 15 minutes, combined with the average time to do so. Effectiveness was the quotient of success frequency over average performance time. Satisfaction was the average distribution on the attitude items related to software, screen, buttons and manual. All products were ranked against each other within each separate test and the rank scores accumulated. There were significant differences in the scoring of the individual insulin pumps and CGM systems.

Tore J Larsson, Hedvig Aminoff, Mannan Mridha

Conference Proceedings

Safety Leadership Competence and Organizational Safety Performance

Safety leadership is a key factor in promoting safety performance in organizations. Managers need safety leadership competencies when motivating employee safety participation and compliance, as well as in improving the related safety outcomes. Based on the current research, certain safety leadership styles are vital with regard to safety performance. By developing these competencies, organizations may improve their effectiveness via better safety performance. Information on a managers’ safety leadership competence is required in order to develop their competencies and to develop safety training for managers. The objective of this study is to suggest efficient safety leadership competencies for managers, and discuss the importance of developing managers’ safety leadership competence. The results are based on a literature review and 18 interviews carried out in a Finnish expert organization. The results were structured according to the transactional and transformational leadership facets based on leadership theory. The results point out the importance of all traditional facets of transactional and transformational leadership with relation to safety performance, and the idealized influence leadership facet was emphasized. Other important facets were inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and management by exception. Both the transactional and transformational safety leadership competencies of the managers should be trained and developed.

Sari Tappura, Noora Nenonen

Conference Proceedings

Human and Organizational Factors Contribution to the Occurrence of Major Accidents Using Offshore Accidents as a Case Study

Human and organizational factors (HOFs) are important causes of accidents. As the design of technological equipment becomes more and more safe, the causes of accidents are more likely to be attributed to HOFs. The offshore drilling is, for instance, controlled by safety barriers that are dominantly dependent on HOFs. In a dynamic and volatile environment, every organization goes through a drifting process where the kind of logic of action taken depends on the contextual and temporal factors, the tightness of the coupling, and the complexity of the situation. The drifting process both affects and is affected by the management structure, the communication systems, the kinds of competence possessed, external pressures, and whether it is possible to comply with organizational procedures and whether these procedures are in accordance with regulatory requirements. These areas are important to examine to improve understanding of contribution of HOFs in major accidents. The knowledge and detail understanding of the contribution of HOFs to the offshore accidents provides new insights as well as practical guidelines for how to understand, assess and manage (potential) hazards and unforeseen surprises in a practical operational setting.

Haftay Hailay Abraha, Jayantha P. Liyanage

Conference Proceedings

Main Factors for an Occupational Health and Safety Management System for Mexican Manufacturing Companies

The Occupational Health and Safety are factors and conditions that have a positive impact, promotes a safe and healthy working environment, and these issues among the companies give wellness to personnel, contractors, visitors and any other person in working places, and this is achieved with the help of managing risks in the workplace. In Mexico, the occupational health and safety factors have been treated individually to reduce accidents, insurance cost and increase performance of existing operations but these individual actions created confusion among Mexican manufacturing companies. The Social Prevention and Labor Secretary established a technical program in occupational health and safety management. Five steps are used to represent basic security scheme. On the other hand, the health programs deal with the identification of important alarms and the promotion of actions to eliminate them. These issues consider job environments as well as pandemic. In order to control both aspects, Mexican factories have created an Occupational Health Management System as well as a Safety Management System. The purpose of this research is to formulate a unique Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) using structural equation models (SEM) to help Mexican manufacturing companies to conduct their efforts. A survey was conducted with 14 items based on international occupational health and safety standards. This research questionnaire was applied to 32 certified manufacturing companies within Mexico. An exploratory and confirmatory factorial analysis was focused. With exploratory factorial analysis we could established the three main factors and their components and these three main factors were validated using the confirmatory factorial analysis. The three factors were: health and safety focus, occupational health and safety management system, and continuous improvement. The Tucker-Lewis Index obtained is equal to 0.999 which is higher that the recommended value of 0.90. Thus, the three main factors can be considered for a structural equation model. Some of the variables considered for the OHSMS were: risk control, corrective actions, planning, audits, education and training, etc. Using LISREL, a structural equation model was created to propose a valid OHSMS model for Mexican manufacturing companies to implement and benefit from good health and safety management in their facilities.

Luis Cuautle, Gerson Beristain

Conference Proceedings

Safety and Health at Work as a Factor of Competitiveness of Organizations

The Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) is a key factor in the competitiveness of organizations, it was developed by a research work, in Portugal, covering the full range of enterprises and public administration. The population was divided into micro, small, medium and large organizations and the number studied was 899. In total, there were sent about 18,800 messages. There were also carried out interviews with individuals involved in the world of work. That led to the conclusion that the OSH is a theme that cuts across any type of organization and the services themselves add value to the OSH, which is a relevant factor in competitiveness. So far, no work of this nature was yet carried, based on the following assumptions:H1 - Action of OSH Services contributes to decrease Occupational Accidents;H2 - Action of OSH Services helps to reduce Absenteeism;H3 - The working conditions contribute to increased Competitiveness;H4 - OSH Services are an investment, not a cost.OSH Services contribute to the improvement of working conditions. As a result, accidents at work and absenteeism decrease, resulting in greater productivity. This work also contributed to an overview of the degree of implementation of OSH Services.

Miguel Alves Corticeiro Neves

Conference Proceedings

A Test of a Systems Theory-Based Incident Coding Taxonomy for Risk Managers

Organizations need to be able to collect reliable and accurate data on the causal factors that lead to near misses and injury causing incidents in order to design appropriate, informed, safety interventions. The aim of this study was to test the inter-rater reliability of a prototype taxonomy for classifying the causal factors involved in incidents in the outdoor education and recreation sector. The taxonomy consists of three levels, where each category level breaks the previous one down into a finer level of detail. The study involved 14 respondents, who play a key role in risk management within their organization, using the taxonomy to code 10 detailed incident reports. The incident reports were composited from reports and enquiries into actual events, and ranged in injury severity from fractures to fatalities. Participants were asked to: 1) identify the causal factors involved in each incident; and 2) identify the code/s from the taxonomy which best described those causal factors. The study demonstrated that the taxonomy can be used by risk managers to identify and code causal factors across all levels of the led outdoor activity system. However, identifying appropriate codes at the second and third level of detail was problematic.

Natassia Goode, Paul M. Salmon, Michael G. Lenné, Caroline F. Finch

Conference Proceedings

Beyond the Barriers: Road Construction Safety Issues From the Office and the Roadside

Conceptually, the management of safety at roadworks can be seen in a three level framework. At the regulatory level, roadworks operate at the interface between the work environment, governed by workplace health and safety regulations, and the road environment, which is subject to road traffic regulations and practices. At the organizational level, national, state and local governments plan and purchase road construction and maintenance which are then delivered in-house or tendered out to large construction companies who often subcontract multiple smaller companies to supply services and labor. At the operational level, roadworks are difficult to isolate from the general public, hindering effective occupational health and safety controls. This study, from the State of Queensland, Australia, examines how well this tripartite framework functions. It includes reviews of organizational policy and procedures documents; interviews with 24 subject matter experts from various road construction and maintenance organizations, and on-site interviews with 66 road construction personnel. The study identified several factors influencing the translation of safety policies into practice including the cost of safety measures in the context of competitive tendering, lack of firm evidence of the effectiveness of safety measures, and pressures to minimize disruption to the travelling public.

Ashim Kumar Debnath, Tamara Banks, Ross Blackman

Conference Proceedings

The Levels of Safety Culture

This article aims to analyse theoretical models of safety culture levels and a proposal for a new model. In relation to these issues the paper is divided into four parts. In the introduction the concept of safety culture is characterized. The second part of the article is devoted to the presentation of the models of safety culture levels. The third chapter proposes a new model of safety culture levels. The conclusions regarding the contemplated subject are presented in the last part of the paper.

Katarzyna Lis

Conference Proceedings

Exploring Trade-Offs Between Proactive Safety Indicators

Sound safety related decisions are the foundation for effective safety interventions. The Safety Management Information System (S-MIS) project allows making safety decisions based on two different sources. Quantitative survey results and qualitative judgments of subject-matter experts are the two sources. The aim of the present paper is to compare the two sources concerning their conclusions for safety related decisions. The results indicate a relatively high congruence between the two sources. Therefore, the quantitative survey results and the qualitative judgments of subject-matter experts are comparable resources to meet sound safety related decisions. Differences between the two sources as well as limitations of the paper are furthermore discussed.

Simon Binz, Toni Waefler

Conference Proceedings

Hierarchies of Hazard Control: A Proposal to Resolve Different Lists

This paper reviews the historical roots of attempts to establish a hierarchy of hazard control, points out that these lists have converged into a suboptimal standard hierarchy, and proposes an alternative approach. The failure to converge stems from attempting to first categorize risk-reduction strategies, then assuming the categories fit into a priority order reflecting most effective to least effective. The proposed solution distinguishes priority categories from risk-reduction strategies. The approach uses three priority categories: (1) eliminate the hazard, (2) use engineering controls, and (3) use administrative methods, while a second list identifies nine risk-reduction strategies that map to the priorities. The first priority category has one risk-reduction strategy: eliminate the hazard. The second priority had five strategies: moderate the hazard, avoid releasing the hazard, modify release of the hazard, separate the hazard from that needing protection, and improve the resistance of that needing protection. The third priority category has three strategies: help people perform safely, use personal protective equipment, and expedite recovery. The risk-reduction strategies within a priority category are neither in priority order nor exclusive options for addressing a particular hazard.

Roger C. Jensen

Conference Proceedings

Safety Climate and its Relationship with Furniture Companies’ Safety Performance

Safety climate has been stated as a relevant measure to monitor safety performance. However, it is important to demonstrate that the measures used by companies are appropriate for this purpose. In this context, the current study aims to analyze the relationship between safety climate level and the companies’ safety performance in the Portuguese furniture sector. A total of 14 Portuguese furniture companies were studied. The assessment of the safety climate, considering a multilevel structure, was performed by the use of the Safety Climate in Wood Industries (SCWI) tool. The companies’ safety performance was analyzed trough the application of a checklist. The analysis of the results showed a strong linear positive relation between safety climate scores and the percentage of safety performance. A further analysis was carried out to investigate the relationships between each analyzed scale with the work group’ safety performance. The organizational scale was identified as the most correlated with that variable. In general, the study showed that safety climate, particularly the SCWI tool, is a good measure to analyze and to monitor the furniture companies’ safety performance, identifying the most problematic work groups and showing that as higher the safety climate scores, higher safety behaviors and workplace with better safety conditions are expected.

Matilde A. Rodrigues a, b, Pedro Arezes b, Celina P. Leãoc

Conference Proceedings

The Study of Work Ability for the Staff of Chain Hair Salons in Central Taiwan

With the social development and economy improvement in Taiwan, people are pursuing a better life quality. The “better life quality” maybe means a self-satisfied life style for most of young people in Taiwan. They pay more attention and spend more money and time on their appearance, just like their hair styles and dressing. The growing rate of number of employees in styles hair industry is about 2% per year. Musculoskeletal disorders and chemicals exposure are the major factors to affect the working ability for the employees in hair-styling industry. However, the situation becomes worse because of the rise and development of chain hair salons and prolonged working time. The purpose of this study is to investigate the work ability with the Work Ability Index Questionnaire for staff working at chain hair salons in central Taiwan, including supervisors, hair stylists and assistants. According to the result of Work Ability questionnaire, overall Work Ability Index (WAI) is 35.14 and the work ability category is “moderate”. If the gender is considered, the WAI for male and female are 37.26 and 33.8, and their work ability categories are “good” and “moderate” respectively. If the job position is considered, only the work ability category for supervisors/branch manager is good. There are significant differences of work ability between job positions and gender. Thus, the present situation of work ability for these hair-styling staff in central Taiwan is evident and related improvement suggestions are made.

Yu-Cheng Lin a Hsiao-Ting Lu b, Hsin-Chieh Wu c

Conference Proceedings

Risk Management as

The aim of this two-year intervention study was to provide information on the work-related physical demands and risks among nurses working in elderly 24-hour care units and to determine what kind of measures and management means can reduce physical strain on nurses. A variety of measures were used. This paper presents the key findings of nurses' physical load and risks associated with nursing care (The Care Thermometer method) and perceived workload of nurses (job strain and satisfaction questionnaire).The level of working safety increased from 56% to 71.5%. High-risk tasks have been reduced from 22.5% to 13.9%.There were significant differences (p-value <.001) in perceived stress between physical and psychological stress and by activities (long term care; homes for elderly; service homes) and by professions (nurses; practical nurses; nursing aids; first-line managers). Both physical stress and psychological stress increased, but physical stress increased less than psychological stress. It can be assumed that the interventions in this study had a positive impact on physical stress. Additional tests are needed to explain the differences between physical and psychological stress and the measures and management means that can best reduce physical strain on nurses.

A Strategic Tool in Elderly Care

Conference Proceedings

Analysis of Accidents in Trailer Towing

There is a steady upward trend in the number of trailers on American roads. In 2011, there were 29.2 million trailers registered in the United States. On average, towing-related accidents are responsible for 1.2 deaths and 60 injuries per day, and the corresponding monetary loss due to these fatalities amounts to more than $4 Billion annually. While advancements in the safety practices of towing have helped control the number of accidents, towing-related accidents remain a substantial cause of fatalities, injuries, and property damages. This study analyzes the data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on the trailer-related crashes and accidents spanning 24 years from 1988 to 2011. The objective of this paper is to analyze the accident statistics on: (i) accidents with fatality, (ii) accidents with injury, and (iii) accidents with property damage caused by trailer towing in the United States. Additionally, data on the failed components in trailers is examined. The most prevalent failed component is safety chains. The probable causes of failure in safety chains are presented. The statistics examined in this paper underscore the importance of adhering to safe practices in trailer towing. Trailer-related accidents account for an average of 445 deaths and 21,821 injuries annually. For every 1000 trailer-related crashes, there are 8.5 fatalities and 415 injuries. Apart from injuries and fatalities, 38,747 trailer-related accidents cause property damage per year.

Fereydoun Aghazadeh, Arunn Pisharody

Conference Proceedings

Semi-quantitative Approach in Risk Assessment: Inter and Intra-rater Reliability

The semi-quantitative approach used in occupational risk assessments is quite popular among safety practitioners, namely because it allies the advantages of both the quantitative and the qualitative approaches and overcomes some of their limitations. However it still rises some concerns as the sort of methods involved haven’t been fully studied in order to assure high levels of confidence in the results they produce. This is a particularly relevant issue as the workers’ health and safety may be compromised if risk assessment results are not reliable. Therefore, a comparative study on the reliability of matrix based risk assessment methods was accomplished, particularly focused on their stability and reproducibility. The Krippendorff’s Alpha Coefficient (K) was chosen to assess inter-coder (reproducibility) and intra-coder (stability) reliability. In most cases, inter and intra coder reliability proved to be low (K <0.6) for both the risk level and the intermediate variables of each assessment method. Consequently, different priority interventions may be suggested, depending on the analyst involved and/or the moment of the risk assessment accomplishment. The obtained K values for the three groups of analysts seem contrary to the literature as the risk assessment results appear not to be dependent on their levels of experience and expertise.

Filipa Carvalho, Rui B. Melo

Conference Proceedings

Outsourcing and Accidents in the Electrical Sector

In , the accident rate in the electrical sector is 5.5 times higher than in the other formal segments of the economy. In 2011, outsourced work represented 56% of the workforce in this group and his mortality from workplace accidents reached 8 times that of permanent workers in the sector as a whole. This study aims to ascertain how third-party outsourcing contributed to an accident that victimized a worker and to provide an elaboration of strategies for surveillance and prevention in the sector. Study supported in the model of analysis and prevention of accidents (MAPA). The worker suffered amputation of the left leg during maintenance of a de-energized secondary line. A crossarm that supported an energized primary line just above, broke allowing the cable to fall on the leg of the worker that was working on a ladder about in height. Accident involving a lack of barriers against electrical risk previously identified in a system deteriorated due to decades without maintenance. The national strategy of third-party outsourcing adopting as evaluative indicators the lowest price of service, the frequency and duration of interruptions of the energy supply to consumers has contributed to the origins of the event. New studies are required to explore up to what point the findings demonstrated herein represent characteristics of the process of third-party outsourcing of activities in the electrical sector in the state.

Alessandro José Nunes da Silvaa, Rodolfo Andrade Gouveia Vilelab

Conference Proceedings

Risk Assessment in a Nuclear Medicine Department

Conducting a Risk Assessment is a key to continuous improvement of quality and safety standards of any organization procedure. It allows a diagnosis of the work conditions, identification and/or quantification of risk and the determination of the corrections to be made, as well as preventive measures and more appropriate protection. For this study, was used the MARAT (Risk Assessment of Accident Method). In Nuclear Medicine department, despite the high degree of specificity, because it is an area where ionizing radiation assume leadership, is necessary and possible to conduct a Risk Assessment at appropriate intervals by a Senior Technician or Work Safety Technician (TST or TSST), so that real security conditions are verified on-site improvements to be made in order to not only minimize the harmful effects of radiation in the body, as well as all other physical, chemical, biological hazards and ergonomic featured in any healthcare department. The existence of a physicist is mandatory, but the results showed that there were some situations that should be corrected and/or improved, also demonstrating the degree of importance that a risk assessment carried out by a TSST or TST has even a service with these characteristics, and in parallel with the actuation of Physicist responsible.

Rita Canotilho de Almeida, Miguel Corticeiro Neves

Conference Proceedings

Occupational Hazards Faced by the Agricultural Hill Population

Hill terrains have always posed enormous challenges for human habitation. India, being a vast subcontinent, has an extensive area of hilly terrain. This paper highlights the challenges faced and the need of improving the occupational safety of hill population. For the present investigation data was collected purposively from Bageshwar and Almora districts of the Uttarakhand state in India. t was reported that hill women performed various tasks including on farm activities like harvesting, weeding, land preparation, transplanting, sowing. The main off farm activities performed by them include making firewood, making fodder, carrying firewood, carrying fodder, carrying milk/food. The domestic activities performed by them include cooking, washing, mopping, milking, collecting dung. It was found that almost 96 per cent of these tasks were found to be performed by women only while men did just the 4 per cent of these tasks. While performing these tasks the hazards reported by the respondents were attack of wild animal, slip/trip/falls, fog, flood, temperature extremities, torrential rain, earthquake, thunderstorm, snowfall, landslide, road accidents, and forest fire.

Hema Bhatt, Promila Sharma

Conference Proceedings

Fire Accidents: An Opportunity for Organizational Learning

The fire incident in Santa Maria, Brazil, where died 242 people, 123 injuries, repeated aspects already found in similar tragedies in other countries and showed the difficulty of learning with these aspects regard to accident prevention. The disaster occurred when a pyrotechnic component used by a music band emitted heat that reached the polyurethane ceiling, which ignited. This study aimed to analyze systemically the Santa Maria nightclub fire to describe different aspects whose interaction led to the accident. The assembled maps allowed us to conclude that there was an insufficient mechanism of action coordination for accident prevention. It was possible to show that besides the nightclub’s design problems, such as a lack of alternative unobstructed rescue routes, emergency signaling, agility in emergency response, other contributing factors were material weaknesses, lack of training of firefighters and first responders responsible for preventing injuries resulting from the burning of the coating material used for soundproofing the club. Accident analysis based on the AcciMap helped reveal the systemic nature of the complex network of causal factors involved in the fire at the club.

Marcelo Loutfia, Ildeberto Muniz de Almeidab, Rodolfo Andrade Gouveia Vilelaa

Conference Proceedings

Risk Assessment for Occupational Exposure to Chemicals in an Electroplating Industry

Risk assessment for occupational exposure to chemicals should be one concern of all electroplating industries. The quantities and characteristics of hazardous substances and mixtures used, requires a risk assessment to ensure the protection of workers, and the legal compliance to the requirements in this area. This paper aims to apply a general method (NTP 330) for this assessment and compare the results with the results obtained from the application of three qualitative methods of risk assessment of exposure to chemical agents: NTP 934, NTP 936 and NTP 937, all published by the Instituto Nacional de Seguridad e Higiene en el Trabajo Espanhol. After a description of the risk assessment methods applied, it will be performed a comparative analysis of risk level results and of the control measures to be implemented, with the aim of describing the advantages and disadvantages of each method and in what conditions it can be carried out. This will allow in certain situations the adoption of measures to control the risk without recourse to quantitative methodologies. Although in cases of high risk, assessment should be more detailed and use methodologies for measuring the concentration of chemicals in workplace atmosphere, for comparison with the threshold limit values.

Marco Silva, Miguel Corticeiro Neves

Conference Proceedings

Ergonomics and Resilience in Crisis Management

The aim of this article is to discuss the crisis management from the ergonomics point of view, i.e., presenting useful and applied recommendations, coming from a joint process of diagnostic and conception, conducted by experts capable to produce significant changes in the organizations’ productive processes. The article is structured in three parts. In the first we present the historical evolution of the risk management concepts, since their military-strategic origins up to their actual definitions as a strategic and integrated part of the organizations business management processes. In the second part, we discuss some crisis management models and events from the ergonomics and resilience engineering point of view, i.e., the analysis inside the activity. We conclude this article based on resilience and ergonomic concepts, claiming how essential an adequate crisis management process is for the efficient functioning and even survival of any modern organization.

Mario Cesar R. Vidal a, Paulo Victor R. de Carvalho b

Conference Proceedings

HSEQ Assessment Procedure for Supplying Industrial Network: A Tool for Implementing Sustainability and Responsible Work Systems into SMES

Many Finnish manufacturing enterprises are utilizing a HSEQ Assessment Procedure (HSEQ AP) for suppliers as far as being a prerequisite factor of guaranteeing success in collaboration. Multi-organizational HSEQ management can be arranged by a proper participation of all employers at a shared work place and by not forgetting their work system with outcomes. Many of suppliers (N~120) have been assessed according to the HSEQ AP by the corresponding consortium. Typically, suppliers, often various contractors, belong to the category of microenterprises, small enterprises, and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The paper not only describes the key features of HSEQ AP, but it as well shows a preliminary evidence of the positive effects of HSEQ AP. The general principles and practices behind HSEQ AP, in addition to the ones developed by local research and development (R&D), has comprised European Union and national legislation, Total Quality Management (TQM), Excellence and Quality Award Models, social responsibility, and a total of social, economic and ecological sustainability. HSEQ AP is able in practice to promote sustainability in a scale suitable for microenterprises or SMEs. HSEQ AP provides a potential to promote productivity and QConformity within a work system with desired and undesired outcomes.

Seppo Väyrynen, Henri Jounila, Jukka Latva-Ranta

Conference Proceedings

Safety Analysis of the Deepwater Horizon Blowout Based on the Functional Resonance Analysis Model (FRAM)

The Functional Resonance Analysis Model (FRAM) defines a framework for accident analysis based on the systems theory and resilience engineering, making it more suitable for complex systems. The purpose of this article is the usage of FRAM to understand the variability in the process of offshore drilling in the Deepwater Horizon accident, and the variability that possibly might exist under other offshore drilling operations. The Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico occurred when the Horizon ultra-deepwater semisubmersible oil drilling rig exploded and sank in the northern Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, killing 11 crew members, injuring 17 others and initiating a huge marine oil spill. The Deepwater Horizon is one of the greatest environmental accidents in the history of oil. Recent demands for new discoveries and exploitation has led companies to challenge even deeper waters, as in the cases of companies in Brazil and South Africa indicating a need to better understand the overall drilling process to avoid accidents. Results of FRAM analysis of Deepwater Horizon accident show that functions "drilling" "cement placement" and "temporary abandonment" are main functions and they were not prepared to cope with process variability to ensure that processes involving diverse and complex enterprises were resilient enough to kept working when dealing with disturbances.

Rogério Ferreira Pereira a, Claudia do R. Vaz Morgado a

Conference Proceedings

Safety Management in the Assembly of Telecommunication Towers

There are significant pressures to improve the infrastructure of the telecommunications business currently operating in Brazil motivated by challenges for the development of the country in the coming years. These pressures include, among other things, the need for expansion of the telecommunications network, providing grounds for extensive research in ergonomics and safety management. One of the areas in which these pressures have the greatest impact in occupational safety and ergonomics is in the planning and execution of works for deployment of new communication towers, which unfortunately does not follow good practices of work safety. Unfortunately, safety culture and accident prevention thinking are not widespread in a sector where there is a high demand to accomplish production targets that have to be met according the regulatory agency schedule. The purpose of this research is to understand tradeoffs and pressures identifying major nonconformity in towers assembly works, seeking for solutions and work practices that aim to mitigate or minimize the existing conditions of risk in the construction, operation and maintenance of towers for fixed and mobile telephony, which contribute decisively to the occurrence of work incidents and accidents causing lots of injuries and deaths in Brazilian workers.

Henrique da Fonseca Marques a, Paulo Victor R. de Carvalho b

Conference Proceedings

A Conceptual Debate Upon Ergonomic Point of View of Work Accidents

The aim of this article is to discuss the statement of an ergonomic point of view in order to ensure the presenting useful and applied formulation of work accidents within contemporary foundations. In fact the expression ergonomic point of view outlines different approaches of work, working, work situation and work design. After a methodological frame, it is presented the conceptual evolution analysis of the work accident concept. Then it is discussed the expression “ergonomic point of view”. We conclude with a synthesis obtained from crossing the notable steps on work accident evolution and the distinct points of view claiming to be the ergonomic the best one Theoretical and methodological issues are also presented as a result of discussion.

Mario Cesar R. Vidal a, Renato José Bonfatti b, Paulo Victor Rodrigues de Carvalhoc

Conference Proceedings