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Generation of reliable data underpins the effectiveness of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) surveillance systems. Despite the importance of understanding OHS data systems, there are few papers that provide overviews of their structure and/or content. This paper introduces a basic framework for assessing OHS data systems that will be of use to researchers internationally. We applied this approach to assess the Irish OHS data system by undertaking a data mapping exercise. We developed a checklist based on recommendations of monitoring and measurement of OHS proposed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (USA). An assessment of published reports that present systematic OHS surveillance data was undertaken to identify the institutions or organisations responsible for collecting and curating the data, their remit, and, associated with this, their respective case definitions. We then provide an overview of the variables collected and these are then mapped against the checklist. The assessment highlights that whilst the farm fatalities dataset provides complete coverage of all fatalities, regardless of age or employment status, the same is not true of the three non-fatal injuries datasets reviewed. There are important differences in the data collection methods and, associated with this, which populations are covered. The assessment approach provides valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of a critical element of OHS surveillance systems, namely the production of datasets. This knowledge is important for researchers as understanding the data that informs their research is fundamental to good science. It is critical for policy-makers and other stakeholders to understand the strengths and weaknesses on which OHS policy, strategies, or education and training interventions are developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupational illnesses and occupational injuries remain significant problems in contemporary countries. Especially in the fourth industrial revolution, with the changing technology and business model requirements, employees are at more risk because they have to be much faster and fulfill different functions. Due to present risks, dangerous working conditions, and inadequate measures, each year hundreds of thousands of people suffer from occupational illnesses or have occupational accidents. While occupational health and safety (OHS) practices protect employees, it is possible to increase productivity by ensuring that employees work in a safe and healthy work environment with the Lean Occupational Safety approach based on the "Zero Accident" principle. In this paper, a case study is presented by using a Lean-OHS model that it is an original model that incorporates continuous improvement by taking advantage of lean philosophy, tools and techniques while fulfilling the OHS principles. The research was carried out in a university's pharmacology and pharmaceuticals laboratory, and it improved working conditions and made the workplace safer by turning 18 of 20 threats into acceptable ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupational safety risk assessment is always the basic stage of the systematic approach of reducing the impact of undesired events (work injuries and occupational illnesses), by decreasing both their likelihood of occurrence and the gravity/severity of the generated impact. Eighteen years ago, when, as a consequence of the regulatory changes induced by our country's accession into the European Union, the risk assessment became mandatory/compulsory. Since then some progress was factually realized in the spirit of applying different risk analysis techniques in all Romanian organizations. Even if there are many aspects that are requiring further improvement, an effectively validated and nationally accepted indigenous tool is nowadays available. This method was put in practice in this research paper, in order to analyse, evaluate and assess the safety risks related to several of the main activities/jobs in a diabase open pit mine exploiting construction stone in a certain province of the country. Based on the results obtained, it has become feasible to propose realistic measures aimed at preventing the identified and quantified risks located in the field of unacceptable risks and protecting exposed workers to their effects. The case study developed and synthesized in this article confirms the capability of the risk assessment process to facilitate the substantiation of the decisions regarding the allocation of resources towards the minimization of the risks encountered in the work processes by different categories of workers in the mining companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work-related deaths are a persistent occupational health issue that can be prevented. However, prevention opportunities can be hampered by a lack of adequate public health resources. The Western States Occupational Network (WestON) is a network of federal, state, and local occupational health professionals that includes a 19-state region of the United States. To encourage public health collaboration, WestON partners examined work-related fatalities within the region. Fatality counts (numerators) were obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries restricted-access research files for all workers ages ≥15 years and fatally injured in WestON states from 2011 through 2017. Estimates of full-time equivalent hours worked (FTE) (denominators) were retrieved from the BLS Current Population Survey. Annual average fatality rates were calculated as number of fatalities per 100,000 FTE over the study period. Rates were stratified by state, select demographics, industry sector, and event/exposure types. Pearson chi-squared tests and rate ratios with 95% confidence probability limits were used to assess rate differences. All analyses were conducted using SAS v.9.4. From 2011 through 2017, the annual average overall occupational fatality rate for the WestON region was 3.5 fatalities per 100,000 FTE, comparable to the overall U.S. fatality rate. Male workers had a fatality rate almost 10 times higher than female workers in the region. Fatality rates increased with successive age groups. Alaska and New Mexico had significantly higher fatality rates for all racial/ethnic groups compared to respective regional rates. Wyoming, North Dakota, and Montana had the three highest occupational fatality rates among foreign-born workers. Agriculture/forestry/fishing, mining/oil/gas extraction, and transportation/warehousing/utilities were industry sector groups with the three highest fatality rates regionally. Transportation-related incidents were the most frequent event type associated with occupational fatalities for all 19 states. Work-related fatalities are a crosscutting occupational public health priority. This analysis can be an impetus for collaborative multistate initiatives among a dynamic and varied occupational public health network to better meet the needs of a rapidly changing workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has increased the exposure risk of workers to occupational health risk factors and diseases. This study aims to investigate the impacts of climate change on the occupational health indicators at the workplaces in Iran. This study was conducted during 2021 in three climatic regions of Iran. Required data was collected from Health Deputies of Medical Universities and Iran Meteorological Organization. Stepwise linear regression model used for data analysis and predictions were done based on three scenarios of SSP1–2.6, SSP3–7.0, and SSP5–8.5 during the period of 2021–2100. This indicated 2.6 and 2.9 times higher percentage of workers who were exposed to heat stress and Ultra Violet (UV) radiation, respectively, in the provinces understudy. This study suggests a holistic approach to address potential impacts of climate change on workers' health and safety that would benefit in making decisions on climate-related planning and developing the adaptation strategies at workplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies have reported evidence on sharps injuries among nursing, medical and dental students but little is known about the amount, type and causes of sharps injuries affecting other healthcare students. Aim: The aim of the narrative review was to identify the extent, type and causes of sharps injuries sustained by healthcare students, especially those not in those fields. Method: Eight databases were searched using keywords to identify studies published between 1980 and March 2023. Findings: This narrative review highlights that some groups of healthcare students, including those studying pharmacy, physiotherapy and radiography, sustain sharps injuries from similar devices as reported in research on such injuries in nursing, medical and nursing students. Sharps injuries happen in a range of healthcare environments, and many were not reported by students. The main cause of a sharps injury identified was a lack of knowledge. Conclusion: More research is needed on the extent of sharps injuries in healthcare students in European countries and the UK as well as on their physical and psychological effects. Education and training in sharps use and disposal are essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Even when education and the use of safety equipment are emphasized, nurses frequently experience needlestick injuries. Understanding the risk situations and coping mechanisms for needlestick injuries experienced by nurses facilitates their prevention. Objectives: We aimed to explore and describe the phenomenon of needlestick injuries through the research questions: (1) What causes nurses to suffer from needlestick injuries? (2) How to cope after a needlestick injury? and (3) What are the recommendations for needlestick injury prevention? Methods: This qualitative descriptive study involved focus group interviews with 31 direct care nurses in 6 groups who had experienced needlestick injuries while working in different acute care hospitals across 3 regions in South Korea. Data were collected from January 29 to March 29, 2022, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: The average age of the participating nurses was 29.7 years. The following 3 themes were identified: various needlestick injury experiences, post-needlestick injury coping, and expectations regarding needlestick injuries. Conclusions: Risk situations and coping mechanisms of nurses who experienced needlestick injuries were diverse. Emergency situations and novice nurses were the causes of most of the needlestick injuries. Often, personal protective equipment was found cumbersome. Reporting needlestick injuries depended on the work environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to examine risk levels for Vaporizing Foil Actuator Welding (VFAW) prototype manufacturing and applications. A risk analysis was carried out by using the L-type matrix method to detect hazards and risks in newly developing VFAW applications. 60 risks were identified for VFAW, 37 of which were high and 23 were moderate. To reduce the risk and occupational accidents to the lowest possible level; a measuring instrument that can continuously monitor current and voltage values, a remote detonation system and a discharge mechanism have been added to the prototype system. Thanks to the measures taken the situations that may result in serious accidents, fire, explosion, loss of limb, and even death that may occur during the experiment have been brought under control and VFAW applications have been made safer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deck machinery is a leading source of hospitalized injury for commercial fishing workers in Alaska. More detailed data are needed about the specific circumstances leading to injuries for developing targeted prevention efforts. This study analyzed claims submitted to the Alaska Fisherman's Fund (AFF) to identify patterns among injuries in Alaska from commercial fishing winches. During January 1, 2000–November 1, 2020, 125 traumatic injuries from commercial fishing winches were identified, mainly occurring among males (94%), frequently among fishermen aged 30 years or younger (54%). Over 80% of winch injuries occurred in salmon fisheries. By gear type, 40% of injuries occurred on vessels using purse seine gear, 30% on vessels using drift gillnet gear, and 12% among set gillnet operators. Most injuries involved a fisherman having a body part caught in or compressed by a winch or cables attached to a winch (67%). Injuries mainly affected upper extremities including fingers (50% of cases) or hands/wrists (together 22% of cases). Injury severity was not formally assessed, but injuries ranged from contusions, sprains, and strains to finger or hand crushing injuries, upper limb amputation, skull fracture, spinal fracture, and chest trauma. Most cases involved fractures (23%), amputations (18%), lacerations (16%), and contusions (16%). Of all injuries, 51% were caused by anchor winches, 32% were caused by deck winches, 9% were caused by trailer winches, and 9% were caused by other types of winches. Practical solutions are needed for avoiding entanglement and struck-by hazards when operating fishing winches. Anchor winches warrant focused attention, having accounted for more than half of all winch injuries identified in this study. Engineering solutions, including emergency stop devices or other simple mechanical interventions depending on winch type, could help to avert potentially disabling injuries from winches. Administrative controls such as task-specific training for winches should be emphasized, especially for younger or less experienced commercial fishing crew, who may be at increased risk for injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indonesian fishing industry developed by 1.4% in 2020, compared to the previous year, as shown by the existence of around 773 seafood factories. Such growth caused the emergence of different working conditions due to the use of complex machines. In 2019, the industrialization process generated an immense potential for accidents on occupational health as the mishaps increased from 60 to 270 cases. For this reason, this study aimed to identify the value and level of risk, using HIRARC (Hazard Identification Risk Assessment and Risk Control) following AS/NZS 4360:2004 standards. The study was conducted at the fish meatball company located in East Java, for six months. The results showed that the company could manage the occupational health and safety, as indicated by the reduction of the levels of risk from acceptable (33.4%), priority 3 (14.3%), priority 2 risk (38.1%), priority 1 risk (9.5%), and very high risk (4.8%) to acceptable (76%) and priority 3 (24%). The risk assessment matrix had shifted from yellow (moderate) to green (low). Some recommendations implemented in the workplace included creating a safety organization, organizing training sessions among employees, fostering a safety culture, applying ergonomic principles, and controlling work hours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicides are a highly significant, yet largely preventable public health issue. The workplace is an important venue for health and safety, which includes concerns related to mental health and suicide prevention. Employers, unions, worker groups, practitioners, and suicide prevention specialists can all play an important role in suicide prevention. Objective: To examine suicide deaths among working-age residents in Massachusetts and to determine industries and occupations with high numbers and rates of suicides. Methods: The Massachusetts Violent Death Reporting System and Massachusetts death certificates were used to analyze suicide deaths from 2016 to 2019. Counts and rates were generated by demographics and industry and occupation groupings. Results: There were 2199 working-age Massachusetts residents who died by suicide. Higher suicide rates were associated with being male, 65 years or older, White, and non-Hispanic or having military background. Suicide rates were higher among the construction industry sector and the construction and extraction occupational group compared with the average rate for all Massachusetts workers. Conclusions: Suicide rates differed between industries and occupations, suggesting that work-related factors may play a role and should be considered when planning outreach initiatives and interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study seeks to enhance understanding of the complex nature of fatal farm injuries and thereby support the development of targeted safety messages or interventions. The research analyses fatal farm injuries surveillance data collected by the Health and Safety Authority (Ireland) for the period 2004–2018. Utilizing Non-Linear Canonical Correlation Analysis (NLCCA) to identify similarities and differences between 274 fatal injuries, multiple interactions and correlations between two sets of variables were identified. The analysis identified two major patterns of injury. The first relates to older farmers (60+) who were killed due to being struck by an object in motion, i.e. a tractor or machine. These injuries occurred mainly during the summer or winter between 13:00 and 18:00 in the Southern-Eastern regions. The second pattern also relates to older farmers, however these fatalities are associated with beef production and the primary cause of injury was being kicked or crushed by livestock. These injuries commonly occur in the Border, Midland, and Western regions where fatalities are prevalent during spring and outside of normal working hours. Assessing interactions between variables demonstrates to whom, how, when, and where fatal injuries affect different groups within the farm population. These findings provide regulators and farm safety stakeholders with key insights into background characteristics of fatal injuries including type of enterprise, time of day, season, and regional location that should be used to develop safety awareness, training, and targeted interventions to at-risk populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Working in old age not only solves the labor shortage in Japan, but also benefits the health of the older workers; however, work‐related accidents are a major concern. Functional impairment is an important factor in such accidents. The first aim was to examine the association between frailty status and work‐related accidents, and the second aim was to identify those who utilize the opportunity to learn about safe work. Methods: The participants were 7265 members of the Silver Human Resource Center in Tokyo, engaged in non‐regular and indeterminate paid work. The frailty status (robust, pre‐frail and frail) was assessed using the frailty screening index. We obtained data on self‐reported work‐related accidents that occurred in the past year, and the experience of participation in workshops and reading brochures for safe work. Modified Poisson regression analysis was carried out to calculate the prevalence ratio. Results: The prevalence of robust, pre‐frailty and frailty were 26.3%, 63.3% and 10.4%, respectively. The percentage of participants who reported work‐related accidents was 9.4%. Relative to robust participants, pre‐frail and frail participants showed 1.57‐fold (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.28–1.93) and 2.31‐fold (95% CI 1.79–2.98) higher prevalence ratios of work‐related accidents, respectively. The prevalence ratio in pre‐frail and frail participants were 1.08 (95% CI 1.04–1.11) and 1.14 (95% CI 1.09–1.20), respectively, for non‐participation in workshops, and 1.17 (95% CI 1.06–1.29) and 1.39 (95% CI 1.20–1.61), respectively, for not reading brochures. Conclusions: These findings suggest the importance of support for older workers with functional impairment, as well as those without to continue to work safely. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2023; 23: 234–238. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The future of agricultural work in the United States (U.S.) must account for at least two important trends: 1) the persistence of the industry being riddled with high rates of injury and illness and 2) the growing proportion of hired farmworkers compared to family farmworkers working in these dangerous environments. These workers confront structural disadvantages that impede social justice and prosperity. Social structures like policies, economic systems, institutions, and social hierarchies create health disparities, often along the lines of social categories. The result is an already dangerous industry with vulnerable workers facing unjust risks, especially those that are undocumented. Agricultural health and safety professionals and other stakeholders should engage structural competency curricula in order to increase awareness of impact of structures and be better positioned to improve farmworker health and wellbeing. Similar work has been successful in the training healthcare professionals, e.g. the Structural Competency Working Group (SCWG). New strategies are needed to improve farmworker wellbeing and retain an adequate agricultural workforce. A greater understanding of the social and structural concerns that farmworkers face is an important step towards occupational and social justice. It is also clear that it will require collaboration and community-based efforts creating a larger team of people using similar concepts related to the structural influences on whether health and wellbeing are distributed equitably. This work is being moved forward in healthcare, social work, worker organizations, and community-based initiatives. Agricultural health and safety professionals have a vital contribution to make if they join the ranks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latino day laborers (LDL) are a vulnerable population of workers facing considerable risk for occupational injury. Under the guidance of our Community Advisory Board, we developed and tested the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effects of Vales+Tú (You Are Worth More), a workplace injury risk-reduction program implemented by promotores on street-corners where LDL seek employment. The program was informed by theoretical perspectives emphasizing individual and group agency and self-determination. A pilot three-arm cluster-randomized community trial was conducted among 75 LDL. The intervention arms consisted of an individualized Brief Motivational Interview, a Group Problem Solving activity and a standard of care control (OSHA safety cards). We met our study goal of 25 LDL per intervention arm, and contacted 88% of participants post intervention. Participants evaluated the interventions favorably. At post-test, the Brief Motivational Interview group reported significant reductions in exposure to workplace hazards and increases in risk-reduction practices. The Group Problem Solving participants showed significant reductions in exposure to hazards (t -test −4.16, p < 0.001). Both intervention groups increased their reliance on corner peers, a measure of social support. Standard of care participants increased in self-efficacy to work safely. Overall, the only significant different between the three study conditions was in self-efficacy. These findings provide evidence of the feasibility and acceptability of Vales+Tú and show preliminary program efficacy. A large-scale replication trial will permit a more formal modeling of the study findings. Clinical Trial Registration (ClinicalTrials.gov): NCT04378348. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purposes of this study were to analyze Latino/a immigrant mushroom workers' perceptions of how the workplace environment shapes occupational safety and health, examine whether and how those perceptions differ by gender, and identify future areas for research on occupational safety and health in the mushroom industry. Researchers conducted structured interviews with 15 women and 45 men on 6 Pennsylvania mushroom farms to obtain their descriptions and perspectives of safety and health risk factors in their workplaces. Approximately one third of respondents had suffered an injury at work, and nearly half felt that there are workplace factors that affect their health and safety. The study found that Latino/a mushroom farmworkers perceive risks that are posed by the indoor infrastructure of mushroom production houses, including poorly maintained wooden walkways and cool indoor temperatures, and by the organization of mushroom production work, including the application of chemicals including pesticides, physical demands of the job, use of small knives, contact with compost, and the piece rate payment system. Workers commonly discussed back pain and believed it was associated with the organization of work. Women in the sample were more likely to be concerned about slips and falls than men and less likely to be concerned about aches and pains. Mushroom farm infrastructure and the specific demands of the jobs pose occupational safety and health risks to Latino/a farmworkers that merit further study to develop adequate public health interventions. Future research should obtain gender-disaggregated objective reports of injury, aches and pains, and discomfort and test for relationships between these reports and the indoor infrastructure and conditions of mushroom production work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupational safety problems are no longer acceptable for any industrial environment. Lack of comprehensive and reliable evaluations for occupational safety causes many undesired events and harm to employees during the industrial process. In this study, it is aimed to develop an applicable risk analysis methodology for evaluating the undesired occupational events that occurred in the multi-process system where no historical accident records. The difficulty in obtaining and analyzing the data required for the determination of the occupational safety risks especially in the manually executed processes has been overcome with the Bayesian Network and interval type-2 fuzzy sets by using the expert judgments. While BN enables to development of a comprehensive reasoning approach about the occurrence of the events, interval type-2 fuzzy sets better represent the ambiguity in the judgments by covering the uncertainty in a wider mathematical range with less computational effort according to other fuzzy sets. During multi-processes in industrial activity, various occupational undesired events may occur, including rare events with very serious consequences or frequent events with very low severity consequences. To able to consider all kinds of events occurring in an industrial environment from a holistic risk perspective, a novel fuzzy scale for specifying the probability and consequence of the events are proposed by the interval type-2 fuzzy numbers. Therefore, all undesired events regardless the probability and consequence which may occur during the multi-processes in a system and the main root causes of these events can be observed within the proposed methodology. A case study is used to emphasize the effect of the proposed methodology for risk analysis of occupational safety in underground mining. The results have indicated that occupational safety education is the most contributing factor to occurring the undesired occupational events in underground mining. We believe that this study could help evaluate the safety risk of the multi-process systems comprehensively and holistically and proposing strategic planning for mitigating the occupational safety risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Physical therapists (PTs) and physical therapist assistants (PTAs) are at high risk for work-related musculoskeletal pain and discomfort. OBJECTIVE: Determine the prevalence and exposure risk factors for work-related injuries (WRIs) among rehabilitation PTs and PTAs. METHODS: A cross-sectional research survey was conducted among 170 PTs and 67 PTAs at 51 free-standing rehabilitation hospitals and rehabilitation units embedded in general hospitals in the Midwestern states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. The prevalence of WRIs and significant risk factors for developing WRIs were determined for PTs and PTAs. RESULTS: The 1-year prevalence of WRIs among PTs and PTAs working in physical rehabilitation was 29.5%. Multifaceted causes were identified including frequently bending/twisting, over-exerting force during patient handling activities, inadequate lifting devices, and lack of ongoing training for mechanical lifting device usage. CONCLUSIONS: Equipment usage barriers point to a critical need for technology creation, research, and education to advance worker safety while simultaneously enhancing patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a strong relationship between monitoring and controlling risks from several perspectives and developing effective measures to ensure continuous improvement by creating value in occupational health and safety. Business systems that transform into complex and sociotechnical systems have a dynamic structure and contain various serious risks that threaten employee health and safety based on the technological development. Even if the risk impact is reduced with the classical attempts of occupational safety experts to prevent losses, new risks may arise owing to missed risks. Therefore, risks must be continuously monitored and controlled with functionally complementary tools. In addition, these tools must interact with each other. Achieving effective results from their effort in coping with risks is another key factor for businesses. In this paper, an integrated conceptual framework for monitoring and controlling risks in occupational health and safety is proposed. The proposed framework consists of four parts. The hypothesis proposed in the first part focuses on learning from accidents, and that proposed in the second part is related to the proactive analysis and evaluation of risks. The hypothesis proposed in the third part deals with the correct ranking of risks, and that proposed in the fourth part focuses on the development of an early-warning system based on safety technologies. The hypotheses should interact and support each other in the integrated conceptual framework. Finally, the safety performance can be enhanced, and continuous improvement can be achieved by preventing the waste of time and resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupational risk is closely related to work environment. For the same positions, but in different working conditions threats and level of risk can be different. For this also estimating the degree of damage hazard the largest possible should be adopted effects. However, when estimating probability occurrence of threats should include, among others: working conditions, events from the past, or possible employee behavior (in particular those that may be the cause of an accident at work). The source of the above information may be data from statistics or observations of work stations. The article presents the assessment of occupational risk at the position of the laser cutter operator, which was carried out using the Job Safety Analysis (JSA) method. According to this method, occupational risk is determined on the basis of two parameters, i.e.: consequences of C and probability of consequences P. In turn, the probability of consequences is the sum of three factors: frequency of hazard F, probability of event O and avoidability or damage limitation A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The nature of the work in saw mills carries a huge risk as the workers are exposed to various life-threatening hazards. Aims: This study was conducted to know the "Work place Wellbeing" of the saw mill workers, occupational Hazards identification and Risk assessment (HIRA) including hazard communication, occupational accidents, injuries and diseases. Settings and Design: The study was a cross sectional study amongst workers of saw mills. Methods and Material: A total of 219 saw mill workers were interviewed. "Work place wellbeing", was studied by using the "Workplace Wellbeing Questionnaire - Black Dog Institute" which includes four areas of workplace wellbeing viz. (1) Work satisfaction, (2) Organizational respect for the employee, (3) Employer care, and (4) Intrusion of work into private life. Reliability analysis was done and Cronbach's alpha was found. Association was found between the work place wellbeing and other demographic and occupational variables. Statistical Analysis Used: Proportions and Mann--Whitney U test. Results: Scores of all the participants fall in the medium scale for "work satisfaction". For "respect", 93.6% fall in the medium scale. In "employer care" 97.7% fall in medium category. All the workers scored in the medium scale for the "intrusion in private life". None of the scores were in low scale for any domain. Injury as an event was reported by 8.22%. Specific disease prevalence was highest for back ache as 72.1%. Hazard communication was done in 40% workers. Conclusions: We found poor working positions at work place and they did suffer from various medical morbidities at the work place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the research in this study is to analyze the impact of early prediction of hazards to prevent workplace injuries and improve employees' safety. The tremendous advances in technology in recent decades have created new hazards in machine handling, which has led to the development of new techniques for a higher degree of protection that society expects from employers to provide to their employees. The analyses show that regardless of the type of method used for risk assessment, the highest risks for machine operators are generated by mechanical hazards. This research aims to approach the analysis of risks caused by mechanical hazards and propose measures to prevent them before occurrence. A risk assessment for a mechanic was done and all factors that generate a high level of risk were analyzed. The methodology used for risk assessment is a tabular technique that combines qualitative and quantitative methodology. The Kinney method was used as the research method. Raising awareness of occupational safety among employers and encouraging a sense of responsibility for workers' health will be a major benefit that will provide better working conditions in any business, both human and economically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Occupation related fatality and mortality rate is becoming the devastating issue globally as reported by the International Labor Organization (ILO). Though there are reports about exposure and burden of occupational injury from the regional states, the studies were fragmented and inconclusive ones at the national level. Hence, the authors' intention being to come up with the national pooled estimates of occupation related injury and the associated factors in Ethiopia. Methods: The international reputable databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect and Cochrane Library), cross-referencing and manual search strategies were explored rigorously following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocol (PRISMA-P) guideline. Studies that reported the prevalence of occupational injury were included for this systematic review and meta-analysis. The Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment tool scale for cross-sectional studies was used for the critical appraisal of the studies. The heterogeneity between the studies was checked using Cochran Q statistic with the inverse variance (I2) value. Random effects meta-analysis was considered assess the summative effect size of occupational injury and the factors associated with it. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression were also employed to identify the possible source of heterogeneity and factors associated with occupational injury respectively. Both Egger's and Begg's test with the p-value less than 5% were used to declare the presence of publication bias. Results: A total of 23 original studies were considered to estimate the pooled effect size of occupational injury in Ethiopia. The pooled prevalence of occupational injury in Ethiopia was 44.66% (95% CI: 43.83, 45.49). Based on the subgroup analysis, the highest prevalence of occupational injury was reported from the construction sites (50.8%) in particular of the Addis Ababa city administration (49.5.Being male workers [OR = 1.46 (95% CI: 1.01, 2.11)], working more than eight hours per day [OR = 2.84 (95% CI: 1.81, 4.46)], absence of supervision for labor workers [OR = 1.60 (95% CI: 1.08, 2.37)], lack of personal protective equipment [OR = 3.01 (95% CI: 1.61, 5.63)] and lack of occupational health and safety training [OR = 1.49 (95% CI: 1.15, 1.92)] had increased odds of occupational injury. Conclusion: Based on this systematic review and meta-analysis, it is concluded that nearly half of the labor workers in Ethiopia were experienced occupational injury. This issue was more encountered among the labor workers of construction sites and whose working place were at the Addis Ababa city administration respectively. Being male sex, working more than eight hours per day, lack of personal protective equipment, lack of supervision, and lack of training about occupational health and safety had increased odds of occupational injury in Ethiopia. Hence, the concerned body should give special emphasis for all the explored factors in order to minimize occupation related injury, mortality and morbidity in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the hearing loss risk in different sectors and subunits in the mining industry and to identify associated occupations, in an attempt to locate gaps between hearing conservation efforts and hearing loss risks.Design: Descriptive statistics and frequency tables were generated by commodity types, subunit operations, and/or occupations. Temporal trends of the incidences of hearing loss were reported by commodity types.Study Sample: The MSHA Accident/Injury/Illness and MSHA Address/Employment databases from 2000 to 2014 were used.Results: Incidence rate of OHL was reported highest in the coal sector compared to other commodity types. Those members of the workforce that entered the mining industry after the year 2000 accounted for 6.5% and 19.0% of the total hearing loss records for coal and non-coal, respectively. High-risk occupations found in all three commodity sectors (coal; stone, sand, and gravel; and metal/non-metal) were electrician/helper/wireman, mechanic/repairman/helper, bulldozer/tractor operator, and truck driver.Conclusion: Hearing loss risks were not uniform across mining sectors, subunit operations, and occupations. In addition to the continuous efforts of implementing engineering controls to reduce machinery sound level exposure for operators, a multi-level approach may benefit those occupations with a more dynamic exposure profile – e.g., labour/utilityman/bullgang, electrician/helper/wireman, and mechanic/repairman/helper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neoliberal reforms of the early 1990s in Colombia, mainly labour and social security reforms, transformed capital-labour relations and contributed to the erosion of working conditions and health protection at work, with devastating impacts on workers' health. In the context of these dramatic changes, Colombian workers mobilised around collective identities that have shaped new forms of workers' struggle and resistance. Since 2006, associations of workers suffering work-related illnesses have been active in Colombia. The associated workers engaged in collective actions have demanded from employers, the Ministry of Work, occupational risk administrators, disability rating boards and the judicial system the recognition of certain diseases as being of occupational origin and that these entities guarantee corresponding labour, economic and social security rights. This paper describes and analyses the dynamics of the struggle for the right to health at work undertaken by these associations in Colombia, adopting an analytical perspective inspired by collective action theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, effective safety and health management is required to guarantee safe conditions in work environments. Present research was conducted in a private SME Printing manufacturer. Its main objective is to analyze safety and health management systems effect over accidents in work environment. For this purpose, methods like documental analysis, accidents historical data as well as a protocol check list for auditing management system were applied. Investigation determined company decreasing trend of work accidentabilityas a result of favorable management system evolution. Nevertheless, incident prevention and risk control have opportunities to improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The assessment of safety barriers performance is often achieved through tests or inspections in order to determine their availability or probability of failure on demand (PFD). The ultimate objective of these activities is to observe if the safety barrier is operational and to detect possible hidden failures. However, sometimes due to error in design or changes performed on the installation, the referred safety barrier is not adequate or no longer suitable to face the current level of risk. In the present paper is made a description of safety barriers as important means concerning risky situations and a methodology to evaluate the adequacy of a safety barrier is proposed. This methodology links the safety integrity level of an assessed safety barrier to the probability of occurrence of the hazardous event that it should protect. There is a pre-selection of the classified dangerous undetected safety function failures that will be used to determine the probability of failure on demand (PFD) and the safety barrier adequacy to a specific risk. It will be also possible to estimate the probability of occurrence of a hazardous situation corresponding to the simultaneity of the initiating hazardous event and the safety barrier fault (when a demand occurs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk assessment is the tool for maintaining perfect safety management systems and aiding sustainable process design, with hazard identification as the critical step. This step can be executed by past accidents analysis (PAA) to achieve the mentioned objectives. Despite of available analyses, the recurring of accidents identifies the shortcomings in PAA and requires a detailed examination as reported in this review. The intensified exploration of accident information will strengthen both the safety management system at existing facilities and process designing in terms of sustainability. Past accidents analysis is a significant method for the crtitical hazard identification step of risk assessment. The analyses reported in literature to determine the trends for process industry accidents for safety systems of existing process plants and sustainable process designing are critically reviewed. Future directions for accident analysis are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A network theoretic metric for comparing HAZID methods was presented. • The metric counts socio-technical interactions in accident scenarios. • The metric is called the P3 Interaction Contribution (PIC). • The PIC results showed clear differences in HAZID results. • Future experiments to validate the PIC were presented. Abstract Comparing the results of hazard identification (HAZID) methods is a complex task, but the question that drives this activity is vitally important: which HAZID method should be used to best identify an accident scenario? Despite many efforts to address this, effective metrics do not yet readily exist for clearly comparing HAZID results for a particular scenario. The complexity of socio-technical systems is often cited as a key factor that limits effective scenario identification, calling into question traditional HAZID efforts. Motivated by the observation that interactions between multiple component types, such as People, Plant and Procedures (P3), often significantly contribute to major process system accidents, being an expression of the complexity of the system, a novel, precise, network topology-based metric for calculating the contribution of P3 Interactions to accident scenarios is presented. This metric, called the P3 Interaction Contribution (PIC), is intended to be used for comparing the HAZID results. An illustrative example of using the PIC for HAZID comparison is included, whereby Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Blended Hazard Identification methodology (BLHAZID) and Systems Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) were each applied to a heat exchanger start-up operation. The results show initial promise that the PIC can be effective as a HAZID comparison tool. The main outputs of this paper are the presentation of the PIC calculation process and the method for applying the PIC to HAZID results. The paper concludes with recommendations for further experimental work to explore the validation and assess the true value of the PIC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This study presents a meta-analysis of age-related occupational accident risks. • Older workers are more vulnerable than younger workers in the workplace. • Occupation moderates the relationship of ageing and occupational safety and health. • Measurement of accidents also moderates the relationship. Abstract Existing studies show contradictory evidence on the relationship between ageing and occupational safety and health (OSH). The present study presents a systematic review of international research on age-related occupational accident risks for the last 30 years using meta-analysis technique. A summary of odds ratios on occupational risk incidence of older workers versus younger workers were grouped by outcome of occupational accidents. Potential moderators that could influence the relationship of ageing and OSH were analysed. Results showed that older workers are more vulnerable than younger workers in the workplace. The occurrence of severe/fatal accidents among older workers is twice as much as that of younger ones. However, the incidence of non-fatal accident among older workers is slightly (5.8%) lower than that of younger workers. Occupation and measurement of accidents are two important moderators that significantly influence the relationship of ageing and OSH. The results here show the need to promote OSH management specifically for older workers and have profound implications for planning work for an ageing workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Innovative biotechnologies are posing emerging risks. • Emerging risks in biorefining processes are often unrecognized or poorly understood. • A risk-based approach can help to address correctly safety issues related to biorefineries. Abstract The rapid progress of innovative biorefinery technologies raises the issue of emerging risk and major accident hazard in biorefineries, as process safety aspects of such technologies are not developing at the same pace with respect to their dissemination and scale-up. To address such problem, in the present work a consequence-based approach was integrated in the framework of a consolidated QRA methodology (ARAMIS), formerly developed in the context of Seveso Directive in the process industries (mainly oil&gas). Among all the possible scenarios identified using ARAMIS, Relevant Accident Scenarios (RAS) were selected by calculating hazard distances using threshold values for the evaluation of damages on human target derived from existing regulations on the control of major accident hazards. The method has been described and used to quantify the risk associated to a biorefinery process: the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass materials to levulinic acid and gamma-valerolactone, where the use of hazardous substances and severe process conditions are required. Using the proposed approach allowed to reduce the number of scenarios to be retained for further analysis. The RAS resulted 1/3 of the scenarios initially identified, simplifying the rest of the risk assessment procedure. The integrated methodology enabled to depict a risk figure for the plant analysed which is not over-conservative, being beneficial during the risk management phase, when risk reduction measures have to be selected and implemented in order to achieve risk tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how working alone can increase the likelihood of some workplace hazards or risks occurring. It notes that a working alone safety program (WASP) may be developed and implemented to address this exposure, thereby supporting an employer's goals of reduced risk and zero losses. An organization must be committed to the safety and health of all its employees, not just those working from fixed and mobile work sites where coworkers are present.

The objective of the conducted research is the identification and determination of requirements of members of fire rescue brigades during operations in the conditions of high risk in order to minimize the possibilities for injury incidence during the intervention. The research is focused on examination, determination and identification of factors affecting the increasing number of occupational injuries of members of fire rescue brigades during interventions. Hypothetical framework of the research problem consists of general hypothesis and six special hypotheses. Results suggest that almost all respondents believe that their skills and abilities are applicable in the intervention phase, but less than a half believe that their skills are applicable in prevention phase. Two-thirds of respondents stated that in their organization they have support for further education and upgrading while a half of respondents stated that they need education concerning identification, assessment and management of risks that can lead to emergency situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large integrated steel plants employ an effective safety management system and gather a significant amount of safety-related data. This research intends to explore and visualize the rich database to find out the key factors responsible for the occurrences of incidents. The study was carried out on the data in the form of investigation reports collected from a steel plant in India. The data were processed and analysed using some of the quality management tools like Pareto chart, control chart, Ishikawa diagram, etc. Analyses showed that causes of incidents differ depending on the activities performed in a department. For example, fire/explosion and process-related incidents are more common in the departments associated with coke-making and blast furnace. Similar kind of factors were obtained, and recommendations were provided for their mitigation. Finally, the limitations of the study were discussed, and the scope of the research works was identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety of machinery is a major concern in the manufacturing sector, but machines are also present in many other fields of activities, including healthcare. With the importance of machine-related accidents, the risk management practices related to the safety of machinery in the manufacturing sector are well known and documented. However, there is very little knowledge about the importance of machinery-related risks and their management practices within the hospital sector. The exploratory study presented in this paper addresses (i) the context of safety of machinery in hospitals; (ii) the characteristics of the machines used and their inherent hazards; and (iii) the level of integration of risk management practices for the safety of machinery in hospitals, such as risk assessment, machine safeguarding, lockout/tagout, inspection, and training. Five hospitals were visited and a questionnaire was used to collect the opinions and perceptions of non-medical managers and workers regarding machinery risk management. A total of 17 managers and 17 workers were interviewed. Documents related to machinery risk management practices, and information regarding the machines used and their hazards, were also collected. The results show that machine-related risks are a reality in this sector and that safeguarding of machinery is often deficient. None of the visited facilities had machine risk assessment procedures, a lockout/tagout program, or any specific document on safety rules related to machine hazards. Yet, the majority of managers and workers agree to say that these practices are relevant and can be implemented in the hospital sector. The results suggest that the hospital sector is generally aware of the best practices in machinery risk management, but that their level of implementation is lower than what can be observed in the industrial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Railway level crossing (LX) safety continues to be one of the most critical issues for railways, despite an ever-increasing focus on improving design and application practices. Accidents at European LXs account for about one-third of the entire railway accidents and result in more than 300 deaths every year in Europe. Due to the non-deterministic causes, the complex operation background and the lack of thorough statistical analysis based on accident/incident data, the risk assessment of LXs remains a challenging task. In the present paper, some LX accident prediction models are developed. Such models allow for highlighting the influence of the main impacting parameters, i.e., the average daily road traffic, the average daily railway traffic, the annual road accidents, the vertical road profile, the horizontal road alignment, the road width, the crossing length, the railway speed limit and the geographic region. The Ordinary Least-Squares (OLS) and Nonlinear Least-Squares (NLS) methods are employed to estimate the respective coefficients of variables in the prediction models, based on the LX accident/incident data. The validation and comparison process is performed through statistical means to examine how well the estimation of the models fits the reality. The outcomes of validation and comparison attest that the improved accident prediction model has statistic-based approbatory quality. Moreover, the improved accident prediction model combined with the NB distribution shows relatively high predictive accuracy of the probability of accident occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this work is the risk assessment, concentrating on the constructions' workplaces of EU countries. Two significant methodologies (adapted from the scientific litterature), as well as a combined elaboration (joint analysis) of their results, are used for this purpose. The first one, is the Proportional Risk Assessment Technique (PRAT) (see [1], [2], [3] ) and the second one, is the analysis of Time Series Processes (TSP) (see [4], [5] ), concerning occupational accidents. In particular, real data of occupational accidents in Greece, Cyprus, France, Germany and Spain, are analyzed (PRATTSP joint analysis). These data have been collected from different official State sources or databases, throughout various time intervals, namely: (i) for Greece by "SEPE" (Labor Inspectorate, Ministry of Employment) regarding the years 2001-2011 (ii) for Cyprus by the "Department of Labor Inspection of Cyprus" (DLIC) concerning the years 2003-2011 and (iii) for the countries Greece, France, Germany and Spain from the "Eurostat" database covering the period 1996- 2007. The relevant results, show that the estimated value for the magnitude of risk (R) in the worksites of the constructions sector (Constructions and Public Works) is, in some cases, greater than 200, that proves, according to the scientific litterature, the necessity of taking measures no later than one year, in order to downgrade the direct risk of arising fatal accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the increased prevalence of chronic disease and health care costs, more individuals are treated in the home, which has augmented the demand for more Home Healthcare Workers (HHCWs) in the field. HHCWs face multiple hazards with injury rates being more than double the national average; however, current studies on HHCWs have provided limited understanding of their occupational safety & health experiences and exposures. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency and risk of exposures through perceptions of HHCWs. The results of this study provide an initial picture of the different risks that HHCWs face daily. These findings show that studies involving HHCWs occupational safety need to be job-specific, and the proposed interventions will also likely need to be tailored by HHCWs type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many industries are subjected to major hazards, which are of great concern to stakeholders groups. Accordingly, efforts to control these hazards and manage risks are increasingly made, supported by improved computational capabilities and the application of sophisticated safety and reliability models. Recent events, however, have revealed that apparently rare or seemingly unforeseen scenarios, involving complex interactions between human factors, technologies and organisations, are capable of triggering major catastrophes. The purpose of this work is to enhance stakeholders’ trust in risk management by developing a framework to verify if tendencies and patterns observed in major accidents were appropriately contemplated by risk studies. This paper first discusses the main accident theories underpinning major catastrophes. Then, an accident dataset containing contributing factors from major events occurred in high-technology industrial domains serves as basis for the application of a clustering and data mining technique (self-organising maps – SOM), allowing the exploration of accident information gathered from in-depth investigations. Results enabled the disclosure of common patterns in major accidents, leading to the development of an attribute list to validate risk assessment studies to ensure that the influence of human factors, technological issues and organisational aspects was properly taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A model for the quantification of occupational risk and a corresponding software tool are presented. The model quantifies occupational risk of one worker or several workers by taking into account their various tasks, activities and the associated hazards. Risk is evaluated for three types of consequences: recoverable injury, permanent injury and death. The occupational risk model is based on a set of 63 single-hazard models each assessing risk owing to a different hazard such as fall from a ladder, scaffold, roof etc. Data for quantifying these models come from the analysis of 9000 occupational accidents in the Netherlands in the period 1998–2004, and of the corresponding exposure data of activities and working conditions of the Dutch working population. Risk reducing measures are introduced, influencing the frequency of the more basic events of the model. A number of risk reducing measures forms a risk reducing policy. Each policy results in risk reduction, but it entails an economic cost. A multi-attribute evolutionary algorithm is used to develop the efficient frontier of the available solutions. The models and the software tool are demonstrated through a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rate of occupational injuries has been declining annually, but the rate of decline for fatalities has not kept a similar pace. Behavior-based safety (BBS) contributes to reducing personal injuries, and can be applied to preventing serious incidents. To address serious injuries with greater confidence requires a change in perspective on the causes of fatalities and serious injuries. Heinrich’s safety triangle helps describe the ratio between minor incidents and major incidents, but is not adequate in helping topredictserious incidents. Adding a special subset to the safety triangle can assist safety practitioners in predicting and influencing such events. Extending the triangle to include more foundational root causes, such as leadership shortcomings and system failures, will expand the scope of the behavior analysis, and including greater specificity about the precursors to serious incidents will help the precision of the behavior analysis. The implications of the expanded triangle for amplifying the effectiveness of BBS for reducing serious incidents are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying the science of human factors to eliminate error across all aspects of process design, management, operation, and maintenance has been a focus in the process safety area for many years. Human error has been attributed as a major cause of many high profile catastrophic accidents around the world. These accidents have resulted in national and international attention, which has led to a focus on improving organizational capabilities, systems, and in many cases, governmental regulations around human factors. This article provides a review of the field of human factors highlighting various topics in the literature, and introduces governmental regulatory bodies currently engaging organizations in a scientific approach to human factors. Finally, the need for integrating behavioral science methodologies with human factors is addressed. This is done with specific focus on how Organizational Behavior Management methodologies can work in concert with human factors to optimize process safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to identify behavioral components active in process safety. Three types of behavior classes are identified as contributors to process safety: task-specific behaviors, safety-directed behaviors, and behaviors associated with situational awareness. Behavioral systems analysis is used to provide a framework for identifying the cross-functional interlocking behavioral contingencies that can, even over a period of years, contribute to process safety incidents. Leadership behaviors are also identified that can create the context in the form of metacontingencies that maintain these interlocking contingencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a challenge to prevent occupational accidents in any industrial activities. The aim of this study is to improve safety and reduce the risk of occupational accidents at shipyards by developing a risk assessment methodology using work observation technique. This article describes a concept and methodology of risk assessment for occupational safety and its application. It introduces an effective and useful assessment procedure designed from a database based on the past cases of occupational accidents at shipyards. A quantitative method is developed to understand unsafe working conditions and environment at shipyards. A mobile device is used to collect the work observation data at the shipyard, and some examples of effective hazard measures are suggested. Based on the methodology, a feasibility study was conducted to improve walking safety at a numerical control (NC) cutting process of a shipyard in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Integrating into Risk assessment the individual human performance. • Human Resources allocation optimization. • Customized Risk assessment. Following the enforcement of the EEC Directive (1989), focused on the promotion of workers health and safety, several approaches have been developed in the last 30 years to assess the risks related to the different hazards in the work environment and to identify, based on this assessment process, measures and action to promote safety and to reduce the occupational accidents. These approaches generally are focused on the analysis of the working activity and neglect the influence of the worker characteristics involved, strongly limiting the effectiveness of the risk-based decision making. This has a particular relevance in manufacturing field, where workers are still widely employed in several tasks, despite an increasing processes automation. Within this paper an innovative approach to explicitly consider the individual characteristic of the workers within the risk assessment in the work environment is described. Integration of a Human Performance model within risk assessment process is thus proposed. The resulting method allowed the definition of a customized risk based both on the individual skill of the worker involved and on the characteristics of the work places The comparison between risk assessed with traditional method and the customized risk showed the relevant influence that the human performance may have on the risk level to which the workers are exposed to and consequently allowed the company to identify the need for technical and organisational prevention and protection measures not highlighted with the more traditional approach. This method was applied for validation to an assembly line of a heavy vehicles manufacturing plant. The impact on the risk assessment is here shown and discussed, while the results in terms of safety at the workplace are still in the phase of data collection and will be published in future work. This model represents a step into the future of safety as a precursor of a more general process of customization at the individual level that is ongoing in several branches from the precision and personalized medicine (Duarte and Spencer, 2016) to the individual financial and marketing methods (Matz and Netzer, 2017). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, I examine whether the resilience engineering concept is related to the implementation of occupational safety and health management systems (OSH MSs) and to safety levels in Polish enterprises of different sizes and activities. A relative risk category was applied to the surveyed enterprises to allow for comparability among enterprises representing different hazards resulting from different types of activities and employment levels. The results showed that there is no relationship between the presence of OSH MSs and either the safety level or the level of the resilience concept. However, statistically significant differences were observed between enterprises in the extremely high-risk category and enterprises in the other risk categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is concerned with the cooking processes in commercial restaurant kitchens and the characteristics of occupational injuries according to cooking processes. In order to obtain an overall picture of cooking, questionnaire survey was carried out. Furthermore accident data for injured persons were categorized by the cooking processes in progress during the accident, and were analyzed in terms of age of injured person, work experience, accident type, and agency of accident. Survey results of questionnaire show that heated cooking constitutes the largest part, followed by non-heated cooking, and preparation. Also results show that the cooking process in time of the accidents resulted in differences of, such as, type of accident, period of work experience, and agency of accident; (1) Accidents during preparation were caused mainly by machine and tools (86.7%), and most victims were injured in the forms of getting caught in and between objects (45.7%) or with cuts, amputations and punctures (43.9%); (2) Cooking utensils and caldron were behind 55.4% of the accidents, and 73.3% of the accidents during heated cooking processes revealed problems with abnormal temperature; (3) Accident during handling/storing ingredients and serving were most commonly in the forms of slips and falls. Finally, a hazard identification and risk assessment table of kitchen works was derived to classify the possible incidents according to the levels of risk. These findings of accident properties according to cooking process can be used as baseline data for the establishment of systematical preventative policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety strategies in the process and other industries depend ultimately on how much the owners and operators decide should be spent on protection systems to protect workers and the public from potential plant hazards. An important input to decisions of this sort is the value of life, which needs to be assessed in a valid manner so that safety decisions can be made properly. A key reference point for decisions on safety investment decisions in the UK is a 1999 study on the "value of a prevented fatality" (VPF), which employs a twoinjury chained model that has been shown previously by the present authors to possess internal inconsistencies. The 1999 study made extensive use of utility functions to interpret survey data, and it is this feature that is explored in this paper. It will be explained here how different forms of utility function of the Exponential family can produce the same figure for an intermediate parameter in the calculation of the VPF from the two-injury chained model. Exponential utility functions are, however, unlikely to provide a realistic representation if their calculated risk-aversions need to be negative or zero in order to match survey data, which would imply an incautious attitude amongst those taking decisions on safety. The use of an incompletely specified wealth threshold in the utility modelling is explored in the light of a proposal by the authors of the 1999 study that a second utility function can be used to determine the individual's utility when his wealth lies below the threshold, which constitutes the lower limit of validity of the first utility function. The proposition is shown to be untenable. The results presented in this paper raise further concerns about the lack of validity of the 1999 study on which the UK VPF is based and hence on the safety decisions that have been made in consequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine how organizations in Quebec manage risks associated with confined space interventions. Fatal work accidents that occurred in confined spaces in Quebec between 1998 and 2011 were therefore studied using the database of the provincial workers’ compensation board. Thirty-two accident investigation reports involving 40 fatalities were obtained for the target period. The risk factors studied were the time of year, type of accident, and management and design problems. The risk management practices of 15 Quebec organizations were also analyzed through semi-structured interviews and observation of confined space interventions. Organizations with different profiles were chosen to cover a wide range of confined spaces and work situations. With respect to the regulatory in force in Quebec and based on the Canadian standard on the management of work in confined spaces, the organizations visited neglected the following points, in terms of both prescribed directives and actual practices: (i) management of subcontractors, (ii) auditing how risk reduction means are used, and (iii) integration of prevention through design. The lack of guidelines limited the real effectiveness of measures pertaining to training, rescue, use of certain control measures, and the preparation of entry permits. Given the complexity and diversity of the work involved in the issuance of permits, uncertainties during their preparation can lead to poor risk assessment and eventually to inadequate risk reduction measures. This article therefore proposes an entry permit consolidating all the information needed to prepare for entry, as well as recommendations regarding the aforementioned challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]