Causes Of Accidents Research Articles

Watch the Skies: A Study on Drone Attack Vectors, Forensic Approaches, and Persisting Security Challenges

In the rapidly evolving landscape of drone technology, securing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) presents critical challenges and demands unique solutions. This paper offers a thorough examination of the security requirements, threat models, and solutions pertinent to UAVs, emphasizing the importance of cybersecurity and drone forensics. This research addresses the unique requirements of UAV security, outlines various threat models, and explores diverse solutions to ensure data integrity. Drone forensics, a field dedicated to the investigation of security incidents involving UAVs, has been extensively examined and demonstrates its relevance in identifying attack origins or establishing accident causes. This paper further surveys artifacts, tools, and benchmark datasets that are critical in the domain of drone forensics, providing a comprehensive view of current capabilities. Acknowledging the ongoing challenges in UAV security, particularly given the pace of technological advancement and complex operational environments, this study underscores the need for increased collaboration, updated security protocols, and comprehensive regulatory frameworks. Ultimately, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of UAV cybersecurity and aids in fostering future research into the secure and reliable operation of drones.

Validation of a Headspace Gas Chromatography with Flame Ionization Detection Method to Quantify Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) for Forensic Practice

Alcohol consumption is a major social and forensic issue. It is often the cause of road accidents, industrial accidents, suicides and other crimes. On account of this, it is of fundamental importance in forensic toxicology to correctly quantify blood alcohol concentration (BAC). In this work, a straightforward method for the quantification of ethanol from blood samples by means of headspace gas chromatography with flame ionization detection is presented and validated. For method validation linearity, limit of detection (LOD), lower limit of quantification (LLOQ), accuracy, precision (% CV) and interference studies were carried out. All the validation conditions were satisfied according to the acceptance criteria. Proof of applicability was performed on 50 real blood samples, showing that the method was effective.

Reduction of occupational injuries as a way to solve the problem of the shortage of personnel to reduce risks in the energy industry

Energy security is a priority area of economic development and an important component of the state's national security. Among the internal threats to energy security, experts point to market defects, equipment degradation and backwardness of technologies, imperfect management, personnel problems, and others. One of the reasons for the shortage of qualified personnel is industrial injuries. In the work, a comparative analysis of data for the period from 2015 to 2023 was carried out regarding the level of industrial injuries in various sectors of the economy and the causes of accidents. The fact of a sharp increase in the total number of insurance accidents in 2021–2022 was established only in two sectors - the sphere of health care and the sphere of electricity and gas supply. In other sectors of the economy, the number of industrial injuries decreased compared to 2015. The largest number of accidents with fatal consequences in the energy industry is caused by electrocution of personnel during maintenance and repair of electrical installations. As the conducted studies have shown, in recent years the number of accidents has increased significantly not only due to man-made reasons, which was explained by the corona virus pandemic, but also due to organizational reasons. Among the organizational reasons, violations of labor discipline are in the first places – non-fulfilment of the requirements of labor protection instructions, non-fulfilment of job duties and violation of the technological process. Therefore, the development of proposals for the improvement of the labor protection management system and labor relations in the energy industry is an urgent task. There are proposed measures to reduce the level of injuries due to organizational reasons in stressful conditions of mass absenteeism of personnel due to illness or during hostilities.

Human error identification and risk assessment in loading and unloading of petroleum products by road trucks using the SHERPA and fuzzy inference system method

Human error constitutes one of the primary causes of accidents, particularly in the context of loading and unloading operations involving road trucks, especially those carrying petroleum products. The process of identifying and evaluating human errors within these operations involves several key steps. Initially, all sub-tasks associated with loading and unloading are meticulously identified and analyzed utilizing Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA), achieved through direct observation, document examination, and interviews. Subsequently, potential human error modes within each task are delineated using the Systematic Human Error Reduction and Prediction Approach (SHERPA). Finally, essential data for determining the criticality, probability, and severity of each error are gathered through expert elicitation and the application of Fuzzy Inference Systems (FIS).Through the analysis of SHERPA worksheets, a total of 37 errors during loading operations and 14 errors during unloading operations of petroleum products were identified. Among these errors, the predominant category during loading operations was action errors, comprising 31 instances, while communication errors were the least frequent, occurring only twice. Similarly, action errors were most prevalent during unloading operations, constituting 13 instances. These errors were further categorized and ranked based on their risk levels, resulting in 27 levels for loading operations and 12 levels for unloading operations.The consistent occurrence of action errors underscores the need for implementing control measures to mitigate their frequency and severity. Such strategies may include periodic training sessions to reinforce proper work procedures and the development of monitoring checklists, among other interventions.

An optimized deep belief network based pothole detection model for asphalt road

The poor quality of asphalt roads has a significant impact on driver safety, damages the mechanical structure of vehicles, increases fuel consumption, annoys passengers and is sometimes also responsible for accidents. Further, the poor quality of the road can be described as a rough surface and the presence of potholes. The potholes can be one of the main reasons for accident cause, increased fuel consumption and annoying passengers. Furthermore, the potholes can be of varied size, radiance effect, shadow and scales. Hence, the detection of potholes in asphalt roads can be considered a complex task and one of the serious issues regarding the maintenance of asphalt roads. This work focuses on the detection of the potholes in the asphalt roads. So in this work, a pothole detection model is proposed for accurate detection of potholes in the asphalt roads. The effectiveness of the proposed pothole detection model is tested over a set of real-world image datasets. In this study, the asphalt roads of the Delhi-NCR region are chosen and real-world images of these roads are collected through the smart camera. The final road image dataset consists of a total of 1150 images including 860 pothole images and the rest of are without pothole images. Further, the deep belief network is integrated into a proposed model for the detection of pothole images as a classification task and classified the images as pothole detected and not pothole. The experimental results of the proposed detection model are evaluated using accuracy, precision, recall, F1-Score and AUC parameters. These results are also compared with ANN, SVM, VGG16, VGG19 and InceptionV3 techniques. The simulation results showed that the proposed detection model achieves a 93.04% accuracy rate, 94.30% recall rate, 96.31% precision rate and 96.92% F1-Score rate than other techniques.

Road Accident Proneness among Motorcyclist in Malaysia: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Concern has been expressed by people living in all parts of Malaysia regarding the high number of traffic accidents. This study demonstrates that a mix of human qualities may be responsible for the increase in the accident rate experienced by motorcyclists while they are travelling on public roadways. There is a possibility that human factors, such as riding anger, riding attitude, and a lack of mindfulness, are the most common causes of motorcycle accidents. Research on the frequency of traffic accidents in Malaysia is still in its preliminary stages. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the association between riding anger, riding attitude, mindful driving, and the likelihood of being involved in a road accident. This investigation makes use of a quantitative methodology by means of a questionnaire that is disseminated to customers who are shopping at licenced Yamaha dealers in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. The findings of structural equation modelling indicate that factors such as riding anger, riding attitude, and mindfulness have a significant impact on the likelihood of being involved in a road accident. The explanation of the current study, which includes both theoretical and practical relevance, as well as suggestions for reducing the number of accidents involving people who use roads, is presented here.

The Effect of Stop Motion Video as An Examination Media on The Knowledge and Safe Behavior of PT. X Metal Casting Industry Workers in Klaten

A work accident is one of the risks that can occur in the metal casting industry. Workers' unsafe behavior is the primary cause of occupational accidents. The definition of unsafe behavior is any human behavior that can allow work accidents to occur to oneself or others. The preliminary study results found that 100% of workers had work accidents due to unsafe behavior, and out of 19 workers, 47.3% had insufficient knowledge about unsafe behavior. Counseling using video stop motion is one effort that can be used to overcome. This research aims to investigate the impact of counseling using video stop motion media on enhancing workers' knowledge and safety practices in the metal casting industry. This type of research is a quasi-experiment with a pre-test, post-test, and control group. The experimental group consisted of the workers in the finishing section, while the control group consisted of the workers in the induction section. The Wilcoxon test analysis reveals a significant difference in knowledge and behavior values between the pre-test and post-test, resulting from the use of video stop motion media. Media. The Mann-Whitney test showed a significant difference in the mean value of differences in knowledge and behavior in the pre-test and post-test between the experimental and control groups with a significance value of 0.000 (p <0.05). Video stop motion has the effect of increasing the value of knowledge and safe action among industry workers.

The Effectiveness of Sensor Visualizations and Graphic Augmentations for Detecting Vertical Obstacles

Slow or failed detection of low‐salience vertical obstacles and associated wires is one of today’s leading causes of fatal helicopter accidents. The risk of collisions with such obstacles is likely to increase as advanced aerial mobility and broadening drone activity promises to increase the density of air traffic at low altitudes, while growing demand for electricity and communication will expand the number of vertical structures. The current see‐and‐avoid detection paradigm relies on pilots to spend much of their visual attention looking outside for obstacles. This method is inadequate in low‐visibility conditions, cluttered environments, and given the need for pilots to engage in multiple competing visual tasks. With the expected growing number of hazards and an increased traffic volume, the current approach to collision avoidance will become even less tenable. A human‐in‐the‐loop helicopter simulator study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of sensor visualizations (image intensification or thermal imaging) and graphic augmentations (a bounding box around a tower and a circle surrounding the base of the tower) for supporting fast and reliable detection of vertical structures. Graphic augmentations resulted in faster tower detection time when ambient visibility and illumination were reduced close to the limit for visual flight. Bounding boxes around towers were detected first in all conditions but tended to mask the obstacle they were meant to highlight. Sensor visualization affected tower detection time only at night, where night vision goggles were more effective than the infrared thermal sensor.

Internal erosion in granular soils with different microstructures under cyclically increased hydraulic gradients

Internal erosion is one of the leading causes of failures and accidents of embankment dams, dikes, and slopes. The hydraulic loading acts as the driving force to detach the soil particles, while the initial soil microstructure determines the susceptibility of particle loss. In engineering practices, the soil may be subjected to cyclic hydraulic loadings due to water level fluctuations by extreme weather of intensive rainfall and drought. Under such conditions, the soil internal erosion process will be different from that under the steady unidirectional seepage, which has not been fully studied and needs urgent investigation. Thus, in this study, the internal erosion process and hydraulic characteristics of soils with different microstructures were investigated by both laboratory seepage tests and the discrete element method (DEM) simulation. The results indicate that the soil with a higher fine content was more structurally stable, and required a larger hydraulic gradient for erosion initiation. Once the internal erosion occurred, the particle loss and the soil hydraulic conductivity increased with increasing fine content. Additionally, when the applied hydraulic gradient was essentially the same, the soil experienced a server erosion under the cyclically than monotonically increased hydraulic gradients, and the amount of eroded soils increased with the increasing gradient amplitude. The results of this study will expand our understanding of the physical mechanism and hydraulic behaviors of soils subjected to cyclically increased hydraulic gradients and with different microstrures.

CAR ACCIDENTS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC AND LIGHT AS A CONTRIBUTORY FACTOR

Ensuring road safety and preventing car accidents are vital concerns for public health and safety. Despite advancements in vehicle technology and traffic management, the number of road accidents remains alarmingly high, leading to significant loss of life and injuries. The study aims to assess the relationship between causes and types of car accidents depending on lighting conditions when an accident happens. The quantitative content analysis of the car accidents recorded by the POLICE between October 2022 and October 2023 provided relevant data, processed by cluster analysis and illustrated via a heat map. Road safety and preventing car accidents have always been a public priority. The authors analysed crucial aspects of traffic safety and alarming numbers of casualties, including 440 deaths, 1,466 badly and 18,389 slightly injured people. The most common types of accidents involved head-on collisions with solid obstacles and ongoing non-rail vehicles. Careless drivers were the main provokers of the tragic events over the monitored period. Looking at the time of accidents, we can see interesting parallels in their causes, irrespective of the day or nighttime. Our recommendations included raising drivers’ awareness and police imposing preventative measures against the common causes of accidents. The study did not consider other factors behind traffic collisions.

Applying Systems Thinking to Research into Risk Factors Influencing Earthmoving Equipment Operation Safety in Construction Sites

Earthmoving operations in the construction process are complex environments that involve interactions between equipment, the workforce, and materials within an overarching construction plan. Over the past two decades, researchers in construction have focused on improving the safety of construction earthmoving equipment due to their omnipresence in the construction environment. Although previous studies have explored safety risks and the causes of accidents involving construction earthmoving equipment, their approaches were common and lacked a comprehensive perspective. Hence, this systematic literature review applies Rasmussen’s (1997) risk management framework using a systems thinking approach to identify and classify the risk factors influencing earthmoving equipment operation safety in construction sites. Utilizing a multistep methodology, this research first identifies 38 risk factors pertinent to earthmoving equipment operations and then classifies them based on systems thinking. Social network analysis (SNA) is employed to analyze the data. The results show that most research on earthmoving equipment safety focuses on monitoring construction sites, but very little on government and regulatory roles. When considering the interdependencies of risk factors, safety training is the most important factor, followed by the largely overlooked earthmoving machinery characteristics and manufacturer’s performance. The results of this review inform both the research community and industry practitioners regarding the less-understood aspects of earthmoving equipment operation safety and future research directions.

Why frequent traffic accidents at highway tunnel exit? – An experimental analysis of the slack effect

This study analyzes the causes of frequent traffic accidents at the exit areas of highway tunnels. Vehicle experiments were conducted to collect data on the light environment, vehicle speed, and driver eye movement. The distribution patterns of the illumination, vehicle speed, and gaze location occupancy were analyzed, and highway tunnels of different lengths were compared. The tunnel exit area is divided into the transition, exit, and departure zones. It was observed that there was an obvious white-hole effect at the exit zone, with drastic changes in the light environment. The presence of abnormal acceleration behavior in the transition zone and decreased attention in the departure zone demonstrate the existence of psychological and physiological slack in drivers. Additionally, the tunnel length positively correlates to the slack effect, which is stronger in extra-long tunnels than in the short and medium tunnels. Multiple control scenarios were established and driving simulation experiments were conducted to further analyze the impact of the slack effect on the traffic safety. The experimental results demonstrated that the slack effect of the extra-long tunnels exhibited an evident lag which was still present after leaving the tunnel exit. The average vehicle speed and trajectory offset were larger and more discrete in the post-tunnel zone than on an ordinary open road. The speed of the curve in the post-tunnel zone is 5.1 % higher than that of the curve in the ordinary road, and the maximum trajectory offset is 54.3 % higher. Thus, this study reveals the slack effect at tunnel exits and explains the abnormal phenomenon of relatively good traffic environments but high traffic accident rates in the transition and departure zones of tunnel exits. These results present considerable practical significance for the safe operation of highway tunnels, particularly extra-long tunnels.

Polyurethane-Asphaltic Concrete as an Alternative Solution for Road Pavement Distress – A Review

Road traffic accidents are the primary source of injuries and fatalities worldwide, accounting for 20–50 million long term disabilities and 1.25 million deaths annually. Pavement conditions rank as the second most common cause of traffic accidents. The combined effects of environmental factors and traffic loads lead to pavement discomfort. Ensuring proper pavement design and maintenance can assist in lowering accident rates and preventing long-term disability associated with drivers. Physical maintenance procedures like overlays, seal coatings, patching, and filling joints are carried out in practice; nevertheless, they only offer temporary fixes by treating the symptoms rather than the underlying issue. An alternative method for road pavement maintenance is using polyurethane to improve the properties of asphalt due to the excellent properties of polyurethane. This study conducts a systematic review of the polyurethane asphaltic characteristics and performance based on the previous study by researchers. It is found that the pavement maintenance work using polyurethane is able to sustain longer periods and is moisture resistant due to its excellent bonding with the existing pavement material. Keywords: polyurethane, asphalt, pavement, distress, road

Lithium-ion battery high performance cathode electrode based on LiFePO4 and thermal sensitive microspheres with thermal shutdown properties

The critical issue of thermal runaway events in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is recognized as a primary cause of battery-related accidents. Despite ongoing efforts to enhance LIB safety, challenges persist due to varying chemical compositions, states of charge, and conditions of use across different batteries. To advance battery safety and considering cost and practicality, this research introduces a novel cathode material with thermal shutdown characteristics. Incorporating thermoplastic microspheres into the cathode matrix does not compromise the cathode's structural integrity, but leads to ionic conductivity value reduction, and a consequent reduction of battery performance for the larger microsphere concentrations of 5.0 wt% and 7.5 wt%. On the other hand, the samples demonstrate a thermal shutdown behaviour, triggered by the volumetric expansion of the microspheres, effectively ceasing electrical and ionic conduction, thereby preventing thermal runaway. The cathode with low microsphere concentration, 2.5 wt% of microspheres, outperforms (155 mAh·g−1, at C/8-rate) room temperature battery performance with respect to the conventional cathode and also exhibits thermal shutdown behaviour at 90 °C. The research highlights the potential of integrating expandable microspheres into cathodes for the development of safer batteries, offering a scalable and cost-effective solution compatible with existing battery technologies.

Main directions for improvement of navigation safety through prevention of ship collisions

The article is devoted to the study of the main directions of improving the safety of navigation by preventing ship collisions. The modern development of global shipping is characterized by an increase in the intensity of maritime transportation, which significantly increases the risks of emergencies, in particular ship collisions. These incidents are one of the main causes of maritime accidents, resulting in significant economic losses, environmental damage and risk to human life. The article analyzes various aspects of improving safety of navigation, including the use of modern technologies, organizational measures, crew training and efficient ship maintenance. The focus is on the following areas: technical support, organizational measures, education and training for the crew, communication systems and international coordination, as well as ensuring the technical serviceability of ships. Radar systems allowing to detect and track ships at different distances, which is critical in difficult weather conditions. Another important aspect is crew training. Regular professional education, training, and simulation training help crews adapt to new technologies and respond effectively to dangerous situations. An effective communication system and international coordination are critical for rapid response to emergencies. Emergency communication systems ensure rapid exchange of information between ships and coastal services, and international cooperation contributes to increased preparedness and coordination. Ensuring the technical serviceability of ships through regular inspections and technical surveys is the basis for safe navigation, allowing to identify and eliminate potential problems. The article emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive approach to improving shipping safety, including the integration of advanced technologies, organizational processes, training and maintenance. This approach helps to reduce the risk of ship collisions and improve overall safety at sea

Safety Risk Assessment of Iranian Building Sites based on Construction Stage

To assist safety practitioners in the work of prioritizing preventative activities based on the stage of civil industry, it is necessary to identify the most common causes of accidents in the civil sector. Reports from official accident investigations are examined. For this aim, accidents are examined that were officially investigated by the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour, and Social Welfare at the building sites of North of Iran (Mazandaran region) between 2013 and 2023. The percentage of causes in each of the several potential cause groups indicates a pattern of causation. There are notable correlations between the different cause categories and the phases of building and accident mechanisms. Depending on the accident's mechanism and the current building stage, there have been seen to be significant variances in accident causation. Prioritizing preventive measures to counter the most likely causes of each accident procedures and building stage should be done using these results.

Awareness and Detection of the Gridlock Manifestation for Vehicles Voice Alert using CNN

To ensure a smooth and secure flow of traffic, road signs are essential. A major cause of road accidents is negligence in viewing the Traffic signboards. The proposed system helps in recognizing the traffic sign and sending a voice alert through the speaker to the driver so that he or she may take necessary decisions. The proposed system is trained using a convolutional neural network (CNN) which helps in traffic sign image recognition and classification. Following the detection of the sign by the system, a voice alert is sent through the speaker which notifies the driver and also contains a section where the vehicle driver is alerted about the traffic signs. The aim of this system is to ensure the safety of the vehicle’s driver and passengers. Keywords: convolutional neural network (CNN), deep learning, traffic signs.

Eliminating the Occurrence and Consequences of Toxic Release in Petrochemical Industry through Intervention of Safety Engineering Tools

The aim in this project is to analyze the risk associated with different toxic releases which is occurring in the chemical industry and to minimize its release using safety engineering tool in order to make the working environment safer. The sector of petrochemical industries is very important and have specific place in our country. Since the beginning, the Indian petrochemical industry has shown an enviable growth rate. This industry also contributes largely to the economy of the country and the growth and development of manufacturing industry as well. Petrochemical industry has a high risk of toxic release. The main causes of accidents are the chemical splashes which can occur for instance when a pipe or a tank burst under pressure or during disassembling operations of pipes or valves. There are a number of ways of toxic release at each and every process of petrochemical industry. We have identified the way in each process of the petrochemical industry. We have taken H2S as toxic gas and performed analysis, with the help of Bowtie methodology. Result obtained by evaluating various processes in petrochemical industry, we found that H2S can be released in three major sections i.e. transportation, storage and processing units. Using bowtie method, resolutions has been done to decrease or eliminate the possibilities of leakage of H2S

Road Traffic Accident and its Characteristics in Kathmandu Valley

Road Traffic Accident (RTA) is defined as an accident, which takes place on the road between two or more objects, in which one is any kind of moving vehicle and the other is another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, or stationary object. The major scope of this study is to analyze factors influencing road accident in Kathmandu Valley (i.e. Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur district), Nepal. Data used in this research were collected from Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police for FY 2070/71 to 2079/80 of the Nepalese Calendar. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis of data was performed. There were several variables used to analyze the collected data including age of driver, gender of driver, fatality rate, time of accident, reason of accident, type of vehicle involved in an accident. The result of analysis shows that 76752 accidents took place in FY 2070/71 to 2079/80. Vehicles most involved in accidents were motorcycle/scooters (54675) followed by car/jeep/van (46928) (both combining, contributing total of almost 75%). The number of male deaths was three times more than that of female death, (i.e. male death victims were 1360 and female were 409). Based on the age, 55% of total death victims were of age group 16-35 i.e. 969 deaths were of this age group. Largest number of accidents (31473) took place during 12:00-18:00 and the major cause of accidents was reckless driving. Other cause of road accident includes over speeding, alcohol consumption, pedestrian’s carelessness, road condition, physical and mental condition of driver. The objective of this research is to identify the trend of accident, investigate the possible causes of accidents, and suggest countermeasures for reducing road traffic accident.

Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) on Accidents Due to Tilting Ship

The transportation industry is the main point of the distribution of goods and passengers. Data shows the number of shipwrecks is very high. The accident was caused by many factors, one of which was the tilting of the ship. The research starts from categorizing the causes of ship accidents through existing secondary data, FGD with expert judgments to find the root of the problem and also looking for what mitigations can be done so that similar incidents do not repeat. And the analysis is made in the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) method. The results of this study indicate that there are human factors in recurring events at all stages of HFACS such asunsafe acts, the preconditions for unsafe acts, unsafe supervision and organisational influences. For the stages of unsafe acts are Skill based Errors, decision errors, Perceptual Errors, and Exceptional. For the stage of the preconditions for unsafe acts are technological environment, physical environment, and adverse mental state; and for the stage of unsafe supervision is the lack of supervision; for organizational influences there are resource management and organizational climate.