Accident Severity Rate Research Articles

Analysis of road accident causes in the voivodships in the years 2014-2021 in the aspect of socio-economic costs – towards the implementation of sustainable development

The article addresses the topic of road safety. The reduction of road accident injuries and fatalities fits in with Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals. The objective of the research was to assess road accidents caused by voivodships. The analysis took account of the socio-economic differences in the voivodships, which determine the unit costs of fatalities and injuries. A descriptive analysis is given to show the dynamics of changes in the years 2014-2021 in the voivodships and how different factors influenced change. The article analyses the relation between road safety and the region’s socio-economic development. Data availability determined the time series applied. As we know from research, accidents fall in relation to the (demographic) density of improved roads. Accidents increase, however, in relation to the density of population and GDP per capita. These relations take the opposite direction if the (demographic) fatality rate or accident severity rate (fatalities per 100 accidents) is the dependent variable. Socio-economic losses were estimated using Statistics Poland data. They are the indirect causes of road accidents which occur as a result of lost production due to premature death or incapacity. To value the unit costs of road accidents, the PANDORA method was used. The analysis helped to group the voivodships for their highest and lowest socio-economic costs of road accidents with a special focus on the unit costs of road deaths. The originality of the research is related to the updated voivodship level research.

Statistical analysis of the severity of occupational accidents in the mining sector

Introduction: The aim of this paper is to understand the causes of occupational accidents in Spain’s mining sector in order to propose action plans and improve future accident rates. Method: This research analyzed a pool of data on 15,032 accidents occurring in the mining sector and reported to authorities between 2013 and 2018. Accidents are divided into three levels of severity: light, serious, and fatal. We study the influence of 12 variables on the accident severity rate in our sample. Results: The results show that accident severity is related to age, gender, nationality, length of service, economic activity, company size, accident location, days of injury leave, day of the week, deviation, injury, and specific Spanish region. This sector produces a high rate of serious accidents compared to all other sectors; has a male-dominated, older and experienced workforce; and employs mainly Spanish workers. Its activity is concentrated in larger companies and the work involves the use of heavy machinery and dangerous materials. We offer conclusions and future lines of research to help regulators, companies and workers to improve worker safety.

Modeling important factors on occupational accident severity factor in the construction industry using a combination of artificial neural network and genetic algorithm.

Many occupational accidents annually occur worldwide. The construction industry injury is greater than the average injury to other industries. The severity of occupational accidents and the resulting injuries in these industries is very high and severe and several factors are involved in their occurrence. Modeling important factors on occupational accident severity factor in the construction industry using a combination of artificial neural network and genetic algorithm. In this study, occupational accidents were analyzed and modeled during five years at construction sites of 5 major projects affiliated with a gas turbine manufacturing company based on census sampling. 712 accidents with all the studied variables were selected for the study. The process was implemented in MATLAB software version 2018a using combined artificial neural network and genetic algorithm. Additional information was also collected through checklists and interviews. Mean and standard deviation of accident severity rate (ASR) were obtained 283.08±102.55 days. The structure of the model is 21, 42, 42, 2, indicating that the model consists of 21 inputs (selected feature), 42 neurons in the first hidden layer, 42 neurons in the second hidden layer, and 2 output neurons. The two methods of genetic algorithm and artificial neural network showed that the severity rate of accidents and occupational injuries in this industry follows a systemic flow and has different causes. The model created based on the selected parameters is able to predict the accident occurrence based on working conditions, which can help decision makers in developing preventive strategies.

МОДЕЛЬ ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЙ КОМПЕТЕНЦИИ ДЛЯ ОЦЕНКИ ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНЫХ РИСКОВ

Nowadays, the decision making based on the preliminary risk assessment became a frequent practice almost in all spheres of human activity. As a result of late changes in the legislation relating to labour safety, occupational risks assessment became an employer obligation. To organize this process, the additional training of specialists is necessary. The formation of a system for training such specialists is a topical issue both for employers and educational institutions. At the initial stage of formation of the professional competence model of a specialist for occupational risk assessment, the author selected from the occupational standard of a labour protection specialist the job functions related to the occupational risk management. The paper considers a competence model of a specialist in the sphere of industrial safety and health developed by the experts of British Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). To identify professional competences necessary for occupational risks assessment, the author suggests carrying out test assessment of occupational risks and forming a professional competence model using the technique of analysis and observation over actions necessary for risk assessment. To obtain more objective results, the author proposes carrying out such assessment within a group of three people – a labour protection specialist, a department manager, and an employee representative. The Lost Time Accident Frequency Rate and the Work Accident Severity Rate are accepted as the performance criteria of occupational risk assessment. The author suggests using the developed professional competence model in the future when training technosphere safety specialists.

The effect of OHS costs on accident severity rate in the construction industry

Due to its dynamic nature, rapid technology change, uneducated employees, harsh working conditions, many work accidents, and heavy consequences of accidents, occupational health and safety (OHS) practices are essential in the construction industry. However, occupational Health and Safety measures in the construction industry come with additional costs. Therefore, employers who have to bear a cost to take OHS measures may consider OHS costs unnecessary without considering the costs they will bear after work accidents and occupational diseases. This research aims to estimate the optimal costs of OHS budgets to reduce the number of accidents with lost time injury and whether the carried costs for occupational health and safety in the construction industry impact the lost time injuries. Therefore, OHS costs in the construction industry are grouped into eight categories: fire, work equipment, electricity, health, personal protective equipment, general equipment, training and occupational health and safety service costs. This research is based on the standard unit costs set for the 8 OHS criteria required by the OHS laws, accident severity rates and actual unit costs that the projects have carried for five years for the construction of 15 buildings with 220.000 m2- 500.000 m2 indoor space which is located in Istanbul Turkey, started in 2013 and completed in 2017. Since the research was conducted before January 1, 2020, there is no requirement for an ethics committee permission document. According to the research results, as the costs of occupational health and safety services, fire and training increased, accident severity rates has decreased. However, the impact of other variables on accident severity rates was not statistically significant. Thus, construction enterprises that want to decrease the accident severity rates in their projects need to emphasise occupational health and safety services, fire, and training criteria.

In Search of the Consequence Severity of Traffic Conflict

Currently, many studies on the severity of traffic conflicts only considered the possibility of potential collisions but ignored the consequences severity of potential collisions. Aiming toward this defect, this study establishes a potential collision (serious conflict) consequences severity model on the basis of vehicle collision theory. Regional vehicles trajectory data and historical traffic accident data were obtained. The field data were brought into the conflict consequences severity model to calculate the conflict severity rate of each section under different TTC thresholds. For comparison, the traditional conflict rate of each section under different TTC thresholds that considered only the number of conflicts was also calculated. Results showed that the relationship between conflict severity rate and influencing factors was somehow different. The conflict severity rate seemed to have a higher correlation with accident rate and accident severity rate than conflict rate did. The TTC threshold value also affected the correlation between conflicts and accidents, with high and low TTC threshold indicating a lower correlation. The results showed that conflict severity rate that considered each single conflict consequence severity was a little better than the traditional conflict rate that considered only the numbers of conflicts in reflecting real risks as a new conflict evaluation indicator. The severity of traffic conflicts should consider two dimensions: the possibility and consequence of potential collisions. Based on this, we propose a new traffic safety evaluation method that takes into account the severity of the consequences of the conflict. More data and prediction models are needed to conduct more realistic and complex research in the future to ensure reliability of this new method.

Investigating the Impact of Establishing Integrated Management Systems on Accidents and Safety Performance Indices: A Case Study.

BackgroundIncreasing the establishment of integrated management systems (IMSs) is done with the purpose of leaving traditional management methods and replacing them with modern management methods. Thus, the present study sought to analyze the events and investigate the impact of IMS on health and safety performance indices in an Iranian combined cycle power plants.MethodsThis case study was conducted in 2012 in all units of the Yazd Combined Cycle Power Plant on accident victims before and after the implementation of IMS. For data analysis and prediction of indices after the implementation of IMS, descriptive statistics and Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Chi-square, linear regression, and Cubic tests were conducted using SPSS software.ResultsThe number of people employed in the power plant in an 8-year period (2004–2011) was 1,189, and 287 cases of work-related accidents were recorded. The highest accident frequency rate and accident severity rate were in 2004 (32.65) and 2008 (209), respectively. Safe T-score reached to below −3 during 2010–2011. In addition, given the regression results, the relation between all predictor variables with outcomes was significant (p < 0.05), except for the variable X1 belonging to the accident severity rate index.ConclusionThe implementation of safety programs especially that of IMS and its annual audits has had a significant impact on reducing accident indices and improving safety within the study period. Accordingly, health and safety management systems are appropriate tools for reducing accident rate, and the use of regression models and accident indices is also a suitable way for monitoring safety performance.

Green technology as a strategy in managing the black spots in Siak Highway, Indonesia

It was identified that the total traffic accidents in the highway section of Siak, Indonesia within the period of 2011 to 2015 were 1,208 events (2 accidents per 3 days). This accidents figure were considered relatively high and it need to mitigate. The aim of this research are to; (i) analyze the location of Black Spot in the Siak highway, and (ii) drawn a strategy reducing the traffic accidents based on green technology. This study identified that the black spot area was located in the STA 44 + 050 (with a value of the weighted index was 86 and an accident severity rate was 6.21), these values were relatively high. The road horizontal alignment condition at this location was highlighted as a sub-standard high way, consists of low visibility, numerous turning pads, minimum road signs, and minimum road shoulders width. The technical strategy was then drawn as follow; conducting regular road rehabilitation and maintenance, equipping road markings and the street lights as well as road safety facilities based on the green technology such as solar cell traffic lights, solar cell street lights and deploying police statues in reducing traffic accidents within the black spot areas.

Exploring Causal Factors on the Severity Rate of Occupational Accidents in Construction Worksites

Construction industries are among the most hazardous and high-risk occupations that involve mild-to-severe accidents and bodily injuries. The aim of this study is to explore the causal factors contributing to the accident severity rate (ASR) in 13 of the biggest Iranian construction industries. In this analytical cross-sectional study, the data of registered accidents from 2009 until 2013 were obtained from an official database. Data of HSE risk management systems and HSE training were also gathered from comprehensive accident investigation reports. Data analysis and regression modeling were done using the SPSS statistical software (version 22). The ASR mean and SD of studied construction worksites were 257.52 ± 1098.95. The results show that the system associated with HSE and HSE risk management established only 41.8 and 18.4%, respectively. Results of multiple linear regressions indicated individual and organizational factors (IOFs), HSE training factors (HTFs), and Risk Management System factors (RMSFs) to be significantly associated with ASR (p < 0.05). The study reveals ASR causal factors and aspects that can be applied in the design and implementation of a comprehensive HSE risk management system to reduce ASR.

Analysis of forestry work accidents in five Australian forest companies for the period 2004 to 2014

There is little knowledge available regarding Australian forestry work safety and accident rates. Machine operators and forestry workers are vital parts of the forestry sector and their health and well-being can greatly impact on their work quality and efficiency. To increase our knowledge of forest workers' safety this project aimed to analyse the frequency, type and root causes of work accidents which occurred within different forestry activities of five industry partners of Australian Forest Operations Research Alliance over the period from 2004 to 2014. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to the partners to collect the safety incident reports. Total number of work accidents was 470 for a period of 11 years (a rate of 43 accidents per year). Considering the estimated yearly production rates of the industry partners that participated in this project, the accident severity rate was 14.40 accidents per million m3 of harvested wood. The majority of accidents occurred in harvesting operations (37%) and forest management (30.2%). Based on the results 8.1% of the accidents occurred during firefighting and 24.3% of work accidents occurred in other forestry activities. Main root causes of accidents for different types of activities were personal errors such as lack of personal protective equipment, operator error, poor body position and poor techniques applied. Work safety training could be delivered to forestry personnel to minimise accidents caused by personal errors. Back and shoulder (as upper parts of the body) received most injuries. To avoid/reduce muscular damage (such as strain and sprain) the workers should be provided with proper ergonomic training.

Key factors contributing to accident severity rate in construction industry in Iran: a regression modelling approach.

Construction industry involves the highest risk of occupational accidents and bodily injuries, which range from mild to very severe. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to identify the factors associated with accident severity rate (ASR) in the largest Iranian construction companies based on data about 500 occupational accidents recorded from 2009 to 2013. We also gathered data on safety and health risk management and training systems. Data were analysed using Pearson's chi-squared coefficient and multiple regression analysis. Median ASR (and the interquartile range) was 107.50 (57.24- 381.25). Fourteen of the 24 studied factors stood out as most affecting construction accident severity (p<0.05). These findings can be applied in the design and implementation of a comprehensive safety and health risk management system to reduce ASR.

Analysis and Modeling of Threatening Factors of Workforce's Health in Large-Scale Workplaces: Comparison of Four-Fitting Methods to select optimum technique.

IntroductionWorkforce is one of the pillars of development in any country. Therefore, the workforce’s health is very important, and analyzing its threatening factors is one of the fundamental steps for health planning. This study was the first part of a comprehensive study aimed at comparing the fitting methods to analyze and model the factors threatening health in occupational injuries.MethodsIn this study, 980 human occupational injuries in 10 Iranian large-scale workplaces within 10 years (2005–2014) were analyzed and modeled based on the four fitting methods: linear regression, regression analysis, generalized linear model, and artificial neural networks (ANN) using IBM SPSS Modeler 14.2.ResultsAccident Severity Rate (ASR) of occupational injuries was 557.47 ± 397.87. The results showed that the mean of age and work experience of injured workers were 27.82 ± 5.23 and 4.39 ± 3.65 years, respectively. Analysis of health-threatening factors showed that some factors, including age, quality of provided H&S training, number of workers, hazard identification (HAZID), and periodic risk assessment, and periodic H&S training were important factors that affected ASR. In addition, the results of comparison of the four fitting methods showed that the correlation coefficient of ANN (R = 0.968) and the relative error (R.E) of ANN (R.E = 0.063) were the highest and lowest, respectively, among other fitting methods.ConclusionThe findings of the present study indicated that, despite the suitability and effectiveness of all fitting methods in analyzing severity of occupational injuries, ANN is the best fitting method for modeling of the threatening factors of a workforce’s health. Furthermore, all fitting methods, especially ANN, should be considered more in analyzing and modeling of occupational injuries and health-threatening factors as well as planning to provide and improve the workforce’s health.

English

There are many human injuries induced by occupational accidents in construction industries. Determination and analysis of construction accidents' contributing factors is a good way to accidents' prevention and reduction. Therefore, this study was done in view of identification and analyzing factors related to frequency and severity of construction accidents and injuries in the big construction industries. This analytical-cross sectional study was implemented on 500 occupational accidents during five years in the Iraninan big construction sites. Data gathering was done based on accident report form and information were related to all the reviewed construction accidents. Data analysis was carried out using statistical tests such as linear regression, independent sample T-test and One-way ANOVA, including statistical software of SPSS v22.0. The results revealed average values of accidents indices including accident frequency rate (AFR) and accident severity rate (AFR and ASR) respectively were 4.71 and 216.28. The findings showed that almost all factors including demographics, organization, accident type, work conditions and equipment, unsafe acts, unsafe conditions, nature of accidents, Health, safety and environment (HSE) training and control measures, and finally accident time and place were significantly related to the AFR and ASR (p<0.05). Conclusively, the results indicated that the frequency and severity of occupational accidents in construction industries were due to failures in combination of different contributing factors. Therefore, to promote HSE in the construction fields and reduce frequency and severity of the construction accidents, all these factors were considered. Key words: Occupational accidents, human injury, construction industry, accident analysis, contributing factors.

Use of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) for the Analysis and Modeling of Factors That Affect Occupational Injuries in Large Construction Industries.

IntroductionOccupational injuries as a workforce’s health problem are very important in large-scale workplaces. Analysis and modeling the health-threatening factors are good ways to promote the workforce’s health and a fundamental step in developing health programs. The purpose of this study was ANN modeling of the severity of occupational injuries to determine the health-threatening factors and to introduce a model to predict the severity of occupational injuries.MethodsThis analytical chain study was conducted in 10 large construction industries during a 10-year period (2005–2014). Nine hundred sixty occupational injuries were analyzed and modeled based on feature weighting by the rough set theory and artificial neural networks (ANNs). Two analytical software programs, i.e., RSES and MATLAB 2014 were used in the study.ResultsThe severity of occupational injuries was calculated as 557.47 ± 397.87 days. The findings of both models showed that the injuries’ severity as a health problem resulted in various factors, including individual, organizational, health and safety (H&S) training, and risk management factors, which could be considered as causal and predictive factors of accident severity rate (ASR).ConclusionThe results indicated that ANNs were a reliable tool that can be used to analyze and model the severity of occupational injuries as one of the important health problems in large-scale workplaces. Additionally, the combination of rough set and ANNs is a good and proper chain approach to modeling the factors that threaten the health of workforces and other H&S problems.

단관 파이프의 좌굴특성에 대한 수평연결재 및 기울기의 영향

The number of collapse accidents relevant to form support since 2003 is 30 on the basis of statistical data from Ministry of Employment and Labor,. Total number of casualty was 138 (47 for deaths and 91 for injuries). The accident severity rate was high because the 4.6 casualties per one accident were occurred averagely although the incident rate was relatively low. Especially, one of form support members, the pipe supports have not been equipped adequately so that the accidents could have happened. In this regard, this study performed buckling test related to the effect of horizontal connection and slope in the single pipe which is one of typical pipe supports. The buckling load, which was estimated from the single pipe with the horizontal connectors theoretically and experimentally, was increased as more than 2 times compared to the buckling load obtained from the pipe supports without the connector. The buckling load was reduced as more than 26%, 34% slope of the single pipe comparing with 5% and 10% slope, respectively. Thus, the purpose of this study is to provide the guideline for installation and the maintenance of the pipe supports legally and institutionally to prevent the collapse accidents of the pipe supports.

THE INDUSTRIAL SAFETY SYSTEM FORMATION IN OIL AND GAS COMPANY

Relevance growth focus of oil and gas companies to auxiliary business processes, in particular the processes of industrial safety, due to a number of reasons: first, they are cost centers that must be controlled, and secondly, the recent increase in accidents with severe environmental consequences, and thirdly, the level of industrial safety will be taken into account in the index of sustainable development. The management aspect of industrial safety economy in oil and gas company is considered in the article. The general approaches for controlling system forming in oil and gas companies and operative and strategic safety controlling indicators are presented. Controlling system of industrial safety involves the interaction of the parent company and the branch (or subsidiary), contains the functions of planning, organization and control. The system separates the functions of strategic and operational planning for the parent company establishes strategic controlling functions (formation of key performance indicators in the field of industrial safety and on the basis of strategic guidelines setting targets) and leaves the operational planning for the structural units. The system of indicators of strategic controlling factor is proposed to include fatalities, injuries common factor, the number of accidents, accident severity rate, the average level of industrial hazards enterprise value of economic damage from accidents. The recommended rate of operative controlling are: the number of incidents, the costs of preventive measures, production downtime due to accidents and incidents, the economic losses due to accidents and incidents, the amount of fines, the performance security service and safety.

Exploring the interactive effects of safety investments, safety culture and project hazard on safety performance: An empirical analysis

This study aims to explore the interactive effects of safety investments, safety culture and project hazard on construction safety performance. Data were collected using multiple techniques from 47 completed building projects in Singapore. Data were analyzed using correlation analysis, regression analysis, moderation analysis and mediation analysis. The results show that: (1) safety performance improves when there is a higher level of safety investments, a higher level of safety culture or a lower level of project hazard; (2) the effect of any individual factor on safety performance varies with the changes in other factors; (3) the effect of voluntary safety investments on safety performance is mediated by safety culture; and (4) the relationship between accident frequency rate and accident severity rate is moderated by project hazard level. The study suggests that safety performance of building projects is determined by the synergy effect of safety investments, safety culture and project hazard.

국가자격도입과 산업안전 재해예방의 연계성에 관한 연구

The construction industry in Korea after the Korean-war has evolved until these days. But the construction industry accident severity rate and frequency is over then the All industry rate. This study analyzed the `Disaster Statistical Yearbook` of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, based on the factors that affect construction accidents that is selected and fined the some factors the construction Disaster Prevention Factors. This study will develop the methodology for analyzes that the national qualification is effected to the construction industrial machine disaster prevention status. It suggest two ways to the establishment of disaster trends. First way is the disaster quantitative analysis and second way is comparing the statistical data and the analysis of expert opinion.

ROAD ACCIDENTS IN POLAND

This article provides an overview of road accident statistics in Poland. While it is the sixth largest country in Europe, Poland has a relatively low rate of vehicle ownership at 273 passenger cars per 1,000 people. The nation, however, is viewed as one of Europe's high risk countries by posing a higher risk to its population and having a higher accident severity rate that most of the nations in the European Union. An analysis of traffic and accident statistics reveals that the most common causes of accidents in Poland arise from vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and bicyclists, drivers who ignore traffic regulations, young drivers posing a traffic risk and a high percentage of intoxicated drivers and pedestrians. The article emphasizes that Poland needs to adopt significant preventative measures in order to reduce road casualties.