Human-caused Accidents Research Articles

Gray Relation Analysis of Human-caused Accidents in the Oil Industry

Gray Relation Analysis of Human-caused Accidents in the Oil Industry

Railroad accident analysis by machine learning and natural language processing

The evolving complexities of railroad systems also increase their vulnerability to failure from human error. This study compared the outcomes of two workflows that incorporated 11 different machine learning techniques to identify characteristics of railroad operations that are generally associated with human-caused accidents. The first workflow engineered features from the fixed attribute fields of a large railroad accident database and the second applied natural language processing to extract features from the unstructured accident narratives. Both workflows applied a Shapely game-theoretic model to rank the importance of features based on their marginal contribution towards predicting accident cause. Among several interesting findings, some of the most unexpected were that human-caused accidents are generally not associated with high train speeds nor derailment type accidents, and that shoving cars is riskier than pulling cars. Those, and other findings, from this study can inform management decisions, planning, and policies to minimize the risk of human-caused accidents.

Rapid assessment and simulation study of the physiological and psychological state of coal miners

In order to achieve a rapid evaluation of the physiological and psychological state of miners and to solve the problem of how to prevent human-caused accidents underground. Based on the existing literature and expert interviews, a rapid evaluation index system consisting of 2 aspects of physiological state and psychological state, 11 indicators such as body temperature, blood pressure and heart rate is established, and the index weights are determined by using AHP hierarchical analysis. Based on the weights, the physiological and psychological status of coal miners is classified into four levels: excellent, good, medium, and poor. Evaluation criteria also is established. A fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model of coal miners’ physiological and psychological states is constructed, and the subordination suitable for the evaluation of coal miners’ physiological and psychological states is given. Degree function. Using MATLAB2016a to randomly simulate 1000 sets of index data and perform evaluation and analysis, the results found that the proportions of evaluation as excellent and good are 36% and 35%, respectively; the proportions of neutral and poor are 16% and 13%, respectively. The evaluation of the physiological and psychological states of five coal miners in a coal mine in Shaanxi Province, with all results above “good”, is verified to be consistent with reality. Through simulation analysis and example verification, it is shown that the model is reasonable and applicable to the group of coal miners, and is expected to provide theoretical support for the development of subsequent rapid assessment software systems.

Driver Monitoring Using Sparse Representation With Part-Based Temporal Face Descriptors

Many driver monitoring systems (DMSs) have been proposed to reduce the risk of human-caused accidents. Traditional DMSs focus on detecting specific predefined abnormal driving behaviors, such as drowsiness or distracted driving, using generic models trained with the data collected during abnormal driving. However, it is difficult to collect sufficient representative training data to construct generic detection models, which are applicable to all drivers. Consequently, this paper proposes a new personal-based hierarchical DMS (HDMS). During driving, the first layer of the proposed HDMS detects normal and abnormal driving behavior based on normal personal driving models represented by sparse representations. When abnormal driving behavior is detected, the second layer of the HDMS further determines whether the behavior is drowsy driving behavior or distracted driving behavior. The experimental results obtained for three datasets show that the proposed HDMS outperforms existing state-of-the-art DMS methods in detecting normal driving behavior, drowsy driving behavior, and distracted driving behavior.

Response to CBRNE and human-caused accidents by using land and air robots

In the EU, the basis of the civil protection response to CBRNE, earth/disaster and humancaused accidents is the Emergency Response Coordination Center. For a fast response, two different architectures of centers of the regional system (CRS), with land and area robots, are presented and investigated. In the case of a static center, the robots are remotely controlled from the center by an operator. In this realization, the distance to the area to be investigated is restricted by the distance of possible remote control by the operator. The second one is a dynamic CBRN protection system, where the majority of CRS functions are organized on a car separate from the CRS building. By the car', the distance from the CRS to the accident place can usually be reached at the car motion speed. This is the main advantage of the dynamic system.

Evaluation of Personnel Underground Behavior Safety for Metal Mines Based on Grey Relevance Analysis

In order to describe the influential factors of personnel underground behavior safety in metal mines scientifically, pointedly strengthen the safety precautions and decrease the accidents, personnel underground behavior safety characters and influential factors have been analyzed systematically. Furthermore, researches on the quantified degree of influence to personnel underground behavior safety of each factor have been done in this thesis. Complex comprehensive influences of multiple factors including personnel-self, mechanical equipment, production environment and management have been obtained based on safety evaluation system of man-machine-environment, therefore model for evaluating personnel underground safety behavior by grey relevance analysis has been built up to compare and analyze personnel behavior safety quantifiably, so that the primary and secondary factors have been found out finally. The model has been applied to one metal mine to analyze recent human-caused accidents due to human factors which reveals that factors of production environment and management have greater influence, and this conforms to actual production and safety state in our country.

Psychological aid in crisis and emergency situations: Psychological follow-up by emergency-related professionals

IntroductionThe development of contemporary society, the mass media, and new technologies improves living standards on the one hand and, on the other, enhances the risk of large-scale catastrophes, accidents, and natural disasters (Yanitsky, 2004). From year to year the number of people who survive natural disasters and human-caused accidents and catastrophes is growing, as is the number of professionals involved in disaster-relief operations, such as rescuers, medical professionals, and psychologists. The 1990s saw the intensive development of new work for psychologists: rendering psychological aid to people affected by emergencies. During that time, because of a shift in the political system and the democratization of society, these issues gained a public dimension.The Center for Emergency Psychological Aid of EMERCOM of Russia became one of the first subdivisions within the law-enforcement (security) agencies whose task was to provide psychological aid to the injured (Vorobjev, 2001). Subsequently, it sparked the promotion of a unique work stream within the psychological service of law-enforcement agencies consisting of psychological follow-up in rescue and emergency-response operations; this work involved the implementation of a set of measures aimed at stabilizing the sociopsychological environment in the emergency area, providing emergency psychological aid to the injured, and preventing negative sociopsychological implications for the sufferers and the professionals from EMERCOM of Russia (Shoygu, 2012a).As early as the First World War the necessity for developing special forms of emergency short-term assistance was articulated. At that time the primary objective of psychiatrists operating in the front-line hospitals was the recovery and reactivation of the officers and men (Fedunina, 2006).Objectives and scope of emergency psychological aidAt a later time, when extreme conditions no longer applied to normal life and when emergency-related experiences ceased to be an unavoidable component of human development, people who were affected by extreme factors without being specifically trained professionals were identified as the injured (sufferers); in many cases they were in need of medical and psychological aid (Dmitrieva, 2003). By systematizing and analyzing the experiences of psychologists working in extreme circumstances a classification of victims was devised (Shoygu, 2007):* directly affected people, isolated in emergency beds* people affected in a material or physical sense as well as people who lost family members and relatives or lacked information about them* witnesses: people residing in close vicinity to a place of tragedy* speculators* participants in disaster-relief operations.Through the use of continual and numerous observations, the psychogenic responses and disorders arising in extreme circumstances can be split into two groups: those with and those without psychotic symptoms (Alexandrovsky, Lobastov, & Spivak, 1991). According to the observations of professional psychiatrists, psychotic symptoms are rare (Reshetnikov, Baranov, Mukhin, & Chermyanin, 1989). Longitudinal studies of the delayed psychogenic implications of catastrophic events led to the conclusion that a maximum degree of immediate aid is necessary (Shoygu, 2012a).Coincidently, according to the estimations of professionals, only dining the 20th century, did such diverse events as earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tsunami, tornados, fires, avalanches, mudflows, and epidemics deprive over tens of millions of people of life (Vorobyev, 2000). This situation led to the emergence of an independent area in psychological practice -- emergency psychological aid -- the focus of which is a human being who finds himself/herself in extraordinary, extreme circumstances. This practice can be defined as short-term aid to human beings following a severe, negative, stressful impact (distress). …

Human Element and Accidents in Greek Shipping

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the significance of the human element in accidents involving Greek-flagged ships, during 1993–2006, worldwide. In this context, the human element as a general factor of accident initiation and most importantly its constituent components, in the form of specific onboard duties (functions) and/or off-board (mainly ashore) entities, were presented and analysed. It was found that 57·1% of all accidents were attributed to the human element, whereas 75·8% of the latter were detected onboard and 80·4% of the onboard human-induced accidents were linked to errors and violations of the ship's master. Furthermore, since the timeframe examined covers the implementation of the ISM Code, the current analysis was aimed at producing valuable information with regard to its effectiveness upon Greek shipping. In this respect, a 12·2% reduction of human-caused accidents has been found during the post-ISM period. Finally, the association between specific accident types and human element components was examined utilising the technique of correspondence analysis and it was found that groundings and collisions were closely related to the ship's Master, whereas mechanical failures and fires were associated with the engine officers, and cargo shifts and flooding with bridge officers.

Optimal routing of vehicles with communication capabilities in disasters

Major emergencies and disasters such as acts of terrorism, acts of nature, or human-caused accidents may lead to disruptions in traffic flow. Minimizing the negative effects of such disruptions is critical for a nation’s economy and security. A decision support system that is capable of gathering (real-time) information about the traffic conditions following a disaster and utilizing this information to generate alternative routes for vehicles would benefit the government, industry, and the public. For this purpose, we develop a mathematical programming model to minimize the delay for vehicles with communication capabilities following a disaster. Most commercial trucks and public buses utilize QUALCOMM as a communication tool. We also develop a prediction model for vehicles that do not have any communication capabilities. Although the problem is inherently integer we developed a linear program to reduce the computational burden caused by the large size of the problem. An algorithm is proposed to update the parameters of the linear program based on a duality analysis in order to obtain better results. A monotonic speed–density relationship is embedded in the model to capture high traffic congestion that occurs after a disaster. The model and the algorithm are tested using a simulated disaster scenario. The results indicate that the proposed model improves system performance measures such as mobility and average speed.

Responding to Emergencies: Lessons Learned and the Need for Analysis

Large-scale emergency incidents, such as acts of terrorism, human-caused accidents, and acts of nature, often overwhelm local first-responder resources. A historical review of five recent major emergencies—the Oklahoma City bombing (1995), the crash of United Airlines Flight 232 (1989), the sarin attack in the Tokyo subway (1995), Hurricane Floyd (1999), and Hurricane Charlie (2004)—shows the need for additional research to develop decision-oriented, operations research models to improve preparation for and response to major emergencies. Local emergency managers need decision guidance regarding evacuation directives, management of near-the-scene logistics, triage on the scene and at hospitals, use of volunteers and off-duty personnel, reducing telephone traffic congestion, and integration of response with second- and third-level responders from other jurisdictions. Especially promising is the potential use of data mining and statistical inference to glean more real-time information from 911 calls that may be reporting a coordinated attack at multiple locations.

Responding to Emergencies

Large-scale emergency incidents, such as acts of terrorism, human-caused accidents, and acts of nature, often overwhelm local first-responder resources. A historical review of five recent major eme...

The Application of the Haddon Matrix to Public Health Readiness and Response Planning

State and local health departments continue to face unprecedented challenges in preparing for, recognizing, and responding to threats to the public’s health. The attacks of 11 September 2001 and the ensuing anthrax mailings of 2001 highlighted the public health readiness and response hurdles posed by intentionally caused injury and illness. At the same time, recent natural disasters have highlighted the need for comparable public health readiness and response capabilities. Public health readiness and response activities can be conceptualized similarly for intentional attacks, natural disasters, and human-caused accidents. Consistent with this view, the federal government has adopted the all-hazards response model as its fundamental paradigm. Adoption of this paradigm provides powerful improvements in efficiency and efficacy, because it reduces the need to create a complex family of situation-specific preparedness and response activities. However, in practice, public health preparedness requires additional models and tools to provide a framework to better understand and prioritize emergency readiness and response needs, as well as to facilitate solutions; this is particularly true at the local health department level. Here, we propose to extend the use of the Haddon matrix—a conceptual model used for more than two decades in injury prevention and response strategies—for this purpose.