Identification Of Safety Risks Research Articles

Road Traffic Safety Risk Estimation Method Based on Vehicle Onboard Diagnostic Data

Currently, research on road traffic safety is mostly focused on traffic safety evaluations based on statistical indices for accidents. There is still a need for in-depth investigation on preaccident identification of safety risks. In this study, the correlations between high-incidence locations for aberrant driving behaviors and locations of road traffic accidents are analyzed based on vehicle OBD data. A road traffic safety risk estimation index system with road traffic safety entropy (RTSE) as the primary index and rapid acceleration frequency, rapid deceleration frequency, rapid turning frequency, speeding frequency, and high-speed neutral coasting frequency as secondary indices is established. A calculation method of RTSE is proposed based on an improved entropy weight method. This method involves three aspects, namely, optimization of the base of the logarithm, processing of zero-value secondary indices, and piecewise calculation of the weight of each index. Additionally, a safety risk level determination method based on two-step clustering (density and k-means clustering) is also proposed, which prevents isolated data points from affecting safety risk classification. A risk classification threshold calculation method is formulated based on k-mean clustering. The results show that high-incidence locations for aberrant driving behaviors are consistent with the locations of traffic accidents. The proposed methods are validated through a case study on four roads in Chongqing with a total length of approximately 38 km. The results show that the road traffic safety trends characterized by road safety entropy and traffic accidents are consistent.

Wholesale and retail trade sector occupational fatal and nonfatal injuries and illnesses from 2006 to 2016: Implications for intervention

We analyzed the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) fatal and nonfatal injuries and illness data on U.S. workers in the wholesale and retail trade (WRT) sector from 2006 to 2016. The purpose was to identify elevated fatal and nonfatal injury and illnessrates in WRT subsectors. To assess the WRT health and economic burden, we retrieved multiple BLS data sets for fatal and nonfatal injury and illness data, affecting more than 20 million employees. We examined yearly changes in incidence rates for lost work-time across event and exposure categories. In 2016, 553 100 injuries and illnesses and 461 fatalities occurred among WRT workers. WRT has a disproportionately 5% larger burden of nonfatal injuries for its size. From 2006 through 2016, wholesale sector fatality rates (4.9/100 000 FTE) exceeded private industry rates (3.8/100 000 FTE). The largest causal fatal factors were transportation in wholesale and violence in retail. Private industry and WRT experienced a decline in nonfatal injuries and illnesses. Wholesale subsectors with elevated nonfatal rates included durable and nondurable goods, recycling, motor parts, lumber, metal and mineral, grocery, and alcohol merchants. Retail subsectors with elevated rates included motor parts dealers, gasoline stations, nonstores, tire dealers, home and garden centers, supermarkets, meat markets, warehouse clubs, pet stores, and fuel dealers. Through the identification of safety and health risks, researchers and safety practitioners will be able to develop interventions and focus future efforts in advancing the safety and health of WRT employees.

Small business success: Identifying safety hazards and safety risks.

The establishment and growth of the small businesses in South Africa is of vital importance for economic stability and progress in the economy. A key small business management skill comprises occupational health and safety management, with particular reference to the proper identification of safety hazards and safety risks. This conceptual article set out to identify current perceptions about the concepts of safety, safety risks and safety hazards in the workplace while also identifying and analysing misconceptions regarding safety hazards. This article reports on a secondary data analysis of relevant literature on safety hazards and safety risk and the role thereof on small business success. The structure and functioning of the interrelated characteristics of safety hazards were visualised, with the objective of allowing small business owners or managers to understand how safety hazards contribute to safety risks. Proper identification of safety hazards and safety risks, along with adequate protection measures, allows for improved productivity and a reduction in operational costs. Safety hazards in the workplace, encompassing the functional and structural characteristics, such as humans and machinery, should be noted by small business owners, as applicable to all types of businesses. This article may serve as a catalyst for small business success through growth and sustainability by implementing enhanced safety management practices based on an accurate identification and analysis of safety hazards and safety risks. It allows for the identification and proactive mitigation of safety hazards and safety risks in all types of small businesses.

Identification of Significant Process Safety Risks in the Preparation of Methyl-N-cyanocarbamate

The evaluation of the manufacturing route to prepare a process intermediate, methyl-N-cyanocarbamate, revealed a significant process safety risk. A single credible process maloperation can trigger a large exotherm, and a large amount of gas would be released that could cause the reactor to overpressurize and fail. The chemistry involves the reaction of methyl chloroformate with an aqueous cyanamide solution at a controlled temperature and pH. The process was thoroughly evaluated using calorimetry and gas quantitation to understand its thermal and pressure behavior. This paper describes the commercial background and process safety characterization of the process and the steps taken to understand and mitigate the risks. This paper details several “what if” scenarios (i.e., process deviations) that could lead to hazardous situations. One credible “what if” scenario was identified as particularly dangerous as it could result in a runaway reaction and is described in detail.

Evaluation of system mapping approaches in identifying patient safety risks.

While many system mapping approaches (SMAs) have been broadly used in safety-critical industries, few have so far been employed in the healthcare field to assist in the identification of patient safety risks. In this study, we evaluated a set of system modelling approaches to assess their potential contribution to the identification of risks affecting patient safety. The aim was to gain a greater understanding of the practical application of system modelling approaches with the help of the risk categorization framework developed in this study. We conducted this study in a newly established Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) service at Cambridge and Peterborough Foundation Trust. Eight key stakeholders of the chosen service, including clinicians, managers and administrative staff, were individually asked to evaluate a set of pre-defined six SMAs according to their usefulness in identifying patient safety risks through interview-based questionnaires. It was found that each SMA could be useful in the chosen healthcare service in different ways. Further, specific types of diagrams were selected by stakeholders as more useful than others in identifying different sources of risks within the given system. The results of the evaluation showed that the system diagram is the most useful SMA in risk identification within the given system, while limited time, resources and experience of stakeholders with SMAs may present possible obstacles for their potential use in the healthcare field in future.

Discussion on the Supervision Mode of Quality and Safety Risk of Consumer Products

In recent years, China, as the world’s largest consumer products manufacturing country, has more and more consumer quality and safety incidents. By analyzing and constructing the supervision mode of quality and safety risks of consumer products, this paper improves the identification and collection system of quality and safety risks of consumer products, improves the evaluation system of impact factors of quality and safety of consumer products, and strengthens the communication and operation mechanism of quality and safety risks of consumer products. Through the supervision of quality and safety risks of consumer products, we will explore the establishment of a social governance model of quality and safety of consumer products, and build a "five-in-one" supervision model of quality and safety risks of consumer products based on government supervision, enterprise self-discipline, social coordination, public participation and legal guarantee.

Security lapses in airport management: The Fort Lauderdale case

Communications is an integral component of prudent management in the aviation industry in both safety and security. The latter has proved to be a significant concern in the context of airports, where acts of violence have been perpetrated in terminal buildings. The security risks faced by airports took a bizarre turn when, in January 2017, a mentally deranged passenger who had arrived from Alaska at Terminal 2 of Fort-Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport carried out a mass shooting at the baggage claim area, where arriving passengers were waiting for their baggage to arrive on the carousel. Five people were killed while six others were injured in the shooting. The unfortunate event could have been effectively prevented by the authorities involved by proactive management, had they looked actively for the identification of safety risks through the analysis of the airport’s activities, particularly as they had known that the perpetrator, who had a history of mental illness and depression, had declared in the security check point in Alaska that he was carrying a gun in his checked baggage. The authorities failed to advise the destination airport of this fact, which enabled the killer to clear his bag, zip it open and unleash a barrage of gunfire on the unsuspecting passengers and others in the baggage claim area. This paper examines, through the Fort Lauderdale case, air law as a management tool in airport management and advises airport managers of the compelling importance of applying real-time normal operations to identify future problems. It also establishes that the application of trends to possible scenarios would logically lead to predictive or anticipatory intelligence, which in turn would ensure prudent airport management.

Breaking the clay layer: The role of middle management in the management of safety

Although there is a tendency to concentrate studies on senior management, achieving safety objectives closely links middle managers with a wide variety of crucial tasks in organisations. This study was carried out to understand the under-estimated role of middle management in safety. For this purpose, a qualitative research was adopted and a middle manager was selected purposefully to record his professional trajectory over the period of a month with an MP3 recorder to capture the whole picture of the current conditions of the company. The recordings captured the behaviour of middle managers, the interactions between them and other entities within and outside of the organisation in dynamic and real-time conditions. ATLASti software, the principle of activity theory, and the elements of the management roles were applied to analyse the daily practices of middle managers. Applying this method, the researchers tracked the actions or reactions of at least 32 other actors. The results reveal that middle managers perform multiple roles within the set of different actions they take, of which, informational roles have the highest frequency. Access to information places middle managers in a unique position where they can use information as an input to play major decisional roles. In addition, arguing (11.57%), wondering (9.90%), and complaining (9.35%), had the highest portions respectively among 45 different actions which were applied by middle managers as they played their leadership, monitoring and spokesperson roles. The authors conclude that middle managers can play crucial and multiple roles in safety management as well. Accessibility to information in short time intervals and more informational sources about process parameters and failures in equipment enhance the identification of safety risks, consequently, they can make more prices decisions in safety issues. They function as informal safety auditors and provide ‘soft’ alarm systems in safety management. Finally, they are actively involved in the control of the safety of the actual production process.

An Economic Evaluation of PulseNet: A Network for Foodborne Disease Surveillance.

The PulseNet surveillance system is a molecular subtyping network of public health and food regulatory agency laboratories designed to identify and facilitate investigation of foodborne illness outbreaks. This study estimates health and economic impacts associated with PulseNet. The staggered adoption of PulseNet across the states offers a natural experiment to evaluate its effectiveness, which is measured as reduction of reported illnesses due to improved information, enhanced industry accountability, and more-rapid recalls. Economic impacts attributable to PulseNet include medical costs and productivity losses averted due to reduced illness. Program costs are also reported. Better information and accountability from enhanced surveillance is associated with large reductions of reported illnesses. Data collected between 1994 and 2009 were assembled and analyzed between 2010 and 2015. Conservatively, accounting for underreporting and underdiagnosis, 266,522 illnesses from Salmonella, 9,489 illnesses from Escherichia coli (E. coli), and 56 illnesses due to Listeria monocytogenes are avoided annually. This reduces medical and productivity costs by $507 million. Additionally, direct effects from improved recalls reduce illnesses from E. coli by 2,819 and Salmonella by 16,994, leading to $37 million in costs averted. Annual costs to public health agencies are $7.3 million. The PulseNet system makes possible the identification of food safety risks by detecting widespread or non-focal outbreaks. This gives stakeholders information for informed decision making and provides a powerful incentive for industry. Furthermore, PulseNet enhances the focus of regulatory agencies and limits the impact of outbreaks. The health and economic benefits from PulseNet and the foodborne disease surveillance system are substantial.

Drug safety: withdrawn medications are only part of the picture.

In a research article published in BMC Medicine, Onakpoya and colleagues provide a historical review of withdrawals of medications for safety reasons. However, withdrawn medications are only one part of the picture about how regulatory agencies manage drug risks. Moreover, medications introduced before the increased pre-marketing regulations and post-marketing monitoring systems instituted after the thalidomide tragedy have little relevance when considering the present drug safety picture because the circumstances under which they were introduced were completely different. To more fully understand drug safety management and regulatory agency actions, withdrawals should be evaluated within the setting and timeframe in which the medications are approved, which requires information about approvals and safety warnings. Studies are needed that provide a more comprehensive current picture of the identification and evaluation of drug safety risks as well as how regulatory agencies deal with them.Please see related research article: http://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-016-0553-2

Randomised Controlled Trials and ‘Unexpected’ Adverse Events Associated with Newly Released Drugs: Improvements in Pharmacovigilance Systems are Necessary for Real-Time Identification of Patient Safety Risks

Adverse drug events are one of the major causes of morbidity in developed countries, yet the drugs involved in these events have been trialled and approved on the basis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs), regarded as the study design that will produce the best evidence. Though the focus on adverse drug events has been primarily on processes and outcomes associated with the use of these approved drugs, attention needs to be directed to the way in which the RCT study design is structured. The implementation of controls to achieve internal validity in RCTs may be the very controls that reduce external validity, and contribute to the levels of adverse drug events associated with the release of a new drug to the wider patient population. An examination of these controls, and the effects they can have on patient safety, underscore the importance of knowing about how the clinical trials of a drug are undertaken, rather than relying only on the recorded outcomes. As the majority of new drugs are likely to be prescribed to older patients who have one or more comorbidities in addition to that targeted by a new drug, and as the RCTs of those drugs typically under-represent the elderly and exclude patients with multiple comorbidities, timely assessment of drug safety signals is essential. It is unlikely that regulatory jurisdictions will undertake a reassessment of safety issues for drugs that are already approved. Instead, reliance has been placed on adverse drug event reporting systems. Such systems have a very low reporting rate, and most adverse drug events remain unreported, to the eventual cost to patients and healthcare systems. This makes it essential for near real-time systems that can pick up safety signals as they occur, so that modifications to the product information (or removal of the drug) can be implemented.

A framework for construction safety management and visualization system

With recent rapid advancement of visualization technologies, recognized research work for improving construction safety management practices has been conducted for identifying safety risks as well as worker onsite training. However, most of the previous studies were limited to reflect the site safety management process, which normally consists of planning–education–inspection phases. This study proposes a framework for a novel safety management and visualization system (SMVS) that integrates building information modeling (BIM), location tracking, augmented reality (AR), and game technologies. A prototype system has been developed and tested based on an illustrative accident scenario. The potentials and technical limitations of the prototype SMVS have been evaluated by site safety experts. A case study was also implemented, whose results show that the SMVS has a great potential to improve the identification of field safety risks, increase the risk recognition capacity of workers, and enhance the real-time communication between construction manager and workers.

Identification of Safety Risks for High-Performance Sustainable Construction Projects

The United States Green Building Council (USGBC)-sponsored Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building program represents the largest program in the United States for the measurement, verification, and certification of green buildings. A recent study found that LEED-certified buildings have accounted for a higher injury rate than comparative traditional non-LEED buildings. This finding served as the impetus for the present study, which aimed to identify and evaluate the safety and health risks associated with the design elements and construction management practices implemented to achieve LEED certification. To explore this topic, six detailed case studies and two validation case studies were conducted following a strict protocol developed from guiding literature. The results indicate that (1) workers on LEED construction projects are exposed to work at height, with electrical current, near unstable soils, and near heavy equip- ment for a greater period of time than workers on traditional projects; (2) workers are exposed to new high-risk tasks such as constructing atria, installing green roofs, and installing photovoltaic (PV) panels; and (3) some credits result in a positive impact on construction worker safety and health when low volatile organic compound (VOC) adhesives and sealants are specified. It is expected that these results can be used by practitioners to focus attention and resources on new highrisk work environments. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000446. © 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Progetto e realizzazione di un sistema di incident reporting per la medicina generale

Clinical risk management is important in primary care, as most patients and most of their health problems are treated in this setting. The development of incident reporting systems is therefore important to improve patients safety. The Author describes the incident reporting system developed in 2009 by the Italian Society of Primary Care (SIMG – Societa Italiana di Medicina Generale), in order to facilitate and organise the uniform reporting of critical incidents among General Practitioners. The system includes: a form for the spontaneous incident reporting, a coding system to identify each report, a classification of all the adverse events reported, and a feedback of the signalled event to the physician. The final aim is the identification of safety risks in healthcare, the creation of a “culture of safety” and the opportunity of learning from errors.

An analysis of the causes of airfield incursions attributed to ground vehicles

In an effort to contribute to the identification and mitigation of safety risks on civil use airfields, this paper investigates the occurrence and probable causes of airfield incursions caused specifically by ground vehicle operations. Such operations were found to be responsible for nearly 20 per cent of all reported airfield incursions at airports within the USA. The research described in this paper investigated more than 2,000 individual airfield ‘vehicle’ incursions, as reported to the US Federal Aviation Administration, in an effort to identify their probable causes. Analysis of the data revealed that such incursions may be the result of four primary root causes: driver distraction, inadequate training, lack of situational awareness, or lack of proper communication. As a result of these findings, the authors suggest the targeted implementation of both improved training programmes and enhanced technologies to improve overall situational awareness while operating ground vehicles on an airfield. Proper implementation of technology and enhanced training programmes may be found to reduce these vehicle incursions and thus lead to improved airfield operational safety.

“Every error counts”: a web-based incident reporting and learning system for general practice

Background:Incident reporting systems have been established primarily in the inpatient setting. Their goal is the identification of safety risks in healthcare as a precondition for improvements in the overall quality...

The Multi-Institutional Phase I Study: Disadvantages Without Advantages?

The famous Dutch soccer player Johan Cruijf, who now is a commentator for Dutch television, introduced the saying that “Every advantage has its disadvantage” (or vice versa). Does this also apply to the multi-institutional phase I study? Phase I studies are the core of drug development. Among many other aims, they are essential for the identification of safety risks and for the selection of a drug dose that can be used for further development. Drug development is a highly competitive field, and therefore, time is of the essence. This means that every phase I study should provide information as quickly as possible; with the highest possible certainty; and, preferably, with the fewest possible patients, given the limited chance for actual patient benefit. With the assumption that adding more centers would be the optimal strategy to speed patient accrual, pharmaceutical industries in particular are currently pursuing the model of large, multicenter, phase I studies in a continuous drive to further expand these numbers. In addition to this, end points also are changing—from the usual and well-defined maximum-tolerated dose (MTD) to the more obscure and undefined optimal biologic dose (OBD)— because of the shifting focus of mechanism of action of anticancer drugs. In the current issue of theJournalofClinicalOncology, Dowlati et al 1 present an interesting literature review that involves 463 phase I studies that were published during 8 years in two major oncology journals: JCO and Clinical Cancer Research. This selection presents a possible limitation of the analysis, because both journals, although international, are based in the United States. The analysis, therefore, seems to present some publication imbalance, as 70% of the reviewed studies were performed in North America. Although this may cause the performance of phase I studies performed in the rest of the world to be overlooked, it is likely a minor issue when assessing the results of the study. Nearly 60% of the reported studies were pharmaceutical industry–sponsored, which reflects new drug development that largely is—and will likely remain—a pharmaceutical industry–related initiative. Interestingly, only 30% of the studies reported the accrual time. If we first look at the number of sites involved, 55% of phase I studies were performed at a single institution, whereas other studies were performed in two to 16 sites. The large numbers at the upper boundary are surprising, because it is a real challenge to keep all sites informed on a real-time basis about safety issues observed in patients. Although the authors indicated that there was no significant change over time in the proportion of studies that involved multiple institutions, it is notable that 17.3% of the 249 trials reported until 2003 involved three or more sites, whereas 27% of the 214 trials reported in 2003 and beyond involved three or more sites. This is consistent with the collective experience and the concerns of numerous investigators in phase I trials, and it probably indicates that we indeed are involving more and more centers in phase I trials. There was no correlation between the number of participating sites and the mechanism of drug action. One would have expected that, in studies with potentially difficult accrual because of limitations (such as the presence of a specific and infrequently expressed molecular target), more centers would have been required. Apparently, the trend is not to limit the involvement of larger numbers of centers to only such studies but rather to pursue the expansion of the number of participating centers in all phase I studies. In the analysis of Dowlati et al, 1 chemoradiotherapy and gene therapy phase I studies often involved three or more sites. Diseasespecific phase I studies also were more likely to be multi-institutional compared with general solid tumor studies. In contrast, there did not seem to be an association between the involved sponsor and the number of participating institutions. The possibility of bias in this observation may be related to the fact that the analysis basically involved only industry-initiated and NCI-related studies. Other independent organizations, such as the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer, have always minimized the numbers of sites in phase I studies but were not part of the analysis. Accrual time was not different when comparing trials that in

Newly acquired facilities and the identification of process safety risks

In recent years, there has been a large number of acquisitions and takeovers in chemical production and manufacturing. In many cases, the disclosure of technology issues is not always complete and the need to quickly and thoroughly identify safety-related issues is vitally important to the buyer's due diligence. We outline a tiered approach to quickly identifying key process safety risks so that the acquiring company, its employees and community can be adequately protected.

A problem-oriented approach to safety issues in drug development and beyond.

Human safety issues arise throughout the life cycle of pharmaceutical products and relevant information comes from a multitude of sources. Assessment and management of risks to humans requires a problem-based analysis to bring together relevant information regardless of source. The Safety Evaluation Plan (SEP) is a tool to support problem-oriented safety analysis. Safety issues are specified and the evaluation and management of each problem is based on a status summary that integrates the most current information from all relevant sources. The status summary is updated regularly during the course of clinical development to reflect the results of new studies and new clinical trials. In the postmarketing period, relevant postmarketing data is incorporated. Recent regulatory initiatives emphasise early identification of product safety risks so that appropriate risk-management measures can be instituted at the time of approval. A problem-oriented approach supports growing regulatory expectations regarding risk assessment and risk management. The problem-oriented approach facilitates early identification of safety issues and an evidence-based approach to their evaluation. Proactive management of safety problems leads to prompt assessment of risks and timely and appropriate steps aimed at risk reduction. The SEP provides a single global assessment for each safety issue. Regulatory submissions for pharmaceutical and biological products are organised by type of information. International Conference of Harmonisation documents covering clinical safety issues structure and analyse information separately by type, for example, adverse events, serious adverse events, laboratory data, vital signs, etc. A problem-oriented analysis would need to find a place in the regulatory process. A problem-oriented approach to safety cuts across typical structures in the pharmaceutical industry where different groups handle preclinical, clinical and postmarketing safety information. The SEP can improve communication within the company and externally. Nonetheless, supporting structures need to be adapted to support such an interdisciplinary process. Overall, the problem-oriented approach, supported by a SEP, contributes to realistic expectations and sustained credibility when dealing with safety issues.

Factors Influencing Implementation of the Legislated Smoking Ban on School Property in Ontario

Background. Implementation of legislation in Ontario, Canada, that banned smoking on school property gave rise to perceptions of problems in some schools. A telephone survey was conducted to assess these problems. This analysis identifies risk or protective factors in the school environment associated with administrators' reports of problems.Methods. Survey data were obtained from key informants in 213 high schools. Multiple logistic regression was used to identify school-related characteristics associated with: (1) major problems in implementing the ban and (2) recommendations that schools return to designated smoking areas.Results. A protective factor against both outcomes was having a school no-smoking policy prior to the ban. Also protective against major problems was a perceived decrease in student smoking during the school day. The identification of safety risks to students who leave school property to smoke was a strong risk factor for both outcomes. Beliefs that the ban was not effective and opposition to it from teachers/staff were associated with desires for its repeal.Conclusions. In implementing legislated school smoking bans, attention should be given to informing teachers and gaining their support. Strategies for dealing with potential safety risks to students who leave school property to smoke should also be devised.