Industrial Accidents Research Articles

Lead from Notre-Dame Fire Plume Caught 15 km from Paris

Thanks to the use of filters collected daily in the west of Paris, we confirm the passage of the lead-laden plume following the fire on the roof and spire of Notre-Dame Cathedral in April 2019. The measured concentrations on the filter (Pb = 1.4 μg m–3), scanning electron microscopy and Hysplit simulation, correspond to an estimate of a few hundred kilograms of lead that would have been volatilized and then oxidized in the form of micronic and submicronic aerosols. The concentrations found in the plume are, however, much lower than those found in the environment in the 1980s and 1990s but are 100 times higher than those found in times prior to and after the fire. The isotopic signature of the plume is almost identical to that of the fine Pb dust found inside the Notre-Dame building. It is different from the isotopic signature of the Parisian atmosphere before and after the fire, but it is similar to that of the atmospheric Pb legacy recorded by peat cores over the last 300 years in France. The presence of very fine lead-bearing particles makes them potentially transportable over long distances after large urban fires. Our study shows the value of daily aerosol sampling to retrospectively trace the plumes of air pollutants from industrial accidents but also from historical monument fires such as Notre-Dame in 2019.

외상신념과 이차적 외상 스트레스의 관계에서 침투적 반추의 매개효과

Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between traumatic beliefs, invasive rumination, and secondary traumatic stress in adults who experienced indirect trauma, and to verify the mediating effect of invasive rumination in the relationship between traumatic beliefs and secondary traumatic stress.
 Methods In order to verify the research hypothesis, a questionnaire survey was conducted on a total of 354 people. Among them, 33 copies were excluded and analyzed based on 321 copies. The scales used were the Trauma and Attachment Belief Scale (TABS), the Korean Event Related Rumination Inventory (ERRI), and the Invasive Rumin Scale, the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (KSTSS). Based on the collected data, it was analyzed through SPSS 21.O and PROCESS macro 3.4 program. The results of this study are as follows.
 Results First, as a result of examining the demographic variables of this study, most people (20.2%) experienced ‘accidents and injuries (traffic accidents, industrial accidents, fires, explosions, etc.)’ as indirect trauma, and ‘Most people answered (35.2%) because they felt sorry for their family or neighbors. In addition to trauma survivors, this is significant in that it helps in the treatment and counseling strategies of family and acquaintances exposed indirectly. Second, this study was targeted at general adults considering that indirect trauma studies targeting general adults were insufficient, including domestic studies, because prior work on the subject of indirect trauma was mainly targeted at practitioners related to trauma. Is meaningful in that respect. Third, it is significant in that the study results provide information about the main symptoms and the effects of secondary trauma stress in a counseling scene with a client who has experienced indirect trauma and suggests that it is a cognitive direction.
 Conclusions Based on the above results, we can examine the characteristics of adults who experienced indirect trauma and the main variables affecting secondary trauma stress, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can occur in trauma survivors, indirectly injuries trauma. It was found that even those who experienced it could occur with secondary traumatic stress. Finally, limitations were discussed for further study.

The Current State of Information Systems of Public Administration for Solving Security Risks

We focus on the analysis and assessment of the availability of information on crisis situations on the websites of public administration structures. The periods from 2020 to 2022, with their global and regional crisis events, gave us the opportunities to examine how public administration systems are prepared to deal with crisis events. Crisis events that need to be managed on public administration information pages are not only flood, fire, natural disasters, industrial and ecological accidents, but also migration, epidemic, energy crisis, unemployment or labor shortage and the danger of war.

Characteristics of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Korea.

This study aimed to analyze trends for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) from 1996 to 2020 in Korea and to investigate characteristics of WMSDs, including WMSD approval rates, distribution by WMSD names, and the effects of industry type and size, and workers’ age and gender on WMSD occurrence. The data included those obtained from the official yearbooks for industrial accidents published by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and those obtained personally from the Korea Workers’ Compensation & Welfare Service. The results showed that although the incidence of WMSDs differed by year, approximately 9500 cases of WMSDs occurred in 2019 and 2020, the incidence rate of WMSDs was approximately 5.0 per 10,000 workers, and the proportions of WMSDs among industrial accidents were almost 9%. Low back pain was the leading cause of WMSDs; WMSDs occupied 9.5−71.5% of total occupational diseases by year and occurred most frequently in the manufacturing industry, followed by construction, transportation/warehouse and communication, and mining industries, and nearly 60% of WMSDs occurred in small business with <50 workers. Among chronic WMSDs, rotator cuff syndrome in the shoulder ranked first, intervertebral disc disorders second, and rotator cuff and tendon injuries third. By body parts, the shoulder was most susceptible to chronic WMSDs, followed by the low back, leg, and elbow/lower arm. The chi-square test and logistic regression analysis showed that industry type and size and workers’ gender and age were significantly associated with WMSD approval. It can be concluded that the WMSD preventive efforts should focus on low back pain and rotator cuff syndrome by WMSD name, manufacturing by industry, small business by industry size, men by gender, and aged workers by age.

Bifunctional Fluorescent Probes for the Detection of Mustard Gas and Phosgene

Mustard gas [sulfur mustard (SM)] and phosgene are the most frequently used chemical warfare agents (CWAs), which pose a serious threat to human health and national security, and their rapid and accurate detection is essential to respond to terrorist attacks and industrial accidents. Herein, we developed a fluorescent probe with o-hydroxythioketone as two sensing sites, AQso, which can detect and distinguish mustard gas and phosgene. The dual-sensing-site probe AQso reacts with mustard gas to form a cyclic product with high sensitivity [limit of detection (LOD) = 70 nM] and is highly selective to SM over phosgene, SM analogues, active alkylhalides, acylhalides, and nerve agent mimics, in ethanol solutions. When encountering phosgene, AQso rapidly converts to cyclic carbonate, which is sensitive (LOD = 14 nM) and highly selective. Their sensing mechanisms of AQso to mustard gas and phosgene were well demonstrated by separation and characterization of the sensing products. Furthermore, a facile test strip with the probe was prepared to distinguish 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES) and phosgene in the gas phase by different fluorescence colors and response rates. Not using the complicated instrument, the qualitative and quantitative detection of CEES or phosgene can be achieved only by measuring the red-green-blue (RGB) channel intensity of the test strip after being exposed to CEES or phosgene gas by the smartphone with an RGB color application.

A transformers-based approach on industrial disaster consequence identification from accident narratives

Industrial accidents are a major part of the more general technological disasters domain. These events vary from mild to severe and can affect millions of people and cause huge environmental and property damage. New technologies enable novel approaches and applications in the field of disaster management which help prevent, mitigate, and respond to such events. More specifically, transformers-based language models dominate natural language applications with outstanding state of the art performance. In this study an effort is being made to identify and evaluate the ability of transformers to extract and evaluate the consequences and effects of an industrial accident using natural language. The eMARS database is used for training data and a BERT model is used for fine tuning. The results on a multilabel classification task for consequence prediction from accident narratives are promising, achieving an overall weighted F1-score of 0.80.

Epidemiologic Changes of Facial Bone Fracture before and after Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Level 1 Trauma Center in Korea

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has had a major impact worldwide. Several countries have implemented restrictions on social interaction ("social distancing"). Several studies have reported that the epidemiology of trauma patients, such as those with facial bone fractures, has changed after COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to further explore these specific changes. Methods This was a retrospective study of patients who presented to a single institution with facial bone fractures between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2020. Baseline patient demographics, clinical information, type of fracture, etiology, and operative management were compared before and after COVID-19. Results Of all cases, 3,409 occurred before COVID-19, and 602 occurred after COVID-19. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the number of patients with facial fractures has not decreased significantly. A significant increase was noted in fractures that occurred outdoors ( p < 0.001). However, a decrease was observed in operative management between the groups ( p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the proportion of assault, fall-down, industrial accident, or roll-down. In contrast, the proportion of traffic accidents and slip-down categories increased significantly ( p < 0.05). Moreover, a significant decrease was found in the proportion of the sports category ( p = 0.001) Conclusions It was confirmed through this study that COVID-19 pandemic also affected epidemiology of facial fractures. Focusing on these changes, it is necessary to develop safety measures to reduce facial fractures.

Analysis of accidents at the facilities of main pipeline transport and oil production

The article presents statistical data on industrial accidents that occurred at hazardous production facilities in the oil and gas industry and main pipeline transport in the Russian Federation. The dynamics of changes in accidents has been analyzed and the damaging factors in the occurrence of fatal accidents by hazard classes have been considered. The results of this study can be used to build predictive simulation models for the purposes of technosphere safety management.

Automation in the Food Industry: Design of a Machine for the Cutting of Native Potatoes

Due to the lack of technological development in the country's food industry, it makes sense to build an automated machine to obtain potato strips from native potatoes. The cutting of potato strips is a big problem for several companies. They are operated and processed manually, which results in the loss of part of the product in the peel, increased time for this operation, loss of money, work accidents, and the tiredness and fatigue of the workers in charge of the production. The design was developed to solve these problems. In the production process, the optimization of the synchronization of the described operations fulfils all production functions, but above all, it guarantees the quality of the final product, reduces losses caused by industrial accidents, and brings economic benefits to the company. Considering the design of the automated machine in the cutting process, the future development of the company aims to automate the entire processing plant as a first step for the cutting process by applying the mechanical design method. VDI 2221: This method goes deeper into the design process to find the best opportunities for research and development. It also concludes that, at the end of the process, an optimal machine has been designed that meets research and problem-solving requirements with regard to potato cutting.

Statement by the Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Medicine on the proposed reform of working hours in South Korea.

The current 52-hour workweek in South Korea consists of 40 hours of regular work and 12 hours of overtime. Although the average working hours in South Korea is declining, it is still 199 hours longer than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 1,716 hours per year. In view to this, the South Korean government has now proposed to reform the workweek, mainly intending to increase the workweek to 69 hours when the workload is heavy. This reform, by increasing the labor intensity due to long working hours, goes against the global trend of reducing work hours for a safe and healthy working environment. Long working hours can lead to increased cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases, industrial accidents, mental health problems, and safety accidents due to lack of concentration. In conclusion, the Korean government's working hour reform plan can have a negative impact on workers' health, and therefore it should be thoroughly reviewed and modified.

Comparison of Trends in the Incidence of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury in Daily Life, Automobile Accidents, and Industrial Accidents: A National Multi-Insurance Study in Korea.

To examine the incidence of traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) from all etiologies, we measured and compared the incidence of TSCI from three national or quasi-national databases in South Korea, namely, the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), automobile insurance (AUI), and Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance (IACI). We reviewed patients with TSCI reported in the NHIS database between 2009 and 2018, and in the AUI and IACI databases between 2014 and 2018. TSCI patients were defined as those first admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of TSCI according to the International Classification of Diseases (10th revision) criteria. Age-adjusted incidence was calculated using direct standardization using the 2005 South Korean population or the 2000 US population as the standard population. The annual percentage changes (APC) of TSCI incidence were calculated. The Cochrane-Armitage trend test was performed according to the injured body region. In the NHIS database, age-adjusted TSCI incidence using the Korean standard population increased significantly from 2009 to 2018 (from 33.73 per million in 2009 to 38.14 per million in 2018, APC = 1.2%, P = 0.014). Contrarily, age-adjusted incidence in the AUI database significantly decreased from 13.88 per million in 2014 to 11.57 per million in 2018 (APC = - 5.1%, P = 0.009). In the IACI database, the age-adjusted incidence showed no significant difference, while crude incidence showed a significant increase (from 22.02 per million in 2014 to 28.92 per million in 2018, APC = 6.1%, P = 0.038). According to the age group, all the three databases showed high incidences of TSCI in those in their 60s and 70s or older. Among those in their 70s or older, the incidence of TSCI increased dramatically in the NHIS and IACI databases, while no significant trend was found in AUI database. In 2018, the number of TSCI patients was the highest among those over 70 years of age in the NHIS, whereas among those in their 50s were the highest in both AUI and IACI. The proportion of patients with cervical spinal cord injury was the most common in all these databases. The differences in trends in the incidence of TSCI may be due to the different etiologies and different characteristics of subjects depending on insurance type. These results imply the need for tailored medical strategies for the different injury mechanisms represented by three national insurance services in South Korea.

Visualization of Business Intelligence Insights into Aviation Accidents

Despite the recent tragic loss activity, flying is often said to be the safest form of transport, and this is at least true in terms of fatalities per distance travelled. The Civil Aviation Authority reports that the death rate per billion kilometers travelled by aircraft is 0.003, which is much lower than the rates of 0.27 for train travel and 2.57 for vehicle travel. Despite the fact that safety has been the aviation industry's top focus for the last century and a half, accidents involving aircraft continue to be a source of horror even in the present day. Hence, the aim of this project is to identify the major causes and reasons that led to accidents in the aviation industry and to carry out research, finding, design, build and suggest a Business Intelligence (BI) solution to the problem. Throughout the project, it will discover problems, both elementary and critical which needs to be corrected or changed in order to prevent major negative happenings and improve the current situation in a positive way. Tableau will be the primary BI tool used in this process. Data visualization is the graphic depiction of information and data. Data visualization tools offer an easy approach to data analysis that observe and find patterns, outliers, and patterns in data by employing visual elements like charts, graphs, and maps. The project will also cover the initial to building and deployment stage of the BI solution to improve and prevent further accidents.

Investigation of the Causes of Accidents in the Electric Power Industry: Assessment of the Need for Changes and the Concept of Regulatory Development

The occurrence of accidents at electric power facilities and power receivers has a significant impact on the quality of energy supply to electricity consumers, the functioning of the fuel and energy complex, the socio-economic development of the country and national security. The attainment of the objective of the electric power industry specified in the Energy Strategy for the period up to 2035 and the implementation of the general principles and objectives of regulating reliability and safety in the electric power industry and the quality of electricity established in the Electric Power Industry Law is impossible without the development, adoption and timely updating of regulations governing the procedure for investigating the causes of accidents in the electric power industry. Previously, issues related to the regulation of the procedure for investigating the causes of accidents in the electric power industry were not considered in legal studies, with the exception of certain procedural issues in judicial practices in cases of appeal against investigation reports on the causes of accident. The purpose of the study is to establish the need to amend the legal regulation of the procedure for investigating the causes of accidents in the electric power industry and to form a concept for the development of the accident investigation procedure.

Safety based dynamic uncertainty reduction to increase safety performance in aviation industry

There is a lot of evidence regarding air flight accidents caused by human error, especially air traffic controllers (ATC). On the other hand, the principle of work safety through safety performance can help organizations reduce the number of work accidents and create zero accidents in the aviation industry. This research aims to analyze the effect of leadership on safety culture and safety performance by investigating the mediating role of Safety Based Dynamic Uncertainty Reduction (SDUR) as an integral aspect in safety research. A total of 214 respondents were involved in this research. The analysis technique used in this study is Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed significant effects of leadership on safety culture and safety performance. The mediating analysis also reveals the significant effects of SDUR in strengthening the impact of leadership to safety performance. As implications, SDUR can be considered as an effective strategy in improving Safety Performance in the workplace.

Consequence Modeling and Analysis of Benzene leakage and explosion from a poorly sited gas station in the City of Douala, Cameroon

Introduction: Benzene has long been recognized as highly carcinogenic and the most cytotoxic of all air pollutants released by gas stations. Although several studies have been conducted on accidents in the process industry, very little work has been directed toward the modeling of risks caused by the leakage and explosion of toxic substances in gas stations. This knowledge could aid in predicting the vapor concentration inside gas station office buildings and neighboring infrastructures and in developing corresponding safety measures. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to model the consequences of Benzene dispersion following leakage and explosion from gas stations, taking the city of Douala, Cameroon as an example. Methods: Based on the measured vent emission and meteorological data, the Areal Location of Hazardous Atmosphere (ALOHA v.5.4.7) model was used to predict the hazard radius of leakage and dispersion of benzene from a tank in different seasons. The maps of the toxic and flammable vapor cloud of benzene, evaporation rate from a puddle, and the concentration of toxic and flammable vapor cloud inside and outside of the station were prepared with the aid of MARPLOT and Google Earth software. Results: The results showed that the maximum average sustained release rate of benzene from a tank was 26 kilograms per minute, with an estimated total amount released of 1,340 kilograms per 60 minutes in the dry season. The puddle spread to a diameter of 19.8 meters. The predicted threat zone distance from the station in the dry season, as compared to the rainy season, had an increase in radius of 12, 20, and 83m for the red, orange, and yellow zones, respectively. The worst hazard level extends primarily in the downwind direction and is predicted to be 31 meters in the rainy season in all directions, covering parts of the adjacent settlements and social infrastructure. Conclusion: The potential scenarios of benzene dispersion from a poorly sited gas station in the city of Douala have been modeled and the threat zones estimated. Nearby residences and social infrastructures are significantly exposed, with the predicted threat zones being more hazardous for the employees of the gas station. Further research looking at the impact of combined consequences of gasoline emissions may help determine whether the combined effects of benzene with other chemicals are cumulative or synergistic.

Identification of Building Architectural Work Construction Safety Risks

In Indonesia, the rate of workplace accidents in the construction industry is still relatively high. Unsupervised work activities, which result in the disregard of risk control for these work activities, are one of the factors contributing to the high rate of workplace accidents. Therefore, if WBS can be used to design construction safety planning, then all dangerous operations can be monitored. This study will employ the quantitative technique as its methodology. The WBS for architectural construction safety planning will be developed through case study work on the High Prosecutor's Office Building for DKI Jakarta Province and based on the Minister of Public Works and Public Housing Regulation No. 10 of 2021. This study aims to identify the risks in each architectural work activity using the WBS and produce a good construction safety management strategy in the form of a risk assessment for each architectural work activity to improve construction safety performance (K2) in building construction projects in Indonesia.

Industrial injuries in agriculture

Compliance with the requirements of labour protection, labour safety of workers in agriculture ensures the preservation of life and health of the rural population, reducing the risk of serious injury. At work, including in agriculture, industrial injuries threaten the health and even the life of the rural population, up to premature death. The purpose is to consider the causes of industrial injuries of workers employed in agriculture, analyse statistical data on accidents in agriculture, and make recommendations for its prevention. The analysis of statistical data on industrial injuries and accidents in agriculture was carried out, a comparative analysis of domestic and foreign experience with a literature review was carried out. Based on the Content analysis, hazardous production factors leading to accidents and injuries in agriculture were widely considered. Thanks to the study, the causes of industrial injuries in agriculture and the factors leading to accidents were identified, recommendations on measures for their prevention were given. Based on foreign experience, studies of industrial injuries in agriculture are considered. Analysing the indicators of occupational injuries for the corresponding period of time, we conclude about their dynamics in economic activities, in various sectors of the economy and in the state as a whole.

An innovative framework for risk assessment of non-structural components for industrial plants

Na-Tech events (Natural Hazard Triggering Technological Disasters) are industrial accidents triggered by natural events such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tsunami, etc. In the recent decades, various analytical approaches for the performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) have been developed. The most famous approach has been provided by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center, which consists of four stages: hazard analysis, demand analysis, damage analysis, and risk assessment. The accuracy of this method in the case of complex critical infrastructure, such as nuclear and non-nuclear industrial plants, is still under investigation. Specifically for these critical structures, it is necessary to define different Limit States and appropriate Engineering Demand Parameters (EDP), especially in presence of critical Non-Structural Components (NSC), whose damage can have serious consequences. Furthermore, because of the narrow distribution of frequencies in the demand of NSC, the selection of ground motion records for fragility analysis is also a critical aspect. Consequently, the aim of the proposed study is to investigate the suitability of the PBEE approach in presence of NSCs and their dynamic interaction with the primary structure. On these premises, a comprehensive shake table test campaign was carried out with the aim to investigate the seismic behaviour of two structural configurations of a representative industrial multi-storey frame equipped with process NSCs. The main limit states for NCSs are identified and the related fragility curves are built, in a PBEE perspective, based on both experimental results and finite element model (FEM) simulations. For this purpose, an innovative algorithm for ground accelerogram selection is used. Finally, the mean annual frequency (MAF) of exceedance of the experimentally identified limit states for relevant NSCs is carried out.

Study of corrosion and its preventive measures

Corrosion is one of the primary causes of wear and tear on machine parts and is responsible for reducing the life of machinery parts. Several industrial accidents occur because of pipeline corrosion. There are various methods to protect the materials from oxidation, wear and corrosion. These preventive measures include pretreatments of metals, proper design and selection of right selection, sacrificial method, cathodic protection, barrier protection, electroplating, zinc galvanizing by hot dipping and thermal spray coatings. However among various preventive measures thermal spray coating offered high resistance against erosion, corrosion and oxidation. Therefore, providing an overview of the various types of corrosion, their causes, mechanisms, costs, and related preventive measures is the aim of this study. This information aims to enable proactive measures in mitigating the impact of corrosion-related issues.

СТАТИСТИЧЕСКИЙ АНАЛИЗ АВАРИЙНОСТИ НА ПРОИЗВОДСТВЕ В РЕЗУЛЬТАТЕ НЕКОРРЕКТНОГО ФУНКЦИОНИРОВАНИЯ СИСТЕМЫ ЭНЕРГООБЕСПЕЧЕНИЯ ПРЕДПРИЯТИЯ

This article presents an analysis of industrial accidents in order to ensure the continuous operation of the enterprise. The impact of potentially hazardous production factors on a person is considered on the example of the chemical industry. The analysis of statistical data on emergency situations in the electric power industry over the past seven years has been carried out. A set of measures to prevent accidents is proposed, consisting of five main groups of measures: legislative, technical, organizational, economic, medical and preventive. One of the best and promising options for reducing production risks is an automated control system (ACS), the advantages of which include reducing unproductive costs and energy losses, obtaining reliable information about the progress of the technological process, the condition of equipment and controls in order to quickly eliminate abnormal emergency and post-emergency modes.