On-site Workers Research Articles

Panzhihua airport landslide (Oct. 3rd 2009) and an emergency monitoring and warning system based on the internet of things

Panzhihua city (26°05′–27°21′N, 101°08′–102°15′E), located in a mountainous area, is one of the large cities in Sichuan province, China. A landslide occurred in the filling body of the eastern part of the Panzhihua airport on October 3, 2009 (hereafter called the 10.3 landslide). We conducted field survey on the landslide and adopted emergency monitoring and warning models based on the Internet of Things (IoT) to estimate the losses from the disaster and to prevent a secondary disaster from occurring. The results showed that four major features of the airport site had contributed to the landslide, i.e, high altitude, huge amount of filling rocks, deep backfilling and great difficulty of backfilling. The deformation process of the landslide had six stages and the unstable geological structure of high fillings and an earthquake were the main causes of the landslide. We adopted relative displacement sensing technology and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technology to achieve remote, real-time and unattended monitoring of ground cracks in the landslide. The monitoring system, including five extensometers with measuring ranges of 200, 450 and 700 mm, was continuously working for 17 months and released 7 warning signals with an average warning time of about 26 hours. At 10 am on 6 December 2009, the system issued a warning and on-site workers were evacuated and equipment protected immediately. At 2:20 pm on 7 December, a medium-scale collapse occurred at the No. 5 monitoring site, which justified the alarm and proved the reliability and efficiency of the monitoring system.

143 Persistent Rotating Shift Work Is a Second Hit Contributing to Abnormal Liver Function among On-Site Workers Having Fatty Liver

ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between elevated serum alaninetransaminase (ALT) and persistent rotating shift work (p-RSW) among employees with sonographic fatty liver (SLF).MethodsThe authors performed a retrospective analysis on a cohort...

Integration of mental health resources in a primary care setting leads to increased provider satisfaction and patient access

ObjectiveThis evaluation assessed the opinions and experiences of primary care providers and their support staff before and after implementation of expanded on-site mental health services and related system changes in a primary care clinic. MethodIndividual semistructured interviews, which contained a combination of open-ended questions and rating scales, were used to elicit opinions about mental health services before on-site system and resource changes occurred and repeated following changes that were intended to improve access to on-site mental health care. ResultsIn the first set of interviews, prior to expanding mental health services, primary care providers and support staff were generally dissatisfied with the availability and scheduling of on-site mental health care. Patients were often referred outside the primary care clinic for mental health treatment, to the detriment of communication and coordinated care. Follow-up interviews conducted after expansion of mental health services, scheduling refinements and other system changes revealed improved provider satisfaction in treatment access and coordination of care. Providers appreciated immediate and on-site social worker availability to triage mental health needs and help access care, and on-site treatment was viewed as important for remaining informed about patient care the primary care providers are not delivering directly. ConclusionsExpanding integrated mental health services resulted in increased staff and provider satisfaction. Our evaluation identified key components of satisfaction, including on-site collaboration and assistance triaging patient needs. The sustainability of integrated models of care requires additional study.

Process-Based Assembly Technical Annotation Management in 3D Assembly Instruction

In order to instruct on-site workers to accomplish the assembly job fast and exactly, improve the assembly quality and efficiency, we proposed a management method for assembly technical annotation in 3D assembly instruction. This method maps 3D technical annotations to assembly operation and assembly time based on time sequence granularity, achieves the goal of showing assembly technical annotations based on assembly process. We demonstrated the effectiveness of this method with a satellite antenna feed components assembly process instance. The instance shows that this method can mark assembly technical annotations based on assembly process, and show the annotations in time sequence but not in assembly space. This will help on-site assembly workers to understand the assembly order fast and unambiguously, finish the assembly operations correctly.

Persistent Rotating Shift Work Exposure Is a Tough Second Hit Contributing to Abnormal Liver Function Among On-Site Workers Having Sonographic Fatty Liver

To investigate the relationship between elevated serum alanine-transaminase (e-ALT) and persistent rotating shift work (p-RSW) among employees with sonographic fatty liver (SFL), the authors performed a retrospective analysis on a cohort of electronics manufacturing workers. The records of 758 workers (507 men, 251 women) with initially normal ALT and a mean age of 32.9 years were analyzed. A total of 109 workers (14.4%) developed e-ALT after 5 years. Compared with those having neither initial SFL nor p-RSW exposure, multivariate analysis indicated that employees who had initial SFL but without p-RSW finally had a higher risk (odds ratio = 2.9; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.7-5.1) for developing e-ALT; workers with baseline SFL plus p-RSW had a 3.7-fold increased risk (95% CI = 1.8-7.5). SFL poses a conspicuous risk for the development of e-ALT, and persistent p-RSW exposure significantly aggravates the development of e-ALT among on-site workers with preexisting SFL.

Cadmium release from a reprocessing electrorefiner falling over

The possible biological consequences of a release of cadmium due to a design basis earthquake in the Idaho Nuclear Laboratory's nuclear fuel reprocessing cell are evaluated. The facility is designed to withstand the design basis earthquake except for some non-seismically qualified feedthroughs. The earthquake is hypothesized to breach these feedthroughs (allowing air into the argon atmosphere processing cell) and cause the MK-IV electrorefiner (ER) in the cell to tip over or split and spill its contents of fission product laden salt and cadmium. In addition, the uranium dendrite product cathode is assumed to fall on the cadmium and burn. The heat from the burning cathode results in release of cadmium vapor into the cell atmosphere. Ingestion and inhalation of a sufficient concentration of cadmium for a critical time period can cause irreversible health effects or death. The release of the small quantity of fission products, analyzed elsewhere, results in negligible doses.Analysis reported here shows there is no danger to the general public by the cadmium release or to on-site workers except in one low probability case. This one case requires a fivefold failure where the safety exhaust system fails just after the 4% oxygen concentration combustion limit in the cell is reached. Failure of the SES allows oscillatory inflow and outflow (and hence cadmium outflow) from the cell due to gravity. The dose to a worker in the basement exceeds the mortality limit in this one event if the worker does not leave the basement.

Distress management in a community oncology center.

107 Background: NCCN and the Institute of Medicine recommend distress screening for all cancer patients. Surveys have found that 20% to 47% of newly diagnosed and recurrent cancer patients experience significant levels of distress. Less than half of distressed patients with cancer are actually identified and referred for psychosocial help. The development of screening tools, processes, appropriate timing, and systems for follow up on concerns is an ongoing challenge for many cancer programs. Mountain States Tumor Institute p,iloted a distress screen process as part of our work with NCCCP. Methods: From October 24, 2011, to April 30, 2012, 133 patients completed distress screens. Most frequently reported concerns included fatigue (50%), sleep changes (32%), and anxiety/worry (31%). 51% of patients reported three or more concerns. 90% of all patients reporting anxiety also reported fatigue or sleep problems. All patients who reported concerns were offered social work and other supports. Screens were reviewed by social workers and discussed at weekly multidisciplinary psychosocial care rounds by social workers, psychiatrist, nurse practitioners, and chaplains. A variety of interventions were used to respond to distress including symptom management, education and referrals to on-site social workers, chaplains, supportive care clinic, integrative medicine and psychiatry. Results: A task was created in Mosaiq Electronic Medical Record to cue Health Information Specialists to schedule patients for distress screening as close as possible to 45 days from first chemotherapy treatment. Patients completed screens before seeing their medical provider. The majority of patients screened received one or more interventions in follow-up. Conclusions: EMRs can be effective tools to cue scheduled screening of patient distress. The use of multidisciplinary psychosocial care rounds can effectively help clinics plan interventions to alleviate patient distress. The use of rounds can ensure staff from different disciplines are not duplicating efforts and can help determine appropriate timing of various psychosocial interventions. Project funded with Federal funds from the NCI, Contract No HHSN261200800001E.

The effectiveness of a hospital-based intervention for patients with substance-use problems in the Western Cape

District hospitals regularly experience a high incidence of substance use disorders, but rarely provide interventions. We describe the effectiveness of an intervention developed and implemented by a Western Cape hospital. Patients with probable substance use were referred to an on-site social worker for an alcohol, smoking and substance involvement screening test (ASSIST), a brief motivational intervention and referral to specialist care. At the 3-month follow-up, the ASSIST was re-administered telephonically. An intervention was received by 127 patients. A significant reduction in substance use was reported in 92 patients who completed a 3-month follow-up evaluation (p<0.001). Of the 60 patients referred to further care, half entered treatment. We conclude that, with minimal resourcing, it is feasible to administer a brief substance use intervention for patients attending district hospitals.

Fate and transport evaluation of potential leaching risks from cadmium telluride photovoltaics

Fate and transport analysis has been performed to evaluate potential exposures to cadmium (Cd) from cadmium telluride (CdTe) photovoltaics (PV) for rainwater leaching from broken modules in a commercial building scenario. Leaching from broken modules is modeled using the worst-case scenario of total release of Cd, and residential screening levels are used to evaluate potential health impacts to on-site workers and off-site residents. A rooftop installation was considered rather than a ground-mount installation because rainwater runoff is concentrated via building downspouts in a rooftop installation rather than being dispersed across large areas in a ground-mount installation. Fate and transport of Cd from leachate to soil are modeled using equilibrium soil/soil-water partitioning. Subsequent migration to ambient air as windblown dust is evaluated with a screening Gaussian plume dispersion model, and migration to groundwater is evaluated with a dilution-attenuation factor approach. Exposure point concentrations in soil, air, and groundwater are one to six orders of magnitude below conservative (residential soil, residential air, drinking water) human health screening levels in both a California and southern Germany (Baden-Württemberg) exposure scenario. Potential exposures to Cd from rainwater leaching of broken modules in a commercial building scenario are highly unlikely to pose a potential health risk to on-site workers or off-site residents.

Mental Healthcare Need and Service Utilization in Older Adults Living in Public Housing

Anxiety and depression in socioeconomically disadvantaged older adults frequently go unrecognized and untreated. This study aims to characterize mental illness and its treatment in older adult public housing residents who have many risk factors for anxiety and depression. Cross-sectional study. Public housing high-rises in Rochester, New York. One hundred ninety residents aged 60 years and older. Anxiety and depression were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, GAD-7, and Patient Health Questionnaire. We obtained information on mental healthcare from medication review and self-report. Participants had a median age of 66 years, 58% were women, 80% were black, and 92% lived alone. Many participants (31%) were in need of mental healthcare: 21% had syndromal and 11% had subsyndromal anxiety or depression. Mental healthcare need was associated with younger age; intact cognitive functioning; impairments in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL); more medical illness; decreased mobility; smaller social network size; more severe life events; and increased utilization of medical, human, and informal services. Of those with mental healthcare need, most were not receiving it. Compared with residents receiving mental healthcare, residents with untreated need were more likely to be men and have less IADL impairment, medical illness, severe life events, onsite social worker use, and human services utilization. Mental illness was common and largely untreated in public housing residents. Increasing collaboration between medical, mental, and human services is needed to improve identification, treatment, and ultimately prevention of late-life mental illness in this community setting.

Review of American Indian Veteran Telemental Health

Rural American Indian veterans have unique healthcare needs and face numerous barriers to accessing healthcare services. Over the past decade, the Department of Veterans Affairs in conjunction with the University of Colorado Denver has turned to the promising field of telemental health to develop a series of videoconferencing-based clinics to reach this vulnerable population and improve mental healthcare services. The ongoing development, implementation, and expansion of these clinics have been assessed as part of a program improvement. The outcomes of these assessments have been documented in a series of published articles, controlled studies, program and case reports, and model descriptions. This article summarizes a decade of experience with the American Indian Telemental Health Clinics, the clinic model, and the literature arising from these clinics and presents lessons learned while establishing, maintaining, and evaluating these clinics. The ability to tailor the clinics to individual sites and cultures and to provide various services has been critical to the operation of the clinics. Culturally specific care through culturally knowledgeable providers, onsite tribal outreach workers, and collaboration with community services has proven essential in operating the clinics, as well as building rapport, trust, and engagement with the target patient population. It is hoped that the lessons learned and practices presented here can not only assist others working to improve the care for rural Native veterans but also serve as a model in the use of telemental health services for improving care and access to rural veteran and non-veteran populations.

Work-related fatigue among workers on semiconductor manufacturing lines

ObjectivesTo examine potential risk factors for work-related fatigue among the apparently healthy workers on semiconductors production lines.MethodsThe data, including general health check-up records, need for recovery after work (NFR) scale...

P5-S6.15 Social work services at New York City Health Department STD clinics

ObjectiveTo describe the introduction of social work services in New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene Bureau of STD Control (NYC DOH) clinics.BackgroundEach year the NYC DOH STD...

Planning of occupational dose reduction at BWR power plant by past dose record analysis combined with on-site workers' idea analysis

In order to establish a plan for occupational dose reduction at operating plants, outage inspection works that involve high-dose exposure were selected and a determination of the major causes of high-dose exposure made by plant-by-plant comparison of doses received during inspection works. The comparison was made to investigate the relationship between exposure and the volume of objects to be inspected, working time and man-hour of each work process and ambient dose rates at work areas. In parallel with this, an analysis has also been carried out on 400 data items in a questionnaire survey conducted on relevant individuals, including foremen, radiation safety personnel, on-site workers and plant designers regarding ideas for dose reduction methods. With combination of these two analyses, matters that require improvement will be highlighted, then modification of equipment or revision of work procedures necessary for occupational dose reduction will be planned by plant designers through review.

RETHINKING TELECOMMUTING AND THE DISTRIBUTED WORK ORGANIZATION

A sequential, mixed-methods analysis of employees spending varying amounts of time onsite versus offsite reveals that the assumptions guiding much extant work on telecommuting may need to be reconsidered. While research suggests that isolation increases as one spends increasing amounts of time working offsite, our inductive, qualitative study of a Fortune 100 company found few if any differences in perceived isolation across workers ranging from 100% onsite to 100% offsite. Rather, with the advent of “location autonomy” or freedom to work where you want to work in this organization, more individuals work offsite, meaning fewer people are at the office, leaving even onsite workers at greater risk of being isolated. Building on these and other findings, we suggest that this company represents a new type of distributed work organization. We conducted a deductive, quantitative study with a different sample in the same organization to test the implications of this new type of distributed organization. Findings...

The Model of Mobile Knowledge Services System in the Management of Complex Cluster Project

Cluster projects are projects of large-scale or with huge investment, such as Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Shanghai 2010 Expo. A lot of on-site management works are involved in the process of cluster project management, especially the treatment of sudden accidents which would produce plenty of knowledge and experience. As cluster project on-site management spots change frequently, knowledge produced by mobile workers in the process of on-site management is hard to be saved into the knowledge repository on time. It may cause a knowledge distortion or even missing. On the other hand, in the process of cluster project management, a lot of knowledge is required by on-site workers to deal with on-site activities. However, due to lack of effective mechanisms for knowledge communion, they often face the risk of making wrong decisions. To solve the problems of knowledge management and acquisition in the process of cluster project on-site management, this paper presents a system model for mobile knowledge service.

A Study Of Building An Intellectual Working Value Improvement Model IWV-IM

In order for Japan’s manufacturing industry to succeed amidst today’s global competition, companies must further increase the quality of tasks performed by on-site workers (worker dedication), thereby enabling them to create products with superior QCD. To this end, the authors investigated the problems currently facing manufacturing sites and identified their key factors. They then used these factors to formulate the Intellectual Working Value Improvement Model“IWV-IM”designed to improve working value and increase worker dedication. The effectiveness of this model was then verified.

Safety issues and approach to meet the safety requirements in the tokamak cooling water system of ITER

ITER (Latin for the “way”) is an experimental tokamak fusion energy reactor that is being built in Cadarache, France, in collaboration with seven agencies representing China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States. The main objective of ITER is to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of a controlled fusion reaction that will allow the production of approximately 500 MW of fusion power for durations of several hundred seconds. As an experimental facility, ITER is intended to allow the exploration of physics scenarios, to conduct the technological tests essential to the preparation of a fusion reactor, and to demonstrate the favorable safety characteristics of fusion. The ITER tokamak cooling water system (TCWS) consists of several separate systems to cool the major ITER components—the divertor/limiter, the first wall blanket, the vacuum vessel, and the neutral beam injector. The ex-vessel part of the TCWS provides a confinement function for tritium and activated corrosion products in the cooling water. The vacuum vessel system also has a functional safety requirement regarding the residual heat removal from in-vessel components. A preliminary hazards assessment (PHA) was performed for a better understanding of the hazards, initiating events, and defense-in-depth mechanisms associated with the TCWS. The PHA was completed using the following steps. (1) Hazard identification. Hazards associated with the TCWS were identified including radiological/chemical/electromagnetic hazards and physical hazards (e.g., high voltage, high pressure, high temperature, and falling objects). (2) Hazard categorization. Hazards identified in the first step were categorized as to their potential for harm to the workers, the public, and/or the environment. (3) Hazard evaluation. The design was examined to determine initiating events that might occur and that could expose the public, the environment, or workers to the hazard. In addition, the system was examined to identify barriers that prevent exposure. Finally, consequences to the public or workers were qualitatively assessed should the initiating event occur and one or more of the barriers fail. Frequency of occurrence of the initiating event and subsequent barrier failure was qualitatively estimated. (4) Accident analyses. A preliminary hazards analysis was performed on the conceptual design of the TCWS. As the design progresses, a detailed accident analysis will be performed in the form of a failure modes and effects analysis. The results of the PHA indicated that the principal hazards associated with the TCWS were those associated with radiation. These were low compared to hazards associated with nuclear fission reactors and were limited to potential exposure to the on-site workers if appropriate protective actions were not used. However, the risk to the general public off-site was found to be negligible even under worst case accident conditions.

カメラとプロジェクタを搭載した移動ロボットによる実空間視野共有型コラボレーションシステム

We have been studying a remote-collaboration system called SCOPE (sight collaboration by projection effect) featuring image projecting and capturing capabilities as implemented in a maintenance robot. With the help of SCOPE and a remote support person, an on-site worker can perform maintenance very efficiently. In this paper, we propose a mobile SCOPE named Campro-R that can significantly expand the area of activity of the conventional SCOPE. To enable an on-site worker to share the field of view of a remote support person, we developed a technique for aligning the optical axes of a camera and a projector. We present experimental data that demonstrates the validity of our optomechanical design. Finally, we show that the Campro-R enables workers to continuously share their field of view, no matter where the Campro-R moves.

Risk Assessment as a Decision-Making Tool for Treatment of Emissions at a New Aluminum Smelter in Iceland: 2. Human Health Risk Assessment

ABSTRACT Alcoa recently constructed the Fjarðaál aluminum smelter in Reyðarfjörður, East Iceland. The smelter is designed to produce a maximum of 346,000 metric tons per year of aluminum. A risk assessment was conducted to evaluate the differential human health risk related to estimated potential air emissions from the planned Fjarðaál smelter with and without seawater scrubbers. Air-dispersion modeling results provided for particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), hydrogen fluoride (HF), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were compared to ambient air standards or air quality guidelines from Norway, Iceland, or European directives and from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Risk estimates were calculated for PAHs. Modeled air estimates were mapped geospatially, to identify potential receptors, including onsite outdoor worker, seagoing worker, hypothetical fence-line resident, future hypothetical resident, closest current resident, residents in neighboring villages, closest farmer, and a visitor to the nearby Holmanes Nature Reserve. Both with and without seawater scrubbers, the predicted exceedances of standards per year for SO2 were well below the maximum number allowed. Use of seawater scrubbers was predicted to decrease average SO2 air concentration estimates in the short term; however, annual estimates were lower without seawater scrubbers. Risk estimates for carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic PAHs, and modeled air concentrations of HF and PM10, were well within acceptable levels.