Recent Accidents Research Articles

Nuclear Power Risk Perception in Serbia: Fear of Exposure to Radiation vs. Social Benefits

Nuclear power remains one of the most accessible choices in addressing environmental and social concerns due to the continuously increasing energy needs around the world. While it remains an excellent source of energy due to its low price and low level of emissions, potential accidents remain a serious problem. An example of such is the most recent accident in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (2011), which reminded the world of the potential risks of nuclear energy and the consequences of which continue to have a lasting effect. There is no nuclear power plant in Serbia, but there are about 15 nuclear power stations scattered within its neighboring countries. Therefore, the Serbian Government decided to study how the Serbian public perceives the risks related to the potential construction of nuclear power stations in the country, nuclear energy in general, and its possible benefits and risks. The objective of this paper is to present the results of this assessment along with a literature overview on the (environmental) risk of nuclear power. A pilot study consisted of a series of 270 randomized face-to-face interviews that took place in the public square of Belgrade in March 2019. Logistic regression was used to examine the cumulative effects of the different risk factors. The results showed that the majority of the respondents are skeptical and do not support the construction of nuclear power stations in Serbia. Furthermore, this research identified several additional important correlations that have a significant impact on the public perception of risk.

Controls at the starting point for preventing accidents in the road transport of dangerous products / Controles no ponto de partida para prevenção de acidentes no transporte rodoviário de produtos perigosos

This article discusses activities related to the prevention of road accidents with dangerous products that precede trips by tank truck drivers. The Brazilian normative framework (laws, decrees, and norms), the Haddon Matrix as a systemic prevention model, and the premises of the Olho Vivo nas Estradas Program of the Brazilian Chemical Industry Association constitute the conceptual bases of the research. The empirical approach consists of semi-structured interviews with drivers of a fuel distributor who travel along the BR-116. The results indicate that the company has training practices and disclosure of recent accidents. The workgroup dominates the normative knowledge and preventive procedures, being the main concern of the interviewees with the carelessness practiced by drivers who travel the roads in all types of vehicles (trucks, automobiles, motorcycles).

Short-Term Assessment of Radiological Impact and Potential Risk to Workers and Public from Argonaut Nuclear Reactor Accidental Release

In the early days of nuclear energy in Brazil, a reactor named Argonaut, designed at Argonne National Laboratory, reached criticality at the Institute of Nuclear Engineering (IEN). The presence of a nuclear research facility at the campus of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro is still a cause of concern with regard to the radiological safety of the surrounding community, even though this facility has been securely operating for more than 50 years. In addition, the risk premium paid to IEN workers has also been disputed by the National Office of Account Control. Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the radiological impact and potential risk from Argonaut reactor accidental releases. A recent accident scenario reassessment concluded that severe physical damage of the core after reactor shutdown should be the emergency situation with the greatest potential risk among feasible postulated accidents. The damage caused by failure of a handling crane dropping concrete shielding covers (each weighing 2.5 tons) on the core would lead to breaking of the aluminum coating and the nuclear fuel plates with their release to the reactor hall. This paper evaluates the short-term effective dose rates by inhalation and plume immersion for workers and members of the public, which would be induced by inventory partial release to the atmosphere. The conclusion is that potential risk remains above 1/10 of the limit of annual dose for workers while it stays below the transient levels for members of the public in unrestricted areas.

The fear of flying and the competitiveness of a return to service of the Boeing 737 MAX

Fear of flying has no direct relationship with actual airline or aircraft safety. For those afraid of flying, the choice of an airline ticket and the related airplane is expected to be an important issue. This article uses a methodology to simulate the experience of purchasing unlabeled airline tickets to investigate whether individuals who are afraid of flying unconsciously change their choice depending on the ticket parameters. The Boeing 737 MAX, which became notorious for being grounded due to two recent accidents, was randomly assigned to airline tickets. This aircraft was compared with eight competing alternatives. The results demonstrate that in the event of a return to service, the passenger preference for this aircraft would be low comparable to that for competing modern airplanes that are less known to the North American public. Nonetheless, Boeing products continue to instill a sense of safety and trust in those afraid of flying.

Cooperative Multi-Point Vehicular Positioning Using Millimeter-Wave Surface Reflection

Multi-point vehicular positioning is an essential operation for autonomous vehicles. However, the state-of-the-art positioning technologies, relying on reflected signals from a target (i.e., RADAR and LIDAR), cannot work without line-of-sight (LoS). Besides, it takes significant time for environment scanning and object recognition with potential detection inaccuracy, especially in complex urban situations. Some recent fatal accidents involving autonomous vehicles further expose such limitations. In this article, we aim at overcoming these limitations by proposing a novel relative positioning approach, called Cooperative Multi-point Positioning (COMPOP). The COMPOP establishes cooperation between a target vehicle (TV) and a sensing vehicle (SV) if a LoS path exists, where a TV explicitly lets an SV to know the TV’s existence by transmitting positioning waveforms. This cooperation makes it possible to remove the time-consuming scanning and target recognizing processes, facilitating real-time positioning. One prerequisite for the cooperation is a clock synchronization between a pair of TV and SV. To this end, we use a phase-differential-of-arrival (PDoA) based approach to remove the TV-SV clock difference from the received signal. With clock difference correction, the TV’s position can be obtained via peak detection over a 3D power spectrum constructed by a Fourier transform (FT) based algorithm. The COMPOP also incorporates nearby vehicles, without knowing their locations, into the above cooperation for the case without a LoS path. Specifically, several strong non-LoS (NLoS) links from the TV to the SV can be generated via mirror-like reflections over the neighboring vehicles’ metal surfaces. Following the same procedures in the LoS case, virtual TVs mirrored by nearby vehicles can be detected. By exploiting the geometric relation between the virtual and actual TVs, COMPOP can be achieved by intelligently combining the virtual TVs to position the actual TV. The effectiveness of the COMPOP is verified by several simulations concerning practical channel parameters.

Antibiotic prescribing for lower UTI in elderly patients in primary care and risk of bloodstream infection: A cohort study using electronic health records in England

Research has questioned the safety of delaying or withholding antibiotics for suspected urinary tract infection (UTI) in older patients. We evaluated the association between antibiotic treatment for lower UTI and risk of bloodstream infection (BSI) in adults aged ≥65 years in primary care. We analyzed primary care records from patients aged ≥65 years in England with community-onset UTI using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (2007-2015) linked to Hospital Episode Statistics and census data. The primary outcome was BSI within 60 days, comparing patients treated immediately with antibiotics and those not treated immediately. Crude and adjusted associations between exposure and outcome were estimated using generalized estimating equations. A total of 147,334 patients were included representing 280,462 episodes of lower UTI. BSI occurred in 0.4% (1,025/244,963) of UTI episodes with immediate antibiotics versus 0.6% (228/35,499) of episodes without immediate antibiotics. After adjusting for patient demographics, year of consultation, comorbidities, smoking status, recent hospitalizations, recent accident and emergency (A&E) attendances, recent antibiotic prescribing, and home visits, the odds of BSI were equivalent in patients who were not treated with antibiotics immediately and those who were treated on the date of their UTI consultation (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.13, 95% CI 0.97-1.32, p-value = 0.105). Delaying or withholding antibiotics was associated with increased odds of death in the subsequent 60 days (aOR 1.17, 95% CI 1.09-1.26, p-value < 0.001), but there was limited evidence that increased deaths were attributable to urinary-source BSI. Limitations include overlap between the categories of immediate and delayed antibiotic prescribing, residual confounding underlying differences between patients who were/were not treated with antibiotics, and lack of microbiological diagnosis for BSI. In this study, we observed that delaying or withholding antibiotics in older adults with suspected UTI did not increase patients' risk of BSI, in contrast with a previous study that analyzed the same dataset, but mortality was increased. Our findings highlight uncertainty around the risks of delaying or withholding antibiotic treatment, which is exacerbated by systematic differences between patients who were and were not treated immediately with antibiotics. Overall, our findings emphasize the need for improved diagnostic/risk prediction strategies to guide antibiotic prescribing for suspected UTI in older adults.

Using online verification to prevent autonomous vehicles from causing accidents

Ensuring that autonomous vehicles do not cause accidents remains a challenge. We present a formal verification technique for guaranteeing legal safety in arbitrary urban traffic situations. Legal safety means that autonomous vehicles never cause accidents although other traffic participants are allowed to perform any behaviour in accordance with traffic rules. Our technique serves as a safety layer for existing motion planning frameworks that provide intended trajectories for autonomous vehicles. We verify whether intended trajectories comply with legal safety and provide fallback solutions in safety-critical situations. The benefits of our verification technique are demonstrated in critical urban scenarios, which have been recorded in real traffic. The autonomous vehicle executed only safe trajectories, even when using an intended trajectory planner that was not aware of other traffic participants. Our results indicate that our online verification technique can drastically reduce the number of traffic accidents. Recent accidents with autonomous test vehicles have eroded trust in such self-driving cars. A shift in approach is required to ensure autonomous vehicles can never be the cause of accidents. An online verification technique is presented that guarantees provably safe motions, including fallback solutions in safety-critical situations, for any intended trajectory calculated by the underlying motion planner.

Feasibility study of a shielding-independent radiation portal monitor system for revealing 241-Am orphan sources in radiometric surveillance of scrap metal

Orphan radioactive sources inadvertently melted in steel plants are a health and economical hazard. Thus, regulation authorities impose strict control measurements to be performed at these plants. However, a recent series of incidents related to the melting of {}^{241}hbox {Am} sources demonstrated the inadequacy of even state of the art systems in revealing this low-energy gamma ray emitter up to activities of the order of hundreds GBq. However, {}^{241}hbox {Am} sources are characterized by a weak neutron emission which can be detected by proper monitor systems. This work provides a feasibility study of a shielding-independent neutron-sensitive portal monitor system to be installed in steel plants. Measurements were performed both with a certified {}^{241}hbox {Am} shielded source and at the weighing area of a steel plant, to assess both the detector performance and the practical feasibility of the system implementation in work-place fields. A risk evaluation analysis demonstrated that with the current control systems {}^{241}hbox {Am} sources up to 185 GBq could pass undetected with a potential exposure for workers equal to 1.7 mSv, consistent with recent accidents reports. The proposed technique could reveal {}^{241}hbox {Am} activities down to 2 GBq, decreasing the worker exposure down to 24 upmu hbox {Sv}, without interfering with the standard plant operations.

Exploring the management of industrial hazardous waste based on recent accidents

Three accidents occurred in east China's Jiangsu Province in March and April 2019. These accidents sounded the safety alarm for the management of industrial hazardous waste in the “heavy industry” era. This paper explored the internal causes of these accidents through the current situation of the generation, disposal and comprehensive utilization of industrial hazardous waste in China. The results of the analysis showed that the enterprises management systems of hazardous waste had serious problems at the current stage, leading to many potential risks. The chief problem resided in the fact that these systems failed to take full account of safety and environmental protection. Finally, suggestions for improvement were proposed concerning the above problems.

A cautionary note on \u201cexothermic events\u201d upon contact of carbodiimide coupling agents and the cellulose solvent N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide

The cellulose solvent N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide monohydrate (NMMO) reacts violently with carbodiimide coupling agents, such as the widely used DCC (dicyclohexylcarbodiimide) and EDC (1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide), which can cause explosions, heavy smoke generation and complete charring of the reaction mixtures. For this reason it is clear that cellulose or other carbohydrates dissolved in NMMO (“Lyocell conditions”) cannot be safely esterified or amidified under DCC/EDC conditions. It is important to note that cellulosic material regenerated from NMMO solutions also poses a risk if it contains residual NMMO, which can then come into contact with DCC-type coupling agents in non-aqueous media, as recent accidents have unfortunately shown. Similarly, EDC/DCC traces in cellulose can have detrimental effects when trying to dissolve the material in NMMO. Working in aqueous systems generally reduces the risk of uncontrolled reactions, while alcohols or aprotic solvents are not very effective in this regard. Washing for NMMO removal or EDC/DCC removal should therefore always be carried out by aqueous media, if any possible, if there is a potential risk that the reagents might come into contact later. This warning describes the potential hazards of the reagent combination, highlights the underlying degradation mechanism and explains the precautions to be taken to avoid any “exothermic events”.Graphic abstract

Spatial distribution and interference of wave impact loads among structural components of a semi-submersible

Recent accidents caused by wave impact loads have attracted increasing concerns from academia and industry. An experimental study was carried out to investigate the local wave impact loads on a semi-submersible exposed to various sea states, focusing on the spatial distributions and interference among the fore column, aft column, deck bottom and deck side. A versatile tool based on the conditional probability is proposed and used along with correlation analyses to evaluate the interference among different components. The results show that the wave impact loads on the semi-submersible are of high nonlinearity and the aft column is the worst-hit component where wave impacts occur most frequently. The transition region between the fore column and deck side is the most dangerous area for extremely large waves, while the connection corner deserves particular concerns for the aft column and the deck bottom. The horizontal variation of wave impact loads is not significant on the fore column, but is remarkable within the width of the deck side. The interference examination reveals that wave impact loads on different components are correlated at varying levels under different wave impact scenarios. The in-depth analysis improves the understanding of wave impact events on multi-column floating structures.

Analysis of the impact of wildland-urban-interface fires on LPG domestic tanks

Managing Wildland-Urban-Interface (WUI) fires is a challenging task due to the inherent complexity of the WUI environment. To ensure the success of strategies for the protection of population and structures, safety measures have to be implemented at different scales (landscape, community and homeowner). The present study is focused on the homeowner scale and deals with the threat related to the presence of LPG domestic tanks in a WUI fire scenario. Recent accidents have demonstrated that the risk associated with this type of installation is real, but often disregarded by residents. A methodology was developed, providing a set of indicators that may easily be compared with risk acceptance criteria, assessing whether the integrity of an LPG tank exposed to WUI fire scenarios is compromised or not. The methodology is applicable to a vast range of situations and at a different level of detail according to available data. A number of case studies were carried out, showing that WUI fire scenarios impacting on domestic LPG tanks complying with regulations currently adopted in several Mediterranean countries cannot be deemed safe. The methodology proposed represents an advanced tool to assist on safety distances sizing to be prescribed by standards, driving regulators towards better-informed decision-making.

Death by automation: Differences in weighting of fatalities caused by automated and conventional vehicles

Although Automated vehicles (AVs) are expected to have a major and positive effect on road safety, recent accidents caused by AVs tend to generate a powerful negative impact on the public opinion regarding safety aspects of AVs. Triggered by such incidents, many experts and policy makers now believe that paradoxically, safety perceptions may well prohibit or delay the rollout of AVs in society, in the sense that AVs will need to become much safer than conventional vehicles (CVs), before being accepted by the public. In this study, we provide empirical insights to investigate and explain this safety paradox. Using stated choice experiments, we show that there is indeed a difference between the weight that individuals implicitly attach to an AV-fatality and to a CV-fatality. However, the degree of overweighting of AV-fatalities, compared to CV-fatalities, is considerably smaller than what has been suggested in public opinions and policy reports. We also find that the difference in weighting between AV-fatalities and CV-fatalities is (partly) related to a reference level effect: simply because the current number of fatalities caused by AVs is extremely low, each additional fatality carries extra weight. Our findings suggest that indeed, AVs have to become safer—but not orders of magnitude safer—than CVs, before the general public will develop a positive perception of AVs in terms of road safety. Ironically, our findings also suggest that the inevitable occurrence of more AV-related road accidents will in time lead to a diminishing degree of overweighting of safety issues surrounding the AV.

Major Accident Hazard in Bioprocess Facilities: A Challenge To Sustainable Industrial Development

Sustainable components of renewable biological resources in Malaysia provide the prospect for the growth of the bioeconomy via research, innovation and commercialisation. Malaysia is one of the few Asian countries that has most of its bio safety regulations and guidelines in place. In spite of the government is driving the sector in full force, there are still missing links and challenges. Some recent accidents involving the bioprocess raised concern on the safety of such technologies inclusive one incident happened in a bioprocess facility that has been selected as a case study. The facility selected is one of the Bioeconomy Transformation Programme (BTP) Trigger Projects in Malaysia. Holistic risk assessment is needed in order to identify and potential hazard related to bioprocess. With the usage of hazardous substances in the process, the approach towards risk assessment and accident prevention is crucial. Mechanical integrity and process safety related aspect is among the area need to be explored.

P.586 Comorbid depression in patients with schizophrenia: does it have an impact on their neurocognitive functioning?

Historically, the European Atlantic is probably the most important oil-spill hotspot worldwide. One of the most recent accidents occurred in 2002 when the oil-tanker Prestige sank over the Galician Bank causing two major oil-spills followed by several small leaks until March 2003. This resulted in contamination of virtually all types of marine habitat. Considering that parasites have proved to be good effect and accumulation bioindicators, the present study addresses the medium-term changes in trace element content after the Prestige oil-spill in a model host-parasite system, the bogue, Boops boops (Sparidae) and the isopod Ceratothoa oestroides. To our knowledge, this study is the first to address trace element concentrations in natural fish and parasite populations associated with the effects of an oil-spill. We observed that both test organisms examined, the host and the parasite, indicate a detectable change in the relative composition of trace element concentrations before and after the Prestige oil-spill. Multivariate analyses also indicated a differential response of the different tissues to the temporal sampling sequence. However, analyses of both host and parasite tissues supported the pattern of a gradual temporal transition to a state of relative trace element content distinctly departing from the pre-spill situation. Moreover, the parasite-host element accumulation ratios better depicted this temporal pattern. Additionally, changes in V concentrations in fish liver tissues and Ni concentrations in the parasite tissues suggest that this host-parasite system may be a useful tool to assess these two element contaminations linked to heavy fuel oil-spill.

On Risk of Digital Twin Implementation in Marine Industry: Learning from Aviation Industry

This paper presents some aspects of the risk and challenges associated with digital twin implementation in the marine industry by learning from the aviation industry where the digital twin is more widely employed. The digital twin applications in aviation and marine industries are presented and the main steps of developing a digital twin are discussed. The three main steps of sensors (measurements), model, and data analysis are identified and used in the study. The lessons from two recent accidents in the aviation industry (Boeing 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019) are studied in details and discussed. It was found that the sensor reliability, model failure and wrong decisions as the output of the data processing are among the risks associated with digital twin implementations. In particular, from the case study accidents, it was found that the digital twin may not be able to represent all the possible scenarios which a system may experience in its life time. The digital twin presents many advantages, however the implementation of the digital twin is associated with risk and high uncertainties, even in the industries like the aviation industry, where the digital twin is well established and at a higher advanced level than in the marine industry.

A Study in the Selection Factors of Facility Management(FM) Enterprises Using AHP Analysis

Looking at recent safety accidents in buildings, most of them due to lack of FM expertise, and this is due to human resources. In each all industry areas, some companies are competitive, representational, and leading in the market through long-term expertise and research in their respective fields. In the field of FM industry, some companies offer core-competencies in internal and external innovative building management through competition with others. However, old custom and old management form still exist in the FM field. However, an old custom and old management system still exist in the FM field; it forces cost-cutting and caused by carelessness in technical development competitiveness and safety measures. The government control by safety inspection and facility inspection through legislation of building management, but the management is still weak as a side of in the facility management section due to inspect sth as a mere formality and submit a paper report. These facts exist different kind of usage of the building have a three-party encounter between a building owner, user, and FM enterprises. In this research identify survey, especially building owner (manager)’s choice perception priority for optional factors to choose FM enterprises. Based on this, FM enterprises will be forced to seek a new dimension for better building management. In this light, the purpose of the research is to shape changes in the FM market culture safely and providing better service in building management and understanding building owner's insight through this research's information.

Preflight Risk Assessment for Improved Safety in Helicopter Emergency Medical Service Operations.

INTRODUCTION: Adverse weather and poor visual cues are common elements in night-time Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) operations contributing to spatial disorientation and fatal accidents. Pilots are required to make weather-related preflight risk assessments to accept or reject a flight. This study's aim was to develop predictive risk assessment tools based on historical accident data to assist the decision-making process.METHODS: We analyzed 32 single-pilot HEMS night-time visual flight rules fatal accidents to identify contributory risk factors. Logistic regression analysis was used to develop prediction nomograms for nonvisual meteorological conditions (non-VMC), cause and nonsurvivable accidents as dependent variables. Risk factors such as temperature dew point spread, elevation difference, and years of HEMS pilot experience, were entered as continuous variables. Flight crew composition, pilot DTE (domain task experience) and flight rule capability, primary missions, and temperature dew point spread were entered as categorical variables. A point scoring matrix transposed model probability to likelihood and consequence severity.RESULTS: The nomograms correctly predicted the likelihood of entering non-VMC, accident cause, and sustaining a nonsurvivable accident in 75%, 55%, and 94% of cases, respectively. Using data from a recent nonsurvivable HEMS accident, the nomogram estimated a 92% probability (Very Likely) of nonsurvivable accident if visual cues were lost.CONCLUSION: These nomograms can provide preflight information to predict the likelihood of adverse safety outcomes occurring during a planned HEMS mission. While further development work is needed, this approach has the potential to improve HEMS operational safety.Aherne BB, Zhang C, Chen WS, Newman DG. Preflight risk assessment for improved safety in Helicopter Emergency Medical Service operations. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2019; 90(9):792-799.

Forecasting Sudden High Waves on the Coasts of East/Japan Sea

Oh, J.; Kim, I.-C.; Suh, K.-D., and Kim, S., 2019. Forecasting sudden high waves on the coasts of East/Japan Sea. In: Lee, J.L.; Yoon, J.-S.; Cho, W.C.; Muin, M., and Lee, J. (eds.), The 3rd International Water Safety Symposium. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 91, pp. 96-100. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.During the recent decade, marine accidents and property damage due to high waves have frequently occurred on the coasts of East/Japan Sea, especially during the winter season. One of the major characteristics of the waves is its suddenness associated with rapid development of high waves from a calm state of sea. In 2016, Kim, Oh, and Suh named these waves ‘sudden high waves’ and proposed a criterion for sudden high waves by comparing the wave measurement data and the record of marine accidents and property damage on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. Their intensity parameter of sudden high waves was proposed in terms of local wave height and wavelength. The criterion for sudden high waves is proposed as To enhance its generality, in this study, a similar analysis is made in terms of deepwater wave height and wavelength. It is also shown that the parameter can be forecasted if accurate wave forecast data is available. To show this, the spatio-temporal variation of the parameter is calculated using the wave hindcast data, and the wave measurement data and the record of damage are examined during the period when the parameter exceeds the criterion on the coasts.

Accident Trend Prediction of Heavy Metal Pollution in the Heshangshan Drinking Water Source Area Based on Integrating a Two-Dimensional Water Quality Model and GIS

In recent years, water pollution accidents have frequently occurred, which have caused enormous economic loss and an adverse social impact. In this study, an accident trend prediction system was developed based on integrating a two-dimensional water quality model and GIS, and Arsenic (As) was adopted as a typical pollutant to study the temporal-spatial changes of heavy metal pollutions under different hydrological and meteorological conditions in the Heshangshan drinking water source area. The simulation for a recent accident indicated that pollutant changes were influenced by lateral diffusion, longitudinal diffusion, flow velocity, water flow, and the self-purification of the water body. It took 79.5 min for the As concentration to meet the water quality standard during the dry period, while it spent 61.3 min, 71 min, and 52 min in the impound period, falling period, and flood period, respectively. The emergency response times were 32 min (in the flood period), 38 min (in the impound period), 48 min (in the falling period), and 52 min (in the dry period). Furthermore, wind speed and wind direction also had impacts on pollutant spread. The times in which the maximum values met the water quality standard were 71 min (southeast wind), 77 min (southwest wind), and 87 min (no wind). The emergency response times were 38 min (southeast wind), 49 min (southwest wind), and 59 min (no wind). This study not only provides a reference for relevant departments and managers to carry out a risk assessment, disaster prevention, and emergency management after actual pollution accidents, but also makes up for the lack of research on the spatial-temporal change of heavy metal pollutants.