Recent Accidents Research Articles

Fear-Potentiated Startle: A Review from an Aviation Perspective

Pilot performance following unexpected critical events has been either ineffective or inappropriate in some recent aircraft accidents. The deleterious effects of startle have been identified as causal or contributory in these events. The startle reflex, fight or flight reaction, and stress response are discussed. Threat has the effect of potentiating startle effects and has significant deleterious effects on cognition. This could contribute to poor performance following an unexpected critical event in aviation. Training strategies for improved performance, which would expose pilots to unexpected critical events more often, and develop greater self-efficacy, are discussed.

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

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

Structural Health Monitoring of Piezolaminated Smart Structures Using Electrical Impedance Method

In spite of substantial improvements in material strength and increased accuracy in analysis in Design and Analysis with the aid of digital computers, gradual detoriation of structures during prolonged usage cannot be completely ruled out. This has been proven by many recent accidents such as sudden Bridge Collapses and in-flight break downs of Aircrafts and shuttles, causing immense loss in lives and properties. Hence, the idea of equipping structures with sensors and actuators in an attempt to impart smartness has great potential in cost-effective predictive maintenance of structures, particularly for high performance components not easily accessible for manual inspections. There is a huge demand in finding out a new method of SHM in Civil Engineering Structures, which should be a feasible, low cost, light weight and appropriate method to predict the damage in advance to save the Lives and property. In this report, the importance of Smart materials, especially Piezoelectric materials in Various Applications in field of Engineering have been discussed. SHM principle and case studies related to SHM have been discussed. Electro-mechanical Impedance method and their applications in SHM of Civil Structures is explained along with a Case study of Utilization of Piezoelectric material in RC Structures in SHM applications have been discussed along with the discussion of results.

Safety practice in educational demonstrations

Most of workers in modern industries are graduates from universities. The reduction of frequency of industrial accidents will prevail as the number of educated workers increases in workplace. Among recent accidents, there are some accidents due to lack of basic knowledge of workers on the working environment. Loss prevention through education has been important target for Japanese government since Meiji era. Traditionally, police investigates industrial accidents for criminal process. In some areas, the social system related to the industrial accident reviewed its management system to lower the frequency of accidents. An accident case during an educational demonstration and its management system were reviewed. Safety must be the absolute priority and educators should demonstrate chemical safety concepts as well as the science topic. Language: ja

A Rare Technical Error about Angiocath Placement in an Old Patient with Recent Cerebrovascular Accident

Keywords: Angiocath; Medical error; Woman. This rare condition is a technical error that a nurse is inserted as mistaken and reverse an angiocath for a old woman with recent CVA. A 65 year-old woman with history of recent CVA, The angiocath is implicated and hold as reverse and mistaken for her.

Application of Construction Equipment Fleet Management System through the Case Study of Air and Vessel Traffic Control Technology

The importance of the air and vessel traffic control center is increasing rapidly after the recent accident of "Sewol ferry". Aviation, marine, and the logistics sectors are already using monitoring and control technology widely. However, the monitoring and control system for complex and dangerous construction sites operation has yet to be employed. A monitoring/control system is required for effective communication between the control center and the construction equipment fleet at a construction site, and also the exact role that notifies accurate process and identification of hazards on construction sites as needed. Therefore, this paper presents the study about communication between the construction equipment fleet and the control center through the comparison of air traffic, marine, and logistics control systems for the development of construction equipment fleet management system.

Radiochemical analysis of rubble and trees collected from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

To characterize the rubble and trees contaminated by radionuclides released by the recent accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the radiochemical analysis protocols were modified using those developed by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency for the waste generated by research, industrial, and medical facilities. The radioactivity concentrations of gamma-ray-emitting nuclides 60Co, 94Nb, 152Eu, and 154Eu, and beta-particle-emitting nuclides 14C, 129I, 36Cl, 79Se, and 99Tc were successfully applied by the modified analytical method. In contrast, the radioactivity concentrations of 3H, 90Sr, 137Cs, and alpha-particle-emitting nuclides were applied by the conventional method. Unfortunately, 36Cl, 94Nb, 129I, 152Eu, 154Eu, and alpha-particle-emitting nuclides were below the detection limit of the conventional method. The measured radioactivity concentrations, except for that of 3H, were not uniform in the area but depended on the reactor unit. Although the radioactivity concentrations were varied widely, this analysis successfully clarified the characteristics of the radioactivity concentrations of the rubble and trees.

Application of social technologies in the dissemination and use of ground-space monitoring data

With the intensification of human activities, recent years natural disasters and major accidents, the effective use of the results of ground-space monitoring and its integration with the processes of national economic management becomes important strategic factor for accelerating socio-economic development of any region of the world. This article discusses the possibility of combining modern social technologies and the process of ground-space monitoring of natural and technological objects, as well as improving the efficiency and social importance of this process, by involving public representatives to the dissemination and use of the monitoring data

재해 위험도가 높은 가설구조물의 설계변경에 관한 연구

Article 29(3) of Occupational Safety And Health Act, which states a contractor can request a design change to an employer of businesses under the risk condition of construction of temporary structure, was established. Accordingly, in this study, recent fatal accidents caused by temporary structures were analyzed, and the level of inclusion of temporary structures in the design document were examined, and high risk temporary structures were classified. In addition, the requirements of design change of temporary structures were presented, and the qualifications of expert to certify the design change were proposed.

Synergetic theory of catastrophic failures in the problem of radiation stability of solid-state electronics materials

In some cases, failure of solid-state electronic devices is difficult to explain within the conventional concepts of radiation physics. Using as an example the recent accident that took place on the Russian space station for collecting the soil samples from the Martian moon Phobos, we show the necessity of consideration of synergetic cooperation in radiation damage production between the different phenomena caused by irradiation process.

Avian Avoidance and Aviation

This article presents an overview of the current state of dealing with jet engine bird ingestion. At Turbo Expo ‘13 in San Antonio, Dr. Aspi Wadia of GE Aviation and Dr. Lee S. Langston (author of this paper) co-chaired a three-hour panel, ‘Jet Engine Bird Ingestion – Current Issues and Ways Forward.’ The leadoff panelist was Capt. Paul Eschenfelder, a retired Delta Airlines pilot, now with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, who gave an overall review of recent bird strike accidents around the world. Panelist John Dalton, who is a Technical Fellow in Airplane Safety Engineering for Boeing, gave the airframe original equipment manufacturer (OEM) history and his views on the bird strike problem. The panel’s fourth member was Dr. Nicholas Carter who is the Director of Finance for the World Birdstrike Association (WBA). Carter explained the role of the WBA, which is the international body that represents all states and countries in issues related to bird hazards at airfields and airports.

Food Authenticity and Safety in China: What about the Western World?

In last years there are numerous food safety incidents in China, and the consequence is that the consumers in this country are losing confidence in domestic food suppliers, and that food safety is becoming a controversial issue in this country. In order to improve this situation, Chinese government now prioritized safety regulation for food products and additives and specified the limits of potentially dangerous ingredients. Chinese scientist recognized the importance of omics in both food science and technology early on, and they will play a key role in realization of this process. In the second part, the issues of food safety and authenticity in Western World were discussed, and recent accidents were depicted. The continuing need for food safety and increasing demand for protection against adulteration of food products is also introducing a growing request for introduction of foodomics methods in food technology and quality control.

Lessons Learned from Recent Accidents in the Chemical Industry in Japan

Japanese chemical companies should extensively study the accidental fires and explosions that occurred in the industrial complexes of Japan in 2011 and 2012. We picked two major accidents and distributed questionnaires to large chemical companies in the Keihin Complex, Japan. Here, we report the results of our investigation of improvements in process safety.

Influence of Radioactivity on Surface Charging and Aggregation Kinetics of Particles in the Atmosphere

Radioactivity can influence surface interactions, but its effects on particle aggregation kinetics have not been included in transport modeling of radioactive particles. In this research, experimental and theoretical studies have been performed to investigate the influence of radioactivity on surface charging and aggregation kinetics of radioactive particles in the atmosphere. Radioactivity-induced charging mechanisms have been investigated at the microscopic level, and heterogeneous surface potential caused by radioactivity is reported. The radioactivity-induced surface charging is highly influenced by several parameters, such as rate and type of radioactive decay. A population balance model, including interparticle forces, has been employed to study the effects of radioactivity on particle aggregation kinetics in air. It has been found that radioactivity can hinder aggregation of particles because of similar surface charging caused by the decay process. Experimental and theoretical studies provide useful insights into the understanding of transport characteristics of radioactive particles emitted from severe nuclear events, such as the recent accident of Fukushima or deliberate explosions of radiological devices.

지게차 충돌 위치 및 보관물류 분포에 따른 선반구조물의 거동특성분석

The statistics of recent accidents in warehouses show that a heavy toll of lives were produced by various accidents, e.g. collision, overturn, fall, slip, exposure to harmful substances or environments, etc. Of significant concern amongst them is the collision, especially the collision between forklift and storage rack structure. Accordingly, this study focuses on behavioral characteristics of rack structure subjected to dynamic impact loading of a forklift. For this purpose, time-domain response analysis has been performed on a standard 2-bay six-story rack structure consisting of columns, beams and bracing members with perforated open section. In order to investigate the most critical scenario, the impact loads are applied in both down-aisle and cross-aisle directions, and the impact locations are also varied along the shelves of the palettes. In order to deal with storage distributions, three types of rack structures are further taken into account: original empty rack structure with no storage, half-loaded rack structure and fully-loaded rack structure. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the dynamic characteristics of the rack structure are significantly dependent on the distribution of the storage goods and its natural period varies from 0.24sec to 1.06sec, approximately 4.4 times. Further, the parametric studies show that the forklift impact is most critical to the safety of the rack structure when it collides either at the base or at the top of the rack structure.

“Control of Sanitary Standards”: Julius Henry Cohen's Recommendations for Enforcing Occupational Health and Safety in the Progressive Era

The recent fires, building collapses, and other industrial accidents in the Third World bring to mind the campaign for safe working conditions in the United States following the Triangle Shirtwaist...

Risk Assessment Based on Fuzzy Fault Tree for Waterproofing Accidents in Deep Excavation

In recent years accidents in deep excavation have frequently occurred, which brought a heavy loss in lives and property. The past cases of accident indicated water was a key one of accident resource. In this paper, water-control and its influencing factors in deep excavation were researched from sealing, draining and dewatering, and then fault tree of waterproofing was set up. The probability of waterproofing failure was calculated using Fuzzy Mathematics, and importance degrees for basic events were analyzed to find the events which would lead to the occurrence of the top event. The analysis can be used to make safety measures.

Simulations of the transport and deposition of <sup>137</sup>Cs over Europe after the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident: influence of varying emission-altitude and model horizontal and vertical resolution

Abstract. The coupled model LMDZORINCA has been used to simulate the transport, wet and dry deposition of the radioactive tracer 137Cs after accidental releases. For that reason, two horizontal resolutions were deployed and used in the model, a regular grid of 2.5° × 1.27°, and the same grid stretched over Europe to reach a resolution of 0.66° × 0.51°. The vertical dimension is represented with two different resolutions, 19 and 39 levels respectively, extending up to the mesopause. Four different simulations are presented in this work; the first uses the regular grid over 19 vertical levels assuming that the emissions took place at the surface (RG19L(S)), the second also uses the regular grid over 19 vertical levels but realistic source injection heights (RG19L); in the third resolution the grid is regular and the vertical resolution 39 levels (RG39L) and finally, it is extended to the stretched grid with 19 vertical levels (Z19L). The model is validated with the Chernobyl accident which occurred in Ukraine (ex-USSR) on 26 May 1986 using the emission inventory from Brandt et al. (2002). This accident has been widely studied since 1986, and a large database has been created containing measurements of atmospheric activity concentration and total cumulative deposition for 137Cs from most of the European countries. According to the results, the performance of the model to predict the transport and deposition of the radioactive tracer was efficient and accurate presenting low biases in activity concentrations and deposition inventories, despite the large uncertainties on the intensity of the source released. The best agreement with observations was obtained using the highest horizontal resolution of the model (Z19L run). The model managed to predict the radioactive contamination in most of the European regions (similar to De Cort et al., 1998), and also the arrival times of the radioactive fallout. As regards to the vertical resolution, the largest biases were obtained for the 39 layers run due to the increase of the levels in conjunction with the uncertainty of the source term. Moreover, the ecological half-life of 137Cs in the atmosphere after the accident ranged between 6 and 9 days, which is in good accordance to what previously reported and in the same range with the recent accident in Japan. The high response of LMDZORINCA model for 137Cs reinforces the importance of atmospheric modelling in emergency cases to gather information for protecting the population from the adverse effects of radiation.

Rapid fusion method for determination of plutonium isotopes in large rice samples

A new rapid fusion method for the determination of plutonium in large rice samples has been developed at the Savannah River National Laboratory (Aiken, SC, USA) that can be used to determine very low levels of plutonium isotopes in rice. The recent accident at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in March, 2011 reinforces the need to have rapid, reliable radiochemical analyses for radionuclides in environmental and food samples. Public concern regarding foods, particularly foods such as rice in Japan, highlights the need for analytical techniques that will allow very large sample aliquots of rice to be used for analysis so that very low levels of plutonium isotopes may be detected. The new method to determine plutonium isotopes in large rice samples utilizes a furnace ashing step, a rapid sodium hydroxide fusion method, a lanthanum fluoride matrix removal step, and a column separation process with TEVA Resin™ cartridges. The method can be applied to rice sample aliquots as large as 5 kg. Plutonium isotopes can be determined using alpha spectrometry or inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The method showed high chemical recoveries and effective removal of interferences. The rapid fusion technique is a rugged sample digestion method that ensures that any refractory plutonium particles are effectively digested. The MDA for a 5 kg rice sample using alpha spectrometry is 7 × 10−5 mBq g−1. The method can easily be adapted for use by ICP-MS to allow detection of plutonium isotopic ratios.

Study on Safety Control of CSTS and Application

The Cuplok steel tubular scaffoldings (referred to as: CSTS) are large-scale temporary facilities in bridge construction. Recent years many collapse accidents cause people to think about the safety issue of scaffoldings. The content of safety monitoring of CSCT is put forward. On the base of bridge construction monitoring, the monitoring and control procedures and methods of CSTS is descripted in detail. An instant shows that the safety monitoring can effectively ensure the safety of the CSTS in construction.