Safety Arrangements Research Articles

Maritime Safety Model According to Regulations in Ancient Law


 
 
 Public maritime law dealing with safety issues is mostly recognised as a contemporary branch of maritime law. In contrast to public maritime law, the history of private maritime law referred to as shipping law is very well described in related literature. But also maritime safety arrangements can be found in the ancient as well medieval collections of laws. Article aims to analyse the ancient roots of contemporary legal institutions referring to maritime safety law.
 
 

What about the workers? — Experiences of arrangements for safety and health in global container terminals

Container terminals are purpose built or substantially adapted ports virtually exclusively involved with the transport of containerised goods. They now exist everywhere and have redesigned dock-work to increase productivity and efficiencies in the handling of goods, making physical handling by dock-workers increasingly redundant. Conventional wisdom suggests that arrangements for the safety and health of those who remain in employment are generally improved in comparison with past conditions. Yet, reliable evidence of the effects of work on the occupational safety and health (OSH) of these workers is scarce. This paper is based on research which examined the OSH experiences of workers involved with operational tasks in terminals operated by global network terminal (GNT) companies in four countries situated in Asia-Pacific and Europe. It explored these experiences along with the respondents’ perceptions concerning the effectiveness of arrangements made to manage their OSH risks, and compared findings between countries. The research demonstrated a significant gap between managers’ understandings of the operation of arrangements for OSH and the perceptions and experiences of workers, both in relation to OSH outcomes and the effectiveness of the OSH arrangements. This was especially evident for work-related ill-health, workers’ representation and consultation on OSH, and in the differences in the experience of all these between directly employed workers and those employed by contractors. The paper discusses the implications for improved OSH arrangements and outcomes.

Pengembangan Model Keselamatan pada Transportasi Kereta Api (Studi Kasus: PT. Kereta Komuter Indonesia)

The application of safety is an important matter in carrying out activities inland transportation including railroad transportation. Jabodetabek travel routes are handled directly by PT. Kereta Komuter Indonesia. This activity certainly requires a lot of human labor so safety is very important in this regard. With the existence of safety arrangements, it will avoid any related things from accidents or losses due to the delay in the completion of work caused by the inaccurate company safety management system. Therefore each element involved in each activity requires further knowledge and understanding of the core factors that are in accordance with the safety management system used. Referring to this approach, research is carried out on the railroad industry in Indonesia by developing a safety model in the railway industry. The research was conducted by finding the right literature and then developing a model for the factors considered appropriate to be applied to the safety management system in railroad transportation in Indonesia. After the model was developed, the model was confirmed by the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) approach with the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method. The results of the study will prove that the factors developed in the safety model are positively related to the implementation of commuter train safety management in Indonesia.

After the Visit: Re-learning Our Past

After the Visit: Re-learning Our Past Stephen Collins There is a general consensus that the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland last summer failed to make any serious impact on the country. In the face of continuing controversy over abuse, general hostility from the media and a poor turnout of the faithful for the Mass in the Phoenix Park, it is hard to argue that the visit made an enduring mark. Yet history shows that great public events which are hailed as a triumph can often with time turn out to be hollow. The opposite can sometimes be true; events that appear to have little impact can, with hindsight, come to be regarded as significant milestones. Remember the acclaim and excitement generated by the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1979 and the rapturous reception he received from the highest to the lowest in the land. Millions of people turned out to see him, the media coverage was gushing and those in positions of authority in the Irish Church felt confident that the future looked rosy. Yet the apparent success of that visit masked a range of serious problems already well advanced. They included the failure to recognise and deal with the problem of abuse in the Church, the collapse in vocations and the inexorable drift towards a secular society. All of these were already eating into the foundations of the Church’s position in Irish society but the Pope’s visit not only encouraged the hierarchy to ignore them but to continue to behave as if it still had the power to impose its will on the political system. The exercise of that power in a range of controversies during the 1980s, including the pro-life referendum, the debate over contraception and active involvement in the divorce referendum were all serious misjudgements, which did lasting damage to the credibility of the institutional Church and in the long run produced the very outcomes they were designed to thwart. It can be argued that the success of the Pope’s visit in 1979 encouraged the Church to take the wrong path in the years that followed. The question today is whether the disappointing reaction to the visit of Pope Francis will prompt an honest assessment of the problems facing the After the Visit: Re-learning Our Past Studies • volume 108 • number 430 195 Church and promote a programme of renewal that will enable it to survive in an increasingly hostile environment. Reasons for failure The reasons why the visit last August turned out to be a damp squib are many and varied. One was the misjudgement by the authorities of both Church and state of the likely turnout for the Mass in the Phoenix Park. Preparations were put in place for a congregation of a million people when there was never the remotest prospect of such a crowd. In fact the health and safety arrangements put in place for a crowd of that size ensured that many people who would have liked to attend the Mass did not do so. The ludicrously early arrival times and the long walks involved in getting to the venue meant that tens of thousands of older people decided against attending. And it should have been no secret that the age profile of those who wanted to hear the Pope’s Mass was always going to be at the upper end of the scale. Of course, there were deeper reasons for the failure of the visit to ignite the kind of response that greeted John Paul II in 1979. The shocking litany of abuse cases which have dominated the headlines for the past two decades has shaken the faith of so many people and undermined respect for the Church in the wider community. The media framed the entire visit around the abuse saga, but it was naive to expect anything else. The media has an inbuilt tendency to focus on the negative and in this case it had plenty of material to exploit. As the British politician Enoch Powell famously remarked, ‘The politician who complains about the media is like the sea captain who complains about the sea’. In the current climate the Catholic...

Healthy working time arrangements for healthcare personnel and patients: a systematic literature review

BackgroundA number of working time arrangements have been linked to negative consequences for both health personnel and their patients. A common hypothesis put forth to explain these findings suggests that certain working time arrangements lead to negative patient consequences due to the adverse impact they have on employee health. The purpose of this study is to use systematic reviews to investigate whether employee health explains the relationship between working time arrangements and patient safety.MethodsA systematic literature review was performed including published reviews and original studies from MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Cinahl and Web of Science investigating working time arrangements for healthcare personnel, employee health and patient safety. In addition, we screened reference lists of identified reviews. Two reviewers independently identified relevant publications according to inclusion criteria, extracted findings and assessed quality.ResultsSix thousand nine hundred thirty papers were identified, of which 52 studies met our criteria. Articles were categorized into five groups according to how they approached the research question: 1) independent analyses of relationship between working time arrangements and employee health, and of working time arrangements and patient safety (5 studies); 2) relationship between working time arrangements on both employee health and patient safety (21 studies); 3) working time arrangements and employee health as two explanatory variables for patient safety (8 studies); 4) combinations of the above analyses (7 studies); 5) other relevant studies (5 studies). Studies that find that working time is detrimental to employee health, generally also find detrimental results for patient safety. This is particularly shown through increases in errors by health personnel. When controlling for employee health, the relationship between working time arrangements and patient safety is reduced, but still significant.ConclusionsResults suggest that employee health partially (but not completely) mediates the relationship between working time arrangements and patient safety. However, there is a lack of studies directly investigating employee health as a mediator between working time arrangements and patient safety. Future studies should address this research gap.

Simulation and safety analysis of the leakage of liquefied hydrogen from high-pressure container

In this paper, the leakage and diffusion of liquefied hydrogen which is stored in high-pressure container were investigated and the safety arrangement in cosmodrome focused on the effects of external flow on the above process was proposed. The phase transition process of leakage of liquefied hydrogen at the initial stage was first analyzed by considering the motion of single particle and particle group. Furthermore, the rule of leakage and diffusion of liquefied hydrogen under different conditions was thoroughly examined by CFD modelling. Through this work, the leakage pressure, leakage location, external air-flow direction and external air-flow velocity are found to have great effects on the diffusion of leaking hydrogen. By increasing the leakage pressure and putting leakage port closer to ground, the diffusion and dilution of leaking hydrogen would be strongly expedited to spread much further away. By adopting upper air blow and raising the external air speed, the concentration can be fairly reduced.

Clinical Practice Guidelines for Child Sexual Abuse.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is the involvement of children and adolescents in sexual activities (usually for adult sexual stimulation or gratification) that they cannot fully comprehend and to which they cannot consent as a fully equal, self-determining participant, because of their early stage of development [Box 1]. Open in a separate window Box 1 Defining child sexual abuse

A New Process of Capturing Carbon Dioxide Gas From The Atmosphere Using Solid and Aqueous Sorbents in Pilot Plant

The capturing process of CO2 directly from air has been developed largely considering with commercial scale in pilot plants. This is done so that the capture CO2 from air can be used as a feedstock or raw material for producing carbon free renewable fuels by applying direct air capture (DAC) process. This way of capturing is gone to be possible with using some solid & aqueous sorbents in pilot plant. The success of this capturing process is depended on the appropriate configurations of both major & minor plant operations. Heat & mass balance are required necessarily to contribute on the finding of each pilot plants data. The design of this process is modeled like this so that the captured CO2 can be delivered at 15MPa into the pilot plant & for this, the requirements of energy inputs are about 8.81GJ or 5.25GJ of natural gas & 0 KWHr or 336KWHr of electricity respectively. Then all the results finding from the pilot contactor, reactor, calciner are optimized to reduce the processing cost of the capturing process. It is observed after the ending of the process that the amount of operating cost is ranged between 50$ to 100$ to capture per ton of CO2 from surrounding air where the total levelized cost of the whole process ranges between 94$ to 232$/t-CO2. If it considers the other specific choices such as financial safety, environ mental & ecological arrangements etc. then this DAC process would be the best reliable solution to capture the CO2 from air in upcoming decades.

Drafting a Health and Safety Guide for Construction Forensics Practitloners

Presented is a draft occupational health and safety manual for construction forensics practitioners. The draft guide was developed with the purpose of improving the reliability of workplace health and safety arrangements in construction forensics units within the system of the Russian Ministry of Justice. The expert community is invited to consider the proposed draft document.

Application of Transient Electromagnetic Method for Investigating the Water-Enriched Mined-Out Area

The water-enriched mined-out area, which led to frequent accidents and the serious destruction of ecological environment and serious threat to coal-mining practices. To ensure safe mining practices and to avoid the intrusion of water from the bases of coal deposits, the detection of the mined-out areas, especially the water-filled mined-out area in advanced, is one of the most important issues. This research focuses on detecting mined-out area enriched by water with the large-loop transient electromagnetic method. Data acquisition system was arranged along 23 survey lines, and the total of 1975 survey points were recorded. An inversion technique was used to interpret the TEM data. The inversion results suggested that the mined-out areas enriched by water always exhibit a very low-resistivity, the resistivity contour present closed circle sharp. There are three main water enriched mined-out areas, named JS1, JS2, and JS3 in the north part of the survey area, as well as three main water weak-enriched areas named RJS1, RJS2 and RJS3 in the west and southwest part of the survey area can be inferred by TEM, the interpretation results were verified by drilling. Large loop TEM is proved as an efficient way to investigate water enriched mined-out areas under the rugged topography conditions, and this work provides more detailed geological information to the coal mining enterprise for further coal-mining practices safety arrangement.

Criterion-related validity of the cultural web when assessing safety culture

The purpose of the safety culture construct is to reduce organisational and occupational accidents. However, researchers have struggled to develop validated ‘measures’ of safety culture, that unequivocally link cultural traits with actual safety performance.Johnson’s (1992) [Johnson, G., (1992). Managing strategic change—strategy, culture and action. Long Range Planning, 25(1), pp.2] qualitative cultural web tool was adapted to simultaneously produce quantitative effectiveness ratings of an organisation’s current safety arrangements for impacting personnel’s safety-related behaviour. Data was collected at 15 safety culture workshops across North America over three-weeks. The population sample comprised 700 personnel, divided into 110 respondent groups. Data were examined from two perspectives: Within the cultural web topics (Routines, Stories, Symbols, Influences, Values, Structures & Measures); and specific safety culture topics (Profit before safety, Culture of Fear, Safety Leadership, Compliance, Competency, Communication, Lessons Learned) derived from thematic content analysis across the cultural web topics.The overall safety culture was shared and stable. Cronbach’s Alpha (0.845) indicated reliability. Criterion-related validity between the organisation’s Total Recordable Incident Rates (TRIR) for the cultural web topics (r = 0.488, p < 0.01) and specific safety culture topics (r = 0.417, p < 0.01) was found. Multiple regressions against specific incident records returned adjusted R2 criterion-related validity coefficients between 0.06 and 0.45. Both perspectives confirmed the criterion-related validity of the cultural web tool, albeit stronger relationships tended to be obtained from the safety culture topics. The study results reinforce the conclusion that the tool is a reliable and valid method that can help companies reduce organisational and occupational incidents and improve their safety culture.

Measurement equivalence of patient safety climate in Chinese hospitals: can we compare across physicians and nurses?

Self-report instruments have been widely used to better understand variations in patient safety climate between physicians and nurses. Research is needed to determine whether differences in patient safety climate reflect true differences in the underlying concepts. This is known as measurement equivalence, which is a prerequisite for meaningful group comparisons. This study aims to examine the degree of measurement equivalence of the responses to a patient safety climate survey of Chinese hospitals and to demonstrate how the measurement equivalence method can be applied to self-report climate surveys for patient safety research. Using data from the Chinese Hospital Survey of Patient Safety Climate from six Chinese hospitals in 2011, we constructed two groups: physicians and nurses (346 per group). We used multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses to examine progressively more stringent restrictions for measurement equivalence. We identified weak factorial equivalence across the two groups. Strong factorial equivalence was found for Organizational Learning, Unit Management Support for Safety, Adequacy of Safety Arrangements, Institutional Commitment to Safety, Error Reporting and Teamwork. Strong factorial equivalence, however, was not found for Safety System, Communication and Peer Support and Staffing. Nevertheless, further analyses suggested that nonequivalence did not meaningfully affect the conclusions regarding physician-nurse differences in patient safety climate. Our results provide evidence of at least partial equivalence of the survey responses between nurses and physicians, supporting mean comparisons of its constructs between the two groups. The measurement equivalence approach is essential to ensure that conclusions about group differences are valid.

Do Conscience Clauses Violate Patients’ Rights?

Do Conscience Clauses Violate Patients’ Rights?

Creating an Active Living Community in Catalonia through a Participatory and Empowerment Model

In modern societies, physical inactivity is a key modifiable risk factor to prevent and control chronic diseases. In Catalonia, 26% of the population is still physically inactive. The built and social environment embraces major determinants to influence physical activity behaviour. This study aimed to improve active transport and active living in a region of Catalonia (Osona) by using a participatory action research approach. A participation and empowerment model was applied in three small to middle-size towns from Osona ranging from 13,881 to 42,498 inhabitants. The model comprised three different consecutive phases. In Phase I, an introductory meeting with an expert panel of academic members (n=2), public health and sports delegates from governmental local organizations (n=8), and representative stakeholders from three areas -urban designers, environment, health and sport planners and politicians- (n=12) identified weaknesses and needs of the local built environment towards promoting physical activity. A formative workshop to overall stakeholders on active living communities was also conducted. In Phase II, adults (n=30; mean age 52 years; 16 women) from the community participated in three focus groups to explore perceptions on how the built and social environment influenced their physical activity behaviour. In Phase III, outcomes resulting from previous phases were presented to the expert panel in order to elaborate an action plan for improving active living in the community. Then, some of the developed strategies were implemented and evaluated April 2014 through to April 2015. The action plan highlighted several low-cost strategies such as the physical arrangement of three urban paths (markers, cleanliness, and safety arrangements), a communication campaign using posters around the community linking the paths with the 10.000 daily steps recommendation; and walking events with the use of pedometers organized by city councils. After observing the usage for walking, running or cycling of the three specific paths pre-post implementation (System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities), findings showed an average increase in users of 26%. In conclusion, the current study provides stakeholders with a valuable model for creating active living communities tailored to the specific contextual and cultural needs of Catalonia; leading to a successful action plan with a good impact on the overall number of path users.

STAKEHOLDERS READINESS TO IMPLEMENT NEW LEGISLATION ON OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO THE ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS

– European companies are expected to check their compliance with a new legislation about occupational exposure to the electromagnetic fields . Corresponding EU directive was issued in 2013 and was to be implemented into the national legislation of member states by 2016. The current study was launched with the aim to determine the readiness of the companies and other stakeholders affected by this new legislation. The target groups investigated by this study include workers, working environment specialists, occupational health doctors and labour inspectors. A questionnaire was developed to determine the level of knowledge and other issues introduced by the new legislation. Altogether 67 responses was received from Estonia. Significant shortcomings were reported in regard to the training of workers at high EMF workplaces/companies - score 0,15 out of 1. EMF safety arrangements, as described in the new directive, were reported to be sufficiently fulfilled only in 11 per cent of the high EMF companies. Also the workers' knowledge about the EMFs propagation and health effects was low, averaging at only 0,15 out of 1. The results indicate that at present little attention is paid on training the workers that may be affected by high levels of EMFs. Shortcomings are characteristic to all sizes of companies but are less evident in large companies. Considering the requirements of the new EMF legislation, immediate planning of appropriate schooling programs is necessary for all parties involved.

Numerical investigation on the performance of the combined passive and spray cooling system under nuclear severe accident

The process of heat removal and depressurization is one of the most significant issues in nuclear safety design. The spray system and the passive containment cooling system (PCCS) are two essential safety arrangements to protect the integrity of the containment and the apparatus. In the present study, the performance of the combined cooling system is investigated by using three-dimensional CFD simulations. The interactions between spray system and external PCCS are analyzed. The numerical results reveal that neither the single passive containment cooling nor the spray system can remove heat and depressurize the containment efficiently under all circumstances. Whereas the combined passive and spray cooling system proposed in this paper can overcome the insufficiency and take the advantages of both the two systems. The mechanism for the superiority of the combined system is explained through the droplets phase change, vapor transportation, wall condensation and film cooling heat transfer processes.

Пожарная безопасность спортивных сооружений: российские и международные нормы проектирования, инновационные решения в области пожарной безопасности

This work analyzes integrated security and safety problems for modern sports facilities as large places of assembly and multi-use objects. Different events (mostly sports, but modern stadium construction allows to transform them for concerts, performances, etc.) require people protection from possible danger. Also it’s necessary to remember that sports facilities are characterized by not only large assembly of people, but their behavior specialties as well. Statistics of fires at stadiums for recent years show tragedies in the grandstands, caused by events at playing field. All these specialties require complex development and detailed analysis of security and safety (including fire safety) for sports facilities at all stages of design, building and use. Comparative analysis of Russian and international rules and regulations in the field of fire safety for modern sports facilities is made in this work. Special attention is paid to documents prepared for World Championship 2018. Successful practical experience of safety and security arrangements for the XXVII Universiade in Kazan in 2013 and the XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014 is regarded. This analysis shows that modern Russian rules and regulations don’t take into account fire safety requirements to the full extent at the stages of design, building, use, rebuilding and reconstruction of sports facilities. For such objects it’s necessary to develop Special Technical Regulations with different justifying calculations for requirements and parameters of fire protection systems. Also modern sports facility design and building require innovative technology application. Future lines of work for integrated security and safety of sports facilities are suggested in conclusion: § development of unified regulation in the field of fire safety; § improvement of fire risk assessment technique.

The modeling of the ricochet shot fired from a light weapon

The objective of the present study was to choose the optimal method for the modeling of the glance of a bullet after hitting a target under conditions of the laboratory experiment. The study required the designing and construction of an original device for the modeling of the rebound effect of a light-firearm shot under experimental conditions. The device was tested under conditions of the laboratory experiment. The trials have demonstrated the possibility of using barriers of different weight and dimensions in the above device, their positioning and fixation depending on the purpose of the experiment, dynamic alteration of its conditions with due regard for the safety and security arrangements to protect the health and life of the experimenters without compromising the statistical significance and scientific validity of the results of the experiments.

Representing miners in arrangements for health and safety in coalmines: A study of current practice

This article explores the operation of regulatory provisions for worker occupational health and safety (OHS) representation in coalmining in Australia. Using data on inspections, combined with qualitative interviews, it looks at what occurs in a generally hostile labour relations climate and what supports or constrains representation in this scenario. It finds evidence of the engagement of worker representatives with serious risks in coalmining. By using the various means with which they are provided by regulatory measures, they make a significant contribution to the operation of the regulatory strategy of enforced self-regulation of OHS management. They are successful in doing so despite the unsupportive climate of labour relations in which they are frequently situated. However, the study poses questions concerning the fit of this approach with increasingly dominant versions of OHS management pursued by large and globally active corporations and discusses some implications of this for policy and further study.

Suicide ideation amongst people referred for mental health assessment in police custody

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the prevalence of suicide ideation amongst a group of people who had been arrested and taken into police custody, and were then referred to a mental health service operating in the police stations. Design/methodology/approach A referred sample of 888 cases were collected over an 18-month period during 2012/2013. Clinical assessments were conducted using a template in which background information was collected (including information about their previous clinical history, substance misuse, alleged offence, any pre-identified diagnoses, and the response of the service) as part of the standard operating procedure of the service. Data were analysed using a statistical software package. Findings In total, 16.2 per cent (n=144) reported suicide ideation, with women being more likely to report than men. In total, 82.6 per cent of the suicide ideation sample reported a history of self-harm or a suicide attempt. Suicide ideation was also associated with certain diagnostic categories (depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and personality disorder), a history of contact with mental health services, and recent (within 24 hours) consumption of alcohol or drugs. Originality/value This evaluation adds to the limited literature in this area by describing a large sample from a real clinical service. It provides information that can assist with future service designs and it offers support for calls for a standardised health screening process, better safety arrangements for those who have recently used alcohol or drugs (within 24 hours) and integrated service delivery across healthcare domains (i.e. physical healthcare, substance use, and mental health).