Safety Crisis Research Articles

Mining text for causality: a new perspective on food safety crisis management

The aim of the present study was to quantitatively analyze the importance of each risk factor in a food safety event, so as to fully elucidate the correlation between different risk factors and provide a reference for food safety governance. Text mining and complex network analysis methods were utilized to explore the causal mechanism of food safety incidents. By performing text mining on food safety event news reports, 15 major risk factors were identified based on high-frequency words. A causal network for food safety accidents was then constructed using strong association rules among these factors. Through network centrality analysis, the five core factors of food safety incidents and their associated sets were clarified. Based on text mining of 6,282 cases of food safety incidents reported by online media, 168 keywords related to food risk factors were extracted and further categorized into 15 types of food safety risk factors. Network analysis results revealed that microbial infection emerged as the most critical risk factor, with its associated sets including biotoxins and parasites, counterfeiting or fraud, processing process issues, and non-compliance with quality indicators.

An exploratory qualitative analysis of public awareness, communication dynamics, and behavioral patterns regarding food safety in Mainland China

BackgroundFood safety stands as a critical public health concern in China. People’s perceptions and communication regarding food safety crises significantly impact their emotions and food preferences. The rise of social media has also complicated information sharing and decision-making. Exploring public’s cognitive, emotional and behaviral responses toward food safety risks is crucial for improving food safety practices and public health.MethodsFrom fall 2018 to fall 2023, 23 in-depth interviews were held using a semi-structured protocol aligned with the Risk Analysis Framework (RAF) components: risk assessment, communication, and management.ResultsOur findings showed that the public blamed unethical agriculture practices and food processing for food safety issues. People, dissatisfied with mainstream media, turned to social media to collect food safety information. Many adopted self-protective behaviors, assuming personal responsibility for food safety.ConclusionFindings from this study highlighted individuals’ concerns about environmental pollution and the use of chemical substances in food safety issues. The results underscored the need for accurate and prompt media coverage, stronger government regulation, industry self-regulation, and targeted consumer education to effectively tackle these challenges.

Caught in the Crossfire: Ecuador’s Safety Crisis Impact on Teen and Young Adult Mental Health

Introduction: During the past decade, Ecuador has become one of the most dangerous countries in Latin America, with a significant rise in violence impacting mental health. This study investigates hospital admissions for mood disorders among adolescents and young adults in Ecuador from 2021 to 2022. Methods: We used public access data from the National Institute of Census and Statistics (INEC) to analyze hospital admissions for mood disorders in individuals aged 12 to 21, categorized using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) codes F30 to F39. Results: Results show a female predominance in admissions, with a female-to-male ratio of 3:1 by 2022. Admissions for depressive episodes accounted for 66.5% of cases, peaking in 2022. The regions with the highest admission rates were the Galapagos Islands and Pichincha. A notable reduction in admissions was observed in 2020, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic´s impact on healthcare access. Discussion: The study's findings highlight significant gender disparities, diagnostic trends and regional differences in mood disorder admissions. The increasing trend, particularly for depressive episodes, underscores the need for enhanced mental health resources. Conclusion: The study concludes that the escalation of violence in Ecuador significantly impacts mental health, emphasizing the urgency of addressing social determinants of health and focussing efforts on regions most affected by conflict.

Assessing the impact of communication delays for Autonomous Intersection Management systems

Communication is essential for Cooperative Intelligent Transportation Systems (C-ITS) to achieve better road efficiency, especially for Autonomous Intersection Management (AIM) which coordinates vehicles to pass the intersection safely and efficiently. Communication delays cause severe safety crises (i.e., collisions) and vehicular-performance degradation regarding intersection capacities and vehicular delays. Targeting the delays, network researchers have been working on low-latency communication technologies, and C-ITS researchers have proposed delay-tolerant AIM systems to avoid collisions in intersections. The impacts of communication delays are observed and discussed in the literature; however, models and assessments of the delay requirements for AIM are needed to provide insights for future network and C-ITS research. Here, we model the impact of communication delays on vehicular performance at an autonomous intersection and validate the models with the simulation results from over two million experiments, two types of multi-lane intersections (a typical 4-legged intersection and a roundabout), and four AIM systems. The simulations are conducted with SUMO simulator and AIM systems, where communication delays are inserted into the message exchanges during the simulation. The models are represented in linear, quintic, and cubic polynomials, showing that communication delay between 0 to 100 milliseconds is linearly related to vehicular performance in terms of intersection capacity and vehicular delay. According to the models, we show that by reducing communication delay from 100 to 10 milliseconds, the capacity degradation can be reduced from 7-10% to 0.7-1.0%. Moreover, communication delays must be less than 247 milliseconds to allow AIM systems to outperform traditional traffic lights.

The Importance of Social Equity and Exchange to Achieve Food Safety Compliance During a Food Safety Crisis in the Restaurant Environment

ABSTRACT The impact of COVID-19 has resulted in permanent improvements in the restaurant industry. Protocols demanded by the FDA spurred the implementation of heightened food safety improvements that continued in post-pandemic times, this study investigated the impact of restaurant employees’ perception of managerial behaviors on their intention to comply with the new food safety expectations. Using Social Equity and Exchange theories as the structural basis, 2080 restaurant employees were surveyed to explore the factors of gain, responsibility, pride, trust, and value impacting intentions to comply with food safety expectations. Using PLS-SEM analysis, results suggest that valued social interactions/exchanges between subordinates and management significantly improved food safety compliance intentions among employees. Gain, responsibility, and pride together account for 60.2% variance in trust and 63.6% variance in value.

Formal and informal hospital emergency management practices: managing for safety and performance amid crisis.

Although formal preparedness for unexpected crises has long been a concern of health care policy and delivery, many hospitals struggled to manage staff and equipment shortages, precarious finances, and supply chain disruptions among other difficulties during the Coronavirus disease pandemic. Our purpose was to analyze how hospitals used formal and informal emergency management practices to maintain safe and high-quality care while responding to crisis. We conducted a qualitative study based on 26 interviews with hospital leaders and emergency managers from 12 US hospitals, purposively sampled to vary along geographic location, urban/rural delineation, size, resource availability, system membership, teaching status, and performance levels among other characteristics. In order to manage staff, space, supplies, and system- related challenges, hospitals engaged formal and informal practices around planning, teaming, and exchanging resources and information. Relying solely only on formal or informal practices proved inadequate, especially when prespecified plans, the incident command structure, and existing contracts and communication platforms failed to support resilient response. We identified emergent capabilities-imaginative planning, recombinant teaming, and transformational exchange-through which hospitals achieved harmonious interplay between the formal and informal practices of emergency management that supported safe care and resilience amid crisis. Managing emergent challenges for and amid crisis calls for health care delivery organizations to engage creative planning processes, enable motivated workers with diverse skill sets to team up, and establish rich inter- and intra-organizational partnerships that support vital exchange.

Legal challenges of regulating cross-border nuclear pollution from ship ballast water under the background of fukushima wastewater release and China’s response

The Japanese government has initiated plans to release water contaminated The international community has yet to fully recognize the accelerated spread of nuclear-contaminated water through ship ballast water along the Japanese route. This increases the risk of nuclear exposure for crew members and poses ecological and environmental contamination risks to port waters, inland seas, and rivers. The lack of international attention to the marine nuclear safety crisis caused by nuclear pollution from ballast water, along with the absence of corresponding legal prevention and control mechanisms and technical safeguards, remains a critical issue. From the perspective of international law, preventing the spread of Fukushima wastewater through ship ballast water faces numerous legal challenges, including disputes over the applicability of conventions, the jurisdiction of international organizations, and mechanisms for cross-border accountability for marine nuclear pollution. As a major shipping nation adjacent to Japan, China faces significant risks of nuclear pollution from ballast water along the Japanese route. To counter such risks, it is recommended to propose measures through the International Maritime Organization to elevate international attention. Moreover, refining ballast water regulatory frameworks, establishing monitoring and warning mechanisms specific to nuclear pollution from ballast water, improving the technical capabilities of ballast water treatment systems, and promoting international cooperation in monitoring marine environments and preventing pollution are also advisable.

ChemFREE: a one-stop comprehensive platform for ecological and environmental risk evaluation of chemicals in one health world.

Addressing health and safety crises stemming from various environmental and ecological issues is a core focus of One Health (OH), which aims to balance and optimize the health of humans, animals, and the environment. While many chemicals contribute significantly to our quality of life when properly used, others pose environmental and ecological health risks. Recently, assessing the ecological and environmental risks associated with chemicals has gained increasing significance in the OH world. In silico models may address time-consuming and costly challenges, and fill gaps in situations where no experimental data is available. However, despite their significant contributions, these assessment models are not web-integrated, leading to user inconvenience. In this study, we developed a one-stop comprehensive web platform for freely evaluating the eco-environmental risk of chemicals, named ChemFREE (Chemical Formula Risk Evaluation of Eco-environment, available in http://chemfree.agroda.cn/chemfree/). Inputting SMILES string of chemicals, users will obtain the assessment outputs of ecological and environmental risk, etc. A performance evaluation of 2935 external chemicals revealed that most classification models achieved an accuracy rate above 0.816. Additionally, the $Q_{F1}^2$metric for regression models ranges from 0.618 to 0.898. Therefore, it will facilitate the eco-environmental risk evaluation of chemicals in the OH world.

Homeless and Hospitalized: A Case Study of Intervention to Support Collaborative Behavior and Safety

ABSTRACT For unhoused patients, hospitalization is often a potentially life-altering event that evokes distress and triggers reactive behaviors that may undermine treatment and safety. Societal stigmatization, isolation, and disempowerment act to marginalize unhoused hospital patients, impacting their autonomy, sense of self-worth, and capacity for social interaction and collaboration. This article examines the ways in which Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) can be utilized to better understand unhoused patients’ behaviors as influenced by the relational violations and trauma they experience and suggests that relationally and culturally focused interventions are both reparative and necessary. A composite case study is employed to demonstrate the application of RCT to a behavioral and safety crisis and evidence opportunities for meaningful intervention. Implications for enhanced support of unhoused patients in hospitals are discussed, as is the need for continued research on the use of RCT to inform therapeutic intervention in acute care settings.

SUSTAINABILITY TRANSPARENCY IN SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS: BENCHMARK AND CASE STUDY APPROACH

The COVID-19 pandemic and the current food, energy, and safety crisis caused by the war in Ukraine strongly affected the existing gap in Sustainable Development Goals funding. Restoring global sustainability progress and the 2030 Agenda requires reshaping responsible investment architecture and rethinking the role of sovereign wealth funds as the largest investors in this process.The current study explores the ways in which the most transparent sovereign wealth funds act towards sustainability values and incorporate environmental, social, governance, and ethical criteria (ESGE) into their investment strategy, portfolio, and reporting. Also, 16 high-ranked funds by the Sustainability Transparency Index (Cavagnetto et al., 2022) were investigated by using the case study and benchmark analysis. Study results demonstrate the similarity of all funds disclosure within some questionnaire criteria like sustainability policy, scoring (voting) rules for decision-making, ESGE criteria, stakeholder engagements, and assurance of the financial information disclosed. Nevertheless, qualitative differences were identified between the sustainability transparency criteria of A and B-ranked funds. There is also huge variation in the implementation of funds’ ethical criteria, sustainability coherence, relevance of sustainability goals, disclosure of specific climate-related goals, and foundation membership criteria.Policy implications derived from the differences in sovereign funds' benchmarks are aimed at enhancing the sustainability context in funds’ operating frameworks, developing impact measurement metrics, prioritizing the most material stakeholder requests, sustainability verification procedures, and standardizing funds’ sustainability reporting. Specific channels, instruments, and regulatory measures towards greater funds’ sustainability transparency and their involvement in bridging the sustainable development funding gap may be the subject of further investigation.

How can we detect news surrounding community safety crisis incidents in the internet? Experiments using attention-based Bi-LSTM models

Reports related to community safety crisis incidents are being escalated and shared on social media and other online digital platforms. These reports must be addressed quickly to concerned organizations to provide welfare support to individuals and communities in crisis, to protect their lives, and to obtain justice. To achieve this, we proposed a framework termed detection of Community Safety Crisis Incidents (CSCI) reports using an attention-based Bidirectional Long Short-term Memory (att-Bi-LSTM). Amharic reports in Ethiopia were selected as the object of study for the implementation of the detection model due to the high CSCI report rate in the region. We gathered the textual data and spoken speech content reports from famous worldwide media websites, Twitter, and YouTube platforms utilizing data crawling techniques. The proposed model achieved 90.93 % accuracy for the text test dataset and 82.10 % accuracy for the voice test dataset on the text-based pre-training model. The model was also tested on English news, yielding an accuracy of 85.92 %.

Legal instruments for deterring nuclear conflict in the current military and political geo-environment

The relevance of this study lies in the need to consider the legal instruments for deterring a nuclear conflict in connection with the crisis of nuclear safety and instability in the current military-political geo-environment. The purpose of this study was to examine international experience in the field of legal consolidation of prohibitive norms of deterrence necessary to prevent nuclear threats. The following general scientific and special methods were employed in the study: analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction, generalisation, as well as formal legal, legal hermeneutics, logical- legal, comparative legal, and historical-legal methods. The study examined the specialised international legal framework of regulatory documents in the field of nuclear safety, safe operation of nuclear facilities and nuclear deterrence, as well as nuclear deterrence strategies and their development depending on the geopolitical situation. Based on the results of the study, it is determined that the legal regulation of nuclear conflict containment is in the form of prohibitory orders consolidated in the relevant international treaties in the field of nuclear and radiation safety. The study highlighted the main international treaties positioned as legal means of nuclear deterrence. The interaction of “soft” and “hard” law in nuclear and radiation safety agreements was considered, as well as the specific features of consolidating such norms in municipal law. The study provided generalising conclusions in terms of nuclear deterrence strategies, specifically, a vision of a new concept in this area, based on technological superiority in non-nuclear means of repelling nuclear strikes and massive precision non-nuclear retaliatory strikes. It was also concluded that attention should be paid to the development of a new international treaty that would combine all the rules prohibiting the use of nuclear energy for military purposes, as well as the rules governing nuclear and radiation safety as integral components of global nuclear security. The practical significance of this study is that its materials can be used for further development of the concepts of non-nuclear or legal nuclear deterrence

Functionalized sampling swabs array-based portable ATP bioluminescence sensor with on-site enrichment and high specificity for live Salmonella detection

Live food-borne pathogens, featured with rapid proliferative capacity and high pathogenicity, pose an emerging food safety and public health crisis. The high-sensitivity detection of pathogens is particularly imperative yet remains challenging. This work developed a functionalized nylon swab array with enhanced affinity for Salmonella typhimurium (S.T.) for high-specificity ATP bioluminescence-based S.T. detection. In brief, the nylon swabs (NyS) were turned to N-methylation nylon (NyS-OH) by reacting with formaldehyde, and NyS-OH were further converted to NyS-CA by reacting with carboxylic groups of citric acid (CA) and EDC/NHS solution, for altering the NyS surface energy to favor biomodification. The antibody-immobilized nylon swab (MNyS-Ab) was ready for S.T.-specific adsorption. Three prepared MNyS-Ab were installed on a stirrer to form an MNyS-Ab array, allowing for on-site enrichment of S.T. through absorptive extraction. The enriched S.T. was quantified by measuring the bioluminescence of ATP released from cell lysis utilizing a portable ATP bioluminescence sensor. The bioassay demonstrated a detectable range of 102–107 CFU mL−1 with a detection limit (LOD) of 8 CFU/mL within 35 min. The signal of single MNyS-Ab swabs was 500 times stronger than the direct detection of 106 CFU/mL S.T. The MNyS-Ab array exhibited a 100-fold increase in extraction level compared to a single MNyS. This combination of a portable bioluminescent sensor and modified nylon swab array offers a novel strategy for point-of-care testing of live S.T. strains. It holds promise for high-sensitivity measurements of other pathogens and viruses.

Medication safety perceptions in China: Media exposure, healthcare experiences, and trusted information sources

ObjectiveAmid ongoing medication safety concerns in China and limited research on public perceptions, this study investigates the correlations between media exposure, healthcare experiences, and individuals' perceptions of medication safety. It also examines individuals’ reliance on information sources during safety crises. MethodsA multistage stratified random sampling was employed with the gross sample containing 3090 Chinese adults aged 18–60 years. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression. ResultsSocial media exposure was found to negatively correlate with perceptions of current medication safety and its perceived improvement, while exposure to television and print media showed positive correlations. Positive healthcare experiences were associated with improved medication safety perceptions. Among various information sources, healthcare professionals were deemed most trustworthy during medication safety incidents. ConclusionsMedia exposure and personal healthcare experiences significantly shape individuals' perceptions of medication safety in China, with healthcare professionals playing a crucial role in this context.Practiceimplications:Effective health crisis communication in China needs to be multifaceted, integrating traditional media and social media platforms to disseminate accurate information broadly. Additionally, healthcare professionals should be actively involved in crisis communication. Their role as trusted sources can be leveraged to clarify misconceptions, and reassure the public during medication safety incidents.

Evaluation and Prioritization of Factors Affecting the Effectiveness of Incident Command System (ICS) Using AHP and DEMATEL Methods in Iranian Process Industries

Background and purpose: One of the most important challenges that is considered in process industries to improve performance and increase productivity is the optimization of the incident command system. Incident Command System (Incident Command System) is a standard approach to control and coordinate the management of incidents in the scene. The present study aims to evaluate and prioritize the factors affecting the effectiveness of the Incident Command System (ICS) using AHP and DEMATEL methods in Iran's process industries. Materials and methods: In this research, firstly, a questionnaire was compiled and designed using the AHP method in order to weight the criteria and prioritize them, and a questionnaire was designed using the Dematel method in order to determine the effectiveness and mutual influence of the criteria and sub-criteria. And then the questionnaires were completed by 15 incident commanders and process industry safety officials and crisis management activists working in the oil and petrochemical industry. Findings: AHP analysis ranked ‘command’ highest with a standard weight of 0.256. DEMATEL results showed ‘command’ as the most influential (standard weight of 10.59), effective (11.9), and interactive (21.96) indicator. ‘Standardization’ (1.35) and ‘professionalism’ (1.19) emerged as causal factors, while ‘command’ (-0.50), ‘planning/organizational structure’ (-1), ‘facilities and resources’ (-0.18), and ‘disability index’ were responsive indicators. Conclusion: Both AHP and DEMATEL methods highlight the significant impact of asset command on the success of ICS in Iran’s process industries. This version maintains the original content’s integrity while meeting the word count requirement.

Structural topic modeling for corporate social responsibility of food supply chain management: evidence from FDA recalls on plant-based food products

PurposeThe rising number of food recalls has raised concerns about complexity, globalization and weak governance in the food supply chain. This paper aims to investigate the recall of plant-based products with data from the US Food and Drug Administration.Design/methodology/approachIntroducing the structural topic modeling method allowed us to test theories on recall in the context of sustainable food consumption, enhancing the understanding of food recall processes. This approach helps identify latent topics of product recalls and their interwoven relationships with various stakeholders.FindingsThe results answer a standing research call for empirical investigation in a nascent food industry to identify stakeholders’ engagements for food safety crisis management for corporate social responsibility practices. This finding provides novel insights on managing threats to food safety at an industry level to extend existing antecedents and consequences of product recall at a micro level.Practical implicationsFor practitioners, this empirical finding may provide insights into stakeholder management and develop evidence-based strategies to prevent threats to food safety. For public policymakers, this analysis may help identify patterns of recalls and assist guidelines and alarm systems (e.g. EU’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed) on threats in the food supply chain.Originality/valueTwo detected clusters, such as opportunisms of market actors in the plant-based food system and food culture, from the analysis help understand corporate social responsibility and food safety in the plant-based food industry.

Consumer brand and category switching behaviors after food safety incidents: Factors and mechanisms

The excessive mold found in Three Squirrels' nuts and the clenbuterol abuse of Shuanghui are two infamous food safety incidents in China. We adopted push-pull-mooring theory to conduct a model and examined the factors influencing consumer short-term or long-term brand-switching or category-switching behaviors following the two food safety incidents. We employed multinomial logistic regression and structural equation modeling as tools to analyze 1027 valid questionnaires. The results, for the first time, revealed that perceived risk, alternative selectivity, alternative attractiveness, controllability attribution, and habits were key push, pull and mooring factors influencing Chinese consumers’ brand and category switching from food brands under food safety crisis, and most importantly, that their influential paths differed greatly under the two food safety incidents, suggesting a different influential mechanism across two product categories (i.e., utilitarian food and hedonic food). These findings throw light on the predictors and mechanisms that affect consumer brand and category switching from food brands under food safety crisis and help associated food businesses develop more targeted and powerful crisis management and public relations strategies.

Global Conflict Escalation during the Pandemic, Climate, and Economic Dilemmas: Healthcare Sustainability Challenges in Conflict Zones and Elsewhere

Religion, governance, and politics—as well as related topics such as human rights, justice, and so on—have historically caused many of the world's most significant conflicts, and they continue to do so because these issues are often the most fundamental in the structure of a society. To gain a military advantage, parties to armed conflicts have polluted water, burned crops, cut down forests, poisoned soils, and killed animals over the years. A variety of context factors, particularly socioeconomic conditions, governance, and political factors, interact and play a key role in translating climate change into conflict risks. The present unrest all over the world risks putting more than half of the countries into a crisis of health, economy, and social safety, which is the biggest threat to human civilization. The security and safety of healthcare facilities, workers, and supply lines remain paramount concerns along with access to health services, technology, and innovation.

Rooftop gardening complexities in the Global South: Motivations, practices, and politics

AbstractAn increasing number of urban residents in the Global South are turning to rooftop gardening, whether through soil or hydroponics, to cultivate their own vegetables, fruit, and herbs. In Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, rooftop gardening serves as an important alternative to traditional wet markets and more recently established supermarkets. In this paper, we examine the motivations, practices, and constraints of Hanoi’s rooftop gardeners, along with the level of government support or disapproval for rooftop gardening. Our study is grounded in critical urban geography and urban political ecology and specific debates regarding informal life politics. Our findings reveal that Hanoi’s rooftop gardeners feel confronted by a critical food safety crisis, emphasising their need to access safe, fresh, and affordable produce through rooftop gardening. Simultaneously, they express scepticism about the capacity and willingness of formal political institutions at both the municipal and national levels to address and resolve these concerns. We explore whether Hanoi’s urban rooftop gardeners can be considered to be engaging in a form of everyday life politics and examine the dynamics emerging in this regard. We conclude by offering potential policy recommendations for Global South cities to support urban gardening communities.

The importance of assets for coping with COVID-19 and other shocks

Rural households in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico experienced a series of shocks beginning in 2020, including the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment, loss of income, an abrupt increase in food prices, hurricanes, a public safety crisis and political instability. Through household surveys in 10 territories in those countries, along with interviews and focus groups, we studied the association between the context created by those shocks, food security and households' coping strategies. The main finding is that the relative level of wealth, measured by households’ asset endowment, is the factor that most influences both food insecurity and the strategies households choose for coping with shocks.