Safety Regulations Research Articles

Awareness Patterns Regarding Radiation Safety Management in Fields Related to Radiation Safety Regulations: Focusing on Companies that Must Report Radiation Sources

Background: This study aims to analyze radiation safety management and regulatory perceptions, focusing on companies that must report radiation sources. The intent is to reduce the gap between regulation measures and addressing real concerns while improving practical safety management measures and regulations for all stakeholders.Materials and Methods: Radiation safety officers at a total of 244 reporting companies using radiation generators (79.8%) and sealed radioisotopes (15.1%) were surveyed using a questionnaire.Results and Discussion: The perception that regulation is stronger than the actual risk of the radiation source used was 3.47 points (out of 5 points), indicating a score above average. The most important factors and considerations were education and training (48%) as a human factor, safety devices of the radiation source (71.3%) as a hazardous material factor, the use of radiation (50.8%) as an organizational environment, and the radiation effect of nearby facilities (67.2%) as a physical environment. Radiation safety management educational experience (<i>F</i>=5.030, <i>p</i><0.01), the group with high subjective knowledge (<i>t</i>=6.017, <i>p</i><0.001), and the group with high objective knowledge (<i>t</i>=1.989, <i>p</i><0.05) was found to be better at radiation safety management.Conclusion: It is necessary to standardize the educational experience regarding radiation safety management because each staff member has individual differences in educational experience. It is necessary to provide more information on how to solve radiation accidents via educational content. Applying radiation safety regulations based on the factors that significantly affect radiation safety management shown in this survey will help improve safety.

Basics of worker safety under the draft Labour Code of Ukraine

The article analyses the draft Labour Code of Ukraine with regard to legal regulation of safety and health of employees.
 The author examines in detail Book Three «Safety and Health of Employees» of the draft Labour Code of Ukraine. It is established that this book contains the provisions of the draft Law of Ukraine «On Safety and Health of Workers at Work», which form a new system of management in this area.
 The article analyses the state of implementation of the Council Directive 89/391/EEC, Council Directive 89/654/EEC of 30 November 1989 on minimum safety and health requirements in work areas; Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on measures to improve the safety and health at work of pregnant, recently given birth or lactating workers; Council Directive 94/33/EC of 22 June 1994 on the protection of young people at work in national legal practice.
 The author analyses the current regulatory legal acts in the field of labour protection and draws attention to the need to update the national labour legislation. The main areas of reform in the field of safety are highlighted, namely: general requirements for occupational safety and health protection at workplaces, machine safety, electrical equipment safety, personal protective equipment, use of explosives, mining operations and noise protection.
 The author establishes that the draft Labour Code of Ukraine provides for a change of legal emphasis from «labour safety» or «labour protection» to the European principle of «employee safety». The consequence of implementing this principle in practice will be the achievement of complete elimination or minimisation of risks to the life and health of each employee.
 The author examines the rules governing the safety and health of certain categories of employees, namely, female employees (pregnant employees, employees who have recently given birth and breastfeeding employees), employees under the age of 18, employees with disabilities. Concludes that the draft Labour Code of Ukraine does not pay due attention to the specifics of work of employees who have children under the age of three, or have a child with a disability, or are raising a child on their own, which requires further elaboration.
 Proposals are made regarding the need to enshrine in the draft Labour Code of Ukraine the minimum amount of funding for expenses incurred at the expense of the employer for the safety and health of employees at work.

Reflections on the safety regulation of commercialization of synthetic biology products

With the rapid development of synthetic biology, lots of synthetic biology technology achievements in various application fields have been commercialized, generating broad market prospects. The commercialization of products employing synthetic biology technology (hereinafter referred as synthetic biology products) has brought benefits to human beings, but it has also produced potential safety risks. At present, relevant laws and standards for regulation of biotechnology or genetically modified organisms have been adopted to regulate the safety risks of commercialization of synthetic biology products (CSBP). However, due to the complexity and uncertainty of synthetic biology, the safety risks of CSBP cannot be comprehensively regulated by these laws and standards. Therefore, it is of great significance to formulate specific supervision and management measures for regulating the safety risks of CSBP. This paper summarized the situation of CSBP in the fields of food, medical care, agriculture, environment, energy and materials, analyzed the safety risks existing in the CSBP, and sorted out current supervision situation of its safety risks in European countries, United States, as well as in China. We further proposed suggestions on the safety supervision and management measures on the safety risks of CSBP, including classified examination and approval, classified identification of products, and strict screening and approval of market entities before entering the market, and strengthening safety supervision and emergency treatment as well as accident responsibility investigation after entering the market. This whole-process safety regulation might provide support for the safety of CSBP and promote the healthy and long-term development of synthetic biology industry.

Factors influencing fire accidents in urban complexes: a combined DEMATEL and ISM study.

Fire outbreaks in urban complexes are a major safety concern worldwide. Therefore, this study aims to examine the critical factors that influence fire accidents and their interaction mechanisms in urban settings. A (software factors, hardware factors, environmental factors, parties and other factors, SHEL) model is developed to identify 15 risk factors in four categories affecting fire incidents in urban complexes. The Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory method (DEMATEL) and Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) are employed to identify the key factors and their interrelationships, using the evaluation metrics of degree of influence, affected degree, centrality, and hierarchical structure. The results show that lack of safety management rules and regulations (S13), poor security awareness (S1), and uncorrected hidden dangers (S11) are the top three critical factors. Based on the hierarchical structure and centrality values, eight critical paths with the highest impact on fires are identified; for instance, Path 39 (comprising, lack of safety management rules and regulations (S13) → lack of fire training and drills (S12) → insufficient security knowledge (S2) → poor security awareness (S1) → poor sense of security responsibility (S3) → uncorrected hidden danger (S11) → inadequate maintenance of fire-fighting facilities (S14) → Accident), which, among all disaster impact paths, has the highest centrality value of 21.8796 (out of a total of 15 factors and total centrality value of 42.9226; Path 39 involves seven factors, but its centrality value accounts for 50.97% of the total). Finally, based on the factor analysis results, suggestions for fire control measures are provided to prevent fire accidents and ensure the safety of people and property.

Development of test methods for fire-retardant coatings of steel engineering structures during operation

Introduction. Prediction of the durability of flame-retardant coatings of steel engineering structures and preservation of their performance during operation remain important research directions. There is a lack of normative documents in the field of fire protection, regulating the process of testing of flame-retardant coatings during operation, as well as determination of their durability (service life).Aim. To develop test methods for determining the resistance of flame-retardant coatings of steel engineering structures exposed to climatic factors, preservation of their fireproof and anti-corrosion properties during operation.Materials and methods. Test specimens included 600 x 600 x 5 mm plates made of 08kp and 08ps sheet steel according to State Standard 16523-97 and State Standard 9045-93 with a flame-retardant agent applied on the front side.Results. Methods for testing thin-layer intumescent and structural flame-retardant coatings during operation are proposed. The methodology of accelerated climatic testing of specimens coated with thin-layer intumescent flame-retardant coatings (flame-retardant paints) corresponds to State Standard 9.401-2018. These coatings are inherently high-solid paint materials. A new methodology, sequence, and modes of testing are developed for structural flame-retardant coatings. The subsequent assessment of fireproof properties of coatings and their preservation is carried out by the methods of fire protection efficiency according to State Standard R 53295-99 and the methods of thermal analysis. These methods imply comparison of the characteristics of the initial flame-retardant coating and those obtained after sample aging. The preservation of fireproof properties by thin-layer intumescent and structural coatings is additionally evaluated by the intumescence coefficient and the change in thermal conductivity, respectively.Conclusions. Test methods for flame-retardant coatings of steel engineering structures during operation are developed. Threshold levels of changes in their properties are established. After accelerated climatic tests, fire protection efficiency should not decrease by no more than 20 %. For structural fire protection, an increase in thermal conductivity by no more than 5 % is permitted. For thin-layer coatings, the arithmetic mean value of the intumescence coefficient should not decrease by no more than 30 % of the initial value.Implications. The developed methods were used in the preparation of a draft national standard of the Russian Federation “Steel engineering structures with fireproof coatings. Test methods for anticorrosion properties and resistance to climatic factors during operation” to ensure regulatory fire safety requirements for these structures.

Photothermal-Based Multiplex Nested Digital PCR System for Rapid Detection of Foodborne Pathogens.

The rapid and sensitive detection of foodborne pathogens is crucial for ensuring food safety. Among virus testing methods, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has served as the gold-standard technique in most food safety regulation organizations. However, to enhance the speed and efficiency of PCR, novel approaches are continually being explored. In this work, leveraging the photothermal effects and high thermal conductivity of gold nanoparticles, we have significantly improved the heating and cooling rates of thermal cycles, enabling ultra-fast PCR detection. Specifically, we present a pre-degassing multiplex digital PCR chip integrated with gold nanoparticles. We further developed a portable system with a light source for photothermal heating cycling, along with an optoelectronic sensor to analyze PCR amplification products after rapid thermal cycling. As proof of concept, the proposed chip and portable device was applied for the on-site detection of several types of foodborne pathogens, including Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella. The whole system could distinguish those pathogens within 20 min, showing good potential for the rapid detection of multiple types of foodborne pathogens.

Food safety and dietary diversity in African urban cities: evidence from Ghana

BackgroundFood safety is integral to food security and is increasingly becoming a significant concern in the urban areas of Africa, which are rapidly growing in population. In the case of Ghana, many urban households depend on traditional open-air markets for most of their food needs. However, these urban food markets also depend on domestic food supply chains, which are prone to risks, including poor hygiene and sanitation and weather seasonality. Food safety compliance has associated costs which increase the unit cost of food products. Thus, higher food price is a risk factor to food availability and accessibility—fundamental pillars of food security.MethodWe use food microbial data and food retail data from food market surveys in major cities in Ghana to assess the safety of selected fresh food commodities and how retailers handle the food products they sell. Additionally, based on a two-wave balanced panel household data, we used fixed effects Poisson and Correlated Random Effects (CRE) Probit models to estimate the effect of weather seasonality on the incidence of diarrhoea and urban household dietary diversity score (HDDS). A final sample of 609 households and 565 market respondents participated in the study.ResultsOur findings show that selected food samples tested positive for Staphylococcus aureus and E.coli and had aflatoxin B1 levels above 5.0 ppb. Additionally, the household incidence of diarrhoea/vomiting, a proxy for food safety status, is higher in the dry season. In the dry season, the household incidence of diarrhoea/vomiting increases on average by a probability of 38% points compared to the rainy season. Regarding HDDS, the average HDDS is 7.3; however, we did not find the effect of seasonality on HDDS to be significant.ConclusionsAlthough urban food availability and household dietary diversity are not challenges for many urban households, food safety is a challenge in the major food markets in Ghanaian cities and is associated with weather seasonality. Foods available in traditional open-air markets are not always safe for consumption, undermining households’ food security. Weak enforcement of food safety regulations contributes to the food safety challenges in Ghanaian urban food markets.

Using digital technologies for correction in the health condition process for IT specialists

Computers have swiftly integrated into people's daily lives, and their utilization continues to surge. The role of an IT support specialist encompasses expertise in network analysis, system administration, information security and assurance, IT audits, database administration, and web administration. The overarching objective is to cultivate a professionally adept and competitive specialist, whose attributes are shaped not only by professional aptitude but also by their personal lifestyle. Pursuing a career in IT necessitates adherence to several criteria, including possessing relevant education, intellectual acumen, teamwork capabilities, self-educational proficiency, a commitment to skill enhancement, and the ability to work autonomously. It is evident that the significance of this industry is growing each year. It is crucial to highlight that, without the implementation of occupational health and safety regulations, there is a substantial risk of a considerable decline in health protection, potentially leading to irreversible impacts on the overall functioning of the body. Adopting a healthy lif estyle involves establishing a self-designed system that safeguards an individual from risks encountered in an active life. To address this, we have developed a sequence of exercises aimed at providing psychological and physical relief for IT workers. The objective is to safeguard the health of employees in this category, incorporating exercises such as tapping biologically active zones, "Crane wings," and "Snake rings." The experimentally verified complex of measures designed for mental and physical relief for IT workers has demonstrated its effectiveness. Additionally, the execution of the exercise routine results in the alignment of morning and evening indicators, indicating an overall improvement in well-being and stable psycho-emotional state. The acquired results highlight a considerable decrease in fatigue indicators and the normalization of mood after completing the exercise routine.

Rapid, efficient, and accurate determination of aflatoxins and capsaicinoids in vegetable oils by immunomagnetic sorbents coupled with UHPLC–MS/MS

AbstractA fast, simple, and sensitive analytic method was proposed for the simultaneous quantification of aflatoxins (AFTs) and capsaicinoids in vegetable oils by immunomagnetic sorbent coupled with ultra‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. The immunomagnetic solid phase extraction (IMSPE) sorbents were synthesized with the monoclonal antibodies via cyanogen bromide magnetic sorbents, which could modify the surface magnetic sorbents under mild synthetic condition. The IMSPE procedure had the following aspects such as ease manipulation, easy disperse, quick isolation, eco‐friendly, and cost‐effective. The major conditions of IMSPE procedure were systemically studied, and the optimized pretreatment was accomplished in 15 min avoding complicated condition or sophisticated equipment. Excellent linearities were achieved by the correlation (R2) more than 0.9983. The limits of quantifications of all analytes ranged from 0.03 to 0.20 µg kg−1, and the recoveries were satisfactory ranging from 75.7% to 124.0% with the intra‐day and inter‐day precisions less than 10.1%. Additionally, the proposed method was used to analyze AFTs and capsaicinoids in retail oil samples. Overall, 25% of soybean and peanut oils and 12.5% of corn and blended oil were detected with AFTs, and no capsaicinoid was found. The content of AFTs was under the MRLs set by EU and China regulation for food quality and safety. The validated results indicated that this method could be utilized for a rapid, efficient, and accurate quantification of AFTs and capsaicinoids in complex lipid‐based matrix.

Antecedents of Export Performance of Food and Beverages MSMEs in India

The Food and Beverages (F&B) sector has evolved as a sunrise sector of India. It is gearing-up its business at a rapid rate after the pandemic shocks. India is one of the largest foods producing nation in the world but due to its perishable nature the surplus food articles are converted to processed food and beverages products and exported to other countries. Even though the sector has good prospects to grow and attract foreign investment but most of the enterprises are micro, small, and medium. However, MSMEs are performing better in food and beverages exports. The present study has empirically investigated the export antecedents of India’s F&B MSMEs by using Random Effects Tobit Model in a firm level dataset. The study also analyzed the region-wise F&B export performance. The findings reveal that F&B industry is highly labour-intensive which requires more capital investment in physical assets like plant and machinery, cold storage facilities, warehousing, packing and packaging centers and so on. To stimulate the export performance, the F&B firms require to enhance the labour productivity by investing on the employees’ welfare and training activities as well as create awareness among them about the rules and regulations of WTO and FAO like food standard and safety regulations and packing and packaging standards etc. The region-wise analysis indicates that in F&B exports the Northern and Eastern regions have performed better whereas the North-Eastern region is more oriented towards the domestic market rather than the export market.

Investigation on the Nature of Safety Rule Violations in High-Rise Construction Projects

The construction sector has consistently demonstrated a greater risk of fatal and non-fatal occupational accidents than other economic sectors, particularly with respect to high-rise building construction projects. Despite searing progress in the regulatory domain, and progressive formulation of new safety agenda for the industry, the truth is safety incidences involving fatalities and injuries still perpetuate with varying degrees of intensity. This is further aggravated by the loss of vital project resources of materials, equipment, and labours, which is counter-productive, unsustainable, and occasionally polluting. What is abundantly clear is that human factor when dealing with safety intricacies and observation still plays a considerable role in determining key safety objective accomplishment. With that in mind, it was the aims of this study to delve deeper into this issue among practitioners at the forefront of the high-rise building construction works in Malaysia. Specifically, it investigates, analyses, and ranks the degree of severity of the safety rule violation repercussion, the frequency, and perpetrators. A questionnaire survey approach was devised and distributed to respondents from among the developers, consultants, contractors, and relevant authorities. The data collected were analysed using SPSS package by determining the average index, standard deviation, variance, and frequency analysis. The results have shown that the lack of fire protection was perceived to lead to the most severe repercussion, while the lack of risky, near-miss, accident reporting, and the lack of Logout or Tagout (LOTO) procedures during servicing and maintenance activities were the most frequent safety rule violations. In addition, the contractor party was the most regular offender of the safety regulations, understandably by virtue of numbers. In conclusion, these outcomes could facilitate safety authorities and professionals in devising pragmatic schemes that best utilize both the persuasive and punitive mitigation measures for better safety outcomes.

Gel polymer electrolyte-based dual screen-printed electrodes for the headspace quantification of 4-ethylphenol and ethanethiol simultaneously in wines

The identification and correction of negative factors, such as 4-ethylphenol and ethanethiol, is important to comply with food safety regulations and avoid economic losses to wineries. A simple amperometric measurement procedure that facilitates the simultaneous quantification of both compounds in the gas phase has been developed using fullerene and cobalt (II) phthalocyanine-modified dual screen-printed electrodes coated with a room temperature ionic liquid-based gel polymer electrolyte. The replacement of the typical aqueous supporting electrolyte by low-volatility ones improves both operational and storage lifetime. Under the optimum conditions of the experimental variables, Britton Robinson buffer pH 5 and applied potentials of + 0.86 V and + 0.40 V for each working electrode (vs. Ag ref. electrode), reproducibility values of 7.6% (n = 3) for 4-ethylphenol and 6.6% (n = 3) for ethanethiol were obtained, as well as capability of detection values of 23.8 μg/L and decision limits of 1.3 μg/L and 9.2 μg/L (α = β = 0.05), respectively. These dual electrochemical devices have successfully been applied to the headspace detection of both compounds in white and red wines, showing their potential to be routinely used for rapid analysis control in wineries.Graphical

Regulating Autonomy in Civilian Drones: Towards a Spectral Approach

Civilian drones are becoming more functionally independent from human involvement which sets them on a path towards “autonomous” status. When defining “autonomy,” the European Union (EU) regulations, among other jurisdictions, employ an all-or-nothing approach, according to which a drone is either able to operate fully autonomously or not at all. This dichotomous approach disregards the various levels of drone autonomy and fails to capture the complexity of civilian drone operation. Within the EU, this has regulatory implications, such as regulatory lag, hindrance in better safety regulation, and incoherence with the Union’s regulatory approach towards Artificial Intelligence (AI). This article argues that understanding autonomy as a spectrum, rather than in a dichotomous way, would be more coherent with the technical functioning of drone and would avoid potential regulatory problems caused by the current dichotomous approach. In delineating this spectral approach, this article (1) analyses manifestations of autonomy in drone operations, (2) delineates efforts in the technical literatures and drone standardization to conceptualize “autonomy”, and (3) explores definitional attempts for autonomy made in three other technologies: self-driving cars, autonomous weapon systems, and autonomous maritime ships.

Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Drones in Solar Photovoltaic Energy Applications—Safe Autonomy Perspective

While there is evidence of substantial improvement in efficiency and cost reduction from the integration of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Drones (RAID) in solar installations; it is observed that there is limited oversight by international standards such as the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in terms of the hazards and untapped potentials. This is partly because it is an emerging application and generally burdened with social acceptability issues. Thus, the safety regulations applied are adaptations of device-specific regulations as deemed fit by individual companies. Also, due to the fast-paced technological development of these platforms, there is huge potential for applications that are not currently supported by the device-specific regulations. This creates a multi-faceted demand for the establishment of standardized, industry-wide polices and guidelines on the use of RAID platforms for Solar PV integrations. This work aims to address critical safety concerns by conducting a comprehensive high-level system examination applicable to the monitoring and maintenance of Solar PV systems. Standard safety assurance models and approaches are examined to provide a safe autonomy perspective for Solar PVs. It is considered that, as RAID applications continue to evolve and become more prevalent in the Solar PV industry, standardized protocols or policies would be established to ensure safe and reliable operations.

EPA issues sweeping chemical safety regulation

EPA issues sweeping chemical safety regulation

Research on the impacting mechanism and enhancement strategies for the effect of safety regulation in Chinese coal mine

Safety regulation in coal mine is a crucial approach to guarantee safe production within the coal industry. Existing literatures have largely concentrated on the internal micro level, for example within corporations, to find the reason behind coal mining accidents and propose improvement strategies. However, the systematic researches on the behavioral influencing factors of each entity and the interactions between different entities in coal mine safety regulation at the external macro level have been limited. Moreover, there have been many qualitative analyses and few quantitative studies. Considering these, this study systematically deconstructs the relevant factors and the interactions between different entities' behaviors, establishes a theoretical model of the impacting mechanism, develops a scale and uses the structural equation model to examine the interaction mechanism between public scrutiny, national supervision, regional surveillance, corporate responsibility, and regulatory effect. Finally, this paper proposes comprehensive strategies to enhance the effect of safety regulation in coal mines. The results are as follows: ① Regional surveillance and public scrutiny have the greatest direct and indirect impacts on the coal mine safety regulation effect, respectively. The measure of the overall effect shows that factors range from the most impactful to the least impactful; in descending order, they rank the following: regional surveillance, corporate responsibility, national supervision and public scrutiny. ②Direct intervention by national coal mine safety supervision agencies in ensuring coal safety is inefficient. These institutions should focus on regional coal mine safety surveillance directorates rather than on coal corporations. ③ Regional coal mine safety surveillance directorates play an important role in the selection of corporations’ safety behaviors. However, this impact is negative at present. Corrupt regulatory discipline and inadequate fulfilment of responsibilities are directly responsible for the frequent occurrence of major coal accidents.

Safe plates in the school space: Investigating compliance of food safety standards among school-based food service providers

Enhancing food safety measures within School-Based Food Service Providers (SBFSPs) is essential to safeguarding the well-being of students and school staff against foodborne risks. This study aims to assess the compliance of SBFSPs in primary and secondary schools with documentation protocols related to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Hygiene Practices (GHP), Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), and the necessary operational permits. We conducted a descriptive-correlational study spanning from April 2020 to March 2022, involving 138 public and private elementary and high schools selected through proportional stratified sampling. Each school underwent an audit using standardized checklists for GMP, GHP, and HACCP. Descriptive statistics, Fleiss Kappa, and Pearson chi-square tests were employed for data analysis. The results indicate that the participating schools do not meet the documentation requirements for GMP/GHP (29.7%), HACCP (2.9%), and operational permits (55.1%). Additionally, the schools received a "Very Poor" rating in terms of food safety compliance, with weighted mean rating scores of 2.45 ± 0.73 (GMP/GHP), 0.09 ± 0.02 (HACCP), and 1.69 ± 0.40 (operational permits). Furthermore, a significant relationship was observed between GMP/GHP and HACCP compliance and the characteristics of SBFSPs such as school kinds, types, places, and categories. The school GMP/GHP and HACCP compliance were also associated to the health permit of SBFSP personnel, authority to operate and manage school, and food handlers training. This study emphasizes the enforcement of compliance to food safety regulations, need to provide schools with adequate facilities and infrastructure, to promote a safe food production and consumption environment. It also underscores the importance of establishing partnerships for support and educating school personnel, especially those involved in food production and consumption, about GMP/GHP and HACCP principles to ensure the safety of meals for students, teachers, and other educational stakeholders. The need for certification of food handler in schools are of paramount importance, thereby advocating for increased food safety education.

Safety Measure Detection Using Deep Learning

This implementation is for a computer vision application that detects individuals and verifies their compliance with safety gear regulations, such as safety jackets and hard-hats. The system counts the number of individuals violating safety standards and keeps track of the total number of individuals detected. The system uses advanced image processing techniques, including object detection and classification, to accurately identify the presence or absence of safety gear. The user interface provides real-time analysis of the data, with the option to alert the user of any violations. This implementation is a valuable tool for organizations looking to ensure the safety of their employees and customers, providing a comprehensive solution for monitoring compliance with safety regulations. It can also be used to analyze trends and identify areas for improvement, making it an essential tool for safety professionals and facilities managers.

Enhanced Road Safety with Photoluminescent Pedestrian Crossings in Urban Contexts

The safety of roads in urban areas is a major concern for governments, demanding innovative solutions to enhance pedestrian safety. This paper introduces a novel approach to crosswalks by integrating resin with photoluminescent additives, offering a significant boost to road safety. A thorough methodology was employed to assess its effectiveness, covering mechanical, lighting, and vibroacoustic aspects, alongside a photogrammetric analysis of real-world experiments. The material exhibited noteworthy mechanical properties, displaying consistent tensile strength, load capacity, and strain values with a remarkable Shore A hardness. After 20 min, luminance values peaked at 68 mcd/m2, surpassing standard vehicle headlights at 100 m. Additionally, vibroacoustic analysis highlighted a noticeable relationship between vehicle speed and sound bandwidth, indicating the system’s potential to alert pedestrians. Tests revealed that the proposed system significantly decreased the average vehicle speed by 36.96% compared to conventional crosswalks, with a 27.80% reduction when drivers yielded to pedestrians. Furthermore, a survey involving 35 participants, focusing on the knowledge of road safety regulations, behavior, signage, and visibility, found positive results regarding accident reduction. The estimations indicate potential decreases of 26.26% in injuries and 35.4% in fatalities due to improved road conditions, 26.58% in injuries and 53.16% in fatalities resulting from reduced average speeds, and 52.56% in injuries and 79.91% in fatalities through enhanced road education. This underscores the multifaceted impact of the system on urban road safety.

Transition to Polycentrism and the Transformation of Regional Trade Agreements

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) are important instruments of the world trade system, which have been increasingly developed in recent decades, since they complement the existing World Trade Organization (WTO) and WTO+ agreements and allow taking into account the specificities of regions. The principle of ensuring non-discriminatory trade is the main principle of multilateral trade of the WTO, or in other words, observes the rule of not favoring one trading partner over another. RTAs are, in fact, an exception to this approach, as it is the signatories that enjoy more favorable market access conditions. At the same time, the WTO recognizes the legitimate role of RTAs in facilitating trade between their parties, but requires that they not create barriers to trade with third parties. RTAs cover more than half of world trade, and new transcontinental agreements have been concluded in recent years: the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Comprehensive Regional Economic Partnership, and the African Continental Free Trade Area. There are different types of RTAs in international cooperation, ranging from free trade agreements to common markets, including between countries of a territorially contiguous or transcontinental nature, based on WTO and WTO+ agreements or protectionist in nature. The article reflects the consequences for the national economies of developing countries, it is revealed that the European Union in the RTAs is actively promoting its values as the absolute truth for all peoples and nations, and their non-acceptance is considered as a factor causing possible restrictions. Other developed economies have also imposed obligations on signatories in terms of ensuring the transformation of the national economies of developing countries, but in recent years this trend has weakened somewhat. China, initiating the RTA, pursues the realization of its national interests, without imposing any political, mental or social aspects, and at the same time is ready to develop mutually acceptable compromises. The transformation of RTАs in modern conditions is carried out in three basic directions: preference for the preservation of full sovereignty by the signatory countries; the inclusion of articles that condition the promotion of sustainable development; control and monitoring to ensure compliance with labor safety regulations, non-damage to the ecological environment, as well as the use of tools of responsible corporate business conduct.