Worker Safety Training Research Articles

Dangerous and Cancer-Causing Properties of Products and Chemicals in the Oil Refining and Petrochemical Industry: Part V - Asbestos-Caused Cancers and Exposure of Workers in the Oil Refining Industry

In the oil refining and petrochemical industries exposure to cancer-causing asbestos particles, especially during equipment repair and maintenance, is very high. Up to 90% of workers in the oil refining industry had direct and/or indirect contact with asbestos, and more than half of this contact occurred without the use of any kind of precaution, thus these workers are in high risk of developing lung cancer and mesothelioma, both fatal diseases. The hazards include: inadequate health and safety training for both company personnel and workers, failure to inform about the dangers and diseases (cancers) resulting from exposure to asbestos; excessive use of large numbers of untrained and uninformed contract workers; lack of use of protective equipment; and archaeological approaches and responses to repairing asbestos breaks and replacement of asbestos in oil refining facilities. For a better understanding of practices and policies in the oil refining industry, refer to Rachel Scott's Muscle and Blood, in particular the chapter "Oil" (E.P. Dutton, New York, 1974), as well as to an editorial which appeared in the Oil and Gas Journal, April, 1968.

A cause-and-effect analysis of robot accidents

Jiang, B.C. and Gainer, C.A., Jr., 1987. A cause-and-effect analysis of robot accidents. Journal of Occupational Accidents, 9: 27–45. Reported cases of robot accidents involving fatality, injury and non-injury were gathered from several sources (U.S., West Germany, Sweden and Japan). In cases where adequate information was available a cause-effect analysis of these accidents was performed. A total of 32 accidents were analyzed in the study. The accident effects were grouped according to who was injured (line worker, maintenance worker or programmer), the type of injury (pinch-point, impact or other), and the degree of injury (fatal, non-fatal-lost-work or non-fatal-no-lost-work). The accident causes were grouped into four categories (human error, workplace design, robot design and other) with the possibility that an accident could have more than one cause. Findings indicate that line workers are at greatest risk, followed by maintenance workers and programmers. Pinch-point accidents accounted for 56% of all accidents while impact accidents accounted for 44%. Most accidents were caused by poor workplace design (20 of 32 accidents) and human error (13 of 32 accidents). A comprehensive cause-effect analysis was performed on 25 of the accidents and includes: the accident source, the accident cause, the accident effect in terms of human injury, recommended guidelines to be implemented, and applicable safety standards in each case. Conclusions are drawn on the effectiveness of worker safety training and workplace design, both a result of suggested standards.