Fire protection of emergency electrical devices: effect on the level of risk. Case study of rail tunnel

The paper proposes the main results obtained from the Quantitative Risk Analysis developed on an existing tunnel, according to the Ministerial Decree "Safety of railway tunnels" (October 28 2005). The fire produces the most severe scenario among the possible emergencies in confined area, thus the regulations in Europe and in Italy (Technical Specifications for Interoperability, Decision December 20th 2007, Ministerial Decree October 28th 2005) obligate to direct adoption of measures and devices for prevention and protection to reduce the probability of occurrence of this specific critical scenario and the containment of the fire effects. To mitigate the damage, the difficulty of providing an effective external rescue in a short time involves supplementary safety measures aimed at improving the process of self-rescue

Lighting Audit for Energy Conservation and Safety and Health in the Academic Office Building

A lighting audit is an investigational process that measures conditions against standards to determine any lighting improvement measures. The objective of this study is to conduct a lighting audit to evaluate the level of existing lighting in the work environment of the academic faculty building. The lighting audit for the faculty buildings consists of a walk-through audit, lighting desktop work, field data measurement, and lighting analysis. The illuminance level cross-checks with the MS 1525:2019 and the lighting guideline from the Department of Safety and Health Malaysia. The illuminance analysis finding denotes most areas have violated the standards and are in overlit status. Few lighting conservation measures were proposed and prioritized the LED lighting installation. Economic analysis for retrofitting of LED lighting generates energy saving at 30%, a return on investment of two months, and about 6.60-tonne CO2 emission reduction annually. The LED lighting installation shows attractive investment and has good potential at higher luminous efficacy around 40-256 Lm/Watt for the respective areas

ITERL: A Wireless Adaptive System for Efficient Road Lighting

This work presents the development and construction of an adaptive street lighting system that improves safety at intersections, which is the result of applying low-power Internet of Things (IoT) techniques to intelligent transportation systems. A set of wireless sensor nodes using the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4 standard with additional internet protocol (IP) connectivity measures both ambient conditions and vehicle transit. These measurements are sent to a coordinator node that collects and passes them to a local controller, which then makes decisions leading to the streetlight being turned on and its illumination level controlled. Streetlights are autonomous, powered by photovoltaic energy, and wirelessly connected, achieving a high degree of energy efficiency. Relevant data are also sent to the highway conservation center, allowing it to maintain up-to-date information for the system, enabling preventive maintenance.Consejería de Fomento y Vivienda Junta de Andalucía G-GI3002 / IDIOFondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional G-GI3002 / IDI

Urban outdoor lighting : Pedestrian perception, evaluation and behaviour in the lit environment

Walking plays an essential role in sustainable transport systems, as nearly all journeys in the urban environment incorporate walking in one way or another. In parts of the world, for long periods of the year, seasonal variation in daylight hours means that pedestrians must rely on outdoor lighting to make cities accessible after dark. However, outdoor lighting is associated with considerable energy use, generating financial and environmental costs, so there is a need to develop energy-efficient outdoor lighting applications that also meet user needs. There are standard measures stipulated in national and international standards for the photometric properties of outdoor lighting but, to date, there is no consensus on methods for assessing how pedestrians respond to lighting.This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of the pedestrian response tooutdoor lighting when walking after dark. A series of four studies explores what urban design qualities pedestrians consider important in relation to neighbourhood walkability (Paper I), evaluates a set of methods for assessing the pedestrian response (in terms of perception, evaluation and behaviour) to outdoor lighting (Paper II), evaluates the applicability of the methods in a field setting (Paper III), and tests a new behavioural method of assessing pedestrians’ preferences for outdoor lighting applications (Paper IV).The results suggest that outdoor lighting is considered an important urban design quality that pedestrians consider when assessing the walkability of their neighbourhoods. Outdoor lighting that caters to user needs and contributes to accessibility and perceived safety facilitates walking, whereas insufficient lighting has a negative influence on the perception of safety, and makes people avoid walking after dark.The main finding from the evaluation of methods is that perceptual tasks (facial expression recognition and street sign reading) and evaluation instruments (perceived outdoor lighting quality scale and the composite affect measure) may be used to differentiate between lighting applications. The results also show that elderly people depend on outdoor lighting more for providing adequate seeing conditions. The results from the method development study indicate that the Random Environmental Walk method can be used for assessing the preference for different lighting applications, and that the results correspond to the results from self-rating scales.The thesis suggests a theoretical framework that bridges walkability and lighting, which may inspire and benefit future research regarding outdoor lighting for pedestrians. Methods that can differentiate between lighting applications are identified and evaluated, which may be used to guide the decisions of municipalities before they undertake major upgrades or new installations of outdoor lighting on urban pedestrian paths. The methods may also be useful for lighting designers, as a way to obtain complementary perspectives to those provided by lighting simulation software

Feeling Safe in the Dark : Examining the Effect of Entrapment, Lighting Levels, and Gender on Feelings of Safety and Lighting Policy Acceptability

This research examined to what extent physical factors, notably lighting and entrapment (blocked escape), and individual factors, notably gender, affect feelings of safety and the acceptability of reduced lighting levels. The authors reasoned that acceptability of reduced street lighting depends on perceived safety, which in turn depends on entrapment, lighting, and gender. Virtual representations of a residential street were used, systematically manipulating entrapment and lighting levels. As expected, people felt less safe in lower lighting and higher entrapment settings, and these settings were evaluated as less acceptable. Although women perceived a situation as less safe compared with men, the authors found no gender differences in acceptability, which extends previous research. Importantly, as hypothesized, perceived safety mediated the effect of lighting on acceptability levels, suggesting that people can accept lower lighting levels when social safety is not threatened

Lighting, well-being and work performance: A review of the literature

Commissioned White Paper Report for Philips International

Decrease of the maximum speed in highway tunnels as a measure to foster energy savings and sustainability

The high energy consumption of the lighting installations in highway tunnels has become a hot topic in the last few years due to the high figures in terms of money, consumed energy, use of raw materials, emissions of greenhouse gases due to the remarkable number of manufactured elements, and maintenance, among others. In spite of the different strategies proposed up to date and their savings, the potential benefits of decreasing the maximum speed allowed in tunnels have not been considered in depth as a complementary measure yet. In this work, the impact of such a decrease in terms of energy consumption, number projectors, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and yearly costs in energy is analyzed and discussed. The results strongly suggest the convenience of introducing maximum speed reduction in traffic regulations which, in addition, could create positive synergies with traffic safety

Int J Ind Ergon

Researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are conducting mine illumination research with the objective of improving miner safety. Slips, trips, and falls (STFs) are the second leading accident class (18.1%, n = 2,374) of nonfatal lost-time injuries at underground mines (MSHA, 2005-2009). Factors contributing to STFs include recognition of hazards as well as postural balance and age. Improved lighting may enable better hazard recognition and reduce the impact of postural balance and age. Previous research has shown that cap lamp technology that used light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has improved hazard detection. This study was an initial investigation to determine if cap lamp lighting significantly influences measures of static postural stability (displacement and velocity of center of pressure). Results of this investigation showed no significant differences in the balance measures of interest between cap lamps tested. However, balance was shown to significantly decline (p < 0.05) when tested in an underground coal mine compared to the laboratory testing condition. Relevance to industry: Underground coal mine workers wear cap lamps on their hard hats as their primary light source to illuminate nearby areas where their vision is directed. Proper illumination may improve miner safety by improving their STF hazard recognition and balance.YLH8/Intramural CDC HHS/United States2015-10-13T00:00:00Z26472917PMC460405