A systems approach to risk management through leading safety indicators

The goal of leading indicators for safety is to identify the potential for an accident before it occurs. Past efforts have focused on identifying general leading indicators, such as maintenance backlog, that apply widely in an industry or even across industries. Other recommendations produce more system-specific leading indicators, but start from system hazard analysis and thus are limited by the causes considered by the traditional hazard analysis techniques. Most rely on quantitative metrics, often based on probabilistic risk assessments. This paper describes a new and different approach to identifying system-specific leading indicators and provides guidance in designing a risk management structure to generate, monitor and use the results. The approach is based on the STAMP (System-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes) model of accident causation and tools that have been designed to build on that model. STAMP extends current accident causality to include more complex causes than simply component failures and chains of failure events or deviations from operational expectations. It incorporates basic principles of systems thinking and is based on systems theory rather than traditional reliability theory

The application of system dynamics modelling to system safety improvement: Present use and future potential

System Dynamics has the potential to study the aspects of complex systems including its likely effect of modifications to structural and dynamic system properties that cannot be achieved with traditional approaches. This paper presents a review of literature addressing safety issues using system dynamics across safety–critical domains. Sixty-three studies were included and classified based on a customised human factors safety taxonomy framework. The thematic analysis of the literature resulted in five themes: external factors, organisational influences, unsafe supervisions, preconditions for unsafe acts and unsafe acts. The findings suggest that using system dynamics can be a potential tool in improving safety. This can be achieved through improved decision-making by basing it on system analysis, analysing past behavioural events in a modelling structure to plan effective safety policies, as well as looking at a holistic approach when analysing accidents

A science mapping approach based review of construction safety research

This study adopted a three-step holistic review approach consisting of bibliometric review, scientometric analysis, and in-depth discussion to gain a deeper understanding of the research development in construction safety. Focusing on a total of 513 journal articles published in Scopus, the influential journals, keywords, scholars, and articles in the domain of construction safety were analyzed

Time delay estimation of traffic congestion propagation due to accidents based on statistical causality

The accurate estimation of time delays is crucial in traffic congestion analysis, as this information can be used to address fundamental questions regarding the origin and propagation of traffic congestion. However, the exact measurement of time delays during congestion remains a challenge owing to the complex propagation process between roads and high uncertainty regarding future behavior. To overcome this challenge, we propose a novel time delay estimation method for the propagation of traffic congestion due to accidents using lag-specific transfer entropy (TE). The proposed method adopts Markov bootstrap techniques to quantify uncertainty in the time delay estimator. To the best of our knowledge, our proposed method is the first to estimate time delays based on causal relationships between adjacent roads. We validated the method's efficacy using simulated data, as well as real user trajectory data obtained from a major GPS navigation system in South Korea.Comment: http://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/era.202303

Preliminary human safety assessment (PHSA) for the improvement of the behavioral aspects of safety climate in the construction industry

Occupational safety in the construction industry still represents a relevant problem at a global level. In fact, the complexity of working activities in this sector requires a comprehensive approach that goes beyond normative compliance to guarantee safer working conditions. In particular, empirical research on the factors influencing the unsafe behavior of workers needs to be augmented. Thus, the relationship between human factors and safety management issues following a bottom-up approach was investigated. In particular, an easy-to-use procedure that can be used to better address workers' safety needs augmenting the company's safety climate and supporting safety management issues was developed. Such an approach, based on the assessment of human reliability factors, was verified in a real case study concerning the users of concrete mixer trucks. The results showed that the majority of human failures were action and retrieval errors, underlining the importance of theoretical and practical training programs as a means to improve safety behavior. In such a context, information and communication activities also resulted beneficially to augment the company's safety climate. The proposed approach, despite its qualitative nature, allows a clearer understanding of workers' perceptions of hazards and their risk-taking behavior, providing practical cues to monitor and improve the behavioral aspects of safety climate. Hence, these first results can contribute to augmenting safety knowledge in the construction industry, providing a basis for further investigations on the causalities related to human performances, which are considered a key element in the prevention of accidents

Occupational Accidents Related to Heavy Machinery: A Systematic Review

Surface and underground mining, due to its technical challenges, is considered a hazardous industry. The great majority of accidents and fatalities are frequently associated with ineffective or inappropriate training methods. Knowing that knowledge of occupational accident causes plays a significant role in safety management systems, it is important to systematise this kind of information. The primary objective of this systematic review was to find evidence of work-related accidents involving machinery and their causes and, thus, to provide relevant data available to improve the mining project (design). The Preferred Reporting of Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement methodology was used to conduct the review. This paper provides the main research results based on a systematic review protocol registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO), where the research strategy, information sources, and eligibility criteria are provided. From the 3071 articles identified, 16 were considered eligible and added to the study. Results are presented in a narrative-based form, with additional data provided in descriptive tables. The data analysed showed that the equipment often related to mining accidents are conveyor belts, haul trucks, and dumpers, especially during maintenance or repair activities. Attention should be paid to powered tools. Effective monitoring and machine operation control are some of the stated measures to minimise accidents. Particular attention should be paid to less experienced and senior workers, mainly through fatigue control, workload management, and appropriate training programs