Understanding the Control of Hazardous Energies on Machinery: Using Lockout and Alternative Methods in Organizations and Developing a Self-Audit Tool

RÉSUMÉ: Au Canada, comme dans de nombreux pays, les normes nationales et les réglementations provinciales exigent que les travailleurs oeuvrant dans la zone dangereuse d’une machine pendant une phase de non-production suivent une procédure spécifique pour contrôler des énergies dangereuses. Si les énergies dangereuses de la machine ne sont pas contrôlées, il y a un risque de dégagement d'énergie, de mise sous tension ou de démarrage inattendu entraînant par conséquent des blessures ou décès. La norme canadienne CSA Z460 et la réglementation québécoise RSST décrivent les exigences en matière de contrôle des énergies dangereuses, appelées cadenassage (consignation ou lockout), ainsi que des méthodes alternatives lorsque le cadenassage ne peut pas être utilisé. Le nombre élevé d'accidents liés aux lacunes au niveau du contrôle des énergies dangereuses sur les machines démontre que les entreprises ont des difficultés avec l'application de ces exigences. En outre, l’absence d’audits du cadenassage ou d’outils pour l’audit de cadenassage est une réalité très répandue, de sorte que l’application du cadenassage n’est souvent pas entièrement conforme aux normes et aux réglementations. Au Québec, où cette étude a eu lieu, quatre décès et 1000 accidents se produisent en moyenne chaque année, en raison de l’absence ou des manquements aux procédures de cadenassage. Il existe peu d'études sur l'application réelle du cadenassage et elles se limitent en général à un secteur d’activité spécifique. Les outils disponibles pour auditer le cadenassage sont, pour leur part, incomplets. Par conséquent, les objectifs de cette thèse sont les suivants: premièrement, comprendre comment les entreprises mettent en oeuvre des programmes et procédures de cadenassage, et dans quelle mesure ces programmes et procédures sont conformes à la norme CSA Z460 et à la réglementation en vigueur; et deuxièmement, concevoir un outil d’autodiagnostic pour auditer l’application des procédures de cadenassage sur la base des connaissances générées dans la première partie de l’étude. Pour atteindre le premier objectif, une étude terrain a été réalisée et un questionnaire complet (concernant le programme de cadenassage, l'application des procédures de cadenassage, les méthodes alternatives, la gestion des sous-traitants, la formation et l'audit / inspection) a été développé à cet effet. L'application du cadenassage et des méthodes alternatives a été étudiée dans 14 entreprises issues de divers secteurs d’activité du Québec par le biais d'une entrevue de groupe, d'une analyse documentaire et d'une observation du site dans chaque entreprise. Cette étape de l’étude a révélé que les pratiques de cadenassage en vigueur dans les entreprises visitées étaient meilleures que celles décrites dans leur programme de cadenassage. Cependant, un écart important a été constaté entre l’application du cadenassage et des méthodes alternatives et les exigences de la norme CSA et de la réglementation RSST. Les insuffisances constatées incluent: (i) des programmes de cadenassage incomplets; (ii) les étapes manquantes dans les procédures générales de cadenassage; (iii) les travailleurs ne lisent pas les fiches de cadenassage; (iv) le manque de connaissances sur les méthodes alternatives et la réglementation; (v) utiliser des méthodes alternatives sans évaluation des risques; (vi) formation insuffisante pour les méthodes alternatives; (vii) absence de supervision et de coordination des sous-traitants; (viii) et le manque d'outils d'audit et de documentation des résultats d'audit. L'étude a également proposé des recommandations (ex. mesures correctives) pour remédier aux lacunes identifiées. De plus, l’étude a révélé la nécessité de clarifier la norme canadienne et la réglementation québécoise sur l’utilisation de méthodes alternatives au cadenassage dans les organisations. Afin d'atteindre le deuxième objectif, un outil d’autodiagnostic pour auditer l'application des procédures de cadenassage sur des machines a été conçu sur la base des conclusions de l'étape précédente et des normes et réglementations en vigueur. Cet outil a été développé pour vérifier la préparation de cadenassage (ex. les conditions nécessaires) et aussi pour évaluer l’application des procédures de cadenassage. L'outil a ensuite été testé pour la validité du contenu via un panel d'experts et six entreprises du Québec. L'étude a démontré que le nouvel outil avait un indice de validité du contenu élevé, à la fois en termes d'indice de validité de contenu pour les éléments (ICVI) et d'indice de validité de contenu pour l'outil (S-CVI). En outre, l’outil était facile à utiliser et son exhaustivité était suffisante pour contrôler l’application du cadenassage sur les machines par rapport aux exigences normatives et réglementaires. En effet, en utilisant cet outil, les organisations peuvent trouver et corriger les divergences dans l'application du cadenassage, améliorer les pratiques de cadenassage et garantir la sécurité des travailleurs. Cette thèse présente pour la première fois une étude sur l'application du cadenassage sur les machines dans les entreprises de différents secteurs. De plus, la thèse propose pour la première fois un outil d’autodiagnostic pour auditer l’application du cadenassage.----------ABSTRACT: In Canada, like many countries, the national standard and provincial regulations require that workers working in the hazardous area of a machine during the non-production phase of machinery follow a specific safety procedure to control hazardous energies. Failure to control hazardous energies poses a risk of the release of energies, unexpected energization or start-up of machines (or equipment), hence resulting in injury or death. The Canadian Standard CSA Z460 and Quebec regulation ROHS describe the requirements for, and provide guidance on, the control of hazardous energies that is referred to as lockout, and also as alternative methods when lockout is not applicable. However, the high number of accidents linked to failure to control hazardous energies on machinery shows that organizations have difficulty with the application of lockout arrangements or the use of alternative methods. Moreover, the absence of audits of lockout or the lack of tools for auditing lockout is prevalent, and thus the application of lockout is often not fully in compliance with standards and regulations. In Quebec, where this study took place, four deaths and 1000 accidents on average occur annually due to either poor or the absence of, lockout procedures. Few studies exist on the actual application of lockout, but those are limited to a specific sector. Additionally, audit tools for the application of lockout are incomplete. Therefore, the objectives of this thesis are: first, to understand how organizations implement hazardous energy control programs and procedures, and the extent to which they are in accordance with relevant standards and regulations; and second, to design a self-audit tool for the application of lockout procedures on machinery based on the findings from the previous step. To attain the first objective, the qualitative study was conducted, and a comprehensive questionnaire (which is about the lockout program, application of lockout procedures, alternative methods, sub-contractor management, training, and audit/inspection) was developed. The application of lockout and alternative methods was studied in 14 organizations from different sector specialties in Quebec, through a group interview, document review and site observation in each organization. This step of the study demonstrated that the actual lockout practices in the organizations visited were better than what was described in their lockout programs. However, major gaps were found between the actual application of lockout/alternative methods within the organizations studied and the standard CSA Z460 and Quebec regulation ROHS requirements. The shortcomings found included: (i) incomplete lockout programs; (ii) missing steps in general lockout procedures; (iii) neglecting to read the placards; (iv) lack of knowledge about alternative methods; (v) using alternative methods without risk assessment; (vi) poor training for alternative methods and lockout program; (vii) absence of supervision and coordination of subcontractors; (viii) and lack of audit tools and documentation of audit results. The study also proposed recommendations (e.g. corrective actions) for addressing identified shortcomings and gaps. Moreover, the study revealed a need for clarifications on the Canadian standard and Quebec regulation for using alternative methods to lockout in organizations. In order to attain the second objective, a self-audit tool for the application of lockout procedures on machinery was designed based on the findings of the previous step, and the current standards and regulations. The self-audit tool was developed to verify the preparation of lockout (i.e. surrounding conditions and pre-requirements) and also to evaluate the application of lockout procedures. The tool was then tested for content validity through a panel of experts and qualitative feedback from six organizations in Quebec. The study showed that this novel tool had high content validity index scores in terms of both the content validity index for items (I-CVI) and the content validity index for the tool (S-CVI). Furthermore, the tool was easy to use and completeness of the tool were adequate to monitor and evaluate the application of lockout on machinery against the normative and regulatory requirements. Indeed, by using this tool, organizations can find and correct problems and shortcomings in the application of lockout, improve lockout practices, and ensure safety of workers. This thesis presents the first study on the application of lockout and alternative methods on machinery in organizations across different industries. Moreover, the thesis is a pioneer in proposing a self-audit tool for the application of lockout

Presenting an approach based on weighted CapsuleNet networks for Arabic and Persian multi-domain sentiment analysis

Sentiment classification is a fundamental task in natural language processing, assigning one of the three classes, positive, negative, or neutral, to free texts. However, sentiment classification models are highly domain dependent; the classifier may perform classification with reasonable accuracy in one domain but not in another due to the Semantic multiplicity of words getting poor accuracy. This article presents a new Persian/Arabic multi-domain sentiment analysis method using the cumulative weighted capsule networks approach. Weighted capsule ensemble consists of training separate capsule networks for each domain and a weighting measure called domain belonging degree (DBD). This criterion consists of TF and IDF, which calculates the dependency of each document for each domain separately; this value is multiplied by the possible output that each capsule creates. In the end, the sum of these multiplications is the title of the final output, and is used to determine the polarity. And the most dependent domain is considered the final output for each domain. The proposed method was evaluated using the Digikala dataset and obtained acceptable accuracy compared to the existing approaches. It achieved an accuracy of 0.89 on detecting the domain of belonging and 0.99 on detecting the polarity. Also, for the problem of dealing with unbalanced classes, a cost-sensitive function was used. This function was able to achieve 0.0162 improvements in accuracy for sentiment classification. This approach on Amazon Arabic data can achieve 0.9695 accuracies in domain classification

Crude oil biodegradation using isolated bacteria from oil polluted soil

Contamination due to the spillage of petroleum or petroleum-derived hydrocarbons on different ecosystems has become critical issues to environment and living things. The use of native bacteria as an environmental friendly treatment of hydrocarbons pollution is very promising. The objective of the study is to identify the native hydrocarbon-degraders isolated from oil refinery. Bacteria from crude oil were isolated and cultured in enrichment media. The isolated strains were then cultured in different oil concentration. The isolated bacterial strains were Gram-stained and further identified via 16S rRNA sequencing. The resultant sequences were then aligned with the available online database for identification of the bacteria. The isolated bacteria belonged to families of Pseudomonadaceae and Moraxellaceae (Acinetobacter genus). The bacteria show high degradation of hydrocarbon and can be used to remediate polluted soils in tropical environment

Providing Digital Marketing Model for Online Business Branding

Purpose: Considering the competitive space of online businesses, branding would be the key element for achieving a competitive advantage. This study aimed at providing a digital marketing model for online business branding. Method: This was a fundamental study in terms of objective, which was conducted by using the mixed method based on deductive-inductive reasoning. Moreover, the identified indicators were validated by using the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM). Data analysis was done through MaxQDA and Matlab software within qualitative and quantitative phases, respectively. Findings: The main categories of the study included marketing strategy, personalization, website design, consumer interaction, product features. Digital branding is at the center of the analytical model with dynamic interaction with four categories mentioned above. The website should be designed flexibly to provide customers with a personalization option. Furthermore, the product/service mix must be based on innovation. Conclusion: The needs and expectations of customers should also be found through interaction with customers. Finally, business management was obtained through marketing strategies

Design of a self-audit tool for the application of lockout on machinery in the province of Quebec, Canada to control hazardous energies

Failure to apply lockout procedures for the control of hazardous energies is one of the main causes of machinery-related fatal and serious injuries in North America. The absence of audits of lockout or the lack of proper tools for auditing lockout is prevalent, and thus the application of lockout is often not fully in compliance with standards and regulations. A self-audit tool for the application of lockout procedures for machinery was developed on the basis of the current standards and regulations, and previous research. The tool was then tested for content validity through experts’ opinions and qualitative feedback from six organizations in the province of Quebec in Canada. The developed audit tool defines the actual procedures to audit, as well as the surrounding conditions that are needed and the prerequisites based on standards, regulations, and findings from previous research. The results showed that the tool displayed a high content validity index and demonstrated that the usability, applicability, and comprehensiveness of the tool were adequate. This self-audit tool helps organizations monitor the application of lockout on machinery for the safety of workers and to ensure that the actual practice of controlling hazardous energy is in compliance with relevant standards and regulations

Mechanisms of PTPσ-Mediated Presynaptic Differentiation

Formation of synapses between neurons depends in part on binding between axonal and dendritic cell surface synaptic organizing proteins, which recruit components of the developing presynaptic and postsynaptic specializations. One of these presynaptic organizing molecules is protein tyrosine phosphatase σ (PTPσ). Although the protein domains involved in adhesion between PTPσ and its postsynaptic binding partners are known, the mechanisms by which it signals into the presynaptic neuron to recruit synaptic vesicles and other necessary components for regulated transmitter release are not well understood. One attractive candidate to mediate this function is liprin-α, a scaffolding protein with well-established roles at the synapse. We systematically mutated residues of the PTPσ intracellular region (ICR) and used the yeast dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) protein complementation assay to screen for disrupted interactions between these mutant forms of PTPσ and its various binding partners. Using a molecular replacement strategy, we show that disrupting the interaction between PTPσ and liprin-α, but not between PTPσ and itself or another binding partner, caskin, abolishes presynaptic differentiation. Furthermore, phosphatase activity of PTPσ and binding to extracellular heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycans are dispensable for presynaptic induction. Previous reports have suggested that binding between PTPσ and liprin-α is mediated by the PTPσ membrane-distal phosphatase-like domain. However, we provide evidence here that both of the PTPσ phosphatase-like domains mediate binding to liprin-α and are required for PTPσ-mediated presynaptic differentiation. These findings further our understanding of the mechanistic basis by which PTPσ acts as a presynaptic organizer

Comparison of sex hormone manipulation effects during perinatal period on mRNA expression of Slc9a4, Nr3c2, Htr5b and Mas1, in hippocampus and frontal cortex of male and female rats).

Spatial memory and the ability to navigate through space are known as sexually dimorphic traits among mammals, and numerous studies have shown that these traits can be altered by means of sex hormone manipulation. Hippocampus, the main organ involved in this kind of memory, has specific signature genes, with high expression level compared to other regions of the brain. Based on their expression levels and the role that products of these genes can play in processes like signal transduction, mediation of hormone effects and long term potentiation, these genes can be considered as genes necessary for routine tasks of hippocampus. Male and female rat pups were injected with estradiol and testosterone, respectively, at early stage of their lives to examine the effect of sex hormone manipulation on mRNA expression of Slc9a4, Nr3c2, Htr5b and Mas1,using comparative quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Another parallel study was also conducted, using another set of animals, to test the spatial ability after administration of sex hormones under identical conditions. The results showed that expressions of these genes are strongly influenced by sex hormones in both the frontal cortex and hippocampus, especially in male hippocampus, in which expression of all genes were up-regulated. Htr5b was the only gene that was affected only in the males. Expression of Mas1, contrary to expectations, showed stronger changes in its expression in cortex than in hippocampus. Nr3c2 was down regulated in all samples but up regulated in male hippocampus; Slc9a4 also showed a huge up-regulation in male hippocampus compared to other samples. It was also evident from the Morris Water Maze test results that sex hormone manipulation significantly alters the ability in spatial memory and navigation

Providing Digital Marketing Model for Online Business Branding

Purpose: Considering the competitive space of online businesses, branding would be the key element for achieving a competitive advantage. This study aimed at providing a digital marketing model for online business branding.Method: This was a fundamental study in terms of objective, which was conducted by using the mixed method based on deductive-inductive reasoning. Moreover, the identified indicators were validated by using the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM). Data analysis was done through MaxQDA and Matlab software within qualitative and quantitative phases, respectively.Findings: The main categories of the study included marketing strategy, personalization, website design, consumer interaction, product features. Digital branding is at the center of the analytical model with dynamic interaction with four categories mentioned above. The website should be designed flexibly to provide customers with a personalization option. Furthermore, the product/service mix must be based on innovation.Conclusion: The needs and expectations of customers should also be found through interaction with customers. Finally, business management was obtained through marketing strategies

A biorefinery platform to valorize organic fraction of municipal solid waste to biofuels : An early environmental sustainability guidance based on life cycle assessment

The biorefining of biowastes, specifically the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), into biofuels and high-value products is an energy-demanding process, still immature, and largely dependent on the process configuration and efficiency of employed microorganisms. Such issues might undermine the environmental sustainability of the biorefinery by inducing adverse impacts on human health, ecosystem quality, climate change, and resources, which need to be explored before the process scale-up. Hence, this study was performed as early sustainability guidance to investigate the environmental impacts of different biorefinery platforms for biofuels production from OFMSW. More specifically, three pretreatment methods (i.e., acetone organosolv, acid, and hot water), two hydrolysis treatments (i.e., acidic and enzymatic), and two fermentation alternatives (i.e., ethanolic fermentation and acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation) were investigated. Based on European Commission's Joint Research Center instruction, the environmental impacts were studied using consequential life cycle assessment for the macro-level decision context. The results demonstrated that ABE fermentation scenarios were not environmentally favorable because the avoided impacts from final products were not sig-nificant enough to compensate for the induced environmental burdens from acetone pretreatment. On the contrary, the ethanolic fermentation scenarios with either acid or hot water pretreatment outperformed both ABE fermentation and ethanolic fermentation with acetone pretreatment. Based on the results, the scenario including simultaneous dilute acid pretreatment and hydrolysis of OFMSW followed by ethanolic fermentation manifested the best performance in all damage categories, as compared to those including acetone pretreatment or higher consumption of enzymes. Such improvements in this scenario led to the highest net saving of-842 potentially disappeared fraction (PDF)/m2/yr,-249.95 kg CO2 eq, and-3275.22 MJ primary per ton of OFMSW on ecosystem quality, climate change, and resources, respectively, and the lowest net burden of 1.54 x 10-5 disability-adjusted life years (DALY) per ton of OFMSW on human health. The results of sensitivity analysis on this scenario demonstrated that the substitution of excess heat for marginal heat with fossil origin can consid-erably decrease impacts on human health