Classification of organizational failure root causes producing human error

The formal study of human error is relatively recent, especially in medical domain, and is tied closely to a several other relatively new fields. Organizational root cause of human error is less considered. Despite growing social, industrial and scientific interest in the organizational causes of incidents, the concept of organizational failure and related tools are still less considered in many developing countries e.g. Iran. Also, there is few incident record-keeping in medical domain on human error. Therefore, this study draws on case study research to investigate the applicability of a European taxonomy of organizational failure in Iran, in aviation domain with a fair incident record-keeping. This case study resulted in 10 incident in-depth descriptions, which occurred during one year in a part of civil aviation due to operator error. Within each case study, an explanation building method is used to develop a tool for classifying organizational root causes. Results include 100 root causes. The distribution of organizational root causes over the main categories of the former taxonomy shows a need to add a new sub-category to improve its applicability in Iran. The new sub-category is related to culture

Study of Quality of Work Life (QWL)

A high quality of work life (QWL) is essential for organizations to continue to attract and retain employees. QWL is a comprehensive program designated to improve employee satisfaction. This research aimed to provide insights into the positive and negative attitudes of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) Hospitals’ employees from their quality of life. A cross- sectional, descriptive and analytical study was conducted among 908 TUMS hospitals’ employees by questionnaire at 15 studied hospitals. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select respondents as nursing, supportive and paramedical groups. The results showed that the majority of employees were dissatisfied with occupational health and safety, intermediate and senior managers , their income, balance between the time they spent working and with family and also indicated that their work was not interesting and satisfying. TUMS hospitals’ employees responding to this survey have a poor quality of work life. We suggest more training and educations for TUMS hospitals’ managers on QWL issues are planned

Control of Human Error and comparison Level risk after correction action With the SHERPA Method in a control Room of petrochemical industry

Background and aims Today in many jobs like nuclear, military and chemical industries, human errors may result in a disaster. Accident in different places of the world emphasizes this subject and we indicate for example, Chernobyl disaster in (1986), tree Mile accident in (1974) and Flixborough explosion in (1974).So human errors identification especially in important and intricate systems is necessary and unavoidable for predicting control methods.   Methods Recent research is a case study and performed in Zagross Methanol Company in Asalouye (South pars).   Walking –Talking through method with process expert and control room operators, inspecting technical documents are used for collecting required information and completing Systematic Human Error Reductive and Predictive Approach (SHERPA) worksheets.   Results analyzing SHERPA worksheet indicated that, were accepting capable invertebrate errors % 71.25, % 26.75 undesirable errors, % 2 accepting capable(with change) errors, % 0 accepting capable errors, and after correction action forecast Level risk to this arrangement, accepting capable invertebrate errors % 0, % 4.35 undesirable errors , % 58.55 accepting capable(with change) errors, % 37.1 accepting capable errors .   ConclusionFinally this result is comprehension that this method in different industries especially in chemical industries is enforceable and useful for human errors identification that may lead to accident and adventures

USEFUL FIELD OF VIEW AND RISK OF ACCIDENT IN SIMULATED CAR DRIVING

This study investigated the relationship between Useful Field of View and simulator-driving performance measures. Ninety professional drivers, aged 22-65 years from several government organizations voluntarily participated at this study. Useful Field of View was measured by a computerized task was developed at the present study. The participants then performed a driving simulator task and experienced a scenario that could lead to an accident. Reaction time and speed were measured and recorded by simulator and general driving performance and collision events were recorded by examiner. The reduction of Useful Field of View based on subject’s error score on Useful Field of View subtests between young and old group statistically was analyzed. Correlation analyses used to examine the relationship among the Useful Field of View as an independent variable and driving performance measures as a dependent variables. A univariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the extent to which reduction of Useful Field of View predicts risk of accident in simulated car driving. There was a significant and negative correlation between Useful Field of View and simulator performance, on the divided peripheral subtest (Correlation Coefficient=-0.28). Student’s t-tests revealed significant differences in peripheral scores of Useful Field of View subtests between accident involved and non-involved groups. The result of logistic regression indicated that 40% reduction of Useful Field of View, regardless of age, increased risk of accident involvement. Useful Field of View could be used to predict driving performance and risk of accident. The obtained result can help to identify a high risk driver which is useful to licensing authorities

Determining Changes in Electromyography Indices when Measuring Maximum Acceptable Weight of Lift in Iranian Male Students

Background: In spite of the increasing degree of automation in industry, manual material handling (MMH) is still performed in many occupational settings. The aim of the current study was to determine the maximum acceptable weight of lift using psychophysical and electromyography indices. Methods: This experimental study was conducted among 15 male students recruited from Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Each participant performed 18 different lifting tasks which involved three lifting frequencies, three lifting heights and two box sizes. Each set of experiments was conducted during the 20 min work period using free-style lifting technique and subjective as well as objective assessment methodologies. SPSS version 18 software was used for descriptive and analytical analyses by Friedman, Wilcoxon and Spearman correlation techniques. Results: The results demonstrated that muscle activity increased with increasing frequency, height of lift and box size (P<0.05). Meanwhile, MAWLs obtained in this study are lower than those in Snook table (P<0.05). In this study, the level of muscle activity in percent MVC in relation to the erector spine muscles in L3 and T9 regions as well as left and right abdominal external oblique muscles were at 38.89%, 27.78%, 11.11% and 5.55% in terms of muscle activity is more than 70% MVC, respectively. The results of Wilcoxon test revealed that for both small and large boxes under all conditions, significant differences were detected between the beginning and end of the test values for MPF of erector spine in L3 and T9 regions, and left and right abdominal external oblique muscles (P<0.05). The results of Spearman correlation test showed that there was a significant relation between the MAWL, RMS and MPF of the muscles in all test conditions (P<0.05). Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it was concluded if muscle activity is more than 70% of MVC, the values of Snook tables should be revisited. Furthermore, the biomechanical perspective should receive special attention in determining the standards for MM

The relationship between quality of work life and turnover intention of primary health care nurses in Saudi Arabia

Background Quality of work life (QWL) has been found to influence the commitment of health professionals including nurses. However, reliable information on the QWL and turnover intention of primary health care (PHC) nurses is limited. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between QWL and turnover intention of PHC nurses in Saudi Arabia. Methods A cross-sectional survey was used in this study. Data were collected using Brooks’ survey of Quality of Nursing Work life (QNWL), the Anticipated Turnover Scale and demographic data questions. A total of 508 PHC nurses in the Jazan region, Saudi Arabia completed the questionnaire (RR = 87%). Descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, General Linear Model (GLM) univariate analysis, standard multiple regression (SMR), and hierarchical multiple regression (HMR) were applied for analysis using SPSS v17 for Windows. Results Findings suggested that the respondents were dissatisfied with their work life, with almost 40% indicating a turnover intention from their current PHC centres. Turnover intention was significantly related to QWL. Using SMR, 26% of the variance in turnover intention was explained by the QWL, p < 0.001, with R² = .263. Further analysis using HMR found that the total variance explained by the model as a whole (demographics and QWL) was 32.1%, p < 0.001. QWL explained an additional 19% of the variance in turnover intention, after controlling for demographic variables. Conclusions Creating and maintaining a healthy work life for PHC nurses is very important to improve their work satisfaction, reduce turnover, enhance productivity and improve nursing care outcomes