An Orderly Untangling Model against Arching Effect in Emergency Evacuation Based on Equilibrium Partition of Crowd

To untangle the arching effect of a crowd as much as possible in emergency evacuations, we employ a theoretical model of equilibrium partition of crowd batch. Based on the shortest time arrangement of evacuation, the crowd is divided into appropriate batches according to the occupied time of evacuation channel in order to determine the occupant number of every evacuation passageway. The number of each batch crowd is calculated under the condition that the time of entering the evacuation passageway is equal to the time of crossing over the evacuation passageway. Subsequently, the shortest processing time (SPT) rule establishes the evacuation order of each batch. Taking a canteen of China Three Gorges University as a background, we obtain the waiting time from the first person to the last one entering the evacuation channel in every batch by simulation. This research utilizes data from simulations to observe an untangling process against the arching effect based on the SPT rule. More specifically, evacuation time only lasts for 180.1 s in order and is 1.6 s longer than that in disorder, but the arching effect disappears. Policy recommendations are offered to improve the evacuation scheme in disaster operations

Influence of management behavior on the skilled labor migrations’ unsafe behavior

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to summarize safety management of manager into two aspects (design behavior and management behavior) and to figure out the different impact these two behaviors might have. Design/methodology/approach: In order to verify the reasonableness of the assumptions, expert investigation was used by the means of semi-structured interview. And the Structural Equation Modeling?SEM? is estimated using 850 individual questionnaire responses from five companies in the form of Likert-type scale. What’s more, taking the measurement error causing by common method biases into consideration, Univariate Testing was taken to measure the deviation effect. Findings: The results obtained with this description showed that certain measures should be adopt by managers to develop purposively the safety knowledge and safety motivation of the skilled labor migrations (SLMs). Research limitations/implications: Unsafe behavior, which has aroused extensive concern in recent years, is the subject of many safety management studies. However, there have not been any studies on the influence of management behavior on SLMs unsafe behavior. Practical implications: As the unsafe behavior of SLMs is the most important accident reason, this paper may help reduce the incidence of accidents. Originality/value: The conclusion of this study will certainly provide the beneficial reference views on the management behavior.Peer Reviewe

Comprehensive assessment model on accident situations of the construction industry in China: a macro-level perspective

As one of the most high-risk sections, the construction industry has traditionally been the research hotspot. Yet little attention has been paid to macro-level accident situations of the entire industry. Therefore, this study develops a comprehensive assessment model on accident situations of Chinese building industry, aiming at assisting the government to better understand and improve accident situations of the entire industry. Based on China conditions, six indicators related to accident situations are firstly selected to establish an indicator system; then structure entropy weight method is proposed to determine indicator weighs, with dynamic classification method to explore the characteristics of accident situations. The results demonstrate that the provinces with poor accident situations account for 53% of all provinces, and they are mainly distributed in the central and western regions of China where there exist the underdeveloped economy. Meanwhile, some provinces experience poor accident situations that could be out-of-control, especially for Hebei. Provinces in the southeastern and northeastern regions of China perform relatively well, but they still have much improvement room for accident situations. The findings validate the rationality of the developed model and can provide valuable insights of safety regulation strategies for the government from the macro-level perspective. First published online 17 December 201

Influence of Safety Experience and Environmental Conditions on Site Hazard Identification Performance

Improving the hazard identification ability of workers is an important way to reduce safety accidents at construction sites. Although previous studies have succeeded in improving hazard identification performance, an important gap is that they consider only two factors, the worker’s safety experience and objective environmental conditions, to analyze the impact on hazard identification performance. To fill the above gap, a visual cognitive model of hazard identification was established. Sixteen field scenes were selected to represent construction sites in each environmental condition. Eye-movement data were extracted through eye-tracking experiments, and the differences between experts’ and novices’ gazes during danger recognition in these scenes were analyzed. The results indicate the following: bright construction sites can significantly improve the correct recognition rate and information processing in hazard identification; tidy construction sites can improve the search efficiency and correct recognition rate of hazard identification; safety experience can improve workers’ correct recognition rates and information processing; and reducing distractions can effectively improve the correct identification rate of hazards. Overall, optimal site brightness needs to be further studied to improve the efficiency of hazard search and reduce the distraction effect. This study provides recommendations for the direction of safety training and safety management on site

Collaborative Governance of Tower Crane Safety in the Chinese Construction Industry: A Social Network Perspective

Tower crane safety governance is an important issue related to the sustainable development of China’s construction industry. The complex collaborative relationship among stakeholders determines the efficiency of tower crane safety governance. From the perspective of social networks, this study constructs a collaborative governance structure model of tower crane safety from four dimensions, i.e., transaction, supervision, dependency, and communication, and analyzes the structural characteristics of tower crane safety collaborative governance and the mutual relationship among stakeholders. The results show that the tower crane safety governance process has a strong collaborative effect, but that collaboration in terms of supervision and communication among stakeholders is currently poor. The tower crane property owner occupies the core position, so their decisions have a great impact on tower crane safety. The power of the government is too large, and the power of supervision is too small, which affects the collaboration enthusiasm of other stakeholders, thus reducing the overall collaboration efficiency. The findings provide theoretical support for tower crane safety management in the construction industry in China. The social network perspective presented in this study can be applied to clarify relationships among stakeholders in other construction safety governance fields

Collaborative Governance of Tower Crane Safety in the Chinese Construction Industry: A Social Network Perspective

Tower crane safety governance is an important issue related to the sustainable development of China’s construction industry. The complex collaborative relationship among stakeholders determines the efficiency of tower crane safety governance. From the perspective of social networks, this study constructs a collaborative governance structure model of tower crane safety from four dimensions, i.e., transaction, supervision, dependency, and communication, and analyzes the structural characteristics of tower crane safety collaborative governance and the mutual relationship among stakeholders. The results show that the tower crane safety governance process has a strong collaborative effect, but that collaboration in terms of supervision and communication among stakeholders is currently poor. The tower crane property owner occupies the core position, so their decisions have a great impact on tower crane safety. The power of the government is too large, and the power of supervision is too small, which affects the collaboration enthusiasm of other stakeholders, thus reducing the overall collaboration efficiency. The findings provide theoretical support for tower crane safety management in the construction industry in China. The social network perspective presented in this study can be applied to clarify relationships among stakeholders in other construction safety governance fields

Regional Sustainable Performance of Construction Industry in China from the Perspective of Input and Output: Considering Occupational Safety

Improving the poor sustainability of the construction industry requires long-term actions, especially in developing countries such as China. Regional sustainability assessment plays an indispensable role, contributing to a better understanding of the state of development in various regions. However, few studies have focused on the overall sustainability of regional construction industries, and occupational safety is generally ignored. To fill these gaps, an input-output system is established to evaluate regional sustainable performance of the construction industry (SPCI), which is made to include occupational safety by introducing the number of fatalities as an undesirable output. An evaluation model is constructed by combining window analysis with a super-slack-based measure data envelopment analysis (windows-super-SBM DEA). The SPCI in China’s 30 provinces from 2010 to 2017 is dynamically evaluated, and regional differences are further analyzed, with eight regions being defined. The results indicate that (1) the overall SPCI in China has fluctuated smoothly around a slight downward trend. By comparison, the integration of occupational safety refreshes the relative performance of most provinces; (2) dividing China into eight regions presents more detailed information because of those regions’ smaller coverage areas, and more attention should be given to the northeast, northwest, Middle Yellow River region and east coast because of the decrease in the SPCI; and (3) vigorously developing of the construction industry does not necessarily result in a large number of byproducts if the relevant policy is sufficiently strong. The findings of this study are conducive to rationally allocating resources and formulating targeted policies

Influence of management behavior on the skilled labor migrations’ unsafe behavior

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to summarize safety management of manager into two aspects (design behavior and management behavior) and to figure out the different impact these two behaviors might have. Design/methodology/approach: In order to verify the reasonableness of the assumptions, expert investigation was used by the means of semi-structured interview. And the Structural Equation Modeling?SEM? is estimated using 850 individual questionnaire responses from five companies in the form of Likert-type scale. What’s more, taking the measurement error causing by common method biases into consideration, Univariate Testing was taken to measure the deviation effect. Findings: The results obtained with this description showed that certain measures should be adopt by managers to develop purposively the safety knowledge and safety motivation of the skilled labor migrations (SLMs). Research limitations/implications: Unsafe behavior, which has aroused extensive concern in recent years, is the subject of many safety management studies. However, there have not been any studies on the influence of management behavior on SLMs unsafe behavior. Practical implications: As the unsafe behavior of SLMs is the most important accident reason, this paper may help reduce the incidence of accidents. Originality/value: The conclusion of this study will certainly provide the beneficial reference views on the management behavior.Peer Reviewe