An Analysis of Reported Dangerous Incidents, Exposures, and Near Misses amongst Army Soldiers

Occupational health and safety incidents occurring in the military context are of great concern to personnel and commanders. Incidents such as “dangerous incidents”, “exposures”, and “near misses” (as distinct from injuries, illnesses, and fatalities) indicate serious health and safety risks faced by military personnel, even if they do not cause immediate harm. These risks may give rise to harm in the future, if not adequately addressed, and in some cases the incidents may cause latent harm. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the rates and patterns of incidents of these types reported by full time (ARA) and part time (ARES) Australian Army personnel. A retrospective cohort study was performed using self-reported incident data from the Workplace Health, Safety, Compensation and Reporting (WHSCAR) database over a two-year period. Data were analysed descriptively. Of 3791 such incidents, 3636 (96 percent) occurred in ARA and 155 (4 percent) in ARES personnel, somewhat consistent with the proportions of total army person-years served in each (ARA 93 percent; ARES 7 percent). In ARA, 84 percent of these incident types were exposures, 14 percent near misses, and 2 percent dangerous incidents. In ARES, 55 percent of incidents were exposures, 38 percent near misses, and 7 percent dangerous incidents. Soldiers at the rank of ‘private’ experienced the highest rates of these incident types, in both ARA and ARES. Driving gave rise to more near misses than any other activity, in both populations. Exposures to chemicals and sounds were more common in the ARA than ARES. The ARES reported higher proportions of vehicle near misses and multiple mechanism dangerous incidents than the ARA. The findings of this study can usefully inform development of risk mitigation strategies for dangerous incidents, exposures, and near misses in army personnel

Published incidents and their proportions of human error

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose - The information security field experiences a continuous stream of information security incidents and breaches, which are publicised by the media, public bodies and regulators. Despite the need for information security practices being recognised and in existence for some time the underlying general information security affecting tasks and causes of these incidents and breaches are not consistently understood, particularly with regard to human error. Methodology - This paper analyses recent published incidents and breaches to establish the proportions of human error, and where possible subsequently utilises the HEART human reliability analysis technique, which is established within the safety field. Findings - This analysis provides an understanding of the proportions of incidents and breaches that relate to human error as well as the common types of tasks that result in these incidents and breaches through adoption of methods applied within the safety field. Originality - This research provides original contribution to knowledge through the analysis of recent public sector information security incidents and breaches in order to understand the proportions that relate to human erro

Descriptive Analysis of Assaults in Domestic Violence Incidents Reported to Alaska State Troopers: 2004

This project examined the characteristics of assaults in domestic violence incidents reported to the Alaska State Troopers. Assaults are only one type of criminal offense defined in Alaska statutes as a crime involving domestic violence. This report is not inclusive of all crimes involving domestic violence reported to AST, because it only includes assaults. In addition, this report is not inclusive of assaults in domestic violence incidents that were reported to municipal police departments across Alaska. Only assaults in domestic violence incidents reported to AST are described in this report. The term assault will be used throughout this report to define assault cases that are crimes involving domestic violence incidents; this includes felony and misdemeanor assaults. The sample utilized for this analysis included all assaults in domestic violence incidents reported to AST in 2004. It included information from 1,281 reports on 1,803 assault charges, 1,356 suspects, 1,523 victims, and 1,283 witnesses. This descriptive analysis documents the characteristics of these reports, charges, suspects, victims, witnesses, and legal resolutions.Index of Tables and Figures / Acknowledgements / Executive Summary / Descriptive Analysis of Assaults in Domestic Violence Incidents / Brief Overview of the State of Alaska / Brief Overview of the Alaska State Troopers / Summary of Alaska's Criminal Assault Statutes / Purpose of this Study / Methods / Report Characteristics / Suspect Characteristics / Victim Characteristics / Incident Characteristics / Witness Characteristics / Legal Resolutions / Appendix A -- Data Collection Instruments / Appendix B -- 2004 Alaska's Criminal Assault Statute

Teachers' recognition of school bullying according to background variables and type of bullying

How teachers identify and judge school bullying may affect their willingness to intervene in bullying situations and influence their strategies for doing so. This study aimed to investigate whether there were significant differences in teachers' identification of bullying incidents according to background variables (gender, teaching experience, and education level). The participants of this study were 150 primary school and middle school teachers in Taiwan, A 24-item Recognition of Bullying incidents Questionnaire (RBIQ) was used in this study to explore whether teachers can identify physical, verbal, and relational scenarios as bullying or non-bullying incidents. A mixed-model two way ANOVA was used to analyze this data. Results revealed that teachers' teaching experiences significantly interacted with behavioral types, and teachers' education levels also sigm candy interacted with behavioral types. In addition, no gender differences in the identification of bullying were observed. Overall, teachers were more likely to identifi physical bullying incidents than relational ones. The results of this study suggest that teachers should participate in training to help them identify bullying incidents, particularly when these involve relational bullying

Prevalence and consequences of patient safety incidents in general practice in the Netherlands: a retrospective medical record review study

BACKGROUND Patient safety can be at stake in both hospital and general practice settings. While severe patient safety incidents have been described, quantitative studies in large samples of patients in general practice are rare. This study aimed to assess patient safety in general practice, and to show areas where potential improvements could be implemented. METHODS We conducted a retrospective review of patient records in Dutch general practice. A random sample of 1,000 patients from 20 general practices was obtained. The number of patient safety incidents that occurred in a one-year period, their perceived underlying causes, and impact on patients' health were recorded. RESULTS We identified 211 patient safety incidents across a period of one year (95% CI: 185 until 241). A variety of types of incidents, perceived causes and consequences were found. A total of 58 patient safety incidents affected patients; seven were associated with hospital admission; none resulted in permanent disability or death. CONCLUSIONS Although this large audit of medical records in general practices identified many patient safety incidents, only a few had a major impact on patients' health. Improving patient safety in this low-risk environment poses specific challenges, given the high numbers of patients and contacts in general practice.The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) initiated the project and supported the project financially (without restrictions on the scientific work; grant number 313741)

Software Engineering Challenges for Investigating Cyber-Physical Incidents

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are characterized by the interplay between digital and physical spaces. This characteristic has extended the attack surface that could be exploited by an offender to cause harm. An increasing number of cyber-physical incidents may occur depending on the configuration of the physical and digital spaces and their interplay. Traditional investigation processes are not adequate to investigate these incidents, as they may overlook the extended attack surface resulting from such interplay, leading to relevant evidence being missed and testing flawed hypotheses explaining the incidents. The software engineering research community can contribute to addressing this problem, by deploying existing formalisms to model digital and physical spaces, and using analysis techniques to reason about their interplay and evolution. In this paper, supported by a motivating example, we describe some emerging software engineering challenges to support investigations of cyber-physical incidents. We review and critique existing research proposed to address these challenges, and sketch an initial solution based on a meta-model to represent cyber-physical incidents and a representation of the topology of digital and physical spaces that supports reasoning about their interplay

Introduction

In response to the rising tide of racial incidents on college campuses, the National Association for Ethnic Studies has elected to devote this special issue of Explorations in Ethnic Studies to this topic. Hundreds of institutions of all sizes have experienced these ugly and embarrassing incidents

Descriptive Analysis of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Incidents Closed by the Alaska State Troopers: 2008–2011 — Final Report

This report presents a descriptive analysis of sexual assault and domestic violence incidents closed by the Alaska State Troopers for the period January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2011, as part of an effort to systematically document the formal processing of sexual assault (SA), sexual abuse of a minor (SAM), and domestic violence incidents reported to law enforcement agencies in Alaska.Report prepared under Grant #2013-BJ-CX-K031 from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.Acknowledgements / Key Findings / Introduction / PART I: Sexual Assault and Sexual Abuse of a Minor Case Records / Case Record Characteristics / Suspect Characteristics / Victim Characteristics / Suspect and Victim Alcohol/Drug Use / Characteristics of Sexual Assault/Sexual Abuse of a Minor Incidents / Legal Resolutions of Sexual Assault/Sexual Abuse of a Minor Cases / PART II: Domestic Violence Case Records / Defining Domestic Violence / Sample Assessment: Domestic Violence Cases / Case Record Characteristics / Suspect Characteristics / Victim Characteristics / Suspect and Victim Alcohol/Drug Use / Characteristics of Domestic Violence Incidents / Legal Resolutions of Domestic Violence Case