1,720,978 research outputs found
Analysis and management of spatial interferences: a valuable tool for operation efficiency and safety
Full text linkBesides negative impact on production efficiency, a poor management of interferential risks involving workers particularly in temporary or mobile construction site activities can give rise to occupational injuries and exposure to agents harmful to health. This statement is also underlined by the European Directive 92/57 concerning the construction site activities, that in fact widely stress the importance of an accurate coordination of the on-site operations. On the other hand, while technical requirements and specifications are available for the management of common hazard factors, the management of interferences certainly requires a specific analysis. The paper deals with the currently used techniques for the organization and management of industrial and construction site activities, and discusses an appropriate approach special for the identification and management of interferential risks
Firedamp Explosion during Tunneling Operations: Suggestions for a Prevention Through Design Approach from Case Histories
No full textThe effective management of Safety and Health conditions at workplace and pollutant emissions out of tunnel portals is a concerning problem in tunnel driving operations, and the Prevention through Design -PtDapproach seems to be the only suitable way to correctly manage such a situation, even more where firedamp, asbestos, radioactive minerals, etc. should be expected, due to geological reasons. Due to the dramatic consequences of a firedamp explosion, the Safety and Health conditions in tunneling operations in possibly gassy formations should be based during the different construction phases on an effective Prevention through Design approach and a careful Risk management. Both PtD and Risk Management should in these situations cover also the Human Error possibility in a System Approach according to the Reason's suggestions. Some helpful advice for proactive actions in both stages (design and underground operations management) can be drawn from a throughout analysis of case histories. The paper discussed in detail the results of a study developed to provide effective guidelines for a suitable approach to the firedamp problems in tunneling operations, based on the analysis of case historie
Representativeness of the measurements results: a key issue for Occupational Risk Assessment and Management. Discussion on air dispersed particulates
Full text linkOccupational Safety and Health - OS&H issues and the processing of the measurement results on Hazard Factors are strictly linked: measuring campaigns allow defining and preserving the Safety design parameters (e.g. the work environment pollution evaluation and control), measurement results lay at the very base of Quality controls. Furthermore, the protection of Safety and Health of workers requires the definition of exposure models based on the quantification of Hazard Factors.
The workers’ exposure models in particular should be based on:
1. the identification of the exposed workers (only apparently an easy task in the modern industrial and construction scenarios);
2. the analysis of the exposure way, frequency and duration;
3. measuring processes aimed to effectively characterize, with the necessary detail, the Hazard Factors (physical, chemical, biological) which can compromise the workers Safety and Health;
4. statistical criteria suitable to ensure the representativeness of the achieved measurement results, essential to make comparisons with the limit values suggested by Safety regulations, standards and good practices.
The first two steps represent the target of the measuring campaigns design; the Risk analyst should devote special care on the preliminary examination of the activity, to obtain all the information necessary to define a measuring program suitable to provide -in each special situation under exam- correct data on the workers exposure to the investigated Hazard Factors.
The two following steps are pivotal to ensure that the measurement results, thanks to their quality, detail and statistical representativeness, can be correctly used as reliable input data for the assessment of the actual workers’ exposure scenario, and its comparison with the limit values suggested by Safety regulations, standards and good practices, effectively supporting the decision making process on control design if necessary.
A practical example clarifies, with calculations based on actual airborne particulate pollution data, the criteria above discussed
Information, formation and training for the maintenance operations: the lesson learned from fatal accidents
Full text linkThe list of possible machinery / equipment-related injuries is as long as it is worrying; they represent a non-negligible part of the total accidents in most industrial sectors, in terms of both numbers and severity, in normal conditions and during the maintenance operations.
Lack of maintenance or inadequate maintenance can lead to dangerous situations, accidents and health problems; but, at the same time, maintenance itself is a high-risk activity due to special hazards resulting from the particular nature of the work. Moreover, the workers involved are more likely than other employees directly exposed to the risks, since direct contact between the worker and the machinery to be maintained cannot be substantially reduced
The measuring processes and equipment setup in system quality and occupational safety & health risk assessment
Full text linkThe result of any analytical process depends on input variables, which could have a critical impact on the result of the measurement; only a preventive management of such parameters can reduce the influence on the result of the measuring process. The “Quality Assurance activities of Analytical Results” covers all the activities aimed to grant the representativeness of the analytical result of the measured parameter, the equipment management and preliminary activities necessary to confirm the equipment adequacy to the intended use. The paper focuses on the setup and management of the measurement equipment, and, in the second part, on its pivotal importance for Occupational Safety & Health (OS&H) Risk Assessment. The main goal is the definition of a rigorous approach, to grant both maximum “data accuracy”, and economic sustainability. The suitability of the equipment should result from a metrological confirmation process, involving the identification, with a frequency of monitoring adequate to every special situation, of Key Performance Indicators of the equipment operative conditions effectiveness and efficiency, taken into account the OS&H criticalities and the overall management costs
Occupational S&H in the case of large public facilities: A specially designed and well tested approach
Full text linkOccupational Safety and Health (OS&H) appears to be a particularly complex topic in the case of large public facilities open to the patrons (Ministries, public offices) due to a number of quite typical characteristics that, consequently in many cases, can make inadequate the usual approaches to the OS&H problems suitable to the industrial activities or secondary educational institutions. The paper discusses the results of a multidisciplinary work -made exhaustive thanks to the presence of highly qualified experts in the staff- carried out in cooperation by Italian Universities for the definition of a Guideline for the Occupational Risk Assessment and Management of employees and students in the Italian Universities. The Guideline was specially conceived to substantially improve the continuous effort towards the OS&H management in a sound quality approach, and provide for each person the actual residual exposure to Hazard Factors, resulting from a consistent and undoubtedly updated System and Job analysis. The Guideline, since the very first step of the study, stresses the paramount importance of a detailed and unambiguous definition of the Line and Staff Organization upon which to base the approach composed by 3 basic hierarchical phases. The Guideline was carefully tested both in terms of general approach and in some sub-applications to special critical topics. The importance of the presence, among the Universities teaching and research staff, of resources qualified on OS&H aspects should not be underestimated. Their deep knowledge of the local situation can be, in fact, a precious help both in the Occupational Risk Assessment and Management for complex problems, and in organization of Information, Formation and Training -IFT
SVILUPPO E RISULTATI DI UNA METODICA COMPUTER ASSISTITA PER L'ANALISI APPROFONDITA DI EVENTI INFORTUNISTICI LAVORO CORRELATI
Full text linkIn Italia si deve tutt'ora registrare un elevato numero di eventi mortali lavoro correlati, per la stragrande maggioranza in contesti non ascrivibili a scenari di incidente rilevante, e raramente associabili a guasto di impianti ed attrezzature correttamente scelti, usati e mantenuti. Un approccio efficace di prevenzione non può che fare riferimento all'analisi dei dati storici, ad integrazione della quale occorre peraltro disporre di una metodica di analisi della catena di eventi casuali dell'incidente formalizzata e priva di deviazioni valutative soggettive. Il modello originale di cui si riferisce si fonda su casi caratterizzati da informazioni approfondite acquisite in ambito di accertamenti tecnici a fini di giustizia. Esso si propone come valido riferimento nelle valutazioni sino alle cause prime dell'evento, lungo tutta la catena incidentale, e consente la revisione critica della valutazione e gestione proattiva dei rischi
Computer-aided Advanced Technique for the Analysis of Occupational Accidents
No full textEven if since many years a remarkable effort has been implemented in Italy to reduce the number of occupational fatalities, the same is still impressive, at least in terms of frequency rate; moreover, the recent crisis and large-scale job reductions made the data analysis somehow more complex. Stated that Risk Management is the final goal of Occupational Risk Analysis, the available national databases are a precious instrument for prevention. Still, some common misuses of the statistical data can lead to biased forecasting of expectable accident rates, and they consequently produce important distortions in the prevention action. This is commonly due to one or more of the following causes: 1 - reduced statistical basis (at regional scale, without consideration of the local industrial situation), 2 - poor analysis of boundary data (e.g. Economic and occupational situation), 3 - wrong range of time for the aggregation of the accident data, causing overestimation of catastrophic exceptional events. Some databases (e.g. US DOL OSHA) importantly evolved from the traditional approach (based on the Heinrich model), to new models including information on the violations of the safety standards, which play a pivotal role for an exhaustive Risk Assessment (in absence of this datum only Attention Index can be inferred). In any case, a quite useful input for an effective occupational risk prevention is an unbiased knowledge of the embedded causes of the work-related accidents. Such causes (namely Root Causes) lay at the very base of the events chain leading to the accident: a limited comprehension of Root Causes can involve slapdash remedies, occasional audits and inspections clearly inadequate to highlight and control the criticalities of complex activities. Since some years a research team working at Politecnico di Torino, Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, developed, on the basis of an extensive investigation on the different approaches to the work-related accident analysis, the original CCCP (Computer-aided Cause Consequence for Prevention) technique. CCCP was specifically conceived for the in-depth examination of single accidents and is not affected by the problems of data availability and quality, even if the national/foreign statistical data are still an eligible reference. Moreover, a two-way approach makes possible to analyze both the specific occurred accident, and to verify the expectable effectiveness of preventive measures in a large number of situations. The integrate software environment Infortuni sul lavoro (Work related accidents) - Root Causes translates the theoretical model into a useful computer guide. All the occurrences are strictly codified with the aim of making the analysis objective and free from ambiguity. Cccp leads to focus on the intermediate and root causes of work-related accidents minimizing the influence of subjective judgment or hasty evaluations, and the too easily reached conclusion of incorrect behavior of the victim. The research group has been testing CCCP on a number of case histories of fatal accidents in different ATECO sectors analyzed within the framework of Prosecutor Investigation gaining real interesting results, in an analysis environment complete, user friendly and, thanks to its system approach, immune from errors due to subjective judgments or hasty evaluations. Some case histories on occurred fatal accidents will be provided and discussed in the presentation. The research work is funded by INAIL (the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work), within the project "Centre for Studies on Safety Culture and Prevention" established in 201
Occupational Safety and Health in highway maintenance yards: An approach suitable to face special criticalities
No full textOn the request of Prosecutor Office, the Authors carried out a research work to define the extent of the Occupational Safety and Health - OS&H criticalities affecting the highway maintenance yards, in normal and special scenarios where hazardous freights are involved. The high number of work related accidents in maintenance/improvement yards, often characterized by dramatic Severity Rates, requires a special Risk Assessment and Management. The paper summarizes the results of a research leading to identify the main parameters directly or indirectly conditioning the design and safety of the highway maintenance yards. We developed a schematization of yard typologies and contexts, upon which a thorough Risk Assessment and Management becomes possible. Moreover, an original Accident Analysis Technique provided precious support to the study, filling the gaps of information on the Standards violations of some accident databases. Finally, the paper discusses some innovative Safety Control measures for different highway scenarios
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