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1 – 10 of over 88000This study aims to improve the reliability of emergency safety barriers by using the subjective safety analysis based on evidential reasoning theory in order to develop on a…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to improve the reliability of emergency safety barriers by using the subjective safety analysis based on evidential reasoning theory in order to develop on a framework for optimizing the reliability of emergency safety barriers.
Design/methodology/approach
The emergency event tree analysis is combined with an interval type-2 fuzzy-set and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. In order to the quantitative data is not available, this study based on interval type2 fuzzy set theory, trapezoidal fuzzy numbers describe the expert's imprecise uncertainty about the fuzzy failure probability of emergency safety barriers related to the liquefied petroleum gas storage prevent. Fuzzy fault tree analysis and fuzzy ordered weighted average aggregation are used to address uncertainties in emergency safety barrier reliability assessment. In addition, a critical analysis and some corrective actions are suggested to identify weak points in emergency safety barriers. Therefore, a framework decisions are proposed to optimize and improve safety barrier reliability. Decision-making in this framework uses evidential reasoning theory to identify corrective actions that can optimize reliability based on subjective safety analysis.
Findings
A real case study of a liquefied petroleum gas storage in Algeria is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. The results show that the proposed methodology provides the possibility to evaluate the values of the fuzzy failure probability of emergency safety barriers. In addition, the fuzzy failure probabilities using the fuzzy type-2 AHP method are the most reliable and accurate. As a result, the improved fault tree analysis can estimate uncertain expert opinion weights, identify and evaluate failure probability values for critical basic event. Therefore, suggestions for corrective measures to reduce the failure probability of the fire-fighting system are provided. The obtained results show that of the ten proposed corrective actions, the corrective action “use of periodic maintenance tests” prioritizes reliability, optimization and improvement of safety procedures.
Research limitations/implications
This study helps to determine the safest and most reliable corrective measures to improve the reliability of safety barriers. In addition, it also helps to protect people inside and outside the company from all kinds of major industrial accidents. Among the limitations of this study is that the cost of corrective actions is not taken into account.
Originality/value
Our contribution is to propose an integrated approach that uses interval type-2 fuzzy sets and AHP method and emergency event tree analysis to handle uncertainty in the failure probability assessment of emergency safety barriers. In addition, the integration of fault tree analysis and fuzzy ordered averaging aggregation helps to improve the reliability of the fire-fighting system and optimize the corrective actions that can improve the safety practices in liquefied petroleum gas storage tanks.
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In this paper I utilize ethnographic data from the construction industry to demonstrate that occupational safety must be interpreted as having two different forms: the official…
Abstract
In this paper I utilize ethnographic data from the construction industry to demonstrate that occupational safety must be interpreted as having two different forms: the official policies and the actual operating procedures. This distinction is significant because it highlights the difference between rules that are stated – and may even be formally trained – and the rules that actually govern the workplace. It is this latter set of rules, a complex set of decision-making practices balancing the speed of work against acceptable loss, that actually shapes the worker’s individual decision-making. By illuminating the distinctions between these two forms of training, and the structures in which they occur, I challenge a common assumption of much safety-related research in construction, that worker behaviors and worker cultures are the most common causes of policy violations (e.g. Dedobbeleer & German, 1987; Hoyos, 1995; Hsiao & Simeonov, 2001; Lewis, 1999; Lingard, 2002; Personick, 1990; Ringen, Seegal & Englund, 1995; Rivara & Thompson, 2000; Smith, 1993). I argue here that what is often construed as “worker culture” is actually a structurally determined response to the unwritten rules of the construction industry. This is meaningful because the assumption that workers “choose” to forgo occupational safety protections as a cultural choice (generally construed as an enactment of working-class masculinity) is then used to assume or prove workers’ consent to the larger capitalist exchange of wages for work (e.g. Burawoy, 1979; Marx, 1867, 1977). By drawing on the media coverage of the workplace fatality, I highlight the costs and legal ramifications of such a dual system.
Narendrasinh Jesangbhai Parmar and Ajith Tom James
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for the safety performance measurement of belt conveyor systems.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for the safety performance measurement of belt conveyor systems.
Design/methodology/approach
A structural methodology of graph theory and matrix approach is used for developing a framework for safety performance measurement of belt conveyor systems.
Findings
The development of a framework for safety performance measurement of belt conveyor systems is essential for ensuring plant safety. For this, safety performance factors, including design and operating contextual factors of belt conveyor systems, are identified. The factors along with their interrelations are modeled using digraph. An equivalent matrix of the digraph provided safety performance function (SPF) of belt conveyor systems, leading to the development of a safety performance index (SPI).
Practical implications
The developed framework will enable the designers for evaluating and comparing alternative designs of conveyor systems from the safety viewpoint. The plant operators can make inferences from the SPI to identify the weak contextual factors in the plant and develop action plans for its mitigation.
Originality/value
The paper is novel and employs graph theory and matrix approach for safety performance measurement. The methodology helps in the quantitative evaluation of the safety performance of belt conveyor systems.
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Ahmed Yousry Akal and Amr Metwally El-Kholy
This work affords a practical checklist that specifies the civil engineering trades-related hazards and offers a safety indicator to identify the safety level of a construction…
Abstract
Purpose
This work affords a practical checklist that specifies the civil engineering trades-related hazards and offers a safety indicator to identify the safety level of a construction project concerning the hazards of the civil engineering trades.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology depends on reviewing the archival works, visiting the construction sites, utilizing the direct observation and preliminary hazard analysis methods and conducting semistructured interviews to pinpoint and validate the checklist of the civil engineering trades-related hazards. Additionally, a questionnaire-based survey with the rank sum weight technique has been employed to assemble and analyze the data required to build the safety indicator.
Findings
Relying upon the used methodology, 70 hazards under the trades of general environment, earth, demolition, excavation, concrete, dewatering, waterproofing insulation and scaffolding have been pinpointed and validated. This is in addition to the safety level indicator of the civil engineering trades-related hazards (SLICETH), which indicates high viability during its validation in five national and international projects.
Originality/value
The value of this work lies in its ability to tackle the gap existing in the safety management knowledge regarding the notion of the hazards of the civil engineering trades and their influences on the safety performance of the construction projects. As a result, it offers a complete knowledge to the academics and the practitioners for confronting the negative impacts of the civil engineering trades-related hazards. Consequently, it helps in enhancing the safety performance level in the sites of the construction projects.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the ethicality, morality and partiality of at-home ethnography (AHE) through an account of organisational wrongdoing at a chemical plant.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the ethicality, morality and partiality of at-home ethnography (AHE) through an account of organisational wrongdoing at a chemical plant.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper utilises an AHE example from an 18-month period at a chemical plant. Following the account, the paper reflexively explores ethical, moral and partial issues.
Findings
A well-crafted and reflexive, insider account of organisational wrongdoing enables the demonstration of the issues of ethics, morals and partiality faced by an ethnographer in the field. Whilst this is not an autoethnographic account, it is able to draw upon some contemporary thinking from autoethnography to inform reflexivity.
Originality/value
The account provides unique insight into an organizational world, the inner workings of a chemical site, which is often inaccessible to others.
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Wentao Zhan, Minghui Jiang and Xueping Wang
Omnichannel sales have provided new impetus for the development of catering merchants. The authors thus focus on how catering merchants should manage capacities at the ordering…
Abstract
Purpose
Omnichannel sales have provided new impetus for the development of catering merchants. The authors thus focus on how catering merchants should manage capacities at the ordering, production and delivery stages to meet customers’ needs in different channels under third-party platform delivery and merchant self-delivery. This is of great significance for the development of the omnichannel catering industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper formulates the capacity decisions of omnichannel catering merchants under the third-party platform delivery and merchant self-delivery mode. The authors mainly use queuing theory to analyze the queuing behavior of online and offline customers, and the impact of waiting time on customer shopping behavior. In addition, the authors also characterize the merchant’s capacity by the rate in queuing model.
Findings
The authors find that capacities at ordering stage and food production stage are composed of base capacities and safety capacities, but the delivery capacities only have the latter. And in the self-delivery mode, merchants can develop higher safety capacities by charging delivery fees. The authors prove that regardless of the delivery mode, omnichannel sales can bring higher profits to merchants by integrating demand.
Originality/value
The authors focus on analyzing the capacity management of omnichannel catering merchants at the ordering, production and delivery stages. And the authors also add the delivery process into the omnichannel for analysis, so as to solve the problem of capacity decision-making under different delivery modes. The management of delivery capacity and its impact on other stages’ capacities are not covered in other literature studies, which is one of the main innovations of this paper.
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Xiangchun Li, Yuzhen Long, Chunli Yang, Yinqing Wang, Mingxiu Xing and Ying Jiang
Effective safety supervision plays a crucial role in ensuring safe production within coal mines. Conventional coal mine safety supervision (CMSS) in China has suffered from the…
Abstract
Purpose
Effective safety supervision plays a crucial role in ensuring safe production within coal mines. Conventional coal mine safety supervision (CMSS) in China has suffered from the problems of power-seeking, excessive resource consumption and poor timeliness. This paper aims to explore the Internet+ CMSS mode being emerged in China.
Design/methodology/approach
The evolution of CMSS systems underwent comprehensive scrutiny through a blend of qualitative and quantitative approaches. First, evolutionary game theory was used to analyze the necessity of incorporating Internet+ technology. Second, a system dynamics model of Internet+ CMSS was crafted, encompassing a system flow diagram and equations for various variables. The model was subsequently simulated by taking the W coal mine in Shanxi Province as a representative case study.
Findings
It was revealed that the expected safety profit from the Internet+ mode is 296.03% more than that from the conventional mode. The precise dissemination of law enforcement information was identified as a pivotal approach through which the Internet+ platform served as a conduit to foster synergistic collaboration among diverse elements within the system.
Practical implications
The outcomes of this study not only raise awareness about the potential of Internet+ technology in safety supervision but also establish a vital theoretical foundation for enhancing the efficacy of the Internet+ CMSS mode. The significance of these findings extends to fostering the wholesome and sustainable progress of the coal mining industry.
Originality/value
This research stands out as one of the limited studies that delve into the influence of Internet+ technology on CMSS. Building upon the pivotal approach identified, to the best of authors’ knowledge, a novel “multi-blind” working mechanism for Internet+ CMSS is introduced for the first time.
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The new Consumer Protection Act, 1987 has three main objectives:
Cameron A. MacKenzie and Aruna Apte
The purpose of this paper is to quantify elements that make fresh produce supply chains (FPSCs) vulnerable to disruptions and to quantify the benefits of different…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to quantify elements that make fresh produce supply chains (FPSCs) vulnerable to disruptions and to quantify the benefits of different disruption-management strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper develops a mathematical model of a disruption in a FPSC and analyzes the relationships among variables.
Findings
The model determines the optimal safety stock as a function of the perishability of the produce, the length of time it takes to find the contamination, the level of demand during the disruption, and the amount of produce that can be rerouted. Applying the model to the 2006 E. coli spinach contamination reveals that the drop in customer demand for fresh spinach plays the largest role in Dole losing sales.
Research limitations/implications
The model includes several parameters that may be difficult to estimate. Future models can incorporate uncertainty that is inherent in supply chain disruptions.
Practical implications
The model in this paper can help a supply chain (SC) manager explore the trade-offs of different disruption-management strategies. For example, a SC manager can determine the value of holding additional safety stock vs trying to improve traceability in the SC.
Originality/value
This paper quantifies and models insights delivered in the qualitative analyses of FPSC disruptions. The theoretical contributions include an analysis of the interaction among safety stock, levels of demand, communication, and traceability parameters in order to help SC managers evaluate different strategies to mitigate the effects of contaminated produce.
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Sandra G. Leggat, Cathy Balding and Melanie Bish
There is evidence that patient safety has not improved commensurate with the global attention and resources dedicated to achieving it. The authors explored the perspectives of…
Abstract
Purpose
There is evidence that patient safety has not improved commensurate with the global attention and resources dedicated to achieving it. The authors explored the perspectives of hospital leaders on the challenges of leading safe care.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports the findings of a three-year longitudinal study of eight Australian hospitals. A representative sample of hospital leaders, comprising board members, senior and middle managers and clinical leaders, participated in focus groups twice a year from 2015 to 2017.
Findings
Although the participating hospitals had safety I systems, the leaders consistently reported that they relied predominantly on their competent well-meaning staff to ensure patient safety, more of a safety II perspective. This trust was based on perceptions of the patient safety actions of staff, rather than actual knowledge about staff abilities or behaviours. The findings of this study suggest this hegemonic relational trust was a defence mechanism for leaders in complex adaptive systems (CASs) unable to influence care delivery at the front line and explores potential contributing factors to these perceptions.
Practical implications
In CASs, leaders have limited control over the bedside care processes and so have little alternative but to trust in “good staff providing good care” as a strategy for safe care. However, trust, coupled with a predominantly safety 1 approach is not achieving harm reduction. The findings of the study suggest that the beliefs the leaders held about the role their staff play in assuring safe care contribute to the lack of progress in patient safety. The authors recommend three evidence-based leadership activities to transition to the proactive safety II approach to pursuing safe care.
Originality/value
This is the first longitudinal study to provide the perspectives of leaders on the provision of quality and safety in their hospitals. A large sample of board members, managers and clinical leaders provides extensive data on their perspectives on quality and safety.
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