Search results

The purpose of this paper is to present an approach for measuring the ability of oil and gas production plants to utilize shutdowns opportunistically for maintenance.

Key performance indicators have been developed from case studies with two offshore oil and gas installations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The key performance indicators measure the quality of the work preparations and the ability to utilize shutdowns opportunistically. Shutdowns may provide opportunities for execution of maintenance, but it is hardly possible to undertake any maintenance work requiring shutdown if the organization is not well prepared and the work is not well planned.

The results from testing of the indicators on two oil and gas installations shows that several of the indicators are relevant for determining the quality of preparations, whereas more effort needs to be put into gathering data applicable for monitoring the actual utilization of the shutdowns.

Production losses, due to turnarounds and unforeseen shutdowns in oil and gas operations, are significant, and the improvement potential is large. The indicators may assist maintenance managers in planning and improving the plant's utilization of shutdowns and may contribute to substantial cost savings.

The approach in the paper adds important knowledge on how to actually measure the quality of maintenance work planning and execution.

Turnaround maintenance (TAM) is a planned stoppage of production for conducting a comprehensive maintenance of equipment or plant with the purpose of improving plant availability and performance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate trends in the operation and management of TAM, as reported in the literature, and identify gaps, in the context of a system approach that views a plant as part of a network of a supply chain.

This literature review is based on over 80 subject-relevant papers and uses content analysis. The literature subjects are classified into several managerial areas that include organization, planning, scope and risk analysis, execution, performance measurement and learning. The gap in the literature is identified in light of the proposed system view for TAM.

The system view of TAM opens new opportunities for new research areas for improving the operation and management of TAM. These areas include optimizing TAM scheduling and developing methods for managing risks along the entire business supply chain. In addition, new approaches for collaboration, sharing knowledge, best practices and expertise within the supply chain become necessary for effective TAM planning and control.

This paper reviews the literature and provides a new classification of TAM. It adopts the system view for TAM that has brought new insights in the operation and management of TAM. New trends for research in the area of TAM are identified.

This paper aims to investigate the major causes of the nuclear power plant (NPP) disasters since 1950, elucidates the commonalities between them and recommends strategies to minimize the risk of NPP disasters.

This paper analyzes facts from five case studies: Chernobyl disaster, USSR 1986; Fukushima Daiichi disaster, Japan 2011; Three Mile Island incident, USA 1979; Chalk River Accident, Canada 1952; and SL-1 Accident, USA 1961. A qualitative approach is adopted to compare and contrast the major reasons that led to the accidents, and consequent social and technological impacts of the disasters on environment, society, economy and nuclear industry are analyzed.

Although each of the nuclear accidents is unique in terms of its occurrence and impacts, this research study found some common causes behind the accidents. Faulty system design, equipment failure, inadequate safety and warning systems, violation of safety regulations, lack of training of the nuclear operators and ignorance from the operators and regulators side were found to be the major common causes behind the accidents.

This paper recommends some of the nuclear disaster risk reduction strategies in terms of “lessons learned from the past accidents”. The findings of the research paper would serve as an information tool for the nuclear professionals for informed decision-making and planning for proper preventive measures well in advance so that the mistakes which led to the occurrence of accidents in the past are not repeated in the future.

Hospitality and tourism researchers are yet to provide evidence of actual crisis management amongst small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially from a resource-scarce destination perspective. By adapting a crisis management framework, the authors elected to fill this gap by exploring small and medium-sized hospitality and tourism operators' (SMHTOs) personal experiences of managing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Ghana. The study uncovers their crisis-coping strategies as well as immediate- and long-term post-recovery strategies.

Using a qualitative lens, informed by phenomenology as well as theoretical saturation, data were collected from 20 owner-managers (OMs) and non-owner managers (NOMs) of accommodation, restaurants, travel and tour (T&T) agencies and souvenir shop operators via a combination of telephone and socially distanced face-to-face interviews as well as participant observation. Data were thematically analysed involving both deductive and inductive coding techniques. Data validity and reliability were confirmed using “member check” and inter-rater/coder reliability statistic in SPSS, respectively.

Impacts of the pandemic on businesses included shutdowns, booking cancellations, revenue drops, lay-offs and defaults in the payment of pension contributions and taxes. The pandemic greatly impacted the accommodation, T&T and souvenir shop operators compared to food and beverage (F&B) operators due to the temporary closure of Ghana's borders and major attractions. The study identified six phases in SMHTOs’ crisis management process: awareness, combating the spread of COVID-19, coping mechanisms, short-term/immediate and long-term recovery measures and lessons learned. Besides, state institutions and personal beliefs influenced the coping and recovery actions used by SMHTOs.

It is critical for governments and industry management institutions to consider the capabilities and specific actions taken by SMHTOs during a crisis such as COVID-19 in the efforts to support their crisis preparedness and response strategies. Furthermore, SME operators in the industry must see insurance uptake as one important measure that could help them cope with the losses instigated by the impact of a crisis and possibly speed up their recovery.

The study extends the general crisis management framework by including additional phases of crisis management and the specific activities carried out by SMHTOs in managing the COVID-19 crisis. This makes this study one of the first studies in Africa that examined crisis-coping and post-recovery strategies amongst small and medium-sized hospitality and tourism firms.

The purpose of this study is to measure the willingness of general education schools (governmental and private) in the Mecca region to deal with the threat of earthquakes through the identification of the preparedness of school buildings, the differences in the willingness of schools, and examine the relationship between the exposure to previous crises and readiness for future crises.

The authors used a survey method to explore and determine the readiness range of schools by distributing a questionnaire to school principals. The questionnaire measures the readiness range of the institutions to counter earthquake threat through six main fields which were developed based on Federal Emergency Management Agency Resources (www.fema.gov) and were used in developing an earthquake consequences model (Al Momani), namely: previous emergencies measures, previous earthquake experience measures, earthquake mitigation measures, earthquake preparedness measures, earthquake response measures and earthquake recovery measures.

It is apparent that schools are not prepared to deal with future earthquakes regardless of their types (public vs private) and levels (primary, elementary, secondary) which require establishing a department for disaster and crisis management within the public administration of Education headed by a specialist in disasters and crises management to make sure that current school campus, under construction campus, or leased buildings be prepared to deal with disasters and crises as they occur in non‐hazardous locations, compatible with building codes, and equipped with safety means. It is important to prepare a public emergency plan for disasters and crises and to train school administrators and teachers to prepare contingency plans for disaster management in school. Finally, there is a need to prepare disasters awareness programs benefiting from public and private media, internet, and workshops through utilizing experiences of other developed countries in disasters and crises management especially for schools.

This research could be used to augment the need of developing education system preparedness in Jeddah Province through implementing effective mitigation, preparedness, and response, as well as recovery options.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic created heavy pressure on firms, by increasing the challenges and disruptions that they have to deal with on being sustainable. For this purpose, it is aimed to reveal the role of the smart circular supply chain (SCSC) and its enablers towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for post-pandemic preparedness.

Total interpretive structural modelling and Matrice d'Impacts Croises Multipication Applique' a un Classement (MICMAC) have been applied to analyse the SCSC enablers which are supported by the natural-based resource view in Turkey's food industry. In this context, industry experts working in the food supply chain (meat sector) and academics came together to interpret the result and discuss the enablers that the supply chain experienced during the pandemic for creating a realistic framework for post-pandemic preparedness.

The results of this study show that “governmental support” and “top management involvement” are the enablers that have the most driving power on other enablers, however, none of them depend on any other enablers.

The identification of the impact and role of enablers in achieving SDGs by combining smart and circular capabilities in the supply chain for the post-pandemic.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical model to decide between cash-based and in-kind distributions during emergency responses considering the needs of beneficiaries and market conditions. To allow the switch between modalities, a preparedness framework for humanitarian organizations (HOs) is provided.

A mathematical model is proposed to help humanitarian responders make quantitative decisions on the type of programs to implement in emergency responses. The model was applied to a field response by an international HO during the COVID-19 emergency in Colombia.

Cash-based and in-kind distributions are not mutually exclusive response modalities during emergencies, and the real needs of beneficiaries and market effects should be included in the modality selection decision to improve program effectiveness.

The research is focused on short-term immediate response to emergencies; the proposed model assumes favorable market conditions and limits the aid options to direct in-kind and multipurpose cash assistance, excluding other types of cash transfers.

The research outlines practical preconditions to operationalize switching between programs during an emergency. The study provides evidence that HOs should consider dynamics decision tools to select aid modalities and evaluate their response depending on market conditions.

Considering aid modality as a dynamic decision and including the needs from beneficiaries in the choice can have profound impact in the dignifying of humanitarian response to emergencies.

The quantitative model to decide between aid modalities is a novel approach to include beneficiaries' needs and market dynamics into humanitarian supply chain research. The preparedness framework closes the gap between the emergency preparedness literature and the operational constraints that organizations face for fast program implementation.