Within the last fifty years the performance requirements for technical objects and systems were supplemented with: customer expectations (quality), abilities to prevent the loss of the object properties in operation time (reliability and maintainability), protection against the effects of undesirable events (safety and security) and the ability to restore performance (resilience). The need to adapt the operation of complex systems in such an uncertain and volatile environment has caused the necessity to formulate new and well established achievements associated with modeling, testing and evaluation of these properties. The concept of a complex system applies not only to the technical ones but also the infrastructure of major importance for social life such as transportation and logistics systems, buildings, power systems, water distribution systems or health services. Safety and Reliability: Methodology and Applications contains the proceedings of the 24th European Safety and Reliability Conference (ESREL 2014, Wroclaw, Poland, 14-18 September 2014), and discusses theories and methods and their applications in the areas of risk, safety and reliability. The abstracts book (408 pages) + full paper CD-ROM (2496 pages) will be of interest to researchers and practitioners, academics and engineers working in academic, industrial and governmental sectors.

Some 70,000 hazardous materials are in various workplaces across the country...regulated by the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard not only for chemical manufacturers and distributors, but soon, for all other U.S. manufacturersa "and many others as well. This guide provides a step-by-step understanding of the standard. With this book you should be able to plan, organize and operate your company's Hazard Communication Program...to protect your employees (and your company) as required by OSHA. This handbook is especially intended for use by industrial hygienists, safety directors, safety engineers, occupational health departments, managers, environmental engineers, legal staff, and consultants. Hazard Communication and OSHA Requirements explains carefully in non-legalistic terms just what will be required, and when. But even more important, it explains in detail, with examples where appropriate.

In Occupational Risk Control, Derek Viner brings together the historical and theoretical aspects of his subject into a coherent whole and then connects them with the needs both of practitioners and educators. The historical background, from early societies through the industrial revolution and into the early 20th Century is discussed as a means of understanding the individual and community prejudices and presumptions that underly society and that impede our effective control of risk. The author then brings together and develops the practical application of three hitherto disparate strands of scientific understanding of risk: energy damage, risk philosophy and engineering risk analysis. He also draws attention to the fact that the geological and botanical sciences can contribute much to our understanding of how to set about classifying (and hence better understanding) the phenomenon of damage and loss. To this mix, is added the contribution of law to our understanding of moral obligations for the control of risk and that of statistics to our understanding of the management of uncertainty. Viner argues that amongst the observable consequences of the absence of a holistic and science-based approach is ineffective legislation with limited vision as well as the prevalence of belief-based commercial risk and safety management systems of unproven value. The net effect of this absence, he suggests, is to be seen in the periodic occurrence of disasters of the magnitude of the Gulf of Mexico explosion and oil spill.

When faced with a 'human error' problem, you may be tempted to ask 'Why didn't these people watch out better?' Or, 'How can I get my people more engaged in safety?' You might think you can solve your safety problems by telling your people to be more careful, by reprimanding the miscreants, by issuing a new rule or procedure and demanding compliance. These are all expressions of 'The Bad Apple Theory' where you believe your system is basically safe if it were not for those few unreliable people in it. Building on its successful predecessors, the third edition of The Field Guide to Understanding 'Human Error' will help you understand a new way of dealing with a perceived 'human error' problem in your organization. It will help you trace how your organization juggles inherent trade-offs between safety and other pressures and expectations, suggesting that you are not the custodian of an already safe system. It will encourage you to start looking more closely at the performance that others may still call 'human error', allowing you to discover how your people create safety through practice, at all levels of your organization, mostly successfully, under the pressure of resource constraints and multiple conflicting goals. The Field Guide to Understanding 'Human Error' will help you understand how to move beyond 'human error'; how to understand accidents; how to do better investigations; how to understand and improve your safety work. You will be invited to think creatively and differently about the safety issues you and your organization face. In each, you will find possibilities for a new language, for different concepts, and for new leverage points to influence your own thinking and practice, as well as that of your colleagues and organization. If you are faced with a 'human error' problem, abandon the fallacy of a quick fix. Read this book.

This collection covers essential concepts in the management of coastal disasters, outlining several field surveys of such events that have taken place in the 21st century, including the Indian Ocean Tsunami, the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, and the storm surges generated by Hurricane Katrina, Cyclone Nargis, and Typhoon Haiyan. Measurements of flood heights, distributions of structural destruction, and the testimonies of residents are reported, with the results being analysed and compared with past events and numerical simulations to clarify and reconstruct the reality of these disasters. The book covers the state-of-the-art understanding of disaster mechanisms and the most advanced tools for the simulation of future events: * Uniquely explains how to use disaster surveys along with simulations to mitigate risk * Combines pure scientific studies with practical research and proposes procedures for effective coastal disaster mitigation Coastal Disaster Surveys and Assessment for Risk Mitigation is ideal for students in the field of disaster risk management, as well as engineers who deal with issues related to tsunamis, storm surges, high wave attack and coastal erosion.

When faced with a 'human error' problem, you may be tempted to ask 'Why didn't these people watch out better?' Or, 'How can I get my people more engaged in safety?' You might think you can solve your safety problems by telling your people to be more careful, by reprimanding the miscreants, by issuing a new rule or procedure and demanding compliance. These are all expressions of 'The Bad Apple Theory' where you believe your system is basically safe if it were not for those few unreliable people in it. Building on its successful predecessors, the third edition of The Field Guide to Understanding 'Human Error' will help you understand a new way of dealing with a perceived 'human error' problem in your organization. It will help you trace how your organization juggles inherent trade-offs between safety and other pressures and expectations, suggesting that you are not the custodian of an already safe system. It will encourage you to start looking more closely at the performance that others may still call 'human error', allowing you to discover how your people create safety through practice, at all levels of your organization, mostly successfully, under the pressure of resource constraints and multiple conflicting goals. The Field Guide to Understanding 'Human Error' will help you understand how to move beyond 'human error'; how to understand accidents; how to do better investigations; how to understand and improve your safety work. You will be invited to think creatively and differently about the safety issues you and your organization face. In each, you will find possibilities for a new language, for different concepts, and for new leverage points to influence your own thinking and practice, as well as that of your colleagues and organization. If you are faced with a 'human error' problem, abandon the fallacy of a quick fix. Read this book.

The second edition of the Health and Safety Pocket Book has been fully revised and updated to include all the relevant legal, HSE ACoP/Guidance and practice references. It remains a handy reference tool for practising health and safety professionals, auditors, managers, HR personnel, employee representatives and anyone with health and safety responsibilities. The book is an essential compilation of guidance, data and checklists covering a wide range of health and safety topics, supported by extensive key glossary terms. The A-Z arrangement within the chapters and extensive cross-referencing make it easy to navigate, while its size and scope make it the ideal volume for ready reference and site visits. The book will also be useful for health and safety courses at all levels. Key features include: The principal health and safety legal requirements for every industry Safety management elements and systems Checklists for major hazards affecting all industries A wealth of charts, hard-to-remember details and data A glossary of the main concepts of health and safety A list of important health and safety courses, publications and organisations Revision tips for key examination themes.

Written by Adrian Belcham, author of Manual of Environmental Management, this is the essential guide to prepare you for the IEMA Associate Membership Exam and NEBOSH Diploma in Environmental Management.

Through the inclusion of revision tips, exam guidance and self-test questions, this guide will consolidate your understanding of environmental management and help you to prepare for your exam. It provides full coverage for both the IEMA and NEBOSH exams and includes coloured sections to help you to identify the content relevant for each qualification.

• Small, handy size ideal for on the move
• Illustrations and tables to improve understanding
• Written by expert tutor of IEMA and NEBOSH environmental qualifications.

This textbook is directly aligned to the NEBOSH National Certificate in Fire Safety and Risk Management, with each element of the syllabus explained in detail. Each chapter guides the student through the syllabus with references to legal frameworks and guidelines. Images, tables, case studies and key information are highlighted within the text to make learning more productive. Covering fire behaviour, safety, management, risk assessment, prevention and the changes to HSG65, the book can also be used as a daily reference by professionals. Written by experts in the field of fire safety Complete coverage that goes beyond the syllabus content making it a useful resource after study Illustrated throughout to enhance understanding

This book discriminates and emphasizes approaches that are likely to be productive in terms of understanding the causation and mechanisms of occupational lung diseases. It benefits research academicians in the field of lung diseases, and government and public health authorities.

Work has never been as safe as it seems today. Safety has also never been as bureaucratized as it is today. Over the past two decades, the number of safety rules and statutes has exploded, and organizations themselves are creating ever more internal compliance requirements. At the same time, progress on safety has slowed to a crawl. Many incident- and injury rates have flatlined. Worse, excellent safety performance on low-consequence events tends to increase the risk of fatalities and disasters. Bureaucracy and compliance now seem less about managing the safety of the workers we are responsible for, and more about managing the liability of the people they work for. We make workers do a lot that does nothing to improve their success locally. Paradoxically, such tightening of safety bureaucracy robs us of exactly the source of human insight, creativity and resilience that can tell us how success is actually created, and where the next accident may well happen. It is time for Safety Anarchists: people who trust people more than process, who rely on horizontally coordinating experiences and innovations, who push back against petty rules and coercive compliance, and who help recover the dignity and expertise of human work.

The contributions in Creating Healthy Workplaces include a number of interventions that relate the efforts undertaken by researchers and organizations together, to reduce stress and improve the mental and physical health of employees through positive change initiatives. Those working in the field of occupational stress have received criticism that too much emphasis has been placed on negative issues and that positive initiatives have been largely ignored. With the growing influence of the positive movement, this book explores the implications of using a positive approach as opposed to a stress management one and compares the types of interventions they each require. From a positive perspective, there is a need to understand the characteristics of healthy, thriving, and flourishing people and organizations. This book explores the implications of using a positive approach as opposed to a stress management one. Some of the interventions described in Creating Healthy Workplaces target individuals and their attitudes and behaviours, others target workplace relationships, work units and the wider organization. Outcomes such as reduced occurrences of smoking, obesity, depression, elevated blood pressure, accidents and workplace injuries, presenteeism, absence and staff turnover are reported. The factors associated with the success of these interventions are identified and advice is given as to how interested individuals and organizations might proceed to develop worksite interventions on their own.

A Winner of the Educational Award by the World Safety Organization Contractor safety management is often seen as nothing more than a subset of general safety management in that no special consideration needs to be given to understanding the difficulties of the contract environment. This leaves contractors endlessly juggling competing and sometimes contradictory demands made by the principal in the name of safety and health. Instead of managing the work in accordance with the contract and the agreed health and safety management plan, contractors find themselves having to cope with moveable, ever-changing expectations about the way that health and safety is supposed to be managed. Contractor Safety Management explores how the contracting-principal relationship can influence safety outcomes and how a principal's role in "overseeing" the safety performance of its contractors is different from managing safety in its own organization. It brings together perspectives from different disciplines including legal, health and safety management, operational, and contract and procurement management. The editor and chapter authors examine real-life cases, the issues that they present, and the way that safety management was handled. By sharing lessons across disciplines, the book identifies critical issues in contractor safety management and raises awareness of its complexity and importance. It provides wide-ranging and comprehensive insight into the concerns confronting organizations, managers, and safety managers in contracting relationships. Offering guidance on how critical issues might be addressed, the book uses real-life cases to draw conclusions from successes and failures that can guide future contracting strategies for effectively controlling health and safety risks in a contracting environment.

Time-Dependent Reliability Theory and Its Applications introduces the theory of time-dependent reliability and presents methods to determine the reliability of structures over the lifespan of their services. The book contains state-of-the-art solutions to first passage probability derived from the theory of stochastic processes with different types of probability distribution functions, including Gaussian and non-Gaussian distributions and stationary and non-stationary processes. In addition, it provides various methods to determine the probability of failure over time, considering different failure modes and a methodology to predict the service life of structures. Sections also cover the applications of time-dependent reliability to prediction of service life and development of risk cost-optimized maintenance strategy for existing structures. This new book is for those who wants to know how to predict the service life of a structure (buildings, bridges, aircraft structures, etc.) and how to develop a risk-cost, optimized maintenance strategy for these structures.

Accident investigation and risk assessment have for decades focused on the human factor, particularly 'human error'. Countless books and papers have been written about how to identify, classify, eliminate, prevent and compensate for it. This bias towards the study of performance failures, leads to a neglect of normal or 'error-free' performance and the assumption that as failures and successes have different origins there is little to be gained from studying them together. Erik Hollnagel believes this assumption is false and that safety cannot be attained only by eliminating risks and failures. The ETTO Principle looks at the common trait of people at work to adjust what they do to match the conditions - to what has happened, to what happens, and to what may happen. It proposes that this efficiency-thoroughness trade-off (ETTO) - usually sacrificing thoroughness for efficiency - is normal. While in some cases the adjustments may lead to adverse outcomes, these are due to the very same processes that produce successes, rather than to errors and malfunctions. The ETTO Principle removes the need for specialised theories and models of failure and 'human error' and offers a viable basis for effective and just approaches to both reactive and proactive safety management.

Originally published in 1979, this book represents an effort to bring together the two disciplines at the core of psycholinguistics, psychology and linguistics. It discusses a broad variety of theoretical approaches to psycholinguistics as well as covering a wide range of topics. At the time the book had four goals: to discuss many of the important contemporary issues in psycholinguistics; to explore the different views on major theoretical controversies; to provide an analysis of background literature as a framework in which to evaluate the issues and controversies; and to describe interesting high-quality research currently being done by the authors and some of their colleagues. Today it can be read and enjoyed in its historical context, with many of the chapters still relevant in psycholinguistic research today.

This second edition of Human Factors Methods: A Practical Guide for Engineering and Design now presents 107 design and evaluation methods as well as numerous refinements to those that featured in the original. The book has been carefully designed to act as an ergonomics methods manual, aiding both students and practitioners. The eleven sections represent the different categories of ergonomics methods and techniques that can be used in the evaluation and design process. Offering a 'how-to' text on a substantial range of ergonomics methods that can be used in the design and evaluation of products and systems, it is a comprehensive point of reference for all these methods. An overview of the methods is presented in chapter one, with a methods matrix showing which can be used in conjunction. The following chapters detail the methods showing how to apply them in practice. Flowcharts, procedures and examples cover the requirements of a diverse audience and varied applications of the methods. The final chapter, a new addition, illustrates the EAST method, which integrates several well-known methods into a teamwork analysis approach.

The second edition of a bestseller, Safety Differently: Human Factors for a New Era is a complete update of Ten Questions About Human Error: A New View of Human Factors and System Safety. Today, the unrelenting pace of technology change and growth of complexity calls for a different kind of safety thinking. Automation and new technologies have resulted in new roles, decisions, and vulnerabilities whilst practitioners are also faced with new levels of complexity, adaptation, and constraints. It is becoming increasingly apparent that conventional approaches to safety and human factors are not equipped to cope with these challenges and that a new era in safety is necessary. In addition to new material covering changes in the field during the past decade, the book takes a new approach to discussing safety. The previous edition looked critically at the answers human factors would typically provide and compared/contrasted them with current research and insights at that time. The edition explains how to turn safety from a bureaucratic accountability back into an ethical responsibility for those who do our dangerous work, and how to embrace the human factor not as a problem to control, but as a solution to harness. See What's in the New Edition: New approach reflects changes in the field Updated coverage of system safety and technology changes Latest human factors/ergonomics research applicable to safety Organizations, companies, and industries are faced with new demands and pressures resulting from the dynamics and nature of the modern marketplace and from the development and introduction of new technologies. This new era calls for a different kind of safety thinking, a thinking that sees people as the source of diversity, insight, creativity, and wisdom about safety, not as the source of risk that undermines an otherwise safe system. It calls for a kind of thinking that is quicker to trust people and mistrust bureaucracy, and that is more committed to actually preventing harm than to looking good. This book takes a forward-looking and assertively progressive view that prepares you to resolve current safety issues in any field.

Presents detailed focus on what a leader can do, regardless of the level of the leader. Covers remedies for barriers to enabling characteristics to shine. Discusses both quantitative and qualitative measures for the characteristics. Explores the why, what and how of learnable traits and characteristics of individuals-as-leaders.

For the past decade, the rapid development of the ergonomics disciplines as well as the fast growing economy in the Asian region have been attracting the attention of the international ergonomics community. Although East Asia has been changing from a traditional agriculture-oriented society into a modern industry-oriented society and its economy covers a great deal of shared interests across the continents, yet the ergonomics related knowledge and practice are still in its infancy. Because of the geographic proximity and a strong historical, cultural and technology affinity, it is vitally important to maintain good communication and cooperation among the individuals as well as among the ergonomics organizations in the region. This symposium, EAEFS, has provided supporting ergonomics organizations and interested participants a forum to exchange ideas, build friendship, foster greater understanding of and among these individuals and organizations, and develop perspectives concerning ergonomics issues in this region and beyond.

This volume contains the selected papers presented at the Second East Asian Ergonomics Federation Symposium (EAEFS), held from October 4 - 8, 2011 at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. The Second EAEFS, endorsed by the International Ergonomics Association (IEA), aims to consolidate the established ties within East Asia and to extend the cooperation among ergonomics researchers, professionals, and practitioners in the region to other regions in Asia and the world. Senior scholars and leaders from Asian countries have shared their wisdom, experience, insights, and visions on past, current and future ergonomics efforts in Asia.

The papers contributing to this book address the latest research and application in accordance with the theme of the symposium, "Ergonomics in Asia: Development, Opportunities and Challenges," and cover the following areas: Virtual Environments & Design, Aging & Work Ability, Usability & Interface, Biomechanics & Anthropometry, and Occupational Safety & Health.

Bio-Based Flame Retardants for Polymeric Materials provides a comprehensive overview of flame retardants derived directly and indirectly from plant sources, drawing on cutting-edge research and covering preparation methods, testing and evaluation techniques, enhanced properties, and end applications. Chapters introduce bio-based materials in the context of additives for flame retardancy, explaining fundamentals and testing methods and analyzing synthetic approaches and the potential advantages of pursuing a bio-based approach. This is followed by detailed coverage of bio-based retardants, with each chapter covering a specific source and guiding the reader systematically through preparation techniques, evaluation methods, properties and applications. Throughout the book, the latest progress in the field is critically reviewed, and there is a continual emphasis on novel approaches to achieve enhanced properties and performant materials. This is an essential guide for all those with an interest in innovative, sustainable flame retardant additives for polymeric materials, including researchers, scientists, advanced students, and more.

Includes Case Studies from a Range of Event Sites Introduction to Crowd Science examines the growing rate of crowd-related accidents and incidents around the world. Using tools, methods, and worked examples gleaned from over 20 years of experience, this text provides an understanding of crowd safety. It establishes how crowd accidents and incidents (specifically mass fatalities in crowded spaces) can occur. The author explores the underlying causes and implements techniques for crowd risk analysis and crowd safety engineering that can help minimize and even eliminate occurrences altogether. Understand Overall Crowd Dynamics and Levels of Complex Structure The book outlines a simple modeling approach to crowd risk analysis and crowds safety in places of public assembly. With consideration for major events, and large-scale urban environments, the material focuses on the practical elements of developing the crowd risk analysis and crowd safety aspects of an event plan. It outlines a range of modeling techniques, including line diagrams that represent crowd flow, calculations of the speed at which a space can fill, and the time it takes for that space to reach critical and crush density. It also determines what to consider during the event planning and approval (licensing/permitting) phases of the event process. Introduction to Crowd Science addresses key questions and presents a systematic approach to managing crowd risks in complex sites. It provides an understanding of the complexity of a site, that helps you plan for crowds in public places.

Medical error as defined in Epidemic of Medical Errors and Hospital-Acquired Infections: Systemic and Social Causes encompasses many categories including, but not limited to, medical error, hospital-acquired infections, medication errors, deaths from misdiagnosis, deaths from infectious diarrhea in nursing homes, surgical and post-operative complications, lethal blood clots in veins, and excessive radiation from CT scans. When the deaths from these categories are counted they become the leading cause of fatality to Americans, outpacing cancer and heart disease. Add the numbers of fatalities (mortality) to the millions each year who are injured (morbidity) and whose quality of life is forever effected, and an epidemic of harm is defined. The book describes the many systemic and social causes of medical error and iatrogenic events, all of which are cited in the peer-review science, that have a direct effect on the epidemic of patient injury, but are rarely or never considered. These systemic causes include factory medicine (for-profit medicine), staffing ratios in clinical and non-clinical departments, shift work, healthcare working conditions, lack of accountability, legal issues that conflict with patient safety issues, bullying and hierarchical relationships, training of healthcare workers that never rises to the level of risk, and injury to healthcare workers. The premise of the book is that if the systemic or social causes are not considered or changed, then medical error will continue to be an epidemic and no substantial impact in the numbers will be realized. An expert with 30 years of experience as a health and safety officer in healthcare and as an activist for community health and safety issues, editor and author William Charney explores the issues surrounding medical errors and examines the science behind possible solutions. He presents an efficient dialogue that produces a more systemic exploration and targeting of the causes of medical error and drives an exacting message: we are dealing with an epidemic of harm, and unless systemic issues are solved, little will change to subdue the epidemic. Information on the June 2012 Conference on the Epidemic of Medical Errors & Hospital Acquired Infections in the US and Canada: the Systemic Causes can be found on the CRC Press Issuu page.

This book provides an overview of, and practical guidance on, the range of human factors (HF) methods that can be used for the purposes of accident analysis and investigation in complex sociotechnical systems. Human Factors Methods and Accident Analysis begins with an overview of different accident causation models and an introduction to the concepts of accident analysis and investigation. It then presents a discussion focussing on the importance of, and difficulties associated with, collecting appropriate data for accident analysis purposes. Following this, a range of HF-based accident analysis methods are described, as well as step-by-step guidance on how to apply them. To demonstrate how the different methods are applied, and what the outputs are, the book presents a series of case study applications across a range of safety critical domains. It concludes with a chapter focussing on the data challenges faced when collecting, coding and analysing accident data, along with future directions in the area. Human Factors Methods and Accident Analysis is the first book to offer a practical guide for investigators, practitioners and researchers wishing to apply accident analysis methods. It is also unique in presenting a series of novel applications of accident analysis methods, including HF methods not previously used for these purposes (e.g. EAST, critical path analysis), as well as applications of methods in new domains.

Examining the relationship between employment and rates of pay, this book discusses how the choice between different forms of business organization may affect this relationship. For the purposes of the discussion a simple model of an imperfectly competitive economy is constructed and then examined in operation with different organizational forms for the competing firms. Chapters cover the following: The Captialist Wage Economy; The Non-Discriminating Labour Co-operative; The Capitalist Sharing Economy; Discriminating Labour-Capital Partnerships.