Showing 85 results for Safety
M. Yousefi Aghkand , A.a. Farshad, Sh. Arghami,
Volume 3, Issue 2 (10-2006)
Abstract
Background and aims
Global -and local (Iran)- accident fact sheets show that increasing development of products, changing in technology and materials & new instruments appliances have resulted more injuries and fatalities in various industries. Job Safety Analysis (JSA) is one of the various methods to identify and evaluate the hazards.
Methods
This case study was carried out in Abadan seismic field. Data gathering and completion of the JSA worksheets were carried out through one-to-one observations, interviews, photography, video tape recording, historical data and checklists.
Results
Ten tasks, 55 steps, 155 hazards and 301 corrective and prevention actions were identified during this study to be eliminated.
Conclusion
Based on findings¡ an Emergency Response Plan and 10 safe operation procedures were developed. It is revealed that in outdoor environment, unsafe conditions are focused more in JSA.
A.a. Farshad, Y. Khosravi, Ss. Alizadeh,
Volume 3, Issue 2 (10-2006)
Abstract
Background and aims
Nowadays, organisations: trying to utilize HSE system, To establish an appropriate system in the line of maintenance and promotion of healthy work environment without any accidents, injuries, and pollution. HSE management system is a tool to control and improve the performance of health and safety and environment in all development programs of industrial and other structural organizations. This is in fact an integrated system, so that all human financial and equipment resources will support each other to provide a healthy and convenience environment with no any accident and injuries.
Methods
In this case study all components of an HSE management system is review briefly and explain the role of this system in accident reduction rate and work efficiency in an oil company in the Persian Golf.Three years activities of HSE system in this company been studied, using all reports and any related documents. Different variances as indicators had been defined with which the annual performance of the HSE system, of the company have been evaluated.
Results
The results show that there are significant improvement in health, safety and environment during the period of 2001-2003 as HSE system implemented. The rate of LTIF decreased from 0.69 in 2001 to 0.5 in 2003 or FAR decreased from 2.2 in 2001 to 0.7 in 2003, and the air pollution of SO 2 decreased from 397 T. in 2001 to 309T. in 2003.
Conclusion
This study indicated that although the number of employees, number of working hours and number of projects increased significantly during the years 2001 to 2003, but the rate of different related indicators decreased such as LTIF, TRIR, FAR and pollutants like SO 2 , Co 2 , No and CH4.
A. Ghahramani,
Volume 4, Issue 1 (4-2007)
Abstract
Background and Aims
Permit to work (PTW) system as an operational control methods, is an accepted system for control of maintenance activities hazards in chemical industries. The main objective of this study was degree of conformity analysis between existing situation of PTW system and audit criteria.
Methods
In this cross - sectional study, PTW system was audited in an oil and gas extracting industry by checklist.
Results
Major nonconformities include outdating of system legal and regulation, non existence of permit for majority of dangerous activities, unidentified training needs, incomplete identification and risk assessment of maintenance hazards before doing them, unspecified
inspection and survey frequencies during works and nonexistence of scheduled auditing for the system.
Conclusion
PTW audit results showed that there is a noticeable gap between audit criteria and audit evidences. So that the examined system had nonconformities in all of the checklist sections system, training and competency, permit, coordination and monitoring.
I. Mohamadfam,
Volume 4, Issue 1 (4-2007)
Abstract
Background and Aims
Occupational accidents are one of the main health and economic problems of developing countries including Iran. Death due to occupational accidents causes significant economic losts and hardware losses.
Methods
This research performed in Tehran province in 2002. The subjects included all of people insured which their death was due to occupational accident. The Excel software package was used for data analysis.
Results
231 fatal occupational accidents happened in Tehran over three years research. This research showed that 7552 years of life and more than 777 billion Rails has been lost because of the occurrence of occupational accidents.
Conclusion
According to current research, to decrease the occupational accidents risk,implementation of a comprehensive recording and reporting system and using of proactive safety approach is necessary.
M. Heidari, A.a. Farshad, Sh. Arghami,
Volume 4, Issue 3 (9-2007)
Abstract
Background and aims
Unsafe attitude are the offset of occurring an accident. Although conducting few studies regarding to systematic measurement on requirement and attitude in the field of safety in organization. One of the critical factors in order to make attempts to provide some programmers increasing safety behaviors is acknowledging the safety climate of working environment. In this study we are intending to evaluate the relationship between safety climate and safe behaviors and the relationship between these two variables and personal factors as well as.
Methods
Safety climate is measured by questionnaire and in order to determine the rate of safe behaviors the direct observation has been used. This survey has been conducted on 178 workers of a production line a certain industry j.e.metalic heavy industry.
Results
In trying to specify the reliability of questionnaire the internal consistency was measured. The rate of a crombach was reched to 91% to determine the structure of safety climate the factor analysis method was used. The analysis resulted a 4 factor answer which defines 60/30% of the total variance. There was a clear correlation between factors consisting the safety climate and safe behaviors.
Conclusion
In general, there was no clear correlation between the factor climate and personal factors. There was a clear correlation between safe behaviors and two personal factors, e.g. age and work experience. There was no clear correlation between safe behaviors and educational
degrees.
A. Ghahramani , J. Adl , J. Nasl Seraji ,
Volume 5, Issue 1 (4-2008)
Abstract
Background and aims
Prevention of potential accidents and safety promotion in chemical processes requires systematic safety management in them. The main objective of this study was analysis of important process equipment components failure modes and effects in H2S and CO2 isolation from extracted natural gas process.
Methods
This study was done in sweetening unit of an Iranian gas refinery. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) used for identification of process equipments failures.
Results
Totally 30 failures identified and evaluated using FMEA. P-1 blower's blade breaking and sour gas pressure control valve bearing tight moving had maximum risk Priority number (RPN), P-1 body corrosion and increasing plug lower side angle of reach DEAlevel control valve in tower - 1 were minimum calculated RPN.
Conclusion
By providing a reliable documentation system for equipment failures and incidents recording, maintaining of basic information for later safety assessments would be possible. Also, the probability of failures and effects could be minimized by conducting preventive maintenance.
I. Alimohammadi, J. Adl,
Volume 5, Issue 1 (4-2008)
Abstract
Background and aims
Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a qualitative method for determination of components' fails and study of its effects on machineries. In present study, kilns safety level of two gypsum factories examine.
Methods
Production process of gypsum and especially kilns structure studied. FMEAmethod conducted by four steps including determination of analysis insight, information gathering, making of list of kilns' components and filling up the FMEA tables. On the other hand, the effects of fails on production, how to fail, failure rates, severity of fails, and controls of fails considered. Furthermore, the cost of fails and priority of control methods studied.
Results
Crack and deformation of shoe plats had highest failure rate in two factories kilns. Some fails such as separation of bricks in kiln of second factory is less than the other one. Meanwhile, some fails including wrapping of kilns trunk, ring corrosion, and fracture of truster's shaft is only present in first kiln.
Conclusion
Present study shows that technical features and design of kilns is most important factors in decreasing of failure rates and its cost.
Y. Khosravi, A.a. Farshad , Sh. Arghami , Mh. Taghdisi , Mr. Gaohari , N. Hassanzadeh-Rangi ,
Volume 5, Issue 3 (10-2008)
Abstract
Background and aims
The HCS standard includes listing of chemicals, labeling of chemical containers, preparation of material safety data sheets, writing plan and employee training programs. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of implemented program to enhance the knowledge and safety performance level of employees.
Methods
The knowledge level and unsafe act ratio were measured using both questionnaire and behavior checklist (with safety sampling method) before and after enforcing this interface.
Results
In this study, the mean and standard deviation of the knowledge level of employees related to chemical safety before enforcing the interface was 46% and 14%. However, after enforcing the interface, mean and standard deviation was 88% and 12%. The paired-t-test result in this parameter was significant (p-value <0.0001). The mean and standard deviation of knowledge level of employees related to warning labels before to enforcing the interface was 29% and 22%. After enforcing the interface, mean and standard deviation was 80% and 16%. The paired-t-test result in this parameter was significant (p-value <0.0001). The mean and standard deviation of the knowledge level of employees related to hazard communication methods before enforcing the interface was 25% and 11%. After enforcing the interface, mean and standard deviation was 79% and 16%. The paired-t-test result in this parameter was significant (p-value <0.001).
Conclusion
The obtained result revealed that enhancement of the knowledge related to chemical safety, hazard communication methods and warning labels was significant. Statistical paired-t-test and control chart methods was used to comparison between unsafe act ratio before and after enforcing the interface. The mean and standard deviation of unsafe act ratio before implementation of HCS program was 23.6% and 5.49%. However, mean and standard deviation of unsafe act ratio after implementation of HCS program was 18.1% and 6.18%. Therefore, after implementation of HCS program unsafe act ratio decreased (5.45%) significantly (p-value <0.0001). This result implies that chemical safety performance of employees was increased.
M. Motamedzadeh, I. Mohamadfam, Y. Hamidi,
Volume 6, Issue 3 (10-2009)
Abstract
Background and Aims
Using pipelines for oil products transportation involves ranges of safety, health and environmental risks, this option however, is dominant with numerous advantages. The purpose of this study was relative risk assessment of abovementioned risk in Kermanshah-Sanandaj Oil Pipeline.
Methods
The method used in this study was Kent Muhlbauer method in which relative risk was assessed using third-party damage, corrosion, design, incorrect operations and leak impact factor.
Results
Once applying this method, collection of required data and performing needed experiments, scoring results showed 96 risk segments along the pipeline length in which lengths 100+860, 101+384 and 103+670 had relative risk scores 9.74, 9.82 and 9.91 respectively and therefore these segments were identified as focal risk points and priority for improvement actions.
Conclusion
Regarding importance of pipeline failure, inspection and regular patrol along the pipeline route, precise control of cathodic protection of pipeline and using communication technologies such as SCADA or optical fibers along the pipeline route were amongst the most
important control action suggested by the study.
M.j. Jafari, F. Kouhi, M. Movahedi, T. Allah-Yari,
Volume 6, Issue 4 (1-2010)
Abstract
Background and aims
Risk perception is a key parameter influencing the behavior of the
workers at workplace. The present work contributes to study the effect of Job Safety Analysis
(JSA) on risk perception of the high risk jobs in a refinery complex.
Methods
Five high risk jobs were identified using "Drop off" method in a refinery complex.
Risk perception was evaluated using a standard questionnaire. The risk perception of the workers
was estimated pro and post application of Job Safety Analysis. The questionnaire included
different groups of questions for clarifying the risk perception of workers from different point of
views. Same workers were asked to answer these questions before and after applying the job
safety analyses. The results were evaluated to identify whether the job safety analyses does
influence the risk perception of workers or not.
Results
The analyses of 50 jobs active in production line and technically supporting sections
showed that welding, cutting, scaffolding, insulating and piping have the highest risks
respectively. The results showed that, the application of the JSAwill significantly (PValue<0.01)
increase the worker's risk perception of hazardous agents in the workplace, the utility accidents,
human injuries, injuries at the workplace, production versus safety, accident reasons and personal
protective equipments. This effect was different among different categories of jobs, aging,
working experience and literacy rate.
Conclusion
The application of the JSA may modify the risk perception while identifying the risks.
M. Amidi Mazaher, A. Hidarnia, F. Ghofranipour,
Volume 7, Issue 3 (10-2010)
Abstract
Background and aims
The degree to which a person perceives that the outcomes of the situations they experience are under their personal control is a psychological variable known asLocus of Control (LOC). Safety LOC is the construct that specifically address the internal and
external LOC in industrial domain. Previous research suggest that safety locus of control can be assessed and used to predict safe behaviors.The main aim of this study was designing, validating, and determining the reliability of safety locus of control scale.
Methods
Four hundred workers of Isfahan Steel Company participated in this study. The reliability coefficients were calculated in two different methods: test-retest and Cronbach alpha. In order to survey validity of the scale we used three methods including face validity, content validity and construct validity.
Results
We established the content validity of the Persian translation by translating (and then back-translating) each item from the English version into the Persian version. Exploratory principal components analysis yielded a three-factor structure that explaining a considerable proportion of the total variance (63.5). Moreover the fit indices of the Confirmatory Factor
Analysis turn out were sufficient to support three-factor structure. In addition, the reliability results were acceptable, too.
Conclusion
In most studies, designing, validating and determining the reliability of scales are time consuming and costly and if there are valid and reliable scales in different topics, could avoid repetitious works in researches.The results showed that the reliability and validity of Safety Locus of Control was acceptable and respectable and is suggested as an applicable scale for
industrial psychology and safety studies in Iran.
J. Tabibi, A.a. Nasiripour, M.r. Maleki, P. Raessi, M. Mahmmoudi, L. Azimi,
Volume 7, Issue 4 (1-2011)
Abstract
Background and aims
The Medical Errors and the potential unsafe actions are always regarded as a serious trouble by the managers and health care providers. Using the employees' attitude data as a measurement criterion in the evaluation of the hospitals performance in the field of the “Safety” can improve the safety level among the personnel and patients . Survey of employees' attitude about safety and its comparison with different groups of offering health services in a teaching Hospital was the main objective of present study.
Methods
In order to specify patient safety culture in Moddares hospital, all employees including physicians, nurses, managers and employees of Para-clinic, a volume sample consisting of 212 persons were selected. Then it was used from questionnaire of safety attitude within 6 dimensions including Teamwork climate, Safety climate, perceptions of Management , Job Satisfaction, Working Conditions and Stress Recognition. At first this questionnaire was gone under assessing validity and trust. The scale of measuring, Likert was 5 grades. In order to specify difference between groups under study it was used from ANOVA test.
Results
Positive safety culture within 6 dimensions including Teamwork Climate, Safety climate, Job Satisfaction, Stress Recognition, Perception of Management , Working Conditions for doctors were 3, 4.13, 17.4, 0, 4.3, and 8.7 respectively the aforesaid Dimensions for nurses were 19, 2.6, 10.3, 7.8, 2.6 and 15.5 respectively, the aforesaid Dimensions for managers were 30.3, 6.1, 33.3, 0, 18.2 and 21.2 respectively and the aforesaid Dimensions for employees of Para-clinic Were 50, 12.5, 25, 12.5, 10 and 37.5 respectively. There was Significant difference from View Point of statistics (p<0.5) from Dimensions of Job satisfaction among managers and nurses, employees of Para-clinic and nurses this difference Were zero and 0.001. From View Point of Stress recognition among managers and employees of Para-clinic , managers and nurses, employees of Para-clinic and doctors were 0.062, 0.022 and 0.047 and from View Point of Perceptions of management the level of this difference among managers and nurses was 0.002. Meanwhile all employees under study had similar View Point toward teamwork Climate, safety Climate and Working Conditions.
Conclusion
It recommended that health services managers and employees improve patient safety culture in their organizations and in order to can use of: to show senior leadership's willingness to safety, Developing a system for event reporting and Improving teamwork.
I Alimohammadi, F Mirzaei, A.a Farshad,
Volume 9, Issue 4 (3-2013)
Abstract
Background and aims : Technique of Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis, FMECA, is a method for identifying and analyzing all potential failure modes of a system.This technique is used to prevent failures and to reduce their effects on the system . The main goal of this study was identifying and analyzing of the potential failure modes and assessing the effects of failures in the cement kiln by FMECA method.
Methods : First the boundaries of the system was determined and then system was divided into its components (systems and subsystems) at a specified level with respect to the analysis goals. Then, effects of failures on production and system were appointed and causes and severity of failures were determined. Finally The results were recorded in FMECA appropriate worksheet. Meanwhile failure priority was presented.
Results : Totally one hundered failures were identified . While the highest risk priority number was related to body warping with RPN = 270 , the lowest risk priority numbers (RPN = 15) were associated to lacking of air supply by fan and unproperly acting of the main brake of kiln. The maximum frequency of failures were found in the kiln body.
Conclusion : This study indicated that one failure may led to other defects in various components of the system itself. Therefore, the implementation of a documentation system to record defects was emphasized in order to improve the machinery safety level. Furthermore, it can be concluded that a planned preventive maintenance could effectively decrease the probability of failures and number of defects consequently.
Amir Abbas Yazdani, Ramzan Gholami,
Volume 10, Issue 4 (11-2013)
Abstract
Background and aims: Organizations of any type are increasingly looking for a desirable level of labor health and proving their current safety measures. The OHSAS standard relies on Deming cycle which is the specialist in continues system improvement and it claims that it can provide the elements of an effective safety system for organizations and the aim of this study includes reviewing the effects of establishing OHSAS in labor safety and occupation health during a case study. The Review
Method: the present case study which is cross-sectional type, tries to describe the method of supplying the necessary infrastructure for establishing an effective OHSAS standard. The indices used in this respect and the measures taken in MWPI, have a desirable extendable capabilities for other industries, as well.
Results: the research results showed that by establishing this standard, the severity (ASR) and frequency (AFR) rations for events in the case study follow a desirable trend and the indices such as maneuver period for controlling the events, improved significantly. While, the related tables and RPN calculations for all the departments have contributed a greet deal to control the potential events in an improving manner.
Conclusion: obviously providing safe environment and guaranteeing the labors' health is among the important concerns of the managers of any organization and the present research whit its findings indicate the high capability of OHSAS standard for upgrading the labor safety level of any organization. Auditing the activities show the improvement of labor's health and safety in the case study company and the facilitation of extending these measures and use them as criteria, assurances continues improvement of job environments.
Morteza Amini, Iraj Alimohammadi, Hassan Jahanihashemi, Davoud Yakke Fallah,
Volume 10, Issue 6 (5-2013)
Abstract
Background and aims: Traditionally in any event, the judgment was usually based on human error and accidents and according to the latest statistics published in Iran the main cause of accidents is unsafe acts and recklessness. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors influencing safety culture in detergents and cleansers units and its role in the incidence of accidents.
Methods : In this study aimed to determine the safety culture in detergents and cleaners companies, the standard safety culture questionnaire was extracted and its reliability was determined in selected population as 0.86. After collecting the questionnaires and investigation of the related clinical files the data analysis was performed using SPSS17 software.
Results: Data analysis showed that in both selected companies the mean age of personnel, work experience and any incidents occurring during the period of their working in the company were 34.2 ± 6.67, 10.4 ± 5.842 and 0.92 ± 1.957 respectively. While in the first company the safety culture score was180.51, in the second company it was 200.45 that is statistically significantly different (p <0.001).
Conclusions : There was a significant inverse relationship between safety culture and the prevalence of accidents in two companies.
A Ardeshir, M Amiri, M Mohajeri,
Volume 10, Issue 6 (5-2013)
Abstract
Background and aims : The construction industry is known as one of the most dangerous industries in terms of work-related mortality, injury rates and workers compensation payment. Therefore, safety risk assessment is a key step to be performed for management of major construction projects.
Method : Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a risk assessment tool that mitigates potential failures in systems, processes, designs or services and is used in a wide range of industries . The purpose of this research is to employ the combination of fuzzy logic and FMEA, FTA, AHP-DEA methods for safety risk assessment of mass housing construction .
Results: In the case study section, for the purpose of safety risk assessment, two different types of mass housing projects are investigated. According to the results, the risks of falls from height in both projects are identified as the most significant risks. Hence, risk reduction strategies and actions for prevention and mitigation of hazards are presented .
Conclusion : The ranking of the risks and the highest risks found in this research are consistent with the previous research and with the report of the Iranian Social Security Organization (ISSO). In addition, the root causes of the major risks match up with similar studies. Moreover, the validity of the research findings is approved by the risk assessment group. Hence, t his model (which is able to consider the current safety condition) can help safety professionals in construction sites to identify risks, explore their root causes and to develop accurate tools to control them.
A Naseri, M Sepehri, Sh Mahmoudi,
Volume 11, Issue 1 (4-2014)
Abstract
Background and Aims: Performance evaluation models are essential for assessment and improvement of management systems. However, they should be customized for specific requirements of their users, usually corporations. The purpose of this article is to develop a model to evaluate the performance of HSE management systems according to the corporations’ strategies.
Methods: This article is a qualitative research based on the case study method which reports the strategic performance evaluation of the HSE management system in a large corporation. Studying many existing models and standards in the field of HSE management systems, we customized a model based on the BSC framework. The model, then, has been peer-reviewed and refined through Individual Depth Interviews (IDIs) with three HSE experts and consultants of the corporation in terms of validity and applicability. According to the model and its scoring guide, the strategic performance of the corporation’s HSE management system has been evaluated by external impartial HSE auditors.
Results: The HSE management system of the organization in this case study scored 63.9 of 100 as the HSE strategic performance indicator. Based on the detailed scorecards of each indicator , the study revealed that the company had a great performance in ‘HSE processes’ layer whereas there had been some weaknesses in ‘Learning and Growth’ layer especially in “human and information capital” indicators of strategic performance.
Conclusion: The case study results show that the customized Balanced Scorecard (BSC) model developed in this research could evaluate and measure the strategic performance of HSE management systems of the case. Moreover, the model is a starting point to measure strategic effects of HSE management systems in organizations.
I Mohammadfam, Aa Shafikhani, Ar Sultanian, F Mohammadfam,
Volume 11, Issue 1 (4-2014)
Abstract
Design and Establishment of an Integrated Safety andPreventive Maintenance System for Improving Safety Indices
Background and aims: Accident analysis shows that one of the main reasons of accidents is non-integration of maintenance units with safety. Merging these two processes through an integrated system can reduce accidents, diseases, and environmental pollution. These issues can potentiallylead to the improvement of organizational performance.
Methods: Firstly, safety and maintenance indices were determined and related values were measured. I In order to promote the selected indicators, an integrated safety and preventive maintenance system were designed and implemented. Finally, after six months, values of selected indices were re-measured. The changes in values of indices were assessed using the Wilcoxon test .
Results: Our results showed that, following the intervention,the improvement of reliability, accessibility, repetition rate and events severity rate indicators was statistically significant (p-value ≤ 0.05).
Conclusion: This system predicts the types of defects, plans and designs required operation to prevent defects occurrence. As a result, it can potentially lead to safety, equipment and organizational performanceimprovement .
Keywords: Safety, Prevention, Maintenance, Integrated system
A Ardeshir, M Mohajeri, M Amiri,
Volume 11, Issue 2 (6-2014)
Abstract
Background and aims : The construction industry is known as one of the most dangerous industries according to itsunique nature . With the rapid developmentof construction inour country, thesafety problemsatconstruction siteshave becomeaserious problem . Therefore,paying attention tosafety,identifying its effective indicators and projects’ safetyevaluation is known as an essential issue for improvingsafety performanceof construction projects .
Method: Regarding thefactors influencing sitesafetywhich have fuzzyand uncertainnature , grey fuzzy analysis has been used in evaluating model.Greytheory which is one of the multi-criteria decision-making methods is usedto solve problems with discrete, vague andincompletedata . Also Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to determine weight of each index . Inthree different constructionprojects which are analyzed as case studies , the indicators affecting construction safety are identifiedand the site safetysetting is studied.
Results: According to theresults,enoughequipment and preventive actions index obtained the highestweight( 0.307) andthe leastweight was for proper signage(0.018 ). Then, using grey fuzzy method , the currentsafety setting in three sites is evaluated and ranked . The safety setting of project 1 wasmoreappropriate.
Conclusion : Comparing the results with the past research, experimental observations and feedback from risk assessment group demonstrate that this method is reliable and useful therefore, it is recommendedthat safetymanagersuse thismethod and also use factorsidentified in thisstudy for safety performanceassessmentand reducingconstruction projects accidents.
B Mortazavi, S Daneshvar, S Atr Kar Roshan,
Volume 11, Issue 2 (6-2014)
Abstract
Background and a ims: Subway system including infrastructure systems in the transportation industry can potentially exposed to fire, flood, earthquake and similar events and could create catastrophic losses to society. Therefore, this study aims to assess the risk of fire in Tehran subway stations (line 1).
Methods: Inperforming this research, after the identifying the fire hazard resources in subway stations through observing, interviewing techniques and reviewing the documents, using fault tree analysis the causes of electrical fires in rectifier substations in line 1 of Tehran metro, was determined.Furthermore, with quantitative fault tree analysis, the probability of the fire risk was calculated per year.
Results: Our findings indicate that, main causes of electrical fires in this post are including signs and devices, improper maintenance, improper implementation during equipment installation, inappropriate quality of equipment and their aging. The probability of accidents was calculated as one accident per every 11 years.
Conclusion: Byholding training courses for personnel involved and careful monitoring during maintenance and installation of equipment, much lower probability risk would occur.
