Reactor accidents and safety measures at nuclear installations are discussed using information from reports on operational accidents and radiation exposure experience within the USAEC, Japan, and the UK. Accident records with detailed data on reactor sites, radioactive substances, possible cause, physical damages, economical loss, exposure dose, reactor components and operation at the time of accidents are discussed. Specific examples include the stationary low power reactor-l accident in Idaho in 1961, Windscale reactor accident in Sellafield, England in 1957, and JRR-3 reactor fuel accidents in Japan in 1965 and again in 1969. Since the cause of accidents is involved with human factors, the rights of workers should be protected and their training should be enforced with recognition of social obligation and public safety. The three principles, i.e., public announcement of the accident, extensive investigation on the cause of the accident, and countermeasures, should be preserved and enforced to improve reactor safety standards. (JA)

The Federal Railroad Association maintains a file of carrier-reported accidents and incidents that meet threshold criteria for damage cost and/or casualties. Using a five year period from this data base, an investigation was conducted into the relationship between quantifiable risk factors and accident frequency and severity. Specific objectives were to identify key variables in accidents, formulate a model to predict future accidents, and assess the relative importance of these variables from the perspective of routing and shipping decision making. The temporal factors YEAR and MONTH were found to be significant predictors of risk; accident severity was greatest for accidents caused by track and roadbed defects. Train speed was an indicator of accident severity; track class and training tonnage were inversely proportional to accident severity. Investigation of the data base is continuing, with a final report expected by late summer. 15 refs., 1 fig., 10 tabs.

Serious accidents and incidents occurring within the Department of Energy (DOE) will be investigated by committees including DOE trained investigators. A part of the investigation includes evaluation of management systems as they relate to the accident. The purpose of this guide is to outline, for general management, those management factors which have been found to be of importance in accident prevention. These factors will, of course, will be studied by investigating teams. The management factors have been selected, through a ten-year, world-wide consensus process, as those which individually and collectively may represent accident/incident causal factors. It is the task of the investigating board or committee to determine which of these factors are, indeed, involved in a given accident or incident. Objectives of the guide are twofold: To provide a means for accident/incident prevention by familiarizing managers with the management-related accident/incident causal factors that have been revealed in accident investigation research. To help prepare line and project managers for the investigative process by making them aware of the factors that will be investigated.

Despite the all precautions, underground coal mining is one of the dangerous industries owing to fatal occupational accidents. Accidents are complicated events to which many factors effect on their formation and preventing them is only possible by the analyses of the accident occurred in past and by straight evaluation of the obtained results. In this study, hierarchical loglinear analysis method was implemented to occupational fatalities occurred in the period of 1980-2004 in the five underground coal mines of Turkish Hardcoal Enterprises which has the most important coal production areas in Turkey. The accident records were evaluated and the main factors affecting the accidents were defined as mine, miners' age, occupation, and accident type. By taking into account the sub factors of the main factors, multi way contingency tables were prepared and thus, the probabilities might effect fatality accidents were investigated. At the end of this study, it was found that the mostly affected job group by the fatality accidents was the production workers and additionally, these workers were mostly exposed to roof collapses and methane explosions. Moreover, important accident risk factors and the occupational job groups which have high probability to be exposed to these risk factors were determined and important information about decreasing the accidents in the underground coal mines were presented.   

Psychophysiological factors are not uncommon terms in the aviation incident/accident investigation sequence where human error is involved. It is highly suspect that the same psychophysiological factors may also exist in the industrial arena where operator personnel function; but, there is little evidence in literature indicating how management and subordinates cope with these factors to prevent or reduce accidents. It is apparent that human factors psychophysological training is quite evident in the aviation industry. However, while the industrial arena appears to analyze psychophysiological factors in accident investigations, there is little evidence that established training programs exist for supervisors and operator personnel.

Despite the use of high safety standards in aircraft design and operations, accidents do occur. In a process of continuous improvement it is essential that we learn from each accident so we can take measures to prevent such accidents from happening in the future. It is often the case that an accident is the result of a sequence of, seemingly minor and often unrelated, events. The challenge is to identify the major causes, which can include deficiencies in organisational processes which may have been present well before the accident itself. This paper discusses tools which can be used to identify key organisational factors which contribute to aviation accidents. The research uses a thoroughly-investigated helicopter accident as a case study, to determine the extent to which analytical and v...

We propose a framework using system dynamics to model the dynamic behavior of organizations in accident analysis. Most current accident analysis techniques are event-based and do not adequately capture the dynamic complexity and non-linear interactions that characterize accidents in complex systems. In this paper we propose a set of system safety archetypes that model common safety culture flaws in organizations, i.e., the dynamic behaviour of organizations that often leads to accidents. As accident analysis and investigation tools, the archetypes can be used to develop dynamic models that describe the systemic and organizational factors contributing to the accident. The archetypes help clarify why safety-related decisions do not always result in the desired behavior, and how independent decisions in different parts of the organization can combine to impact safety.

Within a study of accident data from GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study), vulnerable road users are investigated regarding injury risk in traffic accidents. GIDAS is the largest in-depth accident study in Germany. Due to a well-defined sampling plan, representativeness with respect to the federal statistics is also guaranteed. A hierarchical system ACASS (Accident Causation Analysis with Seven Steps) was developed in GIDAS, describing the human causation factors in a chronological sequence. The accordingly classified causation factors - derived from the systematic of the analysis of human accident causes ("7 steps") - can be used to describe the influence of accident causes on the injury outcome. The bases of the study are accident documentations over ten years from 1999 to 2008 with 8204 vulnerable road users (VRU), of which 3 different groups were selected as pedestrians n=2041, motorcyclists n=2199 and bicyclists n=3964, and analyzed on collisions with cars and trucks as well as vulnerable road users alone. The paper will give a description of the injury pattern and injury mechanisms of accidents. The injury frequencies and severities are pointed out considering different types of VRU and protective measures of helmet and clothes of the human body. The impact points are demonstrated on the car, following to conclusion of protective measures on the vehicle. Existing standards of protection devices as well as interdisciplinary research, including accident and injury statistics, are described. With this paper, a summarization of the existing possibilities on protective measures for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists is given and discussed by comparison of all three groups of vulnerable road users. Also the relevance of special impact situations and accident causes mainly responsible for severe injuries are pointed out, given the new orientation of research for the avoidance and reduction of accident patterns. PMID:22062349

DA RIN DELLA MORA R., BAGNASCO A. & SASSO L. (2012) In-hospital paediatric accidents: an integrative review of the literature. International Nursing Review Background:? Paediatric hospitals can be perceived by children, parents, health professionals as 'safe' places, but accidents do occur. Aim:? To review publications relating to in-hospital paediatric accidents and highlight the state-of-the-science concerning this issue especially in relation to falls, and the evolution of research addressing this issue. Methods:? Integrative review of papers published before March 2011 on accidents and falls occurred in hospitalized children. Electronic databases (PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and Cochrane Library databases) and further hand searching through references were searched. The inclusion criteria were articles involving observational, quasi-experimental or experimental studies in English or Italian. Exclusion criteria were articles addressing the outcomes of falls caused by suspect violence on children. Thirteen studies in English were included. Results:? Of the 13 studies conducted between 1963 and 2010, 10 had been conducted in the last 5?years; 10 in the USA. The studies were divided into two categories: contextualization and prevention of the 'accident' or 'fall' phenomenon (10 studies), and fall risk assessment (three studies). The most frequent type of design was observational explorative/descriptive. Several areas of investigation were explored (hazardous environment, children's characteristics correlated to accidents/falls, characteristics of the accidents/falls and their outcomes, paediatric fall risk factors and risk assessment tools, fall risk prevention programmes, parents' perceptions of accident/fall risks, etc.). Discussion:? No comparable methods were used to investigate the contextualization and prevention of the 'accident' and 'fall' phenomena; proposed fall risk assessment tools were not evaluated for their reliability and validity. Conclusions:? Consensus would be needed around the approach to accidents in terms of: the definition of 'accident' and 'fall'; 'fall-related injury' and respective classifications; the frequency and rate calculation methods; the tools used to assess the risk of falls; and evidence-based practice aimed at preventing them. PMID:23134129

This report is a summary of the Accident Investigation Board Report on the May 14, 1997, Chemical Explosion at the Plutonium Reclamation Facility, Hanford Site, Richland, Washington (DOE/RL-97-59). The referenced report provides a greater level of detail and includes a complete discussion of the facts identified, analysis of those facts, conclusions derived from the analysis, identification of the accident`s causal factors, and recommendations that should be addressed through follow-up action by the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors. This companion document provides a concise summary of that report, with emphasis on management issues. Evaluation of emergency and occupational health response to, and radiological and chemical releases from, this accident was not within the scope of this investigation, but is the subject of a separate investigation and report (see DOE/RL-97-62).

Factors external to the aircraft are often a significant causal factor in loss of control (LOC) accidents. In today s aviation world, very few accidents stem from a single cause and typically have a number of causal factors that culminate in a LOC accident. Very often the "trigger" that initiates an accident sequence is an external environment factor. In a recent NASA statistical analysis of LOC accidents, aircraft icing was shown to be the most common external environmental LOC causal factor for scheduled operations. When investigating LOC accident or incidents aircraft icing causal factors can be categorized into groups of 1) in-flight encounter with super-cooled liquid water clouds, 2) take-off with ice contamination, or 3) in-flight encounter with high concentrations of ice crystals. As with other flight hazards, icing induced LOC accidents can be prevented through avoidance, detection, and recovery mitigations. For icing hazards, avoidance can take the form of avoiding flight into icing conditions or avoiding the hazard of icing by making the aircraft tolerant to icing conditions. Icing detection mitigations can take the form of detecting icing conditions or detecting early performance degradation caused by icing. Recovery from icing induced LOC requires flight crew or automated systems capable of accounting for reduced aircraft performance and degraded control authority during the recovery maneuvers. In this report we review the icing induced LOC accident mitigations defined in a recent LOC study and for each mitigation describe a research topic required to enable or strengthen the mitigation. Many of these research topics are already included in ongoing or planned NASA icing research activities or are being addressed by members of the icing research community. These research activities are described and the status of the ongoing or planned research to address the technology needs is discussed

Operating experience feedback is an important tool to maintain and improve nuclear safety. Usually, this feedback process is limited to nuclear facilities. In August 2003 the official report on the Columbia space shuttle accident became available. It provides interesting insights on how the accident could happen. A key area contributing to the accident are deficiencies in NASA's operating experience feedback process. On principle, there are some similarities between a space shuttle and a nuclear power plant. This raises the questions if lessons can be learned from the Columbia accident in the nuclear field. The paper will compare main insights of the Columbia investigation with findings of the evaluation of the operating experience from German NPP and draw conclusions from this comparison. Main root causes of the Columbia accident are deficiencies in the operating experience feedback process, inadequate assessment tools and deficiencies in decision making of management. When comparing these results to German NPP operating experience similar patterns can be identified in the reportable events. This finding indicates substantial deficiencies in the overall operating experience feedback process, the proactive approach to safety problems and management techniques regarding adequate decision making with respect to safety. The investigation of the Columbia accident also identified those factors inside and outside the organisation which contributed to an environment in which the causes for the accident could develop. The main contributing factors addressed are major reduction of resources, schedule pressure, organisational culture, deficiencies in communication and ineffective safety office. Some of these factors can also be observed in the nuclear industry. At present, the operating experience from German NPP does not provide clear evidence to which extent these factors are impacting safety. Based on the findings of the Columbia investigation it can be assumed that these factors if existing are influencing safety of NPP too. Hints which can be gained from operating experience are supporting such a conclusion too. (authors)

The purpose of hazardous material/waste transportation accident investigations are to identify technical, operational, and human factor issues of safety that contributed to an accident. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is tasked with accident investigations in the following modes of transportation: aviation, highway, railroad, marine, and pipeline. Hazardous materials and wastes are transported in every mode within the US Transportation system, and account for more than 500,000 shipments per year. The NTSB selects specific accidents to investigate based on the release of hazardous material and its threat to public safety, if fatalities occurred, or if the accident caused a major disruption to the surrounding community. The NTSB also investigates accidents involving hazardous materials that could provide further evidence of a need for safety improvements. The NTSB makes safety recommendations for improving the safe transport of hazardous materials to several agencies of the US Department of Transportation, including the Research and Special Programs Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and the US Coast Guard. In addition, the NTSB makes safety recommendations to industry and other private organizations. Safety recommendations are made as the result of accident investigations and are the most important product of the NTSB. Safety recommendations, when implemented, can reduce accidents and improve the US transportation system. The discussion of the investigations, research, container designs, and safety recommendations described in this paper, is to provide the reader with a basic understanding of issues related to the current transportation of hazardous materials in the United States, and what the possibilities will be in the future when dealing with issues that can have a detrimental effect on the environment.

Injury severities in traffic accidents are usually recorded on ordinal scales, and statistical models have been applied to investigate the effects of driver factors, vehicle characteristics, road geometrics and environmental conditions on injury severity. The unknown parameters in the models are in general estimated assuming random sampling from the population. Traffic accident data however suffer from underreporting effects, especially for lower injury severities. As a result, traffic accident data can be regarded as outcome-based samples with unknown population shares of the injury severities. An outcome-based sample is overrepresented by accidents of higher severities. As a result, outcome-based samples result in biased parameters which skew our inferences on the effect of key safety va...

For many years, the Department of Aviation and Forensic Pathology of the RAF Institute of Pathology and Tropical Medicine has assisted in the medical investigation of fatal military and civil aircraft accidents, both in the U.K. and overseas. These included 33 glider accidents involving 39 deaths over the period 1960-1980. They do not include all the fatal gliding accidents in the U.K. because there is no mandatory obligation to call in the department, but probably represent over 50%. The Department is primarily interested in the nature of fatal injuries, the performance of safety equipment and the presence or absence of pre-existing medical factors which might have affected or caused the accident. It also makes recommendations intended to improve flight safety, and is often involved in the discussions between the British Gliding Association, the Civil Aviation Authority, and the other organizations involved. PMID:6651729

Different methods of accident investigation are compared and presented. The development of accident analysis from root cause to accident consequences is highlighted. Measures are focused which would have avoided the accident. Apart from technical issues, the paper also deals with wrong organisational development. The investigation method supports a learning company culture that is concentrating on staff health. (orig.)

On 2003 February 01, the Columbia space shuttle broke apart during re-entry with the loss of all crew-members. An accident investigation board undertook a comprehensive examination of the spacecraft design, performance, and NASA design and operational practices to uncover direct and contributory accident causal factors; and recommend the improvements required for return of the shuttle program to flight status. This paper will summarize the investigative approach taken, the findings and recommendations that resulted, and the lessons of relevance to the nuclear industry. The paper will also outline a suggested 'road-map' for deriving the main lessons learned from the full board report. (author)

BACKGROUND: In the past several decades, multiple studies have examined factors influencing occupant survival in aviation crashes, but only a few have addressed this question in Helicopter Emergency Medical Systems (HEMS) accidents. The four-point FIA Score is a valid tool to measure fatality risk in aviation crashes. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to analyze the performance of the FIA Score when applied to German HEMS accidents, and to determine the prognostic value for fatalities and for survival. METHODS: The FIA Score uses three parameters (F=fire; I=Instrument meteorological conditions; A=Away from airport) to determine the fatality risk after crashes. Data for German HEMS accidents between October 1970 and December 2009 were gathered retrospectively from the Federal Agency for Flight Accident Investigation. Accidents were graded according to the FIA Score by two emergency physician-pilots, and crash fatality rates (CFR) were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 99 HEMS accidents were analyzed that occurred from September 1970 to December 2009. In 19.2% of these, at least one occupant was fatally injured. There were 63 accidents (63.6%) that took place with no injuries; 8 occurred with minor injuries (8.1%); and 9 resulted in major injuries (9.1%). A total of 72 data sets were complete and were used for analysis. Depending on the FIA Score (FIA0, FIA1, FIA2, and FIA3), CFRs of 0.0%, 8.1%, 53.3%, and 100.0%, respectively, were calculated. CONCLUSIONS: The FIA Score is a valuable tool in German HEMS accident analysis. It can predict fatalities and is easy to use. Thus, it may also be a valuable tool in EMS call centers to predict survival after a crash. PMID:22633758

In the prototypical accident report, specific findings, particularly those related to causes and contributing factors, are usually written out explicitly and clearly. Also, the evidence upon which these findings are based is typically explained in detail. Often lacking, however, is any explicit discussion, description, or depiction of the arguments that connect the findings and the evidence. That is, the reports do not make clear why the investigators believe that the specific evidence they found necessarily leads to the particular findings they enumerated. This paper shows how graphical techniques can be used to depict relevant arguments supporting alternate positions on the causes of a complex road-traffic accident.

research areas in IVHM. ... both accident and incident data, the FAA has primary investigative responsibility for ... NTSB is the authority for accident investigation. ...... 16. Supplemental landing gear. 12. Wheel assemblies. 5. Gear ski. 2 ...

A student working in a laser laboratory at Los Alamos National Laboratory sustained a serious retinal injury to her left eye when she attempted to view suspended particles in a partially evacuated target chamber. The principle investigator was using the white light from the flash lamp of a Class 4 Nd:YAG laser to illuminate the particles. Since the Q-switch was thought to be disabled at the time of the accident, the principal investigator assumed it would be safe to view the particles without wearing laser eye protection. The Laboratory Director appointed a team to investigate the accident and to report back to him the events and conditions leading up to the accident, equipment malfunctions, safety management causal factors, supervisory and management action/inaction, adequacy of institutional processes and procedures, emergency and notification response, effectiveness of corrective actions and lessons learned from previous similar events, and recommendations for human and institutional safety improvements. The team interviewed personnel, reviewed documents, and characterized systems and conditions in the laser laboratory during an intense six week investigation. The team determined that the direct and primary failures leading to this accident were, respectively, the principle investigator's unsafe work practices and the institution's inadequate monitoring of worker performance. This paper describes the details of the investigation, the human and institutional failures, and the recommendations for improving the laser safety program.

Purpose - The study aims to examine the stock price performance of publicly owned railroad companies following severe railroad accidents that resulted in the loss of human lives and/or hazardous material spills. The focus is on legal liability considerations as one of the primary factors that drives a firm's abnormal performance following a given accident. Design/methodology/approach - This paper employs a sample of 97 railroad accidents that occurred between January 1967 and December 2006 and involved equipment (tracks and/or locomotives) owned by publicly traded US and Canadian railroad companies. The stock price reaction of the affected firms is examined following these disasters and a series of univariate and multivariate tests is used to investigate whether differences in abnormal ret...

Human factors centered aviation accident analyses report that skill based errors are known to be cause of 80% of all accidents, decision making related errors 30% and perceptual errors 6%1. In-flight decision making error is a long time recognized major avenue leading to incidents and accidents. Thr...

Investigations of major accidents show that technical, human, operational, as well as organizational factors influence the accident sequences. In spite of these facts, quantitative risk analyses of offshore oil and gas production platforms have focused on technical safety systems. This paper describes an effort to develop further the quantitative risk analysis of the platform specific hydrocarbon release frequency by considering operational barriers in event trees and fault trees, as well as risk influencing factors that determine the basic event probabilities in the fault trees. A generic model based on Risk Influencing Factors has been developed and is adapted to use for specific failure scenarios. The full Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) model is presented, and two alternative implementat...

Feb 14, 2003 ... Accident Investigation, MORT. Industrial Hygiene ... Engineering & Test Facilities. Engineering Flight .... 'Columbia accident. Our ballistic gun, with slight modi?cations, can be used to simulate the ..... Los Alamos, NM 87545 ...

The report summarizes the results of a comprehensive and systematic study of 41 motor vehicle accidents that occurred in the Fayette County, Kentucky, area. The research was performed by a multidisciplinary accident investigation team at the University of...

The report summarizes Consumer Product Safety Commission and National Bureau of Standards investigations into accidents attributed to flammable fabrics. A detailed analysis is provided on persons to whom fabric ignition accident occur; how, when, and wher...

accident said Givens apparently failed to make a ... The accident occurred when ..... ROUNDUP. JUNE 9 r 1967. PAGE 3. INCI,U1)ES. POI,AR. AREAS-. Orbiter. IV ..... is to investigate dynamic ..... water skis csnd outdoor storage cover. Every- ...

Generally, traffic accidents are influenced by variables including road geometry, roadside design, and traffic conditions. To prevent accidents and provide comfortable driving environment it is necessary to understand how accidents relate to conditions of geometry and appurtenance. This study developed (1) a traffic accident frequency prediction model based on geometric and appurtenance conditions on urban highways, and (2) a traffic accident severity model to analyze influencing factors at urban highways. These models developed may be helpful for the design of safe highways. Additionally, it may identify the potentially hazardous factors on existing highways, and contribute to traffic safety improvement.   

Accident reports provide important insights into the causes and contributory factors leading to particular adverse events. In contrast, this paper provides an analysis that extends across the findings presented over ten years investigations into maritime accidents by both the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Canadian Transportation Safety Board (TSB). The purpose of the study was to assess the comparative frequency of a range of causal factors in the reporting of adverse events. In order to communicate our findings, we introduce J-H graphs as a means of representing the proportion of causes and contributory factors associated with human error, equipment failure and other high level classifications in longitudinal studies of accident reports. Our results suggest the proportion of causal and contributory factors attributable to direct human error may be very much smaller than has been suggested elsewhere in the human factors literature. In contrast, more attention should be paid to wider systemic issues, including the managerial and regulatory context of maritime operations.

Railway accident analysis results show that accidents cased by human factors are not decreasing, whereas H/W related accidents are steadily decreasing. For the efficient management of human factors, many expertise on design, conditions, safety culture and staffing are required. But current safety management activities on safety critical works are focused on training, due to the limited resource and information. In order to improve railway safety, human factors management requirements for safety critical worker and human error classification is proposed in this report. For this accident analysis, status of safety measure on human factor, safety management system on safety critical worker, current safety planning is analysis.

The March 2011 radiation accident in Fukushima, Japan, is a textbook example of a radiation accident of global significance. In view of the global dimensions of the accident, it is important to consider the lessons learned. In this context, emphasis must be placed on consequences for planning appropriate medical management for radiation accidents including, for example, estimates of necessary human and material resources. The specific characteristics of the radiation accident in Fukushima are thematically divided into five groups: the exceptional environmental influences on the Fukushima radiation accident, particular circumstances of the accident, differences in risk perception, changed psychosocial factors in the age of the Internet and globalization, and the ignorance of the effects of ionizing radiation both among the general public and health care professionals. Conclusions like the need for reviewing international communication, interfacing, and interface definitions will be drawn from the Fukushima radiation accident. PMID:22951483

Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis techniques based on Latin hypercube sampling, partial correlation analysis and stepwise regression analysis are used in an investigation with the MACCS model of the early health effects associated with a severe accident at a nuclear power station. The primary purpose of this study is to provide guidance on the variables to be considered in future review work to reduce the uncertainty in the important variables used in the calculation of reactor accident consequences. The effects of 34 imprecisely known input variables on the following reactor accident consequences are studied: number of early fatalities, number of cases of prodromal vomiting, population dose within 10 mi of the reactor, population dose within 1000 mi of the reactor, individual early fatality probability within 1 mi of the reactor, and maximum early fatality distance. When the predicted variables are considered collectively, the following input variables were found to be the dominant contributors to uncertainty: scaling factor for horizontal dispersion, dry deposition velocity, inhalation protection factor for nonevacuees, groundshine shielding factor for nonevacuees, early fatality hazard function alpha value for bone marrow exposure, and scaling factor for vertical dispersion.

At the inception of the Laboratory hectic and intense work was the norm during the development of the atomic bombs. After the war the development of other weapons for the Cold War again contributed to an intense work environment. Formal Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were not required at that time. However, the occurrence of six fatalities in 1959 during the development of a new high-energy plastic bonded explosive (94% HMX) forced the introduction SOPs. After an accident at the Department of Energy (DOE) plant at Amarillo, TX in 1977, the DOE promulgated the Department wide DOE Explosives Safety Manual. Table 1 outlines the history of the introduction of SOPs and the DOE Explosives Safety Manual. Many of the rules and guidelines presented in these documents were developed and introduced as the result of an incident or accident. However, many of the current staff are not familiar with the background of the development. To preserve as much of this knowledge as possible, they are collecting documentation on incidents and accidents involving energetic materials at Los Alamos. Formal investigations of serious accidents elucidate the multiple causes that contributed to accidents. These reports are generally buried in a file and, and are not read by more recent workers. Reports involving fatalities at Los Alamos before 1974 were withheld from the general employee. Also, these documents contain much detail and analysis that is not of interest to the field worker. The authors have collected the documents describing 116 incidents and have analyzed the contributing factors as viewed from the standpoint of the individual operator. All the incidents occurred at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and involved energetic materials in some manner, though not all occurred within the explosive handling groups. Most accidents are caused by multiple contributing factors. They have attempted to select the one or two factors that they consider as the most important relative to the individual doing the work. The value of SOPs was an obvious conclusion apriori. The introduction and use of SOPs reduced the probability of serious accidents. The second conclusion was less obvious in that it appears that the SOP did not adequately provide all the controls necessary for 16% of the events. Violations of SOPs, always considered as a potential contributor, was assigned as the major contributor in only 10 incidents.

Loss of control remains one of the largest contributors to fatal aircraft accidents worldwide. Aircraft loss-of-control accidents are complex, resulting from numerous causal and contributing factors acting alone or more often in combination. Hence, there is no single intervention strategy to prevent these accidents. This paper summarizes recent analysis results in identifying worst-case combinations of loss-of-control accident precursors and their time sequences, a holistic approach to preventing loss-of-control accidents in the future, and key requirements for validating the associated technologies.

With regard to ordinary passenger cars with displacement of 1500 cc or less and sedan class-A passenger cars, analysis was carried out on accident causes having correlation with the number of cars causing death accidents (death accident ratio) per ten thousand registered cars. In performing the analysis, a regression analysis method using the number of registered cars as weight was introduced. As a result of performing the multiple regression analysis while reducing gradually accident causes whose effect is thought weak, the following correlation was found to exist via single accident ratio against the death accident ratio: the male ratio has negative correlation, the ratio of 24 year old or younger drivers has positive correlation, the business ratio has negative correlation, the drive ratio has positive correlation, the accident history ratio has negative correlation, and the night ratio has positive correlation. In addition, with respect to single accident ratio having positive correlation with the death accident ratio, the ratio of 24 year old or younger drivers has positive correlation, the traffic law violation history ratio has a positive correlation and the seat belt usage ratio has negative correlation. It is possible to make clear the relationship between the accident factors and the death accident ratio by considering a model using the single accident ratio. 3 refs., 3 figs., 4 tabs.

Background: Medication errors are recognized causes of patient morbidity and mortality in hospital settings, and can occur at any stage of the medication management process. Medication administration errors are reported to occur more frequently in critical care settings, and can be associated with severe consequences. However, patient safety research tends to focus on accident causations rather than organizational factors which enhance patient safety and health care resilience to unsafe practice. The Organizational Safety Space Model was developed for high-risk industries to investigate factors that influence organizational safety. Its application in health care settings may offer a unique approach to understand organizational safety in the health care context, particularly in investigatin...

In China, pedestrians were the most common and the most vulnerable of road users, meaning pedestrians were involved in vehicle-pedestrian accidents more frequently. Little attention has been paid to the investigation of such accidents. One surveying group was built to randomly collect vehicle-pedestrian accidents and analyse these accidents from the vehicle-pedestrian crash characteristics and the relationships between the pedestrian injury outcome and the impact speed. 184 pedestrians were injured and killed in these investigated passenger-car-pedestrian accidents. Among the 184 pedestrians involved in these accidents, 151 were crossing road arbitrarily (82.1%). There were only 17 accidents where the pavement and guardrail satisfied the safety standard. The males were the majority of the ...

Loss of control remains one of the largest contributors to fatal aircraft accidents worldwide. Aircraft loss-of-control accidents are complex in that they can result from numerous causal and contributing factors acting alone or (more often) in combination. Hence, there is no single intervention strategy to prevent these accidents. To gain a better understanding into aircraft loss-of-control events and possible intervention strategies, this paper presents a detailed analysis of loss-of-control accident data (predominantly from Part 121), including worst case combinations of causal and contributing factors and their sequencing. Future potential risks are also considered.

Improving methods of work accident prevention by investigating causes of work accidents are discussed. Analyzed are psychophysiological reasons for work accidents. Results of investigations carried out in the laboratory of psychology of labor of TsNIEhIugol' from 1977 to 1978 are discussed. The Institute investigated psychology and psychophysiology of the miners who were injured during work accidents. The tests were carried out in the Stakhanovugol' coal mines. Various features of the miners' personality were analyzed, among others: passivity or activity, mental stability or instability, independence or dependence on others, power of concentration, memory. The results of the investigation are discussed. (In Russian)

HSYS is a model-based methodology developed to examine the many factors which influence Human-SYStem interactions. HSYS is built around a linear model of human performance, called the Input-Action model, which describes five sequential steps: Input Detection, Input Understanding, Action Selection, Action Planning, and Action Execution. HSYS is structured in an hierarchical tree which presents a logical structure for examining potential areas where human performance, hardware or other system components are less than adequate. The HSYS tree consists of five major branches which correspond to the five major components of the Input-Action model. Initial validation was begun by studying accident reports via HSYS and identifying sources of error. The validation process has continued with accident investigations in operational settings. 9 refs., 3 figs.

This research presents a modeling approach to investigate the association of the accident frequency during a snow storm event with road surface conditions, visibility and other influencing factors controlling for traffic exposure. The results have the premise to be applied for evaluating different maintenance strategies using safety as a performance measure. As part of this approach, this research introduces a road surface condition index as a surrogate measure of the commonly used friction measure to capture different road surface conditions. Data from various data sources, such as weather, road condition observations, traffic counts and accidents, are integrated and used to test three event-based models including the Negative Binomial model, the generalized NB model and the zero inflated...

Gas industry enterprises such as main pipelines, compressor gas transfer stations, gas extracting complexes belong to the energy intensive industry. Accidents there can result into the catastrophes and great social, environmental and economic losses. Annually, according to the official data several dozens of large accidents take place at the pipes in the USA and Russia. That is why prevention of the accidents, analysis of the mechanisms of their development and prediction of their possible consequences are acute and important tasks nowadays. The accidents reasons are usually of a complicated character and can be presented as a complex combination of natural, technical and human factors. Mathematical and computer simulations are safe, rather effective and comparatively inexpensive methods of the accident analysis. It makes it possible to analyze different mechanisms of a failure occurrence and development, to assess its consequences and give recommendations to prevent it. Besides investigation of the failure cases, numerical simulation techniques play an important role in the treatment of the diagnostics results of the objects and in further construction of mathematical prognostic simulations of the object behavior in the period of time between two inspections. While solving diagnostics tasks and in the analysis of the failure cases, the techniques of theoretical mechanics, of qualitative theory of different equations, of mechanics of a continuous medium, of chemical macro-kinetics and optimizing techniques are implemented in the Conversion Design Bureau {number_sign}5 (DB{number_sign}5). Both universal and special numerical techniques and software (SW) are being developed in DB{number_sign}5 for solution of such tasks. Almost all of them are calibrated on the calculations of the simulated and full-scale experiments performed at the VNIIEF and MINATOM testing sites. It is worth noting that in the long years of work there has been established a fruitful and effective collaboration of theoreticians, mathematicians and experimentalists of the institute to solve such tasks.

This document provides Unit Liter Dose factors, atmospheric dispersion coefficients, breathing rates and instructions for using and customizing these factors for use in calculating radiological doses for accident analyses in the Hanford Tank Farms.

Road safety is a major concern for society and individuals. Although road safety has improved in recent years, the number of road fatalities is still unacceptably high. In 2000, road accidents killed over 40,000 people in the European Union and injured more than 1.7 million. In 2001 in Denmark there were 6861 injury trafficc accidents reported by the police, resulting in 4519 minor injuries, 3946 serious injuries, and 431 fatalities. The general purpose of the research was to improve the insight into aggregated road safety methodology in Denmark. The aim was to analyse advanced statistical methods, that were designed to study developments over time, including effects of interventions. This aim has been achieved by investigating variations in aggregated Danish traffic accident series and by applying state of the art methodologies to specific case studies. The thesis comprises an introduction to accident data, and influential factors such as changing traffic volumes and demographic and economic trends. It highlights the limitations in the influential factors data-structure, in particular, their strong covariance and slow development over time. An important issue in this thesis was to investigate the temporal dependency in the accident series. The thesis shows that the monthly observations of accidents are serially correlated and that this correlation can only partly be explained by the explanatory variables. One should therefore use dynamic modelling techniques to analyse variations in accident series. The thesis demonstrates that the general decreasing tendency in the accident series has its own slow pattern, not explicable by recorded descriptive variables. In addition, as a result of the research projects carried out during the preparation of this thesis, I have published the following papers: - Statistisk modellering af trafik uheld, Trafikdage på Ålborg Univeristet, 2001. - Sociale karakteristika hos trafikofre, Danish Transport Research Institute, 2001. - Models for traffic accidents, FERSI Young Researchers' Seminar, 2001. - Evaluation of the Danish Automatic Mobile Speed Camera Project Experiment: A State-space intervention analysis, symposium i anvendt statistik, 2003. In Danish: Trafiksikkerhed er et stort problem, som vedrører samfundet og det enkelte individ. Selvom trafiksikkerhed er gradvis forbedret gennem de seneste år, er antallet af dræbte i trafikken stadig uacceptabelt højt. I 2000 dræbte trafikuheld over 40.000 i EU og skadede over 1.7 millioner. I Danmark i 2001 var der 6861 politirapporteret trafikuheld med tilskadekomst. De resulterede i 4519 lettere tilskadekomne, 3946 alvorligt tilskadekomne og 431 dræbte. Det generelle formål med dette forskningsarbejde er at forbedre indsigten i trafik-sikkerhedsarbejdet på aggregeret niveau. Formålet er at analysere advancerede statistiske metoder, som er udviklet til at analysere udvikling over tid inklusiv bestemmelse af interventioner. Dette formål er opfyldt ved at undersøge variationer i tidsrækker af aggregeret danske trafikuheld og vedat anvende state of the art metoder til bestemmelse af specifikke tiltag til forbedring af trafiksikkerheden. Nærværende afhandling begynder med en introduktion af uheldsdata, betydningsfulde faktorer som varierende trafik volume og demografiske og økonomiske tendenser, og fremhæver begrænsninger i deres datastruktur. Navnlig deres stærke kovarians og langsomme udvikling over tid. Et vigtigt emne i denne afhandling er undersøgelse af den tidslige afhængighed i observationer af trafikuheld. Afhandlingen påviser, at antallet af uheld er korreleret over tid, og at denne korrelation kun delvis kan forklares ved hjælp af de forklarende variable. Derfor bør man anvende dynamiske modelleringsmetoder til at analysere variationer i tidsrækker af trafikuheld. Denne afhandling demonstrerer desuden, at den generelle aftagende tendens i antallet af trafikuheld har sin egen langsomme udvikling, som ikke kan beskrives ved hjælp af registreret descriptive variable.

In the mid-1970s a general awareness of human factors engineering deficiencies associated with power plant control rooms took shape and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) awarded the Lockheed Corporation a contract to review the human factors aspects of five representative operational control rooms and their associated simulators. This investigation revealed a host of major and minor deficiencies that assumed unforeseen dimensions in the post- Three Mile Island accident period. In the course of examining operational problems (Seminara et al, 1976) and subsequently the methods for overcoming such problems (Seminara et al, 1979, 1980) indications surfaced that power plants were far from ideal in meeting the needs of maintenance personnel. Accordingly, EPRI sponsored an investigation of the human factors aspects of power plant maintainability (Seminara, 1981). This paper provides an overview of the maintainability problems and issues encountered in the course of reviewing five nuclear power plants. PMID:15676441

The vital problem of forestry on the areas contaminated as a result of the Chernobyl accident is related to contamination level of valuable wood harvested. The investigation of material sampled in the Chernobyl Zone shows that most of contamination is still in organic surface layer of forest soil. Although specific activity of wood depends on numerous factors it has been proved that even the lowest contamination leads to increasing radioactivity of wood inasmuch as a part of deposited radionuclides has been already available for root uptake. If nothing is undertaken to reclaim this forest now, the quantity of contaminated wood will dramatically increase in the future.

Science, Accident Investigation ... Teams of scientists, engineers, accident investigators … ..... Stores spatial attributes (location, population, area, .... Incr ease di ver si ty of par ti ci pants acr oss ski l l l evel s, and r educe or gani zati onal bar r i ...

When visibility is poor offshore helicopter operations are prone to accidents. Given that a significant increase in night-time activities is predicted in the near future, this paper proposes a systemic approach to account for all the factors underlying such accidents. It presents the results of accident analysis and interviews of pilots from five different scenarios using cognitive task analysis, followed by rigorous application of Grounded Theory and Template Analysis to the narratives. The results are used to compile a comprehensive list of the factors that affect the ability of pilots to fly at night. These factors should form the basis for future data collection and safety interventions.

The Department of Energy`s (DOE) Computerized Accident/Incident Reporting System (CAIRS) is a comprehensive data base containing more than 50,000 investigation reports of injury/illness, property damage and vehicle accident cases representing safety data from 1975 to the present for more than 150 DOE contractor organizations. A special feature is that the text of each accident report is translated using a controlled dictionary and rigid sentence structure called Factor Relationship and Sequence of Events (FRASE) that enhances the ability to retrieve specific types of information and to perform detailed analyses. DOE summary and individual contractor reports are prepared quarterly and annually. In addition, ``Safety Performance Profile`` reports for individual organizations are prepared to provide advance information to appraisal teams, and special topical reports are prepared for areas of concern such as an increase in the number of security injuries or environmental releases. The data base is open to all DOE and Contractor registered users with no access restrictions other than that required by the Privacy Act.

Preventing the occurrence of accidents in drilling and well servicing operations is a constant and major concern for any company or contractor acting in the upstream business. Analysis of accidents often identifies a number of contributing factors and/or anomalies, among which the equipment related items play a significant role. This article concentrates on the rig inspection process as a consistent method of detecting equipment related anomalies before operations commence. These inspections enable the necessary corrections to be made in due time, thereby limiting the occurrence of accidents once the rig is in operation. When in-depth and systematic rig inspections are carried out, it is that the percentage of accidents where equipment failure is the major cause remains very low. However, equipment condition factors contributing to the accidents still remain present in a large number of cases.

To detect and control the signs of potential accidents for the purpose of preventing vital accidents, it is currently in focus to systematically collect and analyze the information on incidents, which are a pre-stage of accident, and applying countermeasures, in various fields such as airlines and atomic power plants. In the railway field as well, it is one of the subjects at the Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission which was newly opened in October 2001. From the standpoint of effective and efficient safety management of railway transport, this paper describes the definition of incidents, method of incident analysis, current situation in various fields, possibility of incident analysis, problems, etc. in railways.   

A method of more realistically predicting radionuclide concentrations in crop plants varying with time after a nuclear accident was established to estimate 50 years' concentration of {sup 90}Sr and {sup 137}Cs in polished rice seeds and Chinese cabbage for unit dry deposition. After non-growing season accidents, concentrations of both nuclides decreased gradually with time and {sup 90}Sr concentrations were higher than those of {sup 137}Cs throughout the whole period. Radionuclide concentrations in the 1st year after growing season accidents were on the whole higher than those after non-growing season accidents by factors of up to 30 for {sup 90}Sr and up to 1,000 for {sup 137}Cs. In polished rice seeds, the 50 years-integrated concentration was higher for {sup 90}Sr than for {sup 137}Cs after non-growing season accidents, whereas the opposite was true after growing season accidents. In Chinese cabbage, however, it was higher for {sup 90}Sr than for {sup 137}Cs after both types of the accident. Generally speaking, the dominant pathway for the integrated concentration after the growing season accident was root uptake for {sup 90}Sr and direct plant contamination for {sup 137}Cs. The effect of resuspension was negligible. Based on the predicted results, the direction of planning countermeasures was suggested for various accident conditions.

This study investigated public concern about a variety of hazards in Japan. Two thousand two hundred adults were selected from the residents' basic registers using a stratified two-step random sampling method. One thousand three hundred and ninety-three of them rated their concern toward fifty-one kinds of hazards on six-point scales were utilized for their rating. A factor analysis extracted seven factors. A consequent analysis of variance revealed that people were most concerned about hazards that highly loaded on a “global crises of environment” factor, followed by a “major cause of death” hazards. Well-known disasters and accidents were of low concern. The results also revealed that public's concern about hazards reduced when they had guessed the number of deaths by each hazard. Implications and limitations of the present results were discussed.   

(6) External or unforeseen factors – changes in stakeholder concerns, accidents, ..... (1) For each impact associated with each aspect, the severity score needs to be .... testing, facilities maintenance, building a road, small parts cleaning, and ...

fied scientists, and (2) a reprinting of the environmental analysis conducted by .... effluents or the result of possible accidents, or operational factors such asthe ...... chemical release perturbation on a spatio-temporal basis constitutes, at most, ...

Organizational safety culture has been a focus of research in sociotechnical systems, such as civil aviation, as organizational factors have been increasingly noted as contributory to accidents. The aim of the present study was to validate the Commercial ...

This edited transcript of a presentation on personnel neutron discusses the accuracy of present dosimetry practices, requirements, calibration, dosemeter types, quality factors, operational problems, and dosimetry for a criticality accident. 32 figs. (ACR)

HUMAN FACTORS OF FLIGHT DECK CHECKLISTi. THE NORMAL CHECKLIST ... as one of the probable causes of two air transport accidents by the National Transportation .... Automation“ . ... The Airframe Manufacturer.................. 3.2.2.

The paper presents the findings, derived from a structured questionnaire, that cover various aspects of the relation between human factor and maritime safety. In general, human element holds a very important share compared to the ensemble of marine-accident causes.

The biological age (BA) of the majority of liquidators of the consequences of radiation accidents in the navy and of the liquidators of the Chernobyl NPP accident exceeds the average standard and their DBA (due BA). The BA index can be a characteristic of the influence of social-hygienic factors on the health conditions in the Special Risk Subunit whose members liquidated the consequences of the radiation accidents. It was established that the radiation effect pertains to factors dramatically increasing BA and the rate of senescence in this group of people.

The different forms of pelvis and hip joint fractures as well as luxations are described. Their different occurence due to the different accident mechanisms is elaborated. The importance of accident mechanism regarding X-ray investigation as well as radiologist is declared.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB/C) is the short name, or applied title, for the federal agency mandated to carry out independent safety investigations of accidents and incidents of the marine, pipeline, rail and air modes of transportation. Their official name is the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board reflecting the legislation under which Canada operates. The CTAISB Act was passed by Parliament in June 1989 and promulgated in March 1990. The TSB is not a regulator; its only noteworthy regulatory power is its power to make regulations for the reporting of transportation occurrences to the Board. The TSB`s independence from the transportation regulators helps to ensure that regulatory factors that may have contributed to an occurrence are treated objectively. Its independence from the courts helps to ensure that safety investigations are separate from the litigation processes that determine blame and liability. This, in turn, is to foster an atmosphere of openness and cooperation for the conduct of safety investigations.

A traffic accident prediction method using a priori knowledge based on accident data is proposed for safe driving support. Implementation is achieved by an algorithm using particle filtering and fuzzy inference to estimate accident risk factors. With this method, the distance between the host vehicle and a vehicle ahead and their relative velocity and relative acceleration are obtained from the results of particle filtering of driving data and are used as attributes to build the relative driving state space. The attributes are evaluated as likelihoods and then consolidated as a risk level using fuzzy inference. Experimental validation was done using videos of general driving situations obtained with an on-vehicle CCD camera and one simulated accident situation created based on the video data. The results show that high risk levels were calculated with the proposed method in the early stages of the accident situations.   

An in-depth study of the practice within the maritime oil industry was undertaken to ascertain safety issues in seafaring vessels. It was more concentrated on the type of accidents that occur in machine spaces of seafaring vessels in this industry. The main focus of the research was streamlined to fire in machinery spaces. The literature review later concentrated on two of such incidences, they are oil spill and fire events. An investigation was done to assess those factors which actually contribute or are in association to fire outbreak. A content analysis methodology was used to investigate the associative relationships to fire outbreak with the aid of NVivo 9.0 software. The investigation focused on 15 key in-depth reports on machinery space incidences which were uploaded into the softw...

External reactor vessel cooling (ERVC) is considered as one of the most promising severe accident management strategies for an in-vessel corium retention (IVR). Heat removal capacity and water availability at the vessel outer surface can be key factors determining the success of ERVC measures. In this study, for the investigations on the effect of water availability in case of ERVC, flow analyses using the RELAP5/MOD3 code were performed. The analyses were focused to examine the flow behavior inside the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) insulator of the OPR1000 (Optimized Power Reactor 1000 MWe) under a cavity flooding. The current flow analyses results show that for the accident scenarios of station black out (SBO) and 9.6 in. large break loss of coolant accident (LBLOCA) under the ERVC, steam could not ventilate through the insulator and the pressure inside the RPV insulator increased abruptly. This induced a water sweep out and steam domination in the flow path inside the insulator. These flow analyses results indicate that sufficient water ingression and steam venting through the insulator can be a key factor determining the success of the ERVC in the operating nuclear power plant, OPR1000. According to the results of the sensitivity studies for the venting area, in terms of an effective flow circulation inside the insulator, an optimal venting is to assign four holes having a diameter of 0.3 m at the upper exit (hot leg level) of the insulator. And the effect of the inlet flow area at the insulator bottom is rather minor when compared to that of the outlet flow area of a steam venting.

High-casualty fires (HCFs) involving 3 or more fatalities from the Fire Statistical Year Book of China and the Chinese Fire Services from 2002 to 2009 were analyzed. This study investigates the frequency-size power-law distribution and time-scaling property of HCFs. The results show that HCFs exhibit a frequency-size power-law distribution regardless of whether the fire size is represented by fatalities, direct loss or burned area. The frequency-fatality power-law distribution is a common phenomenon in fire accidents, even in international data. Six factors (place, cause, time of day, season, year and region of the fire) were analyzed to assess their effects on the frequency-fatality distribution and compared using the scaling exponent. Factors, such as a non-residential place, an electric...

Two analytical procedures were developed for the detection of trace amounts of Ru in plant material and investigations carried out to determine the Ru uptake by plants cultivated in water or soil as well as to measure the gamma spectrum of various environmental samples. In view of the low transfer factors determined here Ru uptake through the roots can be regarded as being virtually negligible, even if one presupposes a 50-year accumulation period for the soil. Of much greater importance in radioecological terms are Ru deposits found in the above-ground parts of plants, which are mostly the result of fallout or washout procedures. Data derived from studies on the nuclear physics of Ru-106 and the related metereologic and nutritional factors appear to suggest that even with Ru activities as great as those released due to the Chernobyl reactor accident, radionuclide migration through the roots can be expected to remain far below the amounts resulting from fallout and washout. (orig./DG).

In relation to the accidents due to bird nests in contact with overhead distribution lines, the authors investigated on deterioration of covered conductor by corona discharge. To simulate the situation where conductive nest material such as wire is in contact with both of an arm and a covered conductor, a copper wire was wound around the covered conductor and was grounded through a resistor which is used to observe corona discharge current waveform. The state of normal operation of 6.6kV distribution line was considered and A.C. 3.8kV was applied between the conductor and the ground. Weak corona discharge was observed. In order to carry out the acceleration test, A.C. 6.6kV was applied. The insulation was punctured after 3760 hours. From the observation of cumulative charge by corona discharge the acceleration factor was estimated about 4. From the acceleration factor estimated, the life of conductor cover will be 627 days.

Los Alamos National Laboratory has recognized that security infractions are often the consequence of various types of human errors (e.g., mistakes, lapses, slips) and/or breaches (i.e., deliberate deviations from policies or required procedures with no intention to bring about an adverse security consequence) and therefore has established an error reduction program based in part on the techniques used to mitigate hazard and accident potentials. One cornerstone of this program, definition of the situational and personal factors that increase the likelihood of employee errors and breaches, is detailed here. This information can be used retrospectively (as in accident investigations) to support and guide inquiries into security incidents or prospectively (as in hazard assessments) to guide efforts to reduce the likelihood of error/incident occurrence. Both approaches provide the foundation for targeted interventions to reduce the influence of these factors and for the formation of subsequent 'lessons learned.' Overall security is enhanced not only by reducing the inadvertent releases of classified information but also by reducing the security and safeguards resources devoted to them, thereby allowing these resources to be concentrated on acts of malevolence.

To minimize industrial accidents, it’s critical to evaluate a firm’s priorities for prevention factors and strategies since such evaluation provides decisive information for preventing industrial accidents and maintaining safety management. Therefore, this paper proposes the evaluation of priorities through statistical testing of prevention factors with a cause analysis in a cause and effect model. A priority matrix criterion is proposed to apply the ranking and for the objectivity of questionnaire results. This paper used regression method (RA), exponential smoothing method (ESM), double exponential smoothing method (DESM), autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model and proposed analytical function method (PAFM) to analyze trends of accident data that will lead to an accurate prediction. This paper standardized the questionnaire results of workers and managers in manufacturing and construction companies with less than 300 employees, located in the central Korean metropolitan areas where fatal accidents have occurred. Finally, a strategy was provided to construct safety management for the third industrial accident prevention plan and a forecasting method for occupational accident rates and fatality rates for occupational accidents per 10,000 people.   

An international workshop on past severe nuclear accidents and their consequences was held in Dagomys region of Sochi, USSR on October 30--November 3, 1989. The plan of this meeting was approved by the USSR Academy of Sciences and by the USSR State Committee of the Utilization of Atomic Energy. The meeting was held under the umbrella of the ANS-SNS agreement of cooperation. Topics covered include analysis of the Chernobyl accident, safety measures for RBMK type reactors and consequences of the Chernobyl accident including analysis of the ecological, genetic and psycho-social factors. Separate reports are processed separately for the data bases. (CBS)

Reliability of a district heat supply system is a very important factor. However, accidents are inevitable and they occur due to various reasons, therefore it is necessary to have possibility to evaluate the consequences of possible accidents. This paper demonstrated the capabilities of developed district heating network model (for RELAP5 code) to analyze dynamic processes taking place in the network. A pipe break in a water supply line accident scenario in Kaunas city (Lithuania) heating network is presented in this paper. The results of this case study were used to demonstrate a possibility of the break location identification by pressure decrease propagation in the network.

The reduction of boron concentration in the Boron Injection Tank (BIT), to the room temperature solubility level, makes necessary a reanalysis of the steam line break accident of Angra 1 NPP. This paper describes the neutronic calculation related to this reanalysis. The main steps of the work were: review of reactivity parameters used in the accident simulation; search of xenon profiles that cause the most severe core power distribution; calculation of hot channel factors and other neutronic parameters necessary for DNBR determination. The final conclusion, related to the steam line break accident, states the BIT concentration may be reduced to 2000 ppm. (author)

In-flight loss of control (LOC) is currently the leading cause of fatal accidents based on various commercial aircraft accident statistics. As the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) emerges, new contributing factors leading to LOC are anticipated. The NASA Aviation Safety Program (AvSP), along with other aviation agencies and communities are actively developing safety products to mitigate the LOC risk. This paper discusses the approach used to construct a generic integrated LOC accident framework (LOCAF) model based on a detailed review of LOC accidents over the past two decades. The LOCAF model is comprised of causal factors from the domain of human factors, aircraft system component failures, and atmospheric environment. The multiple interdependent causal factors are expressed in an Object-Oriented Bayesian belief network. In addition to predicting the likelihood of LOC accident occurrence, the system-level integrated LOCAF model is able to evaluate the impact of new safety technology products developed in AvSP. This provides valuable information to decision makers in strategizing NASA's aviation safety technology portfolio. The focus of this paper is on the analysis of human causal factors in the model, including the contributions from flight crew and maintenance workers. The Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) taxonomy was used to develop human related causal factors. The preliminary results from the baseline LOCAF model are also presented.

Motorcycles have been the most popular transportation mode in Taiwan. However, each year over 1,000 people lost their life in motorcycle accidents. The high accident risk and high risk of severe injury associated with motorcycle riding have not drawn considerable attention until a few years ago. In order to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities in motorcycle accidents, traffic authorities adopted the mandatory helmet use law on June 1, 1997. One-year motorcycle accident data were collected to analyze the injury severity and helmet use characteristics and also to evaluate the effectiveness of the mandatory helmet use law. These analyses were done by applying logit modeling approach and before-and-after comparisons. The estimation results of logit models uncover important relationship between various risk factors and injury severity and identify a broad range of factors influencing motorcycle helmet use. The before and after comparisons further show that effort to reduce motorcycle casualties by adopting mandatory helmet use law is justified.   

Two complementary test facilities - the Upper Plenum Test Facility (UPTF) and the Primaerkreislauf test facility (PKL) - were constructed to investigate the thermal-hydraulic response of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) during postulated accidents. The UPTF is a geometrical full-scale simulation of the primary system of a 1300-MW PWR. The upper plenum, the downcomer and the four connected loops as well as the pressurizer are represented on a 1:1 scale. The integral test facility PKL also simulates a 1300-MW PWR, whereby the power and volume is reduced by a factor of 1:145 (elevations 1:1). The PKL test facility models the entire primary system, relevant parts of the secondary side and all important engineered safety and auxiliary systems. Whereas the UPTF was mainly designed to perform separate-effect tests focusing on multidimensional thermal-hydraulic phenomena in full-scale simulated components, the main objective of the PKL tests has been the investigation of the thermal-hydraulic system behavior on the primary and secondary side. So far the program objectives represent a reasonable completion and in summary the experimental results from both test facilities provide an essential contribution for a better understanding of assumed accident sequences in a PWR. Test results which demonstrate the complementary character of the UPTF and the PKL test programs as well as the interaction between the two test facilities are presented in this paper. (author)

This report describes and discusses the containment accident progression and the important severe accident containment thermohydraulic phenomena. The overall objective of the report is to provide a rather detailed presentation of the present status of phenomenological knowledge, including an account of relevant experimental investigations and to discuss, to some extent, the modelling approach used in the MAAP 3.0 computer code. The MAAP code has been used in Sweden as the main tool in the analysis of severe accidents. The dependence of the containment accident progression and containment phenomena on the initial conditions, which in turn are heavily dependent on the in-vessel accident progression and phenomena as well as associated uncertainties, is emphasized. The report is in three parts dealing with: * Swedish reactor containments, the severe accident mitigation programme in Sweden and containment accident progression in Swedish PWRs and BWRs as predicted by the MAAP 3.0 code. * Key non-energetic ex-vessel phenomena (melt fragmentation in water, melt quenching and coolability, core-concrete interaction and high temperature in containment). * Early containment threats due to energetic events (hydrogen combustion, high pressure melt ejection and direct containment heating, and ex-vessel steam explosions). The report concludes that our understanding of the containment severe accident progression and phenomena has improved very significantly over the parts ten years and, thereby, our ability to assess containment threats, to quantify uncertainties, and to interpret the results of experiments and computer code calculations have also increased. (au).

Feb 5, 2003 ... Second thing is we're supporting the 107 Accident Investigation Team. ..... during the Columbia flight regarding the potential severity of the debris hit? .... are marching down this road to make sure that we have the right level, ...

Investigating vehicle accidents and distributing required reports. ... signs, and markings placed on or adjacent to GRC roads) and parking lot .... the severity of the hazard, permanent barricades shall be used to prevent access to an area.

May 26, 2005 ... toured the current high impact test facility in Building 4612. The Marshall Center has been ... The added equipment includes a hydrometeor impact gun, ... implementing the findings of the Columbia Accident Investigation ...

air transport accidents caused wholly or in part by problems in crew communication and coordination. ... This methodology is novel in its use of linguistic investigation of actual crew discussions and its use of ...... Title Ind Subtitle. 5. Report o.te ...

...INFORMATION: The overall safety of railroad operations has improved in...the need to review current railroad procedures and practices...advisory emphasizes the need for railroads to review and update their...preliminary investigation. The accident is still under...

In practice it happens that both a report of an accident investigation commission and court expert's opinions are under consideration during a civil or criminal case. The authors present three groups of problems that are associated with such situations, attempting to provide answers to the problems. The above-mentioned problems may be presented in the following way: may the body of evidence (inside the range of a court case) incorporate expert opinions, which were prepared for an accident investigation commission (if so--may such opinions replace evidence derived from a court expert's opinion); is it legally admissible to use findings of an accident investigation commission as evidential purpose in crime proceedings (if so--what kind of evidence should such findings represent); how should lawyers decide in case of a contradiction between an expert opinion of an accident investigation commission and a court expert's opinion. PMID:22117493

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) can be compensated through the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act. We looked at the characteristics of WMSDs in worker's compensation records and the epidemiological investigation reports from the Occupational Safety and Health Research Inst...

... useful in program coordination with other government organizations in areas of mutual interest. ..... Initiated joint FAA/NASA/NTSB special accident investigation team plan. ;9\\ Tearing, abrasion ... A:-..rrl SKI D iRACK TES'IS. ,tll.GHT TlSTIJ ...

... the investigation of the Space Shuttle Challenger accident, and also participated .... She enjoys swimming, skiing, running, movies, music, and reading Ellen's .... scientific experiments were completed in the areas of physiological sciences, ...

Calculations based upon take-off (wheels/skis), landing restrictions, range, .... of the recce flight to view areas of investigation to determine safe traverse routes, ... It houses a chamber for treatment of pressure-related diving accidents and other ...

Apr 17, 2003 ... after the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report was released last week. Photo b ... completely alters the expected climate of a geographic area. “The Gulf of Mexico, for example, ..... The 13th annual NASA Ski Week will ...

Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association, Friends of the Avalanche Center, and others. ... of terrestrial, oceanic, and atmospheric variables for the investigation of water and .... accidents. People make decisions for themselves or for others about ...

May 22, 1987 ... of Bldg. 1. The new guidelines, which prohibit smoking in public areas and. Space ... Accident. Investigation. Board future launch vehicle operations, ...... Glasstron bass/ski boat, 115hp, software, $750OBO;2nddrive,. Image- ...

Based on the results of research or investigation, this paper describes the causes of an countermeasures for unexpected accidents, such as premature, postponed or spontaneous explosions in blasting practices in China. An unexpected explosion at a blasting site or an explosive storage facility may cause the loss of life or property as well as decreasing blasting efficiency. The investigation of the causes of such accidents and preventative measures is one of the important tasks of blasting safety.

Abstract in portuguese Em estudo sobre os acidentes aeronáuticos ocorridos de 1971 à 1975 com aeronaves executivas convencionais na área do IV Comando Aéreo Regional, foram analisados diversos fatores contribuintes para esse fato. Foram examinados a época da ocorrência e o principal fator contribuinte, concluindo-se que o período do dia em que se verificou maior número de acidentes foi à tarde entre 14 e 18 h., e que o fator operacional, devido ao piloto, está associado estatisticamen (more) te com a ocorrência dos acidentes. Não foi possível comprovar maior índice de ocorrência de acidentes com referência aos meses do ano. Abstract in english Studying the aircraft accidents occurred with light planes during the period of 1971 to 1975 in the area of the IV Comar in the State of S. Paulo, Brazil, several factors related with accidents were analyzed. Among these the month and hour of the occurrence and the principal factor that contributed to the accident were studied. It was found that the majorit of the aircraft accidents occurred from 2 P.M. to 6 P.M. and that the main factor that contributed to the occurrence (more) of the accidents was linked with the pilots' attitudes. It was not possible to establish an association of the accident with the month of occurrence.

For the prevention of traffic accidents, it is important to grasp the details of actualities and causes of accidents. In the conventional procedure of accident analysis, there is only a limited level of accuracy since the mechanism of an accident is but presumed based on the testimonies of the parties involved and the damage inflicted on the vehicles. Efforts are under way at developing a drive recorder (driving state automatic recording unit) and technologies for the utilization thereof, aiming at the scientific analysis of accidents and at the reflection of the results on the improvement of automotive structures. The author visited organizations concerned in Germany and Sweden on his on-the-scene research tour during the period March 16-24, 1999. It is said that approximately 90% of traffic accidents are attributable to drivers` faults. In the backdrop of faults responsible for traffic accidents, however, it happens often that there dwells a horde of culpable factors, such as those related to automotive structures, traffic environments, operational management, etc. In addition to measures for the sake of drivers, traffic safety training and education first of all, the elucidation of what are behind such faults are indispensable. The drive recorder will collect true data and supply the details of actualities and causes and will provide important suggestions useful in the deliberation of recurrence preventing measures from the viewpoint of human error. (NEDO)

Using data from an existing industry wide accident/incident reporting system, this cross-sectional study describes the 16700 non-fatal lost-time accidental injuries that occurred in the NSW coal mining industry in the 2.5 year period between 1 July 1986 and 31 December 1988. Annual incident rates in various exposure groups were as follows: underground mine face workers 638/1000, underground mine non-face workers 411/1000, underground mine surface workers 199/1000, open cut mine workers 164/1000. Distribution of accidents by age, work experience and occupation of the injured employee, nature of the injury, part of the body injured, type of accident causing the injury, activity undertaken at the time of the accident, type of the shift, time into the shift, agency of the accident, agency of the injury, equipment involved in the accident, place of the accident, compensation cost of the injury and number of lost working days are reported. The relative importance of various environmental and personal factors is discussed. 8 figs., 19 tabs.

An investigation of the potential hazard from airborne releases of depleted uranium (DU) from the Army's M829 munitions was conducted at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory. The study included: (1) assessing the characteristics of DU oxide from an April 1983 burn test, (2) postulating conditions of specific accident situations, and (3) reviewing laboratory and theoretical studies of oxidation and airborne transport of DU from accidents. Results of the experimental measurements of the DU oxides were combined with atmospheric transport models and lung and kidney exposure data to help establish reasonable exclusion boundaries to protect personnel and the public at an accident site. 121 references, 44 figures, 30 tables.

The reactor accident in Fukushima Daiichi caused by one of the heaviest earthquakes in recent history and the disastrous tsunami at 11 March 2011 has, especially in Germany, aroused again the discussion about the risks of the peaceful use of nuclear energy and the safety of nuclear power plants. Within this context it is also discussed how the operating company and the regulator authorities react, which actions they take to secure people and how believable their statements are. Taking this into account it seems reasonable to investigate, on the basis of this accident, how useful the tools, developed after the Chernobyl accident, can be applied to assist the decision makers. (orig.)

A recursive model of accident investigation is proposed by exploiting earlier work in systems thinking. Safety analysts can understand better the underlying causes of decision or action flaws by probing into the patterns of breakdown in the organization of safety. For this deeper analysis, a cybernetic model of organizational factors and a control model of human processes have been integrated in this article (i.e., the viable system model and the extended control model). The joint VSM-ECOM framework has been applied to a case study to help safety practitioners with the analysis of patterns of breakdown with regard to how operators and organizations manage goal conflicts, monitor work progress, recognize weak signals, align goals across teams, and adapt plans on the fly. The recursive accident representation brings together several organizational issues (e.g., the dilemma of autonomy versus compliance, or the interaction between structure and strategy) and addresses how operators adapt to challenges in their environment by adjusting their modes of functioning and recovery. Finally, it facilitates the transfer of knowledge from diverse incidents and near misses within similar domains of practice. PMID:22664695

In ultra-high burnup of the power reactor, it is an essential problem to develop the cladding with excellent durability. First, development history and approach of the safety assessment of Zircaloy for the high burnup fuel were summarized in the report. Second, the basic evaluation and investigation were carried out on the material with high practicability in order to select the candidate materials for the ultra-high burnup fuel. In addition, the basic research on modification technology of the cladding surface was carried out from the viewpoint of the addition of safety margin as a cladding. From the development history of the zirconium alloy including the Zircaloy, it is hard to estimate the results of in-pile test from those of the conventional corrosion test (out-pile test). Therefore, the development of the new testing technology that can simulate the actual environment and the elucidation of the corrosion-controlling factor of the cladding are desired. In cases of RIA (Reactivity Initiated Accident) and LOCA (Loss of Coolant Accident), it seems that the loss of ductility in zirconium alloys under heavy irradiation and boiling of high temperature water restricts the extension of fuel burnup. From preliminary evaluation on the high corrosion-resistance materials (austenitic stainless steel, iron or nickel base superalloys, titanium alloy, niobium alloy, vanadium alloy and ferritic stainless steel), stabilized austenitic stainless steels with a capability of future improvement and high-purity niobium alloys with a expectation of the good corrosion resistance were selected as candidate materials of ultra-high burnup cladding. (author)

The internationally reported nuclear criticality accident at JCO in Tokaimura, Japan has further eroded public confidence in nuclear energy, its related facilities and the (Japanese) government’s ability to handle such a crisis. The JCO accident marked the sixth nuclear-related incident since 1995. The existing state of “safety culture” is being questioned and re-evaluated at a national level. In this work the safety culture associated with engineered systems (ES) such as the automobile, commercial airplane and nuclear power plants (NPP) are evaluated based on a scale-analysis (SA), via proposition of two fundamental parameters called eigenmetrics. The identified eigenmetrics are time- (?) and number-scales (N) describing both ES and human factors, at the individual and/or societal levels. The SA approach is appropriate because human perception of risk (POR), perception of benefit (POB) and level of (technology) acceptance (LOA) are inherently subjective, therefore “fuzzy” and rarely quantifiable in exact magnitude. POR expressed in terms of the psychometric factors “dread risk” and “unknown risk”, contain both time- and number-scale elements. The JCO accident, as well as auto-fatalities, commercial airline accidents and hypothetical NPP accidents are characterized in terms of ?, N and two additional derived parameters of relevance, N? and N/?. We contend that LOA infers a POB at least two orders of magnitude larger than POR. The “amplification” influence of mass-media is also deduced as being 100 to 1000 fold the actual number of fatalities/serious injuries in a nuclear-related accident.   

The basic approach to the VVER safety management is based on the defence-in-depth principle the main idea of which is the multiplicity of physical barriers on the way of dangerous propagation on the one hand and the diversity of measures to protect each of them on the other hand. The main events of severe accident with loss of core cooling at NPP with WWER can be represented as a sequence of NPP states, in which each subsequent state is more severe than the previous one. The following sequence of states of the accident progression is supposed to be realistic and the most probable: -) loss of efficient core cooling; -) core melting, relocation of the molten core to the lower head and molten pool formation, -) reactor vessel damage, and -) containment damage and fission products release. The objectives of accident management at the design basis stage, the determining factors and appropriate determining parameters of processes are formulated in this paper. The same approach is used for the estimation of processes parameters at beyond design basis accident progression. The accident management goals and the determining factors and parameters are also listed in that case which is characterized by the loss of integrity of the fuel cladding. The accident management goal at the stage of core melt relocation implies the need for an efficient core-catcher.

Loss of control (LOC) is one of the largest contributors to fatal aircraft accidents worldwide. LOC accidents are complex in that they can result from numerous causal and contributing factors acting alone or (more often) in combination. These LOC hazards include vehicle impairment conditions, external disturbances; vehicle upset conditions, and inappropriate crew actions or responses. Hence, there is no single intervention strategy to prevent these accidents. NASA previously defined a comprehensive research and technology development approach for reducing LOC accidents and an associated integrated system concept. Onboard technologies for improved situation awareness, guidance, and control for LOC prevention and recovery are needed as part of this approach. Such systems should include: LOC hazards effects detection and mitigation; upset detection, prevention and recovery; and mitigation of combined hazards. NASA is conducting research in each of these areas. This paper provides an overview of this research, including the near-term LOC focus and associated analysis, as well as preliminary flight system architecture.

Safety calculations for remaining radiation after reactor accident at different locations in townhouses and apartment buildings are presented. The safety factor for one and two story townhouses was calculated to be 0.4 for wooden houses and 0.2 for stone houses. The safety factors for six story apartment buildings were 0.01-0.12, depending on location.

Wind shear is a serious safety hazard to commercial aviation. Low level wind shear (downburst) was the cause of the takeoff accident in New Orleans, July 9, 1982, and the landing accident in Dallas, Aug. 2, 1985. Shear layer instability is a common cause of clear air turbulence (CAT) at cruising altitudes. A number of encounters with severe CAT, in which passengers were injured, have recently occurred (Hannibal, MO, April 1981; Morton, WY, July 1982; etc.). Improved accident investigation techniques can lead to a better understanding of the nature of the wind environment associated with downbursts and CAT and to better detection and avoidance procedures. For the past several years, NASA-Ames has worked closely with the National Transportation Safety Board in the investigation of wind related accidents.

Motorcyclists tend to be more vulnerable to injuries than those using other motorised vehicles and this may act synergistically with the complexity of conflicting movements between vehicles and motorcycles to increase injury severity in a junction-type accident. A junction-type crash can be more severe to motorcyclists than a non-junction case due to the fact that some of the injurious crashes such as angle crash commonly occur. Previous studies have applied crash prediction models to investigate influential factors on the occurrences of different crashes among motorised vehicles but statistical models of motorcyclist injury severity resulting from different collision types have rarely been developed. This paper develops injury severity models for different collision-types conditioned on c...

The present research investigates antecedents of safety performance in warehouses. Specifically, we study what factors influence the number of accidents that have occurred in the past three and a half years in 78 Dutch warehouses. Based on prior research in (behavioral) operations management, safety management, and organizational behavior, we identify hazard reducing systems (HRS), safety-specific transformational leadership (SSTL), and safety consciousness (SC) as potential predictors of safety performance. Path analysis on data from a survey among 78 warehouse managers and 1033 warehouse employees shows, in line with prior research, that HRS is a strong predictor of safety performance. Importantly, our results also suggest that SSTL may be an even more important predictor of safety perfo...

Despite widespread use, the efficacy of epidural corticosteroid injections (ESI) for osteoarthritis-associated neck or radicular pain remains uncertain, so even rare serious complications enter into discussions about use. However, various factors impede investigation and publication of serious adverse events. To that end, we developed new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for spinal cord white matter quantification and used the best available physiological tests to characterize a cervical spinal cord lesion caused by inadvertent intramedullary injection of Depo-Medrol. A 29-year-old woman with mild cervical osteoarthritis had 2years of headache and neck pain (concussion and whiplash) after 2 minor motor vehicle accidents. During C5-6 ESI, she developed new left-sided motor and se...

Slug impact is considered as a potential risk for PWR power plants in case of a severe accident. The goal of the reduced-scale BERDA tests is to quantify the maximum mechanical energy that the upper head of a PWR is able to withstand. The transfer of the experimental results to reactor dimensions uses scale factors based on similarity laws whose validity is checked with the FLIPPER mock-ups. The influence of the slug material is investigated with the SKIPPY mock-ups. The size, thermal and strain-rate effects are studied in the frame of the LISSAC European program and with the RUPTHER and FASTHER tests. In order to deepen the understanding of the experimental results and to extrapolate them to other combinations of parameters, corresponding theoretical and numerical work is performed.

The results of an investigation of human factors engineering and human reliability applications to LNG release prevention and control are reported. The report includes a discussion of possible human error contributions to previous LNG accidents and incidents, and a discussion of generic HF considerations for peakshaving plants. More specific recommendations for improving HF practices at peakshaving plants are offered based on visits to six facilities. The HF aspects of the recently promulgated DOT regulations are reviewed, and recommendations are made concerning how these regulations can be implemented utilizing standard HF practices. Finally, the integration of HF considerations into overall system safety is illustrated by a presentation of human error probabilities applicable to LNG operations and by an expanded fault tree analysis which explicitly recognizes man-machine interfaces.

Since summer 1987, the distribution of radiocaesium in three different coniferous forest soils in South Bavaria and the radiocaesium concentration in mushrooms has been investigated. To describe the uptake rates, a transfer factor soil-fungi, defined as caesium activity concentration in the fruiting body of fungi to that in the organic soil horizon, is suggested. This is because mushrooms take up most of their nutrients from these layers and most of the radiocaesium from the Chernobyl accident is still present in the organic horizons. Also the [sup 137]Cs/[sup 134]Cs ratio in mushrooms and O-horizons is very similar. During the last five years, no significant decrease of the [sup 137]Cs activity in the fruiting bodies studied has been observed. (Author).

We report a general description of quasi-phase-matched parametric process in nonlinear photonic crystals (NLPC) by extending the conventional X-ray diffraction theory in solids. Under the virtual wave approximation, phase-matching resonance is equivalent to the diffraction of the scattered virtual wave. Hence a modified NLPC Ewald construction can be built up, which illustrates the nature of the accident for the diffraction of the virtual wave in NLPC and further reveals the complete set of diffractions of the virtual wave for both of the air-dielectric and dielectric-dielectric contacts. We show the two basic linear sequences, the anti-stacking and para-stacking linear sequences, in one-dimension (1D) NLPC and present a general rule for multiple phase-matching resonances in 1D NLPC. The parameters affecting the NLPC structure factor are investigated, which indicate that not only the Ewald construction but also the relative NLPC atom size together determine whether a diffraction of the virtual wave can occur ...

Behavior models have provided an accident proneness concept based on life change unit (LCU) factors. This paper describes the development of a Korean Life Change Unit (KLCU) model for workers and managers in fatal accident areas, as well as an evaluation of its application. Results suggest that death of parents is the highest stress-giving factor for employees of small and medium sized industries a rational finding the viewpoint of Korean culture. The next stress-giving factors were shown to be the death of a spouse or loved ones, followed by the death of close family members, the death of close friends, changes of family members' health, unemployment, and jail terms. It turned out that these factors have a serious effect on industrial accidents and work-related diseases. The death of parents and close friends are ranked higher in the KLCU model than that of Western society. Crucial information for industrial accident prevention in real fields will be provided and the provided information will be useful for safety management programs related to accident prevention.   

CRIEPI decided to develop the safety evaluation system to investigate the safety level of the industrial sites due to questionnaires of organizational climate, safety managements, and workers' safety consciousness to workers. This report describes the questionnaire survey to apply to the domestic nuclear power plant for using obtained results as a fundamental data in order to construct the safety evaluation system. This system will be used for promoting safety culture in organizations of nuclear power plants. The questionnaire survey was conducted to 14 nuclear power stations for understanding the present status relating to safety issues. This questionnaire involves 122 items classified into following three categories: (1) safety awareness and behavior of plant personnel; (2) safety management; (3) organizational climate, based on the model considering contributing factor groups to safety culture. Obtained results were analyzed by statistical method to prepare functions of evaluation. Additionally, by applying a multivariate analysis, it was possible to extract several crucial factors influencing safety performance and to find a comprehensive safety indicator representing total organizational safety level. Significant relations were identified between accident rates (both labor accidents and facility failures) and above comprehensive safety indicator. Next, 122 questionnaire items were classified into 20 major safety factors to grasp the safety profiles of each site. This profile is considered as indicating the features of each site and also indicating the direction of progress for improvement of safety situation in the site. These findings can be reflected in developing the safety evaluation system, by confirming the validity of the evaluation method and giving specific functions. (author)

Analyses have performed on the severe accident response of four 90 MWth reactor cores, all designed using the metallic fuel of the Integrated Fast Reactor (IFR) concept. The four core designs have different sodium void worth, in the range of {minus}3$ to 5$. The purpose of the investigation is to determine the improvement in safety, as measured by the severe accident consequences, that can be achieved from a reduction in the sodium void worth for reactor cores designed using the IFR concept.

The Semiscale experimental program conducted by EG G Idaho, Inc. has been an important contributor to evaluating the behavior of pressurized water reactor (PWR) systems during hypothesized accident sequences. The wide range of accident conditions covered by the tests make them a unique integral source of data for qualifying computer codes used to predict the progression of accidents. The most recent results released from the Semiscale program investigated the anticipated PWR response to a small-break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA) without high pressure injection. The experiment of interest (Semiscale MOD-2C S-NH-1) represents a serious challenge to any computer code since all major modes of natural circulation were observed: single phase, two phase, and reflux. In this investigation, MAAP-DOE was used to compare with the Semiscale S-NH-1 test results. The MAAP-DOE code incorporates the physical models for the many phenomena that could occur in light water reactor severe accidents to analyze the response of the primary system, the containment, and the adjacent plant buildings to these postulated accidents. This investigation includes a comparison of the primary system and limited secondary side results since the Semiscale apparatus did not attempt to represent the containment or adjacent plant buildings of a commercial PWR.

Defense nuclear facilities have operated for forty years with a well-defined mission to produce weapons components for the nation. With the end of the cold war, the facilities` missions have changed to one of decontamination and decommissioning. Off-normal operations and use of new procedures, such as will exist during these activities, have often been among the causal factors in previous criticality accidents at process facilities. This paper explores the similarities in causal factors in previous criticality accidents to the conditions existing in current defense nuclear facilities undergoing the transition to decontamination and decommissioning. Practices to reduce the risk to workers, the public, and the environment are recommended.

Loss of control has become the leading cause of jet fatalities worldwide. Aside from their frequency of occurrence, accidents resulting from loss of aircraft control seize the public s attention by yielding large numbers of fatalities in a single event. In response to the rising threat to aviation safety, NASA's Aviation Safety Program has conducted a study of the loss of control problem. This study gathered four types of information pertaining to loss of control accidents: (1) statistical data; (2) individual accident reports that cite loss of control as a contributing factor; (3) previous meta-analyses of loss of control accidents; and (4) inputs solicited from aircraft manufacturers, air carriers, researchers, and other industry stakeholders. Using these information resources, the study team identified causal factors that were cited in the greatest number of loss of control accidents, and which were emphasized most by industry stakeholders. For each causal factor that was linked to loss of control, the team solicited ideas about what solutions are required and future research efforts that could potentially help avoid their occurrence or mitigate their consequences when they occurred in flight.

The probabilistic safety analysis of the nuclear power plant Goesgen includes internal and externally triggered accident scenarios. The frequency of accidents is based as far as possible on a plant-specific probabilistic safety assessment data base which includes the plant, system and components operating experience of the power plant in its first 12 years of operation. The original analysis was restricted to the investigation of accidents which can be triggered by full-load operation. The analysis was later extended to the level-2 probabilistic safety assessment in which conditions for release of radioactive materials are defined and the quantity released are estimated as well as of accidents with a plant at shut-down. (author) 5 figs., 2 tabs., 8 refs.

Introduction: Motor Vehicle Accidents(MVA) are the main attendees of accident emergency unit in UMMC. Assessment by doctor found that some ot them used alcohol/substance prior to MVA event. They also found to have abnormal sleep pattern and ''emotional problems'' that contribute to MVA and injuries. Yet, limited study available in Malaysia that explore the relationship between sleep disorders, substance use, psychiatric morbidity and MVA events. Objectives: To investigate the prevalence and associations of sleep disoders, substance use and psychiatric comorbidity among attendees in accident emergency unit, UMMC. Methods: This is a cross-sectional hospital based study that examine all MVA attendees age 18 and above with written consent in accident emergency unit UMMC from 30 September to 30...

Through a compressible multi-component CFD model, this paper investigates the characteristics of graphite oxidation corrosion in the HTR-10 core under the postulated accident of gas duct rupture. In this accident, air in the steam generator cavity would enter into the core after pressure equilibrium is achieved between the core and the cavity, which is also called as the air ingress accident. Oxygen in the air would react with graphite on pebble surface, subsequently resulting in oxidation corrosion and challenging fuel integrity. In this paper, characteristics of graphite oxidation corrosion during the air ingress accident can be reasonably captured, including distributions of graphite corrosion amount on the different cross-sections, time histories of local corrosion amount at the monito...

The majority of this paper investigates thermal-hydraulic characteristics in a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) core under steady-state and accident conditions through a transient three-dimensional compressible CFD model. With the pebble-bed geometry, the HTR-10 core is selected for the present simulations. A loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) with double-ended rupture of a gas duct tube is assumed and the core power would decay following this accident. In this LOCA, air in the steam generator cavity would enter the core via diffusion and natural convection mechanisms. Following air ingress into the core, O2 would react with graphite on pebble surface, causing the generation of CO2 and CO. The main thermal-hydraulic characteristics during this air ingress accident include O2 ingress...

The history of high consequence accidents is rich with events wherein the actions, or inaction, of humans was critical to the sequence of events preceding the accident. Moreover, it has been reported that human error may contribute to 80% of accidents, if not more (dougherty and Fragola, 1988). Within the safety community, this reality is widely recognized and there is a substantially greater awareness of the human contribution to system safety today than has ever existed in the past. Despite these facts, and some measurable reduction in accident rates, when accidents do occur, there is a common lament. No matter how hard we try, we continue to have accidents. Accompanying this lament, there is often bewilderment expressed in statements such as, ''There's no explanation for why he/she did what they did''. It is believed that these statements are a symptom of inadequacies in how they think about humans and their role within technological systems. In particular, while there has never been a greater awareness of human factors, conceptual models of human involvement in engineered systems are often incomplete and in some cases, inaccurate.

Houses may accommodate environmental barriers that pose a risk for older people. This study aimed to identify the main characteristics of the dwellings of the elderly, and to assess the impact of those on home accidents. In that cross-sectional study, 3,277 people over 60 years of age living in Aydin province of Turkey were evaluated in December 2004, using a questionnaire and a home safety check list. The results indicated that 38.6% of the elderly have had any type of home accident within the last 12 months, and the most common type of accident was falls (31.9% of all accidents). Possible causes of accidents were analyzed and the houses were graded based on two different types of safety point scales (SP): SP1 for “house characteristics” and SP2 for “personal opinions.” According to SP1, 22.7% of the houses were defined as in poor condition while this percentage was 20.1% according to SP2. Poor housing conditions, being female, living alone, having a chronic illness, physical and hearing disability, wearing eyeglasses, inactivity, use of assistive devices and more than four drugs were found to be associated with having a home accident. The environmental hazards and factors contributing to accidents or injuries were well-known. However, the information about home accidents in the elderly and the impact of dwelling characteristics was limited. This study was considered to be helpful to provide a new perspective on this subject. More studies are needed using the home safety check lists to collect additional quantitative data.   

Sedco Forex is a drilling contractor that operates approximately 80 rigs on land and offshore worldwide. The HSE management system developed by Sedco Forex is an effort to prevent accidents and minimize losses. An integral part of the HSE management system is establishing risk profiles and thereby minimizing risk and reducing loss exposures. Risk profiles are established based on accident reports, potential accident reports and other risk identification reports (RIR) like the Du Pont STOP system. A rig could fill in as many as 30 accident reports, 30 potential accident reports and 500 STOP cards each year. Statistics are important for an HSE management system, since they are indicators of success or failure of HSE systems. It is however difficult to establish risk profiles based on statistical information, unless tools are available at the rig site to aid with the analysis. Risk profiles are then used to identify important areas in the operation that may require specific attention to minimize the loss exposure. Programs to address the loss exposure can then be identified and implemented with either a local or corporate approach. In January 1995, Sedco Forex implemented a uniform HSE Database on all the rigs worldwide. In one year companywide, the HSE database would contain information on approximately 500 accident and potential accident reports, and 10,000 STOP cards. This paper demonstrates the salient features of the database and describes how it has helped in establishing key risk profiles. It also shows a recent example of how risk profiles have been established at the corporate level and used to identify the key contributing factors to hands and finger injuries. Based on this information, a campaign was launched to minimize the frequency of occurrence and associated loss attributed to hands and fingers accidents.

A simple dosimeter made of a sulfur tablet, bare and cadmium covered indium foils and a cadmium covered copper foil has been modeled using MCNP5. Studies of the model without phantom or other confounding factors have shown that the cross sections and fluence-to-dose factors generated by the Monte Carlo method agree with those generated by analytic expressions for the high energy component. The threshold cross sections for the detectors on a phantom were calculated. The resulting doses assigned agree well with exposures made to three critical assemblies. In this study the angular dependence on a phantom is studied and compared with measurements taken on the GODIVA reactor. The dosimeter positions on the phantom are facing the source, on the back and the side. In previous papers the modeling of a simple dosimeter made of a sulfur tablet, bare and cadmium covered indium foils and a cadmium covered copper foil has been modeled using MCNP5. The conclusion made was that most of the neutron dose from criticality assemblies results from the high energy neutron fluences determined by the sulfur and indium detectors. The results using doses measured from the GODIVA, SHEBA, and bare and lead shielded SILENE reactors confirmed this. The angular dependence of an accident dosemeter is of interest in evaluating the exposure of personnel. To investigate this effect accident dosemeters were placed on a phantom and exposed to the GODIVA reactor at phantom orientations of 0{sup o}, 45{sup o}, 90{sup o}, 135{sup o}, and 180{sup o} to the assembly center line.

Background: This study sets out to identify risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a road traffic accident with a view to improving prevention. Methods: The study used a prospective cohort of road traffic accident casualties. All subjects over 15 years of age were recruited in the course of an interview conducted while they were receiving care in a hospital of the Rhone area administrative departement. Six months after their accident, they answered a self-administered postal questionnaire that included the Post-traumatic Check-List Scale (PCLS) in order to evaluate PTSD. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to compare those subjects with a PCLS score of 44 or over with those with a lower score, in order to identify factors that might be associated w...

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the association between organisational factors and accidents among employees on the Norwegian continental shelf. A self-administered survey among offshore petroleum personnel was conducted in the spring of 1990. The survey drew respondents from five companies and eight platforms. The response rate was 92 % (N = 915). Substantial correlations were found between management and employee commitment and involvement in safety work, social support, attitudes towards safety measures, the personnel's satisfaction-dissatisfaction with the safety and contingency measures and accident frequency. Employee satisfaction-dissatisfaction was associated with injury rates, and also with other organizational factors. The credibility of the theory that employee perception of safety and contingency measures mirrors the status of accident prevention work was enhanced

INTRODUCTION: Prescribing errors are a major cause of patient safety incidents. Understanding the underlying factors is essential in developing interventions to address this problem. This study aimed to investigate the perceived causes of prescribing errors among foundation (junior) doctors in Scotland. METHODS: In eight Scottish hospitals, data on prescribing errors were collected by ward pharmacists over a 14-month period. Foundation doctors responsible for making a prescribing error were interviewed about the perceived causes. Interview transcripts were analysed using content analysis and categorised into themes previously identified under Reason's Model of Accident Causation and Human Error. RESULTS: 40 prescribers were interviewed about 100 specific errors. Multiple perceived causes for all types of error were identified and were categorised into five categories of error-producing conditions, (environment, team, individual, task and patient factors). Work environment was identified as an important aspect by all doctors, especially workload and time pressures. Team factors included multiple individuals and teams involved with a patient, poor communication, poor medicines reconciliation and documentation and following incorrect instructions from other members of the team. A further team factor was the assumption that another member of the team would identify any errors made. The most frequently noted individual factors were lack of personal knowledge and experience. The main task factor identified was poor availability of drug information at admission and the most frequently stated patient factor was complexity. CONCLUSIONS: This study has emphasised the complex nature of prescribing errors, and the wide range of error-producing conditions within hospitals including the work environment, team, task, individual and patient. Further work is now needed to develop and assess interventions that address these possible causes in order to reduce prescribing error rates. PMID:23112288

In the early morning of Dec. 16, 1991, a severe accident occurred when a passenger vehicle traveling in the wrong direction collided with a tractor trailer carrying 24 unirradiated nuclear fuel assemblies in 12 containers on Interstate I-91 in Springfield, Massachusetts. The purpose of this report is to document the mechanical circumstances of the severe accident, confirm the nature and quantity of the radioactive materials involved, and assess the physical environment to which the containers were exposed and the response of the containers and their contents. The report consists of five major sections. The first section describes the circumstances and conditions of the accident and the finding of facts. The second describes the containers, the unirradiated nuclear fuel assemblies, and the tie down arrangement used for the trailer. The third describes the damage sustained during the accident to the tractor, trailer, containers, and unirradiated nuclear fuel assemblies. The fourth evaluates the accident environment and its effects on the containers and their contents. The final section gives conclusions derived from the analysis and fact finding investigation. During this severe accident, only minor injuries occurred, and at no time was the public health and safety at risk.

The Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) was actively involved in a variety of technical supports and cooperative activities, such as advice on terminating the criticality condition, contamination checks of the residents and consultation services for the residents, as emergency response actions to the criticality accident at the uranium processing facility operated by the JCO Co. Ltd., which occurred on September 30, 1999. These activities were carried out in collaborative ways by the JAERI staff from the Tokai Research Establishment, Naka Fusion Research Establishment, Oarai Research Establishment, and Headquarter Office in Tokyo. As well, the JAERI was engaged in the post-accident activities such as identification of accident causes, analyses of the criticality accident, and dose assessment of exposed residents, to support the Headquarter for Accident Countermeasures of the Science and Technology Agency (STA), the Accident Investigation Committee and the Health Control Committee of the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan (NSC). This report compiles the activities, that the JAERI has conducted to date, including the discussions on measures for terminating the criticality condition, evaluation of the fission number, radiation monitoring in the environment, dose assessment, analyses of criticality dynamics. (author)

The main effort in the present study contributes to investigating the safety margins by analyzing the KALIMER station blackout accident. Natural circulation becomes the main heat transfer mechanism. The flow depends mostly on pump's halving time, friction factor for the wire-wrapped rod bundles in the core, and heat transfer coefficient. Therefore, physical models concerned with heat transfer in both pipe internals (IHX/DHX tube sides) and tube bundles (core, IHX/DHX shell sides), including the core wire-wrapped rod bundles, are also to be assessed in the study. In results, the heat transfer coefficient currently featured in SSC-K for an IHX rod bundle has been found acceptable. The heat transfer coefficient used for the core rod bundle, however, has not shown suitability and thus an alternative one has been proposed. Meanwhile, the friction factor model in SSC-K has not shown a prominent discrepancy in prediction trend but it has not been backed by an enough theoretical basis so that it has been replaced by the Cheng and Todreas model. An assessment matrix has been made to analyze systematically the effects of those parameters affecting on the conservatism of the safety analysis, and the matrix is constituted with the average value and the upper/lower limits in the correlation's applicable ranges. The preliminary calculation has shown negligible effect on the fuel temperature, while the pump halving time and the friction factor for the wire-wrapped rod bundle in the core have affected on the analysis results.

The growth of laser development & technology has been remarkable. Unfortunately, a number of traps or obstacles to laser safety have also developed with that growth. The goal of this article is to highlight those traps, in the hope that an aware laser user will avoid them. These traps have been the cause or contributing factor of many a preventable laser accident.

Abstract in english Human injuries caused by South American porcupines (in Portuguese, ouriço-cacheiro) are rare. This study reports severe hand injuries provoked by the body spines of the animal in a human and discusses the circumstances involved in the accident, with emphasis on environmental factors.

This report aims to present the final results of the descriptive statistical, in-depth and risk analysis performed within the first TRACE Work Package, 'WP1-Road Users', in order to identify the main problems and the magnitude of these problems related to accident causation and risk factors for the ...

This article analyzes the occurrence of electric shocks in houses and its relationship with the bad habits of energy consumption in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, identifying the factors that deflagrate them, and generating indicators that allow preventive actions for combating the accidents in homes.

High velocity accidents can lead to major injuries – long bone fractures, abdominal trauma, pelvic fractures and chest injuries. These injuries can act as distracting factors during the initial assessment of a polytrauma patient and innocuous but significant smaller injuries can be missed. We presen...

This paper describes the results of an independent analysis of the primary and contributory causes of aviation accidents in Canada between 1996 and 2003. The purpose of the study was to assess the comparative frequency of a range of causal factors in the ...

AIMS—A case-control study was performed to evaluate soft contact lens (SCL) wear modality as a risk factor for microbial keratitis.?METHODS—Contact lens wearers presenting as new patients to Moorfields Eye Hospital accident and emergency department during a 12 month period completed a self administe...

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded in a 1980 study that the bush pilot syndrome was a major factor contributing to a non fatal air taxi accident rate four times higher and a fatal rate more than double the rest of the United States. During...

This study aims at investigating the influence of the Young modulus variability on the mechanical behaviour of a nuclear containment vessel in case of a loss of cooling agent accident and under the assumption of an elastic behaviour. To achieve this investigation, the Monte-Carlo Method is carried o...

  A special committee of “Research on the analysis methods for accident consequence of nuclear fuel facilities (NFFs)” was organized by the Atomic Energy Society of Japan (AESJ) under the entrustment of Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). The committee aims to research on the state-of-the-art consequence analysis method for the Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) of NFFs, such as fuel reprocessing and fuel fabrication facilities. The objectives of this research are to obtain information useful for establishing quantitative performance objectives and to demonstrate risk-informed regulation through qualifying issues needed to be resolved for applying PSA to NFFs. The research activities of the committee were mainly focused on the consequence analysis method for postulated accidents with potentially large consequences in NFFs, e.g., events of criticality, spill of molten glass, hydrogen explosion, boiling of radioactive solution and fire (including the rapid decomposition of TBP complexes), resulting in the release of radioactive materials to the environment. The results of the research were summarized in a series of six reports, which consist of a review report and five technical ones. In this report, the evaluation methods of criticality accident, such as simplified methods, one-point reactor kinetics codes and quasi-static method, were investigated and their features were summarized to provide information useful for the safety evaluation of NFFs. In addition, several trial evaluations were performed for a hypothetical scenario of criticality accident using the investigated methods, and their results were compared. The release fraction of volatile fission products in a criticality accident was also investigated.   

...500 for certain railroad accidents/incidents involving...rail equipment accidents/incidents were...reported, with small railroads reporting 368...rail equipment accidents/incidents were...reported, with small railroads reporting...

The phenomenon of the pressurized thermal shock on the reactor pressure vessel is expected to occur in the case of such an accident as the small loss of the coolant accident in the PWR nuclear plant. In order to study the structural integrity of the reactor pressure vessel under the pressurized thermal shock, the cleavage thermal shock fracture experiment was conducted here using an initially corner-cracked nozzle type specimen made of the pressure vessel steel A508 class 3. The fracture mechanics analysis was performed to assess the crack behaviors in the experiment using the time dependent stress intensity factor deduced from the three-dimensional J integral with the thermal effect. (orig.).

This document presents information essential to understanding the risk associated with inter-system loss-of-coolant accidents (ISLOCAs). The methodology developed and presented in this document provides a state-of-the-art method for identifying and evaluating plant-specific hardware designs, human performance issues, and accident consequence factors relevant to the prediction of the ISLOCA risk. This ISLOCA methodology was developed and then applied to a Babcock and Wilcox (B&W) nuclear power plant. The results from this application are described in detail. For this particular B&W reference plant, the assessment indicated that the probability of a severe ISLOCA is approximately 2.2E-06/reactor-year.

Certain factors such as arcing between the contact wire and pantograph contact strip cause contact strips wear. Once local wear occurs, step-shaped wear patterns are highly likely developed. A contact strip with this step-shaped wear may lead to accidents such as contact wire breakage. To prevent such accidents, the authors have developed a method for detecting step-shaped wear on contact strips by measuring the vibration of the contact wire. This paper describes this new method and some results of experimental testing.   

This brochure contains an engineering activity for upper elementary, middle school, and high school students that examines the transportation of radioactive waste. The activity is designed to inform students about the existence of radioactive waste and its transportation to disposal sites. Students experiment with methods to contain the waste and consider factors such as accidents, leaks, and ease of transport. They create and test a package designed to contain waste and withstand accidents. The outer layer of the "cask" is made from 2-liter soda bottles. An egg simulates the waste. Students design their own internal packaging system. Student and teacher instructions are included. (LZ)

Based on level 2 analyses in IPE (Individual Plant Examination) submittals accident progression, perspectives were obtained for all containment types. These perspectives consisted of insights on containment failure modes, releases therein, and factors responsible for the results. To illustrate the types of perspectives acquired on severe accident progresssion, insights obtained for (BWR) Mark I containments are discussed here. Mark I containments have high strength but small volumes and rely on pressure suppression pools to condense steam released from the reactor coolant system during an accident. Accidents causing structural failure of the drywell shortly after the core debris melts through the reactor vessel were found to be dominant contributors to risk. Importance of individual containment failure mechanisms depends on plant features and in some cases on modeling assumptions; however the following mechanisms were found important: drywell shell melt-through caused by direct contact with core debris and drywell failure caused by rapid pressure/temperature pulses at time of vessel melt-through. Drywell failure caused by gradual pressure/temperature buildup due to gases and steam released during core/concrete interactions is important in some IPEs. In other IPEs vent was an important contributor. However, accidents that bypass containment (eg interfacing systems LOCA)or involve containment isolation failure were not important contributors to the CDF in any of the IPEs for Mark I plants. These accidents are also not important to risk (even though they can involve large fission product release) because their frequencies of occurrence are so much lower than frequencies of early structural failure caused by other accidents that dominate the CDF.

Severe accident research at JAERI aims at the confirmation of the safety margin, the quantification of the associated risk, and the evaluation of the effectiveness of the accident management measures of the nuclear power reactors, in accordance with the government five-year nuclear safety research program. JAERI has been conducting a wide range of severe accident research activities both in experiment and analysis, such as melt coolant interactions, fission product behaviors in coolant system, containment integrity and assessment of accident management measures. Molten core/coolant interaction and in-vessel molten coolability have been investigated in ALPHA Program. MUSE experiments in ALPHA Program has been conducted for the precise energy measurement due to steam explosion in melt jet and stratified geometries. In VEGA Program, which aims at FP release from irradiated fuels at high temperature and high pressure under various atmospheric conditions, the facility construction is almost completed. In WIND Program the revaporization of aerosols due to decay heating and also the integrity of the piping from this heat source are being investigated. Code development activities are in progress for an integrated source term analysis with THALES, fission product behaviors with ART, steam explosion with JASMINE, and in-vessel debris behaviors with CAMP. The experimental analyses and reactor application have made progress by participating international standard problem and code comparison exercises, along with the use of introduced codes, such as SCDAP/RELAP5 and MELCOR. The outcome of the severe accident research will be utilized for the evaluation of more reliable severe accident scenarios, detailed implementation of the accident management measures, and also for the future reactor development, basically through the sophisticated use of verified analytical tools. (author)

This study investigated two major types of motorcycle accidents: lateral impact at intersections and head-on collision. Insight was gained into the impact kinematics and head loadings from different driver's positions, fuel tank shapes, handlebar types and impact locations in accident simulations. The protection afforded by helmets was investigated in lab tests. The tests showed that ECE Regulation 22 causes helmets to be produced with extremely stiff energy-absorption zones, resulting in high head loads. Tests on alternative materials indicated that there are ways to improve helmet's protection potential in the direction of improved effectiveness. Further development work is required before facial impact protection can be considered optimal.

This paper discusses the core damage frequency (CDF) insights gained by analyzing the results of the Individual Plant Examinations (IPES) for two groups of plants: boiling water reactor (BWR) 3/4 plants with Reactor Core Isolation Cooling systems, and Westinghouse 4-loop plants. Wide variability was observed for the plant CDFs and for the CDFs of the contributing accident classes. On average, transients-with loss of injection, station blackout sequences, and transients with loss of decay heat removal are important contributors for the BWR 3/4 plants, while transients, station blackout sequences, and loss-of-coolant accidents are important for the Westinghouse 4-loop plants. The key factors that contribute to the variability in the results are discussed. The results are often driven by plant-specific design and operational characteristics, but differences in modeling approaches are also important for some accident classes.

In recent years, NFRT(Negative Flux Rate Trip) is eliminated in order to prevent the reactor trip during dropped rod accident in domestic Westinghouse type plants. The theoretical background of dropped rod accident is introduced and the correlations related F{sub {delta}}{sub H} are verified for KORI unit 1 which is 2-loop plant. The results show that the default line of Hot Channel Factor Reduction Rate(HCFRR) for low level leakage loading pattern isn't conservative. So, new correlation is generated and applied to the analysis of the dropped rod accident. The minimum pre-drop F{sub {delta}}{sub H} is decreased about 2.6% because of NFRT elimination and new HCFRR correlation. According to the sensitivity study on compensation for the reduction, the Rod Insertion Limit(RIL) is shifted 14 steps upward. So, the minimum pre-drop F{sub {delta}}{sub H} is increased about 2.5%. The effect of RIL change on plant operation is additionally evaluated.

Background In traffic accidents, eye injuries occur as isolated or with polytrauma. They may involve just one eye, but simultaneous injuries to both eyes do happen occasionally. The aim of our paper was to reveal the risk factors, in an effort to reduce the number of such accidents and to prevent bilateral ocular damage. Methods All patients hospitalized at the Clinic of Eye Diseases, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, due to traffic accidents with bilateral eye injuries in a period of 9?years from the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2008 were analyzed. Results In this 9-year period, a total of 36 patients were hospitalized and treated for bilateral ocular injury (72 eyes). There were 23 males among them, the male-female ratio being 1.8:1. Mean age was 33.9?years. The occupations of inju...

The conceptual design of a nuclear transmutation energy system named as the PEACER (Proliferation-resistant, Environment-friendly, Accident-tolerant, Continuable-energy, and Economical Reactor) has been verified through independent assessment. The lead-bismuth (Pb-Bi) cooled fast reactor core with a thermal trap region can burn transuranic (TRU) wastes and tabilize Tc-99 and I-129 produced from the water reactors. Pyrochemical partitioning processes are designed to achieve an overall decontamination factor of 10{sup 5} on the TRU elements by utilizing electrorefining and reductive salt purification. Proliferation-resistance is embedded using the technical barrier of the pyrochemical processing and the institutional barrier through multi-national operation. In summary, the original design is verified to have sound basis. Several issues, however, are identified that requires design improvements. A design shakedown effort has been initiated to address the needs. With the design improvement, all the PEACER goals can be met with no fundamental difficulties. An innovative 3D design tool has been developed by interfacing commercial 3D tools including CATIA and, VRML with nuclear solver codes. 3D visualizations have been customized for PEACER transparency on both geometry and functional performances. The new tool, designated as PEACER-VIEWER, can be used to enhance the proliferation resistance, accident-tolerance and economy of the PEACER design. In order to verify the expected benefit of PEACER design, the corrosion resistance and natural circulation capability are going to be demonstrated at a new large scale loop designated as HELIOS (Heavy Eutectic Liquid metal Loop for Investigation of Operability and Safety) that is being constructed at NUTRECK(Nuclear TRansmutation Energy research Center of Korea)

The main contamination areas in Goiania were exposed soil surfaces, and with the first rainfalls, {sup 137}Cs quickly reached the Meia-Ponte River, the main local waterway. Regular measurements of bottom sediment, surface water, and fish were begun 3 wk after the accident. In the first survey, {sup 137}Cs was detectable in sediments up to 12 km downstream from the accident area. Maximum {sup 137}Cs concentrations found in sediments of the Meia-Ponte River were 1.3 kBq kg-1 dry weight and 200 Bq kg-1 fresh weight for fish. Cesium-137 was always less than 10 Bq L-1 in surface waters plus suspended particulates, even in the most contaminated creeks. Because it was the beginning of the rainy season, downstream sediment transport was enhanced. This resulted in a decrease of {sup 137}Cs concentrations in sediments of the urban area by a factor of approximately 20, 5 wk after the accident. The main sedimentation area for suspended sediments in this portion of the river is the Rochedo Reservoir, which is 80 km downstream from the accident area. In a survey performed 10 mo after the accident, 137Cs concentrations in the reservoir were up to 14 Bq kg-1 for fish, 1 Bq kg-1 for aquatic plants, and 100 Bq kg-1 dry weight for bottom sediments.

The Attitude changes toward nuclear power generation in response to incidents/accidents at the nuclear facilities were examined, using a longitudinal survey. A replicated survey was conducted in Kansai area following the incidents in 1995 and 1997, and a panel survey was conducted in 1997, using the same subjects as those in the survey conducted by C. Hayashi in 1993 about the attitude toward nuclear power generation. The results of the panel survey showed that an anxiety about a nuclear incident/accident tended to increase and that the number of those who decreased an anxiety about a nuclear incident/accident was relatively small, compared to an anxiety about other incidents/accidents. Using the quantification theory to analyze the group that showed changes in attitude toward nuclear power generation, it was suggested that the increase or decrease in the level of anxiety about a nuclear power incident/accident had an influence on the changes in attitude. However, the influence was not the most significant one compared to other factors. With the inclusion of the group that showed no change in attitude, the general population structure that the approval for nuclear power generation because of inevitable use of nuclear energy accounted for sixty percent remained with no significant change. (author)

The scope of this report is limited to the oxidation, embrittlement and deformation of PWB fuel in a loss of coolant accident in which the emergency core coolant systems operate in accordance with the design, ie accidents within the design basis of the plant. A brief description is given of the thermal hydraulic events during large and small breaks of the primary circuit, followed by the correct functioning and remedial action of the emergency core cooling systems. The possible damage to the fuel cladding during these events is also described. The basic process of oxidation of zircaloy-4 fuel cladding by steam, and the reaction kinetics of the oxidation are reviewed in detail. Variables having a possible influence on the oxidation kinetics are also considered. The embrittlement of zircaloy-4 cladding by oxidation is also reviewed in detail. It is related to fracture during the thermal shock of rewetting or by the ambient impact forces as a result of post-accident fuel handling. Criteria based both on total oxidation and on the detailed distribution of oxygen through the oxidised cladding wall are considered. The published computer codes for the calculation of oxygen concentration are reviewed in terms of the model employed and the limitations apparent in these models when calculating oxygen distribution in cladding in the actual conditions of a loss of coolant accident. The factors controlling the deformation and rupture of cladding in a loss of coolant accident are reviewed in detail.

Nowadays, no studies have been published on the relationship between meteorological conditions and work-related mortality and morbidity in Italy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between hot weather conditions and hospital admissions due to work-related accidents in Tuscany (central Italy) over the period 1998-2003. Apparent temperature (AT) values were calculated to evaluate human weather discomfort due to hot conditions and then tested for work accident differences using non-parametric procedures. Present findings showed that hot weather conditions might represent a risk factor for work-related accidents in Italy during summer. In particular early warming days during June, characterized by heat discomfort, are less tolerated by workers than warming days of the following summer months. The peak of work-related accidents occurred on days characterized by high, but not extreme, thermal conditions. Workers maybe change their behaviour when heat stress increases, reducing risks by adopting preventive measures. Results suggested that days with an average daytime AT value ranged between 24.8°C and 27.5°C were at the highest risk of work-related accidents. In conclusion, present findings might represent the first step for the development of a watch/warning system for workers that might be used by employers for planning work activities.   

Even under the most unfortunate circumstances, NASA continues on a path of innovation. After the Space Shuttle Columbia reentered the atmosphere on February 1, 2003, it experienced a catastrophic failure, and the entire crew and vehicle were lost. For the two weeks prior to the accident, Columbia STS-107 was on a mission to perform physical, life, and space sciences research in the unique environment of microgravity. Following the accident, the remaining shuttles - Endeavor, Atlantis, and Discovery - were grounded, and an intense investigation ensued. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board spent nearly 7 months examining the cause of the accident and determining what would ensure a safe return to flight. To this end, investigators performed an extensive review down five analytic paths: aerodynamic, thermodynamic, sensor data timeline, debris reconstruction, and imaging. As part of the evaluation of all the available imagery from Columbia's ascent, orbit, and entry, investigators needed a new method for analyzing still video images to determine the size of the material that fell from Columbia, as well as the distance that the material traveled. John Lane, a scientist at Kennedy Space Center, devised a software program to calculate the unknown dimension of the material in the images, and soon after the investigation was complete, continued to enhance the technology. Eventually, the program that assisted in the Columbia investigation became available for licensing.

Abstract in portuguese São ainda mal estabelecidos os fatores prognósticos para a ocorrência de óbito nos envenenamentos por serpentes e as causas que o determinam. OBJETIVO: Determinar, no envenenamento ofídico, os fatores prognósticos e as causas mais prováveis do óbito. MÉTODOS: No período de 1988 a 1993 foram notificados 12.639 casos de acidentes por serpentes peçonhentas no Estado de São Paulo, com 43 óbitos (0,34%). Foram comparadas as variáveis obtidas das fichas de notific (more) ação dos acidentes com aquelas dos prontuários e/ou dos relatórios médicos dos casos de óbito. RESULTADOS: O diagnóstico quanto ao gênero da serpente foi realizado em 11.297 acidentes, sendo 9.828 (87%) por Bothrops, 1.359 (12%) por Crotalus e 110 (1%) por Micrurus, e em 41 casos de óbito, sendo 28 (68,3%) por Bothrops e 13 (31,7%) por Crotalus (p0,05). Tinham 50 anos ou mais 15,9% dos pacientes picados e 41,8% daqueles que faleceram (p Abstract in english The prognostic factors and the causes for obit occurrence in ophidian envenoming are yet not completely clear. PURPOSE: To determine the prognostic factors and the most probable causes for obit occurrence in ophidian envenoming. METHODS: In the State of São Paulo were notified 12,639 cases of accidents by venomous snakes from 1988 to 1993. There were 43 deaths (0.34%). The variables from the accident notification reports were compared with the promptuary notes and/or wit (more) h the death records (in lethal cases). RESULTS: The snake genus was classified in 11,297 accidents and in 41 from the lethal ones. Bothrops was responsible for 9,828 (87%) accidents and 28 (68.3%) deaths, Crotalus for 1,359 (12.0%) accidents and 13 deaths (31.7%) and Micrurus for 110 (1%) accidents and no death (p 0.05). Regarding to age, 15.9% of the patients and 41.8% of the ones who died were 50 years-old or more (p

It is expected in the near future that more and more fresh nuclear fuel will be transported in a variety of transport packages to cope with increasing demand from nuclear fuel cycle facilities. Accordingly, safety demonstration analyses of these methods are planned and conducted at JAERI under contract with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan. These analyses are conducted part of a four year plan from 2001 to 2004 to verify integrity of packaging against leakage of radioactive material in the case of a severe accident envisioned to occur during transportation, for the purpose of gaining public acceptance of such nuclear fuel activities. In order to create the accident scenarios, actual transportation routes were surveyed, accident or incident records were tracked, international radioactive material transport regulations such as IAEA rules were investigated and, thus, accident conditions leading to mechanical damage and thermal failure were selected for inclusion in the scenario. As a result, the worst-case conditions of run-off-the-road accidents were incorporated, where there is impact against a concrete or asphalt surface. Fire accidents were assumed to occur after collision with a tank truck carrying lots of inflammable material or destruction by fire after collision inside a tunnel. The impact analyses were performed by using three-dimensional elements according to the general purpose impact analysis code LS-DYNA. Leak-tightness of the package was maintained even in the severe impact accident scenario. In addition, the thermal analyses were performed by using two-dimensional elements according to the general purpose finite element method computer code ABAQUS. As a result of these analyses, the integrity of the inside packaging component was found to be sufficient to maintain a leak-tight state, confirming its safety.

To clarify the etiology of periventricular hyperintensity (PVH) seen on magnetic resonance (MR) images (especially on T2-weighted images), PVH was investigated in relation to causative lesions, angiographic findings, and risk factors for cerebrovascular accidents. The subjects were 103 patients with first-ever cerebral thrombosis (thrombosis group). Age-matched 37 patients with hypertension or diabetes mellitus (risk group) and 78 other patients with neither stroke nor any risk factor served as controls. MR imaging and angiography were undertaken within 3 months after the onset of stroke. Causative lesions were confined to the cerebral cortex (CR type, n=25), centrum semiovale (CS type, n=10), internal capsule/corona radiata (IC/CR type, n=46), and brainstem/cerebellum (BS type, n=22). PVH was classified into none, rims/caps, patchy, and diffuse. Patchy and diffuse types were significantly more common in the thrombosis group and the risk group of hypertensive patients than the other control patients. Diffuse type PVH coexisted with stenosed major cerebral artery and CS type infarction. In contrast, patchy PVH was closely correlated with IC/CR infarction caused by lesions of the perforating artery. These findings suggest that hemodynamic changes caused by large vessel diseases may result in diffuse PVH, while patchy PVH was confluent with multiple lesions induced by small vessel diseases. (N.K.).

The authors investigated the duration of health problems of people involved with cleanup efforts for the Hebei Spirit oil spill, which occurred in December 2007 in Taean County, South Korea. The study identified risk factors correlated with the continuation of symptoms. Approximately one year after the accident, 442 people who had participated in the cleanup operation were examined. Data regarding demographic information, risk factors, and the continuation and duration of any symptoms were obtained. Eye symptoms (9.7 months), headaches (8.4 months), skin symptoms (8.3 months), and neurovestibular symptoms (6.9 months) had a relatively longer duration than did back pain (1.8 months) or respiratory symptoms (2.1 months). In particular, the remission of headaches had a negative correlation with female gender (HR 0.57, 0.34-0.95, 95% CI), and remission of eye symptoms had a negative correlation with the total hours of daily participation in the cleanup operation (HR 0.24, 0.06-0.95, 95% CI). PMID:22491025

In the Donbass, tunnelers and stopers work under unfavorable factors of the underground environment: heavy physical work in limited space, increased possibility of accidents and personal risk, a warming microclimate, noise and dust. In view of this, role of physiology of work consists in guaranteeing normalization of work load, in development of rational regiments of work and rest, and a basis of psychophysical criteria of professional choice, development of physiologically based methods of rehabilitation, preparation of miners for factors of underground medium. Physiologic normalization of work of miners can be achieved by establishing norms of work and rest. With mechanization of mining, level of tension of work has increased, requiring longer rest periods after work. Increased temperatures of deep mines necessitate corresponding increase in rest periods, reducing exhaustion of workers and physiologically increasing productivity of work 12-15%. Investigations in physiology of work of miners have established norms of loads, national regimens of work and rest, ways to prevent disease and reduce physiologic tension of organism to prevent functional breakdowns and illnesses. For the future, further study of mechanisms causing strain and exhaustion affecting work capacity of miners is recommended. 14 refs.

PURPOSE: The recreational and competitive practice of acrobatic sports, that is, trampoline, tumbling and acrobatic gymnastics (ACRO), is growing rapidly around the world. Many studies described the injuries affecting young artistic gymnasts, but only few concerned acrobatic sports. METHODS: During a 5-year period, 357 traumatic events were collected in young acrobats practicing trampoline, tumbling or ACRO. Accident characteristics, level of expertise and training, injury location (upper limb, spine and lower limb), type of tissue injured (bone, cartilage, muscle, ligament and tendon) and provoking factors (intrinsic/behavioural and extrinsic) were investigated. RESULTS: Acrobats of national and international levels were mostly injured. Injuries occurring in acrobatic sports concerned predominantly the lower limbs and concerned in this body part mainly damages to ligaments. Forearm and knee injuries were preferentially related to trampoline. Ankle injuries were preferentially related to tumbling. Wrist injuries were preferentially related to ACRO. Upper limb bone damage and upper limb tendon damage were preferentially related to trampoline and ACRO, respectively. Intrinsic/behavioural factors were the main injury determinant in the three acrobatic sports. CONCLUSIONS: The main injuries in acrobatic sports (i.e. lower limbs) are similar to those observed in artistic gymnastics. Specific injuries may result from falls and incomplete and/or erroneous figure's landing and may also depend to the type of the landing surface. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II. PMID:22476523