This handbook is dedicated to the next generation of automation engineers working in the fields of measurement, control, and safety, describing the sensors and detectors used in the measurement of process variables.
Many organizations still operate with an all-too-familiar polarization between managers and employees. The work of employees is checked, measured, audited, and rechecked. Incentive programs, quotas, and evaluations are doggedly adhered to. And often, as a result, resources are wasted, morale plummets, and defects actually increase. Why exactly does this system continue to run amok? What is an effective alternative? By installing an effective assessment process that successfully measures employee performance without impeding production, the organization can become more efficient and employee satisfaction increases. Measurement Matters builds on the principles of Dr. W. Edwards Deming, as well as the life experiences of both authors, to create a unique, proven approach to effecting positive change in organizations and individuals. This book is full of entertaining, eye-opening examples we can all relate to that combine human psychology with hard data to prove there is a better way. By implementing positive change, and properly measuring and assessing the progress, an organization and its employees can grow and prosper. PRAISE FOR Measurement Matters "Measurement Matters by Carder and Ragan is a book that should be read by practitioners interested in understanding and improving the underlying factors that affect the safety, health and environmental performance of firms." Isadore (Irv) Rosenthal, Senior Fellow Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center Nominated by President Clinton, and confirmed by the Senate, to a five-year position as a member of the National Chemical Safety and Hazards Investigation Board in 1998.
You drive to your job on a beautiful Monday morning. The speedometer shows a steady just-below-50 km/h. On the radio, the newsreader tells you about the unemployment figures, the number of casualties of an earthquake in South-East Asia, and that the Dow Jones has fallen some points. Upon entering the gate of your company, you pass a sign that proudly announces that today is the 314th day since the last Lost Time Injury. In the hallway, you see the LEAN Kanban board that shows, among other things, production figures and sick leave statistics. At 8:30, you are all expected to gather around the board and discuss what is presented there. In the elevator to your floor, you quickly check what has happened on Linkedin. You are pleased to see the number of 'likes' that your latest post has drawn. You walk on to your desk where you see a pile of papers. On the top is a copy of the newest balanced scorecard that your boss's secretary must have dropped there, Friday afternoon. While sipping your first coffee of the day, you check your calendar and are reminded of the annual performance review at 10 O'clock.So far, you have not done one tiny piece of actual work, but you have been confronted with a mass of figures, measurement and metrics already. They are around us, all the time. But why? Do they help? How to deal with them? This little book intends to help you think about them in different, maybe better, ways and handle them better.Thirty rather compact chapters offer a critical view on measuring, indicators, metrics, goals and statistics within a context of safety. The book also tries to offer some useful and practical suggestions for different (possibly even better) approaches, or at least different ways to think about these subjects.
This book is the first practical, hands-on guide that shows how leaders can build psychological safety in their organizations, creating an environment where employees feel included, fully engaged, and encouraged to contribute their best efforts and ideas. Fear has a profoundly negative impact on engagement, learning efficacy, productivity, and innovation, but until now there has been a lack of practical information on how to make employees feel safe about speaking up and contributing. Timothy Clark, a social scientist and an organizational consultant, provides a framework to move people through successive stages of psychological safety. The first stage is member safety-the team accepts you and grants you shared identity. Learner safety, the second stage, indicates that you feel safe to ask questions, experiment, and even make mistakes. Next is the third stage of contributor safety, where you feel comfortable participating as an active and full-fledged member of the team. Finally, the fourth stage of challenger safety allows you to take on the status quo without repercussion, reprisal, or the risk of tarnishing your personal standing and reputation. This is a blueprint for how any leader can build positive, supportive, and encouraging cultures in any setting.
A new edition of this practical guide for clinicians who are developing tools to measure subjective states, attitudes, or non-tangible outcomes in their patients, suitable for those who have no knowledge of statistics.
This book addresses the basic understanding of food contaminants and their sources, followed by the techniques to measure food safety and quality. It is divided into four parts: Part A - sources of contaminants in foods, their associated health risks, and integrated management and alternative options to minimize contaminants; Part B - Technological assessment of conventional methods and selected advanced methods for the detection, identification and enumeration of microbial contaminates; Part C - Technological assessment of different chemical measurements techniques; and Part D – Technological assessment of different instrumental techniques to assess sensory properties of foods. Food safety is a growing concern due to the increase in food-borne illnesses caused by food adulteration, excessive use of pesticides, use of chemical preservatives and artificial fruit ripening agents, microbial contaminations, and improper food handling. Chemical contaminants in food could be transferred from environmental or agrochemical sources, personal care products, and other by-products of water disinfects. In addition, microbial food safety can be threatened due to the presence of many pathogens, such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Clostridium botulinum, Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes in foods. Globally, strict regulations are imposed to limit the potential contaminants in foods. Development of accurate, rapid, and inexpensive approaches to test food contamination and adulteration would be highly valued to ensure global food safety. There are existing processes to ensure safety of food products from chemical and microbial contaminants. Apart from the existing measurement technologies, varieties of new techniques are also being emerged and these could be potential to ensure food safety and quality. In addition to chemical and microbial properties, sensory properties such as texture, mouth feel, flavor, and taste, are among the most important attributes of food products to ensure their acceptability by consumers. Two approaches are available to evaluate sensory properties of food products, namely subjective and objective analyses. The responses are perceived by all five senses: smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing. The approach used in sensory evaluation varies depending on the types of foods and the ultimate goal of the testing. Sensory attributes are the most important quality parameters after ensuring the safety of foods.
Measuring Safety Management Performance lists and explains the difference between lagging and leading measures of safety management performance. It informs the reader how to use both proactive and reactive safety performance indicators and explains that consequence measurement is not an accurate reflection of the organization’s safety effort. It suggests managements’ Safety Performance Indicators (SPI) should be changed to proactive, positive measures of action and activities which can be controlled and accurately measured. A roadmap of a holistic system for measurement is offered that covers health and safety performance. It shows how management is traditionally informed about where they have been by information provided relating to injury data, rather than proactive, measurable, and controllable data on accident prevention efforts provided by the health and safety management system (SMS), which indicate where they are going. This highly practical book features examples of safety performance indicators, provides positive guidelines for accurate safety performance measurement, and is based on actual workplace experiences. It explains the strengths and weaknesses of proactive and reactive measurement metrics and gives examples of leading and lagging safety performance indicators. This book will be an ideal read for professionals and graduate students in the fields of occupational health and safety, ergonomics, and human factors engineering. It will have resonance with managers and professionals engaged in health and safety provisions at their place of work.
How safe are hospitals? Why do some hospitals have higher rates of accident and errors involving patients? How can we accurately measure and assess staff attitudes towards safety? How can hospitals and other healthcare environments improve their safety culture and minimize harm to patients? These and other questions have been the focus of research within the area of Patient Safety Culture (PSC) in the last decade. More and more hospitals and healthcare managers are trying to understand the nature of the culture within their organisations and implement strategies for improving patient safety. The main purpose of this book is to provide researchers, healthcare managers and human factors practitioners with details of the latest developments within the theory and application of PSC within healthcare. It brings together contributions from the most prominent researchers and practitioners in the field of PSC and covers the background to work on safety culture (e.g. measuring safety culture in industries such as aviation and the nuclear industry), the dominant theories and concepts within PSC, examples of PSC tools, methods of assessment and their application, and details of the most prominent challenges for the future in the area. Patient Safety Culture: Theory, Methods and Application is essential reading for all of the professional groups involved in patient safety and healthcare quality improvement, filling an important gap in the current market.