The discipline of Safety Management and Human Factors is a cross-disciplinary area concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. Injury prevention is a common thread throughout every workplace, yet keeping employee safety and health knowledge current is a continual challenge for all employers. This books offers a platform to showcase research and for the exchange of information in safety management and human factors. Mastering Safety Management and Human Factors concepts is fundamental to the creation of products and systems that people are able to use, avoidance of stresses, and minimization of the risk for accidents.
The primary objective of this research was to investigate the characteristics of fatal crashes and risk factors to these crashes in the work zones so that effective countermeasures could be developed and implemented in the near future. The objective was accomplished using a four-step approach.
The goal of this research is to mitigate the risk of highway accidents (crashes) and fatalities in work zones. The approach of this research has been to address the mitigation of work zone crashes through the creation of a formal risk management model to be utilized during the construction management and administration of highway projects for all stages of the project life-cycle. The result of these efforts is realized through the design of an integrated risk management model. A standard risk management model has three components: risk identification, risk analysis, and risk response. The risks are identified by the factors that contribute to work zone crashes. The risk analysis involves understanding the tendency of a hazard to influence the frequency or severity of a loss, and the risk response relates to the appropriate countermeasures to the factors that contribute to work zone crashes. The number of hazards and mitigation strategies corresponding to work zone crashes can be substantial. The intent of this research is to develop a formalized risk management plan to identify potential hazards on plans, designs, or job sites and to cue a risk response to the hazards. Mitigation strategies may take the form of a mitigation "method" (alert motorist, assist worker/motorist, control motorist, inform motorist, and protect worker/motorist). The results of this research will be a formal step-by-step methodology to be utilized by managers and decision makers. Each stage of the project life-cycle (or Project Development Process) will provide a checklist of hazards and mitigation strategies. This research will also provide a qualitative method to assess the likelihood and severity of a hazard or multiple hazards on a roadway work zone. This research is intended to provide a holistic approach to risk management that is to be integrated into the existing corporate structure and not to be considered a standalone program. This integrated approach will allow a formalized procedure to be utilized by any member of an organization during all phases of the construction project life-cycle.
Accident prevention is a common thread throughout every aspect of our society. However, even with the most current technological developments, keeping people safe and healthy, both at workplaces and at other daily activities, is still a continual challenge. When it comes to work environments, ergonomics and human factors knowledge can play an important role and, therefore, must be included in, or be a part of, the safety management as a cross-disciplinary area concerned with the understanding of actual work situations and potential variables. This multidisciplinary approach will ultimately ensure the safety, health, and well-being of all collaborators. The main goal of this book is to present theories and models, and to describe practices to foster and promote safer work and working environments. This book offers: · Examples of field practices that can be reproduced in other scenarios · Applications of new methods for risk assessment · Methods on how to apply and integrate human factors and ergonomics in accident prevention and safety management · Coverage of human factors and ergonomics in safety culture · New methods for accident analysis This book is a compilation of contributions from invited authors organized in three main topics from eleven countries and is intended to cover specific aspects of safety and human factors management ranging from case studies to the development of theoretical models. Hopefully, the works presented in the book can be an inspiration for translating research into useful actions and, ultimately, making a relevant and tangible contribution to the safety of our daily and work settings.
Rural two-lane highways constitute a large percentage of the highway system in Kansas. Preserving, expending, and enhancing these highways require the set-up of a large number of one-lane, two-way work zones where traffic safety has been a severe concern. Aimed at reducing the work zone crashes attributable to inattentive driving, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) initiated a research project to evaluate the effectiveness of a traffic warning sign that is assembled by using the emergency warning flashers of the vehicles in one-lane, two-way work zones. This warning sign was named as the Emergency Flasher Traffic Control Device (EFTCD). It works in the following fashion. When a vehicle entering a one-lane, two-way work zone where stopping is required for waiting to pass the work zone, the driver is required to turn on its emergency warning flashers to warn the following vehicles of the work zone stopping condition. The EFTCD is flexible and cost-effective and may particularly benefit those work zones that are frequently moved due to the construction progress. To accurately evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed EFTCD, researchers conducted experiments in three one-lane, two-way work zones in Kansas including two with a 55-mph speed limit and one with a 65-mph speed limit. During experimental period, researchers collected vehicle speed data with and without the EFTCD and surveyed drivers for their interpretation of this warning sign and recommendation on its potential implementation. Analyses results showed that the EFTCD effectively reduced the mean speeds in work zones as well as the proportions of notably high speeds. In addition, survey results indicated that the EFTCD successfully captured the attention of most drivers when they approached the work zones. A majority of drivers recommended the implementation of this warning sign in the work zones. Therefore, researchers concluded that the EFTCD was effective in one-lane, two-way work zones. Recommendations on future research were also presented based on the results of this study. The outcomes of this research project benefit not only Kansas, but also other States where rural two-lane highways constitute a high percentage of their highway systems.
This volume encompasses latest research presented on the 6th edition of the Disaster Management Conference. The research published in this book is contributed by academics and experts on public health, security and disaster management in order to assess the potential risk from various disasters and discuss ways to prevent or alleviate damage.
This synthesis documents information regarding the current state of practice for work zone speed management. The report compiles data, procedures, techniques, and technical issues related to observing and comparing work zone speeds. The speed management measures have been organized into four categories: engineering, operational, enforcement, and public education and outreach. Information included in this study was acquired through a review of the literature, two surveys of state department of transportation representatives in all states, a compilation of state agency public information campaigns, and follow-up interviews with select survey respondents from several U.S. states and one Canadian province.
