Loss of control air at Browns Ferry Unit One: accident sequence analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harrington, R.M.; Hodge, S.A.

1986-04-01

This study describes the predicted response of the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant to a postulated complete failure of plant control air. The failure of plant control air cascades to include the loss of drywell control air at Units 1 and 2. Nevertheless, this is a benign accident unless compounded by simultaneous failures in the turbine-driven high pressure injection systems. Accident sequence calculations are presented for Loss of Control Air sequences with assumed failure upon demand of the Reactor Core Isolation Cooling (RCIC) and the High Pressure Coolant Injection (HPCI) at Unit 1. Sequences with and without operator action are considered.more » Results show that the operators can prevent core uncovery if they take action to utilize the Control Rod Drive Hydraulic System as a backup high pressure injection system.« less

Scoping Study Investigating PWR Instrumentation during a Severe Accident Scenario

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rempe, J. L.; Knudson, D. L.; Lutz, R. J.

The accidents at the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) and Fukushima Daiichi Units 1, 2, and 3 nuclear power plants demonstrate the critical importance of accurate, relevant, and timely information on the status of reactor systems during a severe accident. These events also highlight the critical importance of understanding and focusing on the key elements of system status information in an environment where operators may be overwhelmed with superfluous and sometimes conflicting data. While progress in these areas has been made since TMI-2, the events at Fukushima suggests that there may still be a potential need to ensure thatmore » critical plant information is available to plant operators. Recognizing the significant technical and economic challenges associated with plant modifications, it is important to focus on instrumentation that can address these information critical needs. As part of a program initiated by the Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE), a scoping effort was initiated to assess critical information needs identified for severe accident management and mitigation in commercial Light Water Reactors (LWRs), to quantify the environment instruments monitoring this data would have to survive, and to identify gaps where predicted environments exceed instrumentation qualification envelop (QE) limits. Results from the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) scoping evaluations are documented in this report. The PWR evaluations were limited in this scoping evaluation to quantifying the environmental conditions for an unmitigated Short-Term Station BlackOut (STSBO) sequence in one unit at the Surry nuclear power station. Results were obtained using the MELCOR models developed for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-sponsored State of the Art Consequence Assessment (SOARCA) program project. Results from this scoping evaluation indicate that some instrumentation identified to provide critical information would be exposed to conditions that significantly exceeded QE limits for extended time periods for the low frequency STSBO sequence evaluated in this study. It is recognized that the core damage frequency (CDF) of the sequence evaluated in this scoping effort would be considerably lower if evaluations considered new FLEX equipment being installed by industry. Nevertheless, because of uncertainties in instrumentation response when exposed to conditions beyond QE limits and alternate challenges associated with different sequences that may impact sensor performance, it is recommended that additional evaluations of instrumentation performance be completed to provide confidence that operators have access to accurate, relevant, and timely information on the status of reactor systems for a broad range of challenges associated with risk important severe accident sequences.« less

SBLOCA outside containment at Browns Ferry Unit One: accident sequence analysis. [Small break

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Condon, W.A.; Harrington, R.M.; Greene, S.R.

1982-11-01

This study describes the predicted response of Unit 1 at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant to a postulated small-break loss-of-coolant accident outside of the primary containment. The break has been assumed to occur in the scram discharge volume piping immediately following a reactor scram that cannot be reset. The events before core uncovering are discussed for both the worst-case accident sequence without operator action and for the more likely sequences with operator action. Without operator action, the events after core uncovering would include core meltdown and subsequent containment failure, and this event sequence has been determined through use of themore » MARCH code. An estimate of the magnitude and timing of the concomitant release of the noble gas, cesium, and iodine-based fission products to the environment is provided in Volume 2 of this report.« less

ATWS at Browns Ferry Unit One - accident sequence analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harrington, R.M.; Hodge, S.A.

1984-07-01

This study describes the predicted response of Unit One at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant to a postulated complete failure to scram following a transient occurrence that has caused closure of all Main Steam Isolation Valves (MSIVs). This hypothetical event constitutes the most severe example of the type of accident classified as Anticipated Transient Without Scram (ATWS). Without the automatic control rod insertion provided by scram, the void coefficient of reactivity and the mechanisms by which voids are formed in the moderator/coolant play a dominant role in the progression of the accident. Actions taken by the operator greatly influence themore » quantity of voids in the coolant and the effect is analyzed in this report. The progression of the accident sequence under existing and under recommended procedures is discussed. For the extremely unlikely cases in which equipment failure and wrongful operator actions might lead to severe core damage, the sequence of emergency action levels and the associated timing of events are presented.« less

Probabilistic risk assessment for a loss of coolant accident in McMaster Nuclear Reactor and application of reliability physics model for modeling human reliability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ha, Taesung

A probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) was conducted for a loss of coolant accident, (LOCA) in the McMaster Nuclear Reactor (MNR). A level 1 PRA was completed including event sequence modeling, system modeling, and quantification. To support the quantification of the accident sequence identified, data analysis using the Bayesian method and human reliability analysis (HRA) using the accident sequence evaluation procedure (ASEP) approach were performed. Since human performance in research reactors is significantly different from that in power reactors, a time-oriented HRA model (reliability physics model) was applied for the human error probability (HEP) estimation of the core relocation. This model is based on two competing random variables: phenomenological time and performance time. The response surface and direct Monte Carlo simulation with Latin Hypercube sampling were applied for estimating the phenomenological time, whereas the performance time was obtained from interviews with operators. An appropriate probability distribution for the phenomenological time was assigned by statistical goodness-of-fit tests. The human error probability (HEP) for the core relocation was estimated from these two competing quantities: phenomenological time and operators' performance time. The sensitivity of each probability distribution in human reliability estimation was investigated. In order to quantify the uncertainty in the predicted HEPs, a Bayesian approach was selected due to its capability of incorporating uncertainties in model itself and the parameters in that model. The HEP from the current time-oriented model was compared with that from the ASEP approach. Both results were used to evaluate the sensitivity of alternative huinan reliability modeling for the manual core relocation in the LOCA risk model. This exercise demonstrated the applicability of a reliability physics model supplemented with a. Bayesian approach for modeling human reliability and its potential usefulness of quantifying model uncertainty as sensitivity analysis in the PRA model.

Nuclear power and probabilistic safety assessment (PSA): past through future applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stamatelatos, M. G.; Moieni, P.; Everline, C. J.

1995-03-01

Nuclear power reactor safety in the United States is about to enter a new era -- an era of risk- based management and risk-based regulation. First, there was the age of `prescribed safety assessment,' during which a series of design-basis accidents in eight categories of severity, or classes, were postulated and analyzed. Toward the end of that era, it was recognized that `Class 9,' or `beyond design basis,' accidents would need special attention because of the potentially severe health and financial consequences of these accidents. The accident at Three Mile Island showed that sequences of low-consequence, high-frequency events and human errors can be much more risk dominant than the Class 9 accidents. A different form of safety assessment, PSA, emerged and began to gain ground against the deterministic safety establishment. Eventually, this led to the current regulatory requirements for individual plant examinations (IPEs). The IPEs can serve as a basis for risk-based regulation and management, a concept that may ultimately transform the U.S. regulatory process from its traditional deterministic foundations to a process predicated upon PSA. Beyond the possibility of a regulatory environment predicated upon PSA lies the possibility of using PSA as the foundation for managing daily nuclear power plant operations.

Aircraft Loss-of-Control: Analysis and Requirements for Future Safety-Critical Systems and Their Validation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Belcastro, Christine M.

2011-01-01

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.

Application of MELCOR Code to a French PWR 900 MWe Severe Accident Sequence and Evaluation of Models Performance Focusing on In-Vessel Thermal Hydraulic Results

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

De Rosa, Felice

2006-07-01

In the ambit of the Severe Accident Network of Excellence Project (SARNET), funded by the European Union, 6. FISA (Fission Safety) Programme, one of the main tasks is the development and validation of the European Accident Source Term Evaluation Code (ASTEC Code). One of the reference codes used to compare ASTEC results, coming from experimental and Reactor Plant applications, is MELCOR. ENEA is a SARNET member and also an ASTEC and MELCOR user. During the first 18 months of this project, we performed a series of MELCOR and ASTEC calculations referring to a French PWR 900 MWe and to themore » accident sequence of 'Loss of Steam Generator (SG) Feedwater' (known as H2 sequence in the French classification). H2 is an accident sequence substantially equivalent to a Station Blackout scenario, like a TMLB accident, with the only difference that in H2 sequence the scram is forced to occur with a delay of 28 seconds. The main events during the accident sequence are a loss of normal and auxiliary SG feedwater (0 s), followed by a scram when the water level in SG is equal or less than 0.7 m (after 28 seconds). There is also a main coolant pumps trip when {delta}Tsat < 10 deg. C, a total opening of the three relief valves when Tric (core maximal outlet temperature) is above 603 K (330 deg. C) and accumulators isolation when primary pressure goes below 1.5 MPa (15 bar). Among many other points, it is worth noting that this was the first time that a MELCOR 1.8.5 input deck was available for a French PWR 900. The main ENEA effort in this period was devoted to prepare the MELCOR input deck using the code version v.1.8.5 (build QZ Oct 2000 with the latest patch 185003 Oct 2001). The input deck, completely new, was prepared taking into account structure, data and same conditions as those found inside ASTEC input decks. The main goal of the work presented in this paper is to put in evidence where and when MELCOR provides good enough results and why, in some cases mainly referring to its specific models (candling, corium pool behaviour, etc.) they were less good. A future work will be the preparation of an input deck for the new MELCOR 1.8.6. and to perform a code-to-code comparison with ASTEC v1.2 rev. 1. (author)« less

Nuclear Power Plant Cyber Security Discrete Dynamic Event Tree Analysis (LDRD 17-0958) FY17 Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wheeler, Timothy A.; Denman, Matthew R.; Williams, R. A.

Instrumentation and control of nuclear power is transforming from analog to modern digital assets. These control systems perform key safety and security functions. This transformation is occurring in new plant designs as well as in the existing fleet of plants as the operation of those plants is extended to 60 years. This transformation introduces new and unknown issues involving both digital asset induced safety issues and security issues. Traditional nuclear power risk assessment tools and cyber security assessment methods have not been modified or developed to address the unique nature of cyber failure modes and of cyber security threat vulnerabilities.more » iii This Lab-Directed Research and Development project has developed a dynamic cyber-risk in- formed tool to facilitate the analysis of unique cyber failure modes and the time sequencing of cyber faults, both malicious and non-malicious, and impose those cyber exploits and cyber faults onto a nuclear power plant accident sequence simulator code to assess how cyber exploits and cyber faults could interact with a plants digital instrumentation and control (DI&C) system and defeat or circumvent a plants cyber security controls. This was achieved by coupling an existing Sandia National Laboratories nuclear accident dynamic simulator code with a cyber emulytics code to demonstrate real-time simulation of cyber exploits and their impact on automatic DI&C responses. Studying such potential time-sequenced cyber-attacks and their risks (i.e., the associated impact and the associated degree of difficulty to achieve the attack vector) on accident management establishes a technical risk informed framework for developing effective cyber security controls for nuclear power.« less

Fission product transport analysis in a loss of decay heat removal accident at Browns Ferry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wichner, R.P.; Weber, C.F.; Hodge, S.A.

1984-01-01

This paper summarizes an analysis of the movement of noble gases, iodine, and cesium fission products within the Mark-I containment BWR reactor system represented by Browns Ferry Unit 1 during a postulated accident sequence initiated by a loss of decay heat removal (DHR) capability following a scram. The event analysis showed that this accident could be brought under control by various means, but the sequence with no operator action ultimately leads to containment (drywell) failure followed by loss of water from the reactor vessel, core degradation due to overheating, and reactor vessel failure with attendant movement of core debris ontomore » the drywell floor.« less

The effectiveness of using pictures in teaching young children about burn injury accidents.

PubMed

Liu, Hsueh-Fen; Lin, Fang-Suey; Chang, Chien-Ju

2015-11-01

This study utilized the "story grammar" approach (Stein and Glenn, 1979) to analyze the within-corpus differences in recounting of sixty 6- and 7-year-old children, specifically whether illustrations (5-factor accident sequence) were or were not resorted to as a means to assist their narration of a home accident in which a child received a burn injury from hot soup. Our investigation revealed that the message presentation strategy "combining oral and pictures" better helped young children to memorize the story content (sequence of events leading to the burn injury) than "oral only." Specifically, the content of "the dangerous objects that caused the injury", "the unsafe actions that people involved took", and "how the people involved felt about the severity of the accident" differed significantly between the two groups. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Interface requirements to couple thermal hydraulics codes to severe accident codes: ICARE/CATHARE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Camous, F.; Jacq, F.; Chatelard, P.

1997-07-01

In order to describe with the same code the whole sequence of severe LWR accidents, up to the vessel failure, the Institute of Protection and Nuclear Safety has performed a coupling of the severe accident code ICARE2 to the thermalhydraulics code CATHARE2. The resulting code, ICARE/CATHARE, is designed to be as pertinent as possible in all the phases of the accident. This paper is mainly devoted to the description of the ICARE2-CATHARE2 coupling.

Noble gas, iodine, and cesium transport in a postulated loss of decay heat removal accident at Browns Ferry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wichner, R.P.; Hodge, S.A.; Weber, C.F.

1984-08-01

This report presents an analysis of the movement of noble gas, iodine, and cesium fission products within the Mark-I containment BWR reactor system represented by Browns Ferry Unit 1 during a postulated accident sequence initiated by a loss of decay heat removal capability following a scram. The event analysis showed that this accident could be brought under control by various means, but the sequence with no operator action ultimately leads to containment (drywell) failure followed by loss of water from the reactor vessel, core degradation due to overheating, and reactor vessel failure with attendant movement of core debris onto themore » drywell floor. The analysis of fission product transport presented in this report is based on the no-operator-action sequence and provides an estimate of fission product inventories, as a function of time, within 14 control volumes outside the core, with the atmosphere considered as the final control volume in the transport sequence. As in the case of accident sequences previously studied, we find small barrier for noble gas ejection to air, these gases being effectively purged from the drywell and reactor building by steam and concrete degradation gases. However, significant decay of krypton isotopes occurs during the long delay times involved in this sequence. In contrast, large degrees of holdup for iodine and cesium are projected due to the chemical reactivity of these elements. Only about 2 x 10/sup -4/% of the initial iodine and cesium activity are predicted to be released to the atmosphere. Principal barriers for release are deposition on reactor vessel and containment walls. A significant amount of iodine is captured in the water pool formed in the reactor building basement after actuation of the fire protection system.« less

Motor vehicle seat belt restraint system analysis during rollover.

PubMed

Meyer, Steven E; Hock, Davis; Forrest, Stephen; Herbst, Brian; Sances, Anthony; Kumaresan, Srirangam

2003-01-01

The multi-planar and multiple impact long duration accident sequence of a real world rollover results in multidirectional vehicle acceleration pulses and multiplanar occupant motions not typically seen in a planar crash sequence. Various researchers have documented that, while contemporary production emergency locking seatbelt retractors (ELRs) have been found to be extremely effective in the planar crashes in which they are extensively evaluated, when subjected to multi-planar acceleration environments their response may be different than expected. Specifically, accelerations in the vertical plane have been shown to substantially affect the timeliness of the retractors inertial sensor moving out of its neutral position and locking the seat belt. An analysis of the vehicle occupant motions relative to the acceleration pulses sensed at the retractor location indicates a time phase shift that, under certain circumstances, can result in unexpected seat belt spool out and occupant excursions in these multi-planar, multiple impact crash sequences. This paper will review the various previous studies focusing on the retractors response to these multidirectional, including vertical, acceleration environments and review statistical studies based upon U.S. government collected data indicating a significant difference in belt usage rates in rollover accidents as compared to all other planar accident modes. A significant number of real world accident case studies will be reviewed wherein the performance of ELR equipped seatbelt systems spooled out. Finally, the typical occupant injury and the associated mechanism due to belt spool out in real world accidents will be delineated.

Station blackout transient at the Browns Ferry Unit 1 Plant: a severe accident sequence analysis (SASA) program study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schultz, R.R.

1982-01-01

Operating plant transients are of great interest for many reasons, not the least of which is the potential for a mild transient to degenerate to a severe transient yielding core damage. Using the Browns Ferry (BF) Unit-1 plant as a basis of study, the station blackout sequence was investigated by the Severe Accident Sequence Analysis (SASA) Program in support of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Unresolved Safety Issue A-44: Station Blackout. A station blackout transient occurs when the plant's AC power from a comemrcial power grid is lost and cannot be restored by the diesel generators. Under normal operating conditions, fmore » a loss of offsite power (LOSP) occurs (i.e., a complete severance of the BF plants from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) power grid), the eight diesel generators at the three BF units would quickly start and power the emergency AC buses. Of the eight diesel generators, only six are needed to safely shut down all three units. Examination of BF-specific data show that LOSP frequency is low at Unit 1. The station blackout frequency is even lower (5.7 x 10/sup -4/ events per year) and hinges on whether the diesel generators start. The frequency of diesel generator failure is dictated in large measure by the emergency equipment cooling water (EECW) system that cools the diesel generators.« less

Waste management facility accident analysis (WASTE ACC) system: software for analysis of waste management alternatives

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kohout, E.F.; Folga, S.; Mueller, C.

1996-03-01

This paper describes the Waste Management Facility Accident Analysis (WASTE{underscore}ACC) software, which was developed at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to support the US Department of Energy`s (DOE`s) Waste Management (WM) Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS). WASTE{underscore}ACC is a decision support and database system that is compatible with Microsoft{reg_sign} Windows{trademark}. It assesses potential atmospheric releases from accidents at waste management facilities. The software provides the user with an easy-to-use tool to determine the risk-dominant accident sequences for the many possible combinations of process technologies, waste and facility types, and alternative cases described in the WM PEIS. In addition, its structure willmore » allow additional alternative cases and assumptions to be tested as part of the future DOE programmatic decision-making process. The WASTE{underscore}ACC system demonstrates one approach to performing a generic, systemwide evaluation of accident risks at waste management facilities. The advantages of WASTE{underscore}ACC are threefold. First, the software gets waste volume and radiological profile data that were used to perform other WM PEIS-related analyses directly from the WASTE{underscore}MGMT system. Second, the system allows for a consistent analysis across all sites and waste streams, which enables decision makers to understand more fully the trade-offs among various policy options and scenarios. Third, the system is easy to operate; even complex scenario runs are completed within minutes.« less

A qualitative study of the background and in-hospital medicolegal response to female burn injuries in India.

PubMed

Daruwalla, Nayreen; Belur, Jyoti; Kumar, Meena; Tiwari, Vinay; Sarabahi, Sujata; Tilley, Nick; Osrin, David

2014-11-30

Most burns happen in low- and middle-income countries. In India, deaths related to burns are more common in women than in men and occur against a complex background in which the cause - accidental or non-accidental, suicidal or homicidal - is often unclear. Our study aimed to understand the antecedents to burns and the problem of ascribing cause, the sequence of medicolegal events after a woman was admitted to hospital, and potential opportunities for improvement. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 33 women admitted to two major burns units, their families, and 26 key informant doctors, nurses, and police officers. We used framework analysis to examine the context in which burns occurred and the sequence of medicolegal action after admission to hospital. Interviewees described accidents, attempted suicide, and attempted homicide. Distinguishing between these was difficult because the underlying combination of poverty and cultural precedent was common to all and action was contingent on potentially conflicting narratives. Space constraint, problems with cooking equipment, and inflammable clothing increased the risk of accidental burns, but coexisted with household conflict, gender-based violence, and alcohol use. Most burns were initially ascribed to accidents. Clinicians adhered to medicolegal procedures, the police carried out their investigative requirements relatively rapidly, but both groups felt vulnerable in the face of the legal process. Women's understandable reticence to describe burns as non-accidental, the contested nature of statements, their perceived history of changeability, the limited quality and validity of forensic evidence, and the requirement for resilience on the part of clients underlay a general pessimism. The similarities between accident and intention cluster so tightly as to make them challenging to distinguish, especially given women's understandable reticence to describe burns as non-accidental. The contested status of forensic evidence and a reliance on testimony means that only a minority of cases lead to conviction. The emphasis should be on improving documentation, communication between service providers, and public understanding of the risks of burns.

32 CFR 256.7 - Accident potential zone guidelines.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Accident potential zone guidelines. 256.7 Section 256.7 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (CONTINUED) MISCELLANEOUS AIR INSTALLATIONS COMPATIBLE USE ZONES § 256.7 Accident potential zone guidelines...

32 CFR 256.7 - Accident potential zone guidelines.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Accident potential zone guidelines. 256.7 Section 256.7 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (CONTINUED) MISCELLANEOUS AIR INSTALLATIONS COMPATIBLE USE ZONES § 256.7 Accident potential zone guidelines...

Psychophysiological and other factors affecting human performance in accident prevention and investigation. [Comparison of aviation with other industries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Klinestiver, L.R.

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.

Role of susceptibility-weighted imaging in demonstration of cerebral fat embolism

PubMed Central

Yeap, Pheyming; Kanodia, Avinash Kumar; Main, Gavin; Yong, Aiwain

2015-01-01

Cerebral fat embolism (CFE) is a rare but potentially lethal complication of long bone fractures. Many cases of CFE occur as subclinical events and remain undiagnosed. We report a case of a 22-year-old man, with multiple long bone fractures from a road traffic accident, who subsequently developed hypoxia, neurological abnormality and petechial rash. CT of the head was normal. MRI of the head confirmed the diagnosis with lesions markedly conspicuous and most widespread on susceptibility-weighted imaging as compared to all other sequences including diffusion-weighted imaging. PMID:25572601

A Qualitative Study on Organizational Factors Affecting Occupational Accidents

PubMed Central

ESKANDARI, Davood; JAFARI, Mohammad Javad; MEHRABI, Yadollah; KIAN, Mostafa Pouya; CHARKHAND, Hossein; MIRGHOTBI, Mostafa

2017-01-01

Background: Technical, human, operational and organizational factors have been influencing the sequence of occupational accidents. Among them, organizational factors play a major role in causing occupational accidents. The aim of this research was to understand the Iranian safety experts’ experiences and perception of organizational factors. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in 2015 by using the content analysis technique. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 safety experts working in Iranian universities and industries and analyzed with a conventional qualitative content analysis method using the MAXQDA software. Results: Eleven organizational factors’ sub-themes were identified: management commitment, management participation, employee involvement, communication, blame culture, education and training, job satisfaction, interpersonal relationship, supervision, continuous improvement, and reward system. The participants considered these factors as effective on occupational accidents. Conclusion: The mentioned 11 organizational factors are probably involved in occupational accidents in Iran. Naturally, improving organizational factors can increase the safety performance and reduce occupational accidents. PMID:28435824

A Qualitative Study on Organizational Factors Affecting Occupational Accidents.

PubMed

Eskandari, Davood; Jafari, Mohammad Javad; Mehrabi, Yadollah; Kian, Mostafa Pouya; Charkhand, Hossein; Mirghotbi, Mostafa

2017-03-01

Technical, human, operational and organizational factors have been influencing the sequence of occupational accidents. Among them, organizational factors play a major role in causing occupational accidents. The aim of this research was to understand the Iranian safety experts' experiences and perception of organizational factors. This qualitative study was conducted in 2015 by using the content analysis technique. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 safety experts working in Iranian universities and industries and analyzed with a conventional qualitative content analysis method using the MAXQDA software. Eleven organizational factors' sub-themes were identified: management commitment, management participation, employee involvement, communication, blame culture, education and training, job satisfaction, interpersonal relationship, supervision, continuous improvement, and reward system. The participants considered these factors as effective on occupational accidents. The mentioned 11 organizational factors are probably involved in occupational accidents in Iran. Naturally, improving organizational factors can increase the safety performance and reduce occupational accidents.

Environmental mobility of (110m)Ag: lessons learnt from Fukushima accident (Japan) and potential use for tracking the dispersion of contamination within coastal catchments.

PubMed

Lepage, Hugo; Evrard, Olivier; Onda, Yuichi; Patin, Jeremy; Chartin, Caroline; Lefèvre, Irène; Bonté, Philippe; Ayrault, Sophie

2014-04-01

Silver-110 metastable ((110m)Ag) has been far less investigated than other anthropogenic radionuclides, although it has the potential to accumulate in plants and animal tissues. It is continuously produced by nuclear power plants in normal conditions, but emitted in much larger quantities in accidental conditions facilitating its detection, which allows the investigation of its behaviour in the environment. We analysed (110m)Ag in soil and river drape sediment (i.e., mud drapes deposited on channel-bed sand) collected within coastal catchments contaminated in Fukushima Prefecture (Japan) after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident that occurred on 11 March 2011. Several field experiments were conducted to document radiosilver behaviour in the terrestrial environment, with a systematic comparison to the more documented radiocesium behaviour. Results show a similar and low mobility for both elements in soils and a strong affinity with the clay fraction. Measurements conducted on sediment sequences accumulated in reservoirs tend to confirm a comparable deposition of those radionuclides even after their redistribution due to erosion and deposition processes. Therefore, as the (110m)Ag:(137)Cs initial activity ratio varied in soils across the area, we justified the relevance of using this tool to track the dispersion of contaminated sediment from the main inland radioactive pollution plume generated by FDNPP accident. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preliminary Analysis of Aircraft Loss of Control Accidents: Worst Case Precursor Combinations and Temporal Sequencing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Belcastro, Christine M.; Groff, Loren; Newman, Richard L.; Foster, John V.; Crider, Dennis H.; Klyde, David H.; Huston, A. McCall

2014-01-01

Aircraft loss of control (LOC) is a leading cause of fatal accidents across all transport airplane and operational classes, and can result from a wide spectrum of hazards, often occurring in combination. Technologies developed for LOC prevention and recovery must therefore be effective under a wide variety of conditions and uncertainties, including multiple hazards, and their validation must provide a means of assessing system effectiveness and coverage of these hazards. This requires the definition of a comprehensive set of LOC test scenarios based on accident and incident data as well as future risks. This paper defines a comprehensive set of accidents and incidents over a recent 15 year period, and presents preliminary analysis results to identify worst-case combinations of causal and contributing factors (i.e., accident precursors) and how they sequence in time. Such analyses can provide insight in developing effective solutions for LOC, and form the basis for developing test scenarios that can be used in evaluating them. Preliminary findings based on the results of this paper indicate that system failures or malfunctions, crew actions or inactions, vehicle impairment conditions, and vehicle upsets contributed the most to accidents and fatalities, followed by inclement weather or atmospheric disturbances and poor visibility. Follow-on research will include finalizing the analysis through a team consensus process, defining future risks, and developing a comprehensive set of test scenarios with correlation to the accidents, incidents, and future risks. Since enhanced engineering simulations are required for batch and piloted evaluations under realistic LOC precursor conditions, these test scenarios can also serve as a high-level requirement for defining the engineering simulation enhancements needed for generating them.

Severe Accident Sequence Analysis Program: Anticipated transient without scram simulations for Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dallman, R J; Gottula, R C; Holcomb, E E

1987-05-01

An analysis of five anticipated transients without scram (ATWS) was conducted at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The five detailed deterministic simulations of postulated ATWS sequences were initiated from a main steamline isolation valve (MSIV) closure. The subject of the analysis was the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 1, a boiling water reactor (BWR) of the BWR/4 product line with a Mark I containment. The simulations yielded insights to the possible consequences resulting from a MSIV closure ATWS. An evaluation of the effects of plant safety systems and operator actions on accident progression and mitigation is presented.

Potential health risks from postulated accidents involving the Pu-238 RTG on the Ulysses solar exploration mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goldman, Marvin; Hoover, Mark D.; Nelson, Robert C.; Templeton, William; Bollinger, Lance; Anspaugh, Lynn

1991-01-01

Potential radiation impacts from launch of the Ulysses solar exploration experiment were evaluated using eight postulated accident scenarios. Lifetime individual dose estimates rarely exceeded 1 mrem. Most of the potential health effects would come from inhalation exposures immediately after an accident, rather than from ingestion of contaminated food or water, or from inhalation of resuspended plutonium from contaminated ground. For local Florida accidents (that is, during the first minute after launch), an average source term accident was estimated to cause a total added cancer risk of up to 0.2 deaths. For accidents at later time after launch, a worldwide cancer risk of up to three cases was calculated (with a four in a million probability). Upper bound estimates were calculated to be about 10 times higher.

Loss of DHR sequences at Browns Ferry Unit One - accident-sequence analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cook, D.H.; Grene, S.R.; Harrington, R.M.

1983-05-01

This study describes the predicted response of Unit One at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant to a postulated loss of decay heat removal (DHR) capability following scram from full power with the power conversion system unavailable. In accident sequences without DHR capability, the residual heat removal (RHR) system functions of pressure suppression pool cooling and reactor vessel shutdown cooling are unavailable. Consequently, all decay heat energy is stored in the pressure suppression pool with a concomitant increase in pool temperature and primary containment pressure. With the assumption that DHR capability is not regained during the lengthy course of this accidentmore » sequence, the containment ultimately fails by overpressurization. Although unlikely, this catastrophic failure might lead to loss of the ability to inject cooling water into the reactor vessel, causing subsequent core uncovery and meltdown. The timing of these events and the effective mitigating actions that might be taken by the operator are discussed in this report.« less

RAMONA-3B application to Browns Ferry ATWS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Slovik, G.C.; Neymotin, L.Y.; Saha, P.

1985-01-01

The Anticipated Transient Without Scram (ATWS) is known to be a dominant accident sequence for possible core melt in a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR). A recent Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) analysis for the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant indicates that ATWS is the second most dominant transient for core melt in BWR/4 with Mark I containment. The most dominant sequence being the failure of long term decay heat removal function of the Residual Heat Removal (RHR) system. Of all the various ATWS scenarios, the Main Steam Isolation Valve (MSIV) closure ATWS sequence was chosen for present analysis because of itsmore » relatively high frequency of occurrence and its challenge to the residual heat removal system and containment integrity. The objective of this paper is to discuss four MSIV closure ATWS calculations using the RAMONA-3B code. The paper is a summary of a report being prepared for the USNRC Severe Accident Sequence Analysis (SASA) program which should be referred to for details. 10 refs., 20 figs., 3 tabs.« less

Potential safety benefits of intelligent cruise control systems.

PubMed

Chira-Chavala, T; Yoo, S M

1994-04-01

Potential safety impact of a hypothetical intelligent cruise control system (ICCS) is evaluated in terms of changes in traffic accidents and some traffic operation characteristics affecting safety. The analysis of changes in traffic accidents is accomplished by in-depth examinations of police accident reports for four major counties in California. The evaluation of changes in traffic operation characteristics affecting safety is accomplished by vehicle simulation. The accident analysis reveals that the use of the hypothetical ICCS could potentially reduce traffic accidents by up to 7.5%. Preliminary vehicle simulation results based on a 10-vehicle convoy indicate that the use of the hypothetical ICCS could reduce frequencies of hard acceleration and deceleration, enhance speed harmonization among vehicles, and reduce incidence of "less-safe" headway.

Molecular cloning and structural modelling of gamma-phospholipase A2 inhibitors from Bothrops atrox and Micrurus lemniscatus snakes.

PubMed

Picelli, Carina G; Borges, Rafael J; Fernandes, Carlos A H; Matioli, Fabio M; Fernandes, Carla F C; Sobrinho, Juliana C; Holanda, Rudson J; Ozaki, Luiz S; Kayano, Anderson M; Calderon, Leonardo A; Fontes, Marcos R M; Stábeli, Rodrigo G; Soares, Andreimar M

2017-10-01

Phospholipases A 2 inhibitors (PLIs) produced by venomous and non-venomous snakes play essential role in this resistance. These endogenous inhibitors may be classified by their fold in PLIα, PLIβ and PLIγ. Phospholipases A 2 (PLA 2 s) develop myonecrosis in snake envenomation, a consequence that is not efficiently neutralized by antivenom treatment. This work aimed to identify and characterize two PLIs from Amazonian snake species, Bothrops atrox and Micrurus lemniscatus. Liver tissues RNA of specimens from each species were isolated and amplified by RT-PCR using PCR primers based on known PLIγ gene sequences, followed by cloning and sequencing of amplified fragments. Sequence similarity studies showed elevated identity with inhibitor PLIγ gene sequences from other snake species. Molecular models of translated inhibitors' gene sequences resemble canonical three finger fold from PLIγ and support the hypothesis that the decapeptide (residues 107-116) may be responsible for PLA 2 inhibition. Structural studies and action mechanism of these PLIs may provide necessary information to evaluate their potential as antivenom or as complement of the current ophidian accident treatment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Role of susceptibility-weighted imaging in demonstration of cerebral fat embolism.

PubMed

Yeap, Pheyming; Kanodia, Avinash Kumar; Main, Gavin; Yong, Aiwain

2015-01-08

Cerebral fat embolism (CFE) is a rare but potentially lethal complication of long bone fractures. Many cases of CFE occur as subclinical events and remain undiagnosed. We report a case of a 22-year-old man, with multiple long bone fractures from a road traffic accident, who subsequently developed hypoxia, neurological abnormality and petechial rash. CT of the head was normal. MRI of the head confirmed the diagnosis with lesions markedly conspicuous and most widespread on susceptibility-weighted imaging as compared to all other sequences including diffusion-weighted imaging. 2015 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.

Chemistry, the Central Science? The History of the High School Science Sequence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheppard, Keith; Robbins, Dennis M.

2005-01-01

Chemistry became the ''central science'' not by design but by accident in the US high schools. The three important factors, which had their influence on the high school science, are sequenced and their impact on the development of US science education, are mentioned.

Expert systems for fault diagnosis in nuclear reactor control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jalel, N. A.; Nicholson, H.

1990-11-01

An expert system for accident analysis and fault diagnosis for the Loss Of Fluid Test (LOFT) reactor, a small scale pressurized water reactor, was developed for a personal computer. The knowledge of the system is presented using a production rule approach with a backward chaining inference engine. The data base of the system includes simulated dependent state variables of the LOFT reactor model. Another system is designed to assist the operator in choosing the appropriate cooling mode and to diagnose the fault in the selected cooling system. The response tree, which is used to provide the link between a list of very specific accident sequences and a set of generic emergency procedures which help the operator in monitoring system status, and to differentiate between different accident sequences and select the correct procedures, is used to build the system knowledge base. Both systems are written in TURBO PROLOG language and can be run on an IBM PC compatible with 640k RAM, 40 Mbyte hard disk and color graphics.

A smart phone-based pocket fall accident detection, positioning, and rescue system.

PubMed

Kau, Lih-Jen; Chen, Chih-Sheng

2015-01-01

We propose in this paper a novel algorithm as well as architecture for the fall accident detection and corresponding wide area rescue system based on a smart phone and the third generation (3G) networks. To realize the fall detection algorithm, the angles acquired by the electronic compass (ecompass) and the waveform sequence of the triaxial accelerometer on the smart phone are used as the system inputs. The acquired signals are then used to generate an ordered feature sequence and then examined in a sequential manner by the proposed cascade classifier for recognition purpose. Once the corresponding feature is verified by the classifier at current state, it can proceed to next state; otherwise, the system will reset to the initial state and wait for the appearance of another feature sequence. Once a fall accident event is detected, the user's position can be acquired by the global positioning system (GPS) or the assisted GPS, and sent to the rescue center via the 3G communication network so that the user can get medical help immediately. With the proposed cascaded classification architecture, the computational burden and power consumption issue on the smart phone system can be alleviated. Moreover, as we will see in the experiment that a distinguished fall accident detection accuracy up to 92% on the sensitivity and 99.75% on the specificity can be obtained when a set of 450 test actions in nine different kinds of activities are estimated by using the proposed cascaded classifier, which justifies the superiority of the proposed algorithm.

NASA Medical Response to Human Spacecraft Accidents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patlach, Robert

2010-01-01

Manned space flight is risky business. Accidents have occurred and may occur in the future. NASA's manned space flight programs, with all their successes, have had three fatal accidents, one at the launch pad and two in flight. The Apollo fire and the Challenger and Columbia accidents resulted in a loss of seventeen crewmembers. Russia's manned space flight programs have had three fatal accidents, one ground-based and two in flight. These accidents resulted in the loss of five crewmembers. Additionally, manned spacecraft have encountered numerous close calls with potential for disaster. The NASA Johnson Space Center Flight Safety Office has documented more than 70 spacecraft incidents, many of which could have become serious accidents. At the Johnson Space Center (JSC), medical contingency personnel are assigned to a Mishap Investigation Team. The team deploys to the accident site to gather and preserve evidence for the Accident Investigation Board. The JSC Medical Operations Branch has developed a flight surgeon accident response training class to capture the lessons learned from the Columbia accident. This presentation will address the NASA Mishap Investigation Team's medical objectives, planned response, and potential issues that could arise subsequent to a manned spacecraft accident. Educational Objectives are to understand the medical objectives and issues confronting the Mishap Investigation Team medical personnel subsequent to a human space flight accident.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Curry, J J; Gallagher, D W; Modarres, M

Appendices are presented concerning isolation condenser makeup; vapor suppression system; station air system; reactor building closed cooling water system; turbine building secondary closed water system; service water system; emergency service water system; fire protection system; emergency ac power; dc power system; event probability estimation; methodology of accident sequence quantification; and assignment of dominant sequences to release categories.

An novel identification method of the environmental risk sources for surface water pollution accidents in chemical industrial parks.

PubMed

Peng, Jianfeng; Song, Yonghui; Yuan, Peng; Xiao, Shuhu; Han, Lu

2013-07-01

The chemical industry is a major source of various pollution accidents. Improving the management level of risk sources for pollution accidents has become an urgent demand for most industrialized countries. In pollution accidents, the released chemicals harm the receptors to some extent depending on their sensitivity or susceptibility. Therefore, identifying the potential risk sources from such a large number of chemical enterprises has become pressingly urgent. Based on the simulation of the whole accident process, a novel and expandable identification method for risk sources causing water pollution accidents is presented. The newly developed approach, by analyzing and stimulating the whole process of a pollution accident between sources and receptors, can be applied to identify risk sources, especially on the nationwide scale. Three major types of losses, such as social, economic and ecological losses, were normalized, analyzed and used for overall consequence modeling. A specific case study area, located in a chemical industry park (CIP) along the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, China, was selected to test the potential of the identification method. The results showed that there were four risk sources for pollution accidents in this CIP. Aniline leakage in the HS Chemical Plant would lead to the most serious impact on the surrounding water environment. This potential accident would severely damage the ecosystem up to 3.8 km downstream of Yangtze River, and lead to pollution over a distance stretching to 73.7 km downstream. The proposed method is easily extended to the nationwide identification of potential risk sources.

Interim Reliability Evaluation Program: analysis of the Browns Ferry, Unit 1, nuclear plant. Main report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mays, S.E.; Poloski, J.P.; Sullivan, W.H.

1982-07-01

A probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) was made of the Browns Ferry, Unit 1, nuclear plant as part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Interim Reliability Evaluation Program (IREP). Specific goals of the study were to identify the dominant contributors to core melt, develop a foundation for more extensive use of PRA methods, expand the cadre of experienced PRA practitioners, and apply procedures for extension of IREP analyses to other domestic light water reactors. Event tree and fault tree analyses were used to estimate the frequency of accident sequences initiated by transients and loss of coolant accidents. External events such as floods,more » fires, earthquakes, and sabotage were beyond the scope of this study and were, therefore, excluded. From these sequences, the dominant contributors to probable core melt frequency were chosen. Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses were performed on these sequences to better understand the limitations associated with the estimated sequence frequencies. Dominant sequences were grouped according to common containment failure modes and corresponding release categories on the basis of comparison with analyses of similar designs rather than on the basis of detailed plant-specific calculations.« less

10 CFR 76.85 - Assessment of accidents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 10 Energy 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Assessment of accidents. 76.85 Section 76.85 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (CONTINUED) CERTIFICATION OF GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANTS Safety § 76.85 Assessment of accidents. The Corporation shall perform an analysis of potential accidents and consequences to...

10 CFR 76.85 - Assessment of accidents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 10 Energy 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Assessment of accidents. 76.85 Section 76.85 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (CONTINUED) CERTIFICATION OF GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANTS Safety § 76.85 Assessment of accidents. The Corporation shall perform an analysis of potential accidents and consequences to...

10 CFR 76.85 - Assessment of accidents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 10 Energy 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Assessment of accidents. 76.85 Section 76.85 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (CONTINUED) CERTIFICATION OF GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANTS Safety § 76.85 Assessment of accidents. The Corporation shall perform an analysis of potential accidents and consequences to...

10 CFR 76.85 - Assessment of accidents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Assessment of accidents. 76.85 Section 76.85 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (CONTINUED) CERTIFICATION OF GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANTS Safety § 76.85 Assessment of accidents. The Corporation shall perform an analysis of potential accidents and consequences to...

10 CFR 76.85 - Assessment of accidents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Assessment of accidents. 76.85 Section 76.85 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (CONTINUED) CERTIFICATION OF GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANTS Safety § 76.85 Assessment of accidents. The Corporation shall perform an analysis of potential accidents and consequences to...

A comprehensive review of rollover accidents involving vehicles equipped with Electronic Stability Control (ESC) systems.

PubMed

Padmanaban, Jeya; Shields, Leland E; Scheibe, Robert R; Eyges, Vitaly E

2008-10-01

This study investigated 478 police accident reports from 9 states to examine and characterize rollover crashes involving ESC-equipped vehicles. The focus was on the sequence of critical events leading to loss of control and rollover, and the interactions between the accident, driver, and environment. Results show that, while ESC is effective in reducing loss of control leading to certain rollover crashes, its effectiveness is diminished in others, particularly when the vehicle departs the roadway or when environmental factors such as slick road conditions or driver factors such as speeding, distraction, fatigue, impairment, or overcorrection are present.

A Comprehensive Review of Rollover Accidents Involving Vehicles Equipped with Electronic Stability Control (ESC) Systems

PubMed Central

Padmanaban, Jeya; Shields, Leland E.; Scheibe, Robert R.; Eyges, Vitaly E.

2008-01-01

This study investigated 478 police accident reports from 9 states to examine and characterize rollover crashes involving ESC-equipped vehicles. The focus was on the sequence of critical events leading to loss of control and rollover, and the interactions between the accident, driver, and environment. Results show that, while ESC is effective in reducing loss of control leading to certain rollover crashes, its effectiveness is diminished in others, particularly when the vehicle departs the roadway or when environmental factors such as slick road conditions or driver factors such as speeding, distraction, fatigue, impairment, or overcorrection are present. PMID:19026219

10 CFR 50.43 - Additional standards and provisions affecting class 103 licenses and certifications for...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... licensed before 1997, or use simplified, inherent, passive, or other innovative means to accomplish their... sequences, including equilibrium core conditions; or (2) There has been acceptable testing of a prototype... accident sequences, including equilibrium core conditions. If a prototype plant is used to comply with the...

Causative factors and countermeasures for rural and suburban pedestrian accidents : accident data collection and analysis

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1977-03-01

The objectives of the study were to collect and analyze data on rural pedestrian accidents and to identify potential countermeasures. Data on a stratified random sample of over 1,500 rural and suburban accidents from six states was collected during i...

Causative factors and countermeasures for rural and suburban pedestrian accidents : accident data collection and analysis--appendices

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1977-06-01

The objectives of the study were to collect and analyze data on rural pedestrian accidents and to identify potential countermeasures. Data on a stratified random sample of over 1,500 rural and suburban accidents from six states was collected during i...

Low-Probability High-Consequence (LPHC) Failure Events in Geologic Carbon Sequestration Pipelines and Wells: Framework for LPHC Risk Assessment Incorporating Spatial Variability of Risk

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Oldenburg, Curtis M.; Budnitz, Robert J.

If Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) is to be effective in mitigating climate change, it will need to be carried out on a very large scale. This will involve many thousands of miles of dedicated high-pressure pipelines in order to transport many millions of tonnes of CO 2 annually, with the CO 2 delivered to many thousands of wells that will inject the CO 2 underground. The new CCS infrastructure could rival in size the current U.S. upstream natural gas pipeline and well infrastructure. This new infrastructure entails hazards for life, health, animals, the environment, and natural resources. Pipelinesmore » are known to rupture due to corrosion, from external forces such as impacts by vehicles or digging equipment, by defects in construction, or from the failure of valves and seals. Similarly, wells are vulnerable to catastrophic failure due to corrosion, cement degradation, or operational mistakes. While most accidents involving pipelines and wells will be minor, there is the inevitable possibility of accidents with very high consequences, especially to public health. The most important consequence of concern is CO 2 release to the environment in concentrations sufficient to cause death by asphyxiation to nearby populations. Such accidents are thought to be very unlikely, but of course they cannot be excluded, even if major engineering effort is devoted (as it will be) to keeping their probability low and their consequences minimized. This project has developed a methodology for analyzing the risks of these rare but high-consequence accidents, using a step-by-step probabilistic methodology. A key difference between risks for pipelines and wells is that the former are spatially distributed along the pipe whereas the latter are confined to the vicinity of the well. Otherwise, the methodology we develop for risk assessment of pipeline and well failures is similar and provides an analysis both of the annual probabilities of accident sequences of concern and of their consequences, and crucially the methodology provides insights into what measures might be taken to mitigate those accident sequences identified as of concern. Mitigating strategies could address reducing the likelihood of an accident sequence of concern, or reducing the consequences, or some combination. The methodology elucidates both local and integrated risks along the pipeline or at the well providing information useful to decision makers at various levels including local (e.g., property owners and town councils), regional (e.g., county and state representatives), and national levels (federal regulators and corporate proponents).« less

Risk analysis of emergent water pollution accidents based on a Bayesian Network.

PubMed

Tang, Caihong; Yi, Yujun; Yang, Zhifeng; Sun, Jie

2016-01-01

To guarantee the security of water quality in water transfer channels, especially in open channels, analysis of potential emergent pollution sources in the water transfer process is critical. It is also indispensable for forewarnings and protection from emergent pollution accidents. Bridges above open channels with large amounts of truck traffic are the main locations where emergent accidents could occur. A Bayesian Network model, which consists of six root nodes and three middle layer nodes, was developed in this paper, and was employed to identify the possibility of potential pollution risk. Dianbei Bridge is reviewed as a typical bridge on an open channel of the Middle Route of the South to North Water Transfer Project where emergent traffic accidents could occur. Risk of water pollutions caused by leakage of pollutants into water is focused in this study. The risk for potential traffic accidents at the Dianbei Bridge implies a risk for water pollution in the canal. Based on survey data, statistical analysis, and domain specialist knowledge, a Bayesian Network model was established. The human factor of emergent accidents has been considered in this model. Additionally, this model has been employed to describe the probability of accidents and the risk level. The sensitive reasons for pollution accidents have been deduced. The case has also been simulated that sensitive factors are in a state of most likely to lead to accidents. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Application of forensic image analysis in accident investigations.

PubMed

Verolme, Ellen; Mieremet, Arjan

2017-09-01

Forensic investigations are primarily meant to obtain objective answers that can be used for criminal prosecution. Accident analyses are usually performed to learn from incidents and to prevent similar events from occurring in the future. Although the primary goal may be different, the steps in which information is gathered, interpreted and weighed are similar in both types of investigations, implying that forensic techniques can be of use in accident investigations as well. The use in accident investigations usually means that more information can be obtained from the available information than when used in criminal investigations, since the latter require a higher evidence level. In this paper, we demonstrate the applicability of forensic techniques for accident investigations by presenting a number of cases from one specific field of expertise: image analysis. With the rapid spread of digital devices and new media, a wealth of image material and other digital information has become available for accident investigators. We show that much information can be distilled from footage by using forensic image analysis techniques. These applications show that image analysis provides information that is crucial for obtaining the sequence of events and the two- and three-dimensional geometry of an accident. Since accident investigation focuses primarily on learning from accidents and prevention of future accidents, and less on the blame that is crucial for criminal investigations, the field of application of these forensic tools may be broader than would be the case in purely legal sense. This is an important notion for future accident investigations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Accident diagnosis system based on real-time decision tree expert system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicolau, Andressa dos S.; Augusto, João P. da S. C.; Schirru, Roberto

2017-06-01

Safety is one of the most studied topics when referring to power stations. For that reason, sensors and alarms develop an important role in environmental and human protection. When abnormal event happens, it triggers a chain of alarms that must be, somehow, checked by the control room operators. In this case, diagnosis support system can help operators to accurately identify the possible root-cause of the problem in short time. In this article, we present a computational model of a generic diagnose support system based on artificial intelligence, that was applied on the dataset of two real power stations: Angra1 Nuclear Power Plant and Santo Antônio Hydroelectric Plant. The proposed system processes all the information logged in the sequence of events before a shutdown signal using the expert's knowledge inputted into an expert system indicating the chain of events, from the shutdown signal to its root-cause. The results of both applications showed that the support system is a potential tool to help the control room operators identify abnormal events, as accidents and consequently increase the safety.

Short-Term Medical Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident: Lessons for the Future

PubMed Central

Gale, Robert Peter

1988-01-01

The author of this article discusses the world's most serious nuclear accident to date: the Chernobyl nuclear accident of April 1986. His major focus is on the short-term medical consequences of the accident, including reduction of exposure to persons at risk, evaluation of persons potentially affected, dosimetry, and specific medical interventions. PMID:21253129

Injury protection and accident causation parameters for vulnerable road users based on German In-Depth Accident Study GIDAS.

PubMed

Otte, Dietmar; Jänsch, Michael; Haasper, Carl

2012-01-01

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. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Upon the reconstruction of accidents triggered by tire explosion. Analytical model and case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaiginschi, L.; Agape, I.; Talif, S.

2017-10-01

Accident Reconstruction is important in the general context of increasing road traffic safety. In the casuistry of traffic accidents, those caused by tire explosions are critical under the severity of consequences, because they are usually happening at high speeds. Consequently, the knowledge of the running speed of the vehicle involved at the time of the tire explosion is essential to elucidate the circumstances of the accident. The paper presents an analytical model for the kinematics of a vehicle which, after the explosion of one of its tires, begins to skid, overturns and rolls. The model consists of two concurent approaches built as applications of the momentum conservation and energy conservation principles, and allows determination of the initial speed of the vehicle involved, by running backwards the sequences of the road event. The authors also aimed to both validate the two distinct analytical approaches by calibrating the calculation algorithms on a case study

Atmospheric transport of radioactive debris to Norway in case of a hypothetical accident related to the recovery of the Russian submarine K-27.

PubMed

Bartnicki, Jerzy; Amundsen, Ingar; Brown, Justin; Hosseini, Ali; Hov, Øystein; Haakenstad, Hilde; Klein, Heiko; Lind, Ole Christian; Salbu, Brit; Szacinski Wendel, Cato C; Ytre-Eide, Martin Album

2016-01-01

The Russian nuclear submarine K-27 suffered a loss of coolant accident in 1968 and with nuclear fuel in both reactors it was scuttled in 1981 in the outer part of Stepovogo Bay located on the eastern coast of Novaya Zemlya. The inventory of spent nuclear fuel on board the submarine is of concern because it represents a potential source of radioactive contamination of the Kara Sea and a criticality accident with potential for long-range atmospheric transport of radioactive particles cannot be ruled out. To address these concerns and to provide a better basis for evaluating possible radiological impacts of potential releases in case a salvage operation is initiated, we assessed the atmospheric transport of radionuclides and deposition in Norway from a hypothetical criticality accident on board the K-27. To achieve this, a long term (33 years) meteorological database has been prepared and used for selection of the worst case meteorological scenarios for each of three selected locations of the potential accident. Next, the dispersion model SNAP was run with the source term for the worst-case accident scenario and selected meteorological scenarios. The results showed predictions to be very sensitive to the estimation of the source term for the worst-case accident and especially to the sizes and densities of released radioactive particles. The results indicated that a large area of Norway could be affected, but that the deposition in Northern Norway would be considerably higher than in other areas of the country. The simulations showed that deposition from the worst-case scenario of a hypothetical K-27 accident would be at least two orders of magnitude lower than the deposition observed in Norway following the Chernobyl accident. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Normal Accident at Three Mile Island.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perrow, Charles

1981-01-01

Discusses some aspects of the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Explains a number of factors involved including the type of accident, warnings, design and equipment failure, operator error, and negative synergy. Presents alternatives to systems with catastrophic potential. (MK)

BNL severe-accident sequence experiments and analysis program. [PWR; BWR

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Greene, G.A.; Ginsberg, T.; Tutu, N.K.

1983-01-01

In the analysis of degraded core accidents, the two major sources of pressure loading on light water reactor containments are: steam generation from core debris-water thermal interactions; and molten core-concrete interactions. Experiments are in progress at BNL in support of analytical model development related to aspects of the above containment loading mechanisms. The work supports development and evaluation of the CORCON (Muir, 1981) and MARCH (Wooton, 1980) computer codes. Progress in the two programs is described.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brown, Nicholas; Burns, Joseph R.

The aftermath of the Tōhoku earthquake and the Fukushima accident has led to a global push to improve the safety of existing light water reactors. A key component of this initiative is the development of nuclear fuel and cladding materials with potentially enhanced accident tolerance, also known as accident-tolerant fuels (ATF). These materials are intended to improve core fuel and cladding integrity under beyond design basis accident conditions while maintaining or enhancing reactor performance and safety characteristics during normal operation. To complement research that has already been carried out to characterize ATF neutronics, the present study provides an initial investigationmore » of the sensitivity and uncertainty of ATF systems responses to nuclear cross section data. ATF concepts incorporate novel materials, including SiC and FeCrAl cladding and high density uranium silicide composite fuels, in turn introducing new cross section sensitivities and uncertainties which may behave differently from traditional fuel and cladding materials. In this paper, we conducted sensitivity and uncertainty analysis using the TSUNAMI-2D sequence of SCALE with infinite lattice models of ATF assemblies. Of all the ATF materials considered, it is found that radiative capture in 56Fe in FeCrAl cladding is the most significant contributor to eigenvalue uncertainty. 56Fe yields significant potential eigenvalue uncertainty associated with its radiative capture cross section; this is by far the largest ATF-specific uncertainty found in these cases, exceeding even those of uranium. We found that while significant new sensitivities indeed arise, the general sensitivity behavior of ATF assemblies does not markedly differ from traditional UO2/zirconium-based fuel/cladding systems, especially with regard to uncertainties associated with uranium. We assessed the similarity of the IPEN/MB-01 reactor benchmark model to application models with FeCrAl cladding. We used TSUNAMI-IP to calculate similarity indices of the application model and IPEN/MB-01 reactor benchmark model. This benchmark was selected for its use of SS304 as a cladding and structural material, with significant 56Fe content. The similarity indices suggest that while many differences in reactor physics arise from differences in design, sensitivity to and behavior of 56Fe absorption is comparable between systems, thus indicating the potential for this benchmark to reduce uncertainties in 56Fe radiative capture cross sections.« less

NASA's Accident Precursor Analysis Process and the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Groen, Frank; Lutomski, Michael

2010-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the implementation of Accident Precursor Analysis (APA), as well as the evaluation of In-Flight Investigations (IFI) and Problem Reporting and Corrective Action (PRACA) data for the identification of unrecognized accident potentials on the International Space Station.

An Application of CICCT Accident Categories to Aviation Accidents in 1988-2004

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Evans, Joni K.

2007-01-01

Interventions or technologies developed to improve aviation safety often focus on specific causes or accident categories. Evaluation of the potential effectiveness of those interventions is dependent upon mapping the historical aviation accidents into those same accident categories. To that end, the United States civil aviation accidents occurring between 1988 and 2004 (n=26,117) were assigned accident categories based upon the taxonomy developed by the CAST/ICAO Common Taxonomy Team (CICTT). Results are presented separately for four main categories of flight rules: Part 121 (large commercial air carriers), Scheduled Part 135 (commuter airlines), Non-Scheduled Part 135 (on-demand air taxi) and Part 91 (general aviation). Injuries and aircraft damage are summarized by year and by accident category.

10 CFR 963.13 - Preclosure suitability evaluation method.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... to evaluate whether the geologic repository is likely to comply with the applicable radiation... prevent or mitigate the effects of postulated Category 1 and 2 event sequences. The preclosure safety... prevent accidents. ...

A variational technique for smoothing flight-test and accident data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bach, R. E., Jr.

1980-01-01

The problem of determining aircraft motions along a trajectory is solved using a variational algorithm that generates unmeasured states and forcing functions, and estimates instrument bias and scale-factor errors. The problem is formulated as a nonlinear fixed-interval smoothing problem, and is solved as a sequence of linear two-point boundary value problems, using a sweep method. The algorithm has been implemented for use in flight-test and accident analysis. Aircraft motions are assumed to be governed by a six-degree-of-freedom kinematic model; forcing functions consist of body accelerations and winds, and the measurement model includes aerodynamic and radar data. Examples of the determination of aircraft motions from typical flight-test and accident data are presented.

Qualification of safety-related electrical equipment in France. Methods, approach and test facilities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Raimondo, E.; Capman, J.L.; Herovard, M.

1985-05-01

Requirements for qualification of electrical equipment used in French-built nuclear power plants are stated in a national code, the RCC-E, or Regles de Construction et de Conception des Materiels Electriques. Under the RCC-E, safety related equipment is assigned to one of three different categories, according to location in the plant and anticipated normal, accident and post-accident behavior. Qualification tests differ for each category and procedures range in scope from the standard seismic test to the highly stringent VISA program, which specifies a predetermined sequence of aging, radiation, seismic and simulated accident testing. A network of official French test facilities wasmore » developed specifically to meet RCC-E requirements.« less

Assessment of an explosive LPG release accident: a case study.

PubMed

Bubbico, Roberto; Marchini, Mauro

2008-07-15

In the present paper, an accident occurred during a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tank filling activity has been taken into consideration. During the transfer of LPG from the source road tank car to the receiving fixed storage vessel, an accidental release of LPG gave rise to different final consequences ranging from a pool fire, to a fireball and to the catastrophic rupture of the tank with successive explosion of its contents. The sequence of events has been investigated by using some of the consequence calculation models most commonly adopted in risk analysis and accident investigation. On one hand, this allows to better understand the link between the various events of the accident. On the other hand, a comparison between the results of the calculations and the damages actually observed after the accident, allows to check the accuracy of the prediction models and to critically assess their validity. In particular, it was shown that the largest uncertainty is associated with the calculation of the energy involved in the physical expansion of the fluid (both liquid and vapor) after the catastrophic rupture of the tank.

Investigation of human body potential measured by a non-contact measuring system

PubMed Central

ICHIKAWA, Norimitsu

2016-01-01

A human body is occasionally electrified in a room. This charged object will be a source of electrostatic accidents, including the malfunction of electronic equipment. Hence, prevention of these accidents is required. Accidents occasionally occur, even though antistatic clothes and shoes are used. One of the causes for these accidents is that there is a lack of the preventive measures. This situation occurs when using, for example, unconductive wax. In this study, human body potential (voltage) is measured using a non-contact measuring system. An investigation of the human body’s voltage when using this system is conducted. The result demonstrates that the voltage of a human body wearing antistatic clothes and shoes or light clothes and slippers exceeds a malfunctioning voltage of a microelectronics device when the body walks on floors. Thus, accidents may occur even if a human body wearing the antistatic clothes walks on flooring. These results will be useful in estimating determination whether electrostatic accidents occur or not. PMID:27319403

Investigation of human body potential measured by a non-contact measuring system.

PubMed

Ichikawa, Norimitsu

2016-12-07

A human body is occasionally electrified in a room. This charged object will be a source of electrostatic accidents, including the malfunction of electronic equipment. Hence, prevention of these accidents is required. Accidents occasionally occur, even though antistatic clothes and shoes are used. One of the causes for these accidents is that there is a lack of the preventive measures. This situation occurs when using, for example, unconductive wax. In this study, human body potential (voltage) is measured using a non-contact measuring system. An investigation of the human body's voltage when using this system is conducted. The result demonstrates that the voltage of a human body wearing antistatic clothes and shoes or light clothes and slippers exceeds a malfunctioning voltage of a microelectronics device when the body walks on floors. Thus, accidents may occur even if a human body wearing the antistatic clothes walks on flooring. These results will be useful in estimating determination whether electrostatic accidents occur or not.

WHEN MODEL MEETS REALITY – A REVIEW OF SPAR LEVEL 2 MODEL AGAINST FUKUSHIMA ACCIDENT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhegang Ma

The Standardized Plant Analysis Risk (SPAR) models are a set of probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) models used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to evaluate the risk of operations at U.S. nuclear power plants and provide inputs to risk informed regulatory process. A small number of SPAR Level 2 models have been developed mostly for feasibility study purpose. They extend the Level 1 models to include containment systems, group plant damage states, and model containment phenomenology and accident progression in containment event trees. A severe earthquake and tsunami hit the eastern coast of Japan in March 2011 and caused significantmore » damages on the reactors in Fukushima Daiichi site. Station blackout (SBO), core damage, containment damage, hydrogen explosion, and intensive radioactivity release, which have been previous analyzed and assumed as postulated accident progression in PRA models, now occurred with various degrees in the multi-units Fukushima Daiichi site. This paper reviews and compares a typical BWR SPAR Level 2 model with the “real” accident progressions and sequences occurred in Fukushima Daiichi Units 1, 2, and 3. It shows that the SPAR Level 2 model is a robust PRA model that could very reasonably describe the accident progression for a real and complicated nuclear accident in the world. On the other hand, the comparison shows that the SPAR model could be enhanced by incorporating some accident characteristics for better representation of severe accident progression.« less

Key risk indicators for accident assessment conditioned on pre-crash vehicle trajectory.

PubMed

Shi, X; Wong, Y D; Li, M Z F; Chai, C

2018-08-01

Accident events are generally unexpected and occur rarely. Pre-accident risk assessment by surrogate indicators is an effective way to identify risk levels and thus boost accident prediction. Herein, the concept of Key Risk Indicator (KRI) is proposed, which assesses risk exposures using hybrid indicators. Seven metrics are shortlisted as the basic indicators in KRI, with evaluation in terms of risk behaviour, risk avoidance, and risk margin. A typical real-world chain-collision accident and its antecedent (pre-crash) road traffic movements are retrieved from surveillance video footage, and a grid remapping method is proposed for data extraction and coordinates transformation. To investigate the feasibility of each indicator in risk assessment, a temporal-spatial case-control is designed. By comparison, Time Integrated Time-to-collision (TIT) performs better in identifying pre-accident risk conditions; while Crash Potential Index (CPI) is helpful in further picking out the severest ones (the near-accident). Based on TIT and CPI, the expressions of KRIs are developed, which enable us to evaluate risk severity with three levels, as well as the likelihood. KRI-based risk assessment also reveals predictive insights about a potential accident, including at-risk vehicles, locations and time. Furthermore, straightforward thresholds are defined flexibly in KRIs, since the impact of different threshold values is found not to be very critical. For better validation, another independent real-world accident sample is examined, and the two results are in close agreement. Hierarchical indicators such as KRIs offer new insights about pre-accident risk exposures, which is helpful for accident assessment and prediction. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A study of bicycle/motor-vehicle accidents : identification of problem types and countermeasure approaches. Volume 1

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1977-09-01

Author's abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the causes of bicycle/motor-vehicle accidents and to use data on accident causation to identify potential countermeasure approaches.Data were collected by interviews and on-site investigat...

Preliminary calculations related to the accident at Three Mile Island

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kirchner, W.L.; Stevenson, M.G.

This report discusses preliminary studies of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) accident based on available methods and data. The work reported includes: (1) a TRAC base case calculation out to 3 hours into the accident sequence; (2) TRAC parametric calculations, these are the same as the base case except for a single hypothetical change in the system conditions, such as assuming the high pressure injection (HPI) system operated as designed rather than as in the accident; (3) fuel rod cladding failure, cladding oxidation due to zirconium metal-steam reactions, hydrogen release due to cladding oxidation, cladding ballooning, cladding embrittlement,more » and subsequent cladding breakup estimates based on TRAC calculated cladding temperatures and system pressures. Some conclusions of this work are: the TRAC base case accident calculation agrees very well with known system conditions to nearly 3 hours into the accident; the parametric calculations indicate that, loss-of-core cooling was most influenced by the throttling of High-Pressure Injection (HPI) flows, given the accident initiating events and the pressurizer electromagnetic-operated valve (EMOV) failing to close as designed; failure of nearly all the rods and gaseous fission product gas release from the failed rods is predicted to have occurred at about 2 hours and 30 minutes; cladding oxidation (zirconium-steam reaction) up to 3 hours resulted in the production of approximately 40 kilograms of hydrogen.« less

United States Department of Energy severe accident research following the Fukushima Daiichi accidents

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Farmer, M. T.; Corradini, M.; Rempe, J.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has played a major role in the U.S. response to the events at Fukushima Daiichi. During the first several weeks following the accident, U.S. assistance efforts were guided by results from a significant and diverse set of analyses. In the months that followed, a coordinated analysis activity aimed at gaining a more thorough understanding of the accident sequence was completed using laboratory-developed, system-level best-estimate accident analysis codes, while a parallel analysis was conducted by U.S. industry. A comparison of predictions for Unit 1 from these two studies indicated significant differences between MAAP and MELCORmore » results for key plant parameters, such as in-core hydrogen production. On that basis, a crosswalk was completed to determine the key modeling variations that led to these differences. In parallel with these activities, it became clear that there was a need to perform a technology gap evaluation on accident-tolerant components and severe accident analysis methodologies with the goal of identifying any data and/or knowledge gaps that may exist given the current state of light water reactor (LWR) severe accident research and augmented by insights from Fukushima. In addition, there is growing international recognition that data from Fukushima could significantly reduce uncertainties related to severe accident progression, particularly for boiling water reactors. On these bases, a group of U. S. experts in LWR safety and plant operations was convened by the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) to complete technology gap analysis and Fukushima forensics data needs identification activities. The results from these activities were used as the basis for refining DOE-NE's severe accident research and development (R&D) plan. Finally, this paper provides a high-level review of DOE-sponsored R&D efforts in these areas, including planned activities on accident-tolerant components and accident analysis methods.« less

United States Department of Energy severe accident research following the Fukushima Daiichi accidents

DOE PAGES

Farmer, M. T.; Corradini, M.; Rempe, J.; ...

2016-11-02

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has played a major role in the U.S. response to the events at Fukushima Daiichi. During the first several weeks following the accident, U.S. assistance efforts were guided by results from a significant and diverse set of analyses. In the months that followed, a coordinated analysis activity aimed at gaining a more thorough understanding of the accident sequence was completed using laboratory-developed, system-level best-estimate accident analysis codes, while a parallel analysis was conducted by U.S. industry. A comparison of predictions for Unit 1 from these two studies indicated significant differences between MAAP and MELCORmore » results for key plant parameters, such as in-core hydrogen production. On that basis, a crosswalk was completed to determine the key modeling variations that led to these differences. In parallel with these activities, it became clear that there was a need to perform a technology gap evaluation on accident-tolerant components and severe accident analysis methodologies with the goal of identifying any data and/or knowledge gaps that may exist given the current state of light water reactor (LWR) severe accident research and augmented by insights from Fukushima. In addition, there is growing international recognition that data from Fukushima could significantly reduce uncertainties related to severe accident progression, particularly for boiling water reactors. On these bases, a group of U. S. experts in LWR safety and plant operations was convened by the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) to complete technology gap analysis and Fukushima forensics data needs identification activities. The results from these activities were used as the basis for refining DOE-NE's severe accident research and development (R&D) plan. Finally, this paper provides a high-level review of DOE-sponsored R&D efforts in these areas, including planned activities on accident-tolerant components and accident analysis methods.« less

A Multiplex PCR assay to differentiate between dog and red fox.

PubMed

Weissenberger, M; Reichert, W; Mattern, R

2011-11-01

Foxes are frequently the cause of car accidents in Baden-Württemberg (BW, Germany). The domestic dog (Canis familiaris) is in close relation to the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the silver fox which is a coat colour variant of the red fox. As insurance claims that involve accidents with animals require authentication, we analyzed frequency distribution and allele sizes in two canine microsatellite loci in 26 dogs (different breeds) and 19 red foxes of the region of BW, Germany. Moreover, sequencing analysis was performed. Red foxes exhibited only 1 allele at each microsatellite locus, whereas in dog 7 alleles at the CPH4 locus and 6 alleles at the CPH12 locus were detected. Sequences of PCR products from the two species revealed several differences between dogs and foxes. We established a sequenced allelic ladder and give population data from dogs and red foxes from the region of BW, Germany. Using microsatellite polymorphisms is efficient in differentiating between dogs and foxes in forensic casework. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding transit accidents using the National Transit Database and the role of Transit Intelligent Vehicle Initiative Technology in reducing accidents

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-06-01

This report documents the results of bus accident data analysis using the 2002 National Transit Database (NTD) and discusses the potential of using advanced technology being studied and developed under the U.S. Department of Transportations (U.S. ...

[HIV and the nursing professional in the face of needlestick accidents].

PubMed

Vieira, Mariana; Padilha, Maria Itayra Coelho de Souza

2008-12-01

The goal of this study was to identify the scientific production about work-related needlestick accidents among nursing professionals involving HIV-contaminated biological material, as well as to characterize the pre-existing factors to such accidents, such as procedures occurring after the exposure to potentially HIV-contaminated needlestick material. This is a literature review, whose bibliographic search for keywords was carried out within the LILACS databases from the year 2000 onward. This study confirms that pre-existing factors for the occurrence of work-related needlestick accidents are related to work conditions as much as to individual conditions. In face of these accidents, the nursing workers need to know the conducts concerning post-exposure to potentially HIV-contaminated needlestick material. We conclude that the adoption of standardized precautions when working in healthcare is a fundamental condition for worker safety, independently of their area of expertise, given the increasing number of HIV cases.

Accidents with potentially hazardous biological material among workers in hospital supporting services.

PubMed

Canini, Silvia Rita Marin da Silva; Gir, Elucir; Machado, Alcyone Artiolli

2005-01-01

Descriptive study was carried out to characterize the occupational accidents involving potentially contaminated material among workers of hospital supporting services. The study reviewed records of workers involved in these accidents and attended at a specialized outpatient clinic of a large tertiary care hospital between January 1997 and October 2001. A total of 2814 workers from different professional categories were attended during this period. Of these, 147 (5.2%) belonged to the hospital supporting services and were the victims of 156 accidents, auxiliary cleaning personnel (80.2%), and over a third of the workers had not received any dose of hepatitis B vaccine (35.4%). Most accidents were due to sharp injuries (96.8%) caused by inadequately discarded hollow needles. Chemoprophylaxis for HIV was not indicated in only 23.1% of cases. We conclude that these workers are also exposed to the possibility of acquiring blood-borne pathogens and that periodical education programs are needed.

Contribution of Raman and Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) to the analysis of vehicle headlights: Dye(s) characterization.

PubMed

Muehlethaler, Cyril; Cheng, Yin Pak; Islam, Syed K; Lombardi, John R

2018-06-01

Although ubiquitous on accident scenes, the polymers from headlight optics are often neglected in hit-and-run cases, and their evidential value restrained to direct comparison once a corresponding vehicle is found. Multilayered automotive paint fragments are preferred for their access to corresponding databases (PDQ, EUCAP) to infer models and brands of cars. The potential of polymers headlights for providing forensic intelligence has never been exploited, principally due to the lack of diversity, of appropriate databases, and of case examples. The motives are very simple however. Headlight polymers suffer from a lack of differentiation, and about 90% of them are composed of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). The discriminating powers using techniques in sequence typically range from 30 to 60%. In this paper, we take advantage of the extreme sensitivity of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) to analyze the dye composition of the polymer headlights. The measurements by standard Raman spectroscopy at 488, 633, and 785nm permits us to identify the polymer type with relative ease. 51 out of 53 samples are composed of PMMA, the two remaining being either Polycarbonate or Polybutylene terephthalate. Additionally, using SERS with silver colloids at 488 and 633nm, provides enhanced spectra of the dyes used in the composition with an extreme sensitivity and specificity. With SERS we are able to differentiate the majority of the headlights with a remarkable 90-100% discriminating power. Solvent Orange 60, Solvent Red 52 and Solvent Red 111 were successfully identified as dyes used in the manufacture of the headlights. These results demonstrate that a combined Raman-SERS approach has the potential to replace an otherwise lengthy sequence of many different analytical techniques. With one single instrument, we offer the possibility to combine an analysis of the polymer type, and of the dye components with high discriminating capabilities. These results open up new opportunities for exploiting headlight plastics in road accidents investigations. It has the potential to help in source attribution, and/or database building in a forensic intelligence perspective. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sattison, M.B.; Schroeder, J.A.; Russell, K.D.

The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) over the past year has created 75 plant-specific Accident Sequence Precursor (ASP) models using the SAPHIRE suite of PRA codes. Along with the new models, the INEL has also developed a new module for SAPHIRE which is tailored specifically to the unique needs of ASP evaluations. These models and software will be the next generation of risk tools for the evaluation of accident precursors by both NRR and AEOD. This paper presents an overview of the models and software. Key characteristics include: (1) classification of the plant models according to plant response with amore » unique set of event trees for each plant class, (2) plant-specific fault trees using supercomponents, (3) generation and retention of all system and sequence cutsets, (4) full flexibility in modifying logic, regenerating cutsets, and requantifying results, and (5) user interface for streamlined evaluation of ASP events.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sattison, M.B.; Schroeder, J.A.; Russell, K.D.

The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) over the past year has created 75 plant-specific Accident Sequence Precursor (ASP) models using the SAPHIRE suite of PRA codes. Along with the new models, the INEL has also developed a new module for SAPHIRE which is tailored specifically to the unique needs of conditional core damage probability (CCDP) evaluations. These models and software will be the next generation of risk tools for the evaluation of accident precursors by both NRR and AEOD. This paper presents an overview of the models and software. Key characteristics include: (1) classification of the plant models according tomore » plant response with a unique set of event trees for each plant class, (2) plant-specific fault trees using supercomponents, (3) generation and retention of all system and sequence cutsets, (4) full flexibility in modifying logic, regenerating cutsets, and requantifying results, and (5) user interface for streamlined evaluation of ASP events.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Munganahalli, D.

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 importantmore » 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.« less

To Err is Human Case Reports of Two Military Aircraft Accidents

PubMed Central

Dikshit, Mohan B

2010-01-01

It has been postulated that pilot error or in-flight incapacitation may be the main contributory factors to 70–80% of aircraft accidents. Two fatal aircraft accidents are presented in which either of the above possibilities may have played a role. The first case report describes an erroneous decision by a fighter pilot to use a seat position adjustment of the ejection seat leading to fatal injuries when he had to eject from his aircraft. Injuries to the body of the pilot, and observations on the state of his flying clothing and the ejection seat were used to postulate the mechanism of fatal injury and establish the cause of the accident. The second case report describes the sequence of events which culminated in the incapacitation of a fighter pilot while executing a routine manouevre. This resulted in a fatal air crash. Possible contributions of environmental factors which may have resulted in failure of his physiological mechanisms are discussed. PMID:21509093

Deep Borehole Emplacement Mode Hazard Analysis Revision 0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sevougian, S. David

This letter report outlines a methodology and provides resource information for the Deep Borehole Emplacement Mode Hazard Analysis (DBEMHA). The main purpose is identify the accident hazards and accident event sequences associated with the two emplacement mode options (wireline or drillstring), to outline a methodology for computing accident probabilities and frequencies, and to point to available databases on the nature and frequency of accidents typically associated with standard borehole drilling and nuclear handling operations. Risk mitigation and prevention measures, which have been incorporated into the two emplacement designs (see Cochran and Hardin 2015), are also discussed. A key intent ofmore » this report is to provide background information to brief subject matter experts involved in the Emplacement Mode Design Study. [Note: Revision 0 of this report is concentrated more on the wireline emplacement mode. It is expected that Revision 1 will contain further development of the preliminary fault and event trees for the drill string emplacement mode.]« less

The Viareggio LPG railway accident: event reconstruction and modeling.

PubMed

Brambilla, Sara; Manca, Davide

2010-10-15

This manuscript describes in detail the LPG accident occurred in Viareggio on June 2009 and its modeling. The accident investigation highlighted the uncertainty and complexity of assessing and modeling what happened in the congested environment close to the Viareggio railway station. Nonetheless, the analysis allowed comprehending the sequence of events, the way they influenced each other, and the different possible paths/evolutions. The paper describes suitable models for the quantitative assessment of the consequences of the most probable accidental dynamics and its outcomes. The main finding is that after about 80 s from the beginning of the release the dense-gas cloud reached the surrounding houses that were destroyed successively by internal explosions. This fact has two main implications. First, it shows that the adopted modeling framework can give a correct picture of what happened in Viareggio. Second, it confirms the need to develop effective mitigation measures because, in case of this kind of accidents, there is no time to apply any protective emergency plans/actions. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nuclear Powerplant Safety: Source Terms. Nuclear Energy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Energy, Washington, DC. Nuclear Energy Office.

There has been increased public interest in the potential effects of nuclear powerplant accidents since the Soviet reactor accident at Chernobyl. People have begun to look for more information about the amount of radioactivity that might be released into the environment as a result of such an accident. When this issue is discussed by people…

Protect Against Personal Injury to Limit Your Liability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greene, Brenda Z.

1985-01-01

Accidents and injuries involving students, employees, or others using school facilities or equipment can result in lengthy and costly litigation. A proven way to reduce potential accidents and injuries is to work to eliminate the circumstances in which accidents occur. It is important to identify risks; the areas with the highest accident…

Accident history, risk perception and traffic safe behaviour.

PubMed

Ngueutsa, Robert; Kouabenan, Dongo Rémi

2017-09-01

This study clarifies the associations between accident history, perception of the riskiness of road travel and traffic safety behaviours by taking into account the number and severity of accidents experienced. A sample of 525 road users in Cameroon answered a questionnaire comprising items on perception of risk, safe behaviour and personal accident history. Participants who reported involvement in more than three accidents or involvement in a severe accident perceived road travel as less risky and also reported behaving less safely compared with those involved in fewer, or less severe accidents. The results have practical implications for the prevention of traffic accidents. Practitioner Summary: The associations between accident history, perceived risk of road travel and safe behaviour were investigated using self-report questionnaire data. Participants involved in more than three accidents, or in severe accidents, perceived road travel as less risky and also reported more unsafe behaviour compared with those involved in fewer, or less severe accidents. Campaigns targeting people with a less serious, less extensive accident history should aim to increase awareness of hazards and the potential severity of their consequences, as well as emphasising how easy it is to take the recommended preventive actions. Campaigns targeting those involved in more frequent accidents, and survivors of serious accidents, should address feelings of invulnerability and helplessness.

Why System Safety Professionals Should Read Accident Reports

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holloway, C. M.; Johnson, C. W.

2006-01-01

System safety professionals, both researchers and practitioners, who regularly read accident reports reap important benefits. These benefits include an improved ability to separate myths from reality, including both myths about specific accidents and ones concerning accidents in general; an increased understanding of the consequences of unlikely events, which can help inform future designs; a greater recognition of the limits of mathematical models; and guidance on potentially relevant research directions that may contribute to safety improvements in future systems.

Key Parameters for Operator Diagnosis of BWR Plant Condition during a Severe Accident

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Clayton, Dwight A.; Poore, III, Willis P.

2015-01-01

The objective of this research is to examine the key information needed from nuclear power plant instrumentation to guide severe accident management and mitigation for boiling water reactor (BWR) designs (specifically, a BWR/4-Mark I), estimate environmental conditions that the instrumentation will experience during a severe accident, and identify potential gaps in existing instrumentation that may require further research and development. This report notes the key parameters that instrumentation needs to measure to help operators respond to severe accidents. A follow-up report will assess severe accident environmental conditions as estimated by severe accident simulation model analysis for a specific US BWR/4-Markmore » I plant for those instrumentation systems considered most important for accident management purposes.« less

Learning from Trending, Precursor Analysis, and System Failures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Youngblood, R. W.; Duffey, R. B.

2015-11-01

Models of reliability growth relate current system unreliability to currently accumulated experience. But “experience” comes in different forms. Looking back after a major accident, one is sometimes able to identify previous events or measurable performance trends that were, in some sense, signaling the potential for that major accident: potential that could have been recognized and acted upon, but was not recognized until the accident occurred. This could be a previously unrecognized cause of accidents, or underestimation of the likelihood that a recognized potential cause would actually operate. Despite improvements in the state of practice of modeling of risk and reliability,more » operational experience still has a great deal to teach us, and work has been going on in several industries to try to do a better job of learning from experience before major accidents occur. It is not enough to say that we should review operating experience; there is too much “experience” for such general advice to be considered practical. The paper discusses the following: 1. The challenge of deciding what to focus on in analysis of operating experience. 2. Comparing what different models of learning and reliability growth imply about trending and precursor analysis.« less

Latent profile analysis of lifestyle characteristics and health risk behaviors among Koreans who have completed industrial accident care.

PubMed

Choi, Wan-Suk; Moon, Ok-Kon; Yeum, Dong-Moon

2017-10-07

This study investigated the characteristics and health behavior profiles of 1,803 workers who had experienced industrial accidents. Average weekly exercise days, average number of cigarettes smoked per day, average daily sleep duration, and number of days of alcohol consumption were selected to investigate health behavior profiles. Specifically, latent profile analysis was applied to identify the health behavior profiles of people who had completed industrial accident care; the latent classes were the health-conscious type (n=240), the potential-risk type (n=850), and the high-risk type (n=713). Comparison of the health-conscious and potential-risk types indicated that younger subjects, the employed, and those with lower social status and life satisfaction were more likely to be the potential-risk type. Comparison of the health-conscious and high-risk types revealed that males, younger subjects, the employed, those without chronic illnesses, and those with lower social status and life satisfaction were more likely to be the high-risk type. The results suggest that industrial accident victims who have completed accident care have different health behaviors and it is necessary to improve health promotion based on health type characteristics.

Station Blackout at Browns Ferry Unit One - accident sequence analysis. Volume 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cook, D.H.; Harrington, R.M.; Greene, S.R.

1981-11-01

This study describes the predicted response of Unit 1 at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant to Station Blackout, defined as a loss of offsite power combined with failure of all onsite emergency diesel-generators to start and load. Every effort has been made to employ the most realistic assumptions during the process of defining the sequence of events for this hypothetical accident. DC power is assumed to remain available from the unit batteries during the initial phase and the operator actions and corresponding events during this period are described using results provided by an analysis code developed specifically for this purpose.more » The Station Blackout is assumed to persist beyond the point of battery exhaustion and the events during this second phase of the accident in which dc power would be unavailable were determined through use of the MARCH code. Without dc power, cooling water could no longer be injected into the reactor vessel and the events of the second phase include core meltdown and subsequent containment failure. An estimate of the magnitude and timing of the concomitant release of the noble gas, cesium, and iodine-based fission products to the environment is provided in Volume 2 of this report. 58 refs., 75 figs., 8 tabs.« less

78 FR 60321 - Biweekly Notice; Applications and Amendments to Facility Operating Licenses and Combined Licenses...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-01

... sample selection. A steam generator tube rupture (SGTR) event is one of the design basis accidents that... in the design basis accident analysis. The proposed change will not cause the consequences of a SGTR... changes to the plant design basis or postulated accidents resulting from potential tube degradation. The...

[Implementation of safety devices: biological accident prevention].

PubMed

Catalán Gómez, M Teresa; Sol Vidiella, Josep; Castellà Castellà, Manel; Castells Bo, Carolina; Losada Pla, Nuria; Espuny, Javier Lluís

2010-04-01

Accidental exposures to blood and biological material were the most frequent and potentially serious accidents in healthcare workers, reported in the Prevention of Occupational Risks Unit within 2002. Evaluate the biological percutaneous accidents decrease after a progressive introduction of safety devices. Biological accidents produced between 2.002 and 2.006 were analyzed and reported by the injured healthcare workers to the Level 2b Hospital Prevention of Occupational Risk Unit with 238 beds and 750 employees. The key of the study was the safety devices (peripheral i.v. catheter, needleless i.v. access device and capillary blood collection lancet). Within 2002, 54 percutaneous biological accidents were registered and 19 in 2006, that represents a 64.8% decreased. There has been no safety devices accident reported involving these material. Accidents registered during the implantation period occurred because safety devices were not used at that time. Safety devices have proven to be effective in reducing needle stick percutaneous accidents, so that they are a good choice in the primary prevention of biological accidents contact.

Implementation of Programmatic Quality and the Impact on Safety

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huls, Dale T.; Meehan, Kevin M.

2005-12-01

The implementation of an inadequate programmatic quality assurance discipline has the potential to adversely affect safety and mission success. This is best demonstrated in the lessons provided by the Apollo 1 Apollo 13 Challenger, and Columbia accidents; NASA Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) benchmarking exchanges; and conclusions reached by the Shuttle Return-to-Flight Task Group established following the Columbia Shuttle accident. Examples from the ISS Program demonstrate continuing issues with programmatic quality. Failure to adequately address programmatic quality assurance issues has a real potential to lead to continued inefficiency, increases in program costs, and additional catastrophic accidents.

30 CFR 50.10 - Immediate notification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... that an accident has occurred involving: (a) A death of an individual at the mine; (b) An injury of an individual at the mine which has a reasonable potential to cause death; (c) An entrapment of an individual at the mine which has a reasonable potential to cause death; or (d) Any other accident. [74 FR 68919, Dec...

Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Accident Tolerant Fuels High Impact Problem: Coordinate Multiscale U 3Si 2 Modeling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gamble, K. A.; Hales, J. D.; Miao, Y.

Since the events at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011 significant research has unfolded at national laboratories, universities and other institutions into alternative materials that have potential enhanced accident tolerance when compared to traditional \\uo~fuel zircaloy clad fuel rods. One of the potential replacement fuels is uranium silicide (\\usi) for its higher thermal conductivity and uranium density. The lower melting temperature is of potential concern during postulated accident conditions. Another disadvantage for \\usi~ is the lack of experimental data under power reactor conditions. Due to the aggressive development schedule for inserting some of the potential materials into leadmore » test assemblies or rods by 2022~\\cite{bragg-sitton_2014} multiscale multiphysics modeling approaches have been used to provide insight into these materials. \\\\ \

Preliminary Investigation of Time Remaining Display on the Computer-based Emergency Operating Procedure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suryono, T. J.; Gofuku, A.

2018-02-01

One of the important thing in the mitigation of accidents in nuclear power plant accidents is time management. The accidents should be resolved as soon as possible in order to prevent the core melting and the release of radioactive material to the environment. In this case, operators should follow the emergency operating procedure related with the accident, in step by step order and in allowable time. Nowadays, the advanced main control rooms are equipped with computer-based procedures (CBPs) which is make it easier for operators to do their tasks of monitoring and controlling the reactor. However, most of the CBPs do not include the time remaining display feature which informs operators of time available for them to execute procedure steps and warns them if the they reach the time limit. Furthermore, the feature will increase the awareness of operators about their current situation in the procedure. This paper investigates this issue. The simplified of emergency operating procedure (EOP) of steam generator tube rupture (SGTR) accident of PWR plant is applied. In addition, the sequence of actions on each step of the procedure is modelled using multilevel flow modelling (MFM) and influenced propagation rule. The prediction of action time on each step is acquired based on similar case accidents and the Support Vector Regression. The derived time will be processed and then displayed on a CBP user interface.

Accidents on hospital wards.

PubMed Central

Levene, S; Bonfield, G

1991-01-01

Eight hospitals reported 781 non-iatrogenic accidents occurring to patients and visitors under 16 years of age during an 18 month period up to October 1989. Accidents more often involved boys and children aged 3 to 5 years old. Falls from a height, slips, and striking accidents were common by day and falls by night. A total of 41% of accidents to inpatients occurred when parents were present. Only three accidents were serious. Altogether 27% involved beds and cots, and only one consequent injury was more than minor. Data collected routinely in case of medicolegal action can be presented in a form that may facilitate preventative work. Potentially remediable causes for concern include falls from beds and cots and the use of makeshift equipment. PMID:1929510

Accident Journalism and Traffic Safety Education: A Three-Phase Investigation of Accident Reporting in the Canadian Daily Press.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilde, Gerald J. S.; Ackersviller, Melody J.

A study examined the potential for development of a traffic accident-reporting form in the Canadian daily press that strengthens concern for road safety in the general population and enhances knowledge, attitudes, and behavior leading to greater safety. The investigation was conducted on three levels: a content analysis, a readership analysis, and…

Final safety analysis report for the Galileo Mission: Volume 2: Book 1, Accident model document

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

The Accident Model Document (AMD) is the second volume of the three volume Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) for the Galileo outer planetary space science mission. This mission employs Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) as the prime electrical power sources for the spacecraft. Galileo will be launched into Earth orbit using the Space Shuttle and will use the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster to place the spacecraft into an Earth escape trajectory. The RTG's employ silicon-germanium thermoelectric couples to produce electricity from the heat energy that results from the decay of the radioisotope fuel, Plutonium-238, used in the RTG heat source.more » The heat source configuration used in the RTG's is termed General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS), and the RTG's are designated GPHS-RTGs. The use of radioactive material in these missions necessitates evaluations of the radiological risks that may be encountered by launch complex personnel as well as by the Earth's general population resulting from postulated malfunctions or failures occurring in the mission operations. The FSAR presents the results of a rigorous safety assessment, including substantial analyses and testing, of the launch and deployment of the RTGs for the Galileo mission. This AMD is a summary of the potential accident and failure sequences which might result in fuel release, the analysis and testing methods employed, and the predicted source terms. Each source term consists of a quantity of fuel released, the location of release and the physical characteristics of the fuel released. Each source term has an associated probability of occurrence. 27 figs., 11 tabs.« less

A-WINGS: an integrated genome database for Pleurocybella porrigens (Angel's wing oyster mushroom, Sugihiratake).

PubMed

Yamamoto, Naoki; Suzuki, Tomohiro; Kobayashi, Masaaki; Dohra, Hideo; Sasaki, Yohei; Hirai, Hirofumi; Yokoyama, Koji; Kawagishi, Hirokazu; Yano, Kentaro

2014-12-03

The angel's wing oyster mushroom (Pleurocybella porrigens, Sugihiratake) is a well-known delicacy. However, its potential risk in acute encephalopathy was recently revealed by a food poisoning incident. To disclose the genes underlying the accident and provide mechanistic insight, we seek to develop an information infrastructure containing omics data. In our previous work, we sequenced the genome and transcriptome using next-generation sequencing techniques. The next step in achieving our goal is to develop a web database to facilitate the efficient mining of large-scale omics data and identification of genes specifically expressed in the mushroom. This paper introduces a web database A-WINGS (http://bioinf.mind.meiji.ac.jp/a-wings/) that provides integrated genomic and transcriptomic information for the angel's wing oyster mushroom. The database contains structure and functional annotations of transcripts and gene expressions. Functional annotations contain information on homologous sequences from NCBI nr and UniProt, Gene Ontology, and KEGG Orthology. Digital gene expression profiles were derived from RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis in the fruiting bodies and mycelia. The omics information stored in the database is freely accessible through interactive and graphical interfaces by search functions that include 'GO TREE VIEW' browsing, keyword searches, and BLAST searches. The A-WINGS database will accelerate omics studies on specific aspects of the angel's wing oyster mushroom and the family Tricholomataceae.

Examination of Icing Induced Loss of Control and Its Mitigations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reehorst, Andrew L.; Addy, Harold E., Jr.; Colantonio, Renato O.

2010-01-01

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

Construction of a Cyber Attack Model for Nuclear Power Plants

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Varuttamaseni, Athi; Bari, Robert A.; Youngblood, Robert

The consideration of how one compromised digital equipment can impact neighboring equipment is critical to understanding the progression of cyber attacks. The degree of influence that one component may have on another depends on a variety of factors, including the sharing of resources such as network bandwidth or processing power, the level of trust between components, and the inclusion of segmentation devices such as firewalls. The interactions among components via mechanisms that are unique to the digital world are not usually considered in traditional PRA. This means potential sequences of events that may occur during an attack may be missedmore » if one were to only look at conventional accident sequences. This paper presents a method where, starting from the initial attack vector, the progression of a cyber attack can be modeled. The propagation of the attack is modeled by considering certain attributes of the digital components in the system. These attributes determine the potential vulnerability of a component to a class of attack and the capability gained by the attackers once they are in control of the equipment. The use of attributes allows similar components (components with the same set of attributes) to be modeled in the same way, thereby reducing the computing resources required for analysis of large systems.« less

Interim reliability-evaluation program: analysis of the Browns Ferry, Unit 1, nuclear plant. Appendix C - sequence quantification

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mays, S.E.; Poloski, J.P.; Sullivan, W.H.

1982-07-01

This report describes a risk study of the Browns Ferry, Unit 1, nuclear plant. The study is one of four such studies sponsored by the NRC Office of Research, Division of Risk Assessment, as part of its Interim Reliability Evaluation Program (IREP), Phase II. This report is contained in four volumes: a main report and three appendixes. Appendix C generally describes the methods used to estimate accident sequence frequency values. Information is presented concerning the approach, example collection, failure data, candidate dominant sequences, uncertainty analysis, and sensitivity analysis.

Assessment of potential doses to workers during postulated accident conditions at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hoover, M.D.; Farrell, R.F.; Newton, G.J.

1995-12-01

The recent 1995 WIPP Safety Analysis Report (SAR) Update provided detailed analyses of potential radiation doses to members of the public at the site boundary during postulated accident scenarios at the U.S. Department of Energy`s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The SAR Update addressed the complete spectrum of potential accidents associated with handling and emplacing transuranic waste at WIPP, including damage to waste drums from fires, punctures, drops, and other disruptions. The report focused on the adequacy of the multiple layers of safety practice ({open_quotes}defense-in-depth{close_quotes}) at WIPP, which are designed to (1) reduce the likelihood of accidents and (2) limitmore » the consequences of those accidents. The safeguards which contribute to defense-in-depth at WIPP include a substantial array of inherent design features, engineered controls, and administrative procedures. The SAR Update confirmed that the defense-in-depth at WIPP is adequate to assure the protection of the public and environment. As a supplement to the 1995 SAR Update, we have conducted additional analyses to confirm that these controls will also provide adequate protection to workers at the WIPP. The approaches and results of the worker dose assessment are summarized here. In conformance with the guidance of DOE Standard 3009-94, we emphasize that use of these evaluation guidelines is not intended to imply that these numbers constitute acceptable limits for worker exposures under accident conditions. However, in conjunction with the extensive safety assessment in the 1995 SAR Update, these results indicate that the Carlsbad Area Office strategy for the assessment of hazards and accidents assures the protection of workers, members of the public, and the environment.« less

Pilot Certification, Age of Pilot, and Drug Use in Fatal Civil Aviation Accidents.

PubMed

Akparibo, Issaka Y; Stolfi, Adrienne

2017-10-01

This study examined the association between mean age of pilot, pilot license, pilot medical certificate and drug use trends in pilots fatally injured in aircraft accidents. The prevalence of prescription drugs, OTC drugs, controlled drugs and drugs that may be potentially impairing was also examined. This study was a descriptive observational study in which the NTSB Aviation Accident Database was searched from the period beginning January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2014. During the study period a total of 706 accidents involving 711 fatalities were investigated by the NTSB. This study included 633 of these accidents, involving 646 fatalities. Of these pilots, 42.1% had drugs in their biological samples. The prevalence of prescription drugs, controlled drugs, OTC drugs, opioids, and potentially impairing drugs in the fatally injured pilot population over the study period was 28.9%, 15.0%, 20.1%, 5.1%, and 25.5%, respectively. Pilots with any drugs in their samples were significantly older than those without drugs. Medical certificate held was associated with drug use; pilots who held third class certificates had the highest prevalence at 54.1%. Pilot license was not associated with drug use. In 3.8% of the accidents, drugs were a contributing factor in the cause. Despite current FAA medical regulations, potentially impairing drugs are frequently found in biological samples of fatally injured pilots in the U.S. More education of airmen by aviation medical examiners is needed on the safety of drug use.Akparibo IY, Stolfi A. Pilot certification, age of pilot, and drug use in fatal civil aviation accidents. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2017; 88(10):931-936.

Recent plant studies using Victoria 2.0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

BIXLER,NATHAN E.; GASSER,RONALD D.

2000-03-08

VICTORIA 2.0 is a mechanistic computer code designed to analyze fission product behavior within the reactor coolant system (RCS) during a severe nuclear reactor accident. It provides detailed predictions of the release of radioactive and nonradioactive materials from the reactor core and transport and deposition of these materials within the RCS and secondary circuits. These predictions account for the chemical and aerosol processes that affect radionuclide behavior. VICTORIA 2.0 was released in early 1999; a new version VICTORIA 2.1, is now under development. The largest improvements in VICTORIA 2.1 are connected with the thermochemical database, which is being revised andmore » expanded following the recommendations of a peer review. Three risk-significant severe accident sequences have recently been investigated using the VICTORIA 2.0 code. The focus here is on how various chemistry options affect the predictions. Additionally, the VICTORIA predictions are compared with ones made using the MELCOR code. The three sequences are a station blackout in a GE BWR and steam generator tube rupture (SGTR) and pump-seal LOCA sequences in a 3-loop Westinghouse PWR. These sequences cover a range of system pressures, from fully depressurized to full system pressure. The chief results of this study are the fission product fractions that are retained in the core, RCS, secondary, and containment and the fractions that are released into the environment.« less

Modeling secondary accidents identified by traffic shock waves.

PubMed

Junhua, Wang; Boya, Liu; Lanfang, Zhang; Ragland, David R

2016-02-01

The high potential for occurrence and the negative consequences of secondary accidents make them an issue of great concern affecting freeway safety. Using accident records from a three-year period together with California interstate freeway loop data, a dynamic method for more accurate classification based on the traffic shock wave detecting method was used to identify secondary accidents. Spatio-temporal gaps between the primary and secondary accident were proven be fit via a mixture of Weibull and normal distribution. A logistic regression model was developed to investigate major factors contributing to secondary accident occurrence. Traffic shock wave speed and volume at the occurrence of a primary accident were explicitly considered in the model, as a secondary accident is defined as an accident that occurs within the spatio-temporal impact scope of the primary accident. Results show that the shock waves originating in the wake of a primary accident have a more significant impact on the likelihood of a secondary accident occurrence than the effects of traffic volume. Primary accidents with long durations can significantly increase the possibility of secondary accidents. Unsafe speed and weather are other factors contributing to secondary crash occurrence. It is strongly suggested that when police or rescue personnel arrive at the scene of an accident, they should not suddenly block, decrease, or unblock the traffic flow, but instead endeavor to control traffic in a smooth and controlled manner. Also it is important to reduce accident processing time to reduce the risk of secondary accident. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The special severity of occupational accidents in the afternoon: "the lunch effect".

PubMed

Camino López, Miguel A; Fontaneda, Ignacio; González Alcántara, Oscar J; Ritzel, Dale O

2011-05-01

The severity of occupational accidents suffered by construction workers at different hours of the day is analyzed in this study. It may be seen that the interval of time between 13:00 and 17:00 has incomprehensibly high rates of severe and fatal accidents in comparison with any other. We associate this higher accident rate with what we have termed the "lunch effect". We studied 10,239,303 labor accidents in Spain over the period 1990-2002. The relationships between potential risk factors for occupational accidents around lunch in Spain, especially alcohol consumption are studied, using two methods: analysis of national archival data of 2,155,954 occupational accidents suffered by workers in the construction sector over the period 1990-2002 and a survey study. This study also seeks to contribute the opinions of the workers themselves regarding the causes that might explain this situation. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of Equipment Vulnerability and Potential Shock Hazards. [carbon fibers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taback, I.

1980-01-01

The vulnerability of electric equipment to carbon fibers released from aircraft accidents is investigated and the parameters affecting vulnerability are discussed. The shock hazard for a hypothetical set of accidents is computed.

Advanced Vehicle Control Systems Potential Tort Liability For Developers

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1993-12-01

AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS AVOIDED BECAUSE THE AUTOMATIC COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEM APPLIES THE BRAKES, HIGHWAYS WHICH ACCOMMODATE MORE VEHICLES WITH FEWER ACCIDENTS, AND EVEN CARS WHICH ARE PILOTED ENTIRELY BY SOPHISTICATED ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS -- ALL OF TH...

MRI-related magnetic field exposures and risk of commuting accidents - A cross-sectional survey among Dutch imaging technicians.

PubMed

Huss, Anke; Schaap, Kristel; Kromhout, Hans

2017-07-01

Imaging technicians working with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may experience acute effects such as vertigo or dizziness when being exposed. A previous study also reported an increased risk of accidents in MRI exposed staff. We aimed at evaluating commuting accident risk in Dutch imaging technicians. Of invited imaging technicians, 490 (29%) filled in a questionnaire pertaining to (near) accidents when driving or riding a bike, health, lifestyle and work practices. We used logistic regression to evaluate the association between exposure to MRI-related electromagnetic fields and risk of commuting (near) accidents in the year prior to the survey, adjusted for a range of potential confounders. Our cross-sectional study indicated an increased risk of (near) accidents if imaging technicians had worked with MRI in the year prior to the survey (odds ratio OR 2.13, 95%CI 1.23-3.69). Risks were higher in persons who worked with MRI more often (OR 2.32, 95%CI 1.25-4.31) compared to persons who worked sometimes with MRI (OR 1.91, 95%CI 0.98-3.72), and higher in those who had likely experienced higher peak exposures to static and time-varying magnetic fields (OR 2.18, 95%CI 1.06-4.48). The effect was seen on commuting accidents that had occurred on the commute from home to work as well as accidents from work to home or elsewhere. Imaging technicians working with MRI scanners may be at an increased risk of commuting (near) accidents. This result needs confirmation and potential risks for other groups (volunteers, patients) should be investigated. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of unmitigated large break loss of coolant accidents using MELCOR code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pescarini, M.; Mascari, F.; Mostacci, D.; De Rosa, F.; Lombardo, C.; Giannetti, F.

2017-11-01

In the framework of severe accident research activity developed by ENEA, a MELCOR nodalization of a generic Pressurized Water Reactor of 900 MWe has been developed. The aim of this paper is to present the analysis of MELCOR code calculations concerning two independent unmitigated large break loss of coolant accident transients, occurring in the cited type of reactor. In particular, the analysis and comparison between the transients initiated by an unmitigated double-ended cold leg rupture and an unmitigated double-ended hot leg rupture in the loop 1 of the primary cooling system is presented herein. This activity has been performed focusing specifically on the in-vessel phenomenology that characterizes this kind of accidents. The analysis of the thermal-hydraulic transient phenomena and the core degradation phenomena is therefore here presented. The analysis of the calculated data shows the capability of the code to reproduce the phenomena typical of these transients and permits their phenomenological study. A first sequence of main events is here presented and shows that the cold leg break transient results faster than the hot leg break transient because of the position of the break. Further analyses are in progress to quantitatively assess the results of the code nodalization for accident management strategy definition and fission product source term evaluation.

Scientific aspects of the Tohoku earthquake and Fukushima nuclear accident

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koketsu, Kazuki

2016-04-01

We investigated the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, the accident of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and assessments conducted beforehand for earthquake and tsunami potential in the Pacific offshore region of the Tohoku District. The results of our investigation show that all the assessments failed to foresee the earthquake and its related tsunami, which was the main cause of the accident. Therefore, the disaster caused by the earthquake, and the accident were scientifically unforeseeable at the time. However, for a zone neighboring the reactors, a 2008 assessment showed tsunamis higher than the plant height. As a lesson learned from the accident, companies operating nuclear power plants should be prepared using even such assessment results for neighboring zones.

Conceptual design study of Fusion Experimental Reactor (FY86 FER): Safety

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seki, Yasushi; Iida, Hiromasa; Honda, Tsutomu

1987-08-01

This report describes the study on safety for FER (Fusion Experimental Reactor) which has been designed as a next step machine to the JT-60. Though the final purpose of this study is to have an image of design base accident, maximum credible accident and to assess their risk or probability, etc., as FER plant system, the emphasis of this years study is placed on fuel-gas circulation system where the tritium inventory is maximum. The report consists of two chapters. The first chapter summarizes the FER system and describes FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) and related accident progression sequence for FER plant system as a whole. The second chapter of this report is focused on fuel-gas circulation system including purification, isotope separation and storage. Probability of risk is assessed by the probabilistic risk analysis (PRA) procedure based on FMEA, ETA and FTA.

Phenomenology of BWR fuel assembly degradation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurata, Masaki; Barrachin, Marc; Haste, Tim; Steinbrueck, Martin

2018-03-01

Severe accidents occurred at the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) which required an immediate re-examination of fuel degradation phenomenology. The present paper reviews the updated knowledge on the phenomenology of the fuel degradation, focusing mainly on the BWR fuel assembly degradation at the macroscopic scale and that of the individual interactions at the meso-scale. Oxidation of boron carbide (B4C) control rods potentially generates far larger amounts of heat and hydrogen under BWR accident conditions. All integral tests with B4C control rods or control blades have shown early failure, liquefaction, relocation and oxidation of B4C starting at temperatures around 1250 °C, well below the significant interaction temperatures of UO2-Zry. These interactions or reactions potentially influence the progress of fuel degradation in the early phase. The steam-starved conditions, which are being discussed as a likely scenario at the FDNPS accident, highly influence the individual interactions and potentially lead the fuel degradation in non-prototypical directions. The detailed phenomenology of individual interactions and their influence on the transient and on the late phase of the severe accidents are also discussed.

Risk factors affecting the severity of traffic accidents at Shanghai river-crossing tunnel.

PubMed

Lu, Jian John; Xing, Yingying; Wang, Chen; Cai, Xiaonan

2016-01-01

With increasing traffic volume and urban development, increasing numbers of underground tunnels have been constructed to relieve conflict between strained land and heavy traffic. However, as more long tunnels are constructed, tunnel traffic safety is becoming increasingly serious. Thus, it is necessary to acquire their implications and impacts. This study examined 4,539 traffic accidents that have occurred in 14 Shanghai river-crossing tunnels for the period 2011-2012 and analyze the correlation between potential factors and accident injury severity. An ordered logit model was developed to examine the correlation between potential factors and accident injury severity. Results show that increased injury severity is associated with male drivers, drivers aged 65 years or older, accident time from midnight to dawn, weekends, wet road surface, goods vehicles, 3 or more vehicles, 4 or more lanes, middle speed limits (50-79 km/h), zone 3, extra-long tunnels (over 3,000 m), and maximum longitudinal gradient. This article aims to provide useful information for engineers to develop interventions and countermeasures to improve tunnel safety in China.

Development of Northeast Asia Nuclear Power Plant Accident Simulator.

PubMed

Kim, Juyub; Kim, Juyoul; Po, Li-Chi Cliff

2017-06-15

A conclusion from the lessons learned after the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident was that Korea needs a tool to estimate consequences from a major accident that could occur at a nuclear power plant located in a neighboring country. This paper describes a suite of computer-based codes to be used by Korea's nuclear emergency response staff for training and potentially operational support in Korea's national emergency preparedness and response program. The systems of codes, Northeast Asia Nuclear Accident Simulator (NANAS), consist of three modules: source-term estimation, atmospheric dispersion prediction and dose assessment. To quickly assess potential doses to the public in Korea, NANAS includes specific reactor data from the nuclear power plants in China, Japan and Taiwan. The completed simulator is demonstrated using data for a hypothetical release. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Fukushima Accident: Sequence of Events and Lessons Learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morse, Edward C.

2011-10-01

The Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power station suffered a devastating Richter 9.0 earthquake followed by a 14.0 m tsunami on 11 March 2011. The subsequent loss of power for emergency core cooling systems resulted in damage to the fuel in the cores of three reactors. The relief of pressure from the containment in these three reactors led to sufficient hydrogen gas release to cause explosions in the buildings housing the reactors. There was probably subsequent damage to a spent fuel pool of a fourth reactor caused by debris from one of these explosions. Resultant releases of fission product isotopes in air were significant and have been estimated to be in the 3 . 7 --> 6 . 3 ×1017 Bq range (~10 MCi) for 131I and 137Cs combined, or approximately one tenth that of the Chernobyl accident. A synopsis of the sequence of events leading up to this large release of radioactivity will be presented, along with likely scenarios for stabilization and site cleanup in the future. Some aspects of the isotope monitoring programs, both locally and at large, will also be discussed. An assessment of radiological health risk for the plant workers as well as the general public will also be presented. Finally, the impact of this accident on design and deployment of nuclear generating stations in the future will be discussed.

Analysis of the FeCrAl Accident Tolerant Fuel Concept Benefits during BWR Station Blackout Accidents

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robb, Kevin R

2015-01-01

Iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys are being considered for fuel concepts with enhanced accident tolerance. FeCrAl alloys have very slow oxidation kinetics and good strength at high temperatures. FeCrAl could be used for fuel cladding in light water reactors and/or as channel box material in boiling water reactors (BWRs). To estimate the potential safety gains afforded by the FeCrAl concept, the MELCOR code was used to analyze a range of postulated station blackout severe accident scenarios in a BWR/4 reactor employing FeCrAl. The simulations utilize the most recently known thermophysical properties and oxidation kinetics for FeCrAl. Overall, when compared to the traditionalmore » Zircaloy-based cladding and channel box, the FeCrAl concept provides a few extra hours of time for operators to take mitigating actions and/or for evacuations to take place. A coolable core geometry is retained longer, enhancing the ability to stabilize an accident. Finally, due to the slower oxidation kinetics, substantially less hydrogen is generated, and the generation is delayed in time. This decreases the amount of non-condensable gases in containment and the potential for deflagrations to inhibit the accident response.« less

[Potential under-registration of occupational accidents in the Mexican Institute of Social Security].

PubMed

Salinas-Tovar, José Santiago; López-Rojas, Pablo; Soto-Navarro, María Oralia; Caudillo-Araujo, David Efraín; Sánchez-Román, Francisco Raúl; Borja-Aburto, Victor Hugo

2004-01-01

To assess the potential under-registration of work-related accidents in the Mexican Institute of Social Security. A countrywide cross-sectional study was carried out with information collected from 27 district offices of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (MISS), on workers seen at MISS emergency rooms during November 2001 because of a probable accident at work. We compared these reports to official records of work-related accidents to estimate the proportion of incomplete reports. Data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics for each variable; the annual estimation of incomplete reporting proportions was made by multiplying by twelve months; 95% confidence intervals were estimated using Poisson's exact method for a proportion. Data from 27 out of 37 MISS district offices revealed that 7211 cases were not recognized as work accidents, accounting for an underestimation of 26.3%, ranging between 0 and 68% among the different district offices. The accidents that were most frequently left unregistered were mild and blunt injuries. Under-registration can affect worker compensation plans and the financial balance of the institution's occupational risk insurance. Research is needed to investigate and eliminate the causes of under-registration. Employers, the industry, and health institutions should be involved in this effort. The English version of this paper is available at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/index.html.

[Risk factors associated with work-related accidents in the construction industry in the Valley of Mexico].

PubMed

Sarmiento-Salinas, Rodrigo; López-Rojas, Pablo; Marín-Cotoñieto, Irma Araceli; Godínez-Rocha, Arturo; Haro-García, Luis; Salinas-Tovar, Santiago

2004-01-01

Our aim was to describe construction-industry, work-related accident prevalence in, associated factors in, and potential impact on affiliated workers of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, IMSS) in the Valley of Mexico. Prevalent cases in a retrospective case-control design. These include 385 construction-industry workers who were found to have construction work-related accidents in 2001. Controls comprised 385 active construction-industry workers without work-related accident background paired by gender, workplace, and worksite. Work-related accident prevalence in construction workers was 5.5%; most important risk factors and etiology fraction (Ef) included the following: age 16-20 years odds ratio, OR = 1.58, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.40-10.7, p = 0.001, Ef 0.36; eventual insurance, OR = 3.7, 95% CI, 2.16-26.45, p = 0.001), Ef, 0.72, and no training for job, OR = 5.3, 95% CI, 4.9-69.2, p = 0.01), Ef: 0.81. Variables not showing significance were included salary, work shift, and workday. Work-related accident prevalence maintains its preponderance in the Valley of Mexico construction industry; identified risk factors are potentially modifiable, among which job training acquires unquestionable relevance.

Developing and theoretically justifying innovative organizational practices in health information assurance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collmann, Jeff R.

2003-05-01

This paper justifies and explains current efforts in the Military Health System (MHS) to enhance information assurance in light of the sociological debate between "Normal Accident" (NAT) and "High Reliability" (HRT) theorists. NAT argues that complex systems such as enterprise health information systems display multiple, interdependent interactions among diverse parts that potentially manifest unfamiliar, unplanned, or unexpected sequences that operators may not perceive or immediately understand, especially during emergencies. If the system functions rapidly with few breaks in time, space or process development, the effects of single failures ramify before operators understand or gain control of the incident thus producing catastrophic accidents. HRT counters that organizations with strong leadership support, continuous training, redundant safety features and "cultures of high reliability" contain the effects of component failures even in complex, tightly coupled systems. Building highly integrated, enterprise-wide computerized health information management systems risks creating the conditions for catastrophic breaches of data security as argued by NAT. The data security regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) implicitly depend on the premises of High Reliability Theorists. Limitations in HRT thus have implications for both safe program design and compliance efforts. MHS and other health care organizations should consider both NAT and HRT when designing and deploying enterprise-wide computerized health information systems.

Rontgen's Discovery of X Rays

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thumm, Walter

1975-01-01

Relates the story of Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen and presents one view of the extent to which the discovery of the x-ray was an accident. Reconstructs the sequence of events that led to the discovery and includes photographs of the lab where he worked and replicas of apparatus used. (GS)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Clayton, Daniel James; Lipinski, Ronald J.; Bechtel, Ryan D.

As compact and light weight power sources with reliable, long lives, Radioisotope Power Systems (RPSs) have made space missions to explore the solar system possible. Due to the hazardous material that can be released during a launch accident, the potential health risk of an accident must be quantified, so that appropriate launch approval decisions can be made. One part of the risk estimation involves modeling the response of the RPS to potential accident environments. Due to the complexity of modeling the full RPS response deterministically on dynamic variables, the evaluation is performed in a stochastic manner with a Monte Carlomore » simulation. The potential consequences can be determined by modeling the transport of the hazardous material in the environment and in human biological pathways. The consequence analysis results are summed and weighted by appropriate likelihood values to give a collection of probabilistic results for the estimation of the potential health risk. This information is used to guide RPS designs, spacecraft designs, mission architecture, or launch procedures to potentially reduce the risk, as well as to inform decision makers of the potential health risks resulting from the use of RPSs for space missions.« less

Safety Evaluation Of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Workshop Proceedings

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-05-01

IMPROVED SAFETY IS PRESENTED AS AN IMPORTANT POTENTIAL BENEFIT OF INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS (ITS). SYSTEMS ARE EMERGING AND ARE UNDER DEVELOPMENT THAT ARE DESIGNED TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS AND THE SEVERITY OF THOSE ACCIDENTS THAT CA...

Estimation of fatality and injury risk by means of in-depth fatal accident investigation data.

PubMed

Yannis, George; Papadimitriou, Eleonora; Dupont, Emmanuelle; Martensen, Heike

2010-10-01

In this article the factors affecting fatality and injury risk of road users involved in fatal accidents are analyzed by means of in-depth accident investigation data, with emphasis on parameters not extensively explored in previous research. A fatal accident investigation (FAI) database is used, which includes intermediate-level in-depth data for a harmonized representative sample of 1300 fatal accidents in 7 European countries. The FAI database offers improved potential for analysis, because it includes information on a number of variables that are seldom available, complete, or accurately recorded in road accident databases. However, the fact that only fatal accidents are examined requires for methodological adjustments, namely, the correction for two types of effects on a road user's baseline risk: "accident size" effects, and "relative vulnerability" effects. Fatality and injury risk can be then modeled through multilevel logistic regression models, which account for the hierarchical dependences of the road accident process. The results show that the baseline fatality risk of road users involved in fatal accidents decreases with accident size and increases with the vulnerability of the road user. On the contrary, accident size increases nonfatal injury risk of road users involved in fatal accidents. Other significant effects on fatality and injury risk in fatal accidents include road user age, vehicle type, speed limit, the chain of accident events, vehicle maneuver, and safety equipment. In particular, the presence and use of safety equipment such as seat belt, antilock braking system (ABS), and electronic stability program (ESP) are protection factors for car occupants, especially for those seated at the front seats. Although ABS and ESP systems are typically associated with positive effects on accident occurrence, the results of this research revealed significant related effects on accident severity as well. Moreover, accident consequences are more severe when the most harmful event of the accident occurs later within the accident chain.

Safety training priorities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, N. A.; Ruck, H. W.

1984-04-01

The Air Force is interested in identifying potentially hazardous tasks and prevention of accidents. This effort proposes four methods for determining safety training priorities for job tasks in three enlisted specialties. These methods can be used to design training aimed at avoiding loss of people, time, materials, and money associated with on-the-job accidents. Job tasks performed by airmen were measured using task and job factor ratings. Combining accident reports and job inventories, subject-matter experts identified tasks associated with accidents over a 3-year period. Applying correlational, multiple regression, and cost-benefit analysis, four methods were developed for ordering hazardous tasks to determine safety training priorities.

Characteristics of worker accidents on NYSDOT construction projects.

PubMed

Mohan, Satish; Zech, Wesley C

2005-01-01

This paper aims at providing cost-effective safety measures to protect construction workers in highway work zones, based on real data. Two types of accidents that occur in work zones were: (a) construction work area accidents, and (b) traffic accidents involving construction worker(s). A detailed analysis of work zone accidents involving 36 fatalities and 3,055 severe injuries to construction workers on New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) construction projects from 1990 to 2001 established that five accident types: (a) Struck/Pinned by Large Equipment, (b) Trip or Fall (elevated), (c) Contact w/Electrical or Gas Utility, (d) Struck-by Moving/Falling Load, and (e) Crane/Lift Device Failure accounted for nearly 96% of the fatal accidents, nearly 63% of the hospital-level injury accidents, and nearly 91% of the total costs. These construction work area accidents had a total cost of $133.8 million. Traffic accidents that involve contractors' employees were also examined. Statistical analyses of the traffic accidents established that five traffic accident types: (a) Work Space Intrusion, (b) Worker Struck-by Vehicle Inside Work Space, (c) Flagger Struck-by Vehicle, (d) Worker Struck-by Vehicle Entering/Exiting Work Space, and (e) Construction Equipment Struck-by Vehicle Inside Work Space accounted for nearly 86% of the fatal, nearly 70% of the hospital-level injury and minor injury traffic accidents, and $45.4 million (79.4%) of the total traffic accident costs. The results of this paper provide real statistics on construction worker related accidents reported on construction work zones. Potential preventions based on real statistics have also been suggested. The ranking of accident types, both within the work area as well as in traffic, will guide the heavy highway contractor and owner agencies in identifying the most cost effective safety preventions.

Evaluation of Emerging Technologies for Traffic Crash Reporting

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-02-01

A traffic accident records system is a necessity for a cost-effective safety program at any level of government. The more complete the system, the more potential exists for the application of scarce resources to those accident countermeasures that wi...

Accident rates and the impact of daylight saving time transitions.

PubMed

Robb, David; Barnes, Thomas

2018-02-01

One-third of nations have adopted some form of Daylight Saving Time (DST). Associated costs and benefits include impacts on accident rates. Using data from 12.6 million accident claims in New Zealand during 2005-2016, we model accident rates as a function of various date-based predictors including days before/after the start and end of DST, holidays, day of week, and month of year. This is the first study to consider multiple accident categories (Road, Work, Falls and Home & Community), and the first in the southern hemisphere. The start of DST is associated with significantly higher rates of road accidents (first day +16% and second day +12%). Evidence that accident rates for Falls and Home & Community decline (increase) prior to the start (end) of DST suggest potential behavioural adaption from anticipating the change. While Work accidents show limited impact from DST changes, they exhibit a significant decline over the course of the week (Friday 13% lower than Monday), whereas Road accidents exhibit a significant increase (Friday 19% higher than Monday). Our results have implications for both DST implementation and policy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Accidents with biological material among undergraduate nursing students in a public Brazilian university.

PubMed

Reis, Renata Karina; Gir, Elucir; Canini, Silvia Rita M S

2004-02-01

During their academic activities, undergraduate nursing students are exposed to contamination by bloodborne pathogens, as well as by others found in body fluids, among which are the Human Immunodeficiency (HIV), Hepatitis B and C viruses. We developed a profile of victimized students, characterizing accidents with biological material occurring among undergraduate nursing students at a public university in São Paulo State, Brazil. We identified the main causes and evaluated the conduct adopted by students and their reactions and thoughts concerning the accidents. Seventy-two accidents were identified, of which 17% involved potentially contaminated biological material. Needles were the predominant cause of accidents. The most frequently involved topographic areas were the fingers. Only five students reported the accidents and sought medical care. Among these, two students were advised to begin prophylactic treatment against HIV infection by means of antiretroviral drugs. It was found that the risk of accidents is underestimated and that strategies such as formal teaching and continual training are necessary in order to make students aware of biosafety measures.

The potential risk of toxoplasmosis for traffic accidents: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Gohardehi, Shaban; Sharif, Mehdi; Sarvi, Shahabeddin; Moosazadeh, Mahmood; Alizadeh-Navaei, Reza; Hosseini, Seyed Abdollah; Amouei, Afsaneh; Pagheh, Abdolsattar; Sadeghi, Mitra; Daryani, Ahmad

2018-06-12

Toxoplasmosis is a prevalent infectious disease. Although most people infected by Toxoplasma gondii are asymptomatic, evidence has suggested that this disease might affect some aspects of a host's behavior and associate with schizophrenia, suicide attempt, changes in various aspects of personality, and poor neurocognitive performance. These associations may play roles in increasing the risk of a number of incidents, such as traffic accidents, among infected people. In this regard, this study aimed to provide summary estimates for the available data on the potential risk of toxoplasmosis for traffic accidents. To this end, using a number of search terms, i.e. toxoplasmosis, Toxoplasma gondii, traffic accident, road accident, car accident, crash, and prevalence, literature searches (up to October 1, 2017) were carried out via 6 databases. The meta-analysis was conducted using the StatsDirect statistical software and a P-value less than 0.05 was regarded as significant in all statistical analyses. Out of 1841 identified studies, 9 studies were finally considered eligible for carrying out this systematic review. Reviewing results of these studies indicated that 5 out of 9 studies reported a significant relationship between Toxoplasma gondii and traffic accidents. Additionally, data related to gender showed significant differences between infected and control men and women. Considering age, reviewing the results of these studies revealed a significant difference between the infected people and the Toxoplasma-negative subjects under 45 years of age. However, no significant difference was found between the two groups aged 45 or older. Given these results, it can be concluded that Toxoplasma gondii significantly increases the risk of having traffic accidents. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The role of OSHA violations in serious workplace accidents.

PubMed

Mendeloff, J

1984-05-01

California accident investigations for 1976 show that violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's safety standards were a contributing factor in 13% to 19% of the 645 deaths reported to the workers' compensation program during that year. However, a panel of safety engineers judged that only about 50% of these violations could have been detected if an inspector had visited the day before the accident. These findings indicate that the potential gains from stronger enforcement of current standards are limited but not insignificant. The likelihood that a violation contributed to a serious accident varied considerably among accident types, industries, and size classes of plants. These findings can be used to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the OSHA program by means of better targeting of inspections and accident investigations, more intelligent assessment of which violations should be penalized most heavily, and the provision of information to employers and workers about which violations are most consequential.

Accidents at work and costs analysis: a field study in a large Italian company.

PubMed

Battaglia, Massimo; Frey, Marco; Passetti, Emilio

2014-01-01

Accidents at work are still a heavy burden in social and economic terms, and action to improve health and safety standards at work offers great potential gains not only to employers, but also to individuals and society as a whole. However, companies often are not interested to measure the costs of accidents even if cost information may facilitate preventive occupational health and safety management initiatives. The field study, carried out in a large Italian company, illustrates technical and organisational aspects associated with the implementation of an accident costs analysis tool. The results indicate that the implementation (and the use) of the tool requires a considerable commitment by the company, that accident costs analysis should serve to reinforce the importance of health and safety prevention and that the economic dimension of accidents is substantial. The study also suggests practical ways to facilitate the implementation and the moral acceptance of the accounting technology.

Accidents at Work and Costs Analysis: A Field Study in a Large Italian Company

PubMed Central

BATTAGLIA, Massimo; FREY, Marco; PASSETTI, Emilio

2014-01-01

Accidents at work are still a heavy burden in social and economic terms, and action to improve health and safety standards at work offers great potential gains not only to employers, but also to individuals and society as a whole. However, companies often are not interested to measure the costs of accidents even if cost information may facilitate preventive occupational health and safety management initiatives. The field study, carried out in a large Italian company, illustrates technical and organisational aspects associated with the implementation of an accident costs analysis tool. The results indicate that the implementation (and the use) of the tool requires a considerable commitment by the company, that accident costs analysis should serve to reinforce the importance of health and safety prevention and that the economic dimension of accidents is substantial. The study also suggests practical ways to facilitate the implementation and the moral acceptance of the accounting technology. PMID:24869894

What are the factors that contribute to road accidents? An assessment of law enforcement views, ordinary drivers' opinions, and road accident records.

PubMed

Rolison, Jonathan J; Regev, Shirley; Moutari, Salissou; Feeney, Aidan

2018-06-01

What are the main contributing factors to road accidents? Factors such as inexperience, lack of skill, and risk-taking behaviors have been associated with the collisions of young drivers. In contrast, visual, cognitive, and mobility impairment have been associated with the collisions of older drivers. We investigated the main causes of road accidents by drawing on multiple sources: expert views of police officers, lay views of the driving public, and official road accident records. In Studies 1 and 2, police officers and the public were asked about the typical causes of road traffic collisions using hypothetical accident scenarios. In Study 3, we investigated whether the views of police officers and the public about accident causation influence their recall accuracy for factors reported to contribute to hypothetical road accidents. The results show that both expert views of police officers and lay views of the driving public closely approximated the typical factors associated with the collisions of young and older drivers, as determined from official accident records. The results also reveal potential underreporting of factors in existing accident records, identifying possible inadequacies in law enforcement practices for investigating driver distraction, drug and alcohol impairment, and uncorrected or defective eyesight. Our investigation also highlights a need for accident report forms to be continuously reviewed and updated to ensure that contributing factor lists reflect the full range of factors that contribute to road accidents. Finally, the views held by police officers and the public on accident causation influenced their memory recall of factors involved in hypothetical scenarios. These findings indicate that delay in completing accident report forms should be minimised, possibly by use of mobile reporting devices at the accident scene. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Using probabilistic criteria in an assessment of the potential radiological consequences of the decommissioning of a nuclear research reactor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wallner, Christian; Rall, Anna-Maria; Thummerer, Severin

In order to assess the risk of radiological consequences of incidents and accidents in nuclear facilities it is important to contemplate their frequency of occurrence. It has to be shown that incidents and accidents occur sufficiently seldom according to their radiological consequences i. e. the occurrence frequency of radiological doses has to be limited. This is even demanded by the German radiation protection ordinance (StrlSchV), which says that in nuclear facilities other than nuclear power plants (NPP) in operation and for decommissioning, the occurrence frequency of incidents and accidents shall be contemplated in order to prove the design of safetymore » measures and safety installations. Based on the ideas of the ICRP64, we developed a risk based assessment concept for nuclear facilities, which fulfils the requirements of the German regulations concerning dose limits in normal operation and design basis accidents. The general use of the concept is dedicated to nuclear facilities other than nuclear power plants (NPP) in operation and for decommissioning, where the regulation of risk assessment is less sophisticated. The concept specifies occurrence frequency limits for radiation exposure dose ranges, i. e. the occurrence frequency of incidents and accidents has to be limited according to their radiological effects. To apply this concept, scenarios of incidents and accidents are grouped in exposition classes according to their resulting potential effective dose to members of the general public. The occurrence frequencies of the incidents and accidents are summarized in each exposition class whereas the sum must not exceed the frequency limits mentioned above. In the following we introduce the application of this concept in the assessment of the potential radiological consequences of the decommissioning of a nuclear research reactor. We carried out this assessment for the licensing process of the decommissioning on behalf of German authorities. (authors)« less

A new method for assessing the risk of accident associated with darkness.

PubMed

Johansson, Osten; Wanvik, Per Ole; Elvik, Rune

2009-07-01

This paper presents a new method for assessing the risk of accidents associated with darkness. The method estimates the risk of accident associated with darkness in terms of an odds ratio, which is defined as follows: [(number of accidents in darkness in a given hour of the day)/(number of accidents in daylight in the same hour of the day)]/[(Number of accidents in a given comparison hour when the case hour is dark)/(Number of accidents in a given comparison hour when the case hour is in daylight)]. This estimate of the risk of accident associated with darkness does not require data on exposure, but relies on the count of accidents in the same pair of hours throughout the year. One of the hours is dark part of the year, but has daylight the rest of the year. The comparison hour, which has daylight the whole year, is used to control for seasonal variations. The aim of relying on the same pair of hours throughout the year is to minimise the influence of potentially confounding factors. Estimates of the risk of injury accidents associated with darkness are developed on the basis of accident data for Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands. It is found that the risk of an injury accident increases by nearly 30% in darkness in urban areas, by nearly 50% in rural areas, and by about 40% for urban and rural areas combined (adjusted estimate).

Causal effects of informal care and health on falls and other accidents among the elderly population in China.

PubMed

Wu, Hong; Lu, Naiji; Wang, Chenguang; Tu, Xinming

2018-03-01

This article analyzes the causal effects of informal care, mental health, and physical health on falls and other accidents (e.g., traffic accidents) among elderly people. We also examine if there are heterogeneous impacts on elderly of different gender, urban status, and past accident history. To purge potential reversal causal effects, e.g., past accidents induce more future informal care, we use two-stage least squares to identify the impacts. We use longitudinal data from a representative national China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study of people aged 45 and older in China. A total of 3935 respondents with two-wave data are included in our study. Each respondent is interviewed to measure health status and report their accident history. Mental health is assessed using CES-D questions. Our findings indicate that while informal care decreased the occurrence of accidents, poor health conditions increase the occurrence of accidents. We also find heterogeneous impacts on the occurrence of accidents, varying by gender, urban status, and past accident history. Our findings suggest the following three policy implications. First, policy makers who aim to decrease accidents should take informal care of elders into account. Second, ease of birth policy and postponed retirement policy are urgently needed to meet the demands of informal care. Third, medical policies should attach great importance not only to physical health but also mental health of elderly parents especially for older people with accident history.

Construction safety monitoring based on the project's characteristic with fuzzy logic approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winanda, Lila Ayu Ratna; Adi, Trijoko Wahyu; Anwar, Nadjadji; Wahyuni, Febriana Santi

2017-11-01

Construction workers accident is the highest number compared with other industries and falls are the main cause of fatal and serious injuries in high rise projects. Generally, construction workers accidents are caused by unsafe act and unsafe condition that can occur separately or together, thus a safety monitoring system based on influencing factors is needed to achieve zero accident in construction industry. The dynamic characteristic in construction causes high mobility for workers while doing the task, so it requires a continuously monitoring system to detect unsafe condition and to protect workers from potential hazards. In accordance with the unique nature of project, fuzzy logic approach is one of the appropriate methods for workers safety monitoring on site. In this study, the focus of discussion is based on the characteristic of construction projects in analyzing "potential hazard" and the "protection planning" to be used in accident prevention. The data have been collected from literature review, expert opinion and institution of safety and health. This data used to determine hazard identification. Then, an application model is created using Delphi programming. The process in fuzzy is divided into fuzzification, inference and defuzzification, according to the data collection. Then, the input and final output data are given back to the expert for assessment as a validation of application model. The result of the study showed that the potential hazard of construction workers accident could be analysed based on characteristic of project and protection system on site and fuzzy logic approach can be used for construction workers accident analysis. Based on case study and the feedback assessment from expert, it showed that the application model can be used as one of the safety monitoring tools.

Some implications of an event-based definition of exposure to the risk of road accident.

PubMed

Elvik, Rune

2015-03-01

This paper proposes a new definition of exposure to the risk of road accident as any event, limited in space and time, representing a potential for an accident to occur by bringing road users close to each other in time or space of by requiring a road user to take action to avoid leaving the roadway. A typology of events representing a potential for an accident is proposed. Each event can be interpreted as a trial as defined in probability theory. Risk is the proportion of events that result in an accident. Defining exposure as events demanding the attention of road users implies that road users will learn from repeated exposure to these events, which in turn implies that there will normally be a negative relationship between exposure and risk. Four hypotheses regarding the relationship between exposure and risk are proposed. Preliminary tests support these hypotheses. Advantages and disadvantages of defining exposure as specific events are discussed. It is argued that developments in vehicle technology are likely to make events both observable and countable, thus ensuring that exposure is an operational concept. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Overview of the U.S. DOE Accident Tolerant Fuel Development Program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jon Carmack; Frank Goldner; Shannon M. Bragg-Sitton

2013-09-01

The United States Fuel Cycle Research and Development Advanced Fuels Campaign has been given the responsibility to conduct research and development on enhanced accident tolerant fuels with the goal of performing a lead test assembly or lead test rod irradiation in a commercial reactor by 2022. The Advanced Fuels Campaign has defined fuels with enhanced accident tolerance as those that, in comparison with the standard UO2-Zircaloy system currently used by the nuclear industry, can tolerate loss of active cooling in the reactor core for a considerably longer time period (depending on the LWR system and accident scenario) while maintaining ormore » improving the fuel performance during normal operations and operational transients, as well as design-basis and beyond design-basis events. This paper provides an overview of the FCRD Accident Tolerant Fuel program. The ATF attributes will be presented and discussed. Attributes identified as potentially important to enhance accident tolerance include reduced hydrogen generation (resulting from cladding oxidation), enhanced fission product retention under severe accident conditions, reduced cladding reaction with high-temperature steam, and improved fuel-cladding interaction for enhanced performance under extreme conditions. To demonstrate the enhanced accident tolerance of candidate fuel designs, metrics must be developed and evaluated using a combination of design features for a given LWR design, potential improvements to that design, and the design of an advanced fuel/cladding system. The aforementioned attributes provide qualitative guidance for parameters that will be considered for fuels with enhanced accident tolerance. It may be unnecessary to improve in all attributes and it is likely that some attributes or combination of attributes provide meaningful gains in accident tolerance, while others may provide only marginal benefits. Thus, an initial step in program implementation will be the development of quantitative metrics. A companion paper in these proceedings provides an update on the status of establishing these quantitative metrics for accident tolerant LWR fuel.1 The United States FCRD Advanced Fuels Campaign has embarked on an aggressive schedule for development of enhanced accident tolerant LWR fuels. The goal of developing such a fuel system that can be deployed in the U.S. LWR fleet in the next 10 to 20 years supports the sustainability of clean nuclear power generation in the United States.« less

Psychological aspects of personnel contamination

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wilson, R.L.

1985-04-01

This paper discusses some of the major emotional considerations involved in the treatment of people who have been contaminated with potentially hazardous materials. Although the principal focus is the treatment of people trained to work with these materials, an attempt is also made to extend these methods to people having little or no knowledge of such matters. Accidents always result in emotional trauma. When the accident involves radioactive or other potentially toxic, carcinogenic, or mutagenic materials, there is a possibility of enhanced emotional stress due to the mystique surrounding these substances. Several psychological principles that have emerged from the treatmentmore » of radioactively-contaminated workers are: (1) provide pre-accident training for all radiation workers; (2) avoid secrets; (3) as rapidly as possible following a contamination accident, bring the worker into contact with others; (4) recognize the emotions of the family and the family's fears and trauma; and (5) do not desert the worker after decontamination has been completed. 1 ref.« less

Occupational injuries in the Finnish furniture industry.

PubMed

Aaltonen, M V

1996-06-01

The purpose of the study was to determine the types of occupational injuries that occur in the Finnish furniture industry and to see whether they differ as regards production type and company size. During a one-year registration period accident events, the actual and potential severity of the injuries, the causes of the accidents, and the measures needed to prevent such accidents were examined in 18 Finnish furniture factories of different types. An analysis of covariance determined the variables affecting the actual and potential severity of the injuries. The 214 accidents registered were lost-time injuries; two of them resulted in slight partial loss of fingertips. The disabling injury rate was 14.4 per 100 workers per year. Wooden furniture production and kitchen cupboard production in large companies had the highest rate. Accidents involving machines comprised half of the material. Saws were the most common machine type. Forty-two percent of the injuries could have been more severe; one injury could have been fatal. The injured persons and their foremen identified the causal factors of the accidents and the needed safety countermeasures well. Sixty-six percent of the causes and 65% of the safety countermeasures were associated with the actions of the workers and the workplace procedures. Nevertheless, only 6% of the identified safety countermeasures were put into force. It was estimated that, in 1987, 2000 on-site accidents leading to at least first-aid at some health care center occurred in the Finnish furniture industry. Special efforts should be taken to improve safety in furniture production in Finland.

Station blackout calculations for Browns Ferry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ott, L.J.; Weber, C.F.; Hyman, C.R.

1985-01-01

This paper presents the results of calculations performed with the ORNL SASA code suite for the Station Blackout Severe Accident Sequence at Browns Ferry. The accident is initiated by a loss of offsite power combined with failure of all onsite emergency diesel generators to start and load. The Station Blackout is assumed to persist beyond the point of battery exhaustion (at six hours) and without DC power, cooling water could no longer be injected into the reactor vessel. Calculations are continued through the period of core degradation and melting, reactor vessel failure, and the subsequent containment failure. An estimate ofmore » the magnitude and timing of the concomitant fission product releases is also provided.« less

Advantages of the rapid HIV-1 test in occupational accidents with potentially contaminated material among health workers.

PubMed

Machado, A A; Martinez, R; Haikal, A A; Rodrigues da Silva, M C

2001-01-01

In occupational accidents involving health professionals handling potentially contaminated material, the decision to start or to continue prophylactic medication against infection by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has been based on the ELISA test applied to a blood sample from the source patient. In order to rationalize the prophylactic use of antiretroviral agents, a rapid serologic diagnostic test of HIV infection was tested by the enzymatic immunoabsorption method (SUDS HIV 1+2, MUREX) and compared to conventional ELISA (Abbott HIV-1/ HIV-2 3rd Generation plus EIA). A total of 592 cases of occupational accidents were recorded at the University Hospital of Ribeirão Preto from July 1998 to April 1999. Of these, 109 were simultaneously evaluated by the rapid test and by ELISA HIV. The rapid test was positive in three cases and was confirmed by ELISA and in one the result was inconclusive and later found to be negative by ELISA. In the 106 accidents in which the rapid test was negative no prophylactic medication was instituted, with an estimated reduction in costs of US$ 2,889.35. In addition to this advantage, the good correlation of the rapid test with ELISA, the shorter duration of stress and the absence of exposure of the health worker to the adverse effects of antiretroviral agents suggest the adoption of this test in Programs of Attention to Accidents with Potentially Contaminated Material.

Manned space flight nuclear system safety. Volume 3: Reactor system preliminary nuclear safety analysis. Part 2A: Accident model document, appendix

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

The detailed abort sequence trees for the reference zirconium hydride (ZrH) reactor power module that have been generated for each phase of the reference Space Base program mission are presented. The trees are graphical representations of causal sequences. Each tree begins with the phase identification and the dichotomy between success and failure. The success branch shows the mission phase objective as being achieved. The failure branch is subdivided, as conditions require, into various primary initiating abort conditions.

Factors correlated with traffic accidents as a basis for evaluating Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.

PubMed

Staubach, Maria

2009-09-01

This study aims to identify factors which influence and cause errors in traffic accidents and to use these as a basis for information to guide the application and design of driver assistance systems. A total of 474 accidents were examined in depth for this study by means of a psychological survey, data from accident reports, and technical reconstruction information. An error analysis was subsequently carried out, taking into account the driver, environment, and vehicle sub-systems. Results showed that all accidents were influenced by errors as a consequence of distraction and reduced activity. For crossroad accidents, there were further errors resulting from sight obstruction, masked stimuli, focus errors, and law infringements. Lane departure crashes were additionally caused by errors as a result of masked stimuli, law infringements, expectation errors as well as objective and action slips, while same direction accidents occurred additionally because of focus errors, expectation errors, and objective and action slips. Most accidents were influenced by multiple factors. There is a safety potential for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), which support the driver in information assimilation and help to avoid distraction and reduced activity. The design of the ADAS is dependent on the specific influencing factors of the accident type.

Understanding factors associated with misclassification of fatigue-related accidents in police record.

PubMed

Li, Yanyan; Yamamoto, Toshiyuki; Zhang, Guangnan

2018-02-01

Fatigue is one of the riskiest causes of traffic accidents threatening road safety. Due to lack of proper criteria, the identification of fatigue-related accidents by police officers largely depends on inferential evidence and their own experience. As a result, many fatigue-related accidents are misclassified and the harmfulness of fatigue on road safety is misestimated. In this paper, a joint model framework is introduced to analyze factors contributing to misclassification of a fatigue-related accident in police reports. Association rule data mining technique is employed to identify the potential interactions of factors, and logistic regression models are applied to analyze factors that hinder police officers' identification of fatigue-related accidents. Using the fatigue-related crash records from Guangdong Province during 2005-2014, factors contributing to the false positive and false negative detection of the fatigue-related accident have been identified and compared. Some variables and interactions were identified to have significant impacts on fatigue-related accident detection. Based on the results, it can be inferred that the stereotype of certain groups of drivers, crash types, and roadway conditions affects police officers' judgment on fatigue-related accidents. This finding can provide useful information for training police officers and build better criteria for fatigue identification. Copyright © 2017 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of an accident duration prediction model on the Korean Freeway Systems.

PubMed

Chung, Younshik

2010-01-01

Since duration prediction is one of the most important steps in an accident management process, there have been several approaches developed for modeling accident duration. This paper presents a model for the purpose of accident duration prediction based on accurately recorded and large accident dataset from the Korean Freeway Systems. To develop the duration prediction model, this study utilizes the log-logistic accelerated failure time (AFT) metric model and a 2-year accident duration dataset from 2006 to 2007. Specifically, the 2006 dataset is utilized to develop the prediction model and then, the 2007 dataset was employed to test the temporal transferability of the 2006 model. Although the duration prediction model has limitations such as large prediction error due to the individual differences of the accident treatment teams in terms of clearing similar accidents, the results from the 2006 model yielded a reasonable prediction based on the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) scale. Additionally, the results of the statistical test for temporal transferability indicated that the estimated parameters in the duration prediction model are stable over time. Thus, this temporal stability suggests that the model may have potential to be used as a basis for making rational diversion and dispatching decisions in the event of an accident. Ultimately, such information will beneficially help in mitigating traffic congestion due to accidents.

Towards a better reliability of risk assessment: development of a qualitative & quantitative risk evaluation model (Q2REM) for different trades of construction works in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Fung, Ivan W H; Lo, Tommy Y; Tung, Karen C F

2012-09-01

Since the safety professionals are the key decision makers dealing with project safety and risk assessment in the construction industry, their perceptions of safety risk would directly affect the reliability of risk assessment. The safety professionals generally tend to heavily rely on their own past experiences to make subjective decisions on risk assessment without systematic decision making. Indeed, understanding of the underlying principles of risk assessment is significant. In this study, the qualitative analysis on the safety professionals' beliefs of risk assessment and their perceptions towards risk assessment, including their recognitions of possible accident causes, the degree of differentiations on their perceptions of risk levels of different trades of works, recognitions of the occurrence of different types of accidents, and their inter-relationships with safety performance in terms of accident rates will be explored in the Stage 1. At the second stage, the deficiencies of the current general practice for risk assessment can be sorted out firstly. Based on the findings from Stage 1 and the historical accident data from 15 large-scaled construction projects in 3-year average, a risk evaluation model prioritizing the risk levels of different trades of works and which cause different types of site accident due to various accident causes will be developed quantitatively. With the suggested systematic accident recording techniques, this model can be implemented in the construction industry at both project level and organizational level. The model (Q(2)REM) not only act as a useful supplementary guideline of risk assessment for the construction safety professionals, but also assists them to pinpoint the potential risks on site for the construction workers under respective trades of works through safety trainings and education. It, in turn, arouses their awareness on safety risk. As the Q(2)REM can clearly show the potential accident causes leading to different types of accident by trade of works, it helps the concerned safety professionals and parties to plan effective accident prevention measures with reference to the priority of the risk levels. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Challenging the immediate causes: A work accident investigation in an oil refinery using organizational analysis.

PubMed

Beltran, Sandra Lorena; Vilela, Rodolfo Andrade de Gouveia; de Almeida, Ildeberto Muniz

2018-01-01

In many companies, investigations of accidents still blame the victims without exploring deeper causes. Those investigations are reactive and have no learning potential. This paper aims to debate the historical organizational aspects of a company whose policy was incubating an accident. The empirical data are analyzed as part of a qualitative study of an accident that occurred in an oil refinery in Brazil in 2014. To investigate and analyse this case we used one-to-one and group interviews, participant observation, Collective Analyses of Work and a documentary review. The analysis was conducted on the basis of concepts of the Organizational Analysis of the event and the Model for Analysis and Prevention of Work Accidents. The accident had its origin in the interaction of social and organizational factors, among them being: excessively standardized culture, management tools and outcome indicators that give a false sense of safety, the decision to speed up the project, the change of operator to facilitate this outcome and performance management that encourages getting around the usual barriers. The superficial accident analysis conducted by the company that ignored human and organizational factors reinforces the traditional safety culture and favors the occurrence of new accidents.

Gilbert W. Beebe Symposium on 30 Years after the Chernobyl Accident: Current and Future Studies on Radiation Health Effects.

PubMed

Samet, Jonathan M; de González, Amy Berrington; Dauer, Lawrence T; Hatch, Maureen; Kosti, Ourania; Mettler, Fred A; Satyamitra, Merriline M

2018-01-01

This commentary summarizes the presentations and discussions from the 2016 Gilbert W. Beebe symposium "30 years after the Chernobyl accident: Current and future studies on radiation health effects." The symposium was hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies). The symposium focused on the health consequences of the Chernobyl accident, looking retrospectively at what has been learned and prospectively at potential future discoveries using emerging 21st Century research methodologies.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sattison, M.B.

The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) over the three years has created 75 plant-specific Accident Sequence Precursor (ASP) models using the SAPHIRE suite of PRA codes. Along with the new models, the INEL has also developed a new module for SAPHIRE which is tailored specifically to the unique needs of ASP evaluations. These models and software will be the next generation of risk tools for the evaluation of accident precursors by both the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission`s (NRC`s) Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) and the Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data (AEOD). This paper presents an overviewmore » of the models and software. Key characteristics include: (1) classification of the plant models according to plant response with a unique set of event trees for each plant class, (2) plant-specific fault trees using supercomponents, (3) generation and retention of all system and sequence cutsets, (4) full flexibility in modifying logic, regenerating cutsets, and requantifying results, and (5) user interface for streamlined evaluation of ASP events. Future plans for the ASP models is also presented.« less

How life changes itself: the Read-Write (RW) genome.

PubMed

Shapiro, James A

2013-09-01

The genome has traditionally been treated as a Read-Only Memory (ROM) subject to change by copying errors and accidents. In this review, I propose that we need to change that perspective and understand the genome as an intricately formatted Read-Write (RW) data storage system constantly subject to cellular modifications and inscriptions. Cells operate under changing conditions and are continually modifying themselves by genome inscriptions. These inscriptions occur over three distinct time-scales (cell reproduction, multicellular development and evolutionary change) and involve a variety of different processes at each time scale (forming nucleoprotein complexes, epigenetic formatting and changes in DNA sequence structure). Research dating back to the 1930s has shown that genetic change is the result of cell-mediated processes, not simply accidents or damage to the DNA. This cell-active view of genome change applies to all scales of DNA sequence variation, from point mutations to large-scale genome rearrangements and whole genome duplications (WGDs). This conceptual change to active cell inscriptions controlling RW genome functions has profound implications for all areas of the life sciences. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Indonesian railway accidents--utilizing Human Factors Analysis and Classification System in determining potential contributing factors.

PubMed

Iridiastadi, Hardianto; Ikatrinasari, Zulfa Fitri

2012-01-01

The prevalence of Indonesian railway accidents has not been declining, with hundreds of fatalities reported in the past decade. As an effort to help the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC), this study was conducted that aimed at understanding factors that might have contributed to the accidents. Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) was utilized for this purpose. A total of nine accident reports (provided by the Indonesian NTSC) involving fatalities were studied using the technique. Results of this study indicated 72 factors that were closely related to the accidents. Of these, roughly 22% were considered as operator acts while about 39% were related to preconditions for operator acts. Supervisory represented 14% of the factors, and the remaining (about 25%) were associated with organizational factors. It was concluded that, while train drivers indeed played an important role in the accidents, interventions solely directed toward train drivers may not be adequate. A more comprehensive approach in minimizing the accidents should be conducted that addresses all the four aspects of HFACS.

Incorporating real-time traffic and weather data to explore road accident likelihood and severity in urban arterials.

PubMed

Theofilatos, Athanasios

2017-06-01

The effective treatment of road accidents and thus the enhancement of road safety is a major concern to societies due to the losses in human lives and the economic and social costs. The investigation of road accident likelihood and severity by utilizing real-time traffic and weather data has recently received significant attention by researchers. However, collected data mainly stem from freeways and expressways. Consequently, the aim of the present paper is to add to the current knowledge by investigating accident likelihood and severity by exploiting real-time traffic and weather data collected from urban arterials in Athens, Greece. Random Forests (RF) are firstly applied for preliminary analysis purposes. More specifically, it is aimed to rank candidate variables according to their relevant importance and provide a first insight on the potential significant variables. Then, Bayesian logistic regression as well finite mixture and mixed effects logit models are applied to further explore factors associated with accident likelihood and severity respectively. Regarding accident likelihood, the Bayesian logistic regression showed that variations in traffic significantly influence accident occurrence. On the other hand, accident severity analysis revealed a generally mixed influence of traffic variations on accident severity, although international literature states that traffic variations increase severity. Lastly, weather parameters did not find to have a direct influence on accident likelihood or severity. The study added to the current knowledge by incorporating real-time traffic and weather data from urban arterials to investigate accident occurrence and accident severity mechanisms. The identification of risk factors can lead to the development of effective traffic management strategies to reduce accident occurrence and severity of injuries in urban arterials. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

Acute radiation syndrome caused by accidental radiation exposure - therapeutic principles.

PubMed

Dörr, Harald; Meineke, Viktor

2011-11-25

Fortunately radiation accidents are infrequent occurrences, but since they have the potential of large scale events like the nuclear accidents of Chernobyl and Fukushima, preparatory planning of the medical management of radiation accident victims is very important. Radiation accidents can result in different types of radiation exposure for which the diagnostic and therapeutic measures, as well as the outcomes, differ. The clinical course of acute radiation syndrome depends on the absorbed radiation dose and its distribution. Multi-organ-involvement and multi-organ-failure need be taken into account. The most vulnerable organ system to radiation exposure is the hematopoietic system. In addition to hematopoietic syndrome, radiation induced damage to the skin plays an important role in diagnostics and the treatment of radiation accident victims. The most important therapeutic principles with special reference to hematopoietic syndrome and cutaneous radiation syndrome are reviewed.

Structural response of transport airplanes in crash situations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomson, R. G.; Caiafa, C.

1983-01-01

This report highlights the results of contractural studies of transport accident data undertaken in a joint research program sponsored by the FAA and NASA. From these accident data studies it was concluded that the greatest potential for improved transport crashworthiness is in the reduction of fire related fatalities. Accident data pertaining to fuselage integrity, main landing gear collapse, fuel tank rupture, wing breaks, tearing of tank lower surfaces, and engine pod scrubbing are discussed. In those accidents where the energy absorbing protective capability of the fuselage structure is expended and the airplane experiences major structural damage, trauma caused fatalities are also discussed. The dynamic performance of current seat/restraint systems are examined but it is concluded that the accident data does not adequately define the relationship between occupant response and the dynamic interaction with the seat, floor and fuselage structure.

Use of intermediaries in DWI deterrence. Volume 2, Phase 1 report : analysis of potential target clusters for DWI intermediary programs

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-04-01

This report summarizes the results of Phase I of the project, "Use of Intermediaries in DWI Deterrence." Data from secondary sources along with National Accident Samplimg System (NASS), Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) and National Institute on...

Final safety analysis report for the Galileo mission: Volume 3 (Book 2), Nuclear risk analysis document: Appendices: Revision 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1989-01-25

It is the purpose of the NRAD to provide an analysis of the range of potential consequences of accidents which have been identified that are associated with the launching and deployment of the Galileo mission spacecraft. The specific consequences analyzed are those associated with the possible release of radioactive material (fuel) of the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs). They are in terms of radiation doses to people and areas of deposition of radioactive material. These consequence analyses can be used in several ways. One way is to identify the potential range of consequences which might have to be dealt with ifmore » there were to be an accident with a release of fuel, so as to assure that, given such an accident, the health and safety of the public will be reasonably protected. Another use of the information, in conjunction with accident and release probabilities, is to estimate the risks associated with the mission. That is, most space launches occur without incident. Given an accident, the most probable result relative to the RTGs is complete containment of the radioactive material. Only a small fraction of accidents might result in a release of fuel and subsequent radiological consequences. The combination of probability with consequence is risk, which can be compared to other human and societal risks to assure that no undue risks are implied by undertaking the mission. Book 2 contains eight appendices.« less

Safety analysis report for the Galileo Mission. Volume 3, book 2: Nuclear risk analysis document. Appendices, revision 1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1989-01-01

It is the purpose of the NRAD to provide an analysis of the range of potential consequences of accidents which have been identified that are associated with the launching and deployment of the Galileo mission spacecraft. The specific consequences analyzed are those associated with the possible release of radioactive material (fuel) of the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs). They are in terms of radiation doses to people and areas of deposition of radioactive material. These consequence analyses can be used in several ways. One way is to identify the potential range of consequences which might have to be dealt with if there were to be an accident with a release of fuel, so as to assure that, given such an accident, the health and safety of the public will be reasonably protected. Another use of the information, in conjunction with accident and release probabilities, is to estimate the risks associated with the mission. That is, most space launches occur without incident. Given an accident, the most probable result relative to the RTGs is complete containment of the radioactive material. Only a small fraction of accidents might result in a release of fuel and subsequent radiological consequences. The combination of probability with consequence is risk, which can be compared to other human and societal risks to assure that no undue risks are implied by undertaking the mission. Book 2 contains eight appendices.

Heat up and potential failure of BWR upper internals during a severe accident

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robb, Kevin R

2015-01-01

In boiling water reactors, the steam dome, steam separators, and dryers above the core are comprised of approximately 100 tons of stainless steel. During a severe accident in which the coolant boils away and exothermic oxidation of zirconium occurs, gases (steam and hydrogen) are superheated in the core region and pass through the upper internals. Historically, the upper internals have been modeled using severe accident codes with relatively simple approximations. The upper internals are typically modeled in MELCOR as two lumped volumes with simplified heat transfer characteristics, with no structural integrity considerations, and with limited ability to oxidize, melt, andmore » relocate. The potential for and the subsequent impact of the upper internals to heat up, oxidize, fail, and relocate during a severe accident was investigated. A higher fidelity representation of the shroud dome, steam separators, and steam driers was developed in MELCOR v1.8.6 by extending the core region upwards. This modeling effort entailed adding 45 additional core cells and control volumes, 98 flow paths, and numerous control functions. The model accounts for the mechanical loading and structural integrity, oxidation, melting, flow area blockage, and relocation of the various components. The results indicate that the upper internals can reach high temperatures during a severe accident; they are predicted to reach a high enough temperature such that they lose their structural integrity and relocate. The additional 100 tons of stainless steel debris influences the subsequent in-vessel and ex-vessel accident progression.« less

Parametric and experimentally informed BWR Severe Accident Analysis Utilizing FeCrAl - M3FT-17OR020205041

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ott, Larry J.; Howell, Michael; Robb, Kevin R.

Iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys are being considered as advanced fuel cladding concepts with enhanced accident tolerance. At high temperatures, FeCrAl alloys have slower oxidation kinetics and higher strength compared with zirconium-based alloys. FeCrAl could be used for fuel cladding and spacer or mixing vane grids in light water reactors and/or as channel box material in boiling water reactors (BWRs). There is a need to assess the potential gains afforded by the FeCrAl accident-tolerant-fuel (ATF) concept over the existing zirconium-based materials employed today. To accurately assess the response of FeCrAl alloys under severe accident conditions, a number of FeCrAl properties and characteristicsmore » are required. These include thermophysical properties as well as burst characteristics, oxidation kinetics, possible eutectic interactions, and failure temperatures. These properties can vary among different FeCrAl alloys. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has pursued refined values for the oxidation kinetics of the B136Y FeCrAl alloy (Fe-13Cr-6Al wt %). This investigation included oxidation tests with varying heating rates and end-point temperatures in a steam environment. The rate constant for the low-temperature oxidation kinetics was found to be higher than that for the commercial APMT FeCrAl alloy (Fe-21Cr-5Al-3Mo wt %). Compared with APMT, a 5 times higher rate constant best predicted the entire dataset (root mean square deviation). Based on tests following heating rates comparable with those the cladding would experience during a station blackout, the transition to higher oxidation kinetics occurs at approximately 1,500°C. A parametric study varying the low-temperature FeCrAl oxidation kinetics was conducted for a BWR plant using FeCrAl fuel cladding and channel boxes using the MELCOR code. A range of station blackout severe accident scenarios were simulated for a BWR/4 reactor with Mark I containment. Increasing the FeCrAl low-temperature oxidation rate constant (3 times and 10 times that of the rate constant for APMT) had a negligible impact on the early stages of the accident and minor impacts on the accident progression after the first relocation of the fuel. At temperatures below 1,500°C, increasing the rate constant for APMT by a factor of 10 still resulted in only minor FeCrAl oxidation. In general, the gains afforded by the FeCrAl enhanced ATF concept with respect to accident sequence timing and combustible gas generation are consistent with previous efforts. Compared with the traditional Zircaloy-based cladding and channel box system, the FeCrAl concept could provide a few extra hours of time for operators to take mitigating actions and/or for evacuations to take place. A coolable core geometry is retained longer, enhancing the ability to stabilize an accident. For example, a station blackout was simulated in which cooling water injection was lost 36 hours after shutdown. The timing to first fuel relocation was delayed by approximately 5 h for the FeCrAl ATF concept compared with that of the traditional Zircaloy-based cladding and channel box system.« less

Context-aware system for pre-triggering irreversible vehicle safety actuators.

PubMed

Böhmländer, Dennis; Dirndorfer, Tobias; Al-Bayatti, Ali H; Brandmeier, Thomas

2017-06-01

New vehicle safety systems have led to a steady improvement of road safety and a reduction in the risk of suffering a major injury in vehicle accidents. A huge leap forward in the development of new vehicle safety systems are actuators that have to be activated irreversibly shortly before a collision in order to mitigate accident consequences. The triggering decision has to be based on measurements of exteroceptive sensors currently used in driver assistance systems. This paper focuses on developing a novel context-aware system designed to detect potential collisions and to trigger safety actuators even before an accident occurs. In this context, the analysis examines the information that can be collected from exteroceptive sensors (pre-crash data) to predict a certain collision and its severity to decide whether a triggering is entitled or not. A five-layer context-aware architecture is presented, that is able to collect contextual information about the vehicle environment and the actual driving state using different sensors, to perform reasoning about potential collisions, and to trigger safety functions upon that information. Accident analysis is used in a data model to represent uncertain knowledge and to perform reasoning. A simulation concept based on real accident data is introduced to evaluate the presented system concept. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Aging, Loss-of-Coolant Accident (LOCA), and high potential testing of damaged cables

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vigil, R.A.; Jacobus, M.J.

1994-04-01

Experiments were conducted to assess the effects of high potential testing of cables and to assess the survivability of aged and damaged cables under Loss-of-Coolant Accident (LOCA) conditions. High potential testing at 240 Vdc/mil on undamaged cables suggested that no damage was incurred on the selected virgin cables. During aging and LOCA testing, Okonite ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) cables with a bonded jacket experienced unexpected failures. The failures appear to be primarily related to the level of thermal aging and the presence of a bonded jacket that ages more rapidly than the insulation. For Brand Rex crosslinked polyolefin (XLPO) cables,more » the results suggest that 7 mils of insulation remaining should give the cables a high probability of surviving accident exposure following aging. The voltage necessary to detect when 7 mils of insulation remain on unaged Brand Rex cables is approximately 35 kVdc. This voltage level would almost certainly be unacceptable to a utility for use as a damage assessment tool. However, additional tests indicated that a 35 kvdc voltage application would not damage virgin Brand Rex cables when tested in water. Although two damaged Rockbestos silicone rubber cables also failed during the accident test, no correlation between failures and level of damage was apparent.« less

Thermal-Hydraulics Phenomena Important in Modeling and Simulation of Liquid-Fuel Molten Salt Reactors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bajorek, Stephen; Diamond, David J.

This paper discusses liquid-fuel molten salt reactors, how they will operate under normal, transient, and accident conditions, and the results of an expert elicitation to determine the corresponding thermalhydraulic phenomena important to understanding their behavior. Identifying these phenomena will enable the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to develop or identify modeling functionalities and tools required to carry out confirmatory analyses that examine the validity and accuracy of an applicant’s calculations and help determine the margin of safety in plant design. NRC frequently does an expert elicitation using a Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table (PIRT) to identify and evaluate the statemore » of knowledge of important modeling phenomena. However, few details about the design of these reactors and the sequence of events during accidents are known, so the process used was considered a preliminary PIRT. A panel met to define phenomena that would need to be modeled and considered the impact/importance of each phenomenon with respect to specific figures-of-merit (FoMs) (e.g., salt temperature, velocity, and composition). Each FoM reflected a potential impact on radionuclide release or loss of a barrier to release. The panel considered what the path forward might be with respect to being able to model the phenomenon in a simulation code. Results are explained for both thermal and fast spectrum designs.« less

Neutronics Phenomena Important in Modeling and Simulation of Liquid-Fuel Molten Salt Reactors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Diamond, David J.

This paper discusses liquid-fuel molten salt reactors, how they will operate under normal, transient, and accident conditions, and the results of an expert elicitation to determine the corresponding neutronic phenomena important to understanding their behavior. Identifying these phenomena will enable the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to develop or identify modeling functionalities and tools required to carry out confirmatory analyses that examine the validity and accuracy of applicants’ calculations and help determine the margin of safety in plant design. NRC frequently does an expert elicitation using a Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table (PIRT) to identify and evaluate the state ofmore » knowledge of important modeling phenomena. However, few details about the design of these reactors and the sequence of events during accidents are known, so the process used was considered a preliminary PIRT. A panel met to define phenomena that would need to be modeled and considered the impact/importance of each phenomenon with respect to specific figures-of-merit (FoMs) (e.g., power distribution, fluence, kinetics parameters and reactivity). Each FoM reflected a potential impact on radionuclide release or loss of a barrier to release. The panel considered what the path forward might be with respect to being able to model the phenomenon in a simulation code. Results are explained for both thermal and fast spectrum designs.« less

The Lagerlunda collision and the introduction of color vision testing.

PubMed

Mollon, J D; Cavonius, L R

2012-01-01

In histories of vision testing, the origins of occupational screening for color blindness are often traced to a fatal railroad accident that occurred in Sweden on the night of 14-15 November 1875. The scene of the accident was the estate of Baron Lagerfelt in Östergötland, but the critical events were played out at Linköping (the normal passing place for the northbound and southbound expresses) and at Bankeberg (a small station to which the passing place was reassigned at a few minutes' notice). First to arrive at Bankeberg, the northbound express slowed almost to a halt, but then inexplicably accelerated forwards towards the Lagerlunda estate, despite a sequence of signals from the stationmaster, Uno Björkelund, and a lineman, Oskar Johansson. Soon after the accident, the ophthalmologist Frithiof Holmgren suggested that the engineer of the northbound express, Andersson, or his oiler, Larsson, had been color blind. Neither survived to be tested. Using the records of the subsequent trial and other archival materials, we have re-examined the role of color blindness in the Lagerlunda incident and conclude that the accident cannot be attributed to color blindness alone. Yet the accident undoubtedly had a central role in the introduction of color vision testing by European and North American railroads. To persuade the railroad management to introduce universal screening of employees for color blindness, Holmgren used a dramatic coup de theatre and some unashamed subterfuge. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Euratom-Rosatom ERCOSAM-SAMARA projects on containment thermal-hydraulics of current and future LWRs for severe accident management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Paladino, D.; Guentay, S.; Andreani, M.

2012-07-01

During a postulated severe accident with core degradation, hydrogen would form in the reactor pressure vessel mainly due to high temperatures zirconium-steam reaction and flow together with steam into the containment where it will mix with the containment atmosphere (steam-air). The hydrogen transport into the containment is a safety concern because it can lead to explosive mixtures through the associated phenomena of condensation, mixing and stratification. The ERCOSAM and SAMARA projects, co-financed by the European Union and the Russia, include various experiments addressing accident scenarios scaled down from existing plant calculations to different thermal-hydraulics facilities (TOSQAN, MISTRA, PANDA, SPOT). Themore » tests sequences aim to investigate hydrogen concentration build-up and stratification during a postulated accident and the effect of the activation of Severe Accident Management systems (SAMs), e.g. sprays, coolers and Passive Auto-catalytic Recombiners (PARs). Analytical activities, performed by the project participants, are an essential component of the projects, as they aim to improve and validate various computational methods. They accompany the projects in the various phases; plant calculations, scaling to generic containment and to the different facilities, planning pre-test and post-test simulations are performed. Code benchmark activities on the basis of conceptual near full scale HYMIX facility will finally provide a further opportunity to evaluate the applicability of the various methods to the study of scaling issues. (authors)« less

Modeling when and where a secondary accident occurs.

PubMed

Wang, Junhua; Liu, Boya; Fu, Ting; Liu, Shuo; Stipancic, Joshua

2018-01-31

The occurrence of secondary accidents leads to traffic congestion and road safety issues. Secondary accident prevention has become a major consideration in traffic incident management. This paper investigates the location and time of a potential secondary accident after the occurrence of an initial traffic accident. With accident data and traffic loop data collected over three years from California interstate freeways, a shock wave-based method was introduced to identify secondary accidents. A linear regression model and two machine learning algorithms, including a back-propagation neural network (BPNN) and a least squares support vector machine (LSSVM), were implemented to explore the distance and time gap between the initial and secondary accidents using inputs of crash severity, violation category, weather condition, tow away, road surface condition, lighting, parties involved, traffic volume, duration, and shock wave speed generated by the primary accident. From the results, the linear regression model was inadequate in describing the effect of most variables and its goodness-of-fit and accuracy in prediction was relatively poor. In the training programs, the BPNN and LSSVM demonstrated adequate goodness-of-fit, though the BPNN was superior with a higher CORR and lower MSE. The BPNN model also outperformed the LSSVM in time prediction, while both failed to provide adequate distance prediction. Therefore, the BPNN model could be used to forecast the time gap between initial and secondary accidents, which could be used by decision makers and incident management agencies to prevent or reduce secondary collisions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Investigation of powered 2-wheeler accident involvement in urban arterials by considering real-time traffic and weather data.

PubMed

Theofilatos, Athanasios; Yannis, George

2017-04-03

Understanding the various factors that affect accident risk is of particular concern to decision makers and researchers. The incorporation of real-time traffic and weather data constitutes a fruitful approach when analyzing accident risk. However, the vast majority of relevant research has no specific focus on vulnerable road users such as powered 2-wheelers (PTWs). Moreover, studies using data from urban roads and arterials are scarce. This study aims to add to the current knowledge by considering real-time traffic and weather data from 2 major urban arterials in the city of Athens, Greece, in order to estimate the effect of traffic, weather, and other characteristics on PTW accident involvement. Because of the high number of candidate variables, a random forest model was applied to reveal the most important variables. Then, the potentially significant variables were used as input to a Bayesian logistic regression model in order to reveal the magnitude of their effect on PTW accident involvement. The results of the analysis suggest that PTWs are more likely to be involved in multivehicle accidents than in single-vehicle accidents. It was also indicated that increased traffic flow and variations in speed have a significant influence on PTW accident involvement. On the other hand, weather characteristics were found to have no effect. The findings of this study can contribute to the understanding of accident mechanisms of PTWs and reduce PTW accident risk in urban arterials.

Fall-related accidents among hikers in the Austrian Alps: a 9-year retrospective study

PubMed Central

Faulhaber, Martin; Pocecco, Elena; Ruedl, Gerhard; Walter, Dagmar; Sterr, Regina; Ebner, Hans; Schobersberger, Wolfgang; Burtscher, Martin

2017-01-01

Objective To analyse the circumstances of fatal and non-fatal mountain hiking accidents caused by falls. Methods The study was designed as a retrospective analysis. Mountain hiking accidents caused by falls were documented during a 9-year period (2006–2014). After screening of all data for potential exclusion criteria the final sample size of 5368 accidents and 5665 victims was included into the analyses. Main outcome measures were details about accidents, victims, type of trail and surface. Results The annual number of accidents showed a continuous increase from 467 in 2006 to 700 in 2014. In total, 5.8% of all victims died during the 9-year period. 75.3% of the hikers fell during descent and 80.9% of the victims had their accident on a marked hiking trail or small path. The sex ratio for non-fatal accidents was 55% female and 45% male; for fatal accidents the female-to-male ratio was 28%:72%. Mean age of all victims was 52.5±17.5 years and victims of fatalities were about 5 years older compared with victims of non-fatal accidents (57.5±16.5 vs 52.2±17.5 years, P<0.01). Conclusion Descent is the most risky part for accidents caused by falls during mountain hiking. Male hikers are at greater risk for fatalities independent of age and this is associated with accidents occurring in pathless terrain. The death rate from falls was 6%. We recommend a critical self-assessment of the individual capabilities and mountain hiking skills and adequate planning of the hiking tours for mountain hikers. PMID:29259815

Working on Sundays–effects on safety, health, and work-life balance.

PubMed

Wirtz, Anna; Nachreiner, Friedhelm; Rolfes, Katharina

2011-05-01

Several attributes of the work schedule can increase the risk of occupational injuries and accidents, health impairments, and reduced social participation. Although previous studies mainly focused on the effects of shiftwork and long working hours on employee health and safety, there is little evidence of a potential negative impact of working Sundays on the incidence of occupational accidents, health impairments, and work-life balance. A representative sample of employed workers in 31 member and associated states of the European Union (n = 23,934) served as the database for a cross-sectional analysis. The sample was collected via face-to-face interviews in the year 2005. The association of the risks of occupational accidents, health impairments, and decreases in work-life balance with working Sundays was calculated using logistic regression models, controlling for potential confounders, such as shiftwork, workload, and demographic characteristics. The results indicated that working one or more Sundays/month was associated with increase both in the risk of reporting one or more health impairments (odds ratio [OR]: 1.17, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.06-1.29) and poorer work-life balance (OR: 1.15, 95% CI: 1.02-1.28). These effects remained after controlling for potentially confounding factors, such as other work schedule attributes, intensity of physical and mental workload, and individual characteristics. Furthermore, working Sundays was also related to increased risk of occupational accidents within the last year (OR: 1.34, 95% CI: 1.03-1.73). Controlling again for individual, workload, and working-time characteristics, a significant association with accident risk, however, remained only in work sectors with low a priori risk of occupational accidents (OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.02-1.91), although the increased risk could be observed for both medium and high a priori risk sectors working Sundays (without controlling for additional confounders). The results thus indicate that the detrimental effects of working Sundays on safety, health, and social well-being should be taken into account when designing work schedules. The potential hazards to employees' safety, health, and work-life balance, in particular, should be considered in discussions concerning extending work on Sundays in certain sectors, e.g., retail.

Anesthesia patient risk: a quantitative approach to organizational factors and risk management options.

PubMed

Paté-Cornell, M E; Lakats, L M; Murphy, D M; Gaba, D M

1997-08-01

The risk of death or brain damage to anesthesia patients is relatively low, particularly for healthy patients in modern hospitals. When an accident does occur, its cause is usually an error made by the anesthesiologist, either in triggering the accident sequence, or failing to take timely corrective measures. This paper presents a pilot study which explores the feasibility of extending probabilistic risk analysis (PRA) of anesthesia accidents to assess the effects of human and management components on the patient risk. We develop first a classic PRA model for the patient risk per operation. We then link the probabilities of the different accident types to their root causes using a probabilistic analysis of the performance shaping factors. These factors are described here as the "state of the anesthesiologist" characterized both in terms of alertness and competence. We then analyze the effects of different management factors that affect the state of the anesthesiologist and we compute the risk reduction benefits of several risk management policies. Our data sources include the published version of the Australian Incident Monitoring Study as well as expert opinions. We conclude that patient risk could be reduced substantially by closer supervision of residents, the use of anesthesia simulators both in training and for periodic recertification, and regular medical examinations for all anesthesiologists.

A comparison of the hazard perception ability of accident-involved and accident-free motorcycle riders.

PubMed

Cheng, Andy S K; Ng, Terry C K; Lee, Hoe C

2011-07-01

Hazard perception is the ability to read the road and is closely related to involvement in traffic accidents. It consists of both cognitive and behavioral components. Within the cognitive component, visual attention is an important function of driving whereas driving behavior, which represents the behavioral component, can affect the hazard perception of the driver. Motorcycle riders are the most vulnerable types of road user. The primary purpose of this study was to deepen our understanding of the correlation of different subtypes of visual attention and driving violation behaviors and their effect on hazard perception between accident-free and accident-involved motorcycle riders. Sixty-three accident-free and 46 accident-involved motorcycle riders undertook four neuropsychological tests of attention (Digit Vigilance Test, Color Trails Test-1, Color Trails Test-2, and Symbol Digit Modalities Test), filled out the Chinese Motorcycle Rider Driving Violation (CMRDV) Questionnaire, and viewed a road-user-based hazard situation with an eye-tracking system to record the response latencies to potentially dangerous traffic situations. The results showed that both the divided and selective attention of accident-involved motorcycle riders were significantly inferior to those of accident-free motorcycle riders, and that accident-involved riders exhibited significantly higher driving violation behaviors and took longer to identify hazardous situations compared to their accident-free counterparts. However, the results of the regression analysis showed that aggressive driving violation CMRDV score significantly predicted hazard perception and accident involvement of motorcycle riders. Given that all participants were mature and experienced motorcycle riders, the most plausible explanation for the differences between them is their driving style (influenced by an undesirable driving attitude), rather than skill deficits per se. The present study points to the importance of conceptualizing the influence of different driving behaviors so as to enrich our understanding of the role of human factors in road accidents and consequently develop effective countermeasures to prevent traffic accidents involving motorcycles. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Organisational Factors of Occupational Accidents with Movement Disturbance (OAMD) and Prevention

PubMed Central

LECLERCQ, Sylvie

2014-01-01

Workplace design and upkeep, or human factors, are frequently advanced for explaining so-called Occupational Slip, Trip and Fall Accidents (OSTFAs). Despite scientific progress, these accidents, and more broadly Occupational Accidents with Movement Disturbance (OAMDs), are also commonly considered to be “simple”. This paper aims to stimulate changes in such perceptions by focusing on organisational factors that often combine with other accident factors to cause movement disturbance and injury in work situations. These factors frequently lead to arbitration between production and safety, which involves implementation of controls by workers. These controls can lead to greater worker exposure to OAMD risk. We propose a model that focuses on such controls to account specifically for the need to confront production and safety logics within a company and to enhance the potential for appropriate prevention action. These are then integrated into the set of controls highlighted by work organisation model developed by the NIOSH. PMID:25345425

Association Between Vestibular Vertigo and Motor Vehicle Accidents: Data From the 2016 National Health Interview Survey.

PubMed

Wei, Eric X; Agrawal, Yuri

2018-05-18

Recent evidence has shown that individuals with vestibular impairment have higher rates of self-reported driving difficulty compared with individuals without vestibular impairment. However, it is unknown whether individuals with vestibular impairment are more likely to be involved in motor vehicle accidents. We used data from the 2016 National Health Interview Survey of U.S. adults to evaluate whether individuals with vestibular vertigo are more likely to experience motor vehicle accidents relative to individuals without vestibular vertigo. In multivariate analysis, vestibular vertigo was associated with an over threefold increased odds of motor vehicle accidents (odds ratio, 3.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-7.3). This study supports an assciation between vestibular dysfunction and driving impairment, and provides a relative risk of motor vehicle accidents associated with vestibular vertigo that clinicians may utilize in counseling patients on the potential safety hazards of driving.

Applying data mining techniques to explore factors contributing to occupational injuries in Taiwan's construction industry.

PubMed

Cheng, Ching-Wu; Leu, Sou-Sen; Cheng, Ying-Mei; Wu, Tsung-Chih; Lin, Chen-Chung

2012-09-01

Construction accident research involves the systematic sorting, classification, and encoding of comprehensive databases of injuries and fatalities. The present study explores the causes and distribution of occupational accidents in the Taiwan construction industry by analyzing such a database using the data mining method known as classification and regression tree (CART). Utilizing a database of 1542 accident cases during the period 2000-2009, the study seeks to establish potential cause-and-effect relationships regarding serious occupational accidents in the industry. The results of this study show that the occurrence rules for falls and collapses in both public and private project construction industries serve as key factors to predict the occurrence of occupational injuries. The results of the study provide a framework for improving the safety practices and training programs that are essential to protecting construction workers from occasional or unexpected accidents. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sodium hypochlorite accident in a pediatric patient.

PubMed

Klein, Ulrich; Kleier, Donald J

2013-01-01

A sodium hypochlorite accident is a rare event in adults, but even more so in children. The purposes of this paper were to: report the case of a one-year, 10-month-old toddler who was treated under general anesthesia for early childhood caries, incurred a sodium hypochlorite accident following attempted pulpectomy in his primary maxillary central incisors, but made a full recovery without any sequelae after a typical four to six weeks course of disease; review the pertinent literature; and give recommendations on how to minimize the potential occurrence of such incidents.

Assessment of the risk due to release of carbon fiber in civil aircraft accidents, phase 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pocinki, L.; Cornell, M. E.; Kaplan, L.

1980-01-01

The risk associated with the potential use of carbon fiber composite material in commercial jet aircraft is investigated. A simulation model developed to generate risk profiles for several airports is described. The risk profiles show the probability that the cost due to accidents in any year exceeds a given amount. The computer model simulates aircraft accidents with fire, release of fibers, their downwind transport and infiltration of buildings, equipment failures, and resulting ecomomic impact. The individual airport results were combined to yield the national risk profile.

Preventive radioecological assessment of territory for optimization of monitoring and countermeasures after radiation accidents.

PubMed

Prister, B S; Vinogradskaya, V D; Lev, T D; Talerko, M M; Garger, E K; Onishi, Y; Tischenko, O G

2018-04-01

A methodology of a preventive radioecological assessment of the territory has been developed for optimizing post-emergency monitoring and countermeasure implementation in an event of a severe radiation accident. Approaches and main stages of integrated radioecological zoning of the territory are described. An algorithm for the assessment of the potential radioecological criticality (sensitivity) of the area is presented. The proposed approach is validated using data of the dosimetric passportization in Ukraine after the Chernobyl accident for the test site settlements. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The impact of young drivers' lifestyle on their road traffic accident risk in greater Athens area.

PubMed

Chliaoutakis, J E; Darviri, C; Demakakos, P T

1999-11-01

Young drivers (18-24) both in Greece and elsewhere appear to have high rates of road traffic accidents. Many factors contribute to the creation of these high road traffic accidents rates. It has been suggested that lifestyle is an important one. The main objective of this study is to find out and clarify the (potential) relationship between young drivers' lifestyle and the road traffic accident risk they face. Moreover, to examine if all the youngsters have the same elevated risk on the road or not. The sample consisted of 241 young Greek drivers of both sexes. The statistical analysis included factor analysis and logistic regression analysis. Through the principal component analysis a ten factor scale was created which included the basic lifestyle traits of young Greek drivers. The logistic regression analysis showed that the young drivers whose dominant lifestyle trait is alcohol consumption or drive without destination have high accident risk, while these whose dominant lifestyle trait is culture, face low accident risk. Furthermore, young drivers who are religious in one way or another seem to have low accident risk. Finally, some preliminary observations on how health promotion should be put into practice are discussed.

Traits and causes of environmental loss-related chemical accidents in China based on co-word analysis.

PubMed

Wu, Desheng; Song, Yu; Xie, Kefan; Zhang, Baofeng

2018-04-25

Chemical accidents are major causes of environmental losses and have been debated due to the potential threat to human beings and environment. Compared with the single statistical analysis, co-word analysis of chemical accidents illustrates significant traits at various levels and presents data into a visual network. This study utilizes a co-word analysis of the keywords extracted from the Web crawling texts of environmental loss-related chemical accidents and uses the Pearson's correlation coefficient to examine the internal attributes. To visualize the keywords of the accidents, this study carries out a multidimensional scaling analysis applying PROXSCAL and centrality identification. The research results show that an enormous environmental cost is exacted, especially given the expected environmental loss-related chemical accidents with geographical features. Meanwhile, each event often brings more than one environmental impact. Large number of chemical substances are released in the form of solid, liquid, and gas, leading to serious results. Eight clusters that represent the traits of these accidents are formed, including "leakage," "poisoning," "explosion," "pipeline crack," "river pollution," "dust pollution," "emission," and "industrial effluent." "Explosion" and "gas" possess a strong correlation with "poisoning," located at the center of visualization map.

Benzodiazepine-like hypnotics and the associated risk of road traffic accidents.

PubMed

Orriols, L; Philip, P; Moore, N; Castot, A; Gadegbeku, B; Delorme, B; Mallaret, M; Lagarde, E

2011-04-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the association between the use of benzodiazepine or benzodiazepine-like hypnotics and the risk of road traffic accidents. Data from three French national databases were matched: the health-care insurance database, police reports, and the police database of injury-related traffic accidents. A total of 72,685 drivers involved in injury-related road traffic accidents in France, from 2005 to 2008, were included in the study. The risk of being responsible for a traffic accident was higher in users of benzodiazepine hypnotics (odds ratio (OR) = 1.39 (1.08-1.79)) and in the 155 drivers to whom a dosage of more than one pill of zolpidem a day had been dispensed during the 5 months before the collision (OR = 2.46 (1.70-3.56)). No association was found between the use of zopiclone and risk of traffic accidents. Although this study did not find any association between the use of zolpidem as recommended and causation of traffic accidents, the potential risk related to possible abuse of the drug and risky driving behaviors should be further investigated. The results related to benzodiazepine hypnotics are consistent with those of previous studies.

Marine ecological risk assessment methods for radiation accidents.

PubMed

Ye, Sufen; Zhang, Luoping; Feng, Huan

2017-12-01

Ecological risk assessment (ERA) is a powerful technical tool that can be used to analyze potential and extreme adverse environmental impacts. With the rapid development of nuclear power plants in coastal areas around the world, the establishment of approaches and methodologies for marine ERA with a focus on radiation accidents is an urgent requirement for marine environmental management. In this study, the approaches and methodologies for ERA pertaining to marine radiation accidents (MRA) are discussed and summarized with applications in case studies, such as the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, and a hypothetical accident in Daya Bay, China. The concepts of ERA and Risk Degree of ERA on MRA are defined for the first time to optimize the ERA system. The results of case studies show that the ERA approach and methodology for MRA are scientifically sound and effective in both the early and late stage of MRAs along with classic ERA Approach and the ERICA Integrated Approach. The results can be useful in the decision-making processes and the risk management at the beginning of accident as well as the ecological restoration after the accident. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tourist visitation impacts of the accident at Three Mile Island

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Himmelberger, J.J.; Ogneva-Himmelberger, Y.A.; Baughman, M.L.

This paper analyzes tourist visitation impacts of the March 27, 1979 accident at Three Mile Island. A review of the literature, supplemented with recollections from Pennsylvanian public officials, are used to specify a conventional tourism impact model which holds that depressed 1979 summer tourism season was more influenced by gasoline shortages and possibly other confounding variables (such as rainy local weather conditions and a polio outbreak) than by the nuclear accident. Regression analysis using monthly visitation data for Hershey Chocolate World, Gettysburg National Park, The Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitor Bureau, and several state parks as dependent variables provide supportmore » for this model. Potential tourism implications of an accident at Yucca Mountain are briefly discussed in light of our findings.« less

A new approach to modeling aviation accidents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, Arjun Harsha

General Aviation (GA) is a catchall term for all aircraft operations in the US that are not categorized as commercial operations or military flights. GA aircraft account for almost 97% of the US civil aviation fleet. Unfortunately, GA flights have a much higher fatal accident rate than commercial operations. Recent estimates by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) showed that the GA fatal accident rate has remained relatively unchanged between 2010 and 2015, with 1566 fatal accidents accounting for 2650 fatalities. Several research efforts have been directed towards betters understanding the causes of GA accidents. Many of these efforts use National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident reports and data. Unfortunately, while these studies easily identify the top types of accidents (e.g., inflight loss of control (LOC)), they usually cannot identify why these accidents are happening. Most NTSB narrative reports for GA accidents are very short (many are only one paragraph long), and do not contain much information on the causes (likely because the causes were not fully identified). NTSB investigators also code each accident using an event-based coding system, which should facilitate identification of patterns and trends in causation, given the high number of GA accidents each year. However, this system is susceptible to investigator interpretation and error, meaning that two investigators may code the same accident differently, or omit applicable codes. To facilitate a potentially better understanding of GA accident causation, this research develops a state-based approach to check for logical gaps or omissions in NTSB accident records, and potentially fills-in the omissions. The state-based approach offers more flexibility as it moves away from the conventional event-based representation of accidents, which classifies events in accidents into several categories such as causes, contributing factors, findings, occurrences, and phase of flight. The method views aviation accidents as a set of hazardous states of a system (pilot and aircraft), and triggers that cause the system to move between hazardous states. I used the NTSB's accident coding manual (that contains nearly 4000 different codes) to develop a "dictionary" of hazardous states, triggers, and information codes. Then, I created the "grammar", or a set of rules, that: (1) orders the hazardous states in each accident; and, (2) links the hazardous states using the appropriate triggers. This approach: (1) provides a more correct count of the causes for accidents in the NTSB database; and, (2) checks for gaps or omissions in NTSB accident data, and fills in some of these gaps using logic-based rules. These rules also help identify and count causes for accidents that were not discernable from previous analyses of historical accident data. I apply the model to 6200 helicopter accidents that occurred in the US between 1982 and 2015. First, I identify the states and triggers that are most likely to be associated with fatal and non-fatal accidents. The results suggest that non-fatal accidents, which account for approximately 84% of the accidents, provide valuable opportunities to learn about the causes for accidents. Next, I investigate the causes of inflight loss of control using both a conventional approach and using the state-based approach. The conventional analysis provides little insight into the causal mechanism for LOC. For instance, the top cause of LOC is "aircraft control/directional control not maintained", which does not provide any insight. In contrast, the state-based analysis showed that pilots' tendency to clip objects frequently triggered LOC (16.7% of LOC accidents)--this finding was not directly discernable from conventional analyses. Finally, I investigate the causes for improper autorotations using both a conventional approach and the state-based approach. The conventional approach uses modifiers (e.g., "improper", "misjudged") associated with "24520: Autorotation" to identify improper autorotations in the pre-2008 system. In the psot-2008 system, the NTSB represents autorotation as a phase of flight, which has no modifier--making it impossible to determine if the autorotation was unsuccessful. In contrast, the state-based analysis identified 632 improper autorotation accidents, compared to 174 with a conventional analysis. Results from the state-based analysis show that not maintaining rotor RPM and improper flare were among the top reasons for improper autorotations. The presence of the "not possible" trigger in 11.6% of improper autorotations, suggests that it was impossible to make an autorotative landing. Improper use of collective is the sixth most frequent trigger for improper autorotation. Correct use of collective pitch control is crucial to maintain rotor RPM during an autorotation (considering that engines are generally not operational during autorotations).

External Cooling of the BWR Mark I and II Drywell Head as a Potential Accident Mitigation Measure – Scoping Assessment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robb, Kevin R.

This report documents a scoping assessment of a potential accident mitigation action applicable to the US fleet of boiling water reactors with Mark I and II containments. The mitigation action is to externally flood the primary containment vessel drywell head using portable pumps or other means. A scoping assessment of the potential benefits of this mitigation action was conducted focusing on the ability to (1) passively remove heat from containment, (2) prevent or delay leakage through the drywell head seal (due to high temperatures and/or pressure), and (3) scrub radionuclide releases if the drywell head seal leaks.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident and its implications for the safety of nuclear power

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barletta, William

2016-05-01

Five years ago the dramatic events in Fukushima that followed the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011 sharpened the focus of scientists, engineers and general public on the broad range of technical, environmental and societal issues involved in assuring the safety of the world's nuclear power complex. They also called into question the potential of nuclear power to provide a growing, sustainable resource of CO2-free energy. The issues raised by Fukushima Dai-ichi have provoked urgent concern, not only because of the potential harm that could result from severe accidents or from intentional damage to nuclear reactors or to facilities involved in the nuclear fuel cycle, but also because of the extensive economic impact of those accidents and of the measures taken to avoid them.

Three Mile Island epidemiologic radiation dose assessment revisited: 25 years after the accident.

PubMed

Field, R William

2005-01-01

Over the past 25 years, public health concerns following the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident prompted several epidemiologic investigations in the vicinity of TMI. One of these studies is ongoing. This commentary suggests that the major source of radiation exposure to the population has been ignored as a potential confounding factor or effect modifying factor in previous and ongoing TMI epidemiologic studies that explore whether or not TMI accidental plant radiation releases caused an increase in lung cancer in the community around TMI. The commentary also documents the observation that the counties around TMI have the highest regional radon potential in the United States and concludes that radon progeny exposure should be included as part of the overall radiation dose assessment in future studies of radiation-induced lung cancer resulting from the TMI accident.

Longitudinal analysis of categorical epidemiological data: a study of Three Mile Island.

PubMed

Fienberg, S E; Bromet, E J; Follmann, D; Lambert, D; May, S M

1985-11-01

The accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979 led to an unprecedented set of events with potentially life threatening implications. This paper focusses on the analysis of a longitudinal study of the psychological well-being of the mothers of young children living within 10 miles of the plant. The initial analyses of the data utilize loglinear/logit model techniques from the contingency table literature, and involve the fitting of a sequence of logit models. The inadequancies of these analyses are noted, and a new class of mixture models for logistic response structures is introduced to overcome the noted shortcomings. The paper includes a brief outline of the methodology relevant for the fitting of these models using the method of maximum likelihood, and then the model is applied to the TMI data. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the substantive implications of the mixture model analysis.

Analysis of stationary and dynamic factors affecting highway accident occurrence: A dynamic correlated grouped random parameters binary logit approach.

PubMed

Fountas, Grigorios; Sarwar, Md Tawfiq; Anastasopoulos, Panagiotis Ch; Blatt, Alan; Majka, Kevin

2018-04-01

Traditional accident analysis typically explores non-time-varying (stationary) factors that affect accident occurrence on roadway segments. However, the impact of time-varying (dynamic) factors is not thoroughly investigated. This paper seeks to simultaneously identify pre-crash stationary and dynamic factors of accident occurrence, while accounting for unobserved heterogeneity. Using highly disaggregate information for the potential dynamic factors, and aggregate data for the traditional stationary elements, a dynamic binary random parameters (mixed) logit framework is employed. With this approach, the dynamic nature of weather-related, and driving- and pavement-condition information is jointly investigated with traditional roadway geometric and traffic characteristics. To additionally account for the combined effect of the dynamic and stationary factors on the accident occurrence, the developed random parameters logit framework allows for possible correlations among the random parameters. The analysis is based on crash and non-crash observations between 2011 and 2013, drawn from urban and rural highway segments in the state of Washington. The findings show that the proposed methodological framework can account for both stationary and dynamic factors affecting accident occurrence probabilities, for panel effects, for unobserved heterogeneity through the use of random parameters, and for possible correlation among the latter. The comparative evaluation among the correlated grouped random parameters, the uncorrelated random parameters logit models, and their fixed parameters logit counterpart, demonstrate the potential of the random parameters modeling, in general, and the benefits of the correlated grouped random parameters approach, specifically, in terms of statistical fit and explanatory power. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Stabilized Approach Criteria: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zaal, Petrus M.

2018-01-01

Approach and landing is the most common phase of flight for aviation accidents, accounting annually for approximately 65 percent of all accidents. A Flight Safety Foundation study of 16 years of runway excursions determined that 83 percent could have been avoided with a decision to go around. In other words, 54 percent of all accidents could potentially be prevented by going around. A critical industry policy designed to help prevent such accidents is the go-around policy. However, the collective industry performance of complying with go-around policies is extremely poor and only about three percent of unstable approaches result in a go-around. Improving the go-around compliance rate holds tremendous potential in reducing approach and landing accidents. There are many reasons for flight crews ignoring go-around policies related to pilot judgement and company policies. Examples are the collective industry norm to accept the noncompliance of go-around policies, management being disengaged from go-around noncompliance, and pilot fatigue and lack of situational awareness. One of the biggest factors is that pilots see current stabilized-approach criteria as too complex and restrictive for the operational environment. Following the American Airlines 1420 accident (Little Rock, 1999), where the aircraft overran the runway upon landing and crashed, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) define detailed parameters for a stabilized approach, and develop detailed criteria indicating when a go-around should be performed. The experiment discussed in this presentation is the first step towards developing these go-around criteria for commercial transport aircraft.

[Study on standards for safe and health-protective zone in firework plant].

PubMed

Wu, Y; Wang, Q; Shi, J; Shao, Q

1999-03-30

A retrospective investigation on technology and situation in the production of fireworks, the cause and hazard consequences of accidents in blossom firework enterprises was carried out. The risk factors and their origins, the potential effects on surrounding environments and residents, the manufacture processes producing special potential energy in these enterprises were summarized and assessed. In addition, the consequences of explosive fire accidents were assessed retrospectively by the principle of explosion mechanics and Hopkinson Scaling Law. The safe and health-protective zone of the blossom firework plant was suggested.

An Approach for Assessing Consequences of Potential Supply Chain and Insider Contributed Cyber Attacks on Nuclear Power Plants

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chu, Tsong-Lun; Varuttamaseni, Athi; Baek, Joo-Seok

This paper provides an approach for developing potential attacks on I and C systems of NPPs and assessing their consequences. An important concept is that the NPPs were not designed to cope with Stuxnet-type of attacks (and any other cyber attacks). That is, the plants were only designed for design basis accidents. The safety margins and redundancies built in the design are all based on design basis accidents. They may be helpful in mitigating cyberattacks, but may not be adequate.

Does facing traffic improve pedestrian safety?

PubMed

Luoma, Juha; Peltola, Harri

2013-01-01

This study was designed to evaluate the potential safety importance of the walking direction along a road by examining pedestrian accidents as a function of exposure to risk. The study was limited to rural two-lane roads with no pavement or pedestrian lane. The accident data included police-reported road accidents from Finland between 2006 and 2010 in which a motorized vehicle had struck a pedestrian walking along the road. There were 18 accidents involving a fatally injured pedestrian and 87 accidents involving a non-fatally injured pedestrian. The exposure data collected from the roughly 3400km included 258 pedestrians. The main finding was that the mean effect of facing traffic compared to walking with traffic was a 77% decrease in fatal and in non-fatal injury pedestrian accidents. The results further showed that the effects were greater for main roads than for secondary roads. The main implication of this study is that information about the importance of facing traffic should be reinforced with specific information about its substantial safety benefits. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Circuit board accident--organizational dimension hidden by prescribed safety.

PubMed

de Almeida, Ildeberto Muniz; Buoso, Eduardo; do Amaral Dias, Maria Dionísia; Vilela, Rodolfo Andrade Gouveia

2012-01-01

This study analyzes an accident in which two maintenance workers suffered severe burns while replacing a circuit breaker panel in a steel mill, following model of analysis and prevention of accidents (MAPA) developed with the objective of enlarging the perimeter of interventions and contributing to deconstruction of blame attribution practices. The study was based on materials produced by a health service team in an in-depth analysis of the accident. The analysis shows that decisions related to system modernization were taken without considering their implications in maintenance scheduling and creating conflicts of priorities and of interests between production and safety; and also reveals that the lack of a systemic perspective in safety management was its principal failure. To explain the accident as merely non-fulfillment of idealized formal safety rules feeds practices of blame attribution supported by alibi norms and inhibits possible prevention. In contrast, accident analyses undertaken in worker health surveillance services show potential to reveal origins of these events incubated in the history of the system ignored in practices guided by the traditional paradigm.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mayer, J; Paul E. Johns, P

Wild pig (Sus scrofa) collisions with vehicles are known to occur in the United States, but only minimal information describing these accidents has been reported. In an effort to better characterize these accidents, data were collected from 179 wild pig-vehicle collisions from a location in west central South Carolina. Data included accident parameters pertaining to the animals involved, time, location, and human impacts. The age structure of the animals involved was significantly older than that found in the population. Most collisions involved single animals; however, up to seven animals were involved in individual accidents. As the number of animals permore » collision increased, the age and body mass of the individuals involved decreased. The percentage of males was significantly higher in the single-animal accidents. Annual attrition due to vehicle collisions averaged 0.8 percent of the population. Wild pig-vehicle collisions occurred year-round and throughout the 24-hour daily time period. Most accidents were at night. The presence of lateral barriers was significantly more frequent at the collision locations. Human injuries were infrequent but potentially serious. The mean vehicle damage estimate was $1,173.« less

Accident hazard evaluation and control decisions on forested recreation sites

Treesearch

Lee A. Paine

1971-01-01

Accident hazard associated with trees on recreation sites is inherently concerned with probabilities. The major factors include the probabilities of mechanical failure and of target impact if failure occurs, the damage potential of the failure, and the target value. Hazard may be evaluated as the product of these factors; i.e., expected loss during the current...

Impact of traffic congestion on road accidents: a spatial analysis of the M25 motorway in England.

PubMed

Wang, Chao; Quddus, Mohammed A; Ison, Stephen G

2009-07-01

Traffic congestion and road accidents are two external costs of transport and the reduction of their impacts is often one of the primary objectives for transport policy makers. The relationship between traffic congestion and road accidents however is not apparent and less studied. It is speculated that there may be an inverse relationship between traffic congestion and road accidents, and as such this poses a potential dilemma for transport policy makers. This study aims to explore the impact of traffic congestion on the frequency of road accidents using a spatial analysis approach, while controlling for other relevant factors that may affect road accidents. The M25 London orbital motorway, divided into 70 segments, was chosen to conduct this study and relevant data on road accidents, traffic and road characteristics were collected. A robust technique has been developed to map M25 accidents onto its segments. Since existing studies have often used a proxy to measure the level of congestion, this study has employed a precise congestion measurement. A series of Poisson based non-spatial (such as Poisson-lognormal and Poisson-gamma) and spatial (Poisson-lognormal with conditional autoregressive priors) models have been used to account for the effects of both heterogeneity and spatial correlation. The results suggest that traffic congestion has little or no impact on the frequency of road accidents on the M25 motorway. All other relevant factors have provided results consistent with existing studies.

Types and severity of operated supraclavicular brachial plexus injuries caused by traffic accidents.

PubMed

Kaiser, Radek; Waldauf, Petr; Haninec, Pavel

2012-07-01

Brachial plexus injuries occur in up to 5% of polytrauma cases involving motorcycle accidents and in approximately 4% of severe winter sports injuries. One of the criteria for a successful operative therapy is the type of lesion. Upper plexus palsy has the best prognosis, whereas lower plexus palsy is surgically untreatable. The aim of this study was to evaluate a group of patients with brachial plexus injury caused by traffic accidents, categorize the injuries according to type of accident, and look for correlations between type of palsy (injury) and specific accidents. A total of 441 brachial plexus reconstruction patients from our department were evaluated retrospectively(1993 to 2011). Sex, age, neurological status, and the type and cause of injury were recorded for each case. Patients with BPI caused by a traffic accident were assessed in detail. Traffic accidents were the cause of brachial plexus injury in most cases (80.7%). The most common type of injury was avulsion of upper root(s) (45.7%) followed by rupture (28.2%), complete avulsion (16.9%) and avulsion of lower root(s) (9.2%). Of the patients, 73.9% had an upper,22.7% had a complete and only 3.4% had a lower brachial plexus palsy. The main cause was motorcycle accidents(63.2%) followed by car accidents (23.5%), bicycle accidents(10.7%) and pedestrian collisions (3.1%) (p<0.001).Patients involved in car accidents had a higher percentage of lower avulsion (22.7%) and a lower percentage of upper avulsion (29.3%), whereas cyclists had a higher percentage of upper avulsion (68.6%) based on the data from the entire group of patients (p<0.001). Lower plexus palsy was significantly increased in patients after car accidents (9.3%,p<0.05). In the two main groups (car and motorcycle accidents),significantly more upper and fewer lower palsies were present. In the bicycle accident group, upper palsy was the most common (89%). Study results indicate that the most common injury was an upper plexus palsy. It was characteristic of bicycle accidents, and significantly more common in car and motorcycle accidents. The results also indicate that it is important to consider the potential of a brachial plexus injury after serious traffic accidents and to examine both upper extremities in detail even if some motor function is preserved.

An Exercise Health Simulation Method Based on Integrated Human Thermophysiological Model

PubMed Central

Chen, Xiaohui; Yu, Liang; Yang, Kaixing

2017-01-01

Research of healthy exercise has garnered a keen research for the past few years. It is known that participation in a regular exercise program can help improve various aspects of cardiovascular function and reduce the risk of suffering from illness. But some exercise accidents like dehydration, exertional heatstroke, and even sudden death need to be brought to attention. If these exercise accidents can be analyzed and predicted before they happened, it will be beneficial to alleviate or avoid disease or mortality. To achieve this objective, an exercise health simulation approach is proposed, in which an integrated human thermophysiological model consisting of human thermal regulation model and a nonlinear heart rate regulation model is reported. The human thermoregulatory mechanism as well as the heart rate response mechanism during exercise can be simulated. On the basis of the simulated physiological indicators, a fuzzy finite state machine is constructed to obtain the possible health transition sequence and predict the exercise health status. The experiment results show that our integrated exercise thermophysiological model can numerically simulate the thermal and physiological processes of the human body during exercise and the predicted exercise health transition sequence from finite state machine can be used in healthcare. PMID:28702074

MARTINS: A foam/film flow model for molten material relocation in HWRs with U-Al-fueled multi-tube assemblies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kalimullah

1994-03-01

Some special purpose heavy-water reactors (EM) are made of assemblies consisting of a number of coaxial aluminum-clad U-Al alloy fuel tubes and an outer Al sleeve surrounding the fuel tubes. The heavy water coolant flows in the annular gaps between the circular tubes. Analysis of severe accidents in such reactors requires a model for predicting the behavior of the fuel tubes as they melt and disrupt. This paper describes a detailed, mechanistic model for fuel tube heatup, melting, freezing, and molten material relocation, called MARTINS (Melting and Relocation of Tubes in Nuclear subassembly). The paper presents the modeling of themore » phenomena in MARTINS, and an application of the model to analysis of a reactivity insertion accident. Some models are being developed to compute gradual downward relocation of molten material at decay-heat power levels via candling along intact tubes, neglecting coolant vapor hydrodynamic forces on molten material. These models are inadequate for high power accident sequences involving significant hydrodynamic forces. These forces are included in MARTINS.« less

A synthetic method for atmospheric diffusion simulation and environmental impact assessment of accidental pollution in the chemical industry in a WEBGIS context.

PubMed

Ni, Haochen; Rui, Yikang; Wang, Jiechen; Cheng, Liang

2014-09-05

The chemical industry poses a potential security risk to factory personnel and neighboring residents. In order to mitigate prospective damage, a synthetic method must be developed for an emergency response. With the development of environmental numeric simulation models, model integration methods, and modern information technology, many Decision Support Systems (DSSs) have been established. However, existing systems still have limitations, in terms of synthetic simulation and network interoperation. In order to resolve these limitations, the matured simulation model for chemical accidents was integrated into the WEB Geographic Information System (WEBGIS) platform. The complete workflow of the emergency response, including raw data (meteorology information, and accident information) management, numeric simulation of different kinds of accidents, environmental impact assessments, and representation of the simulation results were achieved. This allowed comprehensive and real-time simulation of acute accidents in the chemical industry. The main contribution of this paper is that an organizational mechanism of the model set, based on the accident type and pollutant substance; a scheduling mechanism for the parallel processing of multi-accident-type, multi-accident-substance, and multi-simulation-model; and finally a presentation method for scalar and vector data on the web browser on the integration of a WEB Geographic Information System (WEBGIS) platform. The outcomes demonstrated that this method could provide effective support for deciding emergency responses of acute chemical accidents.

A Synthetic Method for Atmospheric Diffusion Simulation and Environmental Impact Assessment of Accidental Pollution in the Chemical Industry in a WEBGIS Context

PubMed Central

Ni, Haochen; Rui, Yikang; Wang, Jiechen; Cheng, Liang

2014-01-01

The chemical industry poses a potential security risk to factory personnel and neighboring residents. In order to mitigate prospective damage, a synthetic method must be developed for an emergency response. With the development of environmental numeric simulation models, model integration methods, and modern information technology, many Decision Support Systems (DSSs) have been established. However, existing systems still have limitations, in terms of synthetic simulation and network interoperation. In order to resolve these limitations, the matured simulation model for chemical accidents was integrated into the WEB Geographic Information System (WEBGIS) platform. The complete workflow of the emergency response, including raw data (meteorology information, and accident information) management, numeric simulation of different kinds of accidents, environmental impact assessments, and representation of the simulation results were achieved. This allowed comprehensive and real-time simulation of acute accidents in the chemical industry. The main contribution of this paper is that an organizational mechanism of the model set, based on the accident type and pollutant substance; a scheduling mechanism for the parallel processing of multi-accident-type, multi-accident-substance, and multi-simulation-model; and finally a presentation method for scalar and vector data on the web browser on the integration of a WEB Geographic Information System (WEBGIS) platform. The outcomes demonstrated that this method could provide effective support for deciding emergency responses of acute chemical accidents. PMID:25198686

Rescue complex for coal mines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yungmeyster, D. A.; Urazbakhtin, R. Yu

2017-10-01

The mining industry was potentially dangerous at all times, even with the use of modern equipment in mines, accidents continue to occur, including catastrophic ones. Accidents in mines are due to the presence of specific features in the conduct of mining operations. These include the inconsistency of mining and geological conditions, the contamination of the mine atmosphere due to the release of gases from minerals, the presence of self-igniting coal strata, which creates the danger of underground fires, gas explosions. The main cause of accidents is the irresponsibility of both the manager and the personnel who violate the safety rules during mining operations.

Stakeholder involvement facilitates decision making for UK nuclear accident recovery.

PubMed

Alexander, C; Burt, R; Nisbet, A F

2005-01-01

The importance of major stakeholders participating in the formulation of strategies for maintaining food safety and agricultural production following a nuclear accident has been successfully demonstrated by the UK 'Agriculture and Food Countermeasures Working Group' (AFCWG). The organisation, membership and terms of reference of the group are described. Details are given of the achievements of the AFCWG and its sub-groups, which include agreeing management options that would be included in a recovery handbook for decision-makers in the UK and tackling the disposal of large volumes of contaminated milk, potentially resulting from a nuclear accident.

Report on electrocutions, electric shock, and electric burn injuries involving consumer products. final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1984-09-01

This report provides direction to a project to reduce the number of electrocution, electric shock and electric burn injuries. The first section uses CPSC data to rank the consumer products involved in these accidents on the basis of frequency, severity, and number of products in use. It also analyzes demographic and accident characteristics. The second section contains a technical review of accidents occurring in eight product groups: Portable Power Tools; Welders, Battery Chargers and Inverters; Personal Hygiene Products; Entertainment Products; Lawn and Garden Tools; Installed Stoves, Ranges and Cook Tops; Refrigerators and Freezers; and Fans. This section also includes amore » review of the relevant Underwriters Laboratories (UL) standards and suggestions for potential action to reduce the accidents involving these eight product groups.« less

The potential impact of rural mayday systems on vehicular crash fatalities.

PubMed

Evanco, W M

1999-09-01

Rural mayday systems can reduce the time between the occurrence of an accident and the notification of emergency medical services--called the accident notification time. Reductions in this time, in turn, may affect the numbers of fatalities. A statistical analysis is used to estimate the quantitative relationship between fatalities and the accident notification time. The elasticity of rural fatalities with respect to the accident notification time was found to be 0.14. If a rural mayday system were fully implemented (i.e. a 100% market penetration) and the service availability were 100%, then we would expect monetary benefits of about $1.83 billion per year and comprehensive benefits (which includes the monetary value attached to the lost quality of life) of $6.37 billion per year.

[Clinical treatment adherence of health care workers and students exposed to potentially infectious biological material].

PubMed

Almeida, Maria Cristina Mendes de; Canini, Silvia Rita Marin da Silva; Reis, Renata Karina; Toffano, Silmara Elaine Malaguti; Pereira, Fernanda Maria Vieira; Gir, Elucir

2015-04-01

To assess adherence to clinical appointments by health care workers (HCW) and students who suffered accidents with potentially infectious biological material. A retrospective cross-sectional study that assessed clinical records of accidents involving biological material between 2005 and 2010 in a specialized unit. A total of 461 individuals exposed to biological material were treated, of which 389 (84.4%) were HCWs and 72 (15.6%) students. Of the 461 exposed individuals, 307 (66.6%) attended a follow-up appointment. Individuals who had suffered an accident with a known source patient were 29 times more likely to show up to their scheduled follow-up appointments (OR: 29.98; CI95%: 16.09-55.83). The predictor in both univariate and multivariate analyses for adherence to clinical follow-up appointment was having a known source patient with nonreactive serology for the human immunodeficiency virus and/or hepatitis B and C.

INDUSTRIAL/MILITARY ACTIVITY-INITIATED ACCIDENT SCREENING ANALYSIS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

D.A. Kalinich

1999-09-27

Impacts due to nearby installations and operations were determined in the Preliminary MGDS Hazards Analysis (CRWMS M&O 1996) to be potentially applicable to the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. This determination was conservatively based on limited knowledge of the potential activities ongoing on or off the Nevada Test Site (NTS). It is intended that the Industrial/Military Activity-Initiated Accident Screening Analysis provided herein will meet the requirements of the ''Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants'' (NRC 1987) in establishing whether this external event can be screened from further consideration or must be includedmore » as a design basis event (DBE) in the development of accident scenarios for the Monitored Geologic Repository (MGR). This analysis only considers issues related to preclosure radiological safety. Issues important to waste isolation as related to impact from nearby installations will be covered in the MGR performance assessment.« less

Experimental evidence against the paradigm of mortality risk aversion.

PubMed

Rheinberger, Christoph M

2010-04-01

This article deals with the question of how societal impacts of fatal accidents can be integrated into the management of natural or man-made hazards. Today, many governmental agencies give additional weight to the number of potential fatalities in their risk assessments to reflect society's aversion to large accidents. Although mortality risk aversion has been proposed in numerous risk management guidelines, there has been no evidence that lay people want public decisionmakers to overweight infrequent accidents of large societal consequences against more frequent ones of smaller societal consequences. Furthermore, it is not known whether public decisionmakers actually do such overweighting when they decide upon the mitigation of natural or technical hazards. In this article, we report on two experimental tasks that required participants to evaluate negative prospects involving 1-100 potential fatalities. Our results show that neither lay people nor hazard experts exhibit risk-averse behavior in decisions on mortality risks.

Assessment of work-related accidents associated with waste handling in Belo Horizonte (Brazil).

PubMed

Mol, Marcos Pg; Pereira, Amanda F; Greco, Dirceu B; Cairncross, Sandy; Heller, Leo

2017-10-01

As more urban solid waste is generated, managing it becomes ever more challenging and the potential impacts on the environment and human health also become greater. Handling waste - including collection, treatment and final disposal - entails risks of work accidents. This article assesses the perception of waste management workers regarding work-related accidents in domestic and health service contexts in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. These perceptions are compared with national data from the Ministry of Social Security on accidents involving workers in solid waste management. A high proportion of accidents involves cuts and puncture injuries; 53.9% among workers exposed to domestic waste and 75% among those exposed to health service waste. Muscular lesions and fractures accounted for 25.7% and 12.5% of accidents, respectively. Data from the Ministry of Social Security diverge from the local survey results, presumably owing to under-reporting, which is frequent in this sector. Greater commitment is needed from managers and supervisory entities to ensure that effective measures are taken to protect workers' health and quality of life. Moreover, workers should defend their right to demand an accurate registry of accidents to complement monitoring performed by health professionals trained in risk identification. This would contribute to the improved recovery of injured workers and would require managers in waste management to prepare effective preventive action.

Site restoration: Estimation of attributable costs from plutonium-dispersal accidents

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chanin, D.I.; Murfin, W.B.

1996-05-01

A nuclear weapons accident is an extremely unlikely event due to the extensive care taken in operations. However, under some hypothetical accident conditions, plutonium might be dispersed to the environment. This would result in costs being incurred by the government to remediate the site and compensate for losses. This study is a multi-disciplinary evaluation of the potential scope of the post-accident response that includes technical factors, current and proposed legal requirements and constraints, as well as social/political factors that could influence decision making. The study provides parameters that can be used to assess economic costs for accidents postulated to occurmore » in urban areas, Midwest farmland, Western rangeland, and forest. Per-area remediation costs have been estimated, using industry-standard methods, for both expedited and extended remediation. Expedited remediation costs have been evaluated for highways, airports, and urban areas. Extended remediation costs have been evaluated for all land uses except highways and airports. The inclusion of cost estimates in risk assessments, together with the conventional estimation of doses and health effects, allows a fuller understanding of the post-accident environment. The insights obtained can be used to minimize economic risks by evaluation of operational and design alternatives, and through development of improved capabilities for accident response.« less

Military Working Dog Campus Revitalization: Environmental Assessment

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-12-01

2- 11   2.5  OTHER ACTIONS ANNOUNCED FOR THE PROJECT AREAS AND SURROUNDING COMMUNITY ...Conservation and Recovery Act RFR Radio Frequency ROI region of influence SA Similarity of Appearance SAACC San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center SAWS...occurrence that has a high potential for becoming a mishap. o Laser or Radio Frequency (RFR) incidents or accidents. All incidents or accidents

Real-time Affective Indices of Potential CRM Breakdown: Qualitative Testing of an Operational Hypothesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dickerson, Mark

2007-01-01

This viewgraph presentation begins by showing several cases where poor crew resource management (CRM) resulted in aircraft accidents. The presenter reviews the emotional states that are present in a situation that frequently leads to an accident. The operational answer suggested is given as an acronym: PACE, which stand for Probe, Alert, Challenge, Emergency Action.

Parallel sequencing lives, or what makes large sequencing projects successful

PubMed Central

Cuartero, Yasmina; Stadhouders, Ralph; Graf, Thomas; Marti-Renom, Marc A; Beato, Miguel

2017-01-01

Abstract T47D_rep2 and b1913e6c1_51720e9cf were 2 Hi-C samples. They were born and processed at the same time, yet their fates were very different. The life of b1913e6c1_51720e9cf was simple and fruitful, while that of T47D_rep2 was full of accidents and sorrow. At the heart of these differences lies the fact that b1913e6c1_51720e9cf was born under a lab culture of Documentation, Automation, Traceability, and Autonomy and compliance with the FAIR Principles. Their lives are a lesson for those who wish to embark on the journey of managing high-throughput sequencing data. PMID:29048533

Markov switching multinomial logit model: An application to accident-injury severities.

PubMed

Malyshkina, Nataliya V; Mannering, Fred L

2009-07-01

In this study, two-state Markov switching multinomial logit models are proposed for statistical modeling of accident-injury severities. These models assume Markov switching over time between two unobserved states of roadway safety as a means of accounting for potential unobserved heterogeneity. The states are distinct in the sense that in different states accident-severity outcomes are generated by separate multinomial logit processes. To demonstrate the applicability of the approach, two-state Markov switching multinomial logit models are estimated for severity outcomes of accidents occurring on Indiana roads over a four-year time period. Bayesian inference methods and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations are used for model estimation. The estimated Markov switching models result in a superior statistical fit relative to the standard (single-state) multinomial logit models for a number of roadway classes and accident types. It is found that the more frequent state of roadway safety is correlated with better weather conditions and that the less frequent state is correlated with adverse weather conditions.

The impact of the economic crisis on occupational injuries.

PubMed

de la Fuente, Verónica Sedano; López, Miguel A Camino; González, Ignacio Fontaneda; Alcántara, Oscar J González; Ritzel, Dale O

2014-02-01

The potential influence of the current economic crisis on occupational accident rates and accident severity is studied in an analysis of all workplace accidents that occurred in Spain throughout the period 2000-2009. The investigation confirms that occupational accidents in Spain are affected by the current economic crisis, which has provoked a sharp fall in both the number of accidents and the probability of having one. This may be justified by certain factors such as age, gender, length of service, size of the firm, and the employment stability of the injured worker. The influence of these factors is analyzed. The economic crises seems to provoke a sort of "natural selection" in the labor market and only the best adapted tend to remain (older workers, with more experience, a higher percentage of women, more workers in larger companies and permanent contracts), all of which means that the probability of workers having an injury is considerably reduced. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

The Implications of Handling Qualities in Civil Helicopter Accidents Involving Hover and Low Speed Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dugan, Daniel C.; Delamer, Kevin J.

2005-01-01

Because of increasing accident rates in Army helicopters in hover and low speed flight, a study was made in 1999 of accidents which could be attributed to inadequate stability augmentation. A study of civil helicopter accidents from 1993-2004 was then undertaken to pursue the issue of poor handling qualities in helicopters which, in almost all cases, had no stability augmentation. The vast majority of the mishaps studied occurred during daylight in visual meteorological condition, reducing the impact of degraded visual environments (DVE) on the results. Based on the Cooper-Harper Rating Scale, the handling qualities of many of the helicopters studied could be described as having from "very objectionable" to "major" deficiencies. These costly deficiencies have resulted in unnecessary loss of life, injury, and high dollar damage. Low cost and lightweight augmentation systems for helicopters have been developed in the past and are still being investigated. They offer the potential for significant reductions in the accident rate.

Work time control, sleep & accident risk: A prospective cohort study.

PubMed

Tucker, Philip; Albrecht, Sophie; Kecklund, Göran; Beckers, Debby G J; Leineweber, Constanze

We examined whether the beneficial impact of work time control (WTC) on sleep leads to lower accident risk, using data from a nationally representative survey conducted in Sweden. Logistic regressions examined WTC in 2010 and 2012 as predictors of accidents occurring in the subsequent 2 years (N = 4840 and 4337, respectively). Sleep disturbance and frequency of short sleeps in 2012 were examined as potential mediators of the associations between WTC in 2010 and subsequent accidents as reported in 2014 (N = 3636). All analyses adjusted for age, sex, education, occupational category, weekly work hours, shift work status, job control and perceived accident risk at work. In both waves, overall WTC was inversely associated with accidents (p = 0.048 and p = 0.038, respectively). Analyses of the sub-dimensions of WTC indicated that Control over Daily Hours (influence over start and finish times, and over length of shift) did not predict accidents in either wave, while Control over Time-off (CoT; influence over taking breaks, running private errands during work and taking paid leave) predicted fewer accidents in both waves (p = 0.013 and p = 0.010). Sleep disturbance in 2012 mediated associations between WTC/CoT in 2010 and accidents in 2014, although effects' sizes were small (effectWTC = -0.006, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.018 to -0.001; effectCoT = -0.009, 95%CI = -0.022 to -0.001; unstandardized coefficients), with the indirect effects of sleep disturbance accounting for less than 5% of the total direct and indirect effects. Frequency of short sleeps was not a significant mediator. WTC reduces the risk of subsequently being involved in an accident, although sleep may not be a strong component of the mechanism underlying this association.

A Historical Analysis of Crane Mishaps at Kennedy Space Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolfe, Crystal

2014-01-01

Cranes and hoists are widely used in many areas. Crane accidents and handling mishaps are responsible for injuries, costly equipment damage, and program delays. Most crane accidents are caused by preventable factors. Understanding these factors is critical when designing cranes and preparing lift plans. Analysis of previous accidents provides insight into current recommendations for crane safety. Cranes and hoists are used throughout Kennedy Space Center to lift everything from machine components to critical flight hardware. Unless they are trained crane operators, most NASA employees and contractors do not need to undergo specialized crane training and may not understand the safety issues surrounding the use of cranes and hoists. A single accident with a crane or hoist can injure or kill people, cause severe equipment damage, and delay or terminate a program. Handling mishaps can also have a significant impact on the program. Simple mistakes like bouncing or jarring a load, or moving the crane down when it should go up, can damage fragile flight hardware and cause major delays in processing. Hazardous commodities (high pressure gas, hypergolic propellants, and solid rocket motors) can cause life safety concerns for the workers performing the lifting operations. Most crane accidents are preventable with the correct training and understanding of potential hazards. Designing the crane with human factors taken into account can prevent many accidents. Engineers are also responsible for preparing lift plans where understanding the safety issues can prevent or mitigate potential accidents. Cranes are widely used across many areas of KSC. Failure of these cranes often leads to injury, high damage costs, and significant delays in program objectives. Following a basic set of principles and procedures during design, fabrication, testing, regular use, and maintenance can significantly minimize many of these failures. As the accident analysis shows, load drops are often caused or influenced by human factors. Therefore, proper training and understanding of crane safety throughout the workforce is critical. It is important that the engineers designing the cranes, lift planners preparing the lift plans, operators performing the lifts, and training officers conducting the operator training all understand the problems that can happen with cranes and how to ensure the safety of the workforce and equipment being lifted.

Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents: what has changed in the use of atmospheric dispersion modeling?

PubMed

Benamrane, Y; Wybo, J-L; Armand, P

2013-12-01

The threat of a major accidental or deliberate event that would lead to hazardous materials emission in the atmosphere is a great cause of concern to societies. This is due to the potential large scale of casualties and damages that could result from the release of explosive, flammable or toxic gases from industrial plants or transport accidents, radioactive material from nuclear power plants (NPPs), and chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) terrorist attacks. In order to respond efficiently to such events, emergency services and authorities resort to appropriate planning and organizational patterns. This paper focuses on the use of atmospheric dispersion modeling (ADM) as a support tool for emergency planning and response, to assess the propagation of the hazardous cloud and thereby, take adequate counter measures. This paper intends to illustrate the noticeable evolution in the operational use of ADM tools over 25 y and especially in emergency situations. This study is based on data available in scientific publications and exemplified using the two most severe nuclear accidents: Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011). It appears that during the Chernobyl accident, ADM were used few days after the beginning of the accident mainly in a diagnosis approach trying to reconstruct what happened, whereas 25 y later, ADM was also used during the first days and weeks of the Fukushima accident to anticipate the potentially threatened areas. We argue that the recent developments in ADM tools play an increasing role in emergencies and crises management, by supporting stakeholders in anticipating, monitoring and assessing post-event damages. However, despite technological evolutions, its prognostic and diagnostic use in emergency situations still arise many issues. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Economic Burden of Traumatic Brain Injury Due to Fatal Traffic Accidents in Shahid Rajaei Trauma Hospital, Shiraz, Iran

PubMed Central

Kavosi, Zahra; Jafari, Abdosaleh; Hatam, Nahid; Enaami, Meysam

2015-01-01

Background: Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) as a result of traffic accidents are one of the major causes of deaths, which lead to the loss of individuals’ productive and working years of life. Objectives: This study aimed to calculate the economic burden of traumatic brain injuries in fatal crashes at Shahid Rajaei Trauma Hospital, Shiraz, Iran for a period of five years. Patients and Methods: In this descriptive, cross-sectional study the population included people who had died as a result of TBIs during 2009 to 2013 in Shiraz Shahid Rajaei Trauma Hospital. Cost and demographic data were obtained from the participants’ medical records using data gathering forms, and some other information was also collected via telephone calls to the victims’ families. Economic burden of TBIs due to traffic accidents, which led to death, was estimated using the human capital as direct costs of treatment, and the number of potential years of life lost and lost productivity as indirect costs. Results: Deaths resulting from TBIs due to traffic accidents in Shiraz imposed 6.2 billion Rials (511000 USD) of hospital costs, 6390 potential years of life lost, and 506 billion Rials (20 million USD) of productivity lost. In the present study, the mean age of the individuals who died was 38.4 ± 19.41 and the productivity lost per capita was 1.8 billion Rials (73000 USD). Conclusions: The findings of this study indicated that the economic burden of TBIs was high in fatal accidents in Fars Province so that it was equivalent to 0.00011% of Iran’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2013. Therefore, more attention has to be paid to the rules to prevent the fatal accidents. PMID:25834791

Corruption of genomic databases with anomalous sequence.

PubMed

Lamperti, E D; Kittelberger, J M; Smith, T F; Villa-Komaroff, L

1992-06-11

We describe evidence that DNA sequences from vectors used for cloning and sequencing have been incorporated accidentally into eukaryotic entries in the GenBank database. These incorporations were not restricted to one type of vector or to a single mechanism. Many minor instances may have been the result of simple editing errors, but some entries contained large blocks of vector sequence that had been incorporated by contamination or other accidents during cloning. Some cases involved unusual rearrangements and areas of vector distant from the normal insertion sites. Matches to vector were found in 0.23% of 20,000 sequences analyzed in GenBank Release 63. Although the possibility of anomalous sequence incorporation has been recognized since the inception of GenBank and should be easy to avoid, recent evidence suggests that this problem is increasing more quickly than the database itself. The presence of anomalous sequence may have serious consequences for the interpretation and use of database entries, and will have an impact on issues of database management. The incorporated vector fragments described here may also be useful for a crude estimate of the fidelity of sequence information in the database. In alignments with well-defined ends, the matching sequences showed 96.8% identity to vector; when poorer matches with arbitrary limits were included, the aggregate identity to vector sequence was 94.8%.

Blood on the coal: the effect of organizational size and differentiation on coal mine accidents.

PubMed

Page, Karen

2009-01-01

Each year, there are at least 100,000,000 occupational accidents and 100,000 occupational deaths in the world. In the United States, one of the safest countries in the world in which to work, there were more than 5,400 workplace fatalities and 5.9 million workplace injuries in 2007. The cost to American industry and taxpayers is estimated to be at least $170 billion per year. Further, as illustrated by accidents such as Three Mile Island and Bhopal, industrial accidents potentially impact a much wider sphere than that of the injured worker and his or her employer. As the repercussions of organizational accidents reverberate through organizations and are felt from human resources to accounting, firms are beginning to incorporate messages of safety in their missions and strategies. As firms organize to achieve safer work environments, they are faced with decisions on how to structure their activities in terms of, among other things, size and differentiation. This paper explores the impact on accident rates of size and differentiation at the corporate and mine levels of mining companies in an effort to create a framework for thinking about organizational accidents from a structural perspective. The results suggest that larger mines are safer than smaller mines, and that mines with less task diversity are safer than mines with greater task diversity. The results also suggest that at the corporate level, task diversity decreases mine accidents. These results may help mining executives and engineers structure their corporate activities and individual mines more effectively to help reduce accidents.

Genesis Failure Investigation Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klein, John

2004-01-01

The-Genesis mission to collect solar-wind samples and return them to Earth for detailed analysis proceeded successfully for 3.5 years. During reentry on September 8, 2004, a failure in the entry, descent and landing sequence resulted in a crash landing of the Genesis sample return capsule. This document describes the findings of the avionics sub-team that supported the accident investigation of the JPL Failure Review Board.

SOARCA Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station Long-Term Station Blackout Uncertainty Analysis: Knowledge Advancement.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gauntt, Randall O.; Mattie, Patrick D.; Bixler, Nathan E.

2014-02-01

This paper describes the knowledge advancements from the uncertainty analysis for the State-of- the-Art Reactor Consequence Analyses (SOARCA) unmitigated long-term station blackout accident scenario at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. This work assessed key MELCOR and MELCOR Accident Consequence Code System, Version 2 (MACCS2) modeling uncertainties in an integrated fashion to quantify the relative importance of each uncertain input on potential accident progression, radiological releases, and off-site consequences. This quantitative uncertainty analysis provides measures of the effects on consequences, of each of the selected uncertain parameters both individually and in interaction with other parameters. The results measure the modelmore » response (e.g., variance in the output) to uncertainty in the selected input. Investigation into the important uncertain parameters in turn yields insights into important phenomena for accident progression and off-site consequences. This uncertainty analysis confirmed the known importance of some parameters, such as failure rate of the Safety Relief Valve in accident progression modeling and the dry deposition velocity in off-site consequence modeling. The analysis also revealed some new insights, such as dependent effect of cesium chemical form for different accident progressions. (auth)« less

A catalog for the transcripts from the venomous structures of the caterpillar Lonomia obliqua: identification of the proteins potentially involved in the coagulation disorder and hemorrhagic syndrome

PubMed Central

Veiga, Ana B. G.; Ribeiro, José M. C.; Guimarães, Jorge A.; Francischetti, Ivo M.B.

2010-01-01

Accidents with the caterpillar Lonomia obliqua are often associated with a coagulation disorder and hemorrhagic syndrome in humans. In the present study, we have constructed cDNA libraries from two venomous structures of the caterpillar, namely the tegument and the bristle. High-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics analyses were performed in parallel. Over one thousand cDNAs were obtained and clustered to produce a database of 538 contigs and singletons (clusters) for the tegument library and 368 for the bristle library. We have thus identified dozens of full-length cDNAs coding for proteins with sequence homology to snake venom prothrombin activator, trypsin-like enzymes, blood coagulation factors and prophenoloxidase cascade activators. We also report cDNA coding for cysteine proteases, Group III phospholipase A2, C-type lectins, lipocalins, in addition to protease inhibitors including serpins, Kazal-type inhibitors, cystatins and trypsin inhibitor-like molecules. Antibacterial proteins and housekeeping genes are also described. A significant number of sequences were devoid of database matches, suggesting that their biologic function remains to be defined. We also report the N-terminus of the most abundant proteins present in the bristle, tegument, hemolymph, and "cryosecretion". Thus, we have created a catalog that contains the predicted molecular weight, isoelectric point, accession number, and putative function for each selected molecule from the venomous structures of L. obliqua. The role of these molecules in the coagulation disorder and hemorrhagic syndrome caused by envenomation with this caterpillar is discussed. All sequence information and the Supplemental Data, including Figures and Tables with hyperlinks to FASTA-formatted files for each contig and the best match to the Databases, are available at http://www.ncbi.nih.gov/projects/omes. PMID:16023793

Do aggressive driving and negative emotional driving mediate the link between impulsiveness and risky driving among young Italian drivers?

PubMed

Smorti, Martina; Guarnieri, Silvia

2016-01-01

The present study examined the contribution of impulsiveness and aggressive and negative emotional driving to the prediction of traffic violations and accidents taking into account potential mediation effects. Three hundred and four young drivers completed self-report measures assessing impulsiveness, aggressive and negative emotional driving, driving violations, and accidents. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the direct and indirect effects of impulsiveness on violations and accidents among young drivers through aggressive and negative emotional driving. Impulsiveness only indirectly influenced drivers' violations on the road via both the behavioral and emotional states of the driver. On the contrary, impulsiveness was neither directly nor indirectly associated with traffic accidents. Therefore, impulsiveness modulates young drivers' behavioral and emotional states while driving, which in turn influences risky driving.

Investigation of controlled flight into terrain : aircraft accidents involving turbine-powered aircraft with six or more passenger seats flying under FAR part 91 flight rules and the potential for their prevention by ground proximity warning systems

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-03-01

This two-volume study documents an investigation of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) aircraft accidents involving turbine-powered aircraft with six or more passenger seats flying under Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 91 flight rules, and...

Criticality accident dosimetry with ESR spectroscopy.

PubMed

d'Errico, F; Fattibene, P; Onori, S; Pantaloni, M

1996-01-01

The suitability of the ESR alanine and sugar detectors for criticality accident dosimetry was experimentally investigated during an intercomparison of dosimetry techniques. Tests were performed irradiating detectors both free-in-air and on-phantom during controlled critcality excursions at the SILENE reactor in Valduc, France. Several grays of absorbed dose were imparted in neutron gamma-ray fields of various relative intensities and spectral distributions. Analysed results confirmed the potential of these systems which can immediately provide an acute dose assessment with an average underestimate of 30%in the various fields. This performance allows for the screening of severely exposed individuals and meets the IAEA recommendations on the early estimate of accident absorbed doses.

Talar Fractures in Children: A Possible Injury After Go-Karting Accidents.

PubMed

Kamphuis, Saskia J M; Meijs, Claartje M E M; Kleinveld, Sanne; Diekerhof, Carel H; van der Heijden, Frank H W M

2015-01-01

Go-karting is an increasingly popular high-energy sport enjoyed by both children and adults. Because of the speeds involved, accidents involving go-karts can lead to serious injury. We describe 6 talar fractures in 4 patients that resulted from go-karting accidents. Talar fractures can cause severe damage to the tibiotalar joint, talocalcaneal or subtalar joint, and the talonavicular joint. This damage can, in turn, lead to complications such as avascular necrosis, arthritis, nonunion, delayed union, and neuropraxia, which have the potential to cause long-term disability in a child. Copyright © 2015 American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Is "Safety-in-numbers" theory applies to the pattern of pedestrian accidents in Seoul, South Korea.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Y.; Yoon, H.

2016-12-01

Every year, about 1.25 million people die of vehicle-related accidents, among which half are pedestrians with higher vulnerability: pedestrian, cyclists and motorcyclist (World Health Organization, 2016). This urges city governments in the world to strive for pedestrian safety and to apply diverse theories to transportation planning and design. The common belief is that the number of pedestrian accidents is directly and positively associated with the volume of pedestrian, however, another hypothesis, called "safety-in-numbers" effect, tells an opposite story in that accident rates declines with increase of the volume of pedestrian. In this study, we examine first, whether the safety-in-numbers theory applies to the pattern of pedestrian accidents in Seoul, and second, further investigate environmental factors that are associated with the pedestrian safety. On the first count, we use geospatial statistical analyses of the multi-year pedestrian accident data collected by Korea Road Traffic Authority (KoRoad) and the pedestrian volume data collected by SK Telecom (SKT). With Kernel Density Estimation and Bivariate Local Moran's I, we identify spatial clustering of pedestrian accidents in the city, and examine whether those locations match with concentrations of pedestrian volume. On the second count, we use statistical analysis, tobit, poisson and negative binomial regression to investigate relationships between pedestrian volume and number of pedestrian accident for the two types of geographic areas by the results of the aforementioned analysis; Area 1- locations of high volume of pedestrian with high number of accident, Area 2- locations of high volume of pedestrian with low number of accident. For environmental factors potentially explaining pedestrian accidents, we include land use composition, number of traffic lanes, crosswalk presence, pedestrian signal, traffic island and sidewalk width in our analysis. This research will be valuable in city governments' decision making with planning guidelines and political protocols for making safer pedestrian environment.

Insights Gained from Forensic Analysis with MELCOR of the Fukushima-Daiichi Accidents.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Andrews, Nathan C.; Gauntt, Randall O.

Since the accidents at Fukushima-Daiichi, Sandia National Laboratories has been modeling these accident scenarios using the severe accident analysis code, MELCOR. MELCOR is a widely used computer code developed at Sandia National Laboratories since ~1982 for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Insights from the modeling of these accidents is being used to better inform future code development and potentially improved accident management. To date, our necessity to better capture in-vessel thermal-hydraulic and ex-vessel melt coolability and concrete interactions has led to the implementation of new models. The most recent analyses, presented in this paper, have been in support of themore » of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency’s (OECD/NEA) Benchmark Study of the Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (BSAF) Project. The goal of this project is to accurately capture the source term from all three releases and then model the atmospheric dispersion. In order to do this, a forensic approach is being used in which available plant data and release timings is being used to inform the modeled MELCOR accident scenario. For example, containment failures, core slumping events and lower head failure timings are all enforced parameters in these analyses. This approach is fundamentally different from a blind code assessment analysis often used in standard problem exercises. The timings of these events are informed by representative spikes or decreases in plant data. The combination of improvements to the MELCOR source code resulting from analysis previous accident analysis and this forensic approach has allowed Sandia to generate representative and plausible source terms for all three accidents at Fukushima Daiichi out to three weeks after the accident to capture both early and late releases. In particular, using the source terms developed by MELCOR, the MACCS software code, which models atmospheric dispersion and deposition, we are able to reasonably capture the deposition of radionuclides to the northwest of the reactor site.« less

Uncovering the repertoire of fungal secondary metabolites: From Fleming's laboratory to the International Space Station.

PubMed

Boruta, Tomasz

2018-01-01

Fungi produce a variety of secondary metabolites (SMs), low-molecular weight compounds associated with many potentially useful biologic activities. The examples of biotechnologically relevant fungal metabolites include penicillin, a β-lactam antibiotic, and lovastatin, a cholesterol-lowering drug. The discovery of pharmaceutical lead compounds within the microbial metabolic pools relies on the selection and biochemical characterization of promising strains. Not all SMs are produced under standard cultivation conditions, hence the uncovering of chemical potential of investigated strains often requires the use of induction strategies to awake the associated biosynthetic genes. Triggering the secondary metabolic pathways can be achieved through the variation of cultivation conditions and growth media composition. The alternative strategy is to use genetic engineering to activate the respective genomic segments, e.g. by the manipulation of regulators or chromatin-modifying enzymes. Recently, whole-genome sequencing of several fungi isolated from the Chernobyl accident area was reported by Singh et al. (Genome Announc 2017; 5:e01602-16). These strains were selected for exposure to microgravity at the International Space Station. Biochemical characterization of fungi cultivated under extreme conditions is likely to provide valuable insights into the adaptation mechanism associated with metabolism and, possibly, a catalog of novel molecules of potential pharmaceutical importance.

Explorative spatial analysis of traffic accident statistics and road mortality among the provinces of Turkey.

PubMed

Erdogan, Saffet

2009-10-01

The aim of the study is to describe the inter-province differences in traffic accidents and mortality on roads of Turkey. Two different risk indicators were used to evaluate the road safety performance of the provinces in Turkey. These indicators are the ratios between the number of persons killed in road traffic accidents (1) and the number of accidents (2) (nominators) and their exposure to traffic risk (denominator). Population and the number of registered motor vehicles in the provinces were used as denominators individually. Spatial analyses were performed to the mean annual rate of deaths and to the number of fatal accidents that were calculated for the period of 2001-2006. Empirical Bayes smoothing was used to remove background noise from the raw death and accident rates because of the sparsely populated provinces and small number of accident and death rates of provinces. Global and local spatial autocorrelation analyses were performed to show whether the provinces with high rates of deaths-accidents show clustering or are located closer by chance. The spatial distribution of provinces with high rates of deaths and accidents was nonrandom and detected as clustered with significance of P<0.05 with spatial autocorrelation analyses. Regions with high concentration of fatal accidents and deaths were located in the provinces that contain the roads connecting the Istanbul, Ankara, and Antalya provinces. Accident and death rates were also modeled with some independent variables such as number of motor vehicles, length of roads, and so forth using geographically weighted regression analysis with forward step-wise elimination. The level of statistical significance was taken as P<0.05. Large differences were found between the rates of deaths and accidents according to denominators in the provinces. The geographically weighted regression analyses did significantly better predictions for both accident rates and death rates than did ordinary least regressions, as indicated by adjusted R(2) values. Geographically weighted regression provided values of 0.89-0.99 adjusted R(2) for death and accident rates, compared with 0.88-0.95, respectively, by ordinary least regressions. Geographically weighted regression has the potential to reveal local patterns in the spatial distribution of rates, which would be ignored by the ordinary least regression approach. The application of spatial analysis and modeling of accident statistics and death rates at provincial level in Turkey will help to identification of provinces with outstandingly high accident and death rates. This could help more efficient road safety management in Turkey.

Young people and snowmobiling in northern Norway: accidents, injury prevention and safety strategies.

PubMed

Mehus, Grete; Mehus, Alf Gunnar; Germeten, Sidsel; Henriksen, Nils

2016-01-01

Snowmobiling among young people in Scandinavia frequently leads to accidents and injuries. Systematic studies of accidents exist, but few studies have addressed young drivers' experiences. The aim of this article is to reveal how young people experience and interpret accidents, and to outline a prevention strategy. Thirty-one girls and 50 boys aged 16-23 years from secondary schools in Northern Norway and on Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, participated in 17 focus groups segregated by gender. A content analysis identified themes addressing the research questions. Participants described risk as being inherent to snowmobiling, and claimed that accidents followed from poor risk assessment, careless driving or mishaps. Evaluation of accidents and recommendations for preventive measures varied. Girls acknowledged the risks and wanted knowledge about outdoor life, navigation and external risks. Boys underestimated or downplayed the risks, and wanted knowledge about safety precautions while freeriding. Both genders were aware of how and why accidents occurred, and took precautions. Boys tended to challenge norms in ways that contradict the promotion of safe driving behaviour. Stories of internal justice regarding driving under the influence of alcohol occurred. Adolescents are aware of how accidents occur and how to avoid them. Injury prevention strategies should include a general population strategy and a high-risk strategy targeted at extreme risk-seekers. Drivers, snowmobilers' organisations and the community should share local knowledge in an effort to define problem areas, set priorities and develop and implement preventive measures. Risk prevention should include preparation of safe tracks and focus on safety equipment and safe driving behaviour, but should also pay increased attention to the potential of strengthening normative regulation within peer groups regarding driving behaviour and mutual responsibility for preventing accidents.

Lessons from Fukushima for Improving the Safety of Nuclear Reactors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyman, Edwin

2012-02-01

The March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has revealed serious vulnerabilities in the design, operation and regulation of nuclear power plants. While some aspects of the accident were plant- and site-specific, others have implications that are broadly applicable to the current generation of nuclear plants in operation around the world. Although many of the details of the accident progression and public health consequences are still unclear, there are a number of lessons that can already be drawn. The accident demonstrated the need at nuclear plants for robust, highly reliable backup power sources capable of functioning for many days in the event of a complete loss of primary off-site and on-site electrical power. It highlighted the importance of detailed planning for severe accident management that realistically evaluates the capabilities of personnel to carry out mitigation operations under extremely hazardous conditions. It showed how emergency plans rooted in the assumption that only one reactor at a multi-unit site would be likely to experience a crisis fail miserably in the event of an accident affecting multiple reactor units simultaneously. It revealed that alternate water injection following a severe accident could be needed for weeks or months, generating large volumes of contaminated water that must be contained. And it reinforced the grim lesson of Chernobyl: that a nuclear reactor accident could lead to widespread radioactive contamination with profound implications for public health, the economy and the environment. While many nations have re-examined their policies regarding nuclear power safety in the months following the accident, it remains to be seen to what extent the world will take the lessons of Fukushima seriously and make meaningful changes in time to avert another, and potentially even worse, nuclear catastrophe.

Noise as an explanatory factor in work-related fatality reports

PubMed Central

Deshaies, Pierre; Martin, Richard; Belzile, Danny; Fortier, Pauline; Laroche, Chantal; Leroux, Tony; Nélisse, Hugues; Girard, Serge-André; Arcand, Robert; Poulin, Maurice; Picard, Michel

2015-01-01

Noise exposure in the workplace is a common reality in Québec, Canada as it is elsewhere. However, the extent to which noise acts as a causal or contributive factor in industrial work-related accidents has not been studied thoroughly despite its plausibility. This article aims to describe the importance or potential importance, during investigations looking into the specific causes of each work-related fatal accident, of noise as an explanatory factor. The written information contained in the accident reports pertaining to contextual and technical elements were used. The study used multiple case qualitative content analysis. This descriptive study was based on the content analysis of the 788 reports from the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail du Québec [Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB)] investigating the fatal work-related accidents between 1990 and 2005. The study was descriptive (number and percentages). Noise was explicitly stated as one of the explanatory factors for the fatal outcome in 2.2% (17/788) of the fatal accidents, particularly when the work involved vehicular movement or the need to communicate between workers. Noise was not typically considered a unique cause in the accident, notably because the investigators considered that the accident would have probably occurred due to other risk factors (for example, disregard of safety rules, shortcomings in work methods, and inadequate training). Noise is an important risk factor when communication is involved in work. Since noise is ubiquitous and may also interfere with vigilance and other risk factors for accidents, it may be a much more important contributing factor to accidents than is currently recognized. PMID:26356371

Noise as an explanatory factor in work-related fatality reports.

PubMed

Deshaies, Pierre; Martin, Richard; Belzile, Danny; Fortier, Pauline; Laroche, Chantal; Leroux, Tony; Nélisse, Hugues; Girard, Serge-André; Arcand, Robert; Poulin, Maurice; Picard, Michel

2015-01-01

Noise exposure in the workplace is a common reality in Québec, Canada as it is elsewhere. However, the extent to which noise acts as a causal or contributive factor in industrial work-related accidents has not been studied thoroughly despite its plausibility. This article aims to describe the importance or potential importance, during investigations looking into the specific causes of each work-related fatal accident, of noise as an explanatory factor. The written information contained in the accident reports pertaining to contextual and technical elements were used. The study used multiple case qualitative content analysis. This descriptive study was based on the content analysis of the 788 reports from the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail du Québec [Workers' Compensation Board (WCB)] investigating the fatal work-related accidents between 1990 and 2005. The study was descriptive (number and percentages). Noise was explicitly stated as one of the explanatory factors for the fatal outcome in 2.2% (17/788) of the fatal accidents, particularly when the work involved vehicular movement or the need to communicate between workers. Noise was not typically considered a unique cause in the accident, notably because the investigators considered that the accident would have probably occurred due to other risk factors (for example, disregard of safety rules, shortcomings in work methods, and inadequate training). Noise is an important risk factor when communication is involved in work. Since noise is ubiquitous and may also interfere with vigilance and other risk factors for accidents, it may be a much more important contributing factor to accidents than is currently recognized.

R/S analysis of reaction time in Neuron Type Test for human activity in civil aviation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hong-Yan; Kang, Ming-Cui; Li, Jing-Qiang; Liu, Hai-Tao

2017-03-01

Human factors become the most serious problem leading to accidents of civil aviation, which stimulates the design and analysis of Neuron Type Test (NTT) system to explore the intrinsic properties and patterns behind the behaviors of professionals and students in civil aviation. In the experiment, normal practitioners' reaction time sequences, collected from NTT, exhibit log-normal distribution approximately. We apply the χ2 test to compute the goodness-of-fit by transforming the time sequence with Box-Cox transformation to cluster practitioners. The long-term correlation of different individual practitioner's time sequence is represented by the Hurst exponent via Rescaled Range Analysis, also named by Range/Standard deviation (R/S) Analysis. The different Hurst exponent suggests the existence of different collective behavior and different intrinsic patterns of human factors in civil aviation.

Parallel sequencing lives, or what makes large sequencing projects successful.

PubMed

Quilez, Javier; Vidal, Enrique; Dily, François Le; Serra, François; Cuartero, Yasmina; Stadhouders, Ralph; Graf, Thomas; Marti-Renom, Marc A; Beato, Miguel; Filion, Guillaume

2017-11-01

T47D_rep2 and b1913e6c1_51720e9cf were 2 Hi-C samples. They were born and processed at the same time, yet their fates were very different. The life of b1913e6c1_51720e9cf was simple and fruitful, while that of T47D_rep2 was full of accidents and sorrow. At the heart of these differences lies the fact that b1913e6c1_51720e9cf was born under a lab culture of Documentation, Automation, Traceability, and Autonomy and compliance with the FAIR Principles. Their lives are a lesson for those who wish to embark on the journey of managing high-throughput sequencing data. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Severe Accident Scoping Simulations of Accident Tolerant Fuel Concepts for BWRs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robb, Kevin R.

2015-08-01

Accident-tolerant fuels (ATFs) are fuels and/or cladding that, in comparison with the standard uranium dioxide Zircaloy system, can tolerate loss of active cooling in the core for a considerably longer time period while maintaining or improving the fuel performance during normal operations [1]. It is important to note that the currently used uranium dioxide Zircaloy fuel system tolerates design basis accidents (and anticipated operational occurrences and normal operation) as prescribed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Previously, preliminary simulations of the plant response have been performed under a range of accident scenarios using various ATF cladding concepts and fully ceramicmore » microencapsulated fuel. Design basis loss of coolant accidents (LOCAs) and station blackout (SBO) severe accidents were analyzed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for boiling water reactors (BWRs) [2]. Researchers have investigated the effects of thermal conductivity on design basis accidents [3], investigated silicon carbide (SiC) cladding [4], as well as the effects of ATF concepts on the late stage accident progression [5]. These preliminary analyses were performed to provide initial insight into the possible improvements that ATF concepts could provide and to identify issues with respect to modeling ATF concepts. More recently, preliminary analyses for a range of ATF concepts have been evaluated internationally for LOCA and severe accident scenarios for the Chinese CPR1000 [6] and the South Korean OPR-1000 [7] pressurized water reactors (PWRs). In addition to these scoping studies, a common methodology and set of performance metrics were developed to compare and support prioritizing ATF concepts [8]. A proposed ATF concept is based on iron-chromium-aluminum alloys (FeCrAl) [9]. With respect to enhancing accident tolerance, FeCrAl alloys have substantially slower oxidation kinetics compared to the zirconium alloys typically employed. During a severe accident, FeCrAl would tend to generate heat and hydrogen from oxidation at a slower rate compared to the zirconium-based alloys in use today. The previous study, [2], of the FeCrAl ATF concept during station blackout (SBO) severe accident scenarios in BWRs was based on simulating short term SBO (STSBO), long term SBO (LTSBO), and modified SBO scenarios occurring in a BWR-4 reactor with MARK-I containment. The analysis indicated that FeCrAl had the potential to delay the onset of fuel failure by a few hours depending on the scenario, and it could delay lower head failure by several hours. The analysis demonstrated reduced in-vessel hydrogen production. However, the work was preliminary and was based on limited knowledge of material properties for FeCrAl. Limitations of the MELCOR code were identified for direct use in modeling ATF concepts. This effort used an older version of MELCOR (1.8.5). Since these analyses, the BWR model has been updated for use in MELCOR 1.8.6 [10], and more representative material properties for FeCrAl have been modeled. Sections 2 4 present updated analyses for the FeCrAl ATF concept response during severe accidents in a BWR. The purpose of the study is to estimate the potential gains afforded by the FeCrAl ATF concept during BWR SBO scenarios.« less

Traffic accidents in Brazil from 1998 to 2010: many changes and few effects.

PubMed

Bacchieri, Giancarlo; Barros, Aluísio J D

2011-10-01

The paper describes the situation of road traffic accidents in Brazil since 1998, when a new Brazilian traffic law was approved, up to the year 2010. A review of both academic and non-academic literature was carried out, including journals (both indexed and non-indexed), technical reports, author searches, searches in paper reference lists and direct contact with researchers. The main problems related to road traffic accidents in Brazil identified were the increase in the absolute number of deaths and in the mortality rates, a rapid increase in the number of motorcycles, and drink & driving. Influent authors in the field and centers of expertise were identified. Some potential solutions are presented by the authors, who suggest that the public offices related to traffic regulation and control are not taking suitable measures for control and reduction of road traffic accidents.

Relationships of working conditions, health problems and vehicle accidents in bus rapid transit (BRT) drivers.

PubMed

Gómez-Ortiz, Viviola; Cendales, Boris; Useche, Sergio; Bocarejo, Juan P

2018-04-01

The aim of this study was to estimate accident risk rates and mental health of bus rapid transit (BRT) drivers based on psychosocial risk factors at work leading to increased stress and health problems. A cross-sectional research design utilized a self-report questionnaire completed by 524 BRT drivers. Some working conditions of BRT drivers (lack of social support from supervisors and perceived potential for risk) may partially explain Bogota's BRT drivers' involvement in road accidents. Drivers' mental health problems were associated with higher job strain, less support from co-workers, fewer rewards and greater signal conflict while driving. To prevent bus accidents, supervisory support may need to be increased. To prevent mental health problems, other interventions may be needed such as reducing demands, increasing job control, reducing amount of incoming information, simplifying current signals, making signals less contradictory, and revising rewards. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

U. S. research safety vehicle (RSV) phase I program. Volume III. RSV characteristics and performance specifications. Final report, Jan 1974--Apr 1975

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Andon, J.; Dodson, E.; Khadilkar, A.

1975-06-01

Current passenger car usage patterns and factors influencing usage are analyzed and projections of usage patterns in the mid-1980's are made. Current available data on six categories of vehicle accidents are analyzed and projections made of national accident patterns in the mid-80's; the effect of potential reductions in these projections as a result of safety programs and other factors related to driving safety are estimated. Based on the usage and accident projections, the characteristics of an RSV (weighing under 3,000 lbs C.W.) for operation in the mid-1980 traffic environment are described. A recommended set of specifications for the RSV aremore » developed considering the potential safety payoff accruing to an increased level of safety performance, the need for energy conservation, availability of material resources, and changes in vehicle mix. (An executive summary of this report is presented in Volume I).« less

Aircraft Loss of Control Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jacobson, Steven R.

2010-01-01

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.

Multi-phase model development to assess RCIC system capabilities under severe accident conditions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kirkland, Karen Vierow; Ross, Kyle; Beeny, Bradley

The Reactor Core Isolation Cooling (RCIC) System is a safety-related system that provides makeup water for core cooling of some Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) with a Mark I containment. The RCIC System consists of a steam-driven Terry turbine that powers a centrifugal, multi-stage pump for providing water to the reactor pressure vessel. The Fukushima Dai-ichi accidents demonstrated that the RCIC System can play an important role under accident conditions in removing core decay heat. The unexpectedly sustained, good performance of the RCIC System in the Fukushima reactor demonstrates, firstly, that its capabilities are not well understood, and secondly, that themore » system has high potential for extended core cooling in accident scenarios. Better understanding and analysis tools would allow for more options to cope with a severe accident situation and to reduce the consequences. The objectives of this project were to develop physics-based models of the RCIC System, incorporate them into a multi-phase code and validate the models. This Final Technical Report details the progress throughout the project duration and the accomplishments.« less

The impacts of speed cameras on road accidents: an application of propensity score matching methods.

PubMed

Li, Haojie; Graham, Daniel J; Majumdar, Arnab

2013-11-01

This paper aims to evaluate the impacts of speed limit enforcement cameras on reducing road accidents in the UK by accounting for both confounding factors and the selection of proper reference groups. The propensity score matching (PSM) method is employed to do this. A naïve before and after approach and the empirical Bayes (EB) method are compared with the PSM method. A total of 771 sites and 4787 sites for the treatment and the potential reference groups respectively are observed for a period of 9 years in England. Both the PSM and the EB methods show similar results that there are significant reductions in the number of accidents of all severities at speed camera sites. It is suggested that the propensity score can be used as the criteria for selecting the reference group in before-after control studies. Speed cameras were found to be most effective in reducing accidents up to 200 meters from camera sites and no evidence of accident migration was found. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Unlocking the Mystery of Columbia's Tragic Accident Through Materials Characterization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shah, Sandeep; Jerman, Gregory; Coston, James

2003-01-01

The wing and underbelly reconstruction of Space Shuttle Columbia took place at the Shuttle Landing Facility Hangar after the accident which destroyed STS-107. Fragments were placed on a grid according to their original location on the orbiter. Some Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) panels of the left wing leading edge and other parts from both leading edges were recovered and incorporated into the reconstruction. The recovered parts were tracked on a database according to a number and also tracked on a map of the orbiter. This viewgraph presentation describes the process of failure analysis undertaken by the Materials and Processes (M&P) Problem Resolution Team. The team started with factual observations about the accident, and identified highest level questions for it to answer in order to understand where on the orbiter failure occured, what component(s) failed, and what was the sequence of events. The finding of Columbia's MADS/OEX data recorder shifted the focus of the team's analysis to the left wing leading edge damage. The team placed particular attention on slag deposits on some of the RCC panels. The presentation lists analysis techniques, and lower level questions for the team to answer.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kolaczkowski, A.M.; Lambright, J.A.; Ferrell, W.L.

This document contains the internal event initiated accident sequence analyses for Peach Bottom, Unit 2; one of the reference plants being examined as part of the NUREG-1150 effort by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NUREG-1150 will document the risk of a selected group of nuclear power plants. As part of that work, this report contains the overall core damage frequency estimate for Peach Bottom, Unit 2, and the accompanying plant damage state frequencies. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses provided additional insights regarding the dominant contributors to the Peach Bottom core damage frequency estimate. The mean core damage frequency at Peach Bottom wasmore » calculated to be 8.2E-6. Station blackout type accidents (loss of all ac power) were found to dominate the overall results. Anticipated Transient Without Scram accidents were also found to be non-negligible contributors. The numerical results are largely driven by common mode failure probability estimates and to some extent, human error. Because of significant data and analysis uncertainties in these two areas (important, for instance, to the most dominant scenario in this study), it is recommended that the results of the uncertainty and sensitivity analyses be considered before any actions are taken based on this analysis.« less

[Necrotising fasciitis caused by Saksenaea vasiformis in an immunocompetent patient after a car accident].

PubMed

Mayayo, Emilio; Stchigel, Alberto M; Cano, José F; Bernal-Escoté, Xana; Guarro, Josep

2013-01-03

Cutaneous mucormycosis (zygomycosis), with subcutaneous spreading and dissemination, in immunocompetent patients is an uncommon disease caused by species belonging to the fungal genera Apophysomyces, Rhizopus and Saksenaea, among others. A case of necrotising fasciitis by Saksenaea vasiformis in an immunocompetent woman is described. The infection was acquired through a car accident resulting in multiple injuries affecting mainly her right arm. After the surgical reduction of fractures, skin lesions worsened and led to necrosis. The patient quickly developed a severe necrotising fasciitis with negative cultures at first. Despite the extensive surgical debridement and the aggressive antifungal treatment, the patient died. The histopathological study showed a fungal infection due to a fungus belonging to the Mucorales order, which was confirmed by culturing the clinical sample on Sabouraud agar, and identifying the species by cultures on Czapek-Dox agar, and sequencing of the ITS region of the ribosomal DNA. This case confirm the presence of this fungus in Spain, the value of histopathology for the mucormycosis diagnosis, as well as the need to perform special cultures to facilitate their isolation and identification to the species level by the combined use of Czapek-Dox agar and sequencing of the ITS region. Copyright © 2012 Revista Iberoamericana de Micología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Accident Source Terms for Pressurized Water Reactors with High-Burnup Cores Calculated using MELCOR 1.8.5.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gauntt, Randall O.; Goldmann, Andrew; Kalinich, Donald A.

2016-12-01

In this study, risk-significant pressurized-water reactor severe accident sequences are examined using MELCOR 1.8.5 to explore the range of fission product releases to the reactor containment building. Advances in the understanding of fission product release and transport behavior and severe accident progression are used to render best estimate analyses of selected accident sequences. Particular emphasis is placed on estimating the effects of high fuel burnup in contrast with low burnup on fission product releases to the containment. Supporting this emphasis, recent data available on fission product release from high-burnup (HBU) fuel from the French VERCOR project are used in thismore » study. The results of these analyses are treated as samples from a population of accident sequences in order to employ approximate order statistics characterization of the results. These trends and tendencies are then compared to the NUREG-1465 alternative source term prescription used today for regulatory applications. In general, greater differences are observed between the state-of-the-art calculations for either HBU or low-burnup (LBU) fuel and the NUREG-1465 containment release fractions than exist between HBU and LBU release fractions. Current analyses suggest that retention of fission products within the vessel and the reactor coolant system (RCS) are greater than contemplated in the NUREG-1465 prescription, and that, overall, release fractions to the containment are therefore lower across the board in the present analyses than suggested in NUREG-1465. The decreased volatility of Cs 2 MoO 4 compared to CsI or CsOH increases the predicted RCS retention of cesium, and as a result, cesium and iodine do not follow identical behaviors with respect to distribution among vessel, RCS, and containment. With respect to the regulatory alternative source term, greater differences are observed between the NUREG-1465 prescription and both HBU and LBU predictions than exist between HBU and LBU analyses. Additionally, current analyses suggest that the NUREG-1465 release fractions are conservative by about a factor of 2 in terms of release fractions and that release durations for in-vessel and late in-vessel release periods are in fact longer than the NUREG-1465 durations. It is currently planned that a subsequent report will further characterize these results using more refined statistical methods, permitting a more precise reformulation of the NUREG-1465 alternative source term for both LBU and HBU fuels, with the most important finding being that the NUREG-1465 formula appears to embody significant conservatism compared to current best-estimate analyses. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. The authors would like to thank Dr. Ian Gauld and Dr. Germina Ilas, of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, for their contributions to this work. In addition to development of core fission product inventory and decay heat information for use in MELCOR models, their insights related to fuel management practices and resulting effects on spatial distribution of fission products in the core was instrumental in completion of our work.« less

What you find is not always what you fix--how other aspects than causes of accidents decide recommendations for remedial actions.

PubMed

Lundberg, Jonas; Rollenhagen, Carl; Hollnagel, Erik

2010-11-01

In accident investigation, the ideal is often to follow the principle "what-you-find-is-what-you-fix", an ideal reflecting that the investigation should be a rational process of first identifying causes, and then implement remedial actions to fix them. Previous research has however identified cognitive and political biases leading away from this ideal. Somewhat surprisingly, however, the same factors that often are highlighted in modern accident models are not perceived in a recursive manner to reflect how they influence the process of accident investigation in itself. Those factors are more extensive than the cognitive and political biases that are often highlighted in theory. Our purpose in this study was to reveal constraints affecting accident investigation practices that lead the investigation towards or away from the ideal of "what-you-find-is-what-you-fix". We conducted a qualitative interview study with 22 accident investigators from different domains in Sweden. We found a wide range of factors that led investigations away from the ideal, most which more resembled factors involved in organizational accidents, rather than reflecting flawed thinking. One particular limitation of investigation was that many investigations stop the analysis at the level of "preventable causes", the level where remedies that were currently practical to implement could be found. This could potentially limit the usefulness of using investigations to get a view on the "big picture" of causes of accidents as a basis for further remedial actions. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rempe, Joy; Farmer, Mitchell; Corradini, Michael

The Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) accident, which occurred on March 28, 1979, led industry and regulators to enhance strategies to protect against severe accidents in commercial nuclear power plants. Investigations in the years after the accident concluded that at least 45% of the core had melted and that nearly 19 tonnes of the core material had relocated to the lower head. Postaccident examinations indicate that about half of that material formed a solid layer near the lower head and above it was a layer of fragmented rubble. As discussed in this paper, numerous insights related to pressurized watermore » reactor accident progression were gained from postaccident evaluations of debris, reactor pressure vessel (RPV) specimens, and nozzles taken from the RPV. In addition, information gleaned from TMI-2 specimen evaluations and available data from plant instrumentation were used to improve severe accident simulation models that form the technical basis for reactor safety evaluations. Finally, the TMI-2 accident led the nuclear community to dedicate considerable effort toward understanding severe accident phenomenology as well as the potential for containment failure. Because available data suggest that significant amounts of fuel heated to temperatures near melting, the events at Fukushima Daiichi Units 1, 2, and 3 offer an unexpected opportunity to gain similar understanding about boiling water reactor accident progression. To increase the international benefit from such an endeavor, we recommend that an international effort be initiated to (a) prioritize data needs; (b) identify techniques, samples, and sample evaluations needed to address each information need; and (c) help finance acquisition of the required data and conduct of the analyses.« less

Accident Analyses in Support of the Sludge Water System Safety Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

FINFROCK, S.H.

This document quantifies the potential health effects of the unmitigated hazards identified Hey (2002) for retrieval of sludge from the KE basin. It also identifies potential controls and any supporting mitigative analyses.

Risk of road accident associated with the use of drugs: a systematic review and meta-analysis of evidence from epidemiological studies.

PubMed

Elvik, Rune

2013-11-01

This paper is a corrigendum to a previously published paper where errors were detected. The errors have been corrected in this paper. The paper is otherwise identical to the previously published paper. A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies that have assessed the risk of accident associated with the use of drugs when driving is presented. The meta-analysis included 66 studies containing a total of 264 estimates of the effects on accident risk of using illicit or prescribed drugs when driving. Summary estimates of the odds ratio of accident involvement are presented for amphetamines, analgesics, anti-asthmatics, anti-depressives, anti-histamines, benzodiazepines, cannabis, cocaine, opiates, penicillin and zopiclone (a sleeping pill). For most of the drugs, small or moderate increases in accident risk associated with the use of the drugs were found. Information about whether the drugs were actually used while driving and about the doses used was often imprecise. Most studies that have evaluated the presence of a dose-response relationship between the dose of drugs taken and the effects on accident risk confirm the existence of a dose-response relationship. Use of drugs while driving tends to have a larger effect on the risk of fatal and serious injury accidents than on the risk of less serious accidents (usually property-damage-only accidents). The quality of the studies that have assessed risk varied greatly. There was a tendency for the estimated effects of drug use on accident risk to be smaller in well-controlled studies than in poorly controlled studies. Evidence of publication bias was found for some drugs. The associations found cannot be interpreted as causal relationships, principally because most studies do not control very well for potentially confounding factors. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psychosocial assistance after environmental accidents: a policy perspective.

PubMed Central

Becker, S M

1997-01-01

There is a substantial body of literature on psychosocial impacts of chemical and nuclear accidents. Less attention, however, has been focused on the program and policy issues that are connected with efforts to provide psychosocial assistance to the victims of such accidents. Because psychosocial assistance efforts are certain to be an essential part of the response to future environmental emergencies, it is vital that relevant program and policy issues by more fully considered. This article discusses the highly complex nature of contamination situations and highlights some of the key policy issues that are associated with the provision of psychosocial services after environmental accidents. One issue concerns the potential for assistance efforts to become objects of conflict. In the context of the intense controversy typically associated with chemical or nuclear accidents, and with debates over the causation of illness usually at the center of environmental accidents, psychosocial assistance services may themselves become contested terrain. Other significant program and policy issues include determining how to interface with citizen self-help and other voluntary groups, addressing the problem of stigma, and deciding how to facilitate stakeholder participation in the shaping of service provision. This article offers a series of policy proposals that may help smooth the way for psychosocial assistance programs in future environmental emergencies. PMID:9467082

A novel grey-fuzzy-Markov and pattern recognition model for industrial accident forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edem, Inyeneobong Ekoi; Oke, Sunday Ayoola; Adebiyi, Kazeem Adekunle

2017-10-01

Industrial forecasting is a top-echelon research domain, which has over the past several years experienced highly provocative research discussions. The scope of this research domain continues to expand due to the continuous knowledge ignition motivated by scholars in the area. So, more intelligent and intellectual contributions on current research issues in the accident domain will potentially spark more lively academic, value-added discussions that will be of practical significance to members of the safety community. In this communication, a new grey-fuzzy-Markov time series model, developed from nondifferential grey interval analytical framework has been presented for the first time. This instrument forecasts future accident occurrences under time-invariance assumption. The actual contribution made in the article is to recognise accident occurrence patterns and decompose them into grey state principal pattern components. The architectural framework of the developed grey-fuzzy-Markov pattern recognition (GFMAPR) model has four stages: fuzzification, smoothening, defuzzification and whitenisation. The results of application of the developed novel model signify that forecasting could be effectively carried out under uncertain conditions and hence, positions the model as a distinctly superior tool for accident forecasting investigations. The novelty of the work lies in the capability of the model in making highly accurate predictions and forecasts based on the availability of small or incomplete accident data.

Cross-comparison of three surrogate safety methods to diagnose cyclist safety problems at intersections in Norway.

PubMed

Laureshyn, Aliaksei; Goede, Maartje de; Saunier, Nicolas; Fyhri, Aslak

2017-08-01

Relying on accident records as the main data source for studying cyclists' safety has many drawbacks, such as high degree of under-reporting, the lack of accident details and particularly of information about the interaction processes that led to the accident. It is also an ethical problem as one has to wait for accidents to happen in order to make a statement about cyclists' (un-)safety. In this perspective, the use of surrogate safety measures based on actual observations in traffic is very promising. In this study we used video data from three intersections in Norway that were all independently analysed using three methods: the Swedish traffic conflict technique (Swedish TCT), the Dutch conflict technique (DOCTOR) and the probabilistic surrogate measures of safety (PSMS) technique developed in Canada. The first two methods are based on manual detection and counting of critical events in traffic (traffic conflicts), while the third considers probabilities of multiple trajectories for each interaction and delivers a density map of potential collision points per site. Due to extensive use of microscopic data, PSMS technique relies heavily on automated tracking of the road users in video. Across the three sites, the methods show similarities or are at least "compatible" with the accident records. The two conflict techniques agree quite well for the number, type and location of conflicts, but some differences with no obvious explanation are also found. PSMS reports many more safety-relevant interactions including less severe events. The location of the potential collision points is compatible with what the conflict techniques suggest, but the possibly significant share of false alarms due to inaccurate trajectories extracted from video complicates the comparison. The tested techniques still require enhancement, with respect to better adjustment to analysis of the situations involving cyclists (and vulnerable road users in general) and further validation. However, we believe this to be a future direction for the road safety analysis as the number of accidents is constantly decreasing and the quality of accident data does not seem to improve. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A framework for a critical assessment of the quality of epidemiological studies of driver health and accident risk.

PubMed

Elvik, Rune

2011-11-01

A large number of studies have tried to assess how various aspects of driver health influence driver involvement in accidents. The objective of this paper is to provide a framework for a critical assessment of the quality these studies from a methodological point of view. Examples are given of how various sources of bias and confounding can produce study findings that are highly misleading. Ten potential sources of error and bias in epidemiological studies of the contribution of driver health impairments to road accidents are discussed: (1) Poor description of the medical conditions whose effects are studied (measurement error). (2) Inadequate control for the effects of exposure on accident rate. (3) Sampling endogeneity with respect to assessment for fitness to drive (outcome-based sampling; self-selection bias). (4) Combined exposure to several risk factors. (5) Poor control for potentially confounding factors. (6) Failure to specify potentially moderating factors (interaction effects). (7) Failure to consider a severity gradient with respect to the effect of health impairments. (8) Failure to specify the compliance of drivers with medical treatments or treatment effectiveness. (9) No data on the population prevalence of various health conditions. (10) The use of multiple study approaches and methods making the comparison and synthesis of findings difficult. Examples are given of how all these items may influence the findings of a single study or make synthesising findings from multiple studies difficult. A checklist for assessing study quality is provided. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Potential for driver attention monitoring system development

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1985-06-01

The objective of this effort was to determine the potential of developing techniques and : methods for reducing the occurrence of highway accidents attributable to degraded : driver alertness. : Lapses in driver alertness are thought to be a maior fa...

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vandenhove, Hildegarde

The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has raised questions about the accumulation of radionuclides in soils, the transfer in the food chain and the possibility of continued restricted future land use. This paper summarizes what is generally understood about the application of agricultural countermeasures as a land management option to reduce the radionuclides transfer in the food chain and to facilitate the return of potentially affected soils to agricultural practices in areas impacted by a nuclear accident. (authors)

In-house PCR with DNA extracted directly from positive slides to confirm or exclude the diagnosis of tuberculosis: focus on biosafety.

PubMed

de Almeida, Isabela Neves; Aleixo, Agdemir Valéria; Carvalho, Wânia da Silva; de Miranda, Silvana Spindola

2015-01-01

The possibility to obtain DNA from smears is a valuable alternative to remedy the lack of samples when they are totally used for bacilloscopy; this technique solves the biosafety problem related to a possible accident with the transportation of flasks containing potentially transmissible clinical samples. Hence, the purpose of this study was to utilize the insertion sequence IS6110 for amplification of DNA from a smear-positive sample for tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis. Among the 52 positive bacilloscopies, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 52.3%, 100%, 100% and 89.7%, respectively whereas accuracy was 90.7%. The IS6110-based PCR for TB diagnosis developed in DNA extracted from a positive smear is a fast, simple, specific, and safe method. Copyright © 2014 Asociación Argentina de Microbiología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Traffic accidents involving fatigue driving and their extent of casualties.

PubMed

Zhang, Guangnan; Yau, Kelvin K W; Zhang, Xun; Li, Yanyan

2016-02-01

The rapid progress of motorization has increased the number of traffic-related casualties. Although fatigue driving is a major cause of traffic accidents, the public remains not rather aware of its potential harmfulness. Fatigue driving has been termed as a "silent killer." Thus, a thorough study of traffic accidents and the risk factors associated with fatigue-related casualties is of utmost importance. In this study, we analyze traffic accident data for the period 2006-2010 in Guangdong Province, China. The study data were extracted from the traffic accident database of China's Public Security Department. A logistic regression model is used to assess the effect of driver characteristics, type of vehicles, road conditions, and environmental factors on fatigue-related traffic accident occurrence and severity. On the one hand, male drivers, trucks, driving during midnight to dawn, and morning rush hours are identified as risk factors of fatigue-related crashes but do not necessarily result in severe casualties. Driving at night without street-lights contributes to fatigue-related crashes and severe casualties. On the other hand, while factors such as less experienced drivers, unsafe vehicle status, slippery roads, driving at night with street-lights, and weekends do not have significant effect on fatigue-related crashes, yet accidents associated with these factors are likely to have severe casualties. The empirical results of the present study have important policy implications on the reduction of fatigue-related crashes as well as their severity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Causal Factors and Adverse Events of Aviation Accidents and Incidents Related to Integrated Vehicle Health Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reveley, Mary S.; Briggs, Jeffrey L.; Evans, Joni K.; Jones, Sharon M.; Kurtoglu, Tolga; Leone, Karen M.; Sandifer, Carl E.

2011-01-01

Causal factors in aviation accidents and incidents related to system/component failure/malfunction (SCFM) were examined for Federal Aviation Regulation Parts 121 and 135 operations to establish future requirements for the NASA Aviation Safety Program s Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) Project. Data analyzed includes National Transportation Safety Board (NSTB) accident data (1988 to 2003), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) incident data (1988 to 2003), and Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) incident data (1993 to 2008). Failure modes and effects analyses were examined to identify possible modes of SCFM. A table of potential adverse conditions was developed to help evaluate IVHM research technologies. Tables present details of specific SCFM for the incidents and accidents. Of the 370 NTSB accidents affected by SCFM, 48 percent involved the engine or fuel system, and 31 percent involved landing gear or hydraulic failure and malfunctions. A total of 35 percent of all SCFM accidents were caused by improper maintenance. Of the 7732 FAA database incidents affected by SCFM, 33 percent involved landing gear or hydraulics, and 33 percent involved the engine and fuel system. The most frequent SCFM found in ASRS were turbine engine, pressurization system, hydraulic main system, flight management system/flight management computer, and engine. Because the IVHM Project does not address maintenance issues, and landing gear and hydraulic systems accidents are usually not fatal, the focus of research should be those SCFMs that occur in the engine/fuel and flight control/structures systems as well as power systems.

Use of questionnaires and an expert panel to judge the environmental consequences of chemical spills for the development of an environment-accident index.

PubMed

Andersson, Asa Scott; Stjernström, Olof; Fängmark, Ingrid

2005-05-01

Assessing the environmental consequences of a chemical accident is a complex task. To date, the methods used to evaluate the environmental effects of an acute release of a chemical have often been based on measurements of chemical and physical variables deemed to be important, such as the concentration of the chemical. However, a broader strategy is needed to predict the environmental consequences of potential accidents during the planning process. An Environment-Accident Index (EAI), a simple tool based on such a strategy, has been developed to facilitate the consideration of a multitude of influential variables. The objectives of this study were to evaluate whether questionnaire-based expert panel's judgements could provide useful data on the environmental consequences of chemical spills, and an effective basis for further development of the EAI. As expected, the judgements did not agree perfectly, but they do give rough indications of the environmental effects, and highlight consistent trends that should be useful inputs for planning, prevention and decontamination processes. The different accidents were also judged to have caused everything from minor to very major effects in the environment, implying that a wide range of accident scenarios were represented in the material and covered by the EAI. Therefore, questionnaires and expert panel judgements can be used to collect useful data for estimating the likely environmental consequences of chemical accidents and for further development of the EAI.

135Cs activity and 135Cs/137Cs atom ratio in environmental samples before and after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

PubMed Central

Yang, Guosheng; Tazoe, Hirofumi; Yamada, Masatoshi

2016-01-01

135Cs/137Cs is a potential tracer for radiocesium source identification. However, due to the challenge to measure 135Cs, there were no 135Cs data available for Japanese environmental samples before the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. It was only 3 years after the accident that limited 135Cs values could be measured in heavily contaminated environmental samples. In the present study, activities of 134Cs, 135Cs, and 137Cs, along with their ratios in 67 soil and plant samples heavily and lightly contaminated by the FDNPP accident were measured by combining γ spectrometry with ICP-MS/MS. The arithmetic means of the 134Cs/137Cs activity ratio (1.033 ± 0.006) and 135Cs/137Cs atom ratio (0.334 ± 0.005) (decay corrected to March 11, 2011), from old leaves of plants collected immediately after the FDNPP accident, were confirmed to represent the FDNPP derived radiocesium signature. Subsequently, for the first time, trace 135Cs amounts before the FDNPP accident were deduced according to the contribution of global and FDNPP accident-derived fallout. Apart from two soil samples with a tiny global fallout contribution, contributions of global fallout radiocesium in other soil samples were observed to be 0.338%–52.6%. The obtained 135Cs/137Cs database will be useful for its application as a geochemical tracer in the future. PMID:27052481

Fission products and nuclear fuel behaviour under severe accident conditions part 2: Fuel behaviour in the VERDON-1 sample

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geiger, E.; Le Gall, C.; Gallais-During, A.; Pontillon, Y.; Lamontagne, J.; Hanus, E.; Ducros, G.

2017-11-01

Within the framework of the International Source Term Programme (ISTP), the VERDON programme aims at quantifying the source term of radioactive materials in case of a hypothetical severe accident in a light water reactor (LWR). Tests were performed in a new experimental laboratory (VERDON) built in the LECA-STAR facility (CEA Cadarache). The VERDON-1 test was devoted to the study of a high burn-up UO2 fuel and FP releases at very high temperature (≈2873 K) in a reducing atmosphere. Post-test qualitative and quantitative characterisations of the VERDON-1 sample led to the proposal of a scenario explaining the phenomena occurring during the experimental sequence. Hence, the fuel and the cladding may have interacted which led to the melting of UO2-ZrO2 alloy. Although no relocation was observed during the test, it may have been imminent.

Radiant Heat Testing of the H1224A Shipping/Storage Container

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-05-01

re - entry vehicles caused by credible accidents during air and ground transportation. Radiant heat testing of the H1224A storage/shipping container is...inner container, and re - entry vehicle (RV) temperatures during radiant heat testing. Computer modelling can be used to predict weapon response throughout...Nomenclature RV Re - entry Vehicle midsection mass mock-up WR War Reserve STS Stockpile-to-Target Sequence NAWC Simulated H1224A container by Naval Air

Purification of Encephalitozoon Cultures Contaminated by Mycoplasmas by Murine Intraperitoneal Inoculation

PubMed Central

Ridoux, Olivier; Foucault, Cédric; Drancourt, Michel

1998-01-01

Encephalitozoon species are strict intracellular microsporidia. Cocultures with eukaryotic cell lines can become accidently contaminated by mycoplasmas. We propose a decontamination protocol based on differential cell targeting after intraperitoneal inoculation in mice. Mycoplasma-free microsporidia were isolated from the brains and spleens of inoculated mice 24 h postinoculation by using the centrifugation shell vial system. Identification was confirmed by direct sequencing of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA. PMID:9666031

Historical analysis of US pipeline accidents triggered by natural hazards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Girgin, Serkan; Krausmann, Elisabeth

2015-04-01

Natural hazards, such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, or lightning, can initiate accidents in oil and gas pipelines with potentially major consequences on the population or the environment due to toxic releases, fires and explosions. Accidents of this type are also referred to as Natech events. Many major accidents highlight the risk associated with natural-hazard impact on pipelines transporting dangerous substances. For instance, in the USA in 1994, flooding of the San Jacinto River caused the rupture of 8 and the undermining of 29 pipelines by the floodwaters. About 5.5 million litres of petroleum and related products were spilled into the river and ignited. As a results, 547 people were injured and significant environmental damage occurred. Post-incident analysis is a valuable tool for better understanding the causes, dynamics and impacts of pipeline Natech accidents in support of future accident prevention and mitigation. Therefore, data on onshore hazardous-liquid pipeline accidents collected by the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) was analysed. For this purpose, a database-driven incident data analysis system was developed to aid the rapid review and categorization of PHMSA incident reports. Using an automated data-mining process followed by a peer review of the incident records and supported by natural hazard databases and external information sources, the pipeline Natechs were identified. As a by-product of the data-collection process, the database now includes over 800,000 incidents from all causes in industrial and transportation activities, which are automatically classified in the same way as the PHMSA record. This presentation describes the data collection and reviewing steps conducted during the study, provides information on the developed database and data analysis tools, and reports the findings of a statistical analysis of the identified hazardous liquid pipeline incidents in terms of accident dynamics and consequences.

Incidence and related factors of traffic accidents among the older population in a rapidly aging society.

PubMed

Hong, Kimyong; Lee, Kyoung-Mu; Jang, Soong-nang

2015-01-01

To estimate the incidence of traffic accidents and find related factors among the older population. We used the cross-sectional data from the Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS), which was conducted between 2008 and 2010 and completed by 680,202 adults aged 19 years or more. And we used individuals aged 60 years or above (n=210,914). The incidence of traffic accidents was estimated as number of traffic accidents experienced per thousand per year by a number of factors including age, sex, residential area, education, employment status, and diagnosis with chronic diseases. Multiple logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each potential risk factor adjusted for the others. Incidence of traffic accidents was estimated as 11.74/1,000 per year for men, and 7.65/1,000 per year for women. It tended to decline as age increased among women; compared to the youngest old age group (60-64), the older old groups (70-74 and 80+) were at lower risk for traffic accidents. Depressive symptom was the strongest predictor for both men (OR=1.83, 95% CI=1.28-2.61) and women (1.70, 1.23-2.35). Risk of traffic accident was greater in employed men (1.76, 1.40-2.22) and women diagnosis with arthritis (1.36, 1.06-1.75). Given that the incidence of and factors associated with traffic accidents differ between men and women, preventive strategies, such as driver education and traffic safety counseling for older adults, should be modified in accordance with these differences. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Economic Estimation of the Losses Caused by Surface Water Pollution Accidents in China From the Perspective of Water Bodies' Functions.

PubMed

Yao, Hong; You, Zhen; Liu, Bo

2016-01-22

The number of surface water pollution accidents (abbreviated as SWPAs) has increased substantially in China in recent years. Estimation of economic losses due to SWPAs has been one of the focuses in China and is mentioned many times in the Environmental Protection Law of China promulgated in 2014. From the perspective of water bodies' functions, pollution accident damages can be divided into eight types: damage to human health, water supply suspension, fishery, recreational functions, biological diversity, environmental property loss, the accident's origin and other indirect losses. In the valuation of damage to people's life, the procedure for compensation of traffic accidents in China was used. The functional replacement cost method was used in economic estimation of the losses due to water supply suspension and loss of water's recreational functions. Damage to biological diversity was estimated by recovery cost analysis and damage to environmental property losses were calculated using pollutant removal costs. As a case study, using the proposed calculation procedure the economic losses caused by the major Songhuajiang River pollution accident that happened in China in 2005 have been estimated at 2263 billion CNY. The estimated economic losses for real accidents can sometimes be influenced by social and political factors, such as data authenticity and accuracy. Besides, one or more aspects in the method might be overestimated, underrated or even ignored. The proposed procedure may be used by decision makers for the economic estimation of losses in SWPAs. Estimates of the economic losses of pollution accidents could help quantify potential costs associated with increased risk sources along lakes/rivers but more importantly, highlight the value of clean water to society as a whole.

Soil vulnerability for cesium transfer.

PubMed

Vandenhove, Hildegarde; Sweeck, Lieve

2011-07-01

The recent events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan have raised questions about the accumulation of radionuclides in soils and the possible impacts on agriculture surrounding nuclear power plants. This article summarizes the knowledge gained after the nuclear power plant accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on how soil parameters influence soil vulnerability for radiocesium bioavailability, discusses some potential agrochemical countermeasures, and presents some predictions of radiocesium crop concentrations for areas affected by the Fukushima accident. Copyright © 2011 SETAC.

Synthetic Vision CFIT Experiments for GA and Commercial Aircraft: "A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Lives"

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prinzel, Lawrence J., III; Hughes, Monica F.; Arthur, Jarvis J., III; Kramer, Lynda J.; Glaab, Louis J.; Bailey, Randy E.; Parrish, Russell V.; Uenking, Michael D.

2003-01-01

Because restricted visibility has been implicated in the majority of commercial and general aviation accidents, solutions will need to focus on how to enhance safety during instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The NASA Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) project is developing technologies to help achieve these goals through the synthetic presentation of how the outside world would look to the pilot if vision were not reduced. The potential safety outcome would be a significant reduction in several accident categories, such as controlled-flight-into-terrain (CFIT), that have restricted visibility as a causal factor. The paper describes two experiments that demonstrated the efficacy of synthetic vision technology to prevent CFIT accidents for both general aviation and commercial aircraft.

Monte Carlo simulation of single accident airport risk profile

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

A computer simulation model was developed for estimating the potential economic impacts of a carbon fiber release upon facilities within an 80 kilometer radius of a major airport. The model simulated the possible range of release conditions and the resulting dispersion of the carbon fibers. Each iteration of the model generated a specific release scenario, which would cause a specific amount of dollar loss to the surrounding community. By repeated iterations, a risk profile was generated, showing the probability distribution of losses from one accident. Using accident probability estimates, the risks profile for annual losses was derived. The mechanics are described of the simulation model, the required input data, and the risk profiles generated for the 26 large hub airports.

A suggested color scheme for reducing perception-related accidents on construction work sites.

PubMed

Yi, June-seong; Kim, Yong-woo; Kim, Ki-aeng; Koo, Bonsang

2012-09-01

Changes in workforce demographics have led to the need for more sophisticated approaches to addressing the safety requirements of the construction industry. Despite extensive research in other industry domains, the construction industry has been passive in exploring the impact of a color scheme; perception-related accidents have been effectively diminished by its implementation. The research demonstrated that the use of appropriate color schemes could improve the actions and psychology of workers on site, thereby increasing their perceptions of potentially dangerous situations. As a preliminary study, the objects selected by rigorous analysis on accident reports were workwear, safety net, gondola, scaffolding, and safety passage. The colors modified on site for temporary facilities were adopted from existing theoretical and empirical research that suggests the use of certain colors and their combinations to improve visibility and conspicuity while minimizing work fatigue. The color schemes were also tested and confirmed through two workshops with workers and managers currently involved in actual projects. The impacts of color schemes suggested in this paper are summarized as follows. First, the color schemes improve the conspicuity of facilities with other on site components, enabling workers to quickly discern and orient themselves in their work environment. Secondly, the color schemes have been selected to minimize the visual work fatigue and monotony that can potentially increase accidents. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Physician-patient relationship and medical accident victim compensation: some insights into the French regulatory system.

PubMed

Ancelot, Lydie; Oros, Cornel

2015-06-01

Given the growing amount of medical litigation heard by courts, the 2002 Kouchner law in France has created the Office National d'Indemnisation des Accidents Médicaux (ONIAM), whose main aim is to encourage out-of-court settlements when a conflict between a physician and the victim of a medical accident occurs. More than 10 years after the implementation of this law, the statistics analysing its effectiveness are contradictory, which raises the question of the potential negative effects of the ONIAM on the compensation system. In order to address this question, the article analyses the impact of the ONIAM on the nature of settlement negotiations between the physician and the victim. Using a dynamic game within incomplete information, we develop a comparative analysis of two types of compensation systems in case of medical accidents: socialised financing granted by the ONIAM and private financing provided by the physician. We show that the ONIAM could encourage out-of-court settlements provided that the hypothesis of judicial error is relevant. On the contrary, in the case of a low probability of judicial errors, the ONIAM could be effective only for severe medical accidents.

Survey of Thermal-Fluids Evaluation and Confirmatory Experimental Validation Requirements of Accident Tolerant Cladding Concepts with Focus on Boiling Heat Transfer Characteristics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brown, Nicholas R.; Wysocki, Aaron J.; Terrani, Kurt A.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) is working closely with the nuclear industry to develop fuel and cladding candidates with potentially enhanced accident tolerance, also known as accident tolerant fuel (ATF). Thermal-fluids characteristics are a vital element of a holistic engineering evaluation of ATF concepts. One vital characteristic related to boiling heat transfer is the critical heat flux (CHF). CHF plays a vital role in determining safety margins during normal operation and also in the progression of potential transient or accident scenarios. This deliverable is a scoping survey of thermal-fluids evaluation andmore » confirmatory experimental validation requirements of accident tolerant cladding concepts with a focus on boiling heat transfer characteristics. The key takeaway messages of this report are: 1. CHF prediction accuracy is important and the correlations may have significant uncertainty. 2. Surface conditions are important factors for CHF, primarily the wettability that is characterized by contact angle. Smaller contact angle indicates greater wettability, which increases the CHF. Surface roughness also impacts wettability. Results in the literature for pool boiling experiments indicate changes in CHF by up to 60% for several ATF cladding candidates. 3. The measured wettability of FeCrAl (i.e., contact angle and roughness) indicates that CHF should be investigated further through pool boiling and flow boiling experiments. 4. Initial measurements of static advancing contact angle and surface roughness indicate that FeCrAl is expected to have a higher CHF than Zircaloy. The measured contact angle of different FeCrAl alloy samples depends on oxide layer thickness and composition. The static advancing contact angle tends to decrease as the oxide layer thickness increases.« less

Toxicology of hydrogen fluoride in relation to major accident hazards.

PubMed

Meldrum, M

1999-10-01

A major industrial accident involving the release of hydrogen fluoride has the potential to cause serious injury and possibly death in the surrounding human population. Given the potential for such serious and large-scale effects, there is a need for scientifically based risk assessments for determining appropriate on-site risk control measures, as well as for informing off-site emergency plans and land-use development decisions. Within Great Britain, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has the statutory responsibility for providing land-use planning advice in the vicinity of major accident hazard sites. The advice is based on quantified assessment of the individual risk of exposure to a specified amount of the toxic substance. Among other things this requires a consistent, reliable, and transparent understanding of the major hazard toxicology of the substance concerned. An assessment of the toxicology of hydrogen fluoride in relation to major accident hazards, based on conventional inhalation toxicity studies, was published by HSE in 1993. Recently, studies have been reported in which rats inhaled hydrogen fluoride via a mouthpiece attached to an endotracheal cannula. HSE has explored the use of this "mouth-breathing" rat model as a possible basis for human health risk assessment for hydrogen fluoride in the context of major accident hazards. A number of uncertainties in the use of this animal model have been identified that warrant caution in the use of this model for regulatory purposes. Overall, the results from the "mouth-breathing" rat model did not lead to a change in the HSE assessment of hydrogen fluoride, which remains based on experimental data obtained following "mainstream" toxicological practices. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Impacts on the marine environment in the case of a hypothetical accident involving the recovery of the dumped Russian submarine K-27, based on dispersion of 137Cs.

PubMed

Hosseini, A; Amundsen, I; Brown, J; Dowdall, M; Karcher, M; Kauker, F; Schnur, R

2017-02-01

There is increasing concern regarding the issue of dumped nuclear waste in the Arctic Seas and in particular dumped objects with Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF). Amongst dumped objects in the Arctic, the dumped Russian submarine K-27 has received great attention as it contains two reactors with highly enriched fuel and lies at a depth of about 30 m under water. To address these concerns a health and environmental impact assessment has been undertaken. Marine dispersion of potentially released radionuclides as a consequence of different hypothetical accident scenarios was modelled using the model NAOSIM. The outputs from the dispersion modelling have been used as inputs to food-chain transfer and environmental dosimetry models. The annual effective doses for subsistence fishing communities of the Barents-Kara seas region do not exceed 0.6 mSv for hypothetical accidents located at Stepovogo fjord or the Barents Sea. For high rate consumers of fish in Norway, following a potential accident at the Gremikha Bay, annual effects doses would be at around 0.15 mSv. Accumulated doses (over 90 days) for various organisms and for all release scenarios considered were never in excess of 150 μGy. The levels of 137 Cs derived for marine organism in areas close to Norway were not values that would likely cause concern from a regulatory perspective although for subsistence fishing communities close to the considered accident locations, it is not inconceivable that some restrictions on fishing etc. would need to be introduced. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Retrospective analysis and prevention strategies for accidents associated with cervical manipulation in China].

PubMed

Wang, Hui-Hao; Zhan, Hong-Sheng; Zhang, Ming-Cai; Chen, Bo; Guo, Kai

2012-09-01

To review previously reported injuries cases which were associated with cervical manipulation in China, and to describe the risks and benefits of the therapy. Relevant case reports, review articles, surveys, and investigations regarding treatment of cervical spondylosis with cervical manipulation involving accidents and associated complication were retrived with a search of the literature from SinoMed, CNKI, CQVIP, and Wanfang digital databases between 1979 to March 2011. The data were extracted and statistically analyzed. Total of 150 cases of injury reported in 40 articles corresponded the inclusion criteria. Accidents occurred in 156 cases,of them,syncope was in 45 cases (28.85%), mild spinal cord injury or compression was in 34 cases (21.79%), nerve root injury was in 24 cases (15.38%), ineffective or symptom increased was in 11 cases (7.05%); cervical spine fracture was in 11 cases (7.05%), dislocation or semiluxation was in 6 cases (3.85%), soft tissue injury was in 3 cases (1.92%), serious accident was 22 cases (14.70%, including paralysis, death and cerebrovascular accident). In cases of serious accident, 12 cases (54.55%) had the other primary diseases. Types of related manipulation including rotation reduction (42.00%, 63 cases), rubbing points or muscle resulting strong stimulation (28.00%, 42 cases). 100 cases (66.67%) obtained cured or basically recovered results, 21 cases (14.00%) improved, 4 cases (2.67%) deterioration and 5 cases (3.33%) died. It is imperative for practitioners to complete the patients' management and assessment before manipulation. That the practitioners conduct a detailed physical examination and make a correct diagnosis would be a pivot method of avoiding accidents. Excluding contraindications and potential risks, standardizing evaluation criteria and practitioners' qualification, increasing safety awareness and risk assessment and strengthening the monitoring of the accidents could decrease the incidence of accidents.

Analysis of Incident and Accident Reports and Risk Management in Spine Surgery.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Kazuyoshi; Imagama, Shiro; Ando, Kei; Hida, Tetsuro; Ito, Kenyu; Tsushima, Mikito; Ishikawa, Yoshimoto; Matsumoto, Akiyuki; Morozumi, Masayoshi; Nishida, Yoshihiro; Nagao, Yoshimasa; Ishiguro, Naoki

2017-08-01

A review of accident and incident reports. To analyze prevalence, characteristics, and details of perioperative incidents and accidents in patients receiving spine surgery. In our institution, a clinical error that potentially results in an adverse event is usually submitted as an incident or accident report through a web database, to ensure anonymous and blame-free reporting. All reports are analyzed by a medical safety management group. These reports contain valuable data for management of medical safety, but there have been no studies evaluating such data for spine surgery. A total of 320 incidents and accidents that occurred perioperatively in 172 of 415 spine surgeries were included in the study. Incidents were defined as events that were "problematic, but with no damage to the patient," and accidents as events "with damage to the patient." The details of these events were analyzed. There were 278 incidents in 137 surgeries and 42 accidents in 35 surgeries, giving prevalence of 33% (137/415) and 8% (35/415), respectively. The proportion of accidents among all events was significantly higher for doctors than non-doctors [68.0% (17/25) vs. 8.5% (25/295), P < 0.01] and in the operating room compared with outside the operating room [40.5% (15/37) vs. 9.5% (27/283), P < 0.01]. There was no significant difference in years of experience among personnel involved in all events. The major types of events were medication-related, line and tube problems, and falls and slips. Accidents also occurred because of a long-term prone position, with complications such as laryngeal edema, ulnar nerve palsy, and tooth damage. Surgery and procedures in the operating room always have a risk of complications. Therefore, a particular effort is needed to establish safe management of this environment and to provide advice on risk to the doctor and medical care team. 4.

Interview protocols and ergonomics checklist for analysing overexertion back accidents among nursing personnel.

PubMed

Engkvist, I L; Hagberg, M; Wigaeus-Hjelm, E; Menckel, E; Ekenvall, L

1995-06-01

No documented strategy, including preventive strategies, for systematic investigation of overexertion back accidents among nursing personnel has yet been published. One aim of the present study was to develop standardized instruments for the systematic investigation of back accidents among nursing personnel in order to develop preventive strategies. Another aim was to produce a screening tool that could easily be used for identifying potential overexertion back accident hazards. Two structured interview protocols were developed, one for the injured person and one for the supervisor. An ergonomics checklist was designed for the most important spaces according to accident statistics: patient's room, corridor, toilet, and also one for 'other space', eg X-ray and treatment rooms. The instruments were developed by frequent discussions and adjustments in a task force of researchers and occupational health personnel. The protocols were tested in two steps before a final version was established. The construct validity and interobserver reliability of the checklist were tested by ten ergonomists, who checked a patient's room, a toilet and a corridor with some known hazards. The constructed validity agreement was 90% in 19 of 26 items in the checklist. The interobserver reliability had the same figures as the validity for all items in the checklist. The interview protocols and checklist appear to be suitable for systematic investigation of overexertion back accidents.

Myopia, spectacle wear, and risk of bicycle accidents among rural Chinese secondary school students: the Xichang Pediatric Refractive Error Study report no. 7.

PubMed

Zhang, Mingzhi; Congdon, Nathan; Li, Liping; Song, Yue; Choi, Kai; Wang, Yunfei; Zhou, Zhongxia; Liu, Xiaojian; Sharma, Abhishek; Chen, Weihong; Lam, Dennis S C

2009-06-01

To study the effect of myopia and spectacle wear on bicycle-related injuries in rural Chinese students. Myopia is common among Chinese students but few studies have examined its effect on daily activities. Data on visual acuity, refractive error, current spectacle wear, and history of bicycle use and accidents during the past 3 years were sought from 1891 students undergoing eye examinations in rural Guangdong province. Refractive and accident data were available for 1539 participants (81.3%), among whom the mean age was 14.6 years, 52.5% were girls, 26.8% wore glasses, and 12.9% had myopia of less than -4 diopters in both eyes. More than 90% relied on bicycles to get to school daily. A total of 2931 accidents were reported by 423 participants, with 68 requiring medical attention. Male sex (odds ratio, 1.55; P < .001) and spectacle wear (odds ratio, 1.38; P = .04) were associated with a higher risk of accident, but habitual visual acuity and myopia were unassociated with the crash risk, after adjusting for age, sex, time spent riding, and risky riding behaviors. These results may be consistent with data on motor vehicle accidents implicating peripheral vision (potentially compromised by spectacle wear) more strongly than central visual acuity in mediating crash risk.

[Health-related quality of life of people with severe traumatic injury: a longitudinal study using the SF-36 health survey].

PubMed

Bauer, J; Beck, B; Wandl, U

2013-06-01

Even though 85 percent of those who have been severely injured in an accident in Germany survive, complex and serious long-term consequences are still a major problem not only for health and care insurance providers but also for the accident victims themselves because their quality of life is affected permanently. Therefore the aim of the current study is to identify factors that significantly improve the quality of life after a severe traumatic injury and to investigate whether the support by a reintegration service has a positive effect on the victims' quality of life. The sample consisted of severely injured accident victims who were supported by a reintegration service. The data collection comprised three data points. At every data point the SF-36 questionnaire was used to assess the participants' quality of life. The results indicate that an individual medical-vocational support by a reintegration service has the potential to significantly and stably improve the physical aspects of quality of life, even if the accident dates back several years. Furthermore it appears to be important to support the independence of the accident victims because assistance by a third person correlates with a lower degree of physical quality of life, regardless of severity or type of injury. Moreover it becomes clear that it is important to pay more attention to the treatment of psychological consequences of severe accidents.

Derailment-based Fault Tree Analysis on Risk Management of Railway Turnout Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dindar, Serdar; Kaewunruen, Sakdirat; An, Min; Gigante-Barrera, Ángel

2017-10-01

Railway turnouts are fundamental mechanical infrastructures, which allow a rolling stock to divert one direction to another. As those are of a large number of engineering subsystems, e.g. track, signalling, earthworks, these particular sub-systems are expected to induce high potential through various kind of failure mechanisms. This could be a cause of any catastrophic event. A derailment, one of undesirable events in railway operation, often results, albeit rare occurs, in damaging to rolling stock, railway infrastructure and disrupt service, and has the potential to cause casualties and even loss of lives. As a result, it is quite significant that a well-designed risk analysis is performed to create awareness of hazards and to identify what parts of the systems may be at risk. This study will focus on all types of environment based failures as a result of numerous contributing factors noted officially as accident reports. This risk analysis is designed to help industry to minimise the occurrence of accidents at railway turnouts. The methodology of the study relies on accurate assessment of derailment likelihood, and is based on statistical multiple factors-integrated accident rate analysis. The study is prepared in the way of establishing product risks and faults, and showing the impact of potential process by Boolean algebra.

Assessing the safety effects of cooperative intelligent transport systems: A bowtie analysis approach.

PubMed

Ehlers, Ute Christine; Ryeng, Eirin Olaussen; McCormack, Edward; Khan, Faisal; Ehlers, Sören

2017-02-01

The safety effects of cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) are mostly unknown and associated with uncertainties, because these systems represent emerging technology. This study proposes a bowtie analysis as a conceptual framework for evaluating the safety effect of cooperative intelligent transport systems. These seek to prevent road traffic accidents or mitigate their consequences. Under the assumption of the potential occurrence of a particular single vehicle accident, three case studies demonstrate the application of the bowtie analysis approach in road traffic safety. The approach utilizes exemplary expert estimates and knowledge from literature on the probability of the occurrence of accident risk factors and of the success of safety measures. Fuzzy set theory is applied to handle uncertainty in expert knowledge. Based on this approach, a useful tool is developed to estimate the effects of safety-related cooperative intelligent transport systems in terms of the expected change in accident occurrence and consequence probability. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Medical and policy considerations for nuclear and radiation accidents, incidents and terrorism.

PubMed

Gale, Robert Peter

2017-11-01

The purpose of this review is to address the increasing medical and public concern regarding the health consequences of radiation exposure, a concern shaped not only by fear of another Chernobyl or Fukushima nuclear power facility accident but also by the intentional use of a nuclear weapon, a radiological dispersion device, a radiological exposure device, or an improved nuclear device by rogue states such as North Korea and terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda and ISIS. The United States has the medical capacity to respond to a limited nuclear or radiation accident or incident but an effective medical response to a catastrophic nuclear event is impossible. Dealing effectively with nuclear and radiation accidents or incidents requires diverse strategies, including policy decisions, public education, and medical preparedness. I review medical consequences of exposures to ionizing radiations, likely concomitant injuries and potential medical intervention. These data should help haematologists and other healthcare professionals understand the principles of medical consequences of nuclear terrorism. However, the best strategy is prevention.

Strain on the back in concrete reinforcement work.

PubMed Central

Wickström, G; Niskanen, T; Riihimäki, H

1985-01-01

To investigate the long term effect of heavy construction work on the back the occurrence of postures, lifting, carrying, and accidents in concrete reinforcement work and in maintenance house painting were measured. The 32 620 observations covering 272 work hours showed that reinforcement work necessitated stooped postures and heavy lifting more often than did painting. Reported minor back accidents were more than ten times as common in reinforcement work than in painting (1.3 compared with 0.11 accidents per man-year, p less than 0.001). Accidents of the musculoskeletal system, registered by the insurance companies, were also several times more common in reinforcement work (81 compared with 25 per 1000 man-years, p less than 0.001). The premature development of lumbar degeneration detected in the clinical study of the reinforcement workers was evidently due to the occupational strain on the back. The different types of hazardous back loads probably potentiate the effects of each other. PMID:3978042

Internality and externality correlates of potential drivers among high school pupils in Holon (Israel).

PubMed

Brook, U; Weitzman, A

1994-01-01

Car accidents are the leading causes of death and handicap among adolescents and young adults. Thirty-six pupils from the last class in high school (in the age group 17-18 years) have attended lectures with explanations concerning the consequences of car accidents by physicians of rehabilitation centers. They also were taken on a one-day visit to such a center. They have seen and talked with persons who were severely handicapped because of car accidents, and have followed the physical therapists and occupational healing therapists throughout their work day. The pupils completed the Rotter and Montag Internality-Externality Scale questionnaire before and after the meeting and staging with the handicaps, and the results showed an increase of 10.28% in their Internal focus of control. The conclusion is that confrontation of young future drivers with handicaps as a result of car accidents in rehabilitation centers should be a routine and regular habit during the last classes of high school.

Performances of the PIPER scalable child human body model in accident reconstruction

PubMed Central

Giordano, Chiara; Kleiven, Svein

2017-01-01

Human body models (HBMs) have the potential to provide significant insights into the pediatric response to impact. This study describes a scalable/posable approach to perform child accident reconstructions using the Position and Personalize Advanced Human Body Models for Injury Prediction (PIPER) scalable child HBM of different ages and in different positions obtained by the PIPER tool. Overall, the PIPER scalable child HBM managed reasonably well to predict the injury severity and location of the children involved in real-life crash scenarios documented in the medical records. The developed methodology and workflow is essential for future work to determine child injury tolerances based on the full Child Advanced Safety Project for European Roads (CASPER) accident reconstruction database. With the workflow presented in this study, the open-source PIPER scalable HBM combined with the PIPER tool is also foreseen to have implications for improved safety designs for a better protection of children in traffic accidents. PMID:29135997

Trajectories of Emotional Symptoms and Peer Relationship Problems in Children after Nuclear Disaster: Evidence from the Fukushima Health Management Survey.

PubMed

Oe, Misari; Maeda, Masaharu; Ohira, Tetsuya; Itagaki, Shuntaro; Harigane, Mayumi; Suzuki, Yuriko; Yabe, Hirooki; Yasumura, Seiji; Kamiya, Kenji; Ohto, Hitoshi

2018-01-06

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, which occurred in March 2011, is having long-term effects on children. We planned this study to describe the trajectories of emotional symptoms and peer relationship problems in children and to examine potential risks and protective factors over the 35 months following the accident. The sample was 11,791 children in the first to sixth elementary grades. We identified four patterns for emotional symptoms and three patterns for peer relationship problems, using group-based trajectory modelling. For emotional symptoms, female gender, experience of tsunami and nuclear plant accident, out-of-prefecture evacuees, and insufficient physical activity were associated with the very severe trajectory. In contrast, for peer relationship problems, male gender, experience of nuclear plant accident, and insufficient physical activity were associated with the very severe trajectory. Different factors might be related to the very severe trajectories of emotional symptoms and peer relationship problems.

[Environmental, social, and roadway vulnerability in accidents involving transportation of hazardous products: a case study of the BR-101 highway between Osório and Torres in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil].

PubMed

Tinoco, Maria Auxiliadora Cannarozzo; Nodari, Christine Tessele; Pereira, Kimberllyn Rosa da Silva

2016-09-19

This study aimed to assess the environmental and social vulnerability and identify critical highway stretches for accidents involving transportation of hazardous products on the BR-101 highway between the cities of Osório and Torres in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. The study's approach consisted of a multiple-criteria analysis combining highway safety analysis and environmental and social vulnerability analysis in the occurrence of accidents with hazardous products, plus cartographic analysis techniques. Thirty-eight kilometers of the highway showed high vulnerability, of which 8 kilometers with critical vulnerability, associated with bridges over rivers, water uptake points, a tunnel, environmental preservation areas, and an urban area. These stretches should be prioritized when developing action plans for accident mitigation and development of public policies for this highway. This proved to be an unprecedented approach when compared to existing studies and a potentially useful tool for decision-making in emergency operations.

The ENEA criticality accident dosimetry system: a contribution to the 2002 international intercomparison at the SILENE reactor.

PubMed

Gualdrini, G; Bedogni, R; Fantuzzi, E; Mariotti, F

2004-01-01

The present paper summarises the activity carried out at the ENEA Radiation Protection Institute for updating the methodologies employed for the evaluation of the neutron and photon dose to the exposed workers in case of a criticality accident, in the framework of the 'International Intercomparison of Criticality Accident Dosimetry Systems' (Silène reactor, IRSN-CEA-Valduc June 2002). The evaluation of the neutron spectra and the neutron dosimetric quantities relies on activation detectors and on unfolding algorithms. Thermoluminescent detectors are employed for the gamma dose measurement. The work is aimed at accurately characterising the measurement system and, at the same time, testing the algorithms. Useful spectral information were included, based on Monte Carlo simulations, to take into account the potential accident scenarios of practical interest. All along this exercise intercomparison a particular attention was devoted to the 'traceability' of all the experimental and computational parameters and therefore, aimed at an easy treatment by the user.

Trajectories of Emotional Symptoms and Peer Relationship Problems in Children after Nuclear Disaster: Evidence from the Fukushima Health Management Survey

PubMed Central

Maeda, Masaharu; Itagaki, Shuntaro; Harigane, Mayumi; Suzuki, Yuriko; Yabe, Hirooki; Yasumura, Seiji; Kamiya, Kenji; Ohto, Hitoshi

2018-01-01

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, which occurred in March 2011, is having long-term effects on children. We planned this study to describe the trajectories of emotional symptoms and peer relationship problems in children and to examine potential risks and protective factors over the 35 months following the accident. The sample was 11,791 children in the first to sixth elementary grades. We identified four patterns for emotional symptoms and three patterns for peer relationship problems, using group-based trajectory modelling. For emotional symptoms, female gender, experience of tsunami and nuclear plant accident, out-of-prefecture evacuees, and insufficient physical activity were associated with the very severe trajectory. In contrast, for peer relationship problems, male gender, experience of nuclear plant accident, and insufficient physical activity were associated with the very severe trajectory. Different factors might be related to the very severe trajectories of emotional symptoms and peer relationship problems. PMID:29316618

Investigating the multi-causal and complex nature of the accident causal influence of construction project features.

PubMed

Manu, Patrick A; Ankrah, Nii A; Proverbs, David G; Suresh, Subashini

2012-09-01

Construction project features (CPFs) are organisational, physical and operational attributes that characterise construction projects. Although previous studies have examined the accident causal influence of CPFs, the multi-causal attribute of this causal phenomenon still remain elusive and thus requires further investigation. Aiming to shed light on this facet of the accident causal phenomenon of CPFs, this study examines relevant literature and crystallises the attained insight of the multi-causal attribute by a graphical model which is subsequently operationalised by a derived mathematical risk expression that offers a systematic approach for evaluating the potential of CPFs to cause harm and consequently their health and safety (H&S) risk implications. The graphical model and the risk expression put forth by the study thus advance current understanding of the accident causal phenomenon of CPFs and they present an opportunity for project participants to manage the H&S risk associated with CPFs from the early stages of project procurement. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Mutism and acute behavioral disorders revealing MELAS syndrome].

PubMed

Coomans, H; Barroso, B; Bertandeau, E; Bonnan, M; Dakar, A; Demasles, S; Garraud, S; Krim, E; Martin-Négrier, M-L

2011-11-01

MELAS syndrome (mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes) is a rare genetic mitochondrial disease which can cause cerebral (cerebrovascular accident, migraine, mental deterioration..), sensorial (bilateral symmetrical deafness) and peripheral (muscular involvement, neuropathy) disorders potentially associated with diabetes, renal or cardiac disorders, or growth retardation. Eighty percent of the patients have the 3243 A>G mutation in the leucine RNA transfer gene. Clinical manifestations leading to discovery of the mutation can be extremely varied, affecting patients of different age groups. We report the case of a 49-year-old man who presented acute fits of confusion followed by mutism and praxic disorders. History taking revealed recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes, axonal neuropathy, and bilateral symmetrical deafness requiring hearing aids. The initial MRI showed FLAIR sequences with bi-parietal abnormalities, no signs of recent stroke on the DW/B10000 sequences, and basal ganglia calcifications. Blood tests and morphological findings ruled out a vascular origin. Search for lactic acidosis remained constantly negative in blood samples despite positive cerebrospinal fluid samples (N×3). The 3243 A>G mitochondrial DNA mutation was identified. The neuropsychological evaluation revealed a serious dysexecutive syndrome with a major impact on the patient's self sufficiency. Neurocognitive disorders are not common in MELAS syndrome. Brain MRI results and the presence of extra-neurological signs can be helpful for diagnosis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

An Accident Precursor Analysis Process Tailored for NASA Space Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Groen, Frank; Stamatelatos, Michael; Dezfuli, Homayoon; Maggio, Gaspare

2010-01-01

Accident Precursor Analysis (APA) serves as the bridge between existing risk modeling activities, which are often based on historical or generic failure statistics, and system anomalies, which provide crucial information about the failure mechanisms that are actually operative in the system and which may differ in frequency or type from those in the various models. These discrepancies between the models (perceived risk) and the system (actual risk) provide the leading indication of an underappreciated risk. This paper presents an APA process developed specifically for NASA Earth-to-Orbit space systems. The purpose of the process is to identify and characterize potential sources of system risk as evidenced by anomalous events which, although not necessarily presenting an immediate safety impact, may indicate that an unknown or insufficiently understood risk-significant condition exists in the system. Such anomalous events are considered accident precursors because they signal the potential for severe consequences that may occur in the future, due to causes that are discernible from their occurrence today. Their early identification allows them to be integrated into the overall system risk model used to intbrm decisions relating to safety.

Dietary habits during the 2 months following the Chernobyl accident and differentiated thyroid cancer risk in a population-based case-control study.

PubMed

Xhaard, Constance; Rubino, Carole; Souchard, Vincent; Maillard, Stéphane; Ren, Yan; Borson-Chazot, Françoise; Sassolas, Geneviève; Schvartz, Claire; Colonna, Marc; Lacour, Brigitte; Woronoff, Anne Sophie; Velten, Michel; Marrer, Emilie; Bailly, Laurent; Mariné Barjoan, Eugènia; Schlumberger, Martin; Drozdovitch, Vladimir; Bouville, Andre; Orgiazzi, Jacques; Adjadj, Elisabeth; de Vathaire, Florent

2018-02-01

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident occurred in Ukraine on April 26th 1986. In France, the radioactive fallout and thyroid radiation doses were much lower than in highly contaminated areas. However, a number of risk projections have suggested that a small excess in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) might occur in eastern France due to this low-level fallout. In order to investigate this potential impact, a case-control study on DTC risk factors was started in 2005, focusing on cases who were less than 15 years old at the time of the Chernobyl accident. Here, we aim to evaluate the relationship between some specific reports of potentially contaminated food between April and June 1986 - in particular fresh dairy products and leafy vegetables - and DTC risk. After excluding subjects who were not born before the Chernobyl accident, the study included 747 cases of DTC matched with 815 controls. Odds ratios were calculated using conditional logistic regression models and were reported for all participants, for women only, for papillary cancer only, and excluding microcarcinomas. The DTC risk was slightly higher for participants who had consumed locally produced leafy vegetables. However, this association was not stronger in the more contaminated areas than in the others. Conversely, the reported consumption of fresh dairy products was not statistically associated with DTC risk. Because the increase in DTC risk associated with a higher consumption of locally produced vegetables was not more important in the most contaminated areas, our study lacked power to provide evidence for a strong association between consumption of potentially contaminated food and DTC risk. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Investigating accidents involving aircraft manufactured from polymer composite materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunn, Leigh

This study looks into the examination of polymer composite wreckage from the perspective of the aircraft accident investigator. It develops an understanding of the process of wreckage examination as well as identifying the potential for visual and macroscopic interpretation of polymer composite aircraft wreckage. The in-field examination of aircraft wreckage, and subsequent interpretations of material failures, can be a significant part of an aircraft accident investigation. As the use of composite materials in aircraft construction increases, the understanding of how macroscopic failure characteristics of composite materials may aid the field investigator is becoming of increasing importance.. The first phase of this research project was to explore how investigation practitioners conduct wreckage examinations. Four accident investigation case studies were examined. The analysis of the case studies provided a framework of the wreckage examination process. Subsequently, a literature survey was conducted to establish the current level of knowledge on the visual and macroscopic interpretation of polymer composite failures. Relevant literature was identified and a compendium of visual and macroscopic characteristics was created. Two full-scale polymer composite wing structures were loaded statically, in an upward bending direction, until each wing structure fractured and separated. The wing structures were subsequently examined for the existence of failure characteristics. The examination revealed that whilst characteristics were present, the fragmentation of the structure destroyed valuable evidence. A hypothetical accident scenario utilising the fractured wing structures was developed, which UK government accident investigators subsequently investigated. This provided refinement to the investigative framework and suggested further guidance on the interpretation of polymer composite failures by accident investigators..

Key findings and remaining questions in the areas of core-concrete interaction and debris coolability

DOE PAGES

Farmer, M. T.; Gerardi, C.; Bremer, N.; ...

2016-10-31

The reactor accidents at Fukushima-Dai-ichi have rekindled interest in late phase severe accident behavior involving reactor pressure vessel breach and discharge of molten core melt into the containment. Two technical issues of interest in this area include core-concrete interaction and the extent to which the core debris may be quenched and rendered coolable by top flooding. The OECD-sponsored Melt Coolability and Concrete Interaction (MCCI) programs at Argonne National Laboratory included the conduct of large scale reactor material experiments and associated analysis with the objectives of resolving the ex-vessel debris coolability issue, and to address remaining uncertainties related to long-term two-dimensionalmore » molten core-concrete interactions under both wet and dry cavity conditions. These tests provided a broad database to support accident management planning, as well as the development and validation of models and codes that can be used to extrapolate the experiment results to plant conditions. This paper provides a high level overview of the key experiment results obtained during the program. Finally, a discussion is also provided that describes technical gaps that remain in this area, several of which have arisen based on the sequence of events and operator actions during Fukushima.« less

Key findings and remaining questions in the areas of core-concrete interaction and debris coolability

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Farmer, M. T.; Gerardi, C.; Bremer, N.

The reactor accidents at Fukushima-Dai-ichi have rekindled interest in late phase severe accident behavior involving reactor pressure vessel breach and discharge of molten core melt into the containment. Two technical issues of interest in this area include core-concrete interaction and the extent to which the core debris may be quenched and rendered coolable by top flooding. The OECD-sponsored Melt Coolability and Concrete Interaction (MCCI) programs at Argonne National Laboratory included the conduct of large scale reactor material experiments and associated analysis with the objectives of resolving the ex-vessel debris coolability issue, and to address remaining uncertainties related to long-term two-dimensionalmore » molten core-concrete interactions under both wet and dry cavity conditions. These tests provided a broad database to support accident management planning, as well as the development and validation of models and codes that can be used to extrapolate the experiment results to plant conditions. This paper provides a high level overview of the key experiment results obtained during the program. Finally, a discussion is also provided that describes technical gaps that remain in this area, several of which have arisen based on the sequence of events and operator actions during Fukushima.« less

Modeling of local steam condensation on walls in presence of non-condensable gases. Application to a loca calculation in reactor containment using the multidimensional geyser/tonus code

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Benet, L.V.; Caroli, C.; Cornet, P.

1995-09-01

This paper reports part of a study of possible severe pressurized water reactor (PWR) accidents. The need for containment modeling, and in particular for a hydrogen risk study, was reinforced in France after 1990, with the requirement that severe accidents must be taken into account in the design of future plants. This new need of assessing the transient local hydrogen concentration led to the development, in the Mechanical Engineering and Technology Department of the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA/DMT), of the multidimensional code GEYSER/TONUS for containment analysis. A detailed example of the use of this code is presented. The mixturemore » consisted of noncondensable gases (air or air plus hydrogen) and water vapor and liquid water. This is described by a compressible homogeneous two-phase flow model and wall condensation is based on the Chilton-Colburn formula and the analogy between heat and mass transfer. Results are given for a transient two-dimensional axially-symmetric computation for the first hour of a simplified accident sequence. In this there was an initial injection of a large amount of water vapor followed by a smaller amount and by hydrogen injection.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Farmer, M. T.

The overall objective of the current work is to carry out a scoping analysis to determine the impact of ATF on late phase accident progression; in particular, the molten core-concrete interaction portion of the sequence that occurs after the core debris fails the reactor vessel and relocates into containment. This additional study augments previous work by including kinetic effects that govern chemical reaction rates during core-concrete interaction. The specific ATF considered as part of this study is SiC-clad UO 2.

Interim reliability evaluation program, Browns Ferry 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mays, S.E.; Poloski, J.P.; Sullivan, W.H.

1981-01-01

Probabilistic risk analysis techniques, i.e., event tree and fault tree analysis, were utilized to provide a risk assessment of the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 1. Browns Ferry 1 is a General Electric boiling water reactor of the BWR 4 product line with a Mark 1 (drywell and torus) containment. Within the guidelines of the IREP Procedure and Schedule Guide, dominant accident sequences that contribute to public health and safety risks were identified and grouped according to release categories.

Safety Management for Water Play Facilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Claude

1986-01-01

Modern aquatic facilities, which include wave pools, water slides, and shallow water activity play pools, have a greater potential for injuries and lawsuits than conventional swimming pools. This article outlines comprehensive safety management for such facilities, including potential accident identification and injury control planning. (MT)

Radiological protection issues arising during and after the Fukushima nuclear reactor accident.

PubMed

González, Abel J; Akashi, Makoto; Boice, John D; Chino, Masamichi; Homma, Toshimitsu; Ishigure, Nobuhito; Kai, Michiaki; Kusumi, Shizuyo; Lee, Jai-Ki; Menzel, Hans-Georg; Niwa, Ohtsura; Sakai, Kazuo; Weiss, Wolfgang; Yamashita, Shunichi; Yonekura, Yoshiharu

2013-09-01

Following the Fukushima accident, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) convened a task group to compile lessons learned from the nuclear reactor accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, with respect to the ICRP system of radiological protection. In this memorandum the members of the task group express their personal views on issues arising during and after the accident, without explicit endorsement of or approval by the ICRP. While the affected people were largely protected against radiation exposure and no one incurred a lethal dose of radiation (or a dose sufficiently large to cause radiation sickness), many radiological protection questions were raised. The following issues were identified: inferring radiation risks (and the misunderstanding of nominal risk coefficients); attributing radiation effects from low dose exposures; quantifying radiation exposure; assessing the importance of internal exposures; managing emergency crises; protecting rescuers and volunteers; responding with medical aid; justifying necessary but disruptive protective actions; transiting from an emergency to an existing situation; rehabilitating evacuated areas; restricting individual doses of members of the public; caring for infants and children; categorising public exposures due to an accident; considering pregnant women and their foetuses and embryos; monitoring public protection; dealing with 'contamination' of territories, rubble and residues and consumer products; recognising the importance of psychological consequences; and fostering the sharing of information. Relevant ICRP Recommendations were scrutinised, lessons were collected and suggestions were compiled. It was concluded that the radiological protection community has an ethical duty to learn from the lessons of Fukushima and resolve any identified challenges. Before another large accident occurs, it should be ensured that inter alia: radiation risk coefficients of potential health effects are properly interpreted; the limitations of epidemiological studies for attributing radiation effects following low exposures are understood; any confusion on protection quantities and units is resolved; the potential hazard from the intake of radionuclides into the body is elucidated; rescuers and volunteers are protected with an ad hoc system; clear recommendations on crisis management and medical care and on recovery and rehabilitation are available; recommendations on public protection levels (including infant, children and pregnant women and their expected offspring) and associated issues are consistent and understandable; updated recommendations on public monitoring policy are available; acceptable (or tolerable) 'contamination' levels are clearly stated and defined; strategies for mitigating the serious psychological consequences arising from radiological accidents are sought; and, last but not least, failures in fostering information sharing on radiological protection policy after an accident need to be addressed with recommendations to minimise such lapses in communication.

US Efforts in Support of Examinations at Fukushima Daiichi – 2016 Evaluations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Amway, P.; Andrews, N.; Bixby, Willis

Although it is clear that the accident signatures from each unit at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (NPS) [Daiichi] differ, much is not known about the end-state of core materials within these units. Some of this uncertainty can be attributed to a lack of information related to cooling system operation and cooling water injection. There is also uncertainty in our understanding of phenomena affecting: a) in-vessel core damage progression during severe accidents in boiling water reactors (BWRs), and b) accident progression after vessel failure (ex-vessel progression) for BWRs and Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs). These uncertainties arise due to limitedmore » full scale prototypic data. Similar to what occurred after the accident at Three Mile Island Unit 2, these Daiichi units offer the international community a means to reduce such uncertainties by obtaining prototypic data from multiple full-scale BWR severe accidents. Information obtained from Daiichi is required to inform Decontamination and Decommissioning activities, improving the ability of the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) to characterize potential hazards and to ensure the safety of workers involved with cleanup activities. This document reports recent results from the US Forensics Effort to use information obtained by TEPCO to enhance the safety of existing and future nuclear power plant designs. This Forensics Effort, which is sponsored by the Reactor Safety Technologies Pathway of the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy Light Water Reactor (LWR) Sustainability Program, consists of a group of US experts in LWR safety and plant operations that have identified examination needs and are evaluating TEPCO information from Daiichi that address these needs. Examples presented in this report demonstrate that significant safety insights are being obtained in the areas of component performance, fission product release and transport, debris end-state location, and combustible gas generation and transport. In addition to reducing uncertainties related to severe accident modeling progression, these insights are being used to update guidance for severe accident prevention, mitigation, and emergency planning. Furthermore, reduced uncertainties in modeling the events at Daiichi will improve the realism of reactor safety evaluations and inform future D&D activities by improving the capability for characterizing potential hazards to workers involved with cleanup activities.« less

Studies of atmosphere radio-sounding for monitoring of radiation environments around nuclear power plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boyarchuk, Kirill; Karelin, Alexander; Tumanov, Mikhail

2014-05-01

The nuclear power plants practically do not discharge to the atmosphere any products causing significant radioactive contaminations. However, during the years of the nuclear power industry, some large accidents occurred at the nuclear objects, and that caused enormous environmental contamination. Among the most significant accidents are: thermal explosion of a reservoir with high-level wastes at the Mayak enterprise in the South Ural region, near the town of Kyshtym, in the end of September 1957; accident at the nuclear power plant in Windscale, UK, in October 1957; accident at the Three-Mile Island, USA, in 1979; accident at the Chernobyl power plant in April 1986. In March of 2011, a large earthquake and the following tsunami caused the largest nuclear catastrophe of XXI century, the accident at the Fucushima-1 power plant. The last accident highlighted the need to review seriously the safety issues at the active power plants and to develop the new effective methods for remote detection and control over radioactive environmental contamination and over general geophysical situation in the areas. The main influence of the fission products on the environment is its ionisation, and therefore various detectable biological and physical processes that are caused by ions. Presence of an ionisation source within the area under study may cause significant changes of absolute humidity and, that is especially important, changes of the chemical potential of atmosphere vapours indicating presence of charged condensation centres. These effects may cause anomalies in the IR radiation emitted from the Earth surface and jumps in the chemical potentials of water vapours that may be observed by means of the satellite remote sensing by specialized equipment (works by Dimitar Ouzounov, Sergey Pulinets, e.a.). In the current study, the theoretical description is presented from positions of the molecular-kinetic condensation theory that shows significant changes of the absolute and relative humidity values in the near-earth air layer. The detailed calculations of the water vapours in atmosphere were carried out with use of detailed non-stationary kinetic model of moist atmosphere air. The processes of condensation and evaporation were effectively considered with use of reactions of neutral water molecules' association under presence of a third particle, conversion of water molecules with an ion cluster to a more complicated cluster, and the relevant counter reactions' splits of neutral and ion clusters.

An assessment and validation study of nuclear reactors for low power space applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klein, A. C.; Gedeon, S. R.; Morey, D. C.

1987-01-01

The feasibility and safety of six conceptual small, low power nuclear reactor designs was evaluated. Feasibility evaluations included the determination of sufficient reactivity margins for seven years of full power operation and safe shutdown as well as handling during pre-launch assembly phases. Safety evaluations were concerned with the potential for maintaining subcritical conditions in the event of launch or transportation accidents. These included water immersion accident scenarios both with and without water flooding the core. Results show that most of the concepts can potentially meet the feasibility and safety requirements; however, due to the preliminary nature of the designs considered, more detailed designs will be necessary to enable these concepts to fully meet the safety requirements.

How Past Loss of Control Accidents May Inform Safety Cases for Advanced Control Systems on Commercial Aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holloway, C. M.; Johnson, C. W.

2008-01-01

This paper describes five loss of control accidents involving commercial aircraft, and derives from those accidents three principles to consider when developing a potential safety case for an advanced flight control system for commercial aircraft. One, among the foundational evidence needed to support a safety case is the availability to the control system of accurate and timely information about the status and health of relevant systems and components. Two, an essential argument to be sustained in the safety case is that pilots are provided with adequate information about the control system to enable them to understand the capabilities that it provides. Three, another essential argument is that the advanced control system will not perform less safely than a good pilot.

Potential for Fuel Tank Fire and Hydrodynamic Ram from Uncontained Aircraft Engine Debris

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

This report addresses the potential consequences of the impact and penetration of fuel tanks by debris from uncontained engine failures on commercial jet aircraft. The report presents a brief review of accident data and of the pertinent technical lit...

40 CFR 68.87 - Contractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROVISIONS Program 3 Prevention Program § 68.87 Contractors. (a) Application. This... known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to the contractor's work and the... instructed in the known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to his/her job and the...

40 CFR 68.87 - Contractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROVISIONS Program 3 Prevention Program § 68.87 Contractors. (a) Application. This... known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to the contractor's work and the... instructed in the known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to his/her job and the...

40 CFR 68.87 - Contractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROVISIONS Program 3 Prevention Program § 68.87 Contractors. (a) Application. This... known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to the contractor's work and the... instructed in the known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to his/her job and the...

40 CFR 68.87 - Contractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROVISIONS Program 3 Prevention Program § 68.87 Contractors. (a) Application. This... known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to the contractor's work and the... instructed in the known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to his/her job and the...

Assessment of risk due to the use of carbon fiber composites in commercial and general aviation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fiksel, J.; Rosenfield, D.; Kalelkar, A.

1980-01-01

The development of a national risk profile for the total annual aircraft losses due to carbon fiber composite (CFC) usage through 1993 is discussed. The profile was developed using separate simulation methods for commercial and general aviation aircraft. A Monte Carlo method which was used to assess the risk in commercial aircraft is described. The method projects the potential usage of CFC through 1993, investigates the incidence of commercial aircraft fires, models the potential release and dispersion of carbon fibers from a fire, and estimates potential economic losses due to CFC damaging electronic equipment. The simulation model for the general aviation aircraft is described. The model emphasizes variations in facility locations and release conditions, estimates distribution of CFC released in general aviation aircraft accidents, and tabulates the failure probabilities and aggregate economic losses in the accidents.

Thyroid carcinoma in children and adolescents resulting from the Chernobyl accident: possible causes of the incidence increase overestimation.

PubMed

Jargin, S V

2009-04-01

The Chernobyl accident in the nuclear power plant on 26th April 1986 was followed by numerous publications overestimating the medical consequences of the disaster. In the publications, interpretations of spontaneous diseases as radiation-induced, indication of radioactivity or dose levels without confrontation with the natural radiation background, or conclusions about incidence increase without comparison with the increase tendencies in larger regions or the whole country, can be found. Improved diagnostics after the Chernobyl accident is not always taken into account. The high figures could have been caused in some cases by non-random material selection or inadequate morphological assessment of biopsy specimens. The application of the linear-no-threshold theory to the inhabitants of contaminated areas contributed to an overestimation of medical consequences of the Chernobyl accident as well. The incidence increase of thyroid carcinoma in children and adolescents started in 1990, four years after the accident. High tumor expectancy after the accident, in the circumstances of limited technical possibilities and outdated equipment of histological laboratories, contributed to a higher number of registered cases. The quality of specimens necessary for the assessment of nuclear criteria of papillary carcinoma was not always achieved at that time. The incidence increase of thyroid carcinoma can, at least in part, be explained by improved detection of thyroid nodules with occasional false-positive conclusions about malignancy. Besides, latent carcinomas and well-differentiated thyroid tumors of uncertain malignant potential, diagnosed as malignancies, could have additionally contributed to the high figures.

[Retrospective survey on epidemiologic monitoring of accidents due to professional exposure to biological agents in A.O.U. "G. Martino" of Messina, Italy)].

PubMed

Sindoni, L; Calisto, M L; Alfino, D; Cannavò, G; Grillo, C O; Squeri, R; Squeri, L; Spagnolo, E Ventura

2005-01-01

The management of healthcare professionals exposed to biological material which may potentially be contaminated with HIV HBVand HCV viruses, is of vital importance in acquiring precise epidemiological data regarding the type and means of exposure, and the efficacy or failure to apply recommended preventive measures. This will make it possible to assess over time which measures need to be implemented or improved. For these reasons we decided to analyze cases of occupational exposure to biological risk occurring in the University Hospital in Messina between 1998 and 2002. Our study highlighted in particular that the most frequently affected category was that of professional nurses (46.74%) and that only 31.72% of the healthcare workers who tested negative for HBsAb were administered vaccine prophylaxis also after the accident. Moreover, it emerged that there is the need to increase the amount and quality of information made available, by changing report forms, with the aim of identifying problems and risky behavior and procedures, and thus make ways to ensure the continued improvement of the accident prevention and management programmes. In fact, in the accident reporting procedure used, it was not possible to specify the precise way in which the accidents happened.

Infant homicide and accidental death in the United States, 1940-2005: ethics and epidemiological classification.

PubMed

Riggs, Jack E; Hobbs, Gerald R

2011-07-01

Potential ethical issues can arise during the process of epidemiological classification. For example, unnatural infant deaths are classified as accidental deaths or homicides. Societal sensitivity to the physical abuse and neglect of children has increased over recent decades. This enhanced sensitivity could impact reported infant homicide rates. Infant homicide and accident mortality rates in boys and girls in the USA from 1940 to 2005 were analysed. In 1940, infant accident mortality rates were over 20 times greater than infant homicide rates in both boys and girls. After about 1980, when the ratio of infant accident mortality rates to infant homicide rates decreased to less than five, and the sum of infant accident and homicide rates became relatively constant, further decreases in infant accident mortality rates were associated with increases in reported infant homicide rates. These findings suggest that the dramatic decline of accidental infant mortality and recent increased societal sensitivity to child abuse may be related to the increased infant homicide rates observed in the USA since 1980 rather than an actual increase in societal violence directed against infants. Ethical consequences of epidemiological classification, involving the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence and justice, are suggested by observed patterns in infant accidental deaths and homicides in the USA from 1940 to 2005.

[Analysis of radiation-hygienic and medical consequences of the Chernobyl accident].

PubMed

Onishchenko, G G

2013-01-01

Since the day of "the Chernobyl accident" in 1986 more than 25 years have been past. Radioactively contaminated areas 14 subjects of the Russian Federation with a total area of more than 50 thousand km2, where 1.5 million people now reside were exposed to radioactive contamination. Currently, a system of comprehensive evaluation of radiation doses of the population affected by the "Chernobyl accidents", including 11 guidance documents has been created. There are methodically provided works on the assessment of average annual, accumulated and predicted radiation doses of population and its critical groups, as well as doses to the thyroid gland The relevance of the analysis of the consequences of the "Chernobyl accident" is demonstrated by the events in Japan, at nuclear power Fukusima-1. In 2011 - 20/2 there were carried out comprehensive maritime expeditions under the auspices of the Russian Geographical Society with the participation of relevant ministries and agencies, leading academic institutions in Russia. In 2012, work was carried out on radiation protection of the population from the potential transboundary impact of the accident at the Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima-l. The results provide a basis for the favorable outlook for the radiation environment in our Far East and the Pacific coast of Russia.

Latent class analysis of accident risks in usage-based insurance: Evidence from Beijing.

PubMed

Jin, Wen; Deng, Yinglu; Jiang, Hai; Xie, Qianyan; Shen, Wei; Han, Weijian

2018-06-01

Car insurance is quickly becoming a big data industry, with usage-based insurance (UBI) poised to potentially change the business of insurance. Telematics data, which are transmitted from wireless devices in car, are widely used in UBI to obtain individual-level travel and driving characteristics. While most existing studies have introduced telematics data into car insurance pricing, the telematics-related characteristics are directly obtained from the raw data. In this study, we propose to quantify drivers' familiarity with their driving routes and develop models to quantify drivers' accident risks using the telematics data. In addition, we build a latent class model to study the heterogeneity in travel and driving styles based on the telematics data, which has not been investigated in literature. Our main results include: (1) the improvement to the model fit is statistically significant by adding telematics-related characteristics; (2) drivers' familiarity with their driving trips is critical to identify high risk drivers, and the relationship between drivers' familiarity and accident risks is non-linear; (3) the drivers can be classified into two classes, where the first class is the low risk class with 0.54% of its drivers reporting accidents, and the second class is the high risk class with 20.66% of its drivers reporting accidents; and (4) for the low risk class, drivers with high probability of reporting accidents can be identified by travel-behavior-related characteristics, while for the high risk class, they can be identified by driving-behavior-related characteristics. The driver's familiarity will affect the probability of reporting accidents for both classes. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Risk of Motor Vehicle Accidents Related to Sleepiness at the Wheel: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

PubMed

Bioulac, Stéphanie; Franchi, Jean-Arthur Micoulaud; Arnaud, Mickael; Sagaspe, Patricia; Moore, Nicholas; Salvo, Francesco; Philip, Pierre

2017-10-01

Sleepiness at the wheel is widely believed to be a cause of motor vehicle accidents. Nevertheless, a systematic review of studies investigating this relationship has not yet been published. The objective of this study was to quantify the relationship between sleepiness at the wheel and motor vehicle accidents. A systematic review was performed using Medline, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science. The outcome measure of interest was motor vehicle accident defined as involving four- or two-wheeled vehicles in road traffic, professional and nonprofessional drivers, with or without objective consequences. The exposure was sleepiness at the wheel defined as self-reported sleepiness at the wheel. Studies were included if they provided adjusted risk estimates of motor vehicle accidents related to sleepiness at the wheel. Risk estimates and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were extracted and pooled as odds ratios (ORs) using a random-effect model. Heterogeneity was quantified using Q statistics and the I2 index. The potential causes of heterogeneity were investigated using meta-regressions. Ten cross-sectional studies (51,520 participants), six case-control studies (4904 participants), and one cohort study (13,674 participants) were included. Sleepiness at the wheel was associated with an increased risk of motor vehicle accidents (pooled OR 2.51 [95% CI 1.87; 3.39]). A significant heterogeneity was found between the individual risk estimates (Q = 93.21; I2 = 83%). Sleepiness at the wheel increases the risk of motor vehicle accidents and should be considered when investigating fitness to drive. Further studies are required to explore the nature of this relationship. PROSPERO 2015 CRD42015024805. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

Economic Estimation of the Losses Caused by Surface Water Pollution Accidents in China From the Perspective of Water Bodies’ Functions

PubMed Central

Yao, Hong; You, Zhen; Liu, Bo

2016-01-01

The number of surface water pollution accidents (abbreviated as SWPAs) has increased substantially in China in recent years. Estimation of economic losses due to SWPAs has been one of the focuses in China and is mentioned many times in the Environmental Protection Law of China promulgated in 2014. From the perspective of water bodies’ functions, pollution accident damages can be divided into eight types: damage to human health, water supply suspension, fishery, recreational functions, biological diversity, environmental property loss, the accident’s origin and other indirect losses. In the valuation of damage to people’s life, the procedure for compensation of traffic accidents in China was used. The functional replacement cost method was used in economic estimation of the losses due to water supply suspension and loss of water’s recreational functions. Damage to biological diversity was estimated by recovery cost analysis and damage to environmental property losses were calculated using pollutant removal costs. As a case study, using the proposed calculation procedure the economic losses caused by the major Songhuajiang River pollution accident that happened in China in 2005 have been estimated at 2263 billion CNY. The estimated economic losses for real accidents can sometimes be influenced by social and political factors, such as data authenticity and accuracy. Besides, one or more aspects in the method might be overestimated, underrated or even ignored. The proposed procedure may be used by decision makers for the economic estimation of losses in SWPAs. Estimates of the economic losses of pollution accidents could help quantify potential costs associated with increased risk sources along lakes/rivers but more importantly, highlight the value of clean water to society as a whole. PMID:26805869

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Fatal Accidents in Aviation Medicine.

PubMed

Laukkala, Tanja; Bor, Robert; Budowle, Bruce; Sajantila, Antti; Navathe, Pooshan; Sainio, Markku; Vuorio, Alpo

2017-09-01

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with symptoms of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interfere with functioning and/or development. ADHD occurs in about 2.5% of adults. ADHD can be an excluding medical condition among pilots due to the risk of attentional degradation and therefore impact on flight safety. Diagnosis of ADHD is complex, which complicates aeromedical assessment. This study highlights fatal accident cases among pilots with ADHD and discusses protocols to detect its presence to help to assess its importance to flight safety. To identify fatal accidents in aviation (including airplanes, helicopters, balloons, and gliders) in the United States between the years 2000 to 2015, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) database was searched with the terms ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and attention deficit disorder (ADD). The NTSB database search for fatal aviation accidents possibly associated with ADHD yielded four accident cases of interest in the United States [4/4894 (0.08%)]. Two of the pilots had ADHD diagnosed by a doctor, one was reported by a family member, and one by a flight instructor. An additional five cases were identified searching for ADD [5/4894 (0.1%)]. Altogether, combined ADHD and ADD cases yielded nine accident cases of interest (0.18%). It is generally accepted by aviation regulatory authorities that ADHD is a disqualifying neurological condition. Yet FAA and CASA provide specific protocols for tailor-made pilot assessment. Accurate evaluation of ADHD is essential because of its potential negative impact on aviation safety.Laukkala T, Bor R, Budowle B, Sajantila A, Navathe P, Sainio M, Vuorio A. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and fatal accidents in aviation medicine. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2017; 88(9):871-875.

Medical-encounter mental health diagnoses, non-fatal injury and polypharmacy indicators of risk for accident death in the US Army enlisted soldiers, 2004-2009.

PubMed

Lewandowski-Romps, Lisa; Schroeder, Heather M; Berglund, Patricia A; Colpe, Lisa J; Cox, Kenneth; Hauret, Keith; Hay, Jeffrey D; Jones, Bruce; Little, Roderick J A; Mitchell, Colter; Schoenbaum, Michael; Schulz, Paul; Stein, Murray B; Ursano, Robert J; Heeringa, Steven G

2018-06-01

Accidents are a leading cause of deaths in U.S. active duty personnel. Understanding accident deaths during wartime could facilitate future operational planning and inform risk prevention efforts. This study expands prior research, identifying health risk factors associated with U.S. Army accident deaths during the Afghanistan and Iraq war. Military records for 2004-2009 enlisted, active duty, Regular Army soldiers were analyzed using logistic regression modeling to identify mental health, injury, and polypharmacy (multiple narcotic and/or psychotropic medications) predictors of accident deaths for current, previously, and never deployed groups. Deployed soldiers with anxiety diagnoses showed higher risk for accident deaths. Over half had anxiety diagnoses prior to being deployed, suggesting anticipatory anxiety or symptom recurrence may contribute to high risk. For previously deployed soldiers, traumatic brain injury (TBI) indicated higher risk. Two-thirds of these soldiers had first TBI medical-encounter while non-deployed, but mild, combat-related TBIs may have been undetected during deployments. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) predicted higher risk for never deployed soldiers, as did polypharmacy which may relate to reasons for deployment ineligibility. Health risk predictors for Army accident deaths are identified and potential practice and policy implications discussed. Further research could test for replicability and expand models to include unobserved factors or modifiable mechanisms related to high risk. PTSD predicted high risk among those never deployed, suggesting importance of identification, treatment, and prevention of non-combat traumatic events. Finally, risk predictors overlapped with those identified for suicides, suggesting effective intervention might reduce both types of deaths. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Paediatric consultation patterns in general practice and the accident and emergency department.

PubMed

Bradley, T; McCann, B; Glasgow, J F; Patterson, C C

1995-04-01

The age, sex, source of referral and diagnosis of children brought to a paediatric accident and emergency department by their parents were compared to those consulting their general practitioner. A simultaneous, prospective review of these consultations was carried out over a six-week period in an inner-city paediatric teaching hospital and a group practice in a socially deprived urban area. 730 children less than 13 years of age who presented for a new consultation were seen. 629 (86%) presented initially to the general practitioner, who dealt with all but 25 (4.0%) without onward referral to the accident and emergency department. 127 consultations took place at the accident and emergency department, of which 104 (82%) were parental referrals. There was no sex difference in children seen by the general practitioner. There was a decreasing trend with increasing age in the proportion of children who consulted the general practitioner, perhaps due to the higher frequency of injury in the older children. Over three quarters (77%) of injured children were brought directly to the accident and emergency department, compared with only 4% of children without injuries (p < 0.001). Of 22 children with injuries who presented to the general practitioner, only 4 (18%) required onward referral. General practitioners met the great majority of the paediatric workload generated by the practice. Audit between primary and secondary care gives a more reliable picture than data from only one source. Injured children are more likely to be taken to the accident and emergency department. Further study of the severity of injury in children is required to determine if there is potential to reduce parental referrals to accident and emergency departments.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sofu, Tanju; LaChance, Jeffrey L.; Bari, R.

This report proposes potential research priorities for the Department of Energy (DOE) with the intent of improving the licensability of the Sodium Fast Reactor (SFR). In support of this project, five panels were tasked with identifying potential safety-related gaps in available information, data, and models needed to support the licensing of a SFR. The areas examined were sodium technology, accident sequences and initiators, source term characterization, codes and methods, and fuels and materials. It is the intent of this report to utilize a structured and transparent process that incorporates feedback from all interested stakeholders to suggest future funding priorities formore » the SFR research and development. While numerous gaps were identified, two cross-cutting gaps related to knowledge preservation were agreed upon by all panels and should be addressed in the near future. The first gap is a need to re-evaluate the current procedures for removing the Applied Technology designation from old documents. The second cross-cutting gap is the need for a robust Knowledge Management and Preservation system in all SFR research areas. Closure of these and the other identified gaps will require both a reprioritization of funding within DOE as well as a re-evaluation of existing bureaucratic procedures within the DOE associated with Applied Technology and Knowledge Management.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ritchie, L.T.; Johnson, J.D.; Blond, R.M.

The CRAC2 computer code is a revision of the Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences computer code, CRAC, developed for the Reactor Safety Study. The CRAC2 computer code incorporates significant modeling improvements in the areas of weather sequence sampling and emergency response, and refinements to the plume rise, atmospheric dispersion, and wet deposition models. New output capabilities have also been added. This guide is to facilitate the informed and intelligent use of CRAC2. It includes descriptions of the input data, the output results, the file structures, control information, and five sample problems.

Estimating rear-end accident probabilities at signalized intersections: a comparison study of intersections with and without green signal countdown devices.

PubMed

Ni, Ying; Li, Keping

2014-01-01

Rear-end accidents are the most common accident type at signalized intersections, because the diversity of actions taken increases due to signal change. Green signal countdown devices (GSCDs), which have been widely installed in Asia, are thought to have the potential of improving capacity and reducing accidents, but some negative effects on intersection safety have been observed in practice; for example, an increase in rear-end accidents. A microscopic modeling approach was applied to estimate rear-end accident probability during the phase transition interval in the study. The rear-end accident probability is determined by the following probabilities: (1) a leading vehicle makes a "stop" decision, which was formulated by using a binary logistic model, and (2) the following vehicle fails to stop in the available stopping distance, which is closely related to the critical deceleration used by the leading vehicle. Based on the field observation carried out at 2 GSCD intersections and 2 NGSCD intersections (i.e., intersections without GSCD devices) along an arterial in Suzhou, the rear-end probabilities at GSCD and NGSCD intersections were calculated using Monte Carlo simulation. The results suggested that, on the one hand, GSCDs caused significantly negative safety effects during the flashing green interval, especially for vehicles in a zone ranging from 15 to 70 m; on the other hand, GSCD devices were helpful in reducing rear-end accidents during the yellow interval, especially in a zone from 0 to 50 m. GSCDs helped shorten indecision zones and reduce rear-end collisions near the stop line during the yellow interval, but they easily resulted in risky car following behavior and much higher rear-end collision probabilities at indecision zones during both flashing green and yellow intervals. GSCDs are recommended to be cautiously installed and education on safe driving behavior should be available.

Knowledge and occupational exposure to blood and body fluids among health care workers and medical students.

PubMed

Denić, Ljiljana Marković; Ostrić, Irena; Pavlović, Andrija; Dimitra, Kalimanovska Ostrić

2012-01-01

Health workers and medical students are at occupational risk of blood-borne diseases during the accidents, that is, via percutaneous injury or entry of blood or body fluids through the mucosa or injured skin. to review and analyze the knowledge, attitudes and perception of risks of bloodborne diseases of the clinical course students and health workers as well as the frequency of accidents. Cross-sectional study was carried out among the students of the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade, and health workers of the Clinical Center of Serbia. The subjects responded anonymously to questionnaire specially designed for the study. Both students and health workers were aware, in a high percentage, of the fact that the risk of hepatitis B spread was about 30%. Significantly more students gave affirmative reply that blood as biological material was a potential hazard of HIV infection spread (p = 0.001), and significantly more students knew that HIV would not be spread by sweat (p = 0.001). Hepatitis B vacci-nation was administered only to 24.1% of students and 71.4% of health workers. About 10% of students and 65.5% of health workers experienced some accident. There was no significant difference of accidents bet-ween nurses/technicians and physicians (p > 0.05), as well as of accidents and a total length of service (p > 0.05). The majority of accidents occurred during the use of needle/sharp object (in 27.3% of students and 33.1% of health workers). About 40% of students and slightly over a half of the workers reported the accidents to appropriate authorities. Additional education in this field is considered necessary by 73% of students. During the studies and via continuous medical education it is necessary to upgrade the level of knowledge on prevention of accidents, what would, at least partially, influence their reduction.

Reported radiation overexposure accidents worldwide, 1980-2013: a systematic review.

PubMed

Coeytaux, Karen; Bey, Eric; Christensen, Doran; Glassman, Erik S; Murdock, Becky; Doucet, Christelle

2015-01-01

Radiation overexposure accidents are rare but can have severe long-term health consequences. Although underreporting can be an issue, some extensive literature reviews of reported radiation overexposures have been performed and constitute a sound basis for conclusions on general trends. Building further on this work, we performed a systematic review that completes previous reviews and provides new information on characteristics and trends of reported radiation accidents. We searched publications and reports from MEDLINE, EMBASE, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Radiation Protection Association, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site radiation accident registry over 1980-2013. We retrieved the reported overexposure cases, systematically extracted selected information, and performed a descriptive analysis. 297 out of 5189 publications and reports and 194 records from the REAC/TS registry met our eligibility criteria. From these, 634 reported radiation accidents were retrieved, involving 2390 overexposed people, of whom 190 died from their overexposure. The number of reported cases has decreased for all types of radiation use, but the medical one. 64% of retrieved overexposure cases occurred with the use of radiation therapy and fluoroscopy. Additionally, the types of reported accidents differed significantly across regions. This review provides an updated and broader view of reported radiation overexposures. It suggests an overall decline in reported radiation overexposures over 1980-2013. The greatest share of reported overexposures occurred in the medical fields using radiation therapy and fluoroscopy; this larger number of reported overexposures accidents indicates the potential need for enhanced quality assurance programs. Our data also highlights variations in characteristics of reported accidents by region. The main limitation of this study is the likely underreporting of radiation overexposures. Ensuring a comprehensive monitoring and reporting of radiation overexposures is paramount to inform and tailor prevention interventions to local needs.

Reported Radiation Overexposure Accidents Worldwide, 1980-2013: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Coeytaux, Karen; Bey, Eric; Christensen, Doran; Glassman, Erik S.; Murdock, Becky; Doucet, Christelle

2015-01-01

Background Radiation overexposure accidents are rare but can have severe long-term health consequences. Although underreporting can be an issue, some extensive literature reviews of reported radiation overexposures have been performed and constitute a sound basis for conclusions on general trends. Building further on this work, we performed a systematic review that completes previous reviews and provides new information on characteristics and trends of reported radiation accidents. Methods We searched publications and reports from MEDLINE, EMBASE, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Radiation Protection Association, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site radiation accident registry over 1980-2013. We retrieved the reported overexposure cases, systematically extracted selected information, and performed a descriptive analysis. Results 297 out of 5189 publications and reports and 194 records from the REAC/TS registry met our eligibility criteria. From these, 634 reported radiation accidents were retrieved, involving 2390 overexposed people, of whom 190 died from their overexposure. The number of reported cases has decreased for all types of radiation use, but the medical one. 64% of retrieved overexposure cases occurred with the use of radiation therapy and fluoroscopy. Additionally, the types of reported accidents differed significantly across regions. Conclusions This review provides an updated and broader view of reported radiation overexposures. It suggests an overall decline in reported radiation overexposures over 1980-2013. The greatest share of reported overexposures occurred in the medical fields using radiation therapy and fluoroscopy; this larger number of reported overexposures accidents indicates the potential need for enhanced quality assurance programs. Our data also highlights variations in characteristics of reported accidents by region. The main limitation of this study is the likely underreporting of radiation overexposures. Ensuring a comprehensive monitoring and reporting of radiation overexposures is paramount to inform and tailor prevention interventions to local needs. PMID:25789482

Application of systems and control theory-based hazard analysis to radiation oncology.

PubMed

Pawlicki, Todd; Samost, Aubrey; Brown, Derek W; Manger, Ryan P; Kim, Gwe-Ya; Leveson, Nancy G

2016-03-01

Both humans and software are notoriously challenging to account for in traditional hazard analysis models. The purpose of this work is to investigate and demonstrate the application of a new, extended accident causality model, called systems theoretic accident model and processes (STAMP), to radiation oncology. Specifically, a hazard analysis technique based on STAMP, system-theoretic process analysis (STPA), is used to perform a hazard analysis. The STPA procedure starts with the definition of high-level accidents for radiation oncology at the medical center and the hazards leading to those accidents. From there, the hierarchical safety control structure of the radiation oncology clinic is modeled, i.e., the controls that are used to prevent accidents and provide effective treatment. Using STPA, unsafe control actions (behaviors) are identified that can lead to the hazards as well as causal scenarios that can lead to the identified unsafe control. This information can be used to eliminate or mitigate potential hazards. The STPA procedure is demonstrated on a new online adaptive cranial radiosurgery procedure that omits the CT simulation step and uses CBCT for localization, planning, and surface imaging system during treatment. The STPA procedure generated a comprehensive set of causal scenarios that are traced back to system hazards and accidents. Ten control loops were created for the new SRS procedure, which covered the areas of hospital and department management, treatment design and delivery, and vendor service. Eighty three unsafe control actions were identified as well as 472 causal scenarios that could lead to those unsafe control actions. STPA provides a method for understanding the role of management decisions and hospital operations on system safety and generating process design requirements to prevent hazards and accidents. The interaction of people, hardware, and software is highlighted. The method of STPA produces results that can be used to improve safety and prevent accidents and warrants further investigation.

Occupational Exposure to Blood and Body Fluids among Health-Care Workers in Serbia

PubMed Central

Markovic-Denic, Ljiljana; Maksimovic, Natasa; Marusic, Vuk; Vucicevic, Jelena; Ostric, Irena; Djuric, Dusan

2015-01-01

Objectives The aim of this study was to examine the epidemiology of occupational accidents and self-reported attitude of health-care workers (HCWs) in Serbia. Subjects and Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among HCWs in selected departments of five tertiary care hospitals and in one secondary care hospital in February 2012. A previously developed self-administered questionnaire was provided to HCWs who had direct daily contact with patients. χ2 test and Student's t test were used for statistical analysis of the data. Results Of the 1,441 potential participants, 983 (68.2%) completed the questionnaire: 655 (66.7%) were nurses/medical technicians, 243 (24.7%) were physicians and 85 (8.6%) were other personnel. Of the 983 participants, 291 (29.6%) HCWs had had at least one accident during the previous year and 106 (40.2%) of them reported it to the responsible person. The highest prevalence (68.6%) of accidents was among nurses/technicians (p = 0.001). Accidents occurred more often in large clinical centers (81.1%; p < 0.001) and in the clinical ward, intensive care unit and operating theater (p = 0.003) than in other departments. Seventy-six (13.1%) nurses/medical technicians had an accident during needle recapping (p < 0.001). Of all the HCWs, 550 (55.9%) were fully vaccinated, including significantly more doctors (154, 63.4%) than participants from other job categories (p < 0.001). Conclusion There was a relatively high rate of accidents among HCWs in our hospitals, most commonly amongst nurses and staff working in clinical wards, intensive care units and operating theaters. The most common types of accidents were needlestick injuries and accidents due to improper handling of contaminated sharp devices or occuring while cleaning instruments or by coming into contact with blood through damaged skin or through the conjunctiva/mucous membranes. PMID:25376432

Health status recovery at one year in children injured in a road accident: a cohort study.

PubMed

Batailler, Pierre; Hours, Martine; Maza, Maud; Charnay, Pierrette; Tardy, Hélène; Tournier, Charlène; Javouhey, Etienne

2014-10-01

Despite the frequency of traumatic injuries due to road accidents and potential importance of identifying children at risk of impaired recovery one year after a road accident, there is a lack of data on long-term recovery of health status, except in children with severe traumatic brain injury. The aim of the present study was to evaluate predictive factors of recovery in children one year after road traffic injuries. The prospective cohort study was composed of children aged <16 years, admitted to public or private sector hospitals in the Rhône administrative area of France following a road accident. Recovery of health status one year after the accident and information concerning quality of life and the consequences of the accident for the child or family 1 year after the accident were collected by questionnaire, usually completed by the parents. Victims were in majority male (64.6%) and had mild or moderate injuries (81.9% with Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (M-AIS) <3). One year after the accident, 75.0% of the mild-to-moderate and 34.8% of the severe cases estimated health status as fully recovered. After adjustment, severity score (M-AIS≥3) and lower limb injury (AIS>1) were associated with incomplete recovery of health status: weighted odds ratio (ORw), 4.3 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.3-14.6] and ORw, 6.5 [95% CI, 1.9-21.7], respectively. Recovery status correlated significantly with quality of life physical scores (r=0.46), especially body pain (r=0.48) and role/social-physical (r=0.50) and, to a lesser extent, quality of life psychosocial scores (r=0.21). In a cohort of children injured in a road accident, those with high injury severity score and those with lower limb injuries are less likely to recover full health status by 1 year. Impaired health status was associated with a lower physical quality of life score at 1 year. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Overview of lower length scale model development for accident tolerant fuels regarding U3Si2 fuel and FeCrAl cladding

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Yongfeng

2016-09-01

U3Si2 and FeCrAl have been proposed as fuel and cladding concepts, respectively, for accident tolerance fuels with higher tolerance to accident scenarios compared to UO2. However, a lot of key physics and material properties regarding their in-pile performance are yet to be explored. To accelerate the understanding and reduce the cost of experimental studies, multiscale modeling and simulation are used to develop physics-based materials models to assist engineering scale fuel performance modeling. In this report, the lower-length-scale efforts in method and material model development supported by the Accident Tolerance Fuel (ATF) high-impact-problem (HIP) under the NEAMS program are summarized. Significantmore » progresses have been made regarding interatomic potential, phase field models for phase decomposition and gas bubble formation, and thermal conductivity for U3Si2 fuel, and precipitation in FeCrAl cladding. The accomplishments are very useful by providing atomistic and mesoscale tools, improving the current understanding, and delivering engineering scale models for these two ATF concepts.« less

Radiation decontamination unit for the community hospital.

PubMed

Waldron, R L; Danielson, R A; Shultz, H E; Eckert, D E; Hendricks, K O

1981-05-01

"Freestanding" radiation decontamination units including surgical capability can be developed and made operational in small/medium sized community hospitals at relatively small cost and with minimal plant reconstruction. Because of the development of nuclear power plants in relatively remote areas and widespread transportation of radioactive materials it is important for hospitals and physicians to be prepared to handle radiation accident victims. The Radiological Assistance Program of the United States Department of Energy and the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center Training Site of Oak Ridge Associated Universities are ready to support individual hospitals and physicians in this endeavor. Adequate planning rather than luck, should be used in dealing with potential radiation accident victims. The radiation emergency team is headed by a physician on duty in the hospital. It is important that the team leader be knowledgeable in radiation accident management and have personnel trained in radiation accident management as members of this team. The senior administrative person on duty is responsible for intramural and extramural communications. Rapid mobilization of the radiation decontamination unit is important. Periodic drills are necessary for this mobilization and the smooth operation of the unit.

STARDUST-U experiments on fluid-dynamic conditions affecting dust mobilization during LOVAs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poggi, L. A.; Malizia, A.; Ciparisse, J. F.; Tieri, F.; Gelfusa, M.; Murari, A.; Del Papa, C.; Giovannangeli, I.; Gaudio, P.

2016-07-01

Since 2006 the Quantum Electronics and Plasma Physics (QEP) Research Group together with ENEA FusTech of Frascati have been working on dust re-suspension inside tokamaks and its potential capability to jeopardize the integrity of future fusion nuclear plants (i.e. ITER or DEMO) and to be a risk for the health of the operators. Actually, this team is working with the improved version of the "STARDUST" facility, i.e. "STARDUST-Upgrade". STARDUST-U facility has four new air inlet ports that allow the experimental replication of Loss of Vacuum Accidents (LOVAs). The experimental campaign to detect the different pressurization rates, local air velocity, temperature, have been carried out from all the ports in different accident conditions and the principal results will be analyzed and compared with the numerical simulations obtained through a CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamic) code. This preliminary thermo fluid-dynamic analysis of the accident is crucial for numerical model development and validation, and for the incoming experimental campaign of dust resuspension inside STARDUST-U due to well-defined accidents presented in this paper.

Development of fission-products transport model in severe-accident scenarios for Scdap/Relap5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Honaiser, Eduardo Henrique Rangel

The understanding and estimation of the release of fission products during a severe accident became one of the priorities of the nuclear community after 1980, with the events of the Three-mile Island unit 2 (TMI-2), in 1979, and Chernobyl accidents, in 1986. Since this time, theoretical developments and experiments have shown that the primary circuit systems of light water reactors (LWR) have the potential to attenuate the release of fission products, a fact that had been neglected before. An advanced tool, compatible with nuclear thermal-hydraulics integral codes, is developed to predict the retention and physical evolution of the fission products in the primary circuit of LWRs, without considering the chemistry effects. The tool embodies the state-of-the-art models for the involved phenomena as well as develops new models. The capabilities acquired after the implementation of this tool in the Scdap/Relap5 code can be used to increase the accuracy of probability safety assessment (PSA) level 2, enhance the reactor accident management procedures and design new emergency safety features.

Formulating accident occurrence as a survival process.

PubMed

Chang, H L; Jovanis, P P

1990-10-01

A conceptual framework for accident occurrence is developed based on the principle of the driver as an information processor. The framework underlies the development of a modeling approach that is consistent with the definition of exposure to risk as a repeated trial. Survival theory is proposed as a statistical technique that is consistent with the conceptual structure and allows the exploration of a wide range of factors that contribute to highway operating risk. This survival model of accident occurrence is developed at a disaggregate level, allowing safety researchers to broaden the scope of studies which may be limited by the use of traditional aggregate approaches. An application of the approach to motor carrier safety is discussed as are potential applications to a variety of transportation industries. Lastly, a typology of highway safety research methodologies is developed to compare the properties of four safety methodologies: laboratory experiments, on-the-road studies, multidisciplinary accident investigations, and correlational studies. The survival theory formulation has a mathematical structure that is compatible with each safety methodology, so it may facilitate the integration of findings across methodologies.

Visual fields at the wheel.

PubMed

Vargas-Martín, Fernando; García-Pérez, Miguel A

2005-08-01

"Looked-but-failed-to-see" errors are a common cause of accidents, but it has never been determined whether obstructive elements within an automobile (e.g., window posts or the interior rearview mirror) have actually been an obstacle to vision. This work describes a technique that can easily be used to determine the available visual field of drivers at the wheel and illustrates its potential in a number of applications. The technique involves calibrating a minicamera for use as a device for perimetry and then mounting it on spectacles so that it lies between the eyes of the subject who wears them. With the spectacle-mounted camera worn by a driver, snapshots were taken when the automobile was parked and the driver looked in different directions, and video sequences were recorded during natural driving in an urban area and on a winding mountain road. All of the automobiles studied place obstacles to vision for any given direction of gaze, although the resultant scotomata have different sizes and are placed in different regions of the visual field for each combination of car and driver. These regions encroach into central vision as drivers turn their head and eyes as required by the characteristics of the road or the urban area during natural driving, in some cases resulting in very poor visibility regardless of the good vision of the driver and the certification of the automobile. Our technique is useful for determining what parts of a given scene are visible to a given driver on a given automobile and, hence, it is useful not only as a tool for accident investigation and in visual ergonomics, but also as an aid for the design of automobiles and road environments.

The long-term problems of contaminated land: Sources, impacts and countermeasures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baes, C.F. III

1986-11-01

This report examines the various sources of radiological land contamination; its extent; its impacts on man, agriculture, and the environment; countermeasures for mitigating exposures; radiological standards; alternatives for achieving land decontamination and cleanup; and possible alternatives for utilizing the land. The major potential sources of extensive long-term land contamination with radionuclides, in order of decreasing extent, are nuclear war, detonation of a single nuclear weapon (e.g., a terrorist act), serious reactor accidents, and nonfission nuclear weapons accidents that disperse the nuclear fuels (termed ''broken arrows'').

[Aspects of post-tramatic stress disorder after a traffic acident].

PubMed

Noll-Hussong, M; Herberger, S; Grauer, M T; Otti, A; Gündel, H

2013-09-01

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs most frequently in the general population after traffic accidents and affects up to 15 % of those involved. Mental and physical comorbidity, preliminary damage or injury can herald the development of PTSD, but the scope of social support after the accident plays a crucial role in whether and to what extent potential PTSD develops. Against this background, preventive and injury reduction aspects of the interaction between insurance companies and their customers are conceivable, which could also positively affect health economic and aspects of job or customer satisfaction.

CFD Applications in Support of the Space Shuttle Risk Assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baum, Joseph D.; Mestreau, Eric; Luo, Hong; Sharov, Dmitri; Fragola, Joseph; Loehner, Rainald; Cook, Steve (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The paper describes a numerical study of a potential accident scenario of the space shuttle, operating at the same flight conditions as flight 51L, the Challenger accident. The interest in performing this simulation is derived by evidence that indicates that the event itself did not exert large enough blast loading on the shuttle to break it apart. Rather, the quasi-steady aerodynamic loading on the damaged, unbalance vehicle caused the break-up. Despite the enormous explosive potential of the shuttle total fuel load (both liquid and solid), the post accident explosives working group estimated the maximum energy involvement to be equivalent to about five hundreds of pounds of TNT. This understanding motivated the simulation described here. To err on the conservative side, we modeled the event as an explosion, and used the maximum energy estimate. We modeled the transient detonation of a 500 lbs spherical charge of TNT, placed at the main engine, and the resulting blast wave propagation about the complete stack. Tracking of peak pressures and impulses at hundreds of locations on the vehicle surface indicate that the blast load was insufficient to break the vehicle, hence demonstrating likely crew survivability through such an event.

Application of Faecalibacterium 16S rDNA genetic marker for accurate identification of duck faeces.

PubMed

Sun, Da; Duan, Chuanren; Shang, Yaning; Ma, Yunxia; Tan, Lili; Zhai, Jun; Gao, Xu; Guo, Jingsong; Wang, Guixue

2016-04-01

The aim of this study was to judge the legal duty of pollution liabilities by assessing a duck faeces-specific marker, which can exclude distractions of residual bacteria from earlier contamination accidents. With the gene sequencing technology and bioinformatics method, we completed the comparative analysis of Faecalibacterium sequences, which were associated with ducks and other animal species, and found the sequences unique to duck faeces. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and agarose gel electrophoresis techniques were used to verify the reliability of both human and duck faeces-specific primers. The duck faeces-specific primers generated an amplicon of 141 bp from 43.3 % of duck faecal samples, 0 % of control samples and 100 % of sewage wastewater samples that contained duck faeces. We present here the initial evidence of Faecalibacterium-based applicability as human faeces-specificity in China. Meanwhile, this study represents the initial report of a Faecalibacterium marker for duck faeces and suggests an independent or supplementary environmental biotechnology of microbial source tracking (MST).

TRAC-P1: an advanced best estimate computer program for PWR LOCA analysis. I. Methods, models, user information, and programming details

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1978-05-01

The Transient Reactor Analysis Code (TRAC) is being developed at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) to provide an advanced ''best estimate'' predictive capability for the analysis of postulated accidents in light water reactors (LWRs). TRAC-Pl provides this analysis capability for pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and for a wide variety of thermal-hydraulic experimental facilities. It features a three-dimensional treatment of the pressure vessel and associated internals; two-phase nonequilibrium hydrodynamics models; flow-regime-dependent constitutive equation treatment; reflood tracking capability for both bottom flood and falling film quench fronts; and consistent treatment of entire accident sequences including the generation of consistent initial conditions.more » The TRAC-Pl User's Manual is composed of two separate volumes. Volume I gives a description of the thermal-hydraulic models and numerical solution methods used in the code. Detailed programming and user information is also provided. Volume II presents the results of the developmental verification calculations.« less

Pretest aerosol code comparisons for LWR aerosol containment tests LA1 and LA2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wright, A.L.; Wilson, J.H.; Arwood, P.C.

The Light-Water-Reactor (LWR) Aerosol Containment Experiments (LACE) are being performed in Richland, Washington, at the Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory (HEDL) under the leadership of an international project board and the Electric Power Research Institute. These tests have two objectives: (1) to investigate, at large scale, the inherent aerosol retention behavior in LWR containments under simulated severe accident conditions, and (2) to provide an experimental data base for validating aerosol behavior and thermal-hydraulic computer codes. Aerosol computer-code comparison activities are being coordinated at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. For each of the six LACE tests, ''pretest'' calculations (for code-to-code comparisons) andmore » ''posttest'' calculations (for code-to-test data comparisons) are being performed. The overall goals of the comparison effort are (1) to provide code users with experience in applying their codes to LWR accident-sequence conditions and (2) to evaluate and improve the code models.« less

In-vessel melt retention as a severe accident management strategy for the Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kymaelaeinen, O.; Tuomisto, H.; Theofanous, T.G.

1997-02-01

The concept of lower head coolability and in-vessel retention of corium has been approved as a basic element of the severe accident management strategy for IVO`s Loviisa Plant (VVER-440) in Finland. The selected approach takes advantage of the unique features of the plant such as low power density, reactor pressure vessel without penetrations at the bottom and ice-condenser containment which ensures flooded cavity in all risk significant sequences. The thermal analyses, which are supported by experimental program, demonstrate that in Loviisa the molten corium on the lower head of the reactor vessel is coolable externally with wide margins. This papermore » summarizes the approach and the plant modifications being implemented. During the approval process some technical concerns were raised, particularly with regard to thermal loadings caused by contact of cool cavity water and hot corium with the reactor vessel. Resolution of these concerns is also discussed.« less

Inroads into Equestrian Safety: Rider-Reported Factors Contributing to Horse-Related Accidents and Near Misses on Australian Roads

PubMed Central

Thompson, Kirrilly; Matthews, Chelsea

2015-01-01

Simple Summary Riding horses on roads can be dangerous, but little is known about accidents and near misses. To explore road safety issues amongst Australian equestrians, we conducted an online survey. More than half of all riders (52%) reported having experienced at least one accident or near miss in the 12 months prior to the survey, mostly attributed to speed. Whilst our findings confirmed factors identified overseas, we also identified issues around road rules, hand signals and road rage. This paper suggests strategies for improving the safety of horses, riders and other road users. Abstract Horse riding and horse-related interactions are inherently dangerous. When they occur on public roads, the risk profile of equestrian activities is complicated by interactions with other road users. Research has identified speed, proximity, visibility, conspicuity and mutual misunderstanding as factors contributing to accidents and near misses. However, little is known about their significance or incidence in Australia. To explore road safety issues amongst Australian equestrians, we conducted an online survey. More than half of all riders (52%) reported having experienced at least one accident or near miss in the 12 months prior to the survey. Whilst our findings confirm the factors identified overseas, we also identified issues around rider misunderstanding of road rules and driver misunderstanding of rider hand signals. Of particular concern, we also found reports of potentially dangerous rider-directed road rage. We identify several areas for potential safety intervention including (1) identifying equestrians as vulnerable road users and horses as sentient decision-making vehicles; (2) harmonising laws regarding passing horses; (3) mandating personal protective equipment; (4) improving road signage; (5) comprehensive data collection; (6) developing mutual understanding amongst road-users; (7) safer road design and alternative riding spaces; and (8) increasing investment in horse-related safety initiatives. PMID:26479376

Interannual recruitment dynamics for resident and transient marsh species: evidence for a lack of impact by the Macondo oil spill.

PubMed

Moody, Ryan M; Cebrian, Just; Heck, Kenneth L

2013-01-01

The emulsification of oil at the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) well head relegated a large proportion of resultant hydrocarbon plumes to the deep sea, facilitated the incorporation of oil droplets into microbial and planktonic food web, and limited the severity of direct, wetland oiling to coastal Louisiana. Nevertheless, many transient fish and invertebrate species rely on offshore surface waters for egg and larval transport before settling in coastal habitats, thereby potentially impacting the recruitment of transient species to coastal nursery habitats quite distant from the well site. We compared the utilization of salt-marsh habitats by transient and resident nekton before and after the DWH accident using data obtained from an oyster reef restoration project in coastal Alabama. Our sampling activities began in the summer preceding the DWH spill and continued almost two years following the accident. Overall, we did not find significant differences in the recruitment of marsh-associated resident and transient nekton in coastal Alabama following the DWH accident. Our results, therefore, provide little evidence for severe acute or persistent oil-induced impacts on organisms that complete their life cycle within the estuary and those that spent portions of their life history in potentially contaminated offshore surface waters prior to their recruitment to nearshore habitats. Our negative findings are consistent with other assessments of nekton in coastal vegetated habitats and bolster the notion that, despite the presence of localized hydrocarbon enrichments in coastal habitats outside of Louisiana the most severe oil impacts were relegated to coastal Louisiana and the deep sea. Analyzing all the information learned from this accident will undoubtedly provide a synthesis of what has or has not been affected in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, which when put in context with oil spill studies elsewhere should improve our ability to avert and manage the negative consequences of such accidents.

Risk-Based Fire Safety Experiment Definition for Manned Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Apostolakis, G. E.; Ho, V. S.; Marcus, E.; Perry, A. T.; Thompson, S. L.

1989-01-01

Risk methodology is used to define experiments to be conducted in space which will help to construct and test the models required for accident sequence identification. The development of accident scenarios is based on the realization that whether damage occurs depends on the time competition of two processes: the ignition and creation of an adverse environment, and the detection and suppression activities. If the fire grows and causes damage faster than it is detected and suppressed, then an accident occurred. The proposed integrated experiments will provide information on individual models that apply to each of the above processes, as well as previously unidentified interactions and processes, if any. Initially, models that are used in terrestrial fire risk assessments are considered. These include heat and smoke release models, detection and suppression models, as well as damage models. In cases where the absence of gravity substantially invalidates a model, alternate models will be developed. Models that depend on buoyancy effects, such as the multizone compartment fire models, are included in these cases. The experiments will be performed in a variety of geometries simulating habitable areas, racks, and other spaces. These simulations will necessitate theoretical studies of scaling effects. Sensitivity studies will also be carried out including the effects of varying oxygen concentrations, pressures, fuel orientation and geometry, and air flow rates. The experimental apparatus described herein includes three major modules: the combustion, the fluids, and the command and power modules.

Fukushima-derived fission nuclides monitored around Taiwan: Free tropospheric versus boundary layer transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huh, Chih-An; Hsu, Shih-Chieh; Lin, Chuan-Yao

2012-02-01

The 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan was the worst nuclear disaster following the 1986 Chernobyl accident. Fission products (nuclides) released from the Fukushima plant site since March 12, 2011 had been detected around the northern hemisphere in about two weeks and also in the southern hemisphere about one month later. We report here detailed time series of radioiodine and radiocesium isotopes monitored in a regional network around Taiwan, including one high-mountain and three ground-level sites. Our results show several pulses of emission from a sequence of accidents in the Fukushima facility, with the more volatile 131I released preferentially over 134Cs and 137Cs at the beginning. In the middle of the time series, there was a pronounced peak of radiocesium observed in northern Taiwan, with activity concentrations of 134Cs and 137Cs far exceeding that of 131I during that episode. From the first arrival time of these fission nuclides and their spatial and temporal variations at our sampling sites and elsewhere, we suggest that Fukushima-derived radioactive nuclides were transported to Taiwan and its vicinity via two pathways at different altitudes. One was transported in the free troposphere by the prevailing westerly winds around the globe; the other was transported in the planetary boundary layer by the northeast monsoon wind directly toward Taiwan.

Heat up and failure of BWR upper internals during a severe accident

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robb, Kevin R.

In boiling water reactors, the shroud dome, separators, and dryers above the core are made of approximately 100,000 kg of stainless steel. During a severe accident in which the coolant boils away and exothermic oxidation of zirconium occurs, gases (steam and hydrogen) are superheated in the core region and pass through the upper internals. In this scenario, the upper internals can also be heated by thermal radiation from the hot degrading core. Historically, models of the upper internals have been relatively simple in severe accident codes. The upper internals are typically modeled in MELCOR as two lumped volumes with simplifiedmore » heat transfer characteristics and no structural integrity considerations, and with limited ability to oxidize, melt, and relocate. The potential for and the subsequent impact of the upper internals to heat up, oxidize, fail, and relocate during a severe accident was investigated. A higher fidelity representation of the shroud dome, steam separators, and steam driers was developed in MELCOR v1.8.6 by extending the core region upwards. The MELCOR modeling effort entailed adding 45 additional core cells and control volumes, 98 flow paths, and numerous control functions. The model accounts for the mechanical loading and structural integrity, oxidation, melting, flow area blockage, and relocation of the various components. Consistent with a previous study, the results indicate that the upper internals can reach high temperatures during a severe accident sufficient to lose their structural integrity and relocate. Finally, the additional 100 metric tons of stainless steel debris influences the subsequent in-vessel and ex-vessel accident progression.« less

Heat up and failure of BWR upper internals during a severe accident

DOE PAGES

Robb, Kevin R.

2017-02-21

In boiling water reactors, the shroud dome, separators, and dryers above the core are made of approximately 100,000 kg of stainless steel. During a severe accident in which the coolant boils away and exothermic oxidation of zirconium occurs, gases (steam and hydrogen) are superheated in the core region and pass through the upper internals. In this scenario, the upper internals can also be heated by thermal radiation from the hot degrading core. Historically, models of the upper internals have been relatively simple in severe accident codes. The upper internals are typically modeled in MELCOR as two lumped volumes with simplifiedmore » heat transfer characteristics and no structural integrity considerations, and with limited ability to oxidize, melt, and relocate. The potential for and the subsequent impact of the upper internals to heat up, oxidize, fail, and relocate during a severe accident was investigated. A higher fidelity representation of the shroud dome, steam separators, and steam driers was developed in MELCOR v1.8.6 by extending the core region upwards. The MELCOR modeling effort entailed adding 45 additional core cells and control volumes, 98 flow paths, and numerous control functions. The model accounts for the mechanical loading and structural integrity, oxidation, melting, flow area blockage, and relocation of the various components. Consistent with a previous study, the results indicate that the upper internals can reach high temperatures during a severe accident sufficient to lose their structural integrity and relocate. Finally, the additional 100 metric tons of stainless steel debris influences the subsequent in-vessel and ex-vessel accident progression.« less

Duty of Notification and Aviation Safety-A Study of Fatal Aviation Accidents in the United States in 2015.

PubMed

Vuorio, Alpo; Budowle, Bruce; Sajantila, Antti; Laukkala, Tanja; Junttila, Ilkka; Kravik, Stein E; Griffiths, Robin

2018-06-13

After the Germanwings accident, the French Safety Investigation Authority (BEA) recommended that the World Health Organization (WHO) and European Community (EC) develop clear rules for the duty of notification process. Aeromedical practitioners (AMEs) face a dilemma when considering the duty of notification and conflicts between pilot privacy and public and third-party safety. When balancing accountability, knowledge of the duty of notification process, legislation and the clarification of a doctor’s own set of values should be assessed a priori. Relatively little is known of the magnitude of this problem in aviation safety. To address this, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) database was searched to identify fatal accidents during 2015 in the United States in which a deceased pilot used a prescribed medication or had a disease that potentially reduced pilot performance and was not reported to the AME. Altogether, 202 finalized accident reports with toxicology were available from (the year) 2015. In 5% (10/202) of these reports, the pilot had either a medication or a disease not reported to an AME which according to the accident investigation was causal to the fatal accident. In addition, the various approaches to duty of notification in aviation in New Zealand, Finland and Norway are discussed. The process of notification of authorities without a pilot’s express permission needs to be carried out by using a guidance protocol that works within legislation and professional responsibilities to address the pilot and the public, as well as the healthcare provider. Professional guidance defining this duty of notification is urgently needed.

Road traffic accidents: Global Burden of Disease study, Brazil and federated units, 1990 and 2015.

PubMed

Ladeira, Roberto Marini; Malta, Deborah Carvalho; Morais, Otaliba Libânio de; Montenegro, Marli de Mesquita Silva; Soares, Adauto Martins; Vasconcelos, Cíntia Honório; Mooney, Meghan; Naghavi, Mohsen

2017-05-01

To describe the global burden of disease due to road traffic accidents in Brazil and federated units in 1990 and 2015. This is an analysis of secondary data from the 2015 Global Burden of Disease study estimates. The following estimates were used: standardized mortality rates and years of life lost by death or disability, potential years of life lost due to premature death, and years of unhealthy living conditions. The Mortality Information System was the main source of death data. Underreporting and redistribution of ill-defined causes and nonspecific codes were corrected. Around 52,326 deaths due to road traffic accidents were estimated in Brazil in 2015. From 1990 to 2015, mortality rates decreased from 36.9 to 24.8/100 thousand people, a reduction of 32.8%. Tocantins and Piauí have the highest mortality risks among the federated units (FU), with 41.7/100 and 33.1/100 thousand people, respectively. They both present the highest rates of potential years of life lost due to premature deaths. Road traffic accidents are a public health problem. Using death- or disability-adjusted life years in studies of these causes is important because there are still no sources to know the magnitude of sequelae, as well as the weight of early deaths. Since its data are updated every year, the Global Burden of Disease study may provide evidence to formulate traffic security and health attention policies, which are guided to the needs of the federated units and of different groups of traffic users.

Potential effects of climate change on the risk of accidents with poisonous species of the genus Tityus (Scorpiones, Buthidae) in Argentina.

PubMed

Martinez, Pablo Ariel; Andrade, Mayane Alves; Bidau, Claudio Juan

2018-06-01

The temporal pattern of co-occurrence of human beings and venomous species (scorpions, spiders, snakes) is changing. Thus, the temporal pattern of areas with risk of accidents with such species tends to become dynamic in time. We analyze the areas of occurrence of species of Tityus in Argentina and assess the impact of global climate change on their area of distribution by the construction of risk maps. Using data of occurrence of the species and climatic variables, we constructed models of species distribution (SMDs) under current and future climatic conditions. We also created maps that allow the detection of temporal shifts in the distribution patterns of each Tityus species. Finally, we developed risk maps for the analyzed species. Our results predict that climate change will have an impact on the distribution of Tityus species which will clearly expand to more southern latitudes, with the exception of T. argentinus. T. bahiensis, widely distributed in Brazil, showed a considerable increase of its potential area (ca. 37%) with future climate change. The species T. confluens and T. trivittatus that cause the highest number of accidents in Argentina are expected to show significant changes of their distributions in future scenarios. The former fact is worrying because Buenos Aires province is the more densely populated district in Argentina thus iable to become the most affected by T. trivittatus. These alterations of distributional patterns can lead to amplify the accident risk zones of venomous species, becoming an important subject of concern for public health policies. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

"What--me worry?" "Why so serious?": a personal view on the Fukushima nuclear reactor accidents.

PubMed

Gallucci, Raymond

2012-09-01

Infrequently, it seems that a significant accident precursor or, worse, an actual accident, involving a commercial nuclear power reactor occurs to remind us of the need to reexamine the safety of this important electrical power technology from a risk perspective. Twenty-five years since the major core damage accident at Chernobyl in the Ukraine, the Fukushima reactor complex in Japan experienced multiple core damages as a result of an earthquake-induced tsunami beyond either the earthquake or tsunami design basis for the site. Although the tsunami itself killed tens of thousands of people and left the area devastated and virtually uninhabitable, much concern still arose from the potential radioactive releases from the damaged reactors, even though there was little population left in the area to be affected. As a lifelong probabilistic safety analyst in nuclear engineering, even I must admit to a recurrence of the doubt regarding nuclear power safety after Fukushima that I had experienced after Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. This article is my attempt to "recover" my personal perspective on acceptable risk by examining both the domestic and worldwide history of commercial nuclear power plant accidents and attempting to quantify the risk in terms of the frequency of core damage that one might glean from a review of operational history. © 2012 Society for Risk Analysis.

Visual function, driving safety, and the elderly.

PubMed

Keltner, J L; Johnson, C A

1987-09-01

The authors have conducted a survey of the Departments of Motor Vehicles in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico requesting information about the visual standards, accidents, and conviction rates for different age groups. In addition, we have reviewed the literature on visual function and traffic safety. Elderly drivers have a greater number of vision problems that affect visual acuity and/or peripheral visual fields. Although the elderly are responsible for a small percentage of the total number of traffic accidents, the types of accidents they are involved in (e.g., failure to yield the right-of-way, intersection collisions, left turns onto crossing streets) may be related to peripheral and central visual field problems. Because age-related changes in performance occur at different rates for various individuals, licensing of the elderly driver should be based on functional abilities rather than age. Based on information currently available, we can make the following recommendations: (1) periodic evaluations of visual acuity and visual fields should be performed every 1 to 2 years in the population over age 65; (2) drivers of any age with multiple accidents or moving violations should have visual acuity and visual fields evaluated; and (3) a system should be developed for physicians to report patients with potentially unsafe visual function. The authors believe that these recommendations may help to reduce the number of traffic accidents that result from peripheral visual field deficits.

32 CFR 256.8 - Land use compatibility guidelines for accident potential.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... industries ......do ......do Do. Rubber and miscellaneous plastic goods ......do ......do Do. Stone, clay..., explosive characteristics, air pollution. 4 No passenger terminals and no major above ground transmission...

32 CFR 256.8 - Land use compatibility guidelines for accident potential.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... industries ......do ......do Do. Rubber and miscellaneous plastic goods ......do ......do Do. Stone, clay..., explosive characteristics, air pollution. 4 No passenger terminals and no major above ground transmission...

Acute gastroenteritis and video camera surveillance: a cruise ship case report.

PubMed

Diskin, Arthur L; Caro, Gina M; Dahl, Eilif

2014-01-01

A 'faecal accident' was discovered in front of a passenger cabin of a cruise ship. After proper cleaning of the area the passenger was approached, but denied having any gastrointestinal symptoms. However, when confronted with surveillance camera evidence, she admitted having the accident and even bringing the towel stained with diarrhoea back to the pool towels bin. She was isolated until the next port where she was disembarked. Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) caused by Norovirus is very contagious and easily transmitted from person to person on cruise ships. The main purpose of isolation is to avoid public vomiting and faecal accidents. To quickly identify and isolate contagious passengers and crew and ensure their compliance are key elements in outbreak prevention and control, but this is difficult if ill persons deny symptoms. All passenger ships visiting US ports now have surveillance video cameras, which under certain circumstances can assist in finding potential index cases for AGE outbreaks.

A Ferris Wheel Accident at a Movable Amusement Park.

PubMed

Cho, Young-Jin; Ji, Hong-Keun; Moon, Byung-Sun; Park, Ha-Sun; Goh, Jae-Mo; Park, Nam-Kyu; Choi, Don-Mook

2017-05-01

This study presented a Ferris wheel accident case. A Ferris wheel is composed of many parts, and the outmost ring of it is assembled using a lock pin. This accident occurred because the lock pin caught the door of a gondola and the gondola overturned. Five of the seven passengers in the gondola fell to the ground, along with the gondola's viewing window. The investigation revealed that the gondola became stuck when its door was caught by a lock pin at the Ferris wheel's three o'clock position. The contact between the door and the lock pin was due to a structural problem: There was not enough space allotted between the door and the lock pin. Therefore, if a passenger pushed on the gondola's door, the potential existed for contact between the door and the lock pin. © 2016 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Risk-based Classification of Incidents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Greenwell, William S.; Knight, John C.; Strunk, Elisabeth A.

2003-01-01

As the penetration of software into safety-critical systems progresses, accidents and incidents involving software will inevitably become more frequent. Identifying lessons from these occurrences and applying them to existing and future systems is essential if recurrences are to be prevented. Unfortunately, investigative agencies do not have the resources to fully investigate every incident under their jurisdictions and domains of expertise and thus must prioritize certain occurrences when allocating investigative resources. In the aviation community, most investigative agencies prioritize occurrences based on the severity of their associated losses, allocating more resources to accidents resulting in injury to passengers or extensive aircraft damage. We argue that this scheme is inappropriate because it undervalues incidents whose recurrence could have a high potential for loss while overvaluing fairly straightforward accidents involving accepted risks. We then suggest a new strategy for prioritizing occurrences based on the risk arising from incident recurrence.

Radionuclide monitoring in Northern Ireland of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident

PubMed Central

Gilmore, B J; Cranley, K

1987-01-01

Northern Ireland received higher radiation doses due to the radionuclide contamination from the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident than did the south of England. Levels of radioactive iodine (131I) and caesium (137Cs) in cows' milk in Northern Ireland increased to 166 and 120 Bq/l respectively in May 1986, but had decreased by factors of one million, and of twenty-five, respectively, by 1 September 1986. The resultant radiation doses represent less than one per cent of those received by a Northern Ireland individual over a period of 40 years from natural background radiation sources. The added risk to any individual from the Chernobyl accident will therefore be very small and may best be judged in the context of the enormously greater risk of death due to potentially preventable diseases, such as smoking-related lung cancer, and coronary heart disease. PMID:3590387

SDDOT : safety program

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-05-01

The current safety and loss control program for the South Dakota Department of Transportation is not reaching its full potential and does not adequately prevent accidents and injuries. The Department has experienced an unacceptably high number of acc...

Personnel Safety on Electrified Railroads

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1980-06-01

Potential electrical hazards to fire, police, and rescue personnel responding to emergencies on electrified railways are examined. Data on descriptions of electrical facilities, types of accidents and danger to emergency personnel, and reviews of ope...

Identifying antecedent conditions responsible for the high rate of mining injuries in Zambia.

PubMed

Miller, Hugh B; Sinkala, Thomson; Renger, Ralph F; Peacock, Erin M; Tabor, Joseph A; Burgess, Jefferey L

2006-01-01

The incident rates of mining-related accidents and injuries in developing countries exceed those of developed nations. Interventions by international organizations routinely fail to produce appreciable long-term improvement. One major reason is the inability to identify and analyze the underlying factors responsible for creating unsafe working conditions. Understanding these antecedent conditions is necessary to formulate effective intervention strategies and prioritize the use of limited resources. This study utilized a logic model approach to determine the root causes and broad categories of potential interventions for mining accidents and injuries in Zambia. Results showed that policy interventions have the greatest potential for substantive change. A process of educating officials from government and mining companies about the economic and social merits of health and safety programs and extensive changes in regulatory structure and enforcement are needed.

Chance, necessity and the origins of life: a physical sciences perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hazen, Robert M.

2017-11-01

Earth's 4.5-billion-year history has witnessed a complex sequence of high-probability chemical and physical processes, as well as `frozen accidents'. Most models of life's origins similarly invoke a sequence of chemical reactions and molecular self-assemblies in which both necessity and chance play important roles. Recent research adds two important insights into this discussion. First, in the context of chemical reactions, chance versus necessity is an inherently false dichotomy-a range of probabilities exists for many natural events. Second, given the combinatorial richness of early Earth's chemical and physical environments, events in molecular evolution that are unlikely at limited laboratory scales of space and time may, nevertheless, be inevitable on an Earth-like planet at time scales of a billion years. This article is part of the themed issue 'Reconceptualizing the origins of life'.

Forensic nursing. Applications in the occupational health setting.

PubMed

Pozzi, C L

1996-11-01

1. Nurses are inherent investigators through the use of observation, data gathering, and documentation techniques. 2. Occupational health nurses may be involved in assisting with or evaluating workplace accidents, injuries, and deaths. These investigations may be the only critical information gathered. 3. Accurate and through investigations are critical for clients, physicians, insurance companies, medical investigators, law enforcement, legal proceedings, and the company. Utilizing improper techniques during accident investigations could potentially dismiss a litigation case or lead to hazardous situations. 4. The occupational health nurse can improve practices related to investigations by understanding and learning more about forensic nursing.

CRAC2 model description

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ritchie, L.T.; Alpert, D.J.; Burke, R.P.

1984-03-01

The CRAC2 computer code is a revised version of CRAC (Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences) which was developed for the Reactor Safety Study. This document provides an overview of the CRAC2 code and a description of each of the models used. Significant improvements incorporated into CRAC2 include an improved weather sequence sampling technique, a new evacuation model, and new output capabilities. In addition, refinements have been made to the atmospheric transport and deposition model. Details of the modeling differences between CRAC2 and CRAC are emphasized in the model descriptions.

Injuries among Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Miners in Ghana

PubMed Central

Kyeremateng-Amoah, E.; Clarke, Edith E.

2015-01-01

Artisanal and small-scale gold miners are confronted with numerous hazards often resulting in varying degrees of injuries and fatalities. In Ghana, like many developing countries, there is paucity of information on the causes and nature of the accidents that result in the injuries. The study was a retrospective, cross sectional type that examined the records of injuries of artisanal and small-scale gold miners presented to the emergency department of a district hospital in the Eastern Region of Ghana from 2006 to 2013. The causes, types, and outcomes of reported injuries were analyzed for 72 cases. Occurrences of mining accidents reported in selected Ghanaian media during the year 2007–2012 were also analyzed to corroborate the causes of the accidents. Fractures and contusions constituted the most frequently occurring injuries, with collapse of the mine pits and falls being the most frequent cause of accidents reported both by the hospital and media records. This study shows that though varied degrees of injuries occur among the miners, the potential for serious injuries is substantial. Measures to reduce the incidence of injuries and fatalities should include education and training on the use of safe working tools and means of creating a safe working environment. PMID:26404345

[Psychoreactive disorders after motor vehicle accidents. Is it possible to predict the development of psychoreactive disorders after motor vehicle accidents?].

PubMed

Meyer, C; Dittrich, U; Küster, S; Markgraf, E; Hofmann, G O; Strauss, B

2005-12-01

The aim of this study was to assess common risk factors for the early development of psychoreactive disorders during traumatological treatment and to estimate their predictive potential. The sample consisted of 126 consecutive patients with accidental injuries recruited in an emergency room of the university hospital. We assessed this population 1 week (T1) and-on average-8 months following the accident (T2). At T1 34.5% of all patients indicated moderate and 26.4% strong symptoms of an acute stress disorder; 26.7% of all patients assessed at T2 suffered from severe post-traumatic symptoms. Linear regression analysis, using morbidity status at T2 as the dependent variable, allowed the explanation of 46.2% of the variance. The degree of early acute stress symptoms, injury, and pain intensity contributed significantly to the predictive model. We conclude that a substantial proportion of severely injured accident victims that will develop PTSD can be screened to some degree by the assessment of early stress disorder, the degree of their injury, and pain intensity, enabling secondary prevention of trauma-dependent symptomatology.

Risk-based design of process plants with regard to domino effects and land use planning.

PubMed

Khakzad, Nima; Reniers, Genserik

2015-12-15

Land use planning (LUP) as an effective and crucial safety measure has widely been employed by safety experts and decision makers to mitigate off-site risks posed by major accidents. Accordingly, the concept of LUP in chemical plants has traditionally been considered from two perspectives: (i) land developments around existing chemical plants considering potential off-site risks posed by major accidents and (ii) development of existing chemical plants considering nearby land developments and the level of additional off-site risks the land developments would be exposed to. However, the attempts made to design chemical plants with regard to LUP requirements have been few, most of which have neglected the role of domino effects in risk analysis of major accidents. To overcome the limitations of previous work, first, we developed a Bayesian network methodology to calculate both on-site and off-site risks of major accidents while taking domino effects into account. Second, we combined the results of risk analysis with Analytic Hierarchical Process to design an optimal layout for which the levels of on-site and off-site risks would be minimum. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Toxic release consequence analysis tool (TORCAT) for inherently safer design plant.

PubMed

Shariff, Azmi Mohd; Zaini, Dzulkarnain

2010-10-15

Many major accidents due to toxic release in the past have caused many fatalities such as the tragedy of MIC release in Bhopal, India (1984). One of the approaches is to use inherently safer design technique that utilizes inherent safety principle to eliminate or minimize accidents rather than to control the hazard. This technique is best implemented in preliminary design stage where the consequence of toxic release can be evaluated and necessary design improvements can be implemented to eliminate or minimize the accidents to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) without resorting to costly protective system. However, currently there is no commercial tool available that has such capability. This paper reports on the preliminary findings on the development of a prototype tool for consequence analysis and design improvement via inherent safety principle by utilizing an integrated process design simulator with toxic release consequence analysis model. The consequence analysis based on the worst-case scenarios during process flowsheeting stage were conducted as case studies. The preliminary finding shows that toxic release consequences analysis tool (TORCAT) has capability to eliminate or minimize the potential toxic release accidents by adopting the inherent safety principle early in preliminary design stage. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The development of an inherent safety approach to the prevention of domino accidents.

PubMed

Cozzani, Valerio; Tugnoli, Alessandro; Salzano, Ernesto

2009-11-01

The severity of industrial accidents in which a domino effect takes place is well known in the chemical and process industry. The application of an inherent safety approach for the prevention of escalation events leading to domino accidents was explored in the present study. Reference primary scenarios were analyzed and escalation vectors were defined. Inherent safety distances were defined and proposed as a metric to express the intensity of the escalation vectors. Simple rules of thumb were presented for a preliminary screening of these distances. Swift reference indices for layout screening with respect to escalation hazard were also defined. Two case studies derived from existing layouts of oil refineries were selected to understand the potentialities coming from the application in the methodology. The results evidenced that the approach allows a first comparative assessment of the actual domino hazard in a layout, and the identification of critical primary units with respect to escalation events. The methodology developed also represents a useful screening tool to identify were to dedicate major efforts in the design of add-on measures, optimizing conventional passive and active measures for the prevention of severe domino accidents.

Linear free energy correlations for fission product release from the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear accident.

PubMed

Abrecht, David G; Schwantes, Jon M

2015-03-03

This paper extends the preliminary linear free energy correlations for radionuclide release performed by Schwantes et al., following the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Through evaluations of the molar fractionations of radionuclides deposited in the soil relative to modeled radionuclide inventories, we confirm the initial source of the radionuclides to the environment to be from active reactors rather than the spent fuel pool. Linear correlations of the form In χ = −α ((ΔGrxn°(TC))/(RTC)) + β were obtained between the deposited concentrations, and the reduction potentials of the fission product oxide species using multiple reduction schemes to calculate ΔG°rxn (TC). These models allowed an estimate of the upper bound for the reactor temperatures of TC between 2015 and 2060 K, providing insight into the limiting factors to vaporization and release of fission products during the reactor accident. Estimates of the release of medium-lived fission products 90Sr, 121mSn, 147Pm, 144Ce, 152Eu, 154Eu, 155Eu, and 151Sm through atmospheric venting during the first month following the accident were obtained, indicating that large quantities of 90Sr and radioactive lanthanides were likely to remain in the damaged reactor cores.

A two-stage optimization model for emergency material reserve layout planning under uncertainty in response to environmental accidents.

PubMed

Liu, Jie; Guo, Liang; Jiang, Jiping; Jiang, Dexun; Liu, Rentao; Wang, Peng

2016-06-05

In the emergency management relevant to pollution accidents, efficiency emergency rescues can be deeply influenced by a reasonable assignment of the available emergency materials to the related risk sources. In this study, a two-stage optimization framework is developed for emergency material reserve layout planning under uncertainty to identify material warehouse locations and emergency material reserve schemes in pre-accident phase coping with potential environmental accidents. This framework is based on an integration of Hierarchical clustering analysis - improved center of gravity (HCA-ICG) model and material warehouse location - emergency material allocation (MWL-EMA) model. First, decision alternatives are generated using HCA-ICG to identify newly-built emergency material warehouses for risk sources which cannot be satisfied by existing ones with a time-effective manner. Second, emergency material reserve planning is obtained using MWL-EMA to make emergency materials be prepared in advance with a cost-effective manner. The optimization framework is then applied to emergency management system planning in Jiangsu province, China. The results demonstrate that the developed framework not only could facilitate material warehouse selection but also effectively provide emergency material for emergency operations in a quick response. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Adverse fetal outcome in road accidents: Injury mechanism study and injury criteria development in a pregnant woman finite element model.

PubMed

Auriault, F; Thollon, L; Pérès, J; Behr, M

2016-12-01

This study documents the development of adverse fetal outcome predictors dedicated to the analysis of road accidents involving pregnant women. To do so, a pre-existing whole body finite element model representative of a 50th percentile 26 weeks pregnant woman was used. A total of 8 accident scenarios were simulated with the model positioned on a sled. Each of these scenarios was associated to a risk of adverse fetal outcome based on results from real car crash investigations involving pregnant women from the literature. The use of airbags and accidents involving unbelted occupants were not considered in this study. Several adverse fetal outcome potential predictors were then evaluated with regard to their correlation to this risk of fetal injuries. Three predictors appeared strongly correlated to the risk of adverse fetal outcome: (1) the intra uterine pressure at the placenta fetal side area (r=0.92), (2) the fetal head acceleration (HIC) (r=0.99) and (3) area of utero-placental interface over a strain threshold (r=0.90). Finally, sensitivity analysis against slight variations of the simulation parameters was performed and assess robustness of these criteria. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Young drivers' optimism bias for accident risk and driving skill: Accountability and insight experience manipulations.

PubMed

White, Melanie J; Cunningham, Lauren C; Titchener, Kirsteen

2011-07-01

This study aimed to determine whether two brief, low cost interventions would reduce young drivers' optimism bias for their driving skills and accident risk perceptions. This tendency for such drivers to perceive themselves as more skillful and less prone to driving accidents than their peers may lead to less engagement in precautionary driving behaviours and a greater engagement in more dangerous driving behaviour. 243 young drivers (aged 17-25 years) were randomly allocated to one of three groups: accountability, insight or control. All participants provided both overall and specific situation ratings of their driving skills and accident risk relative to a typical young driver. Prior to completing the questionnaire, those in the accountability condition were first advised that their driving skills and accident risk would be later assessed via a driving simulator. Those in the insight condition first underwent a difficult computer-based hazard perception task designed to provide participants with insight into their potential limitations when responding to hazards in difficult and unpredictable driving situations. Participants in the control condition completed only the questionnaire. Results showed that the accountability manipulation was effective in reducing optimism bias in terms of participants' comparative ratings of their accident risk in specific situations, though only for less experienced drivers. In contrast, among more experienced males, participants in the insight condition showed greater optimism bias for overall accident risk than their counterparts in the accountability or control groups. There were no effects of the manipulations on drivers' skills ratings. The differential effects of the two types of manipulations on optimism bias relating to one's accident risk in different subgroups of the young driver sample highlight the importance of targeting interventions for different levels of experience. Accountability interventions may be beneficial for less experienced young drivers but the results suggest exercising caution with the use of insight type interventions, particularly hazard perception style tasks, for more experienced young drivers typically still in the provisional stage of graduated licensing systems. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing flight safety differences between the United States regional and major airlines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharp, Broderick H.

During 2008, the U.S. domestic airline departures exceeded 28,000 flights per day. Thirty-nine or less than 0.2 of 1% of these flights resulted in operational incidents or accidents. However, even a low percentage of airline accidents and incidents continue to cause human suffering and property loss. The charge of this study was the comparison of U.S. major and regional airline safety histories. The study spans safety events from January 1982 through December 2008. In this quantitative analysis, domestic major and regional airlines were statistically tested for their flight safety differences. Four major airlines and thirty-seven regional airlines qualified for the safety study which compared the airline groups' fatal accidents, incidents, non-fatal accidents, pilot errors, and the remaining six safety event probable cause types. The six other probable cause types are mechanical failure, weather, air traffic control, maintenance, other, and unknown causes. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated each airline safety event, and assigned a probable cause to each event. A sample of 500 events was randomly selected from the 1,391 airlines' accident and incident population. The airline groups' safety event probabilities were estimated using the least squares linear regression. A probability significance level of 5% was chosen to conclude the appropriate research question hypothesis. The airline fatal accidents and incidents probability levels were 1.2% and 0.05% respectively. These two research questions did not reach the 5% significance level threshold. Therefore, the airline groups' fatal accidents and non-destructive incidents probabilities favored the airline groups' safety differences hypothesis. The linear progression estimates for the remaining three research questions were 71.5% for non-fatal accidents, 21.8% for the pilot errors, and 7.4% significance level for the six probable causes. These research questions' linear regressions are greater than the 5% level. Consequently, these three research questions favored airline groups' safety similarities hypothesis. The study indicates the U.S. domestic major airlines were safer than the regional airlines. Ideas for potential airline safety progress can examine pilot fatigue, the airline groups' hiring policies, the government's airline oversight personnel, or the comparison of individual airline's operational policies.

Re-suspension of the radioactive fallout after the Fukushima accident: risk of internal dose during the first week and the first two months

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamauchi, M.; Takeda, M.; Makino, M.; Owada, T.

2012-04-01

The nuclear accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant in March 2011 contaminated an area of more than 100 km in diameter by radioactive material with amount of about 10-20% of that by the Chernobyl accident. According to the Chernobyl experience, a part of fallout radionuclide is expected to be re-suspended by wind, causing possible risk of internal dose. However, this re-suspension process and its amounts have not been studied very much due to the difficulty of direct measurement of low-density dusts. To estimate forms and periods of the re-suspension of the radioactive fallout, we used both the radiation dose rate data and vertical (downward) component of the DC electric field near the ground, or potential gradient (PG) at Kakioka, 150 km away from the accident site. The data indicates: (1) During 14-15 March, the radioactive dust is most likely suspended in the air near the ground. (2) During 2-7 UT on 16 March, the radioactive dust is most likely blown up from the surface by the strong wind from the non-contaminated area. (3) During 16-20 March, the radioactive dust most likely stayed re-suspended. (4) After the wet contamination on 20 March until late April, the radioactive fallout on the ground are re-suspended during daytime by daily convection due to sunshine, and transported to downwind direction. (5) At more than 30 km distance from the accident site, the re-suspension most likely ceased by the end of April. However, no data is available within 20 km distance from the accident site. Yamauchi, et al. (2012): Settlement process of radioactive dust to the ground inferred from the atmospheric electric field measurement, Ann. Geophys., 30, 49-56, doi:10.5194/angeo-30-49-2012. Yamauchi (2012): Secondary wind transport of radioactive materials after the Fukushima accident, Earth Planet Space, accepted for publication.

Accident epidemiology and the U.S. chemical industry: accident history and worst-case data from RMP*Info.

PubMed

Kleindorfer, Paul R; Belke, James C; Elliott, Michael R; Lee, Kiwan; Lowe, Robert A; Feldman, Harold I

2003-10-01

This article reports on the data collected on one of the most ambitious government-sponsored environmental data acquisition projects of all time, the Risk Management Plan (RMP) data collected under section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. This RMP Rule 112(r) was triggered by the Bhopal accident in 1984 and led to the requirement that each qualifying facility develop and file with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a Risk Management Plan (RMP) as well as accident history data for the five-year period preceding the filing of the RMP. These data were collected in 1999-2001 on more than 15,000 facilities in the United States that store or use listed toxic or flammable chemicals believed to be a hazard to the environment or to human health of facility employees or off-site residents of host communities. The resulting database, RMP*Info, has become a key resource for regulators and researchers concerned with the frequency and severity of accidents, and the underlying facility-specific factors that are statistically associated with accident and injury rates. This article analyzes which facilities actually filed under the Rule and presents results on accident frequencies and severities available from the RMP*Info database. This article also presents summaries of related results from RMP*Info on Offsite Consequence Analysis (OCA), an analytical estimate of the potential consequences of hypothetical worst-case and alternative accidental releases on the public and environment around the facility. The OCA data have become a key input in the evaluation of site security assessment and mitigation policies for both government planners as well as facility managers and their insurers. Following the survey of the RMP*Info data, we discuss the rich set of policy decisions that may be informed by research based on these data.

Traffic collisions between electric mobility devices (wheelchairs) and motor vehicles: Accidents, hubris, or self-destructive behavior?

PubMed

LaBan, Myron M; Nabity, Thomas S

2010-07-01

This study had its genesis in a personally observed collision between a motor vehicle and a motorized wheelchair (electric mobility device) on a busy street in the middle of the block at an unmarked crossing. To the observer, at the time, this appeared to be a suicidal act. This investigation was initiated to both delineate the number of these crashes nationally and understand this phenomena as a potentially planned act of self-destruction. An initial survey of police reports was immediately frustrated by an inability to separate motor vehicle and electric mobility device collisions from the much larger group that involved ambulatory citizens because both types were classified together as "pedestrian" accidents. Instead, the search engine NexisLexis was used to identify 107 newspaper articles each of which described a motor vehicle and electric mobility device accident. In the motor vehicle and electric mobility device collisions, men predominated women (3:1 ratio) with an average age of 56 yrs. Sixty of these accidents were fatal. Ninety-four percent involved an electric mobility device and 6% a manual wheelchair. In 50% of the cases, the motor vehicle was a truck, van, or sport utility vehicle. Fifty percent occurred at dusk or dawn or at night. The electric mobility device occupant was cited as the guilty party in 39% of the cases and the driver of the motor vehicle in 27%. Twenty percent were unwitnessed hit-and-run accidents, whereas "no fault" was found in 8% of the cases. Although many accidents do happen by chance, when an electric mobility device operator openly challenges busy traffic by attempting to traverse it in the middle of the block at an unmarked crossing, predisposing psychosocial factors must also be considered. Hubris or premeditated self-destructive behavior or both need to be explored as preeminent issues with reference to the prodromal of the "accident process."

Safety in New Zealand's adventure tourism industry: the client accident experience of adventure tourism operators.

PubMed

Bentley , T A; Page, S J; Laird, I S

2000-01-01

Injuries and fatalities among participants of adventure tourism activities have the potential to seriously impact on New Zealand's tourism industry. However, the absence of statistics for tourist accidents in New Zealand, and the lack of detailed academic research into adventure tourism safety, means the extent of the problem is unknown. The aims of the present study were to determine the incidence of client injuries across a range of adventure tourism activity sectors, and to identify common accident events and contributory risk factors. A postal questionnaire survey of New Zealand adventure tourism operators was used. Operators were asked to provide information related to their business; the number of recorded client injuries during the preceding 12 month period, January to December 1998; common accident and injury events associated with their activity; and perceived risk factors for accidents in their sector of the adventure tourism industry. The survey was responded to by 142 New Zealand adventure tourism operators. The operators' reported client injury experience suggests the incidence of serious client injuries is very low. Highest client injury incidence rates were found for activities that involved the risk of falling from a moving vehicle or animal (e.g., cycle tours, quad biking, horse riding, and white-water rafting). Slips, trips, and falls on the level were common accident events across most sectors of the industry. Perceived accident/incident causes were most commonly related to the client, and in particular, failure to attend to and follow instructions. The prevalence of client injuries in activity sectors not presently covered by government regulation, suggests policy makers should look again at extending codes of practice to a wider range of adventure tourism activities. Further research considering adventure tourism involvement in overseas visitor hospitalized injuries in New Zealand, is currently in progress. This will provide supporting evidence for the risk associated with participation in a range of commercial and independently undertaken adventure activities.

Contribution of alcohol in accident related mortality in Belarus: a time series approach

PubMed Central

Razvodovsky, Yury Evgeny

2012-01-01

Abstract: Background: High accidental death rates in the former Soviet republics (FSR) and its profound fluctuation over the past decades have attracted considerable interest. The research evidences emphasize binge drinking pattern as a potentially important contributor to accident mortality crisis in FSR. In line with this evidence we assume that higher level of alcohol consumption in conjunction with binge drinking pattern results in close aggregate-level association between alcohol psychoses and accidental death rates in the former Soviet Slavic republic Belarus. Methods: Trends in alcohol psychoses rate (as a proxy for alcohol consumption) from 1979 to 2007 were analyzed employing a distributed lag analysis in order to asses bivariate relationship between the two time series. Results: According to the Bureau of Forensic Medicine autopsy reports the number of deaths due to accidents and injuries increased by 52.5% (from 62.3 to 95.0 per 100.000 of residents), and fatal alcohol poisoning rate increased by 108.6% (from 12.8 to 26.7 per 100.000 of residents) in Belarus between 1979 and 2007. Alcohol in blood was found in 50.1% victims of deaths from accidents and injuries for the whole period, with the minimum figure 40% in 1986 and maximum 58.2% in 2005. The outcome of distributed lags analysis indicated statistically significant association between the number of alcohol psychoses cases and the number BAC-positive deaths from accidents at zero lag. Conclusion: The outcome of this study supports previous findings suggesting that alcohol and deaths from accidents are closely connected in a culture with prevailing intoxication-oriented drinking pattern, and add to growing body of evidence that a substantial proportion of accidental deaths in Belarus are due to effects of binge drinking. PMID:21502784

Predicting Consequences of Technological Disasters from Natural Hazard Events: Challenges and Opportunities Associated with Industrial Accident Data Sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, M.

2009-04-01

The increased focus on the possibility of technological accidents caused by natural events (Natech) is foreseen to continue for years to come. In this case, experts in prevention, mitigation and preparation activities associated with natural events will increasingly need to borrow data and expertise traditionally associated with the technological fields to carry out the work. An important question is how useful is the data for understanding consequences from such natech events. Data and case studies provided on major industrial accidents tend to focus on lessons learned for re-engineering the process. While consequence data are reported at least nominally in most reports, their precision, quality and completeness is often lacking. Consequences that are often or sometimes available but not provided can include severity and type of injuries, distance of victims from the source, exposure measurements, volume of the release, population in potentially affected zones, and weather conditions. Yet these are precisely the type of data that will aid natural hazard experts in land-use planning and emergency response activities when a Natech event may be foreseen. This work discusses the results of a study of consequence data from accidents involving toxic releases reported in the EU's MARS accident database. The study analysed the precision, quality and completeness of three categories of consequence data reported: the description of health effects, consequence assessment and chemical risk assessment factors, and emergency response information. This work reports on the findings from this study and discusses how natural hazards experts might interact with industrial accident experts to promote more consistent and accurate reporting of the data that will be useful in consequence-based activities.

Design and implementation of an identification system in construction site safety for proactive accident prevention.

PubMed

Yang, Huanjia; Chew, David A S; Wu, Weiwei; Zhou, Zhipeng; Li, Qiming

2012-09-01

Identifying accident precursors using real-time identity information has great potential to improve safety performance in construction industry, which is still suffering from day to day records of accident fatality and injury. Based on the requirements analysis for identifying precursor and the discussion of enabling technology solutions for acquiring and sharing real-time automatic identification information on construction site, this paper proposes an identification system design for proactive accident prevention to improve construction site safety. Firstly, a case study is conducted to analyze the automatic identification requirements for identifying accident precursors in construction site. Results show that it mainly consists of three aspects, namely access control, training and inspection information and operation authority. The system is then designed to fulfill these requirements based on ZigBee enabled wireless sensor network (WSN), radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and an integrated ZigBee RFID sensor network structure. At the same time, an information database is also designed and implemented, which includes 15 tables, 54 queries and several reports and forms. In the end, a demonstration system based on the proposed system design is developed as a proof of concept prototype. The contributions of this study include the requirement analysis and technical design of a real-time identity information tracking solution for proactive accident prevention on construction sites. The technical solution proposed in this paper has a significant importance in improving safety performance on construction sites. Moreover, this study can serve as a reference design for future system integrations where more functions, such as environment monitoring and location tracking, can be added. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Policy mapping for establishing a national emergency health policy for Nigeria

PubMed Central

Aliyu, Zakari Y

2002-01-01

Background The number of potential life years lost due to accidents and injuries though poorly studied has resulted in tremendous economic and social loss to Nigeria. Numerous socio-cultural, economic and political factors including the current epidemic of ethnic and religious conflicts act in concert in predisposing to and enabling the ongoing catastrophe of accident and injuries in Nigeria. Methods Using the "policymaker", Microsoft-Windows® based software, the information generated on accidents and injuries and emergency health care in Nigeria from literature review, content analysis of relevant documents, expert interviewing and consensus opinion, a model National Emergency Health Policy was designed and analyzed. A major point of analysis for the policy is the current political feasibility of the policy including its opportunities and obstacles in the country. Results A model National Emergency Health Policy with policy goals, objectives, programs and evaluation benchmarks was generated. Critical analyses of potential policy problems, associated multiple players, diverging interests and implementation guidelines were developed. Conclusions "Political health modeling" a term proposed here would be invaluable to policy makers and scholars in developing countries in assessing the political feasibility of policy managing. Political modeling applied to the development of a NEHP in Nigeria would empower policy makers and the policy making process and would ensure a sustainable emergency health policy in Nigeria. PMID:12181080

A pulse-controlled modified-burst test instrument for accident-tolerant fuel cladding

DOE PAGES

Cinbiz, M. Nedim; Brown, Nicholas R.; Terrani, Kurt A.; ...

2017-06-03

Pellet-cladding mechanical interaction due to thermal expansion of nuclear fuel pellets during a reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) is a potential mechanism for failure of nuclear fuel cladding. To investigate the mechanical behavior of cladding during an RIA, we developed a mechanical pulse-controlled modified burst test instrument that simulates transient events with a pulse width from 10 to 300 ms. This paper includes validation tests of unirradiated and prehydrided ZIRLO cladding tubes. A ZIRLO cladding sample with a hydrogen content of 168 wt. ppm showed ductile behavior and failed at the maximum limits of the test setup with hoop strain to failuremore » greater than 9.2%. ZIRLO samples showed high resistance to failure even at very high hydrogen contents (1,466 wt. ppm). When the hydrogen content was increased to 1,554 wt. ppm, brittle-like behavior was observed at a hoop strain of 2.5%. Preliminary scoping tests at room temperature with FeCrAl tubes were conducted to imitate the pulse behavior of transient test reactors during integral tests. The preliminary FeCrAl tests are informative from the perspective of characterizing the test rig and supporting the design of integral tests for current and potentially accident tolerant cladding materials.« less

Probability analysis of multiple-tank-car release incidents in railway hazardous materials transportation.

PubMed

Liu, Xiang; Saat, Mohd Rapik; Barkan, Christopher P L

2014-07-15

Railroads play a key role in the transportation of hazardous materials in North America. Rail transport differs from highway transport in several aspects, an important one being that rail transport involves trains in which many railcars carrying hazardous materials travel together. By contrast to truck accidents, it is possible that a train accident may involve multiple hazardous materials cars derailing and releasing contents with consequently greater potential impact on human health, property and the environment. In this paper, a probabilistic model is developed to estimate the probability distribution of the number of tank cars releasing contents in a train derailment. Principal operational characteristics considered include train length, derailment speed, accident cause, position of the first car derailed, number and placement of tank cars in a train and tank car safety design. The effect of train speed, tank car safety design and tank car positions in a train were evaluated regarding the number of cars that release their contents in a derailment. This research provides insights regarding the circumstances affecting multiple-tank-car release incidents and potential strategies to reduce their occurrences. The model can be incorporated into a larger risk management framework to enable better local, regional and national safety management of hazardous materials transportation by rail. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Inroads into Equestrian Safety: Rider-Reported Factors Contributing to Horse-Related Accidents and Near Misses on Australian Roads.

PubMed

Thompson, Kirrilly; Matthews, Chelsea

2015-07-22

Horse riding and horse-related interactions are inherently dangerous. When they occur on public roads, the risk profile of equestrian activities is complicated by interactions with other road users. Research has identified speed, proximity, visibility, conspicuity and mutual misunderstanding as factors contributing to accidents and near misses. However, little is known about their significance or incidence in Australia. To explore road safety issues amongst Australian equestrians, we conducted an online survey. More than half of all riders (52%) reported having experienced at least one accident or near miss in the 12 months prior to the survey. Whilst our findings confirm the factors identified overseas, we also identified issues around rider misunderstanding of road rules and driver misunderstanding of rider hand signals. Of particular concern, we also found reports of potentially dangerous rider-directed road rage. We identify several areas for potential safety intervention including (1) identifying equestrians as vulnerable road users and horses as sentient decision-making vehicles (2) harmonising laws regarding passing horses, (3) mandating personal protective equipment, (4) improving road signage, (5) comprehensive data collection, (6) developing mutual understanding amongst road-users, (7) safer road design and alternative riding spaces; and (8) increasing investment in horse-related safety initiatives.

A pulse-controlled modified-burst test instrument for accident-tolerant fuel cladding

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cinbiz, M. Nedim; Brown, Nicholas R.; Terrani, Kurt A.

Pellet-cladding mechanical interaction due to thermal expansion of nuclear fuel pellets during a reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) is a potential mechanism for failure of nuclear fuel cladding. To investigate the mechanical behavior of cladding during an RIA, we developed a mechanical pulse-controlled modified burst test instrument that simulates transient events with a pulse width from 10 to 300 ms. This paper includes validation tests of unirradiated and prehydrided ZIRLO cladding tubes. A ZIRLO cladding sample with a hydrogen content of 168 wt. ppm showed ductile behavior and failed at the maximum limits of the test setup with hoop strain to failuremore » greater than 9.2%. ZIRLO samples showed high resistance to failure even at very high hydrogen contents (1,466 wt. ppm). When the hydrogen content was increased to 1,554 wt. ppm, brittle-like behavior was observed at a hoop strain of 2.5%. Preliminary scoping tests at room temperature with FeCrAl tubes were conducted to imitate the pulse behavior of transient test reactors during integral tests. The preliminary FeCrAl tests are informative from the perspective of characterizing the test rig and supporting the design of integral tests for current and potentially accident tolerant cladding materials.« less

Analysis and Implementation of Accident Tolerant Nuclear Fuels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prewitt, Benjamin Joseph

To improve the reliability and robustness of LWR, accident tolerant nuclear fuels and cladding materials are being developed to possibly replace the current UO2/zirconium system. This research highlights UN and U3Si 2, two of the most favorable accident tolerant fuels being developed. To evaluate the commercial feasiblilty of these fuels, two areas of research were conducted. Chemical fabrication routes for both fuels were investigated in detail, considering UO2 and UF6 as potential starting materials. Potential pathways for industrial scale fabrication using these methods were discussed. Neutronic performance of 70%UN-30%U3Si2 composite was evaluated in MNCP using PWR assembly and core models. The results showed comparable performance to an identical UO2 fueled simulation with the same configuration. The parameters simulated for composite and oxide fuel include the following: fuel to moderator ratio curves; energy dependent flux spectra; temperature coefficients for fuel and moderator; delayed neutron fractions; power peaking factors; axial and radial flux profiles in 2D and 3D; burnup; critical boron concentration; and shutdown margin. Overall, the neutronic parameters suggest that the transition from UO2 to composite in existing nuclear systems will not require significant changes in operating procedures or modifications to standards and regulations.

10 CFR 72.100 - Defining potential effects of the ISFSI or MRS on the region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... in the region resulting from the release of radioactive materials under normal and accident... with respect to the effects on the regional environment resulting from construction, operation, and...

[Analysis and evaluation of occupational accidents in dancers of the dance theatre].

PubMed

Wanke, E M; Groneberg, D A; Quarcoo, D

2011-03-01

The dance theatre is an autonomous form of presentation within the performing arts. It is a combination of dance, drama, singing and speaking. As the actors are usually professional dancers the dance theatre is associated with the professional dance. Compared with other dance styles there is an enhanced usage of props, costumes or décor to intensify the production and the expressiveness. In contrast to the defined professional dance technique the range of movements is unlimited. There has not yet been done any research on the influence of props as well as décor in terms of exogenous factors potentially favouring injuries. Aim of this study is to characterize specific injury patterns, as well as their causes and to suggest basic approaches to prevent injuries in the dance theatre. The data of this evaluation comprise occupational accident reports, accident reports of various Berlin theatres as well as case records of all Berlin State Theatres (n = 1106) of the Berlin State Accident Insurance over a 9-year period. 103 occupational accidents are accounted for the dance theatre. 44.6 % of the accidents happen during rehearsals, 42.4 % during performances, 76.7 % on stage and adjoining areas and 10.7 % in the ballet studio. Second most common movement resulting in an injury are jumps with 25.4 %. Altogether 69.7 % of the accidents have a uniquely defined exogenous cause with 30.5 % by props, 12.7 % by the floor and 17.2 % by the dance partner. 30.3 % of the accidents have multifactorial causes (e. g. the social situation, state of training and nutrition). 61 % of all accidents happen within three hours after starting work with an increase of occupational accidents between 11:00 - 12:00 hrs and 08:00- 09:00 hrs. The lower extremity is the most affected location (53.3 %), followed by the head/neck area (21.4 %) and the upper extremity (17.5 %). Contusions (26.2 %), distortions (17.5 %), muscular strains (19.4 %) and wounds (13.6 %) are the most frequent types of injuries. In combination with the partly undefined movement pattern the majority of the acute injuries is - compared to other dance styles - above all caused by susceptible exogenous factors. Corrections of the daily routine, the working conditions, state of training as well as of the state of nutrition of the dancers may be initial steps towards injury prevention. At that, early interactions and interventions in the planning process of a dance theatre production could help to minimize the amount of accidents caused by exogenous factors and contribute to a practicable injury prevention in the dance theatre. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Cannabis, alcohol and fatal road accidents

PubMed Central

Martin, Jean-Louis; Gadegbeku, Blandine; Wu, Dan; Viallon, Vivian; Laumon, Bernard

2017-01-01

Introduction This research aims to estimate the relative risks of responsibility for a fatal accident linked to driving under the influence of cannabis or alcohol, the prevalence of these influences among drivers and the corresponding attributable risk ratios. A secondary goal is to estimate the same items for three other groups of illicit drugs (amphetamines, cocaine and opiates), and to compare the results to a similar study carried out in France between 2001 and 2003. Methodology Police procedures for fatal accidents in Metropolitan France during 2011 were analyzed and 300 characteristics encoded to provide a database of 4,059 drivers. Information on alcohol and four groups of illicit drugs derived from tests for positivity and potential confirmation through blood analysis. The study compares drivers responsible for causing the accident, that is to say having directly contributed to its occurrence, to drivers involved in an accident for which they were not responsible, and who can be assimilated to drivers in general. Results The proportion of persons driving under the influence of alcohol is estimated at 2.1% (95% CI: 1.4–2.8) and under the influence of cannabis at 3.4% (2.9%-3.9%). Drivers under the influence of alcohol are 17.8 times (12.1–26.1) more likely to be responsible for a fatal accident, and the proportion of fatal accidents which would be prevented if no drivers ever exceeded the legal limit for alcohol is estimated at 27.7% (26.0%-29.4%). Drivers under the influence of cannabis multiply their risk of being responsible for causing a fatal accident by 1.65 (1.16–2.34), and the proportion of fatal accidents which would be prevented if no drivers ever drove under the influence of cannabis is estimated at 4.2% (3.7%-4.8%). An increased risk linked to opiate use has also been found to be significant, but with low prevalence, requiring caution in interpreting this finding. Other groups of narcotics have even lower prevalence, and the associated extra risks cannot be assessed. Conclusion Almost a decade separates the present study from a similar one previously conducted in France, and there have been numerous developments in the intervening years. Even so, the prevalence of drivers responsible for causing fatal accidents under the influence of alcohol or narcotics has stayed remarkably stable, as have the proportion of fatal accidents which could in theory be prevented if no drivers ever exceeded the legal limits. The overall number of deaths from traffic accidents has dropped sharply during this period, and the number of victims attributable to alcohol and/or cannabis declined proportionally. Alcohol remains the main problem in France. It is just as important to note that one in two drivers considered to be under the influence of cannabis was also under the influence of alcohol. With risks cumulating between the two, it is particularly important to point out the danger of consuming them together. PMID:29117206

Cannabis, alcohol and fatal road accidents.

PubMed

Martin, Jean-Louis; Gadegbeku, Blandine; Wu, Dan; Viallon, Vivian; Laumon, Bernard

2017-01-01

This research aims to estimate the relative risks of responsibility for a fatal accident linked to driving under the influence of cannabis or alcohol, the prevalence of these influences among drivers and the corresponding attributable risk ratios. A secondary goal is to estimate the same items for three other groups of illicit drugs (amphetamines, cocaine and opiates), and to compare the results to a similar study carried out in France between 2001 and 2003. Police procedures for fatal accidents in Metropolitan France during 2011 were analyzed and 300 characteristics encoded to provide a database of 4,059 drivers. Information on alcohol and four groups of illicit drugs derived from tests for positivity and potential confirmation through blood analysis. The study compares drivers responsible for causing the accident, that is to say having directly contributed to its occurrence, to drivers involved in an accident for which they were not responsible, and who can be assimilated to drivers in general. The proportion of persons driving under the influence of alcohol is estimated at 2.1% (95% CI: 1.4-2.8) and under the influence of cannabis at 3.4% (2.9%-3.9%). Drivers under the influence of alcohol are 17.8 times (12.1-26.1) more likely to be responsible for a fatal accident, and the proportion of fatal accidents which would be prevented if no drivers ever exceeded the legal limit for alcohol is estimated at 27.7% (26.0%-29.4%). Drivers under the influence of cannabis multiply their risk of being responsible for causing a fatal accident by 1.65 (1.16-2.34), and the proportion of fatal accidents which would be prevented if no drivers ever drove under the influence of cannabis is estimated at 4.2% (3.7%-4.8%). An increased risk linked to opiate use has also been found to be significant, but with low prevalence, requiring caution in interpreting this finding. Other groups of narcotics have even lower prevalence, and the associated extra risks cannot be assessed. Almost a decade separates the present study from a similar one previously conducted in France, and there have been numerous developments in the intervening years. Even so, the prevalence of drivers responsible for causing fatal accidents under the influence of alcohol or narcotics has stayed remarkably stable, as have the proportion of fatal accidents which could in theory be prevented if no drivers ever exceeded the legal limits. The overall number of deaths from traffic accidents has dropped sharply during this period, and the number of victims attributable to alcohol and/or cannabis declined proportionally. Alcohol remains the main problem in France. It is just as important to note that one in two drivers considered to be under the influence of cannabis was also under the influence of alcohol. With risks cumulating between the two, it is particularly important to point out the danger of consuming them together.

Motion perception tasks as potential correlates to driving difficulty in the elderly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raghuram, A.; Lakshminarayanan, V.

2006-09-01

Changes in the demographics indicates that the population older than 65 is on the rise because of the aging of the ‘baby boom’ generation. This aging trend and driving related accident statistics reveal the need for procedures and tests that would assess the driving ability of older adults and predict whether they would be safe or unsafe drivers. Literature shows that an attention based test called the useful field of view (UFOV) was a significant predictor of accident rates compared to any other visual function tests. The present study evaluates a qualitative trend on using motion perception tasks as a potential visual perceptual correlates in screening elderly drivers who might have difficulty in driving. Data was collected from 15 older subjects with a mean age of 71. Motion perception tasks included—speed discrimination with radial and lamellar motion, time to collision using prediction motion and estimating direction of heading. A motion index score was calculated which was indicative of performance on all of the above-mentioned motion tasks. Scores on visual attention was assessed using UFOV. A driving habit questionnaire was also administered for a self report on the driving difficulties and accident rates. A qualitative trend based on frequency distributions show that thresholds on the motion perception tasks are successful in identifying subjects who reported to have had difficulty in certain aspects of driving and had accidents. Correlation between UFOV and motion index scores was not significant indicating that probably different aspects of visual information processing that are crucial to driving behaviour are being tapped by these two paradigms. UFOV and motion perception tasks together can be a better predictor for identifying at risk or safe drivers than just using either one of them.

RELEASE OF DRIED RADIOACTIVE WASTE MATERIALS TECHNICAL BASIS DOCUMENT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

KOZLOWSKI, S.D.

2007-05-30

This technical basis document was developed to support RPP-23429, Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis for the Demonstration Bulk Vitrification System (PDSA) and RPP-23479, Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis for the Contact-Handled Transuranic Mixed (CH-TRUM) Waste Facility. The main document describes the risk binning process and the technical basis for assigning risk bins to the representative accidents involving the release of dried radioactive waste materials from the Demonstration Bulk Vitrification System (DBVS) and to the associated represented hazardous conditions. Appendices D through F provide the technical basis for assigning risk bins to the representative dried waste release accident and associated represented hazardous conditionsmore » for the Contact-Handled Transuranic Mixed (CH-TRUM) Waste Packaging Unit (WPU). The risk binning process uses an evaluation of the frequency and consequence of a given representative accident or represented hazardous condition to determine the need for safety structures, systems, and components (SSC) and technical safety requirement (TSR)-level controls. A representative accident or a represented hazardous condition is assigned to a risk bin based on the potential radiological and toxicological consequences to the public and the collocated worker. Note that the risk binning process is not applied to facility workers because credible hazardous conditions with the potential for significant facility worker consequences are considered for safety-significant SSCs and/or TSR-level controls regardless of their estimated frequency. The controls for protection of the facility workers are described in RPP-23429 and RPP-23479. Determination of the need for safety-class SSCs was performed in accordance with DOE-STD-3009-94, Preparation Guide for US. Department of Energy Nonreactor Nuclear Facility Documented Safety Analyses, as described below.« less

Evaluation of potential severe accidents during low power and shutdown operations at Surry, Unit 1. Volume 5: Analysis of core damage frequency from seismic events during mid-loop operations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Budnitz, R.J.; Davis, P.R.; Ravindra, M.K.

1994-08-01

In 1989 the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) initiated an extensive program to examine carefully the potential risks during low-power and shutdown operations. The program included two parallel projects, one at Brookhaven National Laboratory studying a pressurized water reactor (Surry Unit 1) and the other at Sandia National Laboratories studying a boiling water reactor (Grand Gulf). Both the Brookhaven and Sandia projects have examined only accidents initiated by internal plant faults--so-called ``internal initiators.`` This project, which has explored the likelihood of seismic-initiated core damage accidents during refueling shutdown conditions, is complementary to the internal-initiator analyses at Brookhaven and Sandia. Thismore » report covers the seismic analysis at Surry Unit 1. All of the many systems modeling assumptions, component non-seismic failure rates, and human error rates that were used in the internal-initiator study at Surry have been adopted here, so that the results of the two studies can be as comparable as possible. Both the Brookhaven study and this study examine only two shutdown plant operating states (POSs) during refueling outages at Surry, called POS 6 and POS 10, which represent mid-loop operation before and after refueling, respectively. This analysis has been limited to work analogous to a level-1 seismic PRA, in which estimates have been developed for the core-damage frequency from seismic events during POSs 6 and 10. The results of the analysis are that the core-damage frequency of earthquake-initiated accidents during refueling outages in POS 6 and POS 10 is found to be low in absolute terms, less than 10{sup {minus}6}/year.« less

Evaluation of potential severe accidents during low power and shutdown operations at Grand Gulf, Unit 1. Volume 5: Analysis of core damage frequency from seismic events for plant operational state 5 during a refueling outage

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Budnitz, R.J.; Davis, P.R.; Ravindra, M.K.

In 1989 the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) initiated an extensive program to examine carefully the potential risks during low-power and shutdown operations. The program included two parallel projects, one at Sandia National Laboratories studying a boiling water reactor (Grand Gulf), and the other at Brookhaven National Laboratory studying a pressurized water reactor (Surry Unit 1). Both the Sandia and Brookhaven projects have examined only accidents initiated by internal plant faults---so-called ``internal initiators.`` This project, which has explored the likelihood of seismic-initiated core damage accidents during refueling outage conditions, is complementary to the internal-initiator analyses at Brookhaven and Sandia. Thismore » report covers the seismic analysis at Grand Gulf. All of the many systems modeling assumptions, component non-seismic failure rates, and human effort rates that were used in the internal-initiator study at Grand Gulf have been adopted here, so that the results of the study can be as comparable as possible. Both the Sandia study and this study examine only one shutdown plant operating state (POS) at Grand Gulf, namely POS 5 representing cold shutdown during a refueling outage. This analysis has been limited to work analogous to a level-1 seismic PRA, in which estimates have been developed for the core-damage frequency from seismic events during POS 5. The results of the analysis are that the core-damage frequency for earthquake-initiated accidents during refueling outages in POS 5 is found to be quite low in absolute terms, less than 10{sup {minus}7}/year.« less

[Accidents and injuries in the EU. Results of the EuroSafe Reports].

PubMed

Bauer, R; Steiner, M; Kisser, R; Macey, S M; Thayer, D

2014-06-01

Accidents and injuries are a relevant although largely preventable public health problem. Information on the causes of accidents is the basis for accident prevention and product safety. The current report "Injuries in the European Union", edited by EuroSafe, the European Association for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, is a summary of key statistics on accidents and injuries at the EU level. In addition to international data on cause of death, the data of the European Injury Data Base (IDB) in particular are presented. The IDB is a unique data source for the EU based on an internationally standardized dataset of external causes and circumstances of injuries, which is collected in the emergency department of hospitals. Thus, the IDB covers the entire spectrum of accidents and injuries in sufficient detail as is necessary for the derivation of preventive measures and the knowledge of involved products. The currently available IDB data are collected by the participating Member States (2012: Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden) in self-interest (i.e., without legal obligation) with the support of the EU health programs. The central database for the IDB is run by the European Commission and provides public access to the aggregated data of the participating countries. Currently, over 100 IDB hospitals in the EU upload around 300,000 cases per year into the EU database. The IDB contains information on all accident sectors (transport, workplace, school etc.) with a focus on leisure and sports accidents. Depending on the accident sector, up to 25 variables (activities, products involved, means of transport etc.) and often also short narratives are recorded for each case. The report shows that 40 million people are treated in a hospital annually in the EU after accidents and violence, and that about 233,000 people die as a consequence of injury. There are large differences between countries in the rates of fatal and nonfatal injuries; these differences can be interpreted as a measure of the potential for prevention and as an indication of targeted measures in the countries with higher accident rates. The report also includes snapshots of the eight priority themes for injury prevention, as defined in the Recommendation of the European Council on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion in 2007: children, adolescents and older people, vulnerable road users, sports, the use of products and services, violence, and self-injury. The implementation of the IDB has proven to be feasible and useful for the participating countries, especially for data-based accident prevention in the important areas of home, leisure, and sports accidents. In the framework of the EU project JAMIE (2011-2014, Joint Action for Injury Monitoring in Europe), the IDB partners are currently working on further improving the IDB standards and quality criteria as well as the recruitment of further IDB countries. The medium-term goal is to integrate the EU IDB in the Eurostat Statistical System and to put the collection of IDB data on a statutory footing.

Nanosensor system for monitoring brain activity and drowsiness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramasamy, Mouli; Varadan, Vijay K.; Harbaugh, Robert

2015-04-01

Detection of drowsiness in drivers to avoid on-road collisions and accidents is one of the most important applications that can be implemented to avert loss of life and property caused by accidents. A statistical report indicates that drowsy driving is equally harmful as driving under influence of alcohol. This report also indicates that drowsy driving is the third most influencing factor for accidents and 30% of the commercial vehicle accidents are caused because of drowsy driving. With a motivation to avoid accidents caused by drowsy driving, this paper proposes a technique of correlating EEG and EOG signals to detect drowsiness. Feature extracts of EEG and blink variability from EOG is correlated to detect the sleepiness/drowsiness of a driver. Moreover, to implement a more pragmatic approach towards continuous monitoring, a wireless real time monitoring approach has been incorporated using textile based nanosensors. Thereby, acquired bio potential signals are transmitted through GSM communication module to the receiver continuously. In addition to this, all the incorporated electronics are equipped in a flexible headband which can be worn by the driver. With this flexible headband approach, any intrusiveness that may be experienced by other cumbersome hardware is effectively mitigated. With the continuous transmission of data from the head band, the signals are processed on the receiver side to determine the condition of the driver. Early warning of driver's drowsiness will be displayed in the dashboard of the vehicle as well as alertness voice and sound alarm will be sent via the vehicle radio.

Acute Injuries in Student Circus Artists with Regard to Gender Specific Differences

PubMed Central

Wanke, Eileen M.; McCormack, Moira; Koch, Franziska; Wanke, Alice; Groneberg, David A.

2012-01-01

Purpose Student circus artists train as both artists and athletes with their bodies holding the key to professional success. The daily training load of student circus artists is often associated with maximum physical and psychological stress with injuries posing a threat to a potential professional career. The purpose of this study is the differentiated analysis and evaluation of work accidents in order to initiate the development of injury preventive programs. Methods The 17 years of data were obtained from standardized anonymous work accident records of the Berlin State Accident Insurance (UKB) as well as a State Artist Educational School (n = 169, Male: 70; Female: 99) from student artists. Evaluation and descriptive statistics were conducted with Excel 2007 and PASW Statistics 18. Results The injury risk seems to be relatively low (0.3 injuries/1000h). There are gender specific differences as to the location of injuries. Only 7% of the accidents demand a break of more than 3 days. Injury patterns vary depending on the activity and the employment of props/equipment. 75.2% of work accidents have multifactorial and 24.8% exogenous causes. Conclusions Because physical fitness is all important in the circus arts there are numerous options for injury prevention programs that should be realized subject to gender-specific differences. Follow-ups on chronic complaints and a more individual approach are indispensable due to the very specific activities in the circus arts. PMID:23012634

Medical Emergencies in Goa

PubMed Central

Saddichha, Sahoo; Saxena, Mukul Kumar

2010-01-01

Background: Most emergencies in Goa arise due to road traffic accidents and drowning, which have been compounded by the rise in number of recorded accidents in 2007 to be above 4000. It is believed that 11 people meet with an accident on Goa's roads every day and this is expected to rise by 10% by next year. Similar is the case with drownings and other medical emergencies. We therefore aimed to conduct a cross-sectional survey of medical emergencies and identify various types of emergencies presenting to emergency departments. Materials and Methods: Using a stratified random sampling design, all emergencies presenting to the three government hospitals in Goa, which handle 90% of all emergencies currently, were studied on specially designed data sheets in order to collect data. Emergency medical technicians (ETs) were placed in the Casualty Ward of the medical colleges and they recorded all emergencies on the data sheet. The collected data were then analyzed for stratification and mapping of emergencies. Results: GMC Hospital attended to majority of emergencies (62%), which were mainly of the nature of accidents or assaults (17%) and fever related (17%). Most emergencies were noncritical and about 1% expired. Maximum emergencies also presented from Salcette and Bardez, and occurred among young males in the age group of 19-45 years. Males were also more prone to accidents while females had pregnancies as emergencies. Conclusion: Potential emergency services need to target young males with higher concentrations required in Salcette in South Goa and Bardez in North Goa. PMID:20606921

Analysis of multiple tank car releases in train accidents.

PubMed

Liu, Xiang; Liu, Chang; Hong, Yili

2017-10-01

There are annually over two million carloads of hazardous materials transported by rail in the United States. The American railroads use large blocks of tank cars to transport petroleum crude oil and other flammable liquids from production to consumption sites. Being different from roadway transport of hazardous materials, a train accident can potentially result in the derailment and release of multiple tank cars, which may result in significant consequences. The prior literature predominantly assumes that the occurrence of multiple tank car releases in a train accident is a series of independent Bernoulli processes, and thus uses the binomial distribution to estimate the total number of tank car releases given the number of tank cars derailing or damaged. This paper shows that the traditional binomial model can incorrectly estimate multiple tank car release probability by magnitudes in certain circumstances, thereby significantly affecting railroad safety and risk analysis. To bridge this knowledge gap, this paper proposes a novel, alternative Correlated Binomial (CB) model that accounts for the possible correlations of multiple tank car releases in the same train. We test three distinct correlation structures in the CB model, and find that they all outperform the conventional binomial model based on empirical tank car accident data. The analysis shows that considering tank car release correlations would result in a significantly improved fit of the empirical data than otherwise. Consequently, it is prudent to consider alternative modeling techniques when analyzing the probability of multiple tank car releases in railroad accidents. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the Prince William County collision countermeasure system.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-02-01

The Collision Countermeasure System (CCS) is an ITS application intended to reduce side-impact accident potential at rural, limited sight-distance intersections. It consists of activated warning signs and pavement loop detectors designed to enhance d...

Regulating Hazardous-materials Transportation with Behavioral Modeling of Drivers

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2018-01-29

Changhyun Kwon (ORCID ID 0000-0001-8455-6396) This project considers network regulation problems to minimize the risk of hazmat accidents and potential damages to the environment, while considering bounded rationality of drivers. We consider governme...

Three-cable barrier makes I-5 safer.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-08-01

The cable median barrier system has been effective in preventing crossover accidents at the selected location, from December 1996 through March 1998. Of the 53 barrier impacts, 21 potential crossovers were restrained from entering the opposing traffi...

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

MITCHELL,GERRY W.; LONGLEY,SUSAN W.; PHILBIN,JEFFREY S.

This Safety Analysis Report (SAR) is prepared in compliance with the requirements of DOE Order 5480.23, Nuclear Safety Analysis Reports, and has been written to the format and content guide of DOE-STD-3009-94 Preparation Guide for U. S. Department of Energy Nonreactor Nuclear Safety Analysis Reports. The Hot Cell Facility is a Hazard Category 2 nonreactor nuclear facility, and is operated by Sandia National Laboratories for the Department of Energy. This SAR provides a description of the HCF and its operations, an assessment of the hazards and potential accidents which may occur in the facility. The potential consequences and likelihood ofmore » these accidents are analyzed and described. Using the process and criteria described in DOE-STD-3009-94, safety-related structures, systems and components are identified, and the important safety functions of each SSC are described. Additionally, information which describes the safety management programs at SNL are described in ancillary chapters of the SAR.« less

Investigation of Containment Flooding Strategy for Mark-III Nuclear Power Plant with MAAP4

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Su Weinian; Wang, S.-J.; Chiang, S.-C

2005-06-15

Containment flooding is an important strategy for severe accident management of a conventional boiling water reactor (BWR) system. The purpose of this work is to investigate the containment flooding strategy of the Mark-III system after a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) breach. The Kuosheng Power Plant is a typical BWR-6 nuclear power plant (NPP) with Mark-III containment. The Severe Accident Management Guideline (SAMG) of the Kuosheng NPP has been developed based on the BWR Owners Group (BWROG) Emergency Procedure and Severe Accident Guidelines, Rev. 2. Therefore, the Kuosheng NPP is selected as the plant for study, and the MAAP4 code ismore » chosen as the tool for analysis. A postulated specific station blackout sequence for the Kuosheng NPP is cited as a reference case for this analysis. Because of the design features of Mark-III containment, the debris in the reactor cavity may not be submerged after an RPV breach when one follows the containment flooding strategy as suggested in the BWROG generic guideline, and the containment integrity could be challenged eventually. A more specific containment flooding strategy with drywell venting after an RPV breach is investigated, and a more stable plant condition is achieved with this strategy. Accordingly, the containment flooding strategy after an RPV breach will be modified for the Kuosheng SAMG, and these results are applicable to typical Mark-III plants with drywell vent path.« less

The role of PRA in the safety assessment of VVER Nuclear Power Plants in Ukraine.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kot, C.

1999-05-10

Ukraine operates thirteen (13) Soviet-designed pressurized water reactors, VVERS. All Ukrainian plants are currently operating with annually renewable permits until they update their safety analysis reports (SARs), in accordance with new SAR content requirements issued in September 1995, by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority and the Government Nuclear Power Coordinating Committee of Ukraine. The requirements are in three major areas: design basis accident (DBA) analysis, probabilistic risk assessment (PRA), and beyond design-basis accident (BDBA) analysis. The last two requirements, on PRA and BDBA, are new, and the DBA requirements are an expanded version of the older SAR requirements. The US Departmentmore » of Energy (USDOE), as part of its Soviet-Designed Reactor Safety activities, is providing assistance and technology transfer to Ukraine to support their nuclear power plants (NPPs) in developing a Western-type technical basis for the new SARs. USDOE sponsored In-Depth Safety Assessments (ISAs) are in progress at three pilot nuclear reactor units in Ukraine, South Ukraine Unit 1, Zaporizhzhya Unit 5, and Rivne Unit 1, and a follow-on study has been initiated at Khmenytskyy Unit 1. The ISA projects encompass most areas of plant safety evaluation, but the initial emphasis is on performing a detailed, plant-specific Level 1 Internal Events PRA. This allows the early definition of the plant risk profile, the identification of risk significant accident sequences and plant vulnerabilities and provides guidance for the remainder of the safety assessments.« less

NASA Accident Precursor Analysis Handbook, Version 1.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Groen, Frank; Everett, Chris; Hall, Anthony; Insley, Scott

2011-01-01

Catastrophic accidents are usually preceded by precursory events that, although observable, are not recognized as harbingers of a tragedy until after the fact. In the nuclear industry, the Three Mile Island accident was preceded by at least two events portending the potential for severe consequences from an underappreciated causal mechanism. Anomalies whose failure mechanisms were integral to the losses of Space Transportation Systems (STS) Challenger and Columbia had been occurring within the STS fleet prior to those accidents. Both the Rogers Commission Report and the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report found that processes in place at the time did not respond to the prior anomalies in a way that shed light on their true risk implications. This includes the concern that, in the words of the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), "no process addresses the need to update a hazard analysis when anomalies occur" At a broader level, the ASAP noted in 2007 that NASA "could better gauge the likelihood of losses by developing leading indicators, rather than continue to depend on lagging indicators". These observations suggest a need to revalidate prior assumptions and conclusions of existing safety (and reliability) analyses, as well as to consider the potential for previously unrecognized accident scenarios, when unexpected or otherwise undesired behaviors of the system are observed. This need is also discussed in NASA's system safety handbook, which advocates a view of safety assurance as driving a program to take steps that are necessary to establish and maintain a valid and credible argument for the safety of its missions. It is the premise of this handbook that making cases for safety more experience-based allows NASA to be better informed about the safety performance of its systems, and will ultimately help it to manage safety in a more effective manner. The APA process described in this handbook provides a systematic means of analyzing candidate accident precursors by evaluating anomaly occurrences for their system safety implications and, through both analytical and deliberative methods used to project to other circumstances, identifying those that portend more serious consequences to come if effective corrective action is not taken. APA builds upon existing safety analysis processes currently in practice within NASA, leveraging their results to provide an improved understanding of overall system risk. As such, APA represents an important dimension of safety evaluation; as operational experience is acquired, precursor information is generated such that it can be fed back into system safety analyses to risk-inform safety improvements. Importantly, APA utilizes anomaly data to predict risk whereas standard reliability and PRA approaches utilize failure data which often is limited and rare.

The 71F Advantage: Applying Army Research Psychology for Health and Performance Gains

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-08-01

for an accident investigator to enter work and sleep data into a laptop program while in the field and get a comprehensive report of potential ... potentially modifiable stresses Soldiers face is lack of sleep. While it may not be possible to eliminate sleep loss during military operations, it is impor...establishing goals, identifying potential solutions, systematically evaluating all possible solutions, selecting and exe- cuting a solution, and

Chance, necessity and the origins of life: a physical sciences perspective.

PubMed

Hazen, Robert M

2017-12-28

Earth's 4.5-billion-year history has witnessed a complex sequence of high-probability chemical and physical processes, as well as 'frozen accidents'. Most models of life's origins similarly invoke a sequence of chemical reactions and molecular self-assemblies in which both necessity and chance play important roles. Recent research adds two important insights into this discussion. First, in the context of chemical reactions, chance versus necessity is an inherently false dichotomy-a range of probabilities exists for many natural events. Second, given the combinatorial richness of early Earth's chemical and physical environments, events in molecular evolution that are unlikely at limited laboratory scales of space and time may, nevertheless, be inevitable on an Earth-like planet at time scales of a billion years.This article is part of the themed issue 'Reconceptualizing the origins of life'. © 2017 The Author(s).

The Safe and Sound Child: Keeping Your Child Safe inside and outside the Home.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stone, Leslie; And Others

Noting that many types of potentially tragic accidents and calamities can be avoided or averted if we take the time to learn how, this book examines the characteristics of several household and outdoor hazards and how to prevent or minimize the possibility of injury, particularly to children. The chapters deal with the following potential hazards:…

Forgotten Digital Tourniquet: Salvage of an Ischaemic Finger by Application of Medicinal Leeches

PubMed Central

Durrant, C; Townley, WA; Ramkumar, S; Khoo, CTK

2006-01-01

Individual finger tourniquets are appropriate to the management of a wide range of conditions presenting to an accident and emergency department. They are simpler and more comfortable to use than upper arm pneumatic tourniquets and commercially available digital tourniquets are not readily available in the accident and emergency unit. However, if a finger tourniquet is overlooked, ischaemia of the digit results, and gangrene may follow if the problem is not defused early enough, leading to potential disaster.1–3 We present one case where a digit was salvaged after 4 days of tourniquet application, using medicinal leeches. PMID:17002851

Preliminary phenomena identification and ranking tables for simplified boiling water reactor Loss-of-Coolant Accident scenarios

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kroeger, P.G.; Rohatgi, U.S.; Jo, J.H.

1998-04-01

For three potential Loss-of-Coolant Accident (LOCA) scenarios in the General Electric Simplified Boiling Water Reactors (SBWR) a set of Phenomena Identification and Ranking Tables (PIRT) is presented. The selected LOCA scenarios are typical for the class of small and large breaks generally considered in Safety Analysis Reports. The method used to develop the PIRTs is described. Following is a discussion of the transient scenarios, the PIRTs are presented and discussed in detailed and in summarized form. A procedure for future validation of the PIRTs, to enhance their value, is outlined. 26 refs., 25 figs., 44 tabs.

The Columbia Accident Investigation and The NASA Glenn Ballistic Impact Laboratory Contributions Supporting NASA's Return to Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Melis, Matthew E.

2007-01-01

On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during reentry, resulting in loss of the vehicle and its seven crewmembers. For the next several months, an extensive investigation of the accident ensued involving a nationwide team of experts from NASA, industry, and academia, spanning dozens of technical disciplines. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), a group of experts assembled to conduct an investigation independent of NASA, concluded in August, 2003 that the most likely cause of the loss of Columbia and its crew was a breach in the left wing leading edge Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) thermal protection system initiated by the impact of thermal insulating foam that had separated from the orbiters external fuel tank 81 seconds into the mission's launch. During reentry, this breach allowed superheated air to penetrate behind the leading edge and erode the aluminum structure of left wing, which ultimately led to the breakup of the orbiter. The findings of the CAIB were supported by ballistic impact tests, which simulated the physics of External Tank Foam impact on the RCC wing leading edge material. These tests ranged from fundamental material characterization tests to full-scale Orbiter Wing Leading Edge tests. Following the accident investigation, NASA spent the next 18 months focused on returning the shuttle safely to flight. In order to fully evaluate all potential impact threats from the many debris sources on the Space Shuttle during ascent, NASA instituted a significant impact testing program. The results from these tests led to the validation of high-fidelity computer models, capable of predicting actual or potential Shuttle impact events, were used in the certification of STS-114, NASA s Return to Flight Mission, as safe to fly. This presentation will provide a look into the inner workings of the Space Shuttle and a behind the scenes perspective on the impact analysis and testing done for the Columbia Accident Investigation and NASA's Return to Flight programs. In addition, highlights from recent Shuttle missions are presented.

Development and test of rural pedestrian safety countermeasures

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-12-01

Prior to any promulgation by NHTSA of four model traffic regulations for rural pedestrian safety it was the objective of this study to assess, where feasible, the potential effectiveness of these regulations to prevent pedestrian accidents. The model...

23 years of toxicology testing fatally injured pilots: Implications for aviation and other modes of transportation.

PubMed

McKay, Mary Pat; Groff, Loren

2016-05-01

Use of over-the-counter, prescription, and illicit drugs is increasing in the United States (US). Many of these drugs are psychoactive and can affect the user's ability to safely operate a vehicle. However, data about drug use by vehicle operators is typically limited to a small proportion of operators and a short list of drugs. For instance, required testing for commercial vehicle operators following most accidents is limited to a urine test for 11 drugs. By comparison, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), routinely tests fatally injured pilots' blood and tissues for hundreds of compounds. This study used the results from these tests to assess drug use in aviation. Using matched data from the FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute toxicology database and the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB's) aviation accident database, this study examined trends in the prevalence of over-the-counter, prescription, and illicit drugs identified in toxicology tests of fatally injured pilots between 1990 and 2012. Cases that failed to match or where toxicology testing had not been performed were excluded. Pilots identified by the NTSB investigation as being the "flying pilot" at the time of the accident and results from blood or tissues were included. Toxicology results for ethanol and other alcohols were not included. Positive test results were categorized by drug type and potential for causing impairment. Analysis used SPSS Version 19.1 to perform linear by linear chi-squared statistics. The study included 6677 pilots or 87% of the eligible subjects. The large majority were male (98%) and flying general aviation operations (96%) at the time of their fatal accident. There were increasing trends in pilots' use of all drugs, potentially impairing drugs, drugs used to treat potentially impairing conditions, drugs designated as controlled substances, and illicit drugs. The most common potentially impairing drug pilots had used was diphenhydramine, a sedating antihistamine that is an active ingredient in many over-the-counter allergy formulations, cold medicines, and sleep aids in the US. Although evidence of illicit drug use was found only in a small number of cases, the percentage of pilots testing positive for marijuana use increased during the study period, mostly in the last 10 years. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Pilots of the future - Human or computer?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chambers, A. B.; Nagel, D. C.

1985-01-01

In connection with the occurrence of aircraft accidents and the evolution of the air-travel system, questions arise regarding the computer's potential for making fundamental contributions to improving the safety and reliability of air travel. An important result of an analysis of the causes of aircraft accidents is the conclusion that humans - 'pilots and other personnel' - are implicated in well over half of the accidents which occur. Over 70 percent of the incident reports contain evidence of human error. In addition, almost 75 percent show evidence of an 'information-transfer' problem. Thus, the question arises whether improvements in air safety could be achieved by removing humans from control situations. In an attempt to answer this question, it is important to take into account also certain advantages which humans have in comparison to computers. Attention is given to human error and the effects of technology, the motivation to automate, aircraft automation at the crossroads, the evolution of cockpit automation, and pilot factors.

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident and school bullying of affected children and adolescents: the need for continuous radiation education.

PubMed

Sawano, Toyoaki; Nishikawa, Yoshitaka; Ozaki, Akihiko; Leppold, Claire; Tsubokura, Masaharu

2018-05-01

The health threats of radiation-release incidents are diverse and long term. In addition to direct radiation effects, it is imperative to manage the indirect effects of radiation such as stigma, prejudice and broader mental health impacts. Six years after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident of March 2011, bullying caused by stigma and prejudice toward evacuees, including children, has become a social problem in Japan. This phenomenon may be associated with the fact that knowledge about radiation has still not reached the general public, and to a potential lack of motivation among Japanese citizens to learn about radiation and bullying. Continuous and sustained education regarding radiation is warranted in order to enhance the general knowledge level about the effects of radiation in Japan after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, and this education will become an important reference for education after future nuclear disasters.

Associations between errors and contributing factors in aircraft maintenance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hobbs, Alan; Williamson, Ann

2003-01-01

In recent years cognitive error models have provided insights into the unsafe acts that lead to many accidents in safety-critical environments. Most models of accident causation are based on the notion that human errors occur in the context of contributing factors. However, there is a lack of published information on possible links between specific errors and contributing factors. A total of 619 safety occurrences involving aircraft maintenance were reported using a self-completed questionnaire. Of these occurrences, 96% were related to the actions of maintenance personnel. The types of errors that were involved, and the contributing factors associated with those actions, were determined. Each type of error was associated with a particular set of contributing factors and with specific occurrence outcomes. Among the associations were links between memory lapses and fatigue and between rule violations and time pressure. Potential applications of this research include assisting with the design of accident prevention strategies, the estimation of human error probabilities, and the monitoring of organizational safety performance.

A study of passive safety features by utilizing intra-subassembly-equipped self-actuated shutdown mechanism for future large fast breeder reactors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Uto, N.; Niwa, H.; Ieda, Y.

1996-08-01

Passive prevention of core disruptive accidents (CDAs) is desired in terms of enhancement of safety for future fast breeder reactors. In addition, mitigation of CDA`s consequences should be required because mitigation measures have a potential of applying to all accidents, while prevention measures are prepared for specific accident initiators. In this paper, the Intra-Subassembly-equipped Self-Actuated Shutdown System (IS-SASS) , which is considered effective on passive prevention and mitigation of CDAs, is described. The IS-SASS is introduced in a fuel subassembly and consists of absorber materials at the top of the active core and an inner duct through which molten fuelmore » can be excluded out of the core. The determination of the appropriate number of the IS-SASS units, their arrangement in the core and their suitable structure are found to be suited to prevention and mitigation of CDAs for liquid metal-cooled large fast breeder reactors.« less

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident and school bullying of affected children and adolescents: the need for continuous radiation education

PubMed Central

Sawano, Toyoaki; Nishikawa, Yoshitaka; Ozaki, Akihiko; Leppold, Claire; Tsubokura, Masaharu

2018-01-01

Abstract The health threats of radiation-release incidents are diverse and long term. In addition to direct radiation effects, it is imperative to manage the indirect effects of radiation such as stigma, prejudice and broader mental health impacts. Six years after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident of March 2011, bullying caused by stigma and prejudice toward evacuees, including children, has become a social problem in Japan. This phenomenon may be associated with the fact that knowledge about radiation has still not reached the general public, and to a potential lack of motivation among Japanese citizens to learn about radiation and bullying. Continuous and sustained education regarding radiation is warranted in order to enhance the general knowledge level about the effects of radiation in Japan after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, and this education will become an important reference for education after future nuclear disasters. PMID:29635385

Hazardous materials accidents: initial scene assessment and patient care.

PubMed

Leonard, R B

1993-06-01

Hazardous materials, i.e., chemicals that are toxic, corrosive, flammable, or explosive, are a ubiquitous aspect of modern life. They are manufactured throughout the United States, shipped by truck, train, barge, and pipeline, and stored at a wide variety of locations, including factories, military bases, and warehouses. Accidents involving hazardous materials present an added dimension of danger to emergency personnel arriving first at the scene, and have the potential to produce chemically contaminated patients who require special medical treatment. Personnel arriving first at the scene must understand how to evaluate the scene for fast and safe mitigation without endangering themselves. Chemically contaminated patients require prompt treatment, which, for optimal outcome, must begin at the scene. Although frequently the identification of the hazardous materials involved is not known initially, emergency personnel may safely provide medical care to the victims by understanding and following the principles of hazardous materials accidents and the pathophysiology of chemical injuries as presented in this paper.

Extracting decision rules from police accident reports through decision trees.

PubMed

de Oña, Juan; López, Griselda; Abellán, Joaquín

2013-01-01

Given the current number of road accidents, the aim of many road safety analysts is to identify the main factors that contribute to crash severity. To pinpoint those factors, this paper shows an application that applies some of the methods most commonly used to build decision trees (DTs), which have not been applied to the road safety field before. An analysis of accidents on rural highways in the province of Granada (Spain) between 2003 and 2009 (both inclusive) showed that the methods used to build DTs serve our purpose and may even be complementary. Applying these methods has enabled potentially useful decision rules to be extracted that could be used by road safety analysts. For instance, some of the rules may indicate that women, contrary to men, increase their risk of severity under bad lighting conditions. The rules could be used in road safety campaigns to mitigate specific problems. This would enable managers to implement priority actions based on a classification of accidents by types (depending on their severity). However, the primary importance of this proposal is that other databases not used here (i.e. other infrastructure, roads and countries) could be used to identify unconventional problems in a manner easy for road safety managers to understand, as decision rules. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Andrews, Nathan; Faucett, Christopher; Haskin, Troy Christopher

Following the conclusion of the first phase of the crosswalk analysis, one of the key unanswered questions was whether or not the deviations found would persist during a partially recovered accident scenario, similar to the one that occurred in TMI - 2. In particular this analysis aims to compare the impact of core degradation morphology on quenching models inherent within the two codes and the coolability of debris during partially recovered accidents. A primary motivation for this study is the development of insights into how uncertainties in core damage progression models impact the ability to assess the potential for recoverymore » of a degraded core. These quench and core recovery models are of the most interest when there is a significant amount of core damage, but intact and degraded fuel still remain in the cor e region or the lower plenum. Accordingly this analysis presents a spectrum of partially recovered accident scenarios by varying both water injection timing and rate to highlight the impact of core degradation phenomena on recovered accident scenarios. This analysis uses the newly released MELCOR 2.2 rev. 966 5 and MAAP5, Version 5.04. These code versions, which incorporate a significant number of modifications that have been driven by analyses and forensic evidence obtained from the Fukushima - Daiichi reactor site.« less

Offsite radiological consequence analysis for the bounding flammable gas accident

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

CARRO, C.A.

2003-03-19

The purpose of this analysis is to calculate the offsite radiological consequence of the bounding flammable gas accident. DOE-STD-3009-94, ''Preparation Guide for U.S. Department of Energy Nonreactor Nuclear Facility Documented Safety Analyses'', requires the formal quantification of a limited subset of accidents representing a complete set of bounding conditions. The results of these analyses are then evaluated to determine if they challenge the DOE-STD-3009-94, Appendix A, ''Evaluation Guideline,'' of 25 rem total effective dose equivalent in order to identify and evaluate safety class structures, systems, and components. The bounding flammable gas accident is a detonation in a single-shell tank (SST).more » A detonation versus a deflagration was selected for analysis because the faster flame speed of a detonation can potentially result in a larger release of respirable material. As will be shown, the consequences of a detonation in either an SST or a double-shell tank (DST) are approximately equal. A detonation in an SST was selected as the bounding condition because the estimated respirable release masses are the same and because the doses per unit quantity of waste inhaled are generally greater for SSTs than for DSTs. Appendix A contains a DST analysis for comparison purposes.« less

Linear Free Energy Correlations for Fission Product Release from the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Accident

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abrecht, David G.; Schwantes, Jon M.

This paper extends the preliminary linear free energy correlations for radionuclide release performed by Schwantes, et al., following the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Through evaluations of the molar fractionations of radionuclides deposited in the soil relative to modeled radionuclide inventories, we confirm the source of the radionuclides to be from active reactors rather than the spent fuel pool. Linear correlations of the form ln χ = -α (ΔG rxn°(T C))/(RT C)+β were obtained between the deposited concentration and the reduction potential of the fission product oxide species using multiple reduction schemes to calculate ΔG° rxn(T C). These models allowedmore » an estimate of the upper bound for the reactor temperatures of T C between 2130 K and 2220 K, providing insight into the limiting factors to vaporization and release of fission products during the reactor accident. Estimates of the release of medium-lived fission products 90Sr, 121mSn, 147Pm, 144Ce, 152Eu, 154Eu, 155Eu, 151Sm through atmospheric venting and releases during the first month following the accident were performed, and indicate large quantities of 90Sr and radioactive lanthanides were likely to remain in the damaged reactor cores.« less

Time to death analysis of road traffic accidents in relation to delta V, drunk driving, and restraint systems.

PubMed

Ju, Yonghan; Sohn, So Young

2014-01-01

The main goal of this research is to identify variables related to the expected time to death due to road traffic accidents (RTAs). Such research is expected to be useful in improving safety laws and regulations and developing new safety systems. The resulting information is crucial not only for reducing accident fatalities but for assessing related insurance policies. In this article, we analyze factors that are potentially associated with variation in the expected survival time after a road traffic accident using Weibull regression. In particular, we consider the association with alcohol involvement, delta V, and restraint systems. Our empirical results, obtained based on the NASS-CDS, indicate that the expected survival time for non-alcohol-impaired drivers is 3.23 times longer at a delta V of 50 km/h than that for alcohol-impaired drivers under the same conditions. In addition, it was observed that, even when occupants were alcohol-impaired, if they were protected by both air bags and seat belts, their expected survival time after an RTA increased 2.59-fold compared to alcohol-impaired drivers who used only seat belts. Our findings may be useful in improving road traffic safety and insurance policies by offering insights into the factors that reduce fatalities.

A study of using smartphone to detect and identify construction workers' near-miss falls based on ANN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Mingyuan; Cao, Tianzhuo; Zhao, Xuefeng

2018-03-01

As an effective fall accident preventive method, insight into near-miss falls provides an efficient solution to find out the causes of fall accidents, classify the type of near-miss falls and control the potential hazards. In this context, the paper proposes a method to detect and identify near-miss falls that occur when a worker walks in a workplace based on artificial neural network (ANN). The energy variation generated by workers who meet with near-miss falls is measured by sensors embedded in smart phone. Two experiments were designed to train the algorithm to identify various types of near-miss falls and test the recognition accuracy, respectively. At last, a test was conducted by workers wearing smart phones as they walked around a simulated construction workplace. The motion data was collected, processed and inputted to the trained ANN to detect and identify near-miss falls. Thresholds were obtained to measure the relationship between near-miss falls and fall accidents in a quantitate way. This approach, which integrates smart phone and ANN, will help detect near-miss fall events, identify hazardous elements and vulnerable workers, providing opportunities to eliminate dangerous conditions in a construction site or to alert possible victims that need to change their behavior before the occurrence of a fall accident.

Mortality in traffic accidents with older adults in Colombia

PubMed Central

Cardona, Angela Maria Segura; Arango, Doris Cardona; Fernández, Dedsy Yajaira Berbesí; Martínez, Alejandra Agudelo

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To analyze the traffic accident mortality in the Colombian older adults during the 1998-2012 period and show the loss of productive years and mortality from this cause. METHODS Quantitative study of the trend analysis of deaths in Colombia in traffic accidents, from 1998 to 2012, according to death records and population projected by the Colombian National Administrative Department of Statistics. Frequency distribution profile of the deceased, death rates per hundred thousand inhabitants, potential years of life lost and calculation of excess mortality by age in the over 60 were made. RESULTS In the study period 100,758 deaths occurred in traffic accidents, 6,717 annual average, of which 18.5% occurred in people aged 60 years and over. The predominated deaths were men; the risk of dying was 32.15 per hundred thousand people in this age range, with double risk of dying those under 60 years. CONCLUSIONS The young population has a higher proportion of deaths, but those over 60 years are at increased risk of death, leading to the need to turn our gaze to the improvement of road infrastructure and standards, to educate the population in self-care and compliance with safety measures and prepare society for an ever more adult population, more numerous and more prone to take risks. PMID:28355347

The importance of post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) in confrontation with conventional forensic autopsy of victims of motorcycle accidents.

PubMed

Moskała, Artur; Woźniak, Krzysztof; Kluza, Piotr; Romaszko, Karol; Lopatin, Oleksij

2016-01-01

Since traffic accidents are an important problem in forensic medicine, there is a constant search for new solutions to help with an investigation process in such cases. In recent years there was a rapid development of post-mortem imaging techniques, especially post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT). In our work we concentrated on a potential advantage of PMCT in cases of motorcycle accident fatalities. The results of forensic autopsy were compared with combined results of the autopsy and PMCT to check in which areas use of these two techniques gives statistically important increase in number of findings. The hypothesis was confirmed in case of pneumothorax and fractures of skull, spine, clavicle, scapula, lower leg bones. As for majority of other bone fractures locations and brain injures there were single cases with pathologies visible only in PMCT, but too few to reach expected level of p-value. In case of injuries of solid organs and soft tissues statistical analysis did not confirmed any advantage of unenhanced PMCT use. On the whole it has been shown that PMCT used as an adjunct to forensic autopsy can cause an increase in information about vitally important regions in case of motorcycle accident fatalities. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Surveys of Food Intake Just after the Nuclear Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

PubMed

Hirakawa, Sachiko; Yoshizawa, Nobuaki; Murakami, Kana; Takizawa, Mari; Kawai, Masaki; Sato, Osamu; Takagi, Shunji; Suzuki, Gen

2017-01-01

As a result of the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station (FDNPS) after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, volatile radionuclides including iodine-131 were released into the environment and contaminated open-field vegetables, raw milk, tap water, etc. It is important for the health care of residents to correctly comprehend the level of their exposure to radioactive substances released following the accident. However, an evaluation of the internal exposure doses of residents of Fukushima Prefecture as a result of the ingestion of foods, which is indicated in the report issued by United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR)1 is based on a number of assumptions. For instance, the estimation assumes that foods were ingested as usual, without regard to the places to which residents were evacuated after the accident, the places where food shipment restrictions were imposed, and so forth. The present report aims to improve the accuracy of estimation of the amount of food actually ingested at evacuation areas, in order to reduce as much as possible the level of uncertainty in conventional values estimated directly after the accident, which were in fact values based on conservative assumptions. More concretely, as basic source material to more accurately estimate internal exposure doses from food ingestion, various patterns of evacuation and dietary habits at the time of the accident of the residents of 13 municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture who were evacuated during the period from directly after the accident of March 11, 2011 until the end of March are clarified in this report. From survey results, most of the food that evacuees took immediately after the accident was confirmed to have been sourced from either stockpiles prepared before the accident, or relief supplies from outside of the affected areas. The restriction orders of food supplies such as contaminated vegetables and milk, and tap water intake were implemented within several days after the major release of radionuclides on March 15, 2011. In addition, collapse in supply chains, i.e., damage to distribution facilities, lack of transportation vehicles or electricity, and the closure of retail stores, contributed to a situation where food or supplies contaminated with iodine -131 were not consumed in large quantities in general, even before the food restriction order. Since people consumed tap water and water from other sources before the implementation of restriction orders in affected areas, we surveyed the status of water as a potential route of internal exposure.

Geometric and Road Environmental Effects against Total Number of Traffic Accidents in Kendari

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurdin, M. Akbar; Welendo, La; Annisa, Nur

2017-05-01

From the large number of traffic accidents that occurred, the carrying of Kendari as the biggest contributor to accidents in the Southeast. The number of accidents in Kendari row since 2011 was recorded at 18 accidents due to the influence of geometric road, in 2012 registered at 13 accident and in 2013 amounted to 6 accidents, with accident data because of the influence Geometric recorded for 3 consecutive years the biggest contributor to accidents because of the influence of geometric is Abeli districts. This study aimed to determine the road which common point of accident-prone (Black spot) in Kecamatan Abeli as accident-prone areas in Kendari, analyze the influence of geometric and road environment against accidents on roads in Kecamatan Abeli, provide alternative treatment based on the causes of accidents on the location of the accident-prone points (blackspot) to reduce the rate of traffic accidents. From the results of a study of 6 curve the accident-prone locations, that the curve I, II, and VI is the “Black Spot” influenced by the amount and condition of traffic accidents, while at the curve II, a traffic accident that occurred also be caused by unsafe geometric where the type of geometric should be changed from Spiral-Spiral type to Spiral-Circle-Spiral type. This indicates geometric effect on the number of accidents.

Accident ahead? Difficulties of drivers with and without reading impairment recognising words and pictograms in variable message signs.

PubMed

Roca, J; Tejero, P; Insa, B

2018-02-01

A timely and accurate acquisition of the information provided by variable message signs (VMS) can be crucial while driving. In the current study, we assess the difficulties of adults with dyslexia acquiring the information shown in VMS and provide evidence to discuss the controversial use of pictograms as potential countermeasures. Twenty-two adults with dyslexia and 22 matched controls completed a simulated driving session. The legibility of 12 VMS was assessed, including six text messages (e.g. "ACCIDENT") and six single pictograms (e.g. the icon for "accident ahead"). On average, participants with dyslexia started reading text messages when they were closer to the VMS. In addition, while approaching text VMS, they dedicated more gazes and manifested worse control of speed. Regarding pictogram VMS, we observed no differences in response distance, accuracy, response duration, or number of gazes. To sum up, the evidence provided reveals that adults with dyslexia, despite potential compensation effects, may still find difficulties reading text messages in VMS (shorter legibility distances, longer reading times, and increased cognitive effort), whereas we found no such differences in the recognition of pictograms (only some difficulties keeping a steady speed). Research on inclusive measures to improve reading in low-skilled or dyslexic drivers must be encouraged. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bow-tie diagrams for risk management in anaesthesia.

PubMed

Culwick, M D; Merry, A F; Clarke, D M; Taraporewalla, K J; Gibbs, N M

2016-11-01

Bow-tie analysis is a risk analysis and management tool that has been readily adopted into routine practice in many high reliability industries such as engineering, aviation and emergency services. However, it has received little exposure so far in healthcare. Nevertheless, its simplicity, versatility, and pictorial display may have benefits for the analysis of a range of healthcare risks, including complex and multiple risks and their interactions. Bow-tie diagrams are a combination of a fault tree and an event tree, which when combined take the shape of a bow tie. Central to bow-tie methodology is the concept of an undesired or 'Top Event', which occurs if a hazard progresses past all prevention controls. Top Events may also occasionally occur idiosyncratically. Irrespective of the cause of a Top Event, mitigation and recovery controls may influence the outcome. Hence the relationship of hazard to outcome can be viewed in one diagram along with possible causal sequences or accident trajectories. Potential uses for bow-tie diagrams in anaesthesia risk management include improved understanding of anaesthesia hazards and risks, pre-emptive identification of absent or inadequate hazard controls, investigation of clinical incidents, teaching anaesthesia risk management, and demonstrating risk management strategies to third parties when required.

Reducing the harm in rail crashes : analysis of injury mechanisms and mitigation strategies

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-04-12

Twenty-three commuter and inter-city passenger train : accidents, which occurred over the past twenty years, have been : analyzed. The analysis has assessed the potential effectiveness : of various injury mitigation strategies. The strategies with th...

Indianapolis Fire Department EMS Communications Center tracking truck, train HAZMAT cargoes with "Operation Respond" software

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-06-05

When an accident involving the transportation of potentially dangerous materials occurs, local emergency response officials need accurate information about the material as quickly as possible. Using software donated to the Indianapolis Fire Departmen...

Effects of cold exposure on wet aircraft passengers : a review.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-05-01

The incorporation of a cabin water spray system (CWSS) aboard commercial passenger aircraft has been suggested as a mechanism of reducing passenger death and injury from the fire and smoke commonly associated with aircraft accidents. A potential heal...

Safer construction and maintenance practices to minimize potential liability by counties from accidents.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1979-09-01

Tort claims resulting from alleged highway defects have introduced : an additional element in the planning, design, construction, and maintenance : of highways. A survey of county governments in Iowa was undertaken : in order to quantify the magnitud...

30 CFR 100.4 - Unwarrantable failure and immediate notification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... accidents: (1) The death of an individual at the mine, or (2) An injury or entrapment of an individual at the mine, which has a reasonable potential to cause death. [72 FR 13635, Mar. 22, 2007, as amended at...

Improving understanding of alcohol impairment and BAC levels, and their relationship to highway accidents

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1989-05-01

The report summarizes work completed on an extensive analysis of the attitudes of the judicial community (judges, prosecutors, and potential jurors) toward alcohol's impairment of driving abilities, and in the preparation of educational materials for...

Analytic Studies of the Relationship between Track Geometry Variations and Derailment Potential at Low Speeds

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-09-01

This report describes analytical studies carried out to define the relationship between track parameters and safety from derailment. Problematic track scenarios are identified reflecting known accident data. Vehicle response is investigated in the 10...

40 CFR 68.67 - Process hazard analysis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...) CHEMICAL ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROVISIONS Program 3 Prevention Program § 68.67 Process hazard analysis. (a... potential for catastrophic consequences. (3) Engineering and administrative controls applicable to the... engineering and administrative controls; (5) Stationary source siting; (6) Human factors; and (7) A...

40 CFR 68.67 - Process hazard analysis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...) CHEMICAL ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROVISIONS Program 3 Prevention Program § 68.67 Process hazard analysis. (a... potential for catastrophic consequences. (3) Engineering and administrative controls applicable to the... engineering and administrative controls; (5) Stationary source siting; (6) Human factors; and (7) A...

40 CFR 68.67 - Process hazard analysis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) CHEMICAL ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROVISIONS Program 3 Prevention Program § 68.67 Process hazard analysis. (a... potential for catastrophic consequences. (3) Engineering and administrative controls applicable to the... engineering and administrative controls; (5) Stationary source siting; (6) Human factors; and (7) A...

The Performance and Registration Information Systems Management (PRISM) pilot demonstration project

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-12-01

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 mandated a study to explore the potential of the commercial motor vehicle (CMV) registration process as a safety enforcement tool for reducing CMV accidents. The project sought to establish...

Analytical Studies of the Relationship Between Track Geometry Variations and Derailment Potential at Low Speeds

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-09-01

This report describes analytical studies carried out to define the relationship between track parameters and safety from derailment. Problematic track scenarios are identified reflecting known accident data. Vehicle response is investigated in the 10...

Origins of Protein Functions in Cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seelig, Burchard; Pohorille, Andrzej

2011-01-01

In modern organisms proteins perform a majority of cellular functions, such as chemical catalysis, energy transduction and transport of material across cell walls. Although great strides have been made towards understanding protein evolution, a meaningful extrapolation from contemporary proteins to their earliest ancestors is virtually impossible. In an alternative approach, the origin of water-soluble proteins was probed through the synthesis and in vitro evolution of very large libraries of random amino acid sequences. In combination with computer modeling and simulations, these experiments allow us to address a number of fundamental questions about the origins of proteins. Can functionality emerge from random sequences of proteins? How did the initial repertoire of functional proteins diversify to facilitate new functions? Did this diversification proceed primarily through drawing novel functionalities from random sequences or through evolution of already existing proto-enzymes? Did protein evolution start from a pool of proteins defined by a frozen accident and other collections of proteins could start a different evolutionary pathway? Although we do not have definitive answers to these questions yet, important clues have been uncovered. In one example (Keefe and Szostak, 2001), novel ATP binding proteins were identified that appear to be unrelated in both sequence and structure to any known ATP binding proteins. One of these proteins was subsequently redesigned computationally to bind GTP through introducing several mutations that introduce targeted structural changes to the protein, improve its binding to guanine and prevent water from accessing the active center. This study facilitates further investigations of individual evolutionary steps that lead to a change of function in primordial proteins. In a second study (Seelig and Szostak, 2007), novel enzymes were generated that can join two pieces of RNA in a reaction for which no natural enzymes are known. Recently it was found that, as in the previous case, the proteins have a structure unknown among modern enzymes. In this case, in vitro evolution started from a small, non-enzymatic protein. A similar selection process initiated from a library of random polypeptides is in progress. These results not only allow for estimating the occurrence of function in random protein assemblies but also provide evidence for the possibility of alternative protein worlds. Extant proteins might simply represent a frozen accident in the world of possible proteins. Alternative collections of proteins, even with similar functions, could originate alternative evolutionary paths.

A review of inherent safety characteristics of metal alloy sodium-cooled fast reactor fuel against postulated accidents

DOE PAGES

Sofu, Tanju

2015-04-01

The thermal, mechanical, and neutronic performance of the metal alloy fast reactor fuel design complements the safety advantages of the liquid metal cooling and the pool-type primary system. Together, these features provide large safety margins in both normal operating modes and for a wide range of postulated accidents. In particular, they maximize the measures of safety associated with inherent reactor response to unprotected, double-fault accidents, and to minimize risk to the public and plant investment. High thermal conductivity and high gap conductance play the most significant role in safety advantages of the metallic fuel, resulting in a flatter radial temperaturemore » profile within the pin and much lower normal operation and transient temperatures in comparison to oxide fuel. Despite the big difference in melting point, both oxide and metal fuels have a relatively similar margin to melting during postulated accidents. When the metal fuel cladding fails, it typically occurs below the coolant boiling point and the damaged fuel pins remain coolable. Metal fuel is compatible with sodium coolant, eliminating the potential of energetic fuel--coolant reactions and flow blockages. All these, and the low retained heat leading to a longer grace period for operator action, are significant contributing factors to the inherently benign response of metallic fuel to postulated accidents. This paper summarizes the past analytical and experimental results obtained in past sodium-cooled fast reactor safety programs in the United States, and presents an overview of fuel safety performance as observed in laboratory and in-pile tests.« less

A review of inherent safety characteristics of metal alloy sodium-cooled fast reactor fuel against postulated accidents

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sofu, Tanju

2015-04-01

The thermal, mechanical, and neutronic performance of the metal alloy fast reactor fuel design complements the safety advantages of the liquid metal cooling and the pool-type primary system. Together, these features provide large safety margins in both normal operating modes and for a wide range of postulated accidents. In particular, they maximize the measures of safety associated with inherent reactor response to unprotected, double-fault accidents, and to minimize risk to the public and plant investment. High thermal conductivity and high gap conductance play the most significant role in safety advantages of the metallic fuel, resulting in a flatter radial temperaturemore » profile within the pin and much lower normal operation and transient temperatures in comparison to oxide fuel. Despite the big difference in melting point, both oxide and metal fuels have a relatively similar margin to melting during postulated accidents. When the metal fuel cladding fails, it typically occurs below the coolant boiling point and the damaged fuel pins remain cool-able. Metal fuel is compatible with sodium coolant, eliminating the potential of energetic fuel coolant reactions and flow blockages. All these, and the low retained heat leading to a longer grace period for operator action, are significant contributing factors to the inherently benign response of metallic fuel to postulated accidents. This paper summarizes the past analytical and experimental results obtained in past sodium-cooled fast reactor safety programs in the United States, and presents an overview of fuel safety performance as observed in laboratory and in-pile tests.« less

Sodium Hypochlorite Accident: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Guivarc'h, Maud; Ordioni, Ugo; Ahmed, Hany Mohamed Aly; Cohen, Stephen; Catherine, Jean-Hugues; Bukiet, Frédéric

2017-01-01

Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) extrusion beyond the apex, also known as "a hypochlorite accident," is a well-known complication that seldom occurs during root canal therapy. These "accidents" have been the subject of several case reports published over the years. Until now, no publication has addressed the global synthesis of the general and clinical data related to NaOCl extrusion. The main purpose of this article was to conduct a systematic review of previously published case reports to identify, synthesize, and present a critical analysis of the available data. A second purpose was to propose a standardized presentation of reporting data concerning NaOCl extrusions to refine and develop guidelines that should be used in further case report series. A review of clinical cases reporting NaOCl accidents was conducted in June 2016 using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist; it combined an electronic search of the PubMed database and an extensive manual search. Forty full-text articles corresponding to 52 case reports published between 1974 and 2015 were selected. Four main categories of data were highlighted: general and clinical information, clinical signs and symptoms of NaOCl extrusions, management of NaOCl extrusions, and healing and prognosis. Overall, up to now, clinical cases were reported in a very unsystematic manner, and some relevant information was missing. A better understanding of the potential causes, management, and prognosis of NaOCl accidents requires a standardization of reported data; this study proposes a template that can fulfill this objective. Copyright © 2016 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Vulnerability assessment of chemical industry facilities in South Korea based on the chemical accident history

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heo, S.; Lee, W. K.; Jong-Ryeul, S.; Kim, M. I.

2016-12-01

The use of chemical compounds are keep increasing because of their use in manufacturing industry. Chemical accident is growing as the consequence of the chemical use increment. Devastating damages from chemical accidents are far enough to aware people's cautious about the risk of the chemical accident. In South Korea, Gumi Hydrofluoric acid leaking accident triggered the importance of risk management and emphasized the preventing the accident over the damage reducing process after the accident occurs. Gumi accident encouraged the government data base construction relate to the chemical accident. As the result of this effort Chemical Safety-Clearing-house (CSC) have started to record the chemical accident information and damages according to the Harmful Chemical Substance Control Act (HCSC). CSC provide details information about the chemical accidents from 2002 to present. The detail informations are including title of company, address, business type, accident dates, accident types, accident chemical compounds, human damages inside of the chemical industry facilities, human damage outside of the chemical industry facilities, financial damages inside of the chemical industry facilities, and financial damages outside of the chemical industry facilities, environmental damages and response to the chemical accident. Collected the chemical accident history of South Korea from 2002 to 2015 and provide the spatial information to the each accident records based on their address. With the spatial information, compute the data on ArcGIS for the spatial-temporal analysis. The spatial-temporal information of chemical accident is organized by the chemical accident types, damages, and damages on environment and conduct the spatial proximity with local community and environmental receptors. Find the chemical accident vulnerable area of South Korea from 2002 to 2015 and add the vulnerable area of total period to examine the historically vulnerable area from the chemical accident in South Korea.

Major Accidents (Gray Swans) Likelihood Modeling Using Accident Precursors and Approximate Reasoning.

PubMed

Khakzad, Nima; Khan, Faisal; Amyotte, Paul

2015-07-01

Compared to the remarkable progress in risk analysis of normal accidents, the risk analysis of major accidents has not been so well-established, partly due to the complexity of such accidents and partly due to low probabilities involved. The issue of low probabilities normally arises from the scarcity of major accidents' relevant data since such accidents are few and far between. In this work, knowing that major accidents are frequently preceded by accident precursors, a novel precursor-based methodology has been developed for likelihood modeling of major accidents in critical infrastructures based on a unique combination of accident precursor data, information theory, and approximate reasoning. For this purpose, we have introduced an innovative application of information analysis to identify the most informative near accident of a major accident. The observed data of the near accident were then used to establish predictive scenarios to foresee the occurrence of the major accident. We verified the methodology using offshore blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico, and then demonstrated its application to dam breaches in the United Sates. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

Potential of a nitrogen tetroxide spill or emission during movement from supplier to user

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watje, W. F.

1978-01-01

The type of equipment used to transport nitrogen tetroxide is described along with various methods of shipping utilized. Emphasis is placed on reduction of accident rate. Potential areas for leaks, emissions, or spills discussed include: accidental spills, transfer operations, sampling, and the so-called 'empty' trailer. Corrective actions taken to reduce the occurrence of these problems are briefly discussed.

Experimental Design for Evaluating the Safety Benefits of Railroad Advance Warning Signs

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1979-04-01

The report presents the findings and conclusions of a study to develop an experimental design and analysis plan for field testing and evaluation of the accident reduction potential of a proposed new railroad grade crossing advance warning sign. Sever...

Identification and development of countermeasures for bicyclist/motor-vehicle problem types. Volume 3, Model regulations

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1982-08-01

A detailed re-analysis of previously collected bicycle/motor-vehicle accident data (Cross and Fisher, 1977) was undertaken to define potential countermeasures. Countermeasure development was then undertaken in the areas of Training (see Volume I), Pu...

Preliminary Modeling of Accident Tolerant Fuel Concepts under Accident Conditions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gamble, Kyle A.; Hales, Jason D.

2016-12-01

The catastrophic events that occurred at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011 have led to widespread interest in research of alternative fuels and claddings that are proposed to be accident tolerant. Thus, the United States Department of Energy through its NEAMS (Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation) program has funded an Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) High Impact Problem (HIP). The ATF HIP is funded for a three-year period. The purpose of the HIP is to perform research into two potential accident tolerant concepts and provide an in-depth report to the Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) describing the behavior of themore » concepts, both of which are being considered for inclusion in a lead test assembly scheduled for placement into a commercial reactor in 2022. The initial focus of the HIP is on uranium silicide fuel and iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloy cladding. Utilizing the expertise of three national laboratory participants (INL, LANL, and ANL) a comprehensive mulitscale approach to modeling is being used including atomistic modeling, molecular dynamics, rate theory, phase-field, and fuel performance simulations. In this paper, we present simulations of two proposed accident tolerant fuel systems: U3Si2 fuel with Zircaloy-4 cladding, and UO2 fuel with FeCrAl cladding. The simulations investigate the fuel performance response of the proposed ATF systems under Loss of Coolant and Station Blackout conditions using the BISON code. Sensitivity analyses are completed using Sandia National Laboratories’ DAKOTA software to determine which input parameters (e.g., fuel specific heat) have the greatest influence on the output metrics of interest (e.g., fuel centerline temperature). Early results indicate that each concept has significant advantages as well as areas of concern. Further work is required prior to formulating the proposition report for the Advanced Fuels Campaign.« less

Association between temperature and emergency room visits for cardiorespiratory diseases, metabolic syndrome-related diseases, and accidents in metropolitan Taipei.

PubMed

Wang, Yu-Chun; Lin, Yu-Kai

2014-01-01

This study evaluated risks of the emergency room visits (ERV) for cerebrovascular diseases, heart diseases, ischemic heart disease, hypertensive diseases, chronic renal failure (CRF), diabetes mellitus (DM), asthma, chronic airway obstruction not elsewhere classified (CAO), and accidents associated with the ambient temperature from 2000 to 2009 in metropolitan Taipei. The distributed lag non-linear model was used to estimate the cumulative relative risk (RR) and confidence interval (CI) of cause-specific ERV associated with daily temperature from lag 0 to lag 3 after controlling for potential confounders. This study identified that temperatures related to the lowest risk of ERV was 26 °C for cerebrovascular diseases, 18 °C for CRF, DM, and accidents, and 30 °C for hypertensive diseases, asthma, and CAO. These temperatures were used as the reference temperatures to measure RR for the corresponding diseases. A low temperature (14°C) increased the ERV risk for cerebrovascular diseases, hypertensive diseases, and asthma, with respective cumulative 4-day RRs of 1.56 (95% CI: 1.23, 1.97), 1.78 (95% CI: 1.37, 2.34), and 2.93 (95% CI: 1.26, 6.79). The effects were greater on, or after, lag one. At 32°C, the cumulative 4-day RR for ERV was significant for CRF (RR = 2.36; 95% CI: 1.33, 4.19) and accidents (RR = 1.23; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.33) and the highest RR was seen on lag 0 for CRF (RR = 1.69; 95% CI: 1.01, 3.58), DM (RR = 1.69; 95% CI: 1.09, 2.61), and accidents (RR = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.27). Higher temperatures are associated with the increased ERV risks for CRF, DM, and accidents and lower temperatures with the increased ERV risks for cerebrovascular diseases, hypertensive diseases, and asthma in the subtropical metropolitan.

Association between Temperature and Emergency Room Visits for Cardiorespiratory Diseases, Metabolic Syndrome-Related Diseases, and Accidents in Metropolitan Taipei

PubMed Central

Wang, Yu-Chun; Lin, Yu-Kai

2014-01-01

Objective This study evaluated risks of the emergency room visits (ERV) for cerebrovascular diseases, heart diseases, ischemic heart disease, hypertensive diseases, chronic renal failure (CRF), diabetes mellitus (DM), asthma, chronic airway obstruction not elsewhere classified (CAO), and accidents associated with the ambient temperature from 2000 to 2009 in metropolitan Taipei. Methods The distributed lag non-linear model was used to estimate the cumulative relative risk (RR) and confidence interval (CI) of cause-specific ERV associated with daily temperature from lag 0 to lag 3 after controlling for potential confounders. Results This study identified that temperatures related to the lowest risk of ERV was 26 °C for cerebrovascular diseases, 18 °C for CRF, DM, and accidents, and 30 °C for hypertensive diseases, asthma, and CAO. These temperatures were used as the reference temperatures to measure RR for the corresponding diseases. A low temperature (14°C) increased the ERV risk for cerebrovascular diseases, hypertensive diseases, and asthma, with respective cumulative 4-day RRs of 1.56 (95% CI: 1.23, 1.97), 1.78 (95% CI: 1.37, 2.34), and 2.93 (95% CI: 1.26, 6.79). The effects were greater on, or after, lag one. At 32°C, the cumulative 4-day RR for ERV was significant for CRF (RR = 2.36; 95% CI: 1.33, 4.19) and accidents (RR = 1.23; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.33) and the highest RR was seen on lag 0 for CRF (RR = 1.69; 95% CI: 1.01, 3.58), DM (RR = 1.69; 95% CI: 1.09, 2.61), and accidents (RR = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.27). Conclusions Higher temperatures are associated with the increased ERV risks for CRF, DM, and accidents and lower temperatures with the increased ERV risks for cerebrovascular diseases, hypertensive diseases, and asthma in the subtropical metropolitan. PMID:24932702

A comparative analysis of occupational health and safety risk prevention practices in Sweden and Spain.

PubMed

Morillas, Rosa María; Rubio-Romero, Juan Carlos; Fuertes, Alba

2013-12-01

Scandinavian countries such as Sweden implemented the occupational health and safety (OHS) measures in the European Directive 89/391/EEC earlier than other European counties, including Spain. In fact, statistics on workplace accident rates reveal that between 2004 and 2009, there were considerably fewer accidents in Sweden than in Spain. The objective of the research described in this paper was to reduce workplace accidents and to improve OHS management in Spain by exploring the OHS practices in Sweden. For this purpose, an exploratory comparative study was conducted, which focused on the effectiveness of the EU directive in both countries. The study included a cross-sectional analysis of workplace accident rates and other contextual indicators in both national contexts. A case study of 14 Swedish and Spanish companies identified 14 differences in the preventive practices implemented. These differences were then assessed with a Delphi study to evaluate their contribution to the reduction of workplace accidents and their potential for improving health and safety management in Spain. The results showed that there was agreement concerning 12 of the 14 practices. Finally, we discuss opportunities of improvement in Spanish companies so that they can make their risk management practices more effective. The findings of this comparative study on the implementation of the European Directive 89/391/EEC in both Sweden and Spain have revealed health and safety managerial practices which, if properly implemented, could contribute to improved work conditions and accident statistics of Spanish companies. In particular, the results suggest that Spanish employers, safety managers, external prevention services, safety deputies and Labour Inspectorates should consider implementing streamlined internal preventive management, promoting the integration of prevention responsibilities to the chain of command, and preventing health and safety management from becoming a mere exchange of documents. The authors also encourage future research studies to use the methodology presented to compare and assess the European Directive 89/391/EEC implementation in other European countries. © 2013.

49 CFR 837.3 - Published reports, material contained in the public accident investigation dockets, and accident...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... public accident investigation dockets, and accident database data. 837.3 Section 837.3 Transportation... investigation dockets, and accident database data. (a) Demands for material contained in the NTSB's official public docket files of its accident investigations, or its computerized accident database(s) shall be...

49 CFR 837.3 - Published reports, material contained in the public accident investigation dockets, and accident...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... public accident investigation dockets, and accident database data. 837.3 Section 837.3 Transportation... investigation dockets, and accident database data. (a) Demands for material contained in the NTSB's official public docket files of its accident investigations, or its computerized accident database(s) shall be...

49 CFR 837.3 - Published reports, material contained in the public accident investigation dockets, and accident...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... public accident investigation dockets, and accident database data. 837.3 Section 837.3 Transportation... investigation dockets, and accident database data. (a) Demands for material contained in the NTSB's official public docket files of its accident investigations, or its computerized accident database(s) shall be...

49 CFR 837.3 - Published reports, material contained in the public accident investigation dockets, and accident...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... public accident investigation dockets, and accident database data. 837.3 Section 837.3 Transportation... investigation dockets, and accident database data. (a) Demands for material contained in the NTSB's official public docket files of its accident investigations, or its computerized accident database(s) shall be...

49 CFR 837.3 - Published reports, material contained in the public accident investigation dockets, and accident...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... public accident investigation dockets, and accident database data. 837.3 Section 837.3 Transportation... investigation dockets, and accident database data. (a) Demands for material contained in the NTSB's official public docket files of its accident investigations, or its computerized accident database(s) shall be...

[Occupational accidents in an oil refinery in Brazil].

PubMed

Souza, Carlos Augusto Vaz de; Freitas, Carlos Machado de

2002-10-01

Work in oil refineries involves the risk of minor to major accidents. National data show the impact of accidents on this industry. A study was carried out to describe accident profile and evaluate the adequacy of accident reporting system. Data on all accidents reported in an oil refinery in the state of Rio de Janeiro for the year 1997 were organized and analyzed. The study population consisted of 153 injury cases, 83 hired and 69 contracted workers. The variables were: type of accident, operation mode and position of the worker injured. Among hired workers, minor accidents predominated (54.2%) and they occurred during regular operation activities (62.9%). Among contracted workers, there also predominated minor accidents (75.5%) in a higher percentage, but they occurred mainly during maintenance activities (96.8%). The study results showed that there is a predominance of accidents in lower hierarchy workers, and these accidents occur mainly during maintenance activities. There is a need to improve the company's accident reporting system and accident investigation procedures.

Methodology, status and plans for development and assessment of the code ATHLET

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Teschendorff, V.; Austregesilo, H.; Lerchl, G.

1997-07-01

The thermal-hydraulic computer code ATHLET (Analysis of THermal-hydraulics of LEaks and Transients) is being developed by the Gesellschaft fuer Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) for the analysis of anticipated and abnormal plant transients, small and intermediate leaks as well as large breaks in light water reactors. The aim of the code development is to cover the whole spectrum of design basis and beyond design basis accidents (without core degradation) for PWRs and BWRs with only one code. The main code features are: advanced thermal-hydraulics; modular code architecture; separation between physical models and numerical methods; pre- and post-processing tools; portability. The codemore » has features that are of special interest for applications to small leaks and transients with accident management, e.g. initialization by a steady-state calculation, full-range drift-flux model, dynamic mixture level tracking. The General Control Simulation Module of ATHLET is a flexible tool for the simulation of the balance-of-plant and control systems including the various operator actions in the course of accident sequences with AM measures. The code development is accompained by a systematic and comprehensive validation program. A large number of integral experiments and separate effect tests, including the major International Standard Problems, have been calculated by GRS and by independent organizations. The ATHLET validation matrix is a well balanced set of integral and separate effects tests derived from the CSNI proposal emphasizing, however, the German combined ECC injection system which was investigated in the UPTF, PKL and LOBI test facilities.« less