Quantifying Safety Margin Using the Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC)

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

Grabaskas, David; Bucknor, Matthew; Brunett, Acacia

2015-04-26

The Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC), developed by Idaho National Laboratory as part of the Light-Water Reactor Sustainability Project, utilizes a probabilistic safety margin comparison between a load and capacity distribution, rather than a deterministic comparison between two values, as is usually done in best-estimate plus uncertainty analyses. The goal is to determine the failure probability, or in other words, the probability of the system load equaling or exceeding the system capacity. While this method has been used in pilot studies, there has been little work conducted investigating the statistical significance of the resulting failure probability. In particular, it ismore » difficult to determine how many simulations are necessary to properly characterize the failure probability. This work uses classical (frequentist) statistics and confidence intervals to examine the impact in statistical accuracy when the number of simulations is varied. Two methods are proposed to establish confidence intervals related to the failure probability established using a RISMC analysis. The confidence interval provides information about the statistical accuracy of the method utilized to explore the uncertainty space, and offers a quantitative method to gauge the increase in statistical accuracy due to performing additional simulations.« less

Safety incentive and penalty provisions in Indian construction projects and their impact on safety performance.

PubMed

Hasan, Abid; Jha, Kumar Neeraj

2013-01-01

Safety incentive and penalty (I/P) provisions in construction contracts are one of the most common forms of I/P. Contradictory opinions on the effectiveness of these provisions have been expressed in the literature. Statistics on safety provisions were collected from 32 construction projects, which include both types of contracts - those with safety I/P provisions and those without them. Although inclusion of safety I/P provisions in contracts helps in improving the overall safety performance in construction projects, further scope for improvement still exists. Literature review and structured personal interviews, coupled with a survey based on preliminary questionnaire, revealed that successful formulation and implementation of such provisions are dependent on 25 attributes which need the attention of both clients and contractors. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to evaluate these attributes. The six factors extracted by carrying out factor analysis are: incentive distribution method, proper labour training, special attention to risky situations, role of safety committee and sub-contractors, specialised works and safety equipments, and right form of I/P. If taken care of, these attributes have the potential to improve the safety performance in construction projects. The results would be useful to clients and contractors in implementing the safety I/P provisions and thereby improving safety performance.

On statistical inference in time series analysis of the evolution of road safety.

PubMed

Commandeur, Jacques J F; Bijleveld, Frits D; Bergel-Hayat, Ruth; Antoniou, Constantinos; Yannis, George; Papadimitriou, Eleonora

2013-11-01

Data collected for building a road safety observatory usually include observations made sequentially through time. Examples of such data, called time series data, include annual (or monthly) number of road traffic accidents, traffic fatalities or vehicle kilometers driven in a country, as well as the corresponding values of safety performance indicators (e.g., data on speeding, seat belt use, alcohol use, etc.). Some commonly used statistical techniques imply assumptions that are often violated by the special properties of time series data, namely serial dependency among disturbances associated with the observations. The first objective of this paper is to demonstrate the impact of such violations to the applicability of standard methods of statistical inference, which leads to an under or overestimation of the standard error and consequently may produce erroneous inferences. Moreover, having established the adverse consequences of ignoring serial dependency issues, the paper aims to describe rigorous statistical techniques used to overcome them. In particular, appropriate time series analysis techniques of varying complexity are employed to describe the development over time, relating the accident-occurrences to explanatory factors such as exposure measures or safety performance indicators, and forecasting the development into the near future. Traditional regression models (whether they are linear, generalized linear or nonlinear) are shown not to naturally capture the inherent dependencies in time series data. Dedicated time series analysis techniques, such as the ARMA-type and DRAG approaches are discussed next, followed by structural time series models, which are a subclass of state space methods. The paper concludes with general recommendations and practice guidelines for the use of time series models in road safety research. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lift truck safety review

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

Cadwallader, L.C.

1997-03-01

This report presents safety information about powered industrial trucks. The basic lift truck, the counterbalanced sit down rider truck, is the primary focus of the report. Lift truck engineering is briefly described, then a hazard analysis is performed on the lift truck. Case histories and accident statistics are also given. Rules and regulations about lift trucks, such as the US Occupational Safety an Health Administration laws and the Underwriter`s Laboratories standards, are discussed. Safety issues with lift trucks are reviewed, and lift truck safety and reliability are discussed. Some quantitative reliability values are given.

Survey of Cancer Patient Safety Culture: A Comparison of Chemotherapy and Oncology Departments of Teaching Hospitals of Tehran

PubMed Central

Raeissi, Pouran; Sharifi, Marziye; Khosravizadeh, Omid; Heidari, Mohammad

2017-01-01

Background: Patient safety culture plays an important role in healthcare systems, especially in chemotherapy and oncology departments (CODs), and its assessment can help to improve quality of services and hospital care. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate and compare items and dimensions of patient safety culture in the CODs of selected teaching hospitals of Iran and Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional survey was conducted during a six-month period on 270 people from chemotherapy and oncology departments selected through a cluster sampling method. All participants answered the standard questionnaire for “Hospital Survey of Patient Safety Culture” (HSOPSC). Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS/18 software. Results: The average score for patient safety culture was three for the majority of the studied CODs. Statistically significant differences were observed for supervisor actions, teamwork within various units, feedback and communications about errors, and the level of hospital management support. (p<0.05). Relationships between studied hospitals and patient safety culture were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusion: Our results showed that the overall status of patient safety culture is not good in the studied CODs. In particular, teamwork across different units and organizational learning with continuous improvement were the only two properly operating items among 12 dimensions of patient safety culture. Therefore, systematic interventions are strongly required to promote communication. PMID:29072411

Radiation safety and medical education: development and integration of a dedicated educational module into a radiology clerkship, outcomes assessment, and survey of medical students' perceptions.

PubMed

Koontz, Nicholas A; Gunderman, Richard B

2012-04-01

This study assesses the effect on medical student understanding of a new radiobiology and radiation safety module in a fourth-year radiology clerkship. A dedicated radiobiology and radiation safety module was incorporated into the fourth-year medical school radiology clerkship at our institution. Student understanding of the material was assessed via pretest and posttest. Statistical analysis was performed to assess significance of changes in student performance. In addition, we surveyed student perceptions of the importance of this material in medical education and practice. Monthly pretest mean scores ranged from 47.8% to 55.6%, with an average monthly pretest score of 50.3%. Monthly posttest mean scores ranged from 77.3% to 91.2%, with an average monthly posttest score of 83.9%. The improvement in exam scores after the educational intervention was statistically significant (all P < .01). The introduction of a new educational module can significantly improve medical student understanding of radiobiology and radiation safety. Copyright © 2012 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Occupational safety of different industrial sectors in Khartoum State, Sudan. Part 1: Safety performance evaluation.

PubMed

Zaki, Gehan R; El-Marakby, Fadia A; H Deign El-Nor, Yasser; Nofal, Faten H; Zakaria, Adel M

2012-12-01

Safety performance evaluation enables decision makers improve safety acts. In Sudan, accident records, statistics, and safety performance were not evaluated before maintenance of accident records became mandatory in 2005. This study aimed at evaluating and comparing safety performance by accident records among different cities and industrial sectors in Khartoum state, Sudan, during the period from 2005 to 2007. This was a retrospective study, the sample in which represented all industrial enterprises in Khartoum state employing 50 workers or more. All industrial accident records of the Ministry of Manpower and Health and those of different enterprises during the period from 2005 to 2007 were reviewed. The safety performance indicators used within this study were the frequency-severity index (FSI) and fatal and disabling accident frequency rates (DAFR). In Khartoum city, the FSI [0.10 (0.17)] was lower than that in Bahari [0.11 (0.21)] and Omdurman [0.84 (0.34)]. It was the maximum in the chemical sector [0.33 (0.64)] and minimum in the metallurgic sector [0.09 (0.19)]. The highest DAFR was observed in Omdurman [5.6 (3.5)] and in the chemical sector [2.5 (4.0)]. The fatal accident frequency rate in the mechanical and electrical engineering industry was the highest [0.0 (0.69)]. Male workers who were older, divorced, and had lower levels of education had the lowest safety performance indicators. The safety performance of the industrial enterprises in Khartoum city was the best. The safety performance in the chemical sector was the worst with regard to FSI and DAFR. The age, sex, and educational level of injured workers greatly affect safety performance.

A system of safety management practices and worker engagement for reducing and preventing accidents: an empirical and theoretical investigation.

PubMed

Wachter, Jan K; Yorio, Patrick L

2014-07-01

The overall research objective was to theoretically and empirically develop the ideas around a system of safety management practices (ten practices were elaborated), to test their relationship with objective safety statistics (such as accident rates), and to explore how these practices work to achieve positive safety results (accident prevention) through worker engagement. Data were collected using safety manager, supervisor and employee surveys designed to assess and link safety management system practices, employee perceptions resulting from existing practices, and safety performance outcomes. Results indicate the following: there is a significant negative relationship between the presence of ten individual safety management practices, as well as the composite of these practices, with accident rates; there is a significant negative relationship between the level of safety-focused worker emotional and cognitive engagement with accident rates; safety management systems and worker engagement levels can be used individually to predict accident rates; safety management systems can be used to predict worker engagement levels; and worker engagement levels act as mediators between the safety management system and safety performance outcomes (such as accident rates). Even though the presence of safety management system practices is linked with incident reduction and may represent a necessary first-step in accident prevention, safety performance may also depend on mediation by safety-focused cognitive and emotional engagement by workers. Thus, when organizations invest in a safety management system approach to reducing/preventing accidents and improving safety performance, they should also be concerned about winning over the minds and hearts of their workers through human performance-based safety management systems designed to promote and enhance worker engagement. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

An Elementary Algorithm for Autonomous Air Terminal Merging and Interval Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

White, Allan L.

2017-01-01

A central element of air traffic management is the safe merging and spacing of aircraft during the terminal area flight phase. This paper derives and examines an algorithm for the merging and interval managing problem for Standard Terminal Arrival Routes. It describes a factor analysis for performance based on the distribution of arrivals, the operating period of the terminal, and the topology of the arrival routes; then presents results from a performance analysis and from a safety analysis for a realistic topology based on typical routes for a runway at Phoenix International Airport. The heart of the safety analysis is a statistical derivation on how to conduct a safety analysis for a local simulation when the safety requirement is given for the entire airspace.

Certification Strategies using Run-Time Safety Assurance for Part 23 Autopilot Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hook, Loyd R.; Clark, Matthew; Sizoo, David; Skoog, Mark A.; Brady, James

2016-01-01

Part 23 aircraft operation, and in particular general aviation, is relatively unsafe when compared to other common forms of vehicle travel. Currently, there exists technologies that could increase safety statistics for these aircraft; however, the high burden and cost of performing the requisite safety critical certification processes for these systems limits their proliferation. For this reason, many entities, including the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, and the US Air Force, are considering new options for certification for technologies that will improve aircraft safety. Of particular interest, are low cost autopilot systems for general aviation aircraft, as these systems have the potential to positively and significantly affect safety statistics. This paper proposes new systems and techniques, leveraging run-time verification, for the assurance of general aviation autopilot systems, which would be used to supplement the current certification process and provide a viable path for near-term low-cost implementation. In addition, discussions on preliminary experimentation and building the assurance case for a system, based on these principles, is provided.

A fully Bayesian before-after analysis of permeable friction course (PFC) pavement wet weather safety.

PubMed

Buddhavarapu, Prasad; Smit, Andre F; Prozzi, Jorge A

2015-07-01

Permeable friction course (PFC), a porous hot-mix asphalt, is typically applied to improve wet weather safety on high-speed roadways in Texas. In order to warrant expensive PFC construction, a statistical evaluation of its safety benefits is essential. Generally, the literature on the effectiveness of porous mixes in reducing wet-weather crashes is limited and often inconclusive. In this study, the safety effectiveness of PFC was evaluated using a fully Bayesian before-after safety analysis. First, two groups of road segments overlaid with PFC and non-PFC material were identified across Texas; the non-PFC or reference road segments selected were similar to their PFC counterparts in terms of site specific features. Second, a negative binomial data generating process was assumed to model the underlying distribution of crash counts of PFC and reference road segments to perform Bayesian inference on the safety effectiveness. A data-augmentation based computationally efficient algorithm was employed for a fully Bayesian estimation. The statistical analysis shows that PFC is not effective in reducing wet weather crashes. It should be noted that the findings of this study are in agreement with the existing literature, although these studies were not based on a fully Bayesian statistical analysis. Our study suggests that the safety effectiveness of PFC road surfaces, or any other safety infrastructure, largely relies on its interrelationship with the road user. The results suggest that the safety infrastructure must be properly used to reap the benefits of the substantial investments. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Injury Statistics

MedlinePlus

... mail Inside CPSC Accessibility Privacy Policy Budget, Performances & Finance Open Government Freedom of Information (FOIA) Inspector General ... leave the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) public website. The link you selected is for a ...

Safety of Microsurgery Under Loupes Versus Microscope: A Head-to-Head Comparison of 2 Surgeons With Similar Experiences.

PubMed

Ehanire, Tosan; Singhal, Dhruv; Mast, Bruce; Leyngold, Mark

2018-01-24

Microsurgery is performed using either the operating microscope or loupe magnification. Use of the operating microscope is considered the "criterion standard"; however, loupes are emerging as a safe and reliable technique to perform microsurgery. The purpose of this study was to analyze the safety of microsurgery under loupe magnification compared with the microscope. Previous studies discussing the safety of loupe magnification during microsurgery have been published; however, this is the first study to compare free flap outcomes from 2 surgeons at the same institution, each using their respective technique. The outcomes were compared by retrospective chart review of 116 patients, and 148 microvascular free tissue transfers were performed between January 1, 2013, and July 15, 2016, by 2 surgeons (D.S.) and (M.L.). Patients' demographics, free flap failure rate, and other surgical complications were analyzed. Statistical significance was determined by unpaired t test, and χ analysis was used to determine statistical significance in proportions between groups. Thirty-eight percent of flaps were performed under ×3.5 loupe magnification and 62% under the operating microscope. Most free flaps used were deep inferior epigastric perforator or muscle sparing transverse rectus abdominis flaps (52%) for breast reconstruction, remainder of free flaps included ALT, radial forearm, and latissimus dorsi for a variety of reconstructive applications. There was no significant difference between the loupes and microscope groups in intraoperative anastomotic revision rate (27% vs 17%), postoperative arterial or venous thrombosis (4.4% vs 2.6%, 5.4% vs 2.2%), flap loss (3.6% vs 2.2%), or median length of stay (6 days vs 6.5 days). The loupe magnification group had statistically significant shorter setup time (20 minutes, P < 0.01). Consistent with previously reported studies, we found no statistical difference in free flap outcomes and safety under loupe magnification compared with the operating microscope. This is the first study to demonstrate these findings with 2 microsurgeons both in their first 3 years in practice, with similar training and experience, operating at the same institution and given the same resources, each using either microscopes or loupes for microsurgery.

Hotspots identification and ranking for road safety improvement: an alternative approach.

PubMed

Coll, Bronagh; Moutari, Salissou; Marshall, Adele H

2013-10-01

During the last decade, the concept of composite performance index, brought from economic and business statistics, has become a popular practice in the field of road safety, namely for the identification and classification of worst performing areas or time slots also known as hotspots. The overall quality of a composite index depends upon the complexity of phenomena of interest as well as the relevance of the methodological approach used to aggregate the various indicators into a single composite index. However, current aggregation methods used to estimate the composite road safety performance index suffer from various deficiencies at both the theoretical and operational level; these include the correlation and compensability between indicators, the weighting of the indicators as well as their high "degree of freedom" which enables one to readily manipulate them to produce desired outcomes (Munda and Nardo, 2003, 2005, 2009). The objective of this study is to contribute to the ongoing research effort on the estimation of road safety composite index for hotspots' identification and ranking. The aggregation method for constructing the composite road safety performance index introduced in this paper, strives to minimize the aforementioned deficiencies of the current approaches. Furthermore, this new method can be viewed as an intelligent decision support system for road safety performance evaluation, in order to prioritize interventions for road safety improvement. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Statistical modelling of software reliability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Douglas R.

1991-01-01

During the six-month period from 1 April 1991 to 30 September 1991 the following research papers in statistical modeling of software reliability appeared: (1) A Nonparametric Software Reliability Growth Model; (2) On the Use and the Performance of Software Reliability Growth Models; (3) Research and Development Issues in Software Reliability Engineering; (4) Special Issues on Software; and (5) Software Reliability and Safety.

Launch commit criteria performance trending analysis, phase 1, revision A. SRM and QA mission services

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

An assessment of quantitative methods and measures for measuring launch commit criteria (LCC) performance measurement trends is made. A statistical performance trending analysis pilot study was processed and compared to STS-26 mission data. This study used four selected shuttle measurement types (solid rocket booster, external tank, space shuttle main engine, and range safety switch safe and arm device) from the five missions prior to mission 51-L. After obtaining raw data coordinates, each set of measurements was processed to obtain statistical confidence bounds and mean data profiles for each of the selected measurement types. STS-26 measurements were compared to the statistical data base profiles to verify the statistical capability of assessing occurrences of data trend anomalies and abnormal time-varying operational conditions associated with data amplitude and phase shifts.

Safety culture assessment in petrochemical industry: a comparative study of two algerian plants.

PubMed

Boughaba, Assia; Hassane, Chabane; Roukia, Ouddai

2014-06-01

To elucidate the relationship between safety culture maturity and safety performance of a particular company. To identify the factors that contribute to a safety culture, a survey questionnaire was created based mainly on the studies of Fernández-Muñiz et al. The survey was randomly distributed to 1000 employees of two oil companies and realized a rate of valid answer of 51%. Minitab 16 software was used and diverse tests, including the descriptive statistical analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, mean analysis, and correlation, were used for the analysis of data. Ten factors were extracted using the analysis of factor to represent safety culture and safety performance. The results of this study showed that the managers' commitment, training, incentives, communication, and employee involvement are the priority domains on which it is necessary to stress the effort of improvement, where they had all the descriptive average values lower than 3.0 at the level of Company B. Furthermore, the results also showed that the safety culture influences the safety performance of the company. Therefore, Company A with a good safety culture (the descriptive average values more than 4.0), is more successful than Company B in terms of accident rates. The comparison between the two petrochemical plants of the group Sonatrach confirms these results in which Company A, the managers of which are English and Norwegian, distinguishes itself by the maturity of their safety culture has significantly higher evaluations than the company B, who is constituted of Algerian staff, in terms of safety management practices and safety performance.

Safety Culture Assessment in Petrochemical Industry: A Comparative Study of Two Algerian Plants

PubMed Central

Boughaba, Assia; Hassane, Chabane; Roukia, Ouddai

2014-01-01

Background To elucidate the relationship between safety culture maturity and safety performance of a particular company. Methods To identify the factors that contribute to a safety culture, a survey questionnaire was created based mainly on the studies of Fernández-Muñiz et al. The survey was randomly distributed to 1000 employees of two oil companies and realized a rate of valid answer of 51%. Minitab 16 software was used and diverse tests, including the descriptive statistical analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, mean analysis, and correlation, were used for the analysis of data. Ten factors were extracted using the analysis of factor to represent safety culture and safety performance. Results The results of this study showed that the managers' commitment, training, incentives, communication, and employee involvement are the priority domains on which it is necessary to stress the effort of improvement, where they had all the descriptive average values lower than 3.0 at the level of Company B. Furthermore, the results also showed that the safety culture influences the safety performance of the company. Therefore, Company A with a good safety culture (the descriptive average values more than 4.0), is more successful than Company B in terms of accident rates. Conclusion The comparison between the two petrochemical plants of the group Sonatrach confirms these results in which Company A, the managers of which are English and Norwegian, distinguishes itself by the maturity of their safety culture has significantly higher evaluations than the company B, who is constituted of Algerian staff, in terms of safety management practices and safety performance. PMID:25180135

Agricultural Leaders' Influence on the Safety Culture of Workers.

PubMed

Gasperini, Frank A

2017-01-01

Most US farmers are small, independent owner-operators, many of whom are exempt from safety regulation and enforcement, as well as age restrictions relative to family members performing hazardous tasks. These smaller farms account for a disproportionate share of the total fatality and injury statistics from farming incidents, contributing to an agriculture-industry death rate that is seven times greater than all occupations combined. In contrast, large agricultural enterprises that employ larger numbers of non-family workers are more regulated and more highly incentivized by economic, supply chain, and societal factors to implement cultures of safety, and are more readily influenced by agricultural opinion leaders, agribusinesses, farm organizations, and agricultural media. These agricultural influencer institutions must find ways to play more significant roles in changing the culture on operations that use only family labor. They will find willing partners in safety organizations such as the Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America (ASHCA), Agricultural Extension, and other health and safety advocates, including the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-funded agricultural research centers. The overall workplace injury statistics for agriculture remain alarming; however, with leadership from the larger farm operations, and help from ASHCA, academia, the healthcare community, and others, the current culture of workplace safety and health in agriculture can be impacted in positive ways.

Relationship between ethical leadership and organisational commitment of nurses with perception of patient safety culture.

PubMed

Lotfi, Zahra; Atashzadeh-Shoorideh, Foroozan; Mohtashami, Jamileh; Nasiri, Maliheh

2018-03-12

To determine the relationship between ethical leadership, organisational commitment of nurses and their perception of patient safety culture. Patient safety, organisational commitment and ethical leadership styles are very important for improving the quality of nursing care. In this descriptive-correlational study, 340 nurses were selected using random sampling from the hospitals in Tehran in 2016. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS v.20. There was a significant positive relationship between the ethical leadership of nursing managers, perception of patient safety culture and organisational commitment. The regression analysis showed that nursing managers' ethical leadership and nurses' organisational commitment is a predictor of patient safety culture and confirms the relationship between the variables. Regarding the relationship between the nurses' safety performance, ethical leadership and organisational commitment, it seems that the optimisation of the organisational commitment and adherence to ethical leadership by administrators and managers in hospitals could improve the nurses' performance in terms of patient safety. Implementing ethical leadership seems to be one feasible strategy to improve nurses' organisational commitment and perception of patient safety culture. Efforts by nurse managers to develop ethical leadership reinforce organisational commitment to improve patient outcomes. Nurse managers' engagement and performance in this process is vital for a successful result. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

[Changing of the patient safety culture in the pilot institutes of the Hungarian accreditation program].

PubMed

Lám, Judit; Merész, Gergő; Bakacsi, Gyula; Belicza, Éva; Surján, Cecília; Takács, Erika

2016-10-01

The accreditation system for health care providers was developed in Hungary aiming to increase safety, efficiency, and efficacy of care and optimise its organisational operation. The aim of this study was to assess changes of organisational culture in pilot institutes of the accreditation program. 7 volunteer pilot institutes using an internationally validated questionnaire were included. The impact study was performed in 2 rounds: the first before the introduction of the accreditation program, and the second a year later, when the standards were already known. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression models. Statistically significant (p<0.05) positive changes were detected in hospitals in three dimensions: organisational learning - continuous improvement, communication openness, teamwork within the unit while in outpatient clinics: overall perceptions of patient safety, and patient safety within the unit. Organisational culture in the observed institutes needs improvement, but positive changes already point to a safer care. Orv. Hetil., 2016, 157(42), 1667-1673.

77 FR 23282 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Bureau of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-18

... objectives of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The Cooperative Agreement is the vehicle through which... for OMB Review; Comment Request; Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Safety and Health Statistics..., ``Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Safety and Health Statistics Cooperative Agreement Application...

Preliminary Evaluation of an Aviation Safety Thesaurus' Utility for Enhancing Automated Processing of Incident Reports

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barrientos, Francesca; Castle, Joseph; McIntosh, Dawn; Srivastava, Ashok

2007-01-01

This document presents a preliminary evaluation the utility of the FAA Safety Analytics Thesaurus (SAT) utility in enhancing automated document processing applications under development at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC). Current development efforts at ARC are described, including overviews of the statistical machine learning techniques that have been investigated. An analysis of opportunities for applying thesaurus knowledge to improving algorithm performance is then presented.

2016 pocket guide to large truck and bus statistics.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-05-01

FMCSA created and maintains the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS). MCMIS contains information on the safety performance of commercial motor carriers (large trucks and buses) and hazardous materials (HM) carriers subject to the Feder...

2017 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-06-01

FMCSA created and maintains the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS). MCMIS contains information on the safety performance of commercial motor carriers (large trucks and buses) and hazardous materials (HM) carriers subject to the Feder...

Measuring mining safety with injury statistics: lost workdays as indicators of risk.

PubMed

Coleman, Patrick J; Kerkering, John C

2007-01-01

Mining in the United States remains one of the most hazardous industries, despite significant reductions in fatal injury rates over the last century. Coal mine fatality rates, for example, have dropped almost a thousand-fold since their peak in 1908. While incidence rates are very important indicators, lost worktime measures offer an alternative metric for evaluating job safety and health performance. The first objective of this study examined the distributions and summary statistics of all injuries reported to the Mine Safety and Health Administration from 1983 through 2004. Over the period studied (1983-2004), there were 31,515,368 lost workdays associated with mining injuries, for an equivalent of 5,700 person-years lost annually. The second objective addressed the problem of comparing safety program performance in mines for situations where denominator data were lacking. By examining the consequences of injuries, comparisons can be made between disparate operations without the need for denominators. Total risk in the form of lost workday sums can help to distinguish between lower- and higher-risk operations or time periods. Our method was to use a beta distribution to model the losses and to compare underground coal mining to underground metal/nonmetal mining from 2000 to 2004. Our results showed the probability of an injury having 10 or more lost workdays was 0.52 for coal mine cases versus 0.35 for metal/nonmetal mine cases. In addition, a comparison of injuries involving continuous mining machines over 2001-2002 versus 2003-2004 showed that the ratio of average losses in the later period to those in the earlier period was approximately 1.08, suggesting increasing risks for such operations. This denominator-free safety measure will help the mining industry more effectively identify higher-risk operations and more realistically evaluate their safety improvement programs. Attention to a variety of metrics concerning the performance of a job safety and health program will enhance industry's ability to manage these programs and reduce risk.

Massive parallelization of serial inference algorithms for a complex generalized linear model

PubMed Central

Suchard, Marc A.; Simpson, Shawn E.; Zorych, Ivan; Ryan, Patrick; Madigan, David

2014-01-01

Following a series of high-profile drug safety disasters in recent years, many countries are redoubling their efforts to ensure the safety of licensed medical products. Large-scale observational databases such as claims databases or electronic health record systems are attracting particular attention in this regard, but present significant methodological and computational concerns. In this paper we show how high-performance statistical computation, including graphics processing units, relatively inexpensive highly parallel computing devices, can enable complex methods in large databases. We focus on optimization and massive parallelization of cyclic coordinate descent approaches to fit a conditioned generalized linear model involving tens of millions of observations and thousands of predictors in a Bayesian context. We find orders-of-magnitude improvement in overall run-time. Coordinate descent approaches are ubiquitous in high-dimensional statistics and the algorithms we propose open up exciting new methodological possibilities with the potential to significantly improve drug safety. PMID:25328363

Environmental Health Practice: Statistically Based Performance Measurement

PubMed Central

Enander, Richard T.; Gagnon, Ronald N.; Hanumara, R. Choudary; Park, Eugene; Armstrong, Thomas; Gute, David M.

2007-01-01

Objectives. State environmental and health protection agencies have traditionally relied on a facility-by-facility inspection-enforcement paradigm to achieve compliance with government regulations. We evaluated the effectiveness of a new approach that uses a self-certification random sampling design. Methods. Comprehensive environmental and occupational health data from a 3-year statewide industry self-certification initiative were collected from representative automotive refinishing facilities located in Rhode Island. Statistical comparisons between baseline and postintervention data facilitated a quantitative evaluation of statewide performance. Results. The analysis of field data collected from 82 randomly selected automotive refinishing facilities showed statistically significant improvements (P<.05, Fisher exact test) in 4 major performance categories: occupational health and safety, air pollution control, hazardous waste management, and wastewater discharge. Statistical significance was also shown when a modified Bonferroni adjustment for multiple comparisons was performed. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that the new self-certification approach to environmental and worker protection is effective and can be used as an adjunct to further enhance state and federal enforcement programs. PMID:17267709

Perceived School and Neighborhood Safety, Neighborhood Violence and Academic Achievement in Urban School Children

PubMed Central

AJ, Milam; CDM, Furr-Holden; PJ, Leaf

2010-01-01

Community and school violence continue to be a major public health problem, especially among urban children and adolescents. Little research has focused on the effect of school safety and neighborhood violence on academic performance. This study examines the effect of the school and neighborhood climate on academic achievement among a population of 3rd-5th grade students in an urban public school system. Community and school safety were assessed using the School Climate Survey, an annual city-wide assessment of student’s perception of school and community safety. Community violence was measured using the Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology, an objective observational assessment of neighborhood characteristics. Academic achievement was measured using the Maryland State Assessment (MSA), a standardized exam given to all Maryland 3rd-8th graders. School Climate Data and MSA data were aggregated by school and grade. Objective assessments of neighborhood environment and students’ self-reported school and neighborhood safety were both strongly associated with academic performance. Increasing neighborhood violence was associated with statistically significant decreases from 4.2%-8.7% in math and reading achievement; increasing perceived safety was associated with significant increases in achievement from 16%-22%. These preliminary findings highlight the adverse impact of perceived safety and community violence exposure on primary school children’s academic performance. PMID:21197388

The effect of berberine on insulin resistance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: detailed statistical analysis plan (SAP) for a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Zhang, Ying; Sun, Jin; Zhang, Yun-Jiao; Chai, Qian-Yun; Zhang, Kang; Ma, Hong-Li; Wu, Xiao-Ke; Liu, Jian-Ping

2016-10-21

Although Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been widely used in clinical settings, a major challenge that remains in TCM is to evaluate its efficacy scientifically. This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of berberine in the treatment of patients with polycystic ovary syndrome. In order to improve the transparency and research quality of this clinical trial, we prepared this statistical analysis plan (SAP). The trial design, primary and secondary outcomes, and safety outcomes were declared to reduce selection biases in data analysis and result reporting. We specified detailed methods for data management and statistical analyses. Statistics in corresponding tables, listings, and graphs were outlined. The SAP provided more detailed information than trial protocol on data management and statistical analysis methods. Any post hoc analyses could be identified via referring to this SAP, and the possible selection bias and performance bias will be reduced in the trial. This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01138930 , registered on 7 June 2010.

Development of guidance for states transitioning to new safety analysis tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alluri, Priyanka

With about 125 people dying on US roads each day, the US Department of Transportation heightened the awareness of critical safety issues with the passage of SAFETEA-LU (Safe Accountable Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act---a Legacy for Users) legislation in 2005. The legislation required each of the states to develop a Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) and incorporate data-driven approaches to prioritize and evaluate program outcomes: Failure to do so resulted in funding sanctioning. In conjunction with the legislation, research efforts have also been progressing toward the development of new safety analysis tools such as IHSDM (Interactive Highway Safety Design Model), SafetyAnalyst, and HSM (Highway Safety Manual). These software and analysis tools are comparatively more advanced in statistical theory and level of accuracy, and have a tendency to be more data intensive. A review of the 2009 five-percent reports and excerpts from the nationwide survey revealed astonishing facts about the continuing use of traditional methods including crash frequencies and rates for site selection and prioritization. The intense data requirements and statistical complexity of advanced safety tools are considered as a hindrance to their adoption. In this context, this research aims at identifying the data requirements and data availability for SafetyAnalyst and HSM by working with both the tools. This research sets the stage for working with the Empirical Bayes approach by highlighting some of the biases and issues associated with the traditional methods of selecting projects such as greater emphasis on traffic volume and regression-to-mean phenomena. Further, the not-so-obvious issue with shorter segment lengths, which effect the results independent of the methods used, is also discussed. The more reliable and statistically acceptable Empirical Bayes methodology requires safety performance functions (SPFs), regression equations predicting the relation between crashes and exposure for a subset of roadway network. These SPFs, specific to a region and the analysis period are often unavailable. Calibration of already existing default national SPFs to the state's data could be a feasible solution, but, how well the state's data is represented is a legitimate question. With this background, SPFs were generated for various classifications of segments in Georgia and compared against the national default SPFs used in SafetyAnalyst calibrated to Georgia data. Dwelling deeper into the development of SPFs, the influence of actual and estimated traffic data on the fit of the equations is also studied questioning the accuracy and reliability of traffic estimations. In addition to SafetyAnalyst, HSM aims at performing quantitative safety analysis. Applying HSM methodology to two-way two-lane rural roads, the effect of using multiple CMFs (Crash Modification Factors) is studied. Lastly, data requirements, methodology, constraints, and results are compared between SafetyAnalyst and HSM.

Safety culture in a pharmacy setting using a pharmacy survey on patient safety culture: a cross-sectional study in China.

PubMed

Jia, P L; Zhang, L H; Zhang, M M; Zhang, L L; Zhang, C; Qin, S F; Li, X L; Liu, K X

2014-06-30

To explore the attitudes and perceptions of patient safety culture for pharmacy workers in China by using a Pharmacy Survey on Patient Safety Culture (PSOPSC), and to assess the psychometric properties of the translated Chinese language version of the PSOPSC. Cross-sectional study. Data were obtained from 20 hospital pharmacies in the southwest part of China. We performed χ(2) test to explore the differences on pharmacy staff in different hospital and qualification levels and countries towards patient safety culture. We also computed descriptive statistics, internal consistency coefficients and intersubscale correlation analysis, and then conducted an exploratory factor analysis. A test-retest was performed to assess reproducibility of the items. A total of 630 questionnaires were distributed of which 527 were responded to validly (response rate 84%). The positive response rate for each item ranged from 37% to 90%. The positive response rate on three dimensions ('Teamwork', 'Staff Training and Skills' and 'Staffing, Work Pressure and Pace') was higher than that of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) data (p<0.05). There was a statistical difference in the perception of patient safety culture at different hospital and qualification levels. The internal consistency of the total survey was comparatively satisfied (Cronbach's α=0.89). The results demonstrated that among the pharmacy staffs surveyed in China, there was a positive attitude towards patient safety culture in their organisations. Identifying perspectives of patient safety culture from pharmacists in different hospital and qualification levels are important, since this can help support decisions about action to improve safety culture in pharmacy settings. The Chinese translation of the PSOPSC questionnaire (V.2012) applied in our study is acceptable. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Safety in ready mixed concrete industry: descriptive analysis of injuries and development of preventive measures.

PubMed

Akboğa, Özge; Baradan, Selim

2017-02-07

Ready mixed concrete (RMC) industry, one of the barebones of construction sector, has its distinctive occupational safety and health (OSH) risks. Employees experience risks that emerge during the fabrication of concrete, as well as its delivery to the construction site. Statistics show that usage and demand of RMC have been increasing along with the number of producers and workers. Unfortunately, adequate OSH measures to meet this rapid growth are not in place even in top RMC producing countries, such as Turkey. Moreover, lack of statistical data and academic research in this sector exacerbates this problem. This study aims to fill this gap by conducting data mining in Turkish Social Security Institution archives and performing univariate frequency and cross tabulation analysis on 71 incidents that RMC truck drivers were involved. Also, investigations and interviews were conducted in seven RMC plants in Turkey and Netherlands with OSH point of view. Based on the results of this research, problem areas were determined such as; cleaning truck mixer/pump is a hazardous activity where operators get injured frequently, and struck by falling objects is a major hazard at RMC industry. Finally, Job Safety Analyses were performed on these areas to suggest mitigation methods.

Performance Comparison Between a Head-Worn Display System and a Head-Up Display for Low Visibility Commercial Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arthur, Jarvis J., III; Prinzel, Lawrence J., III; Barnes, James R.; Williams, Steven P.; Jones, Denise R.; Harrison, Stephanie J.; Bailey, Randall E.

2014-01-01

Research, development, test, and evaluation of flight deck interface technologies is being conducted by NASA to proactively identify, develop, and mature tools, methods, and technologies for improving overall aircraft safety of new and legacy vehicles operating in Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Under the Vehicle Systems Safety Technologies (VSST) project in the Aviation Safety Program, one specific area of research is the use of small Head-Worn Displays (HWDs) as an equivalent display to a Head-Up Display (HUD). Title 14 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 91.175 describes a possible operational credit which can be obtained with airplane equipage of a HUD or an "equivalent" display combined with Enhanced Vision (EV). If successful, a HWD may provide the same safety and operational benefits as current HUD-equipped aircraft but for significantly more aircraft in which HUD installation is neither practical nor possible. A simulation experiment was conducted to evaluate if the HWD, coupled with a head-tracker, can provide an equivalent display to a HUD. Comparative testing was performed in the Research Flight Deck (RFD) Cockpit Motion Facility (CMF) full mission, motion-based simulator at NASA Langley. Twelve airline crews conducted approach and landing, taxi, and departure operations during low visibility operations (1000' Runway Visual Range (RVR), 300' RVR) at Memphis International Airport (Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identifier: KMEM). The results showed that there were no statistical differences in the crews performance in terms of touchdown and takeoff. Further, there were no statistical differences between the HUD and HWD in pilots' responses to questionnaires.

Experimenting the hospital survey on patient safety culture in prevention facilities in Italy: psychometric properties.

PubMed

Tereanu, Carmen; Smith, Scott A; Sampietro, Giuseppe; Sarnataro, Francesco; Mazzoleni, Giuliana; Pesenti, Bruno; Sala, Luca C; Cecchetti, Roberto; Arvati, Massimo; Brioschi, Dania; Viscardi, Michela; Prati, Chiara; Barbaglio, Giorgio G

2017-04-01

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS) was designed to assess staff views on patient safety culture in hospital. This study examines psychometrics of the Italian translation of the HSOPS for use in territorial prevention facilities. After minimal adjustments and pre-test of the Italian version, a qualitative cross-sectional study was carried out. Departments of Prevention (DPs) of four Local Health Authorities in Northern Italy. Census of medical and non-medical staff (n. 479). Web-based self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, internal reliability, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and intercorrelations among survey composites. Initial CFA of the 12 patient safety culture composites and 42 items included in the original version of the questionnaire revealed that two dimensions (Staffing and Overall Perception of Patient Safety) and nine individual items did not perform well among Italian territorial Prevention staff. After dropping those composites and items, psychometric properties were acceptable (comparative fit index = 0.94; root mean square error of approximation = 0.04; standardized root mean square residual = 0.04). Internal consistency for each remaining composite met or exceeded the criterion 0.70. Intercorrelations were all statistically significant. Psychometric analyses provided overall support for 10 of the 12 initial patient safety culture composites and 33 of the 42 initial composite items. Although the original instrument was intended for US Hospitals, the Italian translation of the HSOPS adapted for use in territorial prevention facilities performed adequately in Italian DPs. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Illinois crash facts and statistics, 2008

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-01-01

The 2008 Illinois Crash Facts & Statistics includes : data that illustrate Illinois safety accomplishments and : provides information about key events in the history of : traffic-safety related legislation. Summaries of safety : belt usage, ...

Neighbourhood safety and area deprivation modify the associations between parkland and psychological distress in Sydney, Australia

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The aim of this study was to investigate how perceived neighbourhood safety and area deprivation influenced the relationship between parklands and mental health. Methods Information about psychological distress, perceptions of safety, demographic and socio-economic background at the individual level was extracted from New South Wales Population Health Survey. The proportion of a postcode that was parkland was used as a proxy measure for access to parklands and was calculated for each individual. Generalized Estimating Equations logistic regression analyses were performed to account for correlation between participants within postcodes, and with controls for socio-demographic characteristics and socio-economic status at the area level. Results In areas where the residents reported perceiving their neighbourhood to be “safe” and controlling for area levels of socio-economic deprivation, there were no statistically significant associations between the proportion of parkland and high or very high psychological distress. In the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods which were perceived as unsafe by residents, those with greater proportions of parkland, over 20%, there was greater psychological distress, this association was statistically significant (20-40% parkland: OR=2.27, 95% CI=1.45-3.55; >40% parkland: OR=2.53, 95% CI=1.53-4.19). Conclusion Our study indicates that perceptions of neighbourhood safety and area deprivation were statistically significant effect modifiers of the association between parkland and psychological distress. PMID:23635303

Neighbourhood safety and area deprivation modify the associations between parkland and psychological distress in Sydney, Australia.

PubMed

Chong, Shanley; Lobb, Elizabeth; Khan, Rabia; Abu-Rayya, Hisham; Byun, Roy; Jalaludin, Bin

2013-05-01

The aim of this study was to investigate how perceived neighbourhood safety and area deprivation influenced the relationship between parklands and mental health. Information about psychological distress, perceptions of safety, demographic and socio-economic background at the individual level was extracted from New South Wales Population Health Survey. The proportion of a postcode that was parkland was used as a proxy measure for access to parklands and was calculated for each individual. Generalized Estimating Equations logistic regression analyses were performed to account for correlation between participants within postcodes, and with controls for socio-demographic characteristics and socio-economic status at the area level. In areas where the residents reported perceiving their neighbourhood to be "safe" and controlling for area levels of socio-economic deprivation, there were no statistically significant associations between the proportion of parkland and high or very high psychological distress. In the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods which were perceived as unsafe by residents, those with greater proportions of parkland, over 20%, there was greater psychological distress, this association was statistically significant (20-40% parkland: OR=2.27, 95% CI=1.45-3.55; >40% parkland: OR=2.53, 95% CI=1.53-4.19). Our study indicates that perceptions of neighbourhood safety and area deprivation were statistically significant effect modifiers of the association between parkland and psychological distress.

Estimating Traffic Accidents in Turkey Using Differential Evolution Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akgüngör, Ali Payıdar; Korkmaz, Ersin

2017-06-01

Estimating traffic accidents play a vital role to apply road safety procedures. This study proposes Differential Evolution Algorithm (DEA) models to estimate the number of accidents in Turkey. In the model development, population (P) and the number of vehicles (N) are selected as model parameters. Three model forms, linear, exponential and semi-quadratic models, are developed using DEA with the data covering from 2000 to 2014. Developed models are statistically compared to select the best fit model. The results of the DE models show that the linear model form is suitable to estimate the number of accidents. The statistics of this form is better than other forms in terms of performance criteria which are the Mean Absolute Percentage Errors (MAPE) and the Root Mean Square Errors (RMSE). To investigate the performance of linear DE model for future estimations, a ten-year period from 2015 to 2024 is considered. The results obtained from future estimations reveal the suitability of DE method for road safety applications.

Railroad safety statistics annual report 1999

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-08-01

This edition of the Railroad Safety Statistics compiles previous safety bulletins prepared by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). These include: the Accident/Incident Bulletin; the Highway-Rail Crossing Accident/Incident and Inventory Bulletin...

Railroad safety statistics annual report 2005

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-12-01

This edition of the Railroad Safety Statistics compiles previous safety bulletins prepared by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). These include: the Accident/Incident Bulletin; the Highway-Rail Crossing Accident/Incident And Inventory Bulletin...

Railroad safety statistics annual report 2003

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-10-01

This edition of the Railroad Safety Statistics compiles previous safety bulletins prepared by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). These include: the Accident/Incident Bulletin; the Highway-Rail Crossing Accident/Incident And Inventory Bulletin...

Railroad safety statistics annual report 2004

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-11-01

This edition of the Railroad Safety Statistics compiles previous safety bulletins prepared by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). These include: the Accident/Incident Bulletin; the Highway-Rail Crossing Accident/Incident And Inventory Bulletin...

Railroad safety statistics annual report 2000

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-07-01

This edition of the Railroad Safety Statistics compiles previous safety bulletins prepared by the : Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). These include: the Accident/Incident Bulletin; the : Highway-Rail Crossing Accident/Incident And Inventory Bull...

Bayesian Statistics and Uncertainty Quantification for Safety Boundary Analysis in Complex Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

He, Yuning; Davies, Misty Dawn

2014-01-01

The analysis of a safety-critical system often requires detailed knowledge of safe regions and their highdimensional non-linear boundaries. We present a statistical approach to iteratively detect and characterize the boundaries, which are provided as parameterized shape candidates. Using methods from uncertainty quantification and active learning, we incrementally construct a statistical model from only few simulation runs and obtain statistically sound estimates of the shape parameters for safety boundaries.

Taguchi Based Performance and Reliability Improvement of an Ion Chamber Amplifier for Enhanced Nuclear Reactor Safety

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulkarni, R. D.; Agarwal, Vivek

2008-08-01

An ion chamber amplifier (ICA) is used as a safety device for neutronic power (flux) measurement in regulation and protection systems of nuclear reactors. Therefore, performance reliability of an ICA is an important issue. Appropriate quality engineering is essential to achieve a robust design and performance of the ICA circuit. It is observed that the low input bias current operational amplifiers used in the input stage of the ICA circuit are the most critical devices for proper functioning of the ICA. They are very sensitive to the gamma radiation present in their close vicinity. Therefore, the response of the ICA deteriorates with exposure to gamma radiation resulting in a decrease in the overall reliability, unless desired performance is ensured under all conditions. This paper presents a performance enhancement scheme for an ICA operated in the nuclear environment. The Taguchi method, which is a proven technique for reliability enhancement, has been used in this work. It is demonstrated that if a statistical, optimal design approach, like the Taguchi method is used, the cost of high quality and reliability may be brought down drastically. The complete methodology and statistical calculations involved are presented, as are the experimental and simulation results to arrive at a robust design of the ICA.

Railroad safety statistics annual report 1998

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-07-01

This edition of the Railroad Safety Statistics is a composite of previous safety bulletins prepared by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). These include: the Accident/Incident Bulletin; the Highway-Rail Crossing Accident/Incident And Inventory...

Patient safety culture assessment in oman.

PubMed

Al-Mandhari, Ahmed; Al-Zakwani, Ibrahim; Al-Kindi, Moosa; Tawilah, Jihane; Dorvlo, Atsu S S; Al-Adawi, Samir

2014-07-01

To illustrate the patient safety culture in Oman as gleaned via 12 indices of patient safety culture derived from the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSPSC) and to compare the average positive response rates in patient safety culture between Oman and the USA, Taiwan, and Lebanon. This was a cross-sectional research study employed to gauge the performance of HSPSC safety indices among health workers representing five secondary and tertiary care hospitals in the northern region of Oman. The participants (n=398) represented different professional designations of hospital staff. Analyses were performed using univariate statistics. The overall average positive response rate for the 12 patient safety culture dimensions of the HSPSC survey in Oman was 58%. The indices from HSPSC that were endorsed the highest included 'organizational learning and continuous improvement' while conversely, 'non-punitive response to errors' was ranked the least. There were no significant differences in average positive response rates between Oman and the United States (58% vs. 61%; p=0.666), Taiwan (58% vs. 64%; p=0.386), and Lebanon (58% vs. 61%; p=0.666). This study provides the first empirical study on patient safety culture in Oman which is similar to those rates reported elsewhere. It highlights the specific strengths and weaknesses which may stem from the specific milieu prevailing in Oman.

A cross-sectional study to assess the patient safety culture in the Palestinian hospitals: a baseline assessment for quality improvement.

PubMed

Elsous, Aymen; Akbari Sari, Ali; Rashidian, Arash; Aljeesh, Yousef; Radwan, Mahmoud; AbuZaydeh, Hatem

2016-12-01

To measure and establish a baseline assessment of the patient safety culture in the Palestinian hospitals. A cross-sectional descriptive study using the Arabic version of the Safety Attitude Questionnaire (Short Form 2006). A total of 339 nurses and physicians returned the questionnaire out of 370 achieving a response rate of 91.6%. Four public general hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Nurses and physicians were randomly selected using a proportionate random sampling. Data analysis performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 20, and p value less than 0.05 was statistically significant. Current status of patient safety culture among healthcare providers and percentage of positive attitudes. Male to female ratio was 2.16:1, and mean age was 36.5 ± 9.4 years. The mean score of Arabic Safety Attitude Questionnaire across the six dimensions on 100-point scale ranged between 68.5 for Job Satisfaction and 48.5 for Working Condition. The percentage of respondents holding a positive attitude was 34.5% for Teamwork Climate, 28.4% for Safety Climate, 40.7% for Stress Recognition, 48.8% for Job Satisfaction, 11.3% for Working Conditions and 42.8% for Perception of Management. Healthcare workers holding positive attitudes had better collaboration with co-workers than those without positive attitudes. Findings are useful to formulate a policy on patient safety culture and targeted a specific safety culture dimension to improve the safety of patients and improve the clinical outcomes within healthcare organisations.

Nursing Students' Intrinsic Motivation and Performance on the Licensure Examination.

PubMed

Hackney, Michele G

Unsuccessful attempts at licensure adversely affect graduates, prelicensure nursing education programs, health care agencies, and ultimately, patient safety. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to investigate the relationship between nursing students' intrinsic motivation and performance on the licensure examination. Nursing students responded to 12 questions related to reasons for learning as indicators of motivation type. Results indicated no statistically significant correlations between variables.

Assessment and evaluations of I-80 truck loads and their load effects : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-12-01

The research objective is to examine the safety of Wyoming bridges on the I-80 corridor considering the actual truck traffic on the : interstate based upon weigh in motion (WIM) data. This was accomplished by performing statistical analyses to determ...

Acquisition of Fire Safety Knowledge and Skills With Virtual Reality Simulation.

PubMed

Rossler, Kelly L; Sankaranarayanan, Ganesh; Duvall, Adrianne

2018-05-25

Prelicensure nursing students seeking to enter perioperative nursing need preparatory fire safety knowledge and skills training to participate as a member of an operating room (OR) team. This pilot study examined the effectiveness of the Virtual Electrosurgery Skill Trainer (VEST) on OR fire safety skills among prelicensure nursing students. An experimental pretest-posttest design was used in this study. Twenty nursing students were randomized to a control or an intervention group. Knowledge and skills acquisition of OR fire safety were assessed. There were no statistically significant findings in knowledge for either group. Fisher exact test demonstrated significant relationships between the skills performance criteria of following emergency procedures for a fire and demonstrating PASS (pull-aim-squeeze-sweep) technique (P = .001). Academic and hospital educators may consider incorporating virtual reality simulation to teach fire safety education or reinforce general fire safety practices to nursing students and novice nurses.

Investigating ethnic minorities' perceptions of safety climate in the construction industry.

PubMed

Chan, Albert P C; Wong, Francis K W; Hon, Carol K H; Lyu, Sainan; Javed, Arshad Ali

2017-12-01

An increasing number of ethnic minorities (EMs) have been employed in the construction industry to alleviate severe labor shortages in many countries. Unfortunately, statistics show that EMs have higher fatal and non-fatal occupational injury rates than their local counterparts. However, EMs are often underrepresented in safety climate (SC) research as they are difficult to reach and gauge their perception. A positive relationship has been widely found between SC and safety performance. Understanding the safety perceptions of EMs helps to reduce injuries and improve their safety performance. Based on a sample of 320 EMs from 20 companies in the construction industry, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to identify the SC factors of EMs, and validate the extracted factors, respectively. Multivariate analysis of variance was undertaken to examine mean differences in perceptions of SC by personal characteristics. Three SC factors for EMs encapsulating 16 variables were identified through EFA. The hypothesized CFA model for a three-factor structure derived from EFA showed a satisfactory goodness-of-fit, composite reliability, and construct validity. Three SC factors were identified, namely: (a) safety management commitment, safety resources, and safety communication; (b) employee's involvement and workmate's influence; and (c) perception of safety rules, procedures and risks. The perceptions of SC differed significantly by nationality, marital status, the number of family members supported, and drinking habit. This study reveals the perception of EMs toward SC. The findings highlight the areas for safety improvement and provide leading indicators for safety performance of EMs. The findings are also enlightening for countries with a number of EMs, such as the United Sates, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, and the Middle East. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Safety Management Information Statistics (SAMIS) - 1995 Annual Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-04-01

The Safety Management Information Statistics 1995 Annual Report is a compilation and analysis of transit accident, casualty and crime statistics reported under the Federal Transit Administration's National Transit Database Reporting by transit system...

Comparing international crash statistics

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-12-01

In order to examine national developments in traffic safety, crash statistics from several of the more safety, crash statistics from several of the more United States. Data obtained from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the Internati...

Transit safety & security statistics & analysis 2003 annual report (formerly SAMIS)

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-12-01

The Transit Safety & Security Statistics & Analysis 2003 Annual Report (formerly SAMIS) is a compilation and analysis of mass transit accident, casualty, and crime statistics reported under the Federal Transit Administrations (FTAs) National Tr...

Safety Management Information Statistics (SAMIS) - 1993 Annual Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-05-01

The 1993 Safety Management Information Statistics (SAMIS) report, now in its fourth year of publication, is a compilation and analysis of transit accident and casualty statistics uniformly collected from approximately 400 transit agencies throughout ...

Transit safety & security statistics & analysis 2002 annual report (formerly SAMIS)

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-12-01

The Transit Safety & Security Statistics & Analysis 2002 Annual Report (formerly SAMIS) is a compilation and analysis of mass transit accident, casualty, and crime statistics reported under the Federal Transit Administrations (FTAs) National Tr...

Safety in ready mixed concrete industry: descriptive analysis of injuries and development of preventive measures

PubMed Central

AKBOĞA, Özge; BARADAN, Selim

2016-01-01

Ready mixed concrete (RMC) industry, one of the barebones of construction sector, has its distinctive occupational safety and health (OSH) risks. Employees experience risks that emerge during the fabrication of concrete, as well as its delivery to the construction site. Statistics show that usage and demand of RMC have been increasing along with the number of producers and workers. Unfortunately, adequate OSH measures to meet this rapid growth are not in place even in top RMC producing countries, such as Turkey. Moreover, lack of statistical data and academic research in this sector exacerbates this problem. This study aims to fill this gap by conducting data mining in Turkish Social Security Institution archives and performing univariate frequency and cross tabulation analysis on 71 incidents that RMC truck drivers were involved. Also, investigations and interviews were conducted in seven RMC plants in Turkey and Netherlands with OSH point of view. Based on the results of this research, problem areas were determined such as; cleaning truck mixer/pump is a hazardous activity where operators get injured frequently, and struck by falling objects is a major hazard at RMC industry. Finally, Job Safety Analyses were performed on these areas to suggest mitigation methods. PMID:27524105

Safety evaluation of joint and conventional lane merge configurations for freeway work zones.

PubMed

Ishak, Sherif; Qi, Yan; Rayaprolu, Pradeep

2012-01-01

Inefficient operation of traffic in work zone areas not only leads to an increase in travel time delays, queue length, and fuel consumption but also increases the number of forced merges and roadway accidents. This study evaluated the safety performance of work zones with a conventional lane merge (CLM) configuration in Louisiana. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the crash rates for accidents involving fatalities, injuries, and property damage only (PDO) in each of the following 4 areas: (1) advance warning area, (2) transition area, (3) work area, and (4) termination area. The analysis showed that the advance warning area had higher fatality, injury, and PDO crash rates when compared to the transition area, work area, and termination area. This finding confirmed the need to make improvements in the advance warning area where merging maneuvers take place. Therefore, a new lane merge configuration, called joint lane merge (JLM), was proposed and its safety performance was examined and compared to the conventional lane merge configuration using a microscopic simulation model (VISSIM), which was calibrated with real-world data from an existing work zone on I-55 and used to simulate a total of 25 different scenarios with different levels of demand and traffic composition. Safety performance was evaluated using 2 surrogate measures: uncomfortable decelerations and speed variance. Statistical analysis was conducted to determine whether the differences in safety performance between both configurations were significant. The safety analysis indicated that JLM outperformed CLM in most cases with low to moderate flow rates and that the percentage of trucks did not have a significant impact on the safety performance of either configuration. Though the safety analysis did not clearly indicate which lane merge configuration is safer for the overall work zone area, it was able to identify the possibly associated safety changes within the work zone area under different traffic conditions. Copyright © 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Assessing the status of airline safety culture and its relationship to key employee attitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Owen, Edward L.

The need to identify the factors that influence the overall safety environment and compliance with safety procedures within airline operations is substantial. This study examines the relationships between job satisfaction, the overall perception of the safety culture, and compliance with safety rules and regulations of airline employees working in flight operations. A survey questionnaire administered via the internet gathered responses which were converted to numerical values for quantitative analysis. The results were grouped to provide indications of overall average levels in each of the three categories, satisfaction, perceptions, and compliance. Correlations between data in the three sets were tested for statistical significance using two-sample t-tests assuming equal variances. Strong statistical significance was found between job satisfaction and compliance with safety rules and between perceptions of the safety environment and safety compliance. The relationship between job satisfaction and safety perceptions did not show strong statistical significance.

Microbial Performance of Food Safety Control and Assurance Activities in a Fresh Produce Processing Sector Measured Using a Microbial Assessment Scheme and Statistical Modeling.

PubMed

Njage, Patrick Murigu Kamau; Sawe, Chemutai Tonui; Onyango, Cecilia Moraa; Habib, I; Njagi, Edmund Njeru; Aerts, Marc; Molenberghs, Geert

2017-01-01

Current approaches such as inspections, audits, and end product testing cannot detect the distribution and dynamics of microbial contamination. Despite the implementation of current food safety management systems, foodborne outbreaks linked to fresh produce continue to be reported. A microbial assessment scheme and statistical modeling were used to systematically assess the microbial performance of core control and assurance activities in five Kenyan fresh produce processing and export companies. Generalized linear mixed models and correlated random-effects joint models for multivariate clustered data followed by empirical Bayes estimates enabled the analysis of the probability of contamination across critical sampling locations (CSLs) and factories as a random effect. Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes were not detected in the final products. However, none of the processors attained the maximum safety level for environmental samples. Escherichia coli was detected in five of the six CSLs, including the final product. Among the processing-environment samples, the hand or glove swabs of personnel revealed a higher level of predicted contamination with E. coli , and 80% of the factories were E. coli positive at this CSL. End products showed higher predicted probabilities of having the lowest level of food safety compared with raw materials. The final products were E. coli positive despite the raw materials being E. coli negative for 60% of the processors. There was a higher probability of contamination with coliforms in water at the inlet than in the final rinse water. Four (80%) of the five assessed processors had poor to unacceptable counts of Enterobacteriaceae on processing surfaces. Personnel-, equipment-, and product-related hygiene measures to improve the performance of preventive and intervention measures are recommended.

School Violence: The Role of Parental and Community Involvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lesneskie, Eric; Block, Steven

2017-01-01

This study utilizes the School Survey on Crime and Safety to identify variables that predict lower levels of violence from four domains: school security, school climate, parental involvement, and community involvement. Negative binomial regression was performed and the findings indicate that statistically significant results come from all four…

Matrix-Applied Characterized Autologous Cultured Chondrocytes Versus Microfracture: Five-Year Follow-up of a Prospective Randomized Trial.

PubMed

Brittberg, Mats; Recker, David; Ilgenfritz, John; Saris, Daniel B F

2018-05-01

Matrix-based cell therapy improves surgical handling, increases patient comfort, and allows for expanded indications with better reliability within the knee joint. Five-year efficacy and safety of autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane (MACI) versus microfracture for treating cartilage defects have not yet been reported from any randomized controlled clinical trial. To examine the clinical efficacy and safety results at 5 years after treatment with MACI and compare these with the efficacy and safety of microfracture treatment for symptomatic cartilage defects of the knee. Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1. This article describes the 5-year follow-up of the SUMMIT (Superiority of MACI Implant Versus Microfracture Treatment) clinical trial conducted at 14 study sites in Europe. All 144 patients who participated in SUMMIT were eligible to enroll; analyses of the 5-year data were performed with data from patients who signed informed consent and continued in the Extension study. Of the 144 patients randomized in the SUMMIT trial, 128 signed informed consent and continued observation in the Extension study: 65 MACI (90.3%) and 63 microfracture (87.5%). The improvements in Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) Pain and Function domains previously described were maintained over the 5-year follow-up. Five years after treatment, the improvement in MACI over microfracture in the co-primary endpoint of KOOS pain and function was maintained and was clinically and statistically significant ( P = .022). Improvements in activities of daily living remained statistically significantly better ( P = .007) in MACI patients, with quality of life and other symptoms remaining numerically higher in MACI patients but losing statistical significance relative to the results of the SUMMIT 2-year analysis. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation of structural repair was performed in 120 patients at year 5. As in the 2-year SUMMIT (MACI00206) results, the MRI evaluation showed improvement in defect filling for both treatments; however, no statistically significant differences were noted between treatment groups. Symptomatic cartilage knee defects 3 cm 2 or larger treated with MACI were clinically and statistically significantly improved at 5 years compared with microfracture treatment. No remarkable adverse events or safety issues were noted in this heterogeneous patient population.

Safety Management Information Statistics (SAMIS) - 1991 Annual Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1993-02-01

The Safety Management Information Statistics 1991 Annual Report is a compilation and analysis of mass transit accident and casualty statistics reported by transit systems in the United States during 1991, under FTA's Section 15 reporting system.

Safety Management Information Statistics (SAMIS) - 1994 Annual Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-07-01

The Safety Management Information Statistics 1994 Annual Report is a compilation and analysis of mass transit accident and casualty statistics reported by transit systems in the United States during 1994, reported under the Federal Transit Administra...

Influence of Design Variations on Systems Performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tumer, Irem Y.; Stone, Robert B.; Huff, Edward M.; Norvig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

High-risk aerospace components have to meet very stringent quality, performance, and safety requirements. Any source of variation is a concern, as it may result in scrap or rework. poor performance, and potentially unsafe flying conditions. The sources of variation during product development, including design, manufacturing, and assembly, and during operation are shown. Sources of static and dynamic variation during development need to be detected accurately in order to prevent failure when the components are placed in operation. The Systems' Health and Safety (SHAS) research at the NASA Ames Research Center addresses the problem of detecting and evaluating the statistical variation in helicopter transmissions. In this work, we focus on the variations caused by design, manufacturing, and assembly of these components, prior to being placed in operation (DMV). In particular, we aim to understand and represent the failure and variation information, and their correlation to performance and safety and feed this information back into the development cycle at an early stage. The feedback of such critical information will assure the development of more reliable components with less rework and scrap. Variations during design and manufacturing are a common source of concern in the development and production of such components. Accounting for these variations, especially those that have the potential to affect performance, is accomplished in a variety ways, including Taguchi methods, FMEA, quality control, statistical process control, and variation risk management. In this work, we start with the assumption that any of these variations can be represented mathematically, and accounted for by using analytical tools incorporating these mathematical representations. In this paper, we concentrate on variations that are introduced during design. Variations introduced during manufacturing are investigated in parallel work.

Person-centered endoscopy safety checklist: Development, implementation, and evaluation

PubMed Central

Dubois, Hanna; Schmidt, Peter T; Creutzfeldt, Johan; Bergenmar, Mia

2017-01-01

AIM To describe the development and implementation of a person-centered endoscopy safety checklist and to evaluate the effects of a “checklist intervention”. METHODS The checklist, based on previously published safety checklists, was developed and locally adapted, taking patient safety aspects into consideration and using a person-centered approach. This novel checklist was introduced to the staff of an endoscopy unit at a Stockholm University Hospital during half-day seminars and team training sessions. Structured observations of the endoscopy team’s performance were conducted before and after the introduction of the checklist. In addition, questionnaires focusing on patient participation, collaboration climate, and patient safety issues were collected from patients and staff. RESULTS A person-centered safety checklist was developed and introduced by a multi-professional group in the endoscopy unit. A statistically significant increase in accurate patient identity verification by the physicians was noted (from 0% at baseline to 87% after 10 mo, P < 0.001), and remained high among nurses (93% at baseline vs 96% after 10 mo, P = nonsignificant). Observations indicated that the professional staff made frequent attempts to use the checklist, but compliance was suboptimal: All items in the observed nurse-led “summaries” were included in 56% of these interactions, and physicians participated by directly facing the patient in 50% of the interactions. On the questionnaires administered to the staff, items regarding collaboration and the importance of patient participation were rated more highly after the introduction of the checklist, but this did not result in statistical significance (P = 0.07/P = 0.08). The patients rated almost all items as very high both before and after the introduction of the checklist; hence, no statistical difference was noted. CONCLUSION The intervention led to increased patient identity verification by physicians - a patient safety improvement. Clear evidence of enhanced person-centeredness or team work was not found. PMID:29358869

Statistical power analysis of cardiovascular safety pharmacology studies in conscious rats.

PubMed

Bhatt, Siddhartha; Li, Dingzhou; Flynn, Declan; Wisialowski, Todd; Hemkens, Michelle; Steidl-Nichols, Jill

2016-01-01

Cardiovascular (CV) toxicity and related attrition are a major challenge for novel therapeutic entities and identifying CV liability early is critical for effective derisking. CV safety pharmacology studies in rats are a valuable tool for early investigation of CV risk. Thorough understanding of data analysis techniques and statistical power of these studies is currently lacking and is imperative for enabling sound decision-making. Data from 24 crossover and 12 parallel design CV telemetry rat studies were used for statistical power calculations. Average values of telemetry parameters (heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and activity) were logged every 60s (from 1h predose to 24h post-dose) and reduced to 15min mean values. These data were subsequently binned into super intervals for statistical analysis. A repeated measure analysis of variance was used for statistical analysis of crossover studies and a repeated measure analysis of covariance was used for parallel studies. Statistical power analysis was performed to generate power curves and establish relationships between detectable CV (blood pressure and heart rate) changes and statistical power. Additionally, data from a crossover CV study with phentolamine at 4, 20 and 100mg/kg are reported as a representative example of data analysis methods. Phentolamine produced a CV profile characteristic of alpha adrenergic receptor antagonism, evidenced by a dose-dependent decrease in blood pressure and reflex tachycardia. Detectable blood pressure changes at 80% statistical power for crossover studies (n=8) were 4-5mmHg. For parallel studies (n=8), detectable changes at 80% power were 6-7mmHg. Detectable heart rate changes for both study designs were 20-22bpm. Based on our results, the conscious rat CV model is a sensitive tool to detect and mitigate CV risk in early safety studies. Furthermore, these results will enable informed selection of appropriate models and study design for early stage CV studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Understanding the role of sleep quality and sleep duration in commercial driving safety.

PubMed

Lemke, Michael K; Apostolopoulos, Yorghos; Hege, Adam; Sönmez, Sevil; Wideman, Laurie

2016-12-01

Long-haul truck drivers in the United States suffer disproportionately high injury rates. Sleep is a critical factor in these outcomes, contributing to fatigue and degrading multiple aspects of safety-relevant performance. Both sleep duration and sleep quality are often compromised among truck drivers; however, much of the efforts to combat fatigue focus on sleep duration rather than sleep quality. Thus, the current study has two objectives: (1) to determine the degree to which sleep impacts safety-relevant performance among long-haul truck drivers; and (2) to evaluate workday and non-workday sleep quality and duration as predictors of drivers' safety-relevant performance. A non-experimental, descriptive, cross-sectional design was employed to collect survey and biometric data from 260 long-haul truck drivers. The Trucker Sleep Disorders Survey was developed to assess sleep duration and quality, the impact of sleep on job performance and accident risk, and other relevant work organization characteristics. Descriptive statistics assessed work organization variables, sleep duration and quality, and frequency of engaging in safety-relevant performance while sleepy. Linear regression analyses were conducted to evaluate relationships between sleep duration, sleep quality, and work organization variables with safety composite variables. Drivers reported long work hours, with over 70% of drivers working more than 11h daily. Drivers also reported a large number of miles driven per week, with an average of 2,812.61 miles per week, and frequent violations of hours-of-service rules, with 43.8% of drivers "sometimes to always" violating the "14-h rule." Sleep duration was longer, and sleep quality was better, on non-workdays compared on workdays. Drivers frequently operated motor vehicles while sleepy, and sleepiness impacted several aspects of safety-relevant performance. Sleep quality was better associated with driving while sleepy and with job performance and concentration than sleep duration. Sleep duration was better associated with accidents and accident risk than sleep quality. Sleep quality appears to be better associated with safety-relevant performance among long-haul truck drivers than sleep duration. Comprehensive and multilevel efforts are needed to meaningfully address sleep quality among drivers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A maximally selected test of symmetry about zero.

PubMed

Laska, Eugene; Meisner, Morris; Wanderling, Joseph

2012-11-20

The problem of testing symmetry about zero has a long and rich history in the statistical literature. We introduce a new test that sequentially discards observations whose absolute value is below increasing thresholds defined by the data. McNemar's statistic is obtained at each threshold and the largest is used as the test statistic. We obtain the exact distribution of this maximally selected McNemar and provide tables of critical values and a program for computing p-values. Power is compared with the t-test, the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and the Sign Test. The new test, MM, is slightly less powerful than the t-test and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test for symmetric normal distributions with nonzero medians and substantially more powerful than all three tests for asymmetric mixtures of normal random variables with or without zero medians. The motivation for this test derives from the need to appraise the safety profile of new medications. If pre and post safety measures are obtained, then under the null hypothesis, the variables are exchangeable and the distribution of their difference is symmetric about a zero median. Large pre-post differences are the major concern of a safety assessment. The discarded small observations are not particularly relevant to safety and can reduce power to detect important asymmetry. The new test was utilized on data from an on-road driving study performed to determine if a hypnotic, a drug used to promote sleep, has next day residual effects. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Efficacy and safety of 3% minoxidil versus combined 3% minoxidil / 0.1% finasteride in male pattern hair loss: a randomized, double-blind, comparative study.

PubMed

Tanglertsampan, Chuchai

2012-10-01

Topical minoxidil and oral finasteride have been used to treat men with androgenetic alopecia (AGA). There are concerns about side effects of oral finasteride especially erectile dysfunction. To compare the efficacy and safety of the 24 weeks application of 3% minoxidil lotion (MNX) versus combined 3% minoxidil and 0.1% finasteride lotion (MFX) in men with AGA. Forty men with AGA were randomized treated with MNX or MFX. Efficacy was evaluated by hair counts and global photographic assessment. Safety assessment was performed by history and physical examination. At week 24, hair counts were increased from baseline in both groups. However paired t-test revealed statistical difference only in MFX group (p = 0.044). Unpaired t-test revealed no statistical difference between two groups with respect to change of hair counts at 24 weeks from baseline (p = 0.503). MFX showed significantly higher efficacy than MNX by global photographic assessment (p = 0.003). There was no significant difference in side effects between both groups. Although change of hair counts was not statistically different between two groups, global photographic assessment showed significantly greater improvement in the MFX group than the MNX group. There was no sexual side effect. MFX may be a safe and effective treatment option.

34 CFR 668.49 - Institutional fire safety policies and fire statistics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 34 Education 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Institutional fire safety policies and fire statistics... fire statistics. (a) Additional definitions that apply to this section. Cause of fire: The factor or... statistics described in paragraph (c) of this section. (2) A description of each on-campus student housing...

Patient Safety Culture Assessment in Oman

PubMed Central

Al-Mandhari, Ahmed; Al-Zakwani, Ibrahim; Al-Kindi, Moosa; Tawilah, Jihane; Dorvlo, Atsu S.S.; Al-Adawi, Samir

2014-01-01

Objective To illustrate the patient safety culture in Oman as gleaned via 12 indices of patient safety culture derived from the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSPSC) and to compare the average positive response rates in patient safety culture between Oman and the USA, Taiwan, and Lebanon. Methods This was a cross-sectional research study employed to gauge the performance of HSPSC safety indices among health workers representing five secondary and tertiary care hospitals in the northern region of Oman. The participants (n=398) represented different professional designations of hospital staff. Analyses were performed using univariate statistics. Results The overall average positive response rate for the 12 patient safety culture dimensions of the HSPSC survey in Oman was 58%. The indices from HSPSC that were endorsed the highest included ‘organizational learning and continuous improvement’ while conversely, ‘non-punitive response to errors’ was ranked the least. There were no significant differences in average positive response rates between Oman and the United States (58% vs. 61%; p=0.666), Taiwan (58% vs. 64%; p=0.386), and Lebanon (58% vs. 61%; p=0.666). Conclusion This study provides the first empirical study on patient safety culture in Oman which is similar to those rates reported elsewhere. It highlights the specific strengths and weaknesses which may stem from the specific milieu prevailing in Oman. PMID:25170407

The Differential Effect of Sustained Operations on Psychomotor Skills of Helicopter Pilots.

PubMed

McMahon, Terry W; Newman, David G

2018-06-01

Flying a helicopter is a complex psychomotor skill requiring constant control inputs from pilots. A deterioration in psychomotor performance of a helicopter pilot may be detrimental to operational safety. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that psychomotor performance deteriorates over time during sustained operations and that the effect is more pronounced in the feet than the hands. The subjects were helicopter pilots conducting sustained multicrew offshore flight operations in a demanding environment. The remote flight operations involved constant workload in hot environmental conditions with complex operational tasking. Over a period of 6 d 10 helicopter pilots were tested. At the completion of daily flying duties, a helicopter-specific screen-based compensatory tracking task measuring tracking accuracy (over a 5-min period) tested both hands and feet. Data were compared over time and tested for statistical significance for both deterioration and differential effect. A statistically significant deterioration of psychomotor performance was evident in the pilots over time for both hands and feet. There was also a statistically significant differential effect between the hands and the feet in terms of tracking accuracy. The hands recorded a 22.6% decrease in tracking accuracy, while the feet recorded a 39.9% decrease in tracking accuracy. The differential effect may be due to prioritization of limb movement by the motor cortex due to factors such as workload-induced cognitive fatigue. This may result in a greater reduction in performance in the feet than the hands, posing a significant risk to operational safety.McMahon TW, Newman DG. The differential effect of sustained operations on psychomotor skills of helicopter pilots. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2018; 89(6):496-502.

Statistical Analysis on the Mechanical Properties of Magnesium Alloys

PubMed Central

Liu, Ruoyu; Jiang, Xianquan; Zhang, Hongju; Zhang, Dingfei; Wang, Jingfeng; Pan, Fusheng

2017-01-01

Knowledge of statistical characteristics of mechanical properties is very important for the practical application of structural materials. Unfortunately, the scatter characteristics of magnesium alloys for mechanical performance remain poorly understood until now. In this study, the mechanical reliability of magnesium alloys is systematically estimated using Weibull statistical analysis. Interestingly, the Weibull modulus, m, of strength for magnesium alloys is as high as that for aluminum and steels, confirming the very high reliability of magnesium alloys. The high predictability in the tensile strength of magnesium alloys represents the capability of preventing catastrophic premature failure during service, which is essential for safety and reliability assessment. PMID:29113116

Quantifying the safety effects of horizontal curves on two-way, two-lane rural roads.

PubMed

Gooch, Jeffrey P; Gayah, Vikash V; Donnell, Eric T

2016-07-01

The objective of this study is to quantify the safety performance of horizontal curves on two-way, two-lane rural roads relative to tangent segments. Past research is limited by small samples sizes, outdated statistical evaluation methods, and unreported standard errors. This study overcomes these drawbacks by using the propensity scores-potential outcomes framework. The impact of adjacent curves on horizontal curve safety is also explored using a cross-sectional regression model of only horizontal curves. The models estimated in the present study used eight years of crash data (2005-2012) obtained from over 10,000 miles of state-owned two-lane rural roads in Pennsylvania. These data included information on roadway geometry (e.g., horizontal curvature, lane width, and shoulder width), traffic volume, roadside hazard rating, and the presence of various low-cost safety countermeasures (e.g., centerline and shoulder rumble strips, curve and intersection warning pavement markings, and aggressive driving pavement dots). Crash prediction is performed by means of mixed effects negative binomial regression using the explanatory variables noted previously, as well as attributes of adjacent horizontal curves. The results indicate that both the presence of a horizontal curve and its degree of curvature must be considered when predicting the frequency of total crashes on horizontal curves. Both are associated with an increase in crash frequency, which is consistent with previous findings in the literature. Mixed effects negative binomial regression models for total crash frequency on horizontal curves indicate that the distance to adjacent curves is not statistically significant. However, the degree of curvature of adjacent curves in close proximity (within 0.75 miles) was found to be statistically significant and negatively correlated with crash frequency on the subject curve. This is logical, as drivers exiting a sharp curve are likely to be driving slower and with more awareness as they approach the next horizontal curve. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Post-approval safety issues with innovative drugs: a European cohort study.

PubMed

Mol, Peter G M; Arnardottir, Arna H; Motola, Domenico; Vrijlandt, Patrick J; Duijnhoven, Ruben G; Haaijer-Ruskamp, Flora M; de Graeff, Pieter A; Denig, Petra; Straus, Sabine M J M

2013-11-01

At time of approval, knowledge of the full benefit risk of any drug is limited, in particular with regards to safety. Post-approval surveillance of potential drug safety concerns is recognized as an important task of regulatory agencies. For innovative, often first-in-class drugs, safety knowledge at time of approval is often even less extensive and these may require tighter scrutiny post approval. We evaluated whether more post-approval serious safety issues were identified for drugs with a higher level of innovation. A cohort study was performed that included all new active substances approved under the European Centralized Procedure and for which serious safety issues were identified post-approval from 1 January 1999 to 1 January 2012. Serious safety issues were defined as issues requiring a Direct Healthcare Professional Communication to alert individual healthcare professionals of a new serious safety issue, or a safety-related drug withdrawal. Data were retrieved from publicly available websites of the Dutch Medicines Evaluation Board and the European Medicines Agency. The level of innovation was scored using a validated algorithm, grading drugs as important (A), moderate (B) or modest (C) innovations or as pharmacological or technological (pharm/tech) innovations. The data were analyzed using appropriate descriptive statistics and Kaplan-Meier analysis, with a Mantel-Cox log-rank test, and Cox-regression models correcting for follow-up duration, to identify a possible trend in serious safety issues with an increasing level of innovation. In Europe, 279 new drugs were approved between 1999 and 2011. Fifty-nine (21 %) were graded as important, 63 (23 %) moderate, or 34 (12 %) modest innovations and 123 (44 %) as non-innovative (pharm/tech), while 15 (25 %), 13 (21 %), 8 (24 %) and 17 (14 %) had post-approval safety issues, respectively (p = 0.06, linear-by-linear test). Five drugs were withdrawn from the market. The Kaplan-Meier-derived probability for having a first serious safety issue was statistically significant, log-rank (Mantel-Cox) p = 0.036. In the final adjusted Cox proportional hazard model there was no statistically significant difference in occurrence of a first serious safety issue for important, moderate and modest innovations versus non-innovative drugs; hazard ratios 1.76 (95 % CI 0.82-3.77), 1.61 (95 % CI 0.76-3.41)], and 1.25 (95 % CI 0.51-3.06), respectively. A higher level of innovation was not clearly related to an increased risk of serious safety issues identified after approval.

A statistical assessment of differences and equivalences between genetically modified and reference plant varieties

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Safety assessment of genetically modified organisms is currently often performed by comparative evaluation. However, natural variation of plant characteristics between commercial varieties is usually not considered explicitly in the statistical computations underlying the assessment. Results Statistical methods are described for the assessment of the difference between a genetically modified (GM) plant variety and a conventional non-GM counterpart, and for the assessment of the equivalence between the GM variety and a group of reference plant varieties which have a history of safe use. It is proposed to present the results of both difference and equivalence testing for all relevant plant characteristics simultaneously in one or a few graphs, as an aid for further interpretation in safety assessment. A procedure is suggested to derive equivalence limits from the observed results for the reference plant varieties using a specific implementation of the linear mixed model. Three different equivalence tests are defined to classify any result in one of four equivalence classes. The performance of the proposed methods is investigated by a simulation study, and the methods are illustrated on compositional data from a field study on maize grain. Conclusions A clear distinction of practical relevance is shown between difference and equivalence testing. The proposed tests are shown to have appropriate performance characteristics by simulation, and the proposed simultaneous graphical representation of results was found to be helpful for the interpretation of results from a practical field trial data set. PMID:21324199

Safety and tolerability of atomoxetine in treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adult patients: an integrated analysis of 15 clinical trials.

PubMed

Camporeale, Angelo; Porsdal, Vibeke; De Bruyckere, Katrien; Tanaka, Yoko; Upadhyaya, Himanshu; Deix, Claudia; Deberdt, Walter

2015-01-01

The safety profile of atomoxetine in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has been studied in many clinical trials. We performed an integrated safety analysis of 15 clinical trials in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The analysis pooled patient data into three groups: acute placebo-controlled trials; long-term placebo-controlled trials; all trials. In total, 4829 adults (18-77 years, median: 36 years) were exposed to atomoxetine. Statistically significantly more atomoxetine-treated than placebo-treated patients experienced treatment-emergent adverse events (81.3% vs. 68.3% acute; 90.6% vs. 76.8% long term) and discontinued due to adverse events (8.9% vs. 4.0% acute; 17.9% vs. 6.3% long term). No statistically significant differences were observed in the proportion of patients experiencing serious adverse events. No previously unknown adverse events were identified. The most common adverse events included nausea, dry mouth, decreased appetite, insomnia and erectile dysfunction. Mean increases in heart rate (+5.2 beats per min) and blood pressure (systolic +2 mmHg, diastolic +1.9 mmHg) were modest. The proportion of patients experiencing clinically significant increases in blood pressure and heart rate at any time was statistically significantly higher with atomoxetine (systolic blood pressure 13-17%, diastolic blood pressure 37-40%, heart rate 42-43%) compared to placebo (systolic blood pressure 8-13%, diastolic blood pressure 29-34%, heart rate 21-26%). There was no increased risk of suicidal ideation or behaviour. Our findings confirm atomoxetine's known safety profile. From a safety perspective, atomoxetine is a useful treatment option for adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. © The Author(s) 2014.

Quasi-Static Probabilistic Structural Analyses Process and Criteria

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goldberg, B.; Verderaime, V.

1999-01-01

Current deterministic structural methods are easily applied to substructures and components, and analysts have built great design insights and confidence in them over the years. However, deterministic methods cannot support systems risk analyses, and it was recently reported that deterministic treatment of statistical data is inconsistent with error propagation laws that can result in unevenly conservative structural predictions. Assuming non-nal distributions and using statistical data formats throughout prevailing stress deterministic processes lead to a safety factor in statistical format, which integrated into the safety index, provides a safety factor and first order reliability relationship. The embedded safety factor in the safety index expression allows a historically based risk to be determined and verified over a variety of quasi-static metallic substructures consistent with the traditional safety factor methods and NASA Std. 5001 criteria.

Patient safety in the clinical laboratory: a longitudinal analysis of specimen identification errors.

PubMed

Wagar, Elizabeth A; Tamashiro, Lorraine; Yasin, Bushra; Hilborne, Lee; Bruckner, David A

2006-11-01

Patient safety is an increasingly visible and important mission for clinical laboratories. Attention to improving processes related to patient identification and specimen labeling is being paid by accreditation and regulatory organizations because errors in these areas that jeopardize patient safety are common and avoidable through improvement in the total testing process. To assess patient identification and specimen labeling improvement after multiple implementation projects using longitudinal statistical tools. Specimen errors were categorized by a multidisciplinary health care team. Patient identification errors were grouped into 3 categories: (1) specimen/requisition mismatch, (2) unlabeled specimens, and (3) mislabeled specimens. Specimens with these types of identification errors were compared preimplementation and postimplementation for 3 patient safety projects: (1) reorganization of phlebotomy (4 months); (2) introduction of an electronic event reporting system (10 months); and (3) activation of an automated processing system (14 months) for a 24-month period, using trend analysis and Student t test statistics. Of 16,632 total specimen errors, mislabeled specimens, requisition mismatches, and unlabeled specimens represented 1.0%, 6.3%, and 4.6% of errors, respectively. Student t test showed a significant decrease in the most serious error, mislabeled specimens (P < .001) when compared to before implementation of the 3 patient safety projects. Trend analysis demonstrated decreases in all 3 error types for 26 months. Applying performance-improvement strategies that focus longitudinally on specimen labeling errors can significantly reduce errors, therefore improving patient safety. This is an important area in which laboratory professionals, working in interdisciplinary teams, can improve safety and outcomes of care.

The Relationships Among Perceived Patients' Safety Culture, Intention to Report Errors, and Leader Coaching Behavior of Nurses in Korea: A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Ko, YuKyung; Yu, Soyoung

2017-09-01

This study was undertaken to explore the correlations among nurses' perceptions of patient safety culture, their intention to report errors, and leader coaching behaviors. The participants (N = 289) were nurses from 5 Korean hospitals with approximately 300 to 500 beds each. Sociodemographic variables, patient safety culture, intention to report errors, and coaching behavior were measured using self-report instruments. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, the t test, and the Mann-Whitney U test. Nurses' perceptions of patient safety culture and their intention to report errors showed significant differences between groups of nurses who rated their leaders as high-performing or low-performing coaches. Perceived coaching behavior showed a significant, positive correlation with patient safety culture and intention to report errors, i.e., as nurses' perceptions of coaching behaviors increased, so did their ratings of patient safety culture and error reporting. There is a need in health care settings for coaching by nurse managers to provide quality nursing care and thus improve patient safety. Programs that are systematically developed and implemented to enhance the coaching behaviors of nurse managers are crucial to the improvement of patient safety and nursing care. Moreover, a systematic analysis of the causes of malpractice, as opposed to a focus on the punitive consequences of errors, could increase error reporting and therefore promote a culture in which a higher level of patient safety can thrive.

Efficiency and Safety of One-Step Procedure Combined Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy and Eretrograde Cholangiopancreatography for Treatment of Cholecysto-Choledocholithiasis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Liu, Zhiyi; Zhang, Luyao; Liu, Yanling; Gu, Yang; Sun, Tieliang

2017-11-01

We aimed to evaluate the efficiency and safety of one-step procedure combined endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) for treatment of patients with cholecysto-choledocholithiasis. A prospective randomized study was performed on 63 consecutive cholecysto-choledocholithiasis patients during 2008 and 2011. The efficiency and safety of one-step procedure was assessed by comparing the two-step LC with ERCP + endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST). Outcomes including intraoperative features, postoperative features (length of stay and postoperative complications) were evaluated. One- or two-step procedure of LC with ERCP + EST was successfully performed in all patients, and common bile duct stones were completely removed. Statistical analyses showed that length of stay and pulmonary infection rate were significantly lower in the test group compared with that in the control group (P < 0.05), whereas no statistical difference in other outcomes was found between the two groups (all P > 0.05). The one-step procedure of LC with ERCP + EST is superior to the two-step procedure for treatment of patients with cholecysto-choledocholithiasis regarding to the reduced hospital stay and inhibited occurrence of pulmonary infections. Compared with two-step procedure, one-step procedure of LC with ERCP + EST may be a superior option for cholecysto-choledocholithiasis patients treatment regarding to hospital stay and pulmonary infections.

Evaluation of safety effect of turbo-roundabout lane dividers using floating car data and video observation.

PubMed

Kieć, Mariusz; Ambros, Jiří; Bąk, Radosław; Gogolín, Ondřej

2018-06-01

Roundabouts are one of the safest types of intersections. However, the needs to meet the requirements of operation, capacity, traffic organization and surrounding development lead to a variety of design solutions. One of such alternatives are turbo-roundabouts, which simplify drivers' decision making, limit lane changing in the roundabout, and induce low driving speed thanks to raised lane dividers. However, in spite of their generally positive reception, the safety impact of turbo-roundabouts has not been sufficiently studied. Given the low number of existing turbo-roundabouts and the statistical rarity of accident occurrence, the prevalent previously conducted studies applied only simple before-after designs or relied on traffic conflicts in micro-simulations. Nevertheless, the presence of raised lane dividers is acknowledged as an important feature of well performing and safe turbo-roundabouts. Following the previous Polish studies, the primary objective of the present study was assessment of influence of presence of lane dividers on road safety and developing a reliable and valid surrogate safety measure based on field data, which will circumvent the limitations of accident data or micro-simulations. The secondary objective was using the developed surrogate safety measure to assess and compare the safety levels of Polish turbo-roundabout samples with and without raised lane dividers. The surrogate safety measure was based on speed and lane behaviour. Speed was obtained from video observations and floating car data, which enabled the construction of representative speed profiles. Lane behaviour data was gathered from video observations. The collection of the data allowed for a relative validation of the method by comparing the safety performance of turbo-roundabouts with and without raised lane dividers. In the end, the surrogate measure was applied for evaluation of safety levels and enhancement of the existing safety performance functions, which combine traffic volumes, and speeds as a function of radii). The final models may help quantify the safety impact of different turbo-roundabout solutions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sources of Safety Data and Statistical Strategies for Design and Analysis: Clinical Trials.

PubMed

Zink, Richard C; Marchenko, Olga; Sanchez-Kam, Matilde; Ma, Haijun; Jiang, Qi

2018-03-01

There has been an increased emphasis on the proactive and comprehensive evaluation of safety endpoints to ensure patient well-being throughout the medical product life cycle. In fact, depending on the severity of the underlying disease, it is important to plan for a comprehensive safety evaluation at the start of any development program. Statisticians should be intimately involved in this process and contribute their expertise to study design, safety data collection, analysis, reporting (including data visualization), and interpretation. In this manuscript, we review the challenges associated with the analysis of safety endpoints and describe the safety data that are available to influence the design and analysis of premarket clinical trials. We share our recommendations for the statistical and graphical methodologies necessary to appropriately analyze, report, and interpret safety outcomes, and we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of safety data obtained from clinical trials compared to other sources. Clinical trials are an important source of safety data that contribute to the totality of safety information available to generate evidence for regulators, sponsors, payers, physicians, and patients. This work is a result of the efforts of the American Statistical Association Biopharmaceutical Section Safety Working Group.

Performance and Safety Testing of Varta Li-Ion Polymer Cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patel, Pranav; Jeevarajan, Judith

2009-01-01

Varta Cell Characteristics: Voltage : 3.7 V Capacity : 1.21 Ah Dimensions : 5mm X 37mm X 38.5 mm MOSFET switches for Overvoltage and Undervoltage. Initial Screening Results 29 Cells delivered: Statistics on Ph ysical Screening: Thickness (mm): Average- 5.08; Weight(g)- 22.8938; OCV (V)- 3.787; CCV (V)- 3.491.

A summary and integration of research concerning single pilot IFR operational problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chapman, G. C.

1983-01-01

A review of seven research studies pertaining to Single Pilot IFR (SPIFR) operations was performed. Two studies were based on questionnaire surveys; two based on National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reports; two were based on Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) incident reports, and one report used event analysis and statistics to forecast problems. The results obtained in each study were extracted and integrated. Results were synthesized and key issues pertaining to SPIFR operations problems were identified. The research that was recommended by the studies and that addressed the key issues is catalogued for each key issue.

Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools. Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2009-10. First Look. NCES 2011-320

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neiman, Samantha

2011-01-01

The National Center for Education Statistics collects data on crime and violence in U.S. public schools through the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS). This First Look report presents findings from the 2009-10 School Survey on Crime and Safety data collection. Developed and managed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)…

A statistical model for predicting muscle performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byerly, Diane Leslie De Caix

The objective of these studies was to develop a capability for predicting muscle performance and fatigue to be utilized for both space- and ground-based applications. To develop this predictive model, healthy test subjects performed a defined, repetitive dynamic exercise to failure using a Lordex spinal machine. Throughout the exercise, surface electromyography (SEMG) data were collected from the erector spinae using a Mega Electronics ME3000 muscle tester and surface electrodes placed on both sides of the back muscle. These data were analyzed using a 5th order Autoregressive (AR) model and statistical regression analysis. It was determined that an AR derived parameter, the mean average magnitude of AR poles, significantly correlated with the maximum number of repetitions (designated Rmax) that a test subject was able to perform. Using the mean average magnitude of AR poles, a test subject's performance to failure could be predicted as early as the sixth repetition of the exercise. This predictive model has the potential to provide a basis for improving post-space flight recovery, monitoring muscle atrophy in astronauts and assessing the effectiveness of countermeasures, monitoring astronaut performance and fatigue during Extravehicular Activity (EVA) operations, providing pre-flight assessment of the ability of an EVA crewmember to perform a given task, improving the design of training protocols and simulations for strenuous International Space Station assembly EVA, and enabling EVA work task sequences to be planned enhancing astronaut performance and safety. Potential ground-based, medical applications of the predictive model include monitoring muscle deterioration and performance resulting from illness, establishing safety guidelines in the industry for repetitive tasks, monitoring the stages of rehabilitation for muscle-related injuries sustained in sports and accidents, and enhancing athletic performance through improved training protocols while reducing injury.

A flooding induced station blackout analysis for a pressurized water reactor using the RISMC toolkit

DOE PAGES

Mandelli, Diego; Prescott, Steven; Smith, Curtis; ...

2015-05-17

In this paper we evaluate the impact of a power uprate on a pressurized water reactor (PWR) for a tsunami-induced flooding test case. This analysis is performed using the RISMC toolkit: the RELAP-7 and RAVEN codes. RELAP-7 is the new generation of system analysis codes that is responsible for simulating the thermal-hydraulic dynamics of PWR and boiling water reactor systems. RAVEN has two capabilities: to act as a controller of the RELAP-7 simulation (e.g., component/system activation) and to perform statistical analyses. In our case, the simulation of the flooding is performed by using an advanced smooth particle hydrodynamics code calledmore » NEUTRINO. The obtained results allow the user to investigate and quantify the impact of timing and sequencing of events on system safety. The impact of power uprate is determined in terms of both core damage probability and safety margins.« less

Prevalence of Post-tonsillectomy Bleeding as Day-case Surgery with Combination Method; Cold Dissection Tonsillectomy and Bipolar Diathermy Hemostasis

PubMed Central

Faramarzi, Abolahassan; Heydari, Seyed Taghi

2010-01-01

Objective Post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage remains an important factor in determining the safety of performing tonsillectomy as a day case procedure. The aim of this study was to determine the safety of day case tonsillectomy by using combination method, cold dissection tonsillectomy and bipolar diathermy hemostasis. Methods A prospective randomized clinical study conducted on the patients who had undergone day case tonsillectomy (DCT). There were two groups (DCT and control group) each group consisting of 150 cases. Tonsillectomy was performed by using combination method; cold dissection and hemostasis was achieved by ligation of vessels with bipolar electerocautery. Findings We found 3 cases of post-tonsillectomy bleeding in DCT group and 4 cases in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference in the rate of post-operative hemorrhage between the two groups. Conclusion The findings suggest the safety of the combination of cold dissection tonsillectomy and bipolar diathermy hemostasis as day case tonsillectomy. PMID:23056702

Changing Operating Room Culture: Implementation of a Postoperative Debrief and Improved Safety Culture.

PubMed

Magill, Stephen T; Wang, Doris D; Rutledge, W Caleb; Lau, Darryl; Berger, Mitchel S; Sankaran, Sujatha; Lau, Catherine Y; Imershein, Sarah G

2017-11-01

Patient safety is foundational to neurosurgical care. Postprocedural "debrief" checklists have been proposed to improve patient safety, but data about their use in neurosurgery are limited. Here, we implemented an initiative to routinely perform postoperative debriefs and evaluated the impact of debriefing on operating room (OR) safety culture. A 10-question safety attitude questionnaire (SAQ) was sent to neurosurgical OR staff at a major academic medical center before and 18 months after the implementation of a postoperative debriefing initiative. Rates of debrief compliance and changes in attitudes before and after the survey were evaluated. The survey used a Likert scale and analyzed with standard statistical methods. After the debrief initiative, the rate of debriefing increased from 51% to 86% of cases for the neurosurgery service. Baseline SAQ responses found that neurosurgeons had a more favorable perception of OR safety than did anesthesiologists and nurses. After implementation of the postoperative debriefing process, perceptions of OR safety significantly improved for neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses. Furthermore, the disparity between nurses and surgeons was no longer significant. After debrief implementation, neurosurgical OR staff had improved perceptions of patient safety compared with surgical services that did not commonly perform debriefing. Debriefing identified OR efficiency concerns in 26.9% of cases, and prevention of potential adverse events/near misses was reported in 8% of cases. Postoperative debriefing can be effectively introduced into the OR and improves the safety culture after implementation. Debriefing is an effective tool to identify OR inefficiencies and potential adverse events. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Relating crash frequency and severity: evaluating the effectiveness of shoulder rumble strips on reducing fatal and major injury crashes.

PubMed

Wu, Kun-Feng; Donnell, Eric T; Aguero-Valverde, Jonathan

2014-06-01

To approach the goal of "Toward Zero Deaths," there is a need to develop an analysis paradigm to better understand the effects of a countermeasure on reducing the number of severe crashes. One of the goals in traffic safety research is to search for an effective treatment to reduce fatal and major injury crashes, referred to as severe crashes. To achieve this goal, the selection of promising countermeasures is of utmost importance, and relies on the effectiveness of candidate countermeasures in reducing severe crashes. Although it is important to precisely evaluate the effectiveness of candidate countermeasures in reducing the number of severe crashes at a site, the current state-of-the-practice often leads to biased estimates. While there have been a few advanced statistical models developed to mitigate the problem in practice, these models are computationally difficult to estimate because severe crashes are dispersed spatially and temporally, and cannot be integrated into the Highway Safety Manual framework, which develops a series of safety performance functions and crash modification factors to predict the number of crashes. Crash severity outcomes are generally integrated into the Highway Safety Manual using deterministic distributions rather than statistical models. Accounting for the variability in crash severity as a function geometric design, traffic flow, and other roadway and roadside features is afforded by estimating statistical models. Therefore, there is a need to develop a new analysis paradigm to resolve the limitations in the current Highway Safety Manual methods. We propose an approach which decomposes the severe crash frequency into a function of the change in the total number of crashes and the probability of a crash becoming a severe crash before and after a countermeasure is implemented. We tested this approach by evaluating the effectiveness of shoulder rumble strips on reducing the number of severe crashes. A total of 310 segments that have had shoulder rumble strips installed during 2002-2009 are included in the analysis. It was found that shoulder rumble strips reduce the total number of crashes, but have no statistically significant effect on reducing the probability of a severe crash outcome. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Type I error probability spending for post-market drug and vaccine safety surveillance with binomial data.

PubMed

Silva, Ivair R

2018-01-15

Type I error probability spending functions are commonly used for designing sequential analysis of binomial data in clinical trials, but it is also quickly emerging for near-continuous sequential analysis of post-market drug and vaccine safety surveillance. It is well known that, for clinical trials, when the null hypothesis is not rejected, it is still important to minimize the sample size. Unlike in post-market drug and vaccine safety surveillance, that is not important. In post-market safety surveillance, specially when the surveillance involves identification of potential signals, the meaningful statistical performance measure to be minimized is the expected sample size when the null hypothesis is rejected. The present paper shows that, instead of the convex Type I error spending shape conventionally used in clinical trials, a concave shape is more indicated for post-market drug and vaccine safety surveillance. This is shown for both, continuous and group sequential analysis. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cycling transport safety quantification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drbohlav, Jiri; Kocourek, Josef

2018-05-01

Dynamic interest in cycling transport brings the necessity to design safety cycling infrastructure. In las few years, couple of norms with safety elements have been designed and suggested for the cycling infrastructure. But these were not fully examined. The main parameter of suitable and fully functional transport infrastructure is the evaluation of its safety. Common evaluation of transport infrastructure safety is based on accident statistics. These statistics are suitable for motor vehicle transport but unsuitable for the cycling transport. Cycling infrastructure evaluation of safety is suitable for the traffic conflicts monitoring. The results of this method are fast, based on real traffic situations and can be applied on any traffic situations.

Identification of Vehicle Health Assurance Related Trends

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Phojanamongkolkij, Nipa; Evans, Joni K.; Barr, Lawrence C.; Leone, Karen M.; Reveley, Mary S.

2014-01-01

Trend analysis in aviation as related to vehicle health management (VHM) was performed by reviewing the most current statistical and prognostics data available from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) incident, and the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) incident datasets. In addition, future directions in aviation technology related to VHM research areas were assessed through the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) Safety Enhancements Reserved for Future Implementations (SERFIs), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Most-Wanted List and recent open safety recommendations, the National Research Council (NRC) Decadal Survey of Civil Aeronautics, and the Future Aviation Safety Team (FAST) areas of change. Future research direction in the VHM research areas is evidently strong as seen from recent research solicitations from the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), and VHM-related technologies actively being developed by aviation industry leaders, including GE, Boeing, Airbus, and UTC Aerospace Systems. Given the highly complex VHM systems, modifications can be made in the future so that the Vehicle Systems Safety Technology Project (VSST) technical challenges address inadequate maintenance crew's trainings and skills, and the certification methods of such systems as recommended by the NTSB, NRC, and FAST areas of change.

Safety culture among pediatric surgeons: A national survey of attitudes and perceptions of patient safety.

PubMed

Berman, Loren; Rangel, Shawn; Goldin, Adam; Skarda, David; Ottosen, Madelene; Bliss, David; Valusek, Patricia; Fallat, Mary; Tsao, KuoJen

2018-03-01

Improving the culture of safety within health care is an essential component of preventing errors and improving overall health care quality. The purpose of this study was to characterize the attitudes and perceptions of patient safety among pediatric surgeons. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of American Pediatric Surgery Association members. Survey items assessed surgeons' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of patient safety. We performed descriptive statistics and evaluated associations between respondent characteristics and survey responses. Response rate was 38% (353/928). Surgeons in academic practice (96% vs 83% private, P=0.01) and in leadership positions (98% vs 92%, P=0.03) were more likely to feel actively engaged in patient safety initiatives. Surgeons in private practice were less likely to feel safe having their own children undergo surgery at their institution (80% vs 96% academic, P<0.005). Pediatric surgeons have disparate attitudes and perceptions of patient safety within their hospitals. Significant variation exists based on surgeon characteristics. These findings underscore the need to identify barriers to surgeon engagement and develop educational initiatives to empower surgeons as leaders in improving patient safety culture. V. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2005. NCES 2006-001

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeVoe, Jill F.; Peter, Katharin; Noonan, Margaret; Snyder, Thomas D.; Baum, Katrina; Snyder, Thomas D.

2005-01-01

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2005 is the eighth in a series of annual reports produced by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the U.S. Department of Education and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in the U.S. Department of Justice that present the most recent data available on school crime and student safety. The…

Ragweed sublingual tablet immunotherapy: part I - evidence-based clinical efficacy and safety.

PubMed

Creticos, Peter Socrates; Pfaar, Oliver

2018-06-01

Sublingual tablet immunotherapy provides an attractive alternative approach to allergen immunotherapy, as the allergen is administered as a rapidly dissolving sublingual tablet. Part I of this two-part series on the ragweed sublingual tablet describes the dose-ranging clinical work, the safety studies and the clinical outcomes from the pivotal trials which provide clear evidence for statistically significant and clinically meaningful benefit in the treatment of patients suffering from ragweed-induced seasonal allergic rhinitis-conjunctivitis with or without milder asthma. The robust results observed in the clinical trials performed with the ragweed sublingual tablet are defined by the quality of their study design, their use of a standardized allergen extract, their consistent reproducibility in demonstrating therapeutic efficacy and their properly quantified and graded safety data.

A research model--forecasting incident rates from optimized safety program intervention strategies.

PubMed

Iyer, P S; Haight, J M; Del Castillo, E; Tink, B W; Hawkins, P W

2005-01-01

INTRODUCTION/PROBLEM: Property damage incidents, workplace injuries, and safety programs designed to prevent them, are expensive aspects of doing business in contemporary industry. The National Safety Council (2002) estimated that workplace injuries cost $146.6 billion per year. Because companies are resource limited, optimizing intervention strategies to decrease incidents with less costly programs can contribute to improved productivity. Systematic data collection methods were employed and the forecasting ability of a time-lag relationship between interventions and incident rates was studied using various statistical methods (an intervention is not expected to have an immediate nor infinitely lasting effect on the incident rate). As a follow up to the initial work, researchers developed two models designed to forecast incident rates. One is based on past incident rate performance and the other on the configuration and level of effort applied to the safety and health program. Researchers compared actual incident performance to the prediction capability of each model over 18 months in the forestry operations at an electricity distribution company and found the models to allow accurate prediction of incident rates. These models potentially have powerful implications as a business-planning tool for human resource allocation and for designing an optimized safety and health intervention program to minimize incidents. Depending on the mathematical relationship, one can determine what interventions, where and how much to apply them, and when to increase or reduce human resource input as determined by the forecasted performance.

Evaluating the Safety In Numbers effect for pedestrians at urban intersections.

PubMed

Murphy, Brendan; Levinson, David M; Owen, Andrew

2017-09-01

Assessment of collision risk between pedestrians and automobiles offers a powerful and informative tool in urban planning applications, and can be leveraged to inform proper placement of improvements and treatment projects to improve pedestrian safety. Such assessment can be performed using existing datasets of crashes, pedestrian counts, and automobile traffic flows to identify intersections or corridors characterized by elevated collision risks to pedestrians. The Safety In Numbers phenomenon, which refers to the observable effect that pedestrian safety is positively correlated with increased pedestrian traffic in a given area (i.e. that the individual per-pedestrian risk of a collision decreases with additional pedestrians), is a readily observed phenomenon that has been studied previously, though its directional causality is not yet known. A sample of 488 intersections in Minneapolis were analyzed, and statistically-significant log-linear relationships between pedestrian traffic flows and the per-pedestrian crash risk were found, indicating the Safety In Numbers effect. Potential planning applications of this analysis framework towards improving pedestrian safety in urban environments are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Statistical text classifier to detect specific type of medical incidents.

PubMed

Wong, Zoie Shui-Yee; Akiyama, Masanori

2013-01-01

WHO Patient Safety has put focus to increase the coherence and expressiveness of patient safety classification with the foundation of International Classification for Patient Safety (ICPS). Text classification and statistical approaches has showed to be successful to identifysafety problems in the Aviation industryusing incident text information. It has been challenging to comprehend the taxonomy of medical incidents in a structured manner. Independent reporting mechanisms for patient safety incidents have been established in the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong etc. This research demonstrates the potential to construct statistical text classifiers to detect specific type of medical incidents using incident text data. An illustrative example for classifying look-alike sound-alike (LASA) medication incidents using structured text from 227 advisories related to medication errors from Global Patient Safety Alerts (GPSA) is shown in this poster presentation. The classifier was built using logistic regression model. ROC curve and the AUC value indicated that this is a satisfactory good model.

Improved processes for meeting the data requirements for implementing the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) and Safety Analyst in Florida.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-03-01

Recent research in highway safety has focused on the more advanced and statistically proven techniques of highway : safety analysis. This project focuses on the two most recent safety analysis tools, the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) : and SafetyAnalys...

The attitudes of emergency department nurses towards patient safety.

PubMed

Durgun, Hanife; Kaya, Hülya

2017-11-23

This research was planned to identify the attitudes of emergency department nurses towards patient safety. The study was performed as descriptive. The universe of the research the universe comprised hospitals defined as 3rd level according to Turkish health care classification, which provides service to all health disciplines in Istanbul. The sample consisted of emergency department (ED) nurses who work in those hospitals. The data was collected by using tools such as the "Information Questionnaire" and the "Patient Safety Attitudes Scale". In this study, the attitudes of ED nurses towards patient safety were found to be average and was not related to age, gender, education level, nursing experience, ED experience, ED certification, patient safety training, nurse's self sufficiency perception of patient safety, hospital's quality certification or ED quality certification. The attitudes of nurses towards patient safety were compared by age, gender, marital status, education level, ED experience and there was no meaningful difference. However, a meaningful difference was found between the age groups and the "defining stress" sub-dimension of the Patient Safety Attitudes Scale. ED nurses' status of certification for emergency care, patient safety training, training of quality, hospitals' or ED's quality certification status had no significant statistical difference. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Underreporting of maritime accidents to vessel accident databases.

PubMed

Hassel, Martin; Asbjørnslett, Bjørn Egil; Hole, Lars Petter

2011-11-01

Underreporting of maritime accidents is a problem not only for authorities trying to improve maritime safety through legislation, but also to risk management companies and other entities using maritime casualty statistics in risk and accident analysis. This study collected and compared casualty data from 01.01.2005 to 31.12.2009, from IHS Fairplay and the maritime authorities from a set of nations. The data was compared to find common records, and estimation of the true number of occurred accidents was performed using conditional probability given positive dependency between data sources, several variations of the capture-recapture method, calculation of best case scenario assuming perfect reporting, and scaling up a subset of casualty information from a marine insurance statistics database. The estimated upper limit reporting performance for the selected flag states ranged from 14% to 74%, while the corresponding estimated coverage of IHS Fairplay ranges from 4% to 62%. On average the study results document that the number of unreported accidents makes up roughly 50% of all occurred accidents. Even in a best case scenario, only a few flag states come close to perfect reporting (94%). The considerable scope of underreporting uncovered in the study, indicates that users of statistical vessel accident data should assume a certain degree of underreporting, and adjust their analyses accordingly. Whether to use correction factors, a safety margin, or rely on expert judgment, should be decided on a case by case basis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Does the type of lithotripter affect outcomes in children with upper tract urolithiasis?

PubMed

Raza, Syed Johar; Ather, M Hammad

2009-02-01

To compare the treatment outcome and short-term safety of electrohydraulic and electromagnetic lithotripters in children. Comparative analysis of children undergoing shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) with a Dornier MPL 9000 electrohydraulic lithotripter (EHL) and a Siemens Modularis electromagnetic lithotripter (EML) was performed. All SWL treatments were performed by a single operator under the supervision of an admitting urologist. The demographic features, stone, and treatment-related parameters, including complications, were analyzed for both groups. Stone-free (SF) rates, re-treatment rate, and efficiency quotient (EQ) were calculated and compared for the two groups. Ninety-eight children had SWL for renal and proximal ureteral stones. There were 58 children in the EHL group and 40 in the EML group. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups in terms of age, sex, type of anesthesia, diagnostic modality, site, side, and size of the stones. Number of shockwaves used with EML was greater than with EHL (P < 0.00). SF rate was 95% and 77% for EHL and EML, respectively, with a statistically significant difference (P < 0.00). The re-treatment rate was equal in either group. The complication rate was higher with the EHL compared with the EML, although it did not reach statistical significance. Steinstrasse was the most common complication noted. EQ was 66% for the EHL, in comparison with 53% for the EML. The EHL has a better SF and EQ than the EML; however, short-term safety is marginally better with the EML.

Factors associated with the patient safety climate at a teaching hospital1

PubMed Central

Luiz, Raíssa Bianca; Simões, Ana Lúcia de Assis; Barichello, Elizabeth; Barbosa, Maria Helena

2015-01-01

Objectives: to investigate the association between the scores of the patient safety climate and socio-demographic and professional variables. Methods: an observational, sectional and quantitative study, conducted at a large public teaching hospital. The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire was used, translated and validated for Brazil. Data analysis used the software Statistical Package for Social Sciences. In the bivariate analysis, we used Student's t-test, analysis of variance and Spearman's correlation of (α=0.05). To identify predictors for the safety climate scores, multiple linear regression was used, having the safety climate domain as the main outcome (α=0.01). Results: most participants were women, nursing staff, who worked in direct care to adult patients in critical areas, without a graduate degree and without any other employment. The average and median total score of the instrument corresponded to 61.8 (SD=13.7) and 63.3, respectively. The variable professional performance was found as a factor associated with the safety environment for the domain perception of service management and hospital management (p=0.01). Conclusion: the identification of factors associated with the safety environment permits the construction of strategies for safe practices in the hospitals. PMID:26487138

Protocol for a mixed-methods study on leader-based interventions in construction contractors' safety commitments.

PubMed

Pedersen, Betina Holbaek; Dyreborg, Johnny; Kines, Pete; Mikkelsen, Kim Lyngby; Hannerz, Harald; Andersen, Dorte Raaby; Spangenberg, Søren

2010-06-01

Owing to high injury rates, safety interventions are needed in the construction industry. Evidence-based interventions tailored to this industry are, however, scarce. Leader-based safety interventions have proven more effective than worker-based interventions in other industries. To test a leader-based safety intervention for construction sites. The intervention consists of encouraging safety coordinators to provide feedback on work safety to the client and line management. The intention is to increase communication and interactions regarding safety within the line management and between the client and the senior management. It is hypothesised that this, in turn, will lead to increased communication and interaction about safety between management and coworkers as well as an increased on-site safety level. A group-randomised double-blinded case study of six Danish construction sites (three intervention sites and three control sites). The recruitment of the construction sites is performed continuously from January 2010 to June 2010. The investigation of each site lasts 20 continuous weeks. Confirmatory statistical analysis is used to test if the safety level increased, and if the probability of safety communications between management and coworkers increases as a consequence of the intervention. The data collection will be blinded. Qualitative methods are used to evaluate if communication and interactions about safety at all managerial levels, including the client, increase. (1) The proportion of safety-related communications out of all studied communications between management and coworkers. (2) The safety level index of the construction sites.

Meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of combined surgery in the management of eyes with coexisting cataract and open angle glaucoma.

PubMed

Jiang, Nan; Zhao, Gui-Qiu; Lin, Jing; Hu, Li-Ting; Che, Cheng-Ye; Wang, Qian; Xu, Qiang; Li, Cui; Zhang, Jie

2018-01-01

To conduct a systematic review and quantitative Meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of combined surgery for the eyes with coexisting cataract and open angle glaucoma. We performed a systematic search of the related literature in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science databases, CNKI, CBM and Wan Fang databases, with no limitations on language or publication date. The primary efficacy estimate was identified by weighted mean difference of the percentage of intraocular pressure reduction (IOPR%) from baseline to end-point, the percentage of number of glaucoma medications reduction from pre- to post-operation, and the secondary efficacy evaluations were performed by odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for complete and qualified success rate. Besides, ORs were applied to assess the tolerability of adverse incidents. Meta-analyses of fixed or random effect models were performed using RevMan software 5.2 to gather the consequences. Heterogeneity was evaluated by Chi 2 test and the I 2 measure. Ten studies enrolling 3108 patients were included. The combined consequences indicated that both glaucoma and combined cataract and glaucoma surgery significantly decreased IOP. For deep sclerectomy vs deep sclerectomy plus phacoemulsification and canaloplasty vs phaco-canaloplasty, the differences in IOPR% were not all statistically significant while trabeculotomy was detected to gain a quantitatively greater IOPR% compared with trabeculotomy plus phacoemulsification. Furthermore, there was no statistical significance in the complete and qualified success rate, and the rates of adverse incidents for trabeculotomy vs trabeculotomy plus phacoemulsification. Compared with trabeculotomy plus phacoemulsification, trabeculectomy alone is more effective in lowering IOP and the number of glaucoma medications, while the two surgeries can not demonstrate statistical differences in the complete success rate, qualified success rate, or incidence of adverse incidents.

Patient Safety Policy in Long-Term Care: A Research Protocol to Assess Executive WalkRounds to Improve Management of Early Warning Signs for Patient Safety.

PubMed

van Dusseldorp, Loes; Hamers, Hub; van Achterberg, Theo; Schoonhoven, Lisette

2014-07-15

At many hospitals and long-term care organizations (such as nursing homes), executive board members have a responsibility to manage patient safety. Executive WalkRounds offer an opportunity for boards to build a trusting relationship with professionals and seem useful as a leadership tool to pick up on soft signals, which are indirect signals or early warnings that something is wrong. Because the majority of the research on WalkRounds has been performed in hospitals, it is unknown how board members of long-term care organizations develop their patient safety policy. Also, it is not clear if these board members use soft signals as a leadership tool and, if so, how this influences their patient safety policies. The objective of this study is to explore the added value and the feasibility of WalkRounds for patient safety management in long-term care. This study also aims to identify how executive board members of long-term care organizations manage patient safety and to describe the characteristics of boards. An explorative before-and-after study was conducted between April 2012 and February 2014 in 13 long-term care organizations in the Netherlands. After implementing the intervention in 6 organizations, data from 72 WalkRounds were gathered by observation and a reporting form. Before and after the intervention period, data collection included interviews, questionnaires, and studying reports of the executive boards. A mixed-method analysis is performed using descriptive statistics, t tests, and content analysis. Results are expected to be ready in mid 2014. It is a challenge to keep track of ongoing development and implementation of patient safety management tools in long-term care. By performing this study in cooperation with the participating long-term care organizations, insight into the potential added value and the feasibility of this method will increase.

Online Dectection and Modeling of Safety Boundaries for Aerospace Application Using Bayesian Statistics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

He, Yuning

2015-01-01

The behavior of complex aerospace systems is governed by numerous parameters. For safety analysis it is important to understand how the system behaves with respect to these parameter values. In particular, understanding the boundaries between safe and unsafe regions is of major importance. In this paper, we describe a hierarchical Bayesian statistical modeling approach for the online detection and characterization of such boundaries. Our method for classification with active learning uses a particle filter-based model and a boundary-aware metric for best performance. From a library of candidate shapes incorporated with domain expert knowledge, the location and parameters of the boundaries are estimated using advanced Bayesian modeling techniques. The results of our boundary analysis are then provided in a form understandable by the domain expert. We illustrate our approach using a simulation model of a NASA neuro-adaptive flight control system, as well as a system for the detection of separation violations in the terminal airspace.

Transportation safety data and analysis : Volume 1, Analyzing the effectiveness of safety measures using Bayesian methods.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-12-01

Recent research suggests that traditional safety evaluation methods may be inadequate in accurately determining the effectiveness of roadway safety measures. In recent years, advanced statistical methods are being utilized in traffic safety studies t...

Factors influencing teamwork and collaboration within a tertiary medical center

PubMed Central

Chien, Shu Feng; Wan, Thomas TH; Chen, Yu-Chih

2012-01-01

AIM: To understand how work climate and related factors influence teamwork and collaboration in a large medical center. METHODS: A survey of 3462 employees was conducted to generate responses to Sexton’s Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) to assess perceptions of work environment via a series of five-point, Likert-scaled questions. Path analysis was performed, using teamwork (TW) and collaboration (CO) as endogenous variables. The exogenous variables are effective communication (EC), safety culture (SC), job satisfaction (JS), work pressure (PR), and work climate (WC). The measurement instruments for the variables or summated subscales are presented. Reliability of each sub-scale are calculated. Alpha Cronbach coefficients are relatively strong: TW (0.81), CO (0.76), EC (0.70), SC (0.83), JS (0.91), WP (0.85), and WC (0.78). Confirmatory factor analysis was performed for each of these constructs. RESULTS: Path analysis enables to identify statistically significant predictors of two endogenous variables, teamwork and intra-organizational collaboration. Significant amounts of variance in perceived teamwork (R2 = 0.59) and in collaboration (R2 = 0.75) are accounted for by the predictor variables. In the initial model, safety culture is the most important predictor of perceived teamwork, with a β weight of 0.51, and work climate is the most significant predictor of collaboration, with a β weight of 0.84. After eliminating statistically insignificant causal paths and allowing correlated predictors1, the revised model shows that work climate is the only predictor positively influencing both teamwork (β = 0.26) and collaboration (β = 0.88). A relatively weak positive (β = 0.14) but statistically significant relationship exists between teamwork and collaboration when the effects of other predictors are simultaneously controlled. CONCLUSION: Hospital executives who are interested in improving collaboration should assess the work climate to ensure that employees are operating in a setting conducive to intra-organizational collaboration. PMID:25237612

A safety assessment of biological therapies targeting the IL-23/IL-17 axis in inflammatory bowel diseases.

PubMed

Verstockt, Bram; Deleenheer, Barbara; Van Assche, Gert; Vermeire, Séverine; Ferrante, Marc

2017-07-01

Many different compounds targeting the interleukin 23/17 axis have been developed and successfully studied in several autoimmune diseases, including inflammatory bowel diseases. Nevertheless, interfering with key immunological pathways raises potential safety concerns. This review focuses on the safety profile of these novel biological therapies. Areas covered: A literature search until March 2017 was performed to collect safety data on different compounds targeting this pathway, with emphasis on ustekinumab and secukinumab. Firstly, the authors discuss briefly how genetics can inform about potential safety issues. Secondly, they extensively describe safety issues (common adverse events, infections, malignancies…), immunogenicity, exposure to ustekinumab in specific populations and provide advice for vaccination. Finally, they address safety profiles of secukinumab and other biological targeting the IL-23/17 axis in IBD. Expert opinion: Current evidence suggests that ustekinumab therapy overweigh the potential drug-related risks. Additional safety data beyond randomized-controlled trials, derived from statistically powered, large prospective studies with long-term follow-up are urgently needed to assess the real-life ustekinumab-related risks and to establish the correct position of these novel class of biologicals in IBD treatment. Combining immunomodulators with ustekinumab seems to be safe, though prospective data specifically addressing this topic are currently missing. Similarly, the combination of different biological therapies still has to be studied.

Sources of Safety Data and Statistical Strategies for Design and Analysis: Transforming Data Into Evidence.

PubMed

Ma, Haijun; Russek-Cohen, Estelle; Izem, Rima; Marchenko, Olga V; Jiang, Qi

2018-03-01

Safety evaluation is a key aspect of medical product development. It is a continual and iterative process requiring thorough thinking, and dedicated time and resources. In this article, we discuss how safety data are transformed into evidence to establish and refine the safety profile of a medical product, and how the focus of safety evaluation, data sources, and statistical methods change throughout a medical product's life cycle. Some challenges and statistical strategies for medical product safety evaluation are discussed. Examples of safety issues identified in different periods, that is, premarketing and postmarketing, are discussed to illustrate how different sources are used in the safety signal identification and the iterative process of safety assessment. The examples highlighted range from commonly used pediatric vaccine given to healthy children to medical products primarily used to treat a medical condition in adults. These case studies illustrate that different products may require different approaches, and once a signal is discovered, it could impact future safety assessments. Many challenges still remain in this area despite advances in methodologies, infrastructure, public awareness, international harmonization, and regulatory enforcement. Innovations in safety assessment methodologies are pressing in order to make the medical product development process more efficient and effective, and the assessment of medical product marketing approval more streamlined and structured. Health care payers, providers, and patients may have different perspectives when weighing in on clinical, financial and personal needs when therapies are being evaluated.

Landing Site Dispersion Analysis and Statistical Assessment for the Mars Phoenix Lander

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bonfiglio, Eugene P.; Adams, Douglas; Craig, Lynn; Spencer, David A.; Strauss, William; Seelos, Frank P.; Seelos, Kimberly D.; Arvidson, Ray; Heet, Tabatha

2008-01-01

The Mars Phoenix Lander launched on August 4, 2007 and successfully landed on Mars 10 months later on May 25, 2008. Landing ellipse predicts and hazard maps were key in selecting safe surface targets for Phoenix. Hazard maps were based on terrain slopes, geomorphology maps and automated rock counts of MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images. The expected landing dispersion which led to the selection of Phoenix's surface target is discussed as well as the actual landing dispersion predicts determined during operations in the weeks, days, and hours before landing. A statistical assessment of these dispersions is performed, comparing the actual landing-safety probabilities to criteria levied by the project. Also discussed are applications for this statistical analysis which were used by the Phoenix project. These include using the statistical analysis used to verify the effectiveness of a pre-planned maneuver menu and calculating the probability of future maneuvers.

Myths and Misconceptions Revisited - What are the (Statistically Significant) methods to prevent employee injuries

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

Potts, T.T.; Hylko, J.M.; Almond, D.

2007-07-01

A company's overall safety program becomes an important consideration to continue performing work and for procuring future contract awards. When injuries or accidents occur, the employer ultimately loses on two counts - increased medical costs and employee absences. This paper summarizes the human and organizational components that contributed to successful safety programs implemented by WESKEM, LLC's Environmental, Safety, and Health Departments located in Paducah, Kentucky, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The philosophy of 'safety, compliance, and then production' and programmatic components implemented at the start of the contracts were qualitatively identified as contributing factors resulting in a significant accumulation of safemore » work hours and an Experience Modification Rate (EMR) of <1.0. Furthermore, a study by the Associated General Contractors of America quantitatively validated components, already found in the WESKEM, LLC programs, as contributing factors to prevent employee accidents and injuries. Therefore, an investment in the human and organizational components now can pay dividends later by reducing the EMR, which is the key to reducing Workers' Compensation premiums. Also, knowing your employees' demographics and taking an active approach to evaluate and prevent fatigue may help employees balance work and non-work responsibilities. In turn, this approach can assist employers in maintaining a healthy and productive workforce. For these reasons, it is essential that safety needs be considered as the starting point when performing work. (authors)« less

Reliability considerations for the total strain range version of strainrange partitioning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wirsching, P. H.; Wu, Y. T.

1984-01-01

A proposed total strainrange version of strainrange partitioning (SRP) to enhance the manner in which SRP is applied to life prediction is considered with emphasis on how advanced reliability technology can be applied to perform risk analysis and to derive safety check expressions. Uncertainties existing in the design factors associated with life prediction of a component which experiences the combined effects of creep and fatigue can be identified. Examples illustrate how reliability analyses of such a component can be performed when all design factors in the SRP model are random variables reflecting these uncertainties. The Rackwitz-Fiessler and Wu algorithms are used and estimates of the safety index and the probablity of failure are demonstrated for a SRP problem. Methods of analysis of creep-fatigue data with emphasis on procedures for producing synoptic statistics are presented. An attempt to demonstrate the importance of the contribution of the uncertainties associated with small sample sizes (fatique data) to risk estimates is discussed. The procedure for deriving a safety check expression for possible use in a design criteria document is presented.

Published GMO studies find no evidence of harm when corrected for multiple comparisons.

PubMed

Panchin, Alexander Y; Tuzhikov, Alexander I

2017-03-01

A number of widely debated research articles claiming possible technology-related health concerns have influenced the public opinion on genetically modified food safety. We performed a statistical reanalysis and review of experimental data presented in some of these studies and found that quite often in contradiction with the authors' conclusions the data actually provides weak evidence of harm that cannot be differentiated from chance. In our opinion the problem of statistically unaccounted multiple comparisons has led to some of the most cited anti-genetically modified organism health claims in history. We hope this analysis puts the original results of these studies into proper context.

Georgia Highway Safety 1997 fact book : a report on highway safety In Georgia

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

The goal of this fact book is to present highway safety statistics and fact-based analysis that will increase public awareness on highway safety issues, and to provide information that will assist policy makers and highway safety advocates in making ...

A statistical analysis of the impact of advertising signs on road safety.

PubMed

Yannis, George; Papadimitriou, Eleonora; Papantoniou, Panagiotis; Voulgari, Chrisoula

2013-01-01

This research aims to investigate the impact of advertising signs on road safety. An exhaustive review of international literature was carried out on the effect of advertising signs on driver behaviour and safety. Moreover, a before-and-after statistical analysis with control groups was applied on several road sites with different characteristics in the Athens metropolitan area, in Greece, in order to investigate the correlation between the placement or removal of advertising signs and the related occurrence of road accidents. Road accident data for the 'before' and 'after' periods on the test sites and the control sites were extracted from the database of the Hellenic Statistical Authority, and the selected 'before' and 'after' periods vary from 2.5 to 6 years. The statistical analysis shows no statistical correlation between road accidents and advertising signs in none of the nine sites examined, as the confidence intervals of the estimated safety effects are non-significant at 95% confidence level. This can be explained by the fact that, in the examined road sites, drivers are overloaded with information (traffic signs, directions signs, labels of shops, pedestrians and other vehicles, etc.) so that the additional information load from advertising signs may not further distract them.

Full Bayesian evaluation of the safety effects of reducing the posted speed limit in urban residential area.

PubMed

Islam, Md Tazul; El-Basyouny, Karim

2015-07-01

Full Bayesian (FB) before-after evaluation is a newer approach than the empirical Bayesian (EB) evaluation in traffic safety research. While a number of earlier studies have conducted univariate and multivariate FB before-after safety evaluations and compared the results with the EB method, often contradictory conclusions have been drawn. To this end, the objectives of the current study were to (i) perform a before-after safety evaluation using both the univariate and multivariate FB methods in order to enhance our understanding of these methodologies, (ii) perform the EB evaluation and compare the results with those of the FB methods and (iii) apply the FB and EB methods to evaluate the safety effects of reducing the urban residential posted speed limit (PSL) for policy recommendation. In addition to three years of crash data for both the before and after periods, traffic volume, road geometry and other relevant data for both the treated and reference sites were collected and used. According to the model goodness-of-fit criteria, the current study found that the multivariate FB model for crash severities outperformed the univariate FB models. Moreover, in terms of statistical significance of the safety effects, the EB and FB methods led to opposite conclusions when the safety effects were relatively small with high standard deviation. Therefore, caution should be taken in drawing conclusions from the EB method. Based on the FB method, the PSL reduction was found effective in reducing crashes of all severities and thus is recommended for improving safety on urban residential collector roads. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sources of Safety Data and Statistical Strategies for Design and Analysis: Postmarket Surveillance.

PubMed

Izem, Rima; Sanchez-Kam, Matilde; Ma, Haijun; Zink, Richard; Zhao, Yueqin

2018-03-01

Safety data are continuously evaluated throughout the life cycle of a medical product to accurately assess and characterize the risks associated with the product. The knowledge about a medical product's safety profile continually evolves as safety data accumulate. This paper discusses data sources and analysis considerations for safety signal detection after a medical product is approved for marketing. This manuscript is the second in a series of papers from the American Statistical Association Biopharmaceutical Section Safety Working Group. We share our recommendations for the statistical and graphical methodologies necessary to appropriately analyze, report, and interpret safety outcomes, and we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of safety data obtained from passive postmarketing surveillance systems compared to other sources. Signal detection has traditionally relied on spontaneous reporting databases that have been available worldwide for decades. However, current regulatory guidelines and ease of reporting have increased the size of these databases exponentially over the last few years. With such large databases, data-mining tools using disproportionality analysis and helpful graphics are often used to detect potential signals. Although the data sources have many limitations, analyses of these data have been successful at identifying safety signals postmarketing. Experience analyzing these dynamic data is useful in understanding the potential and limitations of analyses with new data sources such as social media, claims, or electronic medical records data.

Developing an industry-oriented safety curriculum using the Delphi technique.

PubMed

Chen, Der-Fa; Wu, Tsung-Chih; Chen, Chi-Hsiang; Chang, Shu-Hsuan; Yao, Kai-Chao; Liao, Chin-Wen

2016-09-01

In this study, we examined the development of industry-oriented safety degree curricula at a college level. Based on a review of literature on the practices and study of the development of safety curricula, we classified occupational safety and health curricula into the following three domains: safety engineering, health engineering, and safety and health management. We invited 44 safety professionals to complete a four-round survey that was designed using a modified Delphi technique. We used Chi-square statistics to test the panel experts' consensus on the significance of the items in the three domains and employed descriptive statistics to rank the participants' rating of each item. The results showed that the top three items for each of the three domains were Risk Assessment, Dangerous Machinery and Equipment, and Fire and Explosion Prevention for safety engineering; Ergonomics, Industrial Toxicology, and Health Risk Assessment for health engineering; and Industrial Safety and Health Regulations, Accident Investigation and Analysis, and Emergency Response for safety and health management. Only graduates from safety programmes who possess practical industry-oriented abilities can satisfy industry demands and provide value to the existence of college safety programmes.

Operational Consequences of Literacy Gap.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-05-01

Comprehension Scores on the Safety and Sanitation Content 37 11. Statistics on Experimental Groups’ Performance by Sex and Content 37 12. Analysis of...Variance of Experimental Groups by Sex and Content 38 13. Mean Comprehension Scores Broken Down by Content, Subject RGL and Reading Time 39 14. Analysis...ratings along a scale of difficulty which parallels the school grade scale. Burkett (1975) and Klare (1963; 1974-1975) provide summaries of the extensive

Sclerotherapy for hydrocele revisited: a prospective randomised study.

PubMed

Agrawal, M S; Yadav, H; Upadhyay, A; Jaiman, R; Singhal, J; Singh, A K

2009-02-01

A prospective randomised trial to study the efficacy and safety of hydrocele sclerotherapy with phenol and polidocanol. Eighty-six patients with unilateral primary vaginal hydroceles were randomised into three groups: group 1 (phenol sclerotherapy) - 29 patients, group 2 (polidocanol sclerotherapy) - 29 patients and group 3 (operative treatment) - 28 patients. Sclerotherapy was performed on outpatient basis using either 5-10 ml of 5% phenol or 2-4 ml of 1% polidocanol, while patients in group 3 underwent surgical repair of hydrocele (Jaboulay's procedure). Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA. The cure rates in group 1, 2 and 3 were 96.5%, 51.7% and 100%, respectively. The pain scores (visual analogue scale) in group 1, 2 and 3 at 1 week and 1 month were 14.5 and 1.8; 10.1 and 1.3; 64.0 and 10.6, respectively. There was significant difference among the three groups in mean hospital stay (1.8, 1.5 and 9.7 hours, respectively) and time to work resumption (1.3, 1.1 and 12.7 days, respectively). Statistically significant differences in pain scores and complications were observed between sclerotherapy and operative groups. Five percent phenol is a better sclerosant than 1% polidocanol and is as efficacious as operative treatment, with lesser morbidity and similar safety profile.

Sun Safety

MedlinePlus

... the Sun? Are There Benefits to Spending Time Outdoors? Statistics Behavior Rates Sun Safety Tips for Men ... and yourself from skin cancer. Stay sun-safe outdoors and discourage indoor and outdoor tanning. Sun Safety ...

Work-related injuries and fatalities in the geotechnical site works.

PubMed

Akboğa Kale, Özge; Eskişar, Tuğba

2018-05-19

Geotechnical site works are comprehensive, and they constitute the first step of the construction process. This study performs data mining of geotechnical works and analyzes the database for the root causes of accidents. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was chosen for the 1984-2013 time frame with 247 cases. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed to discuss variables such as the end use of the work, project type and cost, soil type and condition, type and degree of injury, cause and type of accident, unsafe acts, and occupation and union status of the victim. The results showed that these accidents have a high frequency of recurrence and have a high severity level (54.3% fatalities). In addition, a total of 838 violations were recorded with penalties reaching 5 million US dollars. This study emphasizes that project-specific countermeasures should be taken regarding the root causes of accidents, leading to vigorous strategies to develop safety measures.

Pilot Study: A Pediatric Pedestrian Safety Curriculum for Preschool Children.

PubMed

Bovis, Stephanie E; Harden, Taijha; Hotz, Gillian

2016-01-01

To evaluate and implement the WalkSafe Pre-Kindergarten Pedestrian Safety Curriculum. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design without a control group was used to measure children's pedestrian safety knowledge. Knowledge assessments consisting of multiple-choice and short-answer questions were administered pre- and post-curriculum implementation by classroom teachers. Knowledge assessments gauged prekindergarten students' knowledge of pedestrian safety activities prior to safety curriculum implementation and, again, after the students received the curriculum. A total of 605 children (aged 3- to 5-year) from 38 prekindergarten classrooms in 16 randomly selected elementary schools participated in the pedestrian safety education pilot program. Subjects were of multiethnic and diverse backgrounds from the Miami-Dade County Public School District. Of the 605 educated subjects, 454 children completed both pre- and posttests. A statistically significant difference was found between pretest knowledge (M = 5.49, SD = 1.54) and posttest knowledge (M = 6.64, SD = 1.35) assessment scores across all 454 subjects, t(452) = -16.22, p < .001, 95% CI [-1.29, -1.01]. Previous studies have shown that classroom-based training of children as young as 4 years old can yield significant improvements in traffic safety knowledge. The statistical findings of the WalkSafe Pre-Kindergarten Pedestrian Safety Curriculum revealed statistically significant improvements in pedestrian safety knowledge of these young children. Future research efforts will focus on longitudinal behavioral changes in these students and an increase in pedestrian safety behaviors (e.g., utilization of crosswalks or sidewalks).

Clinical strategies to aim an adequate safety profile for patients and effective training for surgical residents: The laparoscopic cholecystectomy model.

PubMed

Bresadola, Vittorio; Pravisani, Riccardo; Pighin, Marina; Seriau, Luca; Cherchi, Vittorio; Giuseppe, Sergio; Risaliti, Andrea

2016-11-01

Training programs for resident surgeons represent a challenge for the mentoring activity. The aim of the present study is to investigate the impact of our training program for laparoscopic cholecystectomy on patient's safety and on the modulation of the residents' exposure to clinical scenario with different grades of complexity. This is a retrospective study based on a clinical series of laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed in a teaching hospital. Study population was grouped according to the expertise of the attending primary operator among resident surgeons. Four groups were identified: consultant (C), senior resident (SR); intermediate level resident (IR); junior resident (JR). The intraoperative and postoperative outcomes were confronted to evaluate the patient's safety profile. 447 patients were submitted to LC: 96 cases were operated by a C, 200 by SR, 112 by IR and 39 by JR. The mean operative time was the longest for the JR group. A statistically higher rate of conversion to open approach was registered in C and IR groups in comparison to JR and SR groups. However, in C and IR groups, patients had worse ASA score, higher BMI and more frequent past history of previous abdominal surgery, cholecystitis or pancreatitis. Overall, it was not registered any statistically significant difference among the groups in terms of length of hospital stay and prevalence of major postoperative complications. Applying an educational model based on both graduated levels of responsibility and modulated grade of clinical complexity can guarantee an high safety profile.

Signal detection of adverse events with imperfect confirmation rates in vaccine safety studies using self-controlled case series design.

PubMed

Xu, Stanley; Newcomer, Sophia; Nelson, Jennifer; Qian, Lei; McClure, David; Pan, Yi; Zeng, Chan; Glanz, Jason

2014-05-01

The Vaccine Safety Datalink project captures electronic health record data including vaccinations and medically attended adverse events on 8.8 million enrollees annually from participating managed care organizations in the United States. While the automated vaccination data are generally of high quality, a presumptive adverse event based on diagnosis codes in automated health care data may not be true (misclassification). Consequently, analyses using automated health care data can generate false positive results, where an association between the vaccine and outcome is incorrectly identified, as well as false negative findings, where a true association or signal is missed. We developed novel conditional Poisson regression models and fixed effects models that accommodate misclassification of adverse event outcome for self-controlled case series design. We conducted simulation studies to evaluate their performance in signal detection in vaccine safety hypotheses generating (screening) studies. We also reanalyzed four previously identified signals in a recent vaccine safety study using the newly proposed models. Our simulation studies demonstrated that (i) outcome misclassification resulted in both false positive and false negative signals in screening studies; (ii) the newly proposed models reduced both the rates of false positive and false negative signals. In reanalyses of four previously identified signals using the novel statistical models, the incidence rate ratio estimates and statistical significances were similar to those using conventional models and including only medical record review confirmed cases. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Accuracy and Safety of External Ventricular Drain Placement by Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners in Aneurysmal Acute Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

PubMed

Enriquez-Marulanda, Alejandro; Ascanio, Luis C; Salem, Mohamed M; Maragkos, Georgios A; Jhun, Ray; Alturki, Abdulrahman Y; Moore, Justin M; Ogilvy, Christopher S; Thomas, Ajith J

2018-06-11

In the current dynamic health environment, increasing number of procedures are being completed by advanced practitioners (nurse practitioners and physician assistants). This is the first study to assess the clinical outcomes and safety of external ventricular drain (EVD) placements by specially trained advanced practitioners. Compare the safety and outcomes of EVD placement by advanced practitioners in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). A cohort comparison study was performed from an aneurysmal SAH database selecting patients treated with EVD from a single major academic institution in the USA between June 2007 and June 2017. Safety, accuracy, and complications of EVD placement were compared between advanced practitioners and neurosurgical physicians (attending neurosurgeon and subspecialty clinical fellow). Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney test for continuous variables and χ 2 test for categorical variables, with p values set at < 0.05 for significance. We identified 203 patients for this cohort with 238 EVD placements; eighty-seven (36.6%) placements were performed by advanced practitioners and 151 (63.4%) by neurosurgeons. Most of the ventriculostomies were placed in the emergency room (n = 114; 47.9%). Additional procedures performed concurrently with the EVD placements were significantly higher among the physicians' group (21.8 vs. 4.6%; p < 0.001). Bedside placement and usage of Ghajar guide were significantly higher among advanced practitioner's (58.3 vs. 98.9 and 9.9 vs. 64.4%, respectively, with a p < 0.001 for both). There were, however, no significant differences in terms of the number of attempts for insertion, intraprocedural complications, tract hemorrhages, accuracy, infection rates, catheter dislodgments, and need for repositioning/replacement of EVD. After appropriate training, EVD placement can be safely performed by advanced practitioners with an adequate accuracy of placement.

NAVIGATING A QUALITY ROUTE TO A NATIONAL SAFETY AWARD

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

PREVETTE SS

Deming quality methodologies applied to safety are recognized with the National Safety Council's annual Robert W. Campbell Award. Over the last ten years, the implementation of Statistical Process Control and quality methodologies at the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site have contributed to improved safety. Improvements attributed to Statistical Process Control are evidenced in Occupational Safety and Health records and documented through several articles in Quality Progress and the American Society of Safety Engineers publication, Professional Safety. Statistical trending of safety, quality, and occurrence data continues to playa key role in improving safety and quality at what has been calledmore » the world's largest environmental cleanup project. DOE's Hanford Site played a pivotal role in the nation's defense beginning in the 1940s, when it was established as part of the Manhattan Project. After more than 50 years of producing material for nuclear weapons, Hanford, which covers 586 square miles in southeastern Washington state, is now focused on three outcomes: (1) Restoring the Columbia River corridor for multiple uses; (2) Transitioning the central plateau to support long-term waste management; and (3) Putting DOE assets to work for the future. The current environmental cleanup mission faces challenges of overlapping technical, political, regulatory, environmental, and cultural interests. From Oct. 1, 1996 through Sept. 30, 2008, Fluor Hanford was a prime contractor to the Department of Energy's Richland Operations Office. In this role, Fluor Hanford managed several major cleanup activities that included dismantling former nuclear-processing facilities, cleaning up the Site's contaminated groundwater, retrieving and processing transuranic waste for shipment and disposal off-site, maintaining the Site's infrastructure, providing security and fire protection, and operating the Volpentest HAMMER Training and Education Center. On October 1,2008, a transition occurred that changed Fluor's role at Hanford. Fluor's work at Hanford was split in two with the technical scope being assumed by the CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) CHPRC is now spearheading much of the cleanup work associated with former nuclear-processing facilities, contaminated groundwater, and transuranic waste. Fluor is an integrated subcontractor to CH PRC in this effort. In addition, at the time of this writing, while the final outcome is being determined for the new Mission Support Contract, Fluor Hanford has had its contract extended to provide site-wide services that include security, fire protection, infrastructure, and operating the HAMMER facility. The emphasis has to be on doing work safely, delivering quality work, controlling costs, and meeting deadlines. Statistical support is provided by Fluor to the PRC, within Fluor Hanford, and to a third contractor, Washington Closure Hanford, which is tasked with cleaning up approximately 210 square miles designated as the Columbia River corridor along the outer edge of the Hanford Site. The closing months of Fluor Hanford's 12 year contract were busy, characterized by special events that capped its work as a prime cleanup contractor, transitions of work scope and personnel, and the completion numerous activities. At this time, Fluor's work and approach to safety were featured in state and national forums. A 'Blockbuster' presentation at the Washington State Governor's Industrial Safety Conference in September 2008 featured Fluor Hanford's Chief Operating Officer, a company Safety Representative, and me. Simultaneously, an award ceremony in Anaheim, Calif. recognized Fluor Hanford as the winner of the 2008 Robert W. Campbell Award. The Robert W. Campbell Award is co-sponsored by Exxon Mobil Corporation and the National Safety Council. Named after a pioneer of industrial safety, the Campbell Award recognizes organizations that demonstrate how integration of environmental, health and safety (EHS) management into business operations is a cornerstone of their corporate success. Fluor Hanford received the award for corporations with more than 1,000 employees. Campbell Award winners undergo rigorous assessments that include site visits and comprehensive evaluations of their commitment to, and implementation of, EHS practices. Award winners work with an international partnership of 21 organizations to develop case studies that illustrate their superior EHS programs and best practices, for use by top business and engineering schools worldwide. Quality methodologies in place at Fluor Hanford played a key role in the award process. Fluor Hanford's integrated use of Statistical Process Control and Pareto Charts for analyzing and displaying EHS performance were viewed favorably by the award judges.« less

Laser diode initiated detonators for space applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ewick, David W.; Graham, J. A.; Hawley, J. D.

1993-01-01

Ensign Bickford Aerospace Company (EBAC) has over ten years of experience in the design and development of laser ordnance systems. Recent efforts have focused on the development of laser diode ordnance systems for space applications. Because the laser initiated detonators contain only insensitive secondary explosives, a high degree of system safety is achieved. Typical performance characteristics of a laser diode initiated detonator are described in this paper, including all-fire level, function time, and output. A finite difference model used at EBAC to predict detonator performance, is described and calculated results are compared to experimental data. Finally, the use of statistically designed experiments to evaluate performance of laser initiated detonators is discussed.

Statistical issues in the design, conduct and analysis of two large safety studies.

PubMed

Gaffney, Michael

2016-10-01

The emergence, post approval, of serious medical events, which may be associated with the use of a particular drug or class of drugs, is an important public health and regulatory issue. The best method to address this issue is through a large, rigorously designed safety study. Therefore, it is important to elucidate the statistical issues involved in these large safety studies. Two such studies are PRECISION and EAGLES. PRECISION is the primary focus of this article. PRECISION is a non-inferiority design with a clinically relevant non-inferiority margin. Statistical issues in the design, conduct and analysis of PRECISION are discussed. Quantitative and clinical aspects of the selection of the composite primary endpoint, the determination and role of the non-inferiority margin in a large safety study and the intent-to-treat and modified intent-to-treat analyses in a non-inferiority safety study are shown. Protocol changes that were necessary during the conduct of PRECISION are discussed from a statistical perspective. Issues regarding the complex analysis and interpretation of the results of PRECISION are outlined. EAGLES is presented as a large, rigorously designed safety study when a non-inferiority margin was not able to be determined by a strong clinical/scientific method. In general, when a non-inferiority margin is not able to be determined, the width of the 95% confidence interval is a way to size the study and to assess the cost-benefit of relative trial size. A non-inferiority margin, when able to be determined by a strong scientific method, should be included in a large safety study. Although these studies could not be called "pragmatic," they are examples of best real-world designs to address safety and regulatory concerns. © The Author(s) 2016.

Vedolizumab Compared with Certolizumab in the Therapy of Crohn Disease: A Systematic Review and Indirect Comparison.

PubMed

Kawalec, Paweł; Moćko, Pawel; Pilc, Andrzej; Radziwon-Zalewska, Maria; Malinowska-Lipień, Iwona

2016-08-01

The increasing prevalence of Crohn disease (CD) underscores the need to identify new effective drugs, which is particularly important for patients who do not respond or do not tolerate standard biologic therapies. The purpose of this analysis was to compare the efficacy and safety of vedolizumab and certolizumab pegol in patients with active moderate to severe CD. This analysis was prepared according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A systematic literature search of Medline (PubMed), Embase, and the Cochrane Library was conducted through March 5, 2016. Studies included were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that enrolled patients treated for CD with vedolizumab or certolizumab pegol. All studies were critically appraised; indirect comparison was performed with the Bucher method. Eight RCTs were identified, and four were homogeneous enough to be included in the indirect comparison of the induction phase of treatment. No statistically significant differences were found in clinical response (relative risk [RR] 1.23, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.81-1.88) or remission (RR 1.35, 95% CI 0.89-2.07) between vedolizumab and certolizumab pegol in the overall population. Similar nonstatistically significant differences in response and remission were noted in a subgroup analysis of anti-tumor necrosis factor-naive patients (RR 1.10, 95% CI 0.72-1.66 and RR 1.98, 95% CI 0.95-4.11, respectively). In addition, there were no statistically significant differences in safety profiles. This indirect comparison analysis demonstrated no statistically significant differences in efficacy and safety between vedolizumab and certolizumab pegol. © 2016 Pharmacotherapy Publications, Inc.

[Efficacy and safety of ultrasound-guided or neurostimulator-guided bilateral axillary brachial plexus block].

PubMed

Xu, C S; Zhao, X L; Zhou, H B; Qu, Z J; Yang, Q G; Wang, H J; Wang, G

2017-10-17

Objective: To explore the efficacy and safety of bilateral axillary brachial plexus block under the guidance of ultrasound or neurostimulator. Methods: From February 2012 to April 2014, 120 patients undergoing bilateral hand/forearm surgery in Beijing Jishuitan Hospital were enrolled and anaesthetized with bilateral axillary brachial plexus block. All patients were divided into two groups randomly using random number table: the ultrasound-guided group (group U, n =60) and the neurostimulator-guidedgroup (group N, n =60). The block was performed with 0.5% ropivacaine. Patients' age, sex and operation duration were recorded. Moreover, success rate, performance time, onset of sensor and motor block, performance pain, patient satisfaction degree and the incidence of related complications were also documented. Venous samples were collected at selected time points and the total and the plasma concentrations of ropivacaine were analyzed with HPLC. Results: The performance time, the onset of sensor block and the onset of motor block of group U were (8.2±1.5), (14.2± 2.2)and (24.0±3.5)min respectively, which were markedly shorter than those in group N( (14.6±3.9), (19.9±3.8), (28.8±4.2)min, respectively), and the differences were statistically significant( t =11.74, 10.09, 6.73, respectively, all P <0.01). The performance pain score of group N was (25.5± 13.2), which was obviously more serious than group U (31.7± 11.2) and a significant statistical difference was detected ( t =2.856, P <0.05). The patient satisfaction degree of group U was 95.0%, which was significantly higher than group N (83.3%) and a markedly statistical difference was detected (χ(2)=4.227, P <0.05). Fifty min after performance, the total plasma concentration of ropivacaine of group U was(1.76±0.48)mg/L, which was significantly lower than group N (1.88±0.53)mg/L and a significant statistical difference was detected ( t =2.43, P <0.05), while no significant differences were detected at the other time points between two groups ( P >0.05). No analgesic was superadded and no other anesthesia methods were applied. No complications were detected perioperatively. Conclusions: The bilateral axillary brachial plexus block under the guidance of ultrasound or neurostimulator are both effective and safe for bilateral hand/forearm surgery. However, the ultrasound-guided block may be more clinically beneficial because of its shorter performance time, rapid onset and higher patient satisfaction degree.

Improving surveillance for injuries associated with potential motor vehicle safety defects

PubMed Central

Whitfield, R; Whitfield, A

2004-01-01

Objective: To improve surveillance for deaths and injuries associated with potential motor vehicle safety defects. Design: Vehicles in fatal crashes can be studied for indications of potential defects using an "early warning" surveillance statistic previously suggested for screening reports of adverse drug reactions. This statistic is illustrated with time series data for fatal, tire related and fire related crashes. Geographic analyses are used to augment the tire related statistics. Results: A statistical criterion based on the Poisson distribution that tests the likelihood of an expected number of events, given the number of events that actually occurred, is a promising method that can be readily adapted for use in injury surveillance. Conclusions: Use of the demonstrated techniques could have helped to avert a well known injury surveillance failure. This method is adaptable to aid in the direction of engineering and statistical reviews to prevent deaths and injuries associated with potential motor vehicle safety defects using available databases. PMID:15066972

Efficacy and safety of biologic therapies for systemic lupus erythematosus treatment: systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Borba, Helena Hiemisch Lobo; Wiens, Astrid; de Souza, Thais Teles; Correr, Cassyano Januário; Pontarolo, Roberto

2014-04-01

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of biologic drugs compared with placebo for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) treatment. A systematic review evaluating the efficacy and safety of biologic therapies compared with placebo in adult SLE patients treatment was performed. Data from studies performed before September 2013 were collected from several databases (MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, SCIELO, Scopus, and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts). Study eligibility criteria included randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials; regarding treatment with biologic agents in SLE adult patients; and published in English, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Extracted data were statistically analyzed in a meta-analysis using the Review Manager (RevMan) 5.1 software. Efficacy outcomes included the SELENA-SLEDAI (Safety of Estrogens in Lupus Erythematosus National Assessment version of the SLE Disease Activity Index) score, the SRI (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Responder Index), normalization of low C3 (<90 mg/dL), anti-double-stranded DNA positive to negative, and no new BILAG (British Isles Lupus Assessment Group index) 1A or 2B flares. Data on safety profile included adverse events, serious and severe adverse events, death, malignancy, infections, and infusion reactions. We also evaluated withdrawals from treatment due to lack of efficacy or adverse events. Thirteen randomized placebo-controlled trials met the criteria for data extraction for systematic review. A meta-analysis regarding the efficacy and safety of belimumab compared with placebo involving four of these trials was undertaken and the remainder contributed to a meta-analysis of the safety of biologic agents. In addition, two trials allowed the performance of a meta-analysis regarding the efficacy and safety of rituximab compared with placebo. Belimumab was more effective than placebo in most evaluated outcomes. No significant differences in the safety and tolerability data were observed between the belimumab and placebo groups. No differences were observed between the rituximab and placebo groups for the efficacy outcomes or safety parameters. Extracted data from the 13 studies were pooled, allowing assessment of the safety of biologic drugs. The meta-analysis revealed a satisfactory safety profile of these agents when used for SLE treatment, as there were no significant differences between the two evaluated groups (biologic agents and placebo) for all outcomes analyzed. Belimumab exhibited a satisfactory profile regarding efficacy, safety, and tolerability. Rituximab showed no superiority over placebo in terms of efficacy, despite its suitable safety profile. Biologic agents exhibited a good safety profile for SLE treatment, indicating that these agents are promising therapies and should be further investigated.

Patient safety room of horrors: a novel method to assess medical students and entering residents' ability to identify hazards of hospitalisation.

PubMed

Farnan, Jeanne M; Gaffney, Sean; Poston, Jason T; Slawinski, Kris; Cappaert, Melissa; Kamin, Barry; Arora, Vineet M

2016-03-01

Patient safety curricula in undergraduate medical education (UME) are often didactic format with little focus on skills training. Despite recent focus on safety, practical training in residency education is also lacking. Assessments of safety skills in UME and graduate medical education (GME) are generally knowledge, and not application-focused. We aimed to develop and pilot a safety-focused simulation with medical students and interns to assess knowledge regarding hazards of hospitalisation. A simulation demonstrating common hospital-based safety threats was designed. A case scenario was created including salient patient information and simulated safety threats such as the use of upper-extremity restraints and medication errors. After entering the room and reviewing the mock chart, learners were timed and asked to identify and document as many safety hazards as possible. Learner satisfaction was assessed using constructed-response evaluation. Descriptive statistics, including per cent correct and mean correct hazards, were performed. All 86 third-year medical students completed the encounter. Some hazards were identified by a majority of students (fall risk, 83% of students) while others were rarely identified (absence of deep venous thrombosis prophylaxis, 13% of students). Only 5% of students correctly identified pressure ulcer risk. 128 of 131 interns representing 49 medical schools participated in the GME implementation. Incoming interns were able to identify a mean of 5.1 hazards out of the 9 displayed (SD 1.4) with 40% identifying restraints as a hazard, and 20% identifying the inappropriate urinary catheter as a hazard. A simulation showcasing safety hazards was a feasible and effective way to introduce trainees to safety-focused content. Both students and interns had difficulty identifying common hazards of hospitalisation. Despite poor performance, learners appreciated the interactive experience and its clinical utility. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Using statistical text classification to identify health information technology incidents

PubMed Central

Chai, Kevin E K; Anthony, Stephen; Coiera, Enrico; Magrabi, Farah

2013-01-01

Objective To examine the feasibility of using statistical text classification to automatically identify health information technology (HIT) incidents in the USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database. Design We used a subset of 570 272 incidents including 1534 HIT incidents reported to MAUDE between 1 January 2008 and 1 July 2010. Text classifiers using regularized logistic regression were evaluated with both ‘balanced’ (50% HIT) and ‘stratified’ (0.297% HIT) datasets for training, validation, and testing. Dataset preparation, feature extraction, feature selection, cross-validation, classification, performance evaluation, and error analysis were performed iteratively to further improve the classifiers. Feature-selection techniques such as removing short words and stop words, stemming, lemmatization, and principal component analysis were examined. Measurements κ statistic, F1 score, precision and recall. Results Classification performance was similar on both the stratified (0.954 F1 score) and balanced (0.995 F1 score) datasets. Stemming was the most effective technique, reducing the feature set size to 79% while maintaining comparable performance. Training with balanced datasets improved recall (0.989) but reduced precision (0.165). Conclusions Statistical text classification appears to be a feasible method for identifying HIT reports within large databases of incidents. Automated identification should enable more HIT problems to be detected, analyzed, and addressed in a timely manner. Semi-supervised learning may be necessary when applying machine learning to big data analysis of patient safety incidents and requires further investigation. PMID:23666777

A full Bayes before-after study accounting for temporal and spatial effects: Evaluating the safety impact of new signal installations.

PubMed

Sacchi, Emanuele; Sayed, Tarek; El-Basyouny, Karim

2016-09-01

Recently, important advances in road safety statistics have been brought about by methods able to address issues other than the choice of the best error structure for modeling crash data. In particular, accounting for spatial and temporal interdependence, i.e., the notion that the collision occurrence of a site or unit times depend on those of others, has become an important issue that needs further research. Overall, autoregressive models can be used for this purpose as they can specify that the output variable depends on its own previous values and on a stochastic term. Spatial effects have been investigated and applied mostly in the context of developing safety performance functions (SPFs) to relate crash occurrence to highway characteristics. Hence, there is a need for studies that attempt to estimate the effectiveness of safety countermeasures by including the spatial interdependence of road sites within the context of an observational before-after (BA) study. Moreover, the combination of temporal dynamics and spatial effects on crash frequency has not been explored in depth for SPF development. Therefore, the main goal of this research was to carry out a BA study accounting for spatial effects and temporal dynamics in evaluating the effectiveness of a road safety treatment. The countermeasure analyzed was the installation of traffic signals at unsignalized urban/suburban intersections in British Columbia (Canada). The full Bayes approach was selected as the statistical framework to develop the models. The results demonstrated that zone variation was a major component of total crash variability and that spatial effects were alleviated by clustering intersections together. Finally, the methodology used also allowed estimation of the treatment's effectiveness in the form of crash modification factors and functions with time trends. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Weather Safety - NOAA's National Weather Service

Science.gov Websites

Statistical Models... MOS Prod GFS-LAMP Prod Climate Past Weather Predictions Weather Safety Weather Radio National Weather Service on FaceBook NWS on Facebook NWS Director Home > Safety Weather Safety This page weather safety. StormReady NOAA Weather Radio Emergency Managers Information Network U.S. Hazard Assmt

Transportation Safety Information Report : 1982 Annual Summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-01-01

The "Transportation Safety Information Report" is a compendium of selected national-level transportation safety statistics for all modes of transportation. The report presents and compares data for transportation fatalities, accidents, and injuries f...

Transportation Safety Information Report : 1987 Annual Summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1988-01-01

The "Transportation Safety Information Report" is a compendium of selected national-level transportation safety statistics for all modes of transportation. The report presents and compares data for transportation fatalities, accidents, and injuries f...

[Survey and analysis of radiation safety education at radiological technology schools].

PubMed

Ohba, Hisateru; Ogasawara, Katsuhiko; Aburano, Tamio

2004-10-01

We carried out a questionnaire survey of all radiological technology schools, to investigate the status of radiation safety education. The questionnaire consisted of questions concerning full-time teachers, measures being taken for the Radiation Protection Supervisor Qualifying Examination, equipment available for radiation safety education, radiation safety education for other departments, curriculum of radiation safety education, and related problems. The returned questionnaires were analyzed according to different groups categorized by form of education and type of establishment. The overall response rate was 55%, and there were statistically significant differences in the response rates among the different forms of education. No statistically significant differences were found in the items relating to full-time teachers, measures for Radiation Protection Supervisor Qualifying Examination, and radiation safety education for other departments, either for the form of education or type of establishment. Queries on the equipment used for radiation safety education revealed a statistically significant difference in unsealed radioisotope institutes among the forms of education. In terms of curriculum, the percentage of radiological technology schools which dealt with neither the shielding calculation method for radiation facilities nor with the control of medical waste was found to be approximately 10%. Other educational problems that were indicated included shortages of full-time teachers and equipment for radiation safety education. In the future, in order to improve radiation safety education at radiological technology schools, we consider it necessary to develop unsealed radioisotope institutes, to appoint more full-time teachers, and to educate students about risk communication.

Statistical Methods for Rapid Aerothermal Analysis and Design Technology: Validation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DePriest, Douglas; Morgan, Carolyn

2003-01-01

The cost and safety goals for NASA s next generation of reusable launch vehicle (RLV) will require that rapid high-fidelity aerothermodynamic design tools be used early in the design cycle. To meet these requirements, it is desirable to identify adequate statistical models that quantify and improve the accuracy, extend the applicability, and enable combined analyses using existing prediction tools. The initial research work focused on establishing suitable candidate models for these purposes. The second phase is focused on assessing the performance of these models to accurately predict the heat rate for a given candidate data set. This validation work compared models and methods that may be useful in predicting the heat rate.

Transportation Safety Information Report : Second Quarter 1984

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1984-01-01

The "Transportation Safety Information Report" is a compendium of selected national-level transportation safety statistics for all modes of transportation. The report presents and compares data on a monthly and quarterly basis for transportation fata...

Transportation Safety Information Report : Second Quarter 1985

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1985-10-01

The "Transportation Safety Information Report" is a compendium of selected national-level transportation safety statistics for all modes of transportation. The report presents and compares data on a monthly and quarterly basis for transportation fata...

Sigma Metrics Across the Total Testing Process.

PubMed

Charuruks, Navapun

2017-03-01

Laboratory quality control has been developed for several decades to ensure patients' safety, from a statistical quality control focus on the analytical phase to total laboratory processes. The sigma concept provides a convenient way to quantify the number of errors in extra-analytical and analytical phases through the defect per million and sigma metric equation. Participation in a sigma verification program can be a convenient way to monitor analytical performance continuous quality improvement. Improvement of sigma-scale performance has been shown from our data. New tools and techniques for integration are needed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A statistical approach to nuclear fuel design and performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cunning, Travis Andrew

As CANDU fuel failures can have significant economic and operational consequences on the Canadian nuclear power industry, it is essential that factors impacting fuel performance are adequately understood. Current industrial practice relies on deterministic safety analysis and the highly conservative "limit of operating envelope" approach, where all parameters are assumed to be at their limits simultaneously. This results in a conservative prediction of event consequences with little consideration given to the high quality and precision of current manufacturing processes. This study employs a novel approach to the prediction of CANDU fuel reliability. Probability distributions are fitted to actual fuel manufacturing datasets provided by Cameco Fuel Manufacturing, Inc. They are used to form input for two industry-standard fuel performance codes: ELESTRES for the steady-state case and ELOCA for the transient case---a hypothesized 80% reactor outlet header break loss of coolant accident. Using a Monte Carlo technique for input generation, 105 independent trials are conducted and probability distributions are fitted to key model output quantities. Comparing model output against recognized industrial acceptance criteria, no fuel failures are predicted for either case. Output distributions are well removed from failure limit values, implying that margin exists in current fuel manufacturing and design. To validate the results and attempt to reduce the simulation burden of the methodology, two dimensional reduction methods are assessed. Using just 36 trials, both methods are able to produce output distributions that agree strongly with those obtained via the brute-force Monte Carlo method, often to a relative discrepancy of less than 0.3% when predicting the first statistical moment, and a relative discrepancy of less than 5% when predicting the second statistical moment. In terms of global sensitivity, pellet density proves to have the greatest impact on fuel performance, with an average sensitivity index of 48.93% on key output quantities. Pellet grain size and dish depth are also significant contributors, at 31.53% and 13.46%, respectively. A traditional limit of operating envelope case is also evaluated. This case produces output values that exceed the maximum values observed during the 105 Monte Carlo trials for all output quantities of interest. In many cases the difference between the predictions of the two methods is very prominent, and the highly conservative nature of the deterministic approach is demonstrated. A reliability analysis of CANDU fuel manufacturing parametric data, specifically pertaining to the quantification of fuel performance margins, has not been conducted previously. Key Words: CANDU, nuclear fuel, Cameco, fuel manufacturing, fuel modelling, fuel performance, fuel reliability, ELESTRES, ELOCA, dimensional reduction methods, global sensitivity analysis, deterministic safety analysis, probabilistic safety analysis.

National transportation statistics 2011

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-04-01

Compiled and published by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics : (BTS), National Transportation Statistics presents information on the U.S. transportation system, including : its physical components, safety reco...

National Transportation Statistics 2009

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-01-21

Compiled and published by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), National Transportation Statistics presents information on the U.S. transportation system, including its physical components, safety record, ...

National Transportation Statistics 2007

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-04-12

Compiled and published by the U.S. Department of Transportations Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), National Transportation Statistics presents information on the U.S. transportation system, including its physical components, safety record...

National Transportation Statistics 2008

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-01-08

Compiled and published by the U.S. Department of Transportations Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), National Transportation Statistics presents information on the U.S. transportation system, including its physical components, safety record...

The benefit of seat belt legislation in the United Kingdom.

PubMed

McCarthy, M

1989-09-01

Legislation for compulsory wearing of seat belts by car drivers and front seat passengers has been acclaimed as a major public health advance. Reports from other countries, and two recent evaluative studies in the United Kingdom, have suggested that legislation reduces both deaths and injuries. To assess the effect of the UK law 5 years after its implementation, trends in routine data for 1976-1987 have been reviewed. There were two sources of data: mortality statistics, published by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys in the quarterly Monitor DH4, and road accident statistics, recorded by the police and published by the Department of Transport. There is a downward trend in deaths over the period, but the data show little impact from the law. One explanation for this lack of effect is the risk compensation hypothesis, which suggests that "safety" improvements are transferred by drivers into increased performance--the amount and speed of travel. Public health policies need to take into account the complex behavioural interactions between travel and safety choices if they are to affect underlying trends.

The Peroxidation of Leukocytes Index Ratio Reveals the Prooxidant Effect of Green Tea Extract

PubMed Central

Manafikhi, Husseen; Raguzzini, Anna; Longhitano, Yaroslava; Reggi, Raffaella; Zanza, Christian

2016-01-01

Despite tea increased plasma nonenzymatic antioxidant capacity, the European Food Safety Administration (EFSA) denied claims related to tea and its protection from oxidative damage. Furthermore, the Supplement Information Expert Committee (DSI EC) expressed some doubts on the safety of green tea extract (GTE). We performed a pilot study in order to evaluate the effect of a single dose of two capsules of a GTE supplement (200 mg × 2) on the peroxidation of leukocytes index ratio (PLIR) in relation to uric acid (UA) and ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP), as well as the sample size to reach statistical significance. GTE induced a prooxidant effect on leukocytes, whereas FRAP did not change, in agreement with the EFSA and the DSI EC conclusions. Besides, our results confirm the primary role of UA in the antioxidant defences. The ratio based calculation of the PLIR reduced the sample size to reach statistical significance, compared to the resistance to an exogenous oxidative stress and to the functional capacity of oxidative burst. Therefore, PLIR could be a sensitive marker of redox status. PMID:28101300

The Peroxidation of Leukocytes Index Ratio Reveals the Prooxidant Effect of Green Tea Extract.

PubMed

Peluso, Ilaria; Manafikhi, Husseen; Raguzzini, Anna; Longhitano, Yaroslava; Reggi, Raffaella; Zanza, Christian; Palmery, Maura

2016-01-01

Despite tea increased plasma nonenzymatic antioxidant capacity, the European Food Safety Administration (EFSA) denied claims related to tea and its protection from oxidative damage. Furthermore, the Supplement Information Expert Committee (DSI EC) expressed some doubts on the safety of green tea extract (GTE). We performed a pilot study in order to evaluate the effect of a single dose of two capsules of a GTE supplement (200 mg × 2) on the peroxidation of leukocytes index ratio (PLIR) in relation to uric acid (UA) and ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP), as well as the sample size to reach statistical significance. GTE induced a prooxidant effect on leukocytes, whereas FRAP did not change, in agreement with the EFSA and the DSI EC conclusions. Besides, our results confirm the primary role of UA in the antioxidant defences. The ratio based calculation of the PLIR reduced the sample size to reach statistical significance, compared to the resistance to an exogenous oxidative stress and to the functional capacity of oxidative burst. Therefore, PLIR could be a sensitive marker of redox status.

A strategic management model for evaluation of health, safety and environmental performance.

PubMed

Abbaspour, Majid; Toutounchian, Solmaz; Roayaei, Emad; Nassiri, Parvin

2012-05-01

Strategic health, safety, and environmental management system (HSE-MS) involves systematic and cooperative planning in each phase of the lifecycle of a project to ensure that interaction among the industry group, client, contractor, stakeholder, and host community exists with the highest level of health, safety, and environmental standard performances. Therefore, it seems necessary to assess the HSE-MS performance of contractor(s) by a comparative strategic management model with the aim of continuous improvement. The present Strategic Management Model (SMM) has been illustrated by a case study and the results show that the model is a suitable management tool for decision making in a contract environment, especially in oil and gas fields and based on accepted international standards within the framework of management deming cycle. To develop this model, a data bank has been created, which includes the statistical data calculated by converting the HSE performance qualitative data into quantitative values. Based on this fact, the structure of the model has been formed by defining HSE performance indicators according to the HSE-MS model. Therefore, 178 indicators have been selected which have been grouped into four attributes. Model output provides quantitative measures of HSE-MS performance as a percentage of an ideal level with maximum possible score for each attribute. Defining the strengths and weaknesses of the contractor(s) is another capability of this model. On the other hand, this model provides a ranking that could be used as the basis for decision making at the contractors' pre-qualification phase or during the execution of the project.

2D vs. 3D imaging in laparoscopic surgery-results of a prospective randomized trial.

PubMed

Buia, Alexander; Stockhausen, Florian; Filmann, Natalie; Hanisch, Ernst

2017-12-01

3D imaging is an upcoming technology in laparoscopic surgery, and recent studies have shown that the modern 3D technique is superior in an experimental setting. However, the first randomized controlled clinical trial in this context dates back to 1998 and showed no significant difference between 2D and 3D visualization using the first 3D generation technique, which is now more than 15 years old. Positive results measured in an experimental setting considering 3D imaging on surgical performance led us to initiate a randomized controlled pragmatic clinical trial to validate our findings in daily clinical routine. Standard laparoscopic operations (cholecystectomy, appendectomy) were preoperatively randomized to a 2D or 3D imaging system. We used a surgical comfort scale (Likert scale) and the Raw NASA Workload TLX for the subjective assessment of 2D and 3D imaging; the duration of surgery was also measured. The results of 3D imaging were statistically significant better than 2D imaging concerning the parameters "own felt safety" and "task efficiency"; the difficulty level of the procedures in the 2D and 3D groups did not differ. Overall, the Raw NASA Workload TLX showed no significance between the groups. 3D imaging could be a possible advantage in laparoscopic surgery. The results of our clinical trial show increased personal felt safety and efficiency of the surgeon using a 3D imaging system. Overall of the procedures, the findings assessed using Likert scales in terms of own felt safety and task efficiency were statistically significant for 3D imaging. The individually perceived workload assessed with the Raw NASA TLX shows no difference. Although these findings are subjective impressions of the performing surgeons without a clear benefit for 3D technology in clinical outcome, we think that these results show the capability that 3D laparoscopy can have a positive impact while performing laparoscopic procedures.

National transportation statistics 2000

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-04-13

Compiled and published by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), U.S. Department of Transportation, National Transportation Statistics 2000 presents information on the U.S. transportation system, including its physical components, safety reco...

National Transportation Statistics 2000

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-04-01

Compiled and published by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), U.S. Department of Transportation, National Transportation Statistics 2000 presents information on the U.S. transportation system, including its physical components, safety reco...

A multi-site comparison of in vivo safety pharmacology studies conducted to support ICH S7A & B regulatory submissions.

PubMed

Ewart, Lorna; Milne, Aileen; Adkins, Debbie; Benjamin, Amanda; Bialecki, Russell; Chen, Yafei; Ericsson, Ann-Christin; Gardner, Stacey; Grant, Claire; Lengel, David; Lindgren, Silvana; Lowing, Sarah; Marks, Louise; Moors, Jackie; Oldman, Karen; Pietras, Mark; Prior, Helen; Punton, James; Redfern, Will S; Salmond, Ross; Skinner, Matt; Some, Margareta; Stanton, Andrea; Swedberg, Michael; Finch, John; Valentin, Jean-Pierre

2013-01-01

Parts A and B of the ICH S7 guidelines on safety pharmacology describe the in vivo studies that must be conducted prior to first time in man administration of any new pharmaceutical. ICH S7A requires a consideration of the sensitivity and reproducibility of the test systems used. This could encompass maintaining a dataset of historical pre-dose values, power analyses, as well as a demonstration of acceptable model sensitivity and robust pharmacological validation. During the process of outsourcing safety pharmacology studies to Charles River Laboratories, AstraZeneca set out to ensure that models were performed identically in each facility and saw this as an opportunity to review the inter-laboratory variability of these essential models. The five in vivo studies outsourced were the conscious dog telemetry model for cardiovascular assessment, the rat whole body plethysmography model for respiratory assessment, the rat modified Irwin screen for central nervous system assessment, the rat charcoal meal study for gastrointestinal assessment and the rat metabolic cage study for assessment of renal function. Each study was validated with known reference compounds and data were compared across facilities. Statistical power was also calculated for each model. The results obtained indicated that each of the studies could be performed with comparable statistical power and could achieve a similar outcome, independent of facility. The consistency of results obtained from these models across multiple facilities was high thus providing confidence that the models can be run in different facilities and maintain compliance with ICH S7A and B. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Railroad safety statistics annual report 2006

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-04-01

It is hoped that the information provided in this publication will provide insight into the most : significant safety issues facing the rail industry and, in turn, lead to continued rail safety : improvements. Only by continuing our understanding abo...

Railroad safety statistics annual report 2002

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-03-01

It is hoped that the information provided in this publication will provide insight into the most significant safety issues facing the rail industry and, in turn, lead to continued rail safety improvements. Only by continuing our understanding about h...

Railroad safety statistics annual report 2001

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-07-01

It is hoped that the information provided in this publication will provide insight into the most significant safety issues facing the rail industry and, in turn, lead to continued rail safety improvements. Only by continuing our understanding about h...

Evaluation of Four Bedside Test Systems for Card Performance, Handling and Safety.

PubMed

Giebel, Felix; Picker, Susanne M; Gathof, Birgit S

2008-01-01

SUMMARY: OBJECTIVE: Pretransfusion ABO compatibility testing is a simple and required precaution against ABO-incompatible transfusion, which is one of the greatest threats in transfusion medicine. While distinct agglutination is most important for correct test interpretation, protection against infectious diseases and ease of handling are crucial for accurate test performance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate differences in test card design, handling, and user safety. DESIGN: Four different bedside test cards with pre-applied antibodies were evaluated by 100 medical students using packed red blood cells of different ABO blood groups. Criteria of evaluation were: agglutination, labelling, handling, and safety regarding possible user injuries. Criteria were rated subjectively according to German school notes ranging from 1 = very good to 6 = very bad/insufficient. RESULTS: Overall, all cards received very good/good marks. The ABO blood group was identified correctly in all cases. Three cards (no. 1, no. 3, no. 4) received statistically significant (p < 0.008) prominence (mean values shown) concerning clearness of agglutination (1.7-1.9 vs. 2.4 for no. 2). Systems with dried antibodies (no. 2, no. 4) outmatched the other systems with respect to overall test system performance (2.0 vs. 2.8-2.9), labelling (1.5 vs. 2.2-2.4), handling (1.9-2.0 vs. 2.5), and user safety (2.5 vs. 3.4). Analysis of card self-explanation revealed no remarkable differences. CONCLUSION: Despite good performance of all card systems tested, the best results when including all criteria evaluated were obtained with card no. 4 (particularly concerning clear agglutination), followed by cards no. 2, no. 1, and no. 3.

Comparison of AIHA ISO 9001-based occupational health and safety management system guidance document with a manufacturer's occupational health and safety assessment instrument.

PubMed

Dyjack, D T; Levine, S P; Holtshouser, J L; Schork, M A

1998-06-01

Numerous manufacturing and service organizations have integrated or are considering integration of their respective occupational health and safety management and audit systems into the International Organization for Standardization-based (ISO) audit-driven Quality Management Systems (ISO 9000) or Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14000) models. Companies considering one of these options will likely need to identify and evaluate several key factors before embarking on such efforts. The purpose of this article is to identify and address the key factors through a case study approach. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons of the key features of the American Industrial Hygiene Association ISO-9001 harmonized Occupational Health and Safety Management System with The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. management and audit system were conducted. The comparisons showed that the two management systems and their respective audit protocols, although structured differently, were not substantially statistically dissimilar in content. The authors recommend that future studies continue to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of various audit protocols. Ideally, these studies would identify those audit outcome measures that can be reliably correlated with health and safety performance.

Modeling the impact of spatial relationships on horizontal curve safety.

PubMed

Findley, Daniel J; Hummer, Joseph E; Rasdorf, William; Zegeer, Charles V; Fowler, Tyler J

2012-03-01

The curved segments of roadways are more hazardous because of the additional centripetalforces exerted on a vehicle, driver expectations, and other factors. The safety of a curve is dependent on various factors, most notably by geometric factors, but the location of a curve in relation to other curves is also thought to influence the safety of those curves because of a driver's expectation to encounter additional curves. The link between an individual curve's geometric characteristics and its safety performance has been established, but spatial considerations are typically not included in a safety analysis. The spatial considerations included in this research consisted of four components: distance to adjacent curves, direction of turn of the adjacent curves, and radius and length of the adjacent curves. The primary objective of this paper is to quantify the spatial relationship between adjacent horizontal curves and horizontal curve safety using a crash modification factor. Doing so enables a safety professional to more accurately estimate safety to allocate funding to reduce or prevent future collisions and more efficiently design new roadway sections to minimize crash risk where there will be a series of curves along a route. The most important finding from this research is the statistical significance of spatial considerations for the prediction of horizontal curve safety. The distances to adjacent curves were found to be a reliable predictor of observed collisions. This research recommends a model which utilizes spatial considerations for horizontal curve safety prediction in addition to current Highway Safety Manual prediction capabilities using individual curve geometric features. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Enhancing efficiency and quality of statistical estimation of immunogenicity assay cut points through standardization and automation.

PubMed

Su, Cheng; Zhou, Lei; Hu, Zheng; Weng, Winnie; Subramani, Jayanthi; Tadkod, Vineet; Hamilton, Kortney; Bautista, Ami; Wu, Yu; Chirmule, Narendra; Zhong, Zhandong Don

2015-10-01

Biotherapeutics can elicit immune responses, which can alter the exposure, safety, and efficacy of the therapeutics. A well-designed and robust bioanalytical method is critical for the detection and characterization of relevant anti-drug antibody (ADA) and the success of an immunogenicity study. As a fundamental criterion in immunogenicity testing, assay cut points need to be statistically established with a risk-based approach to reduce subjectivity. This manuscript describes the development of a validated, web-based, multi-tier customized assay statistical tool (CAST) for assessing cut points of ADA assays. The tool provides an intuitive web interface that allows users to import experimental data generated from a standardized experimental design, select the assay factors, run the standardized analysis algorithms, and generate tables, figures, and listings (TFL). It allows bioanalytical scientists to perform complex statistical analysis at a click of the button to produce reliable assay parameters in support of immunogenicity studies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Bringing a transgenic crop to market: where compositional analysis fits.

PubMed

Privalle, Laura S; Gillikin, Nancy; Wandelt, Christine

2013-09-04

In the process of developing a biotechnology product, thousands of genes and transformation events are evaluated to select the event that will be commercialized. The ideal event is identified on the basis of multiple characteristics including trait efficacy, the molecular characteristics of the insert, and agronomic performance. Once selected, the commercial event is subjected to a rigorous safety evaluation taking a multipronged approach including examination of the safety of the gene and gene product - the protein, plant performance, impact of cultivating the crop on the environment, agronomic performance, and equivalence of the crop/food to conventional crops/food - by compositional analysis. The compositional analysis is composed of a comparison of the nutrient and antinutrient composition of the crop containing the event, its parental line (variety), and other conventional lines (varieties). Different geographies have different requirements for the compositional analysis studies. Parameters that vary include the number of years (seasons) and locations (environments) to be evaluated, the appropriate comparator(s), analytes to be evaluated, and statistical analysis. Specific examples of compositional analysis results will be presented.

Monitoring the safety of quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine: findings from the Vaccine Safety Datalink.

PubMed

Gee, Julianne; Naleway, Allison; Shui, Irene; Baggs, James; Yin, Ruihua; Li, Rong; Kulldorff, Martin; Lewis, Edwin; Fireman, Bruce; Daley, Matthew F; Klein, Nicola P; Weintraub, Eric S

2011-10-26

In 7 large managed care organizations (MCOs), we performed a post-licensure safety assessment of quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV4) among 9-26 year-old female vaccine recipients between August 2006 and October 2009. Sequential analyses were conducted weekly to detect associations between HPV4 exposure and pre-specified outcomes. The pre-specified outcomes identified by ICD-9 codes using computerized data at the participating MCOs included: Guillan-Barré Syndrome (GBS), stroke, venous thromboembolism (VTE), appendicitis, seizures, syncope, allergic reactions, and anaphylaxis. For rare outcomes, historical background rates were used as the comparison group. For more common outcomes, a concurrent unexposed comparison group was utilized. A standardized review of medical records was conducted for all cases of GBS, VTE, and anaphylaxis. A total of 600,558 HPV4 doses were administered during the study period. We found no statistically significant increased risk for the outcomes studied. However, a non-statistically significant relative risk (RR) for VTE ICD-9 codes following HPV4 vaccination of 1.98 was detected among females age 9-17 years. Medical record review of all 8 vaccinated potential VTE cases in this age group revealed that 5 met the standard case definition for VTE. All 5 confirmed cases had known risk factors for VTE (oral contraceptive use, coagulation disorders, smoking, obesity or prolonged hospitalization). In a study of over 600,000 HPV4 vaccine doses administered, no statistically significant increased risk for any of the pre-specified adverse events after vaccination was detected. Further study of a possible association with VTE following HPV4 vaccination is warranted. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Efficacy and safety of local steroids for urethra strictures: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Zhang, Kaile; Qi, Er; Zhang, Yumeng; Sa, Yinglong; Fu, Qiang

2014-08-01

Local steroids have been used as an adjuvant therapy to patients undergoing internal urethrotomy (IU) in treating urethral strictures. Whether this technique is effective and safe is still controversial. The aim of this study is to determine the efficacy and safety of local steroids as applied with the IU procedure. A systematic review of the literature was performed by searching Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library Databases, and the Web of Science. We included only prospective randomized, controlled trials that compared the efficacy and safety between IU procedures with applied local steroids and those without. Eight studies were found eligible for further analysis. In total, 203 patients undergoing IU were treated with steroid injection or catheter lubrication. Time to recurrence is statistically significant (mean: 10.14 and 5.07 months, P<0.00001).The number of patients with recurrent stricture formation significantly decreased at different follow-up time points (P=0.05).No statistically significant differences were found between the recurrence rates, adverse effects, and success rates of second IUs in patients with applied local steroids and those without. The use of local steroids with IU seems to prolong time to stricture recurrence but does not seem to affect the high stricture recurrence rate following IU. When local steroids are applied with complementary intention, the disease control outcomes are encouraging. Further robust comparative effectiveness studies are now required.

The STAT7 Code for Statistical Propagation of Uncertainties In Steady-State Thermal Hydraulics Analysis of Plate-Fueled Reactors

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

Dunn, Floyd E.; Hu, Lin-wen; Wilson, Erik

The STAT code was written to automate many of the steady-state thermal hydraulic safety calculations for the MIT research reactor, both for conversion of the reactor from high enrichment uranium fuel to low enrichment uranium fuel and for future fuel re-loads after the conversion. A Monte-Carlo statistical propagation approach is used to treat uncertainties in important parameters in the analysis. These safety calculations are ultimately intended to protect against high fuel plate temperatures due to critical heat flux or departure from nucleate boiling or onset of flow instability; but additional margin is obtained by basing the limiting safety settings onmore » avoiding onset of nucleate boiling. STAT7 can simultaneously analyze all of the axial nodes of all of the fuel plates and all of the coolant channels for one stripe of a fuel element. The stripes run the length of the fuel, from the bottom to the top. Power splits are calculated for each axial node of each plate to determine how much of the power goes out each face of the plate. By running STAT7 multiple times, full core analysis has been performed by analyzing the margin to ONB for each axial node of each stripe of each plate of each element in the core.« less

Reference set for performance testing of pediatric vaccine safety signal detection methods and systems.

PubMed

Brauchli Pernus, Yolanda; Nan, Cassandra; Verstraeten, Thomas; Pedenko, Mariia; Osokogu, Osemeke U; Weibel, Daniel; Sturkenboom, Miriam; Bonhoeffer, Jan

2016-12-12

Safety signal detection in spontaneous reporting system databases and electronic healthcare records is key to detection of previously unknown adverse events following immunization. Various statistical methods for signal detection in these different datasources have been developed, however none are geared to the pediatric population and none specifically to vaccines. A reference set comprising pediatric vaccine-adverse event pairs is required for reliable performance testing of statistical methods within and across data sources. The study was conducted within the context of the Global Research in Paediatrics (GRiP) project, as part of the seventh framework programme (FP7) of the European Commission. Criteria for the selection of vaccines considered in the reference set were routine and global use in the pediatric population. Adverse events were primarily selected based on importance. Outcome based systematic literature searches were performed for all identified vaccine-adverse event pairs and complemented by expert committee reports, evidence based decision support systems (e.g. Micromedex), and summaries of product characteristics. Classification into positive (PC) and negative control (NC) pairs was performed by two independent reviewers according to a pre-defined algorithm and discussed for consensus in case of disagreement. We selected 13 vaccines and 14 adverse events to be included in the reference set. From a total of 182 vaccine-adverse event pairs, we classified 18 as PC, 113 as NC and 51 as unclassifiable. Most classifications (91) were based on literature review, 45 were based on expert committee reports, and for 46 vaccine-adverse event pairs, an underlying pathomechanism was not plausible classifying the association as NC. A reference set of vaccine-adverse event pairs was developed. We propose its use for comparing signal detection methods and systems in the pediatric population. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Investigation of criticality safety control infraction data at a nuclear facility

DOE PAGES

Cournoyer, Michael E.; Merhege, James F.; Costa, David A.; ...

2014-10-27

Chemical and metallurgical operations involving plutonium and other nuclear materials account for most activities performed at the LANL's Plutonium Facility (PF-4). The presence of large quantities of fissile materials in numerous forms at PF-4 makes it necessary to maintain an active criticality safety program. The LANL Nuclear Criticality Safety (NCS) Program provides guidance to enable efficient operations while ensuring prevention of criticality accidents in the handling, storing, processing and transportation of fissionable material at PF-4. In order to achieve and sustain lower criticality safety control infraction (CSCI) rates, PF-4 operations are continuously improved, through the use of Lean Manufacturing andmore » Six Sigma (LSS) business practices. Employing LSS, statistically significant variations (trends) can be identified in PF-4 CSCI reports. In this study, trends have been identified in the NCS Program using the NCS Database. An output metric has been developed that measures ADPSM Management progress toward meeting its NCS objectives and goals. Using a Pareto Chart, the primary CSCI attributes have been determined in order of those requiring the most management support. Data generated from analysis of CSCI data help identify and reduce number of corresponding attributes. In-field monitoring of CSCI's contribute to an organization's scientific and technological excellence by providing information that can be used to improve criticality safety operation safety. This increases technical knowledge and augments operational safety.« less

Modeling of a Flooding Induced Station Blackout for a Pressurized Water Reactor Using the RISMC Toolkit

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

Mandelli, Diego; Prescott, Steven R; Smith, Curtis L

2011-07-01

In the Risk Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC) approach we want to understand not just the frequency of an event like core damage, but how close we are (or are not) to key safety-related events and how might we increase our safety margins. The RISMC Pathway uses the probabilistic margin approach to quantify impacts to reliability and safety by coupling both probabilistic (via stochastic simulation) and mechanistic (via physics models) approaches. This coupling takes place through the interchange of physical parameters and operational or accident scenarios. In this paper we apply the RISMC approach to evaluate the impact of amore » power uprate on a pressurized water reactor (PWR) for a tsunami-induced flooding test case. This analysis is performed using the RISMC toolkit: RELAP-7 and RAVEN codes. RELAP-7 is the new generation of system analysis codes that is responsible for simulating the thermal-hydraulic dynamics of PWR and boiling water reactor systems. RAVEN has two capabilities: to act as a controller of the RELAP-7 simulation (e.g., system activation) and to perform statistical analyses (e.g., run multiple RELAP-7 simulations where sequencing/timing of events have been changed according to a set of stochastic distributions). By using the RISMC toolkit, we can evaluate how power uprate affects the system recovery measures needed to avoid core damage after the PWR lost all available AC power by a tsunami induced flooding. The simulation of the actual flooding is performed by using a smooth particle hydrodynamics code: NEUTRINO.« less

In vitro evaluation of the Medtronic cardioplegia safety system.

PubMed

Trowbridge, C C; Woods, K R; Muhle, M L; Niimi, K S; Tremain, K D; Jiang, J; Stammers, A H

2000-03-01

Myocardial preservation demands the precise and accurate delivery of cardioplegic solutions to provide nutritive delivery and metabolic waste removal. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance characteristics of the Medtronic CSS Cardioplegia Safety System in an in vitro setting. The CSS was evaluated under the following conditions: blood to crystalloid ratios of 1:0, 1:1, 4:1, 8:1, 0:1; potassium concentrations of 10, 20, and 40 mEq L-1; volumetric delivery collection at 100, 250, 500, 750, and 990 mL/min; pressure accuracy at 100 and 300 mmHg; and system safety mechanisms. Measured and predicted values from the CSS were compared using one way ANOVA, with statistical significance accepted at p < or = 0.05. The measured values for the tested ratios and volume collections were all within the manufacturer's technical parameters. Potassium concentration results were all within expected values except at 100 mL/min, where the measured value of 17.1 +/- 2.1 mmol was lower than the expected 20.0 +/- 0.2 mmol (p < .034). As flow rates changed, the CSS line pressure error was constant (0.5 to 3.7%), and the only significant difference was observed at 100 mmHg, 500 mL/min (102.3 +/- 1.7 vs. 100.0 +/- 0.0 mmHg, P < .003). The device performed accurately and reliably under all simulated safety conditions, including bubble detection, over pressurization and battery backup. In conclusion, the performance of the CSS was within the manufacturer's specifications for the majority of the tested conditions and operated safely when challenged under varying conditions.

A randomized, controlled clinical study to investigate the safety and efficacy of acoustic wave therapy in body contouring.

PubMed

Nassar, Amer H; Dorizas, Andrew S; Shafai, Aria; Sadick, Neil S

2015-03-01

There is an increased demand for the reduction of localized adipose tissue by noninvasive methods. The objective of this study was to determine the safety and efficacy of noninvasive lipolysis of excess adiposities overlying the lateral thigh region using acoustic wave therapy (AWT). This study incorporates 2 mechanical waves with varying properties in the same session: radial and planar AWT. The treatment was performed using AWT on the lateral thigh areas of 15 female patients. The study was performed using the planar and radial pulse handpieces, with 8 sessions performed within 4 weeks. Follow-up visits were performed 1, 4, and 12 weeks after the last treatment. Reduction in both thigh circumference and subcutaneous fat layer thickness, measured through ultrasound, was observed. This study demonstrates that AWT is safe and efficacious for the treatment of localized adiposities in the saddlebag area. However, the results obtained were not statistically significant. Larger studies will be needed to further access the effects of AWT on thigh circumference reduction. Furthermore, the authors also found an improvement in the appearance of both cellulite and skin firmness after the treatments.

Patient safety: numerical skills and drug calculation abilities of nursing students and registered nurses.

PubMed

McMullan, Miriam; Jones, Ray; Lea, Susan

2010-04-01

This paper is a report of a correlational study of the relations of age, status, experience and drug calculation ability to numerical ability of nursing students and Registered Nurses. Competent numerical and drug calculation skills are essential for nurses as mistakes can put patients' lives at risk. A cross-sectional study was carried out in 2006 in one United Kingdom university. Validated numerical and drug calculation tests were given to 229 second year nursing students and 44 Registered Nurses attending a non-medical prescribing programme. The numeracy test was failed by 55% of students and 45% of Registered Nurses, while 92% of students and 89% of nurses failed the drug calculation test. Independent of status or experience, older participants (> or = 35 years) were statistically significantly more able to perform numerical calculations. There was no statistically significant difference between nursing students and Registered Nurses in their overall drug calculation ability, but nurses were statistically significantly more able than students to perform basic numerical calculations and calculations for solids, oral liquids and injections. Both nursing students and Registered Nurses were statistically significantly more able to perform calculations for solids, liquid oral and injections than calculations for drug percentages, drip and infusion rates. To prevent deskilling, Registered Nurses should continue to practise and refresh all the different types of drug calculations as often as possible with regular (self)-testing of their ability. Time should be set aside in curricula for nursing students to learn how to perform basic numerical and drug calculations. This learning should be reinforced through regular practice and assessment.

Unsteady Probabilistic Analysis of a Gas Turbine System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Marilyn

2003-01-01

In this work, we have considered an annular cascade configuration subjected to unsteady inflow conditions. The unsteady response calculation has been implemented into the time marching CFD code, MSUTURBO. The computed steady state results for the pressure distribution demonstrated good agreement with experimental data. We have computed results for the amplitudes of the unsteady pressure over the blade surfaces. With the increase in gas turbine engine structural complexity and performance over the past 50 years, structural engineers have created an array of safety nets to ensure against component failures in turbine engines. In order to reduce what is now considered to be excessive conservatism and yet maintain the same adequate margins of safety, there is a pressing need to explore methods of incorporating probabilistic design procedures into engine development. Probabilistic methods combine and prioritize the statistical distributions of each design variable, generate an interactive distribution and offer the designer a quantified relationship between robustness, endurance and performance. The designer can therefore iterate between weight reduction, life increase, engine size reduction, speed increase etc.

Safety of carotid endarterectomy while on clopidogrel (Plavix). Clinical article.

PubMed

Wait, Scott D; Abla, Adib A; Killory, Brendan D; Starke, Robert M; Spetzler, Robert F; Nakaji, Peter

2010-10-01

Many patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA) regularly take clopidogrel, a permanent platelet inhibitor. The authors sought to determine whether taking clopidogrel in the period before CEA leads to more bleeding or other complications. The authors performed a retrospective, institutional review board–approved review of 182 consecutive patients who underwent CEA. Clinical, radiographic, and surgical data were gleaned from hospital and clinic records. Analysis was based on the presence or absence of clopidogrel in patients undergoing CEA and was performed twice by considering clopidogrel use within 8 days and within 5 days of surgery to define the groups. Taking clopidogrel within 8 days before surgery resulted in no statistical increase in any measure of morbidity or death. Taking clopidogrel within 5 days was associated with a small but significant increase in operative blood loss and conservatively managed postoperative neck swelling. No measure of permanent morbidity or death was increased in either clopidogrel group. Findings in this study support the safety of preoperative clopidogrel in patients undergoing CEA.

Impact of travel patterns and driving behavior on crash involvement.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-07-21

This study was conducted to obtain statistically valid data on a variety of highway safety issues, such as attitudes toward drunk driving, use of safety belts and child safety seats, and to establish data regarding driving patterns. The study design ...

National evaluation of strategies to reduce safety violations for working from heights in construction companies: results from a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

van der Molen, Henk F; den Herder, Aalt; Warning, Jan; Frings-Dresen, Monique H W

2016-01-09

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a face-to-face strategy and a direct mail strategy on safety violations while working from heights among construction companies compared to a control condition. Construction companies with workers at risk for fall injuries were eligible for this three-armed randomized controlled trial. In total, 27 cities were randomly assigned to intervention groups-where eligible companies were given either a face-to-face guidance strategy or a direct mailing strategy with access to internet facilities-or to a control group. The primary outcomes were the number and type of safety violations recorded by labor inspectors after three months. A process evaluation for both strategies was performed to determine reach, program implementation, satisfaction, knowledge and perceived safety behavior. A cost analysis was performed to establish the financial costs for each intervention strategy. Analyses were done by intention to treat. In total, 41% (n = 88) of the companies eligible for the face-to-face intervention participated and 73% (n = 69) for direct mail. Intervention materials were delivered to 69 % (face-to-face group) and 100 % (direct mail group); completion of intervention activities within companies was low. Satisfaction, increase in knowledge, and safety behavior did not differ between the intervention groups. Costs for personal advice were 28% higher than for direct mail. Ultimately, nine intervention companies were captured in the 288 worksite measurements performed by the labor inspectorate. No statistical differences in mean number of safety violations (1.8-2.4) or penalties (72%-100%) were found between the intervention and control groups based on all worksite inspections. No conclusions about the effect of face-to-face and direct mail strategies on safety violations could be drawn due to the limited number of intervention companies captured in the primary outcome measurements. The costs for a face-to-face strategy are higher compared with a direct mail strategy. No difference in awareness and attitude for safe working was found between employers and workers between both strategies. NTR 4298 on 29-Nov-2013.

2009 rail safety statistics report : an analysis of safety data reported by state safety oversight agencies and rail transit agencies for the years 2003-2008

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-01-01

In calendar year 2008, the rail transit industry provided over 18.5 billion passenger : miles, a 5% increase from 2007 service numbers. Growth in ridership at the rail : transit agencies in the Federal Transit Administrations (FTA) State Safety Ov...

Recommendations for Clinical Pathology Data Generation, Interpretation, and Reporting in Target Animal Safety Studies for Veterinary Drug Development.

PubMed

Siska, William; Gupta, Aradhana; Tomlinson, Lindsay; Tripathi, Niraj; von Beust, Barbara

Clinical pathology testing is routinely performed in target animal safety studies in order to identify potential toxicity associated with administration of an investigational veterinary pharmaceutical product. Regulatory and other testing guidelines that address such studies provide recommendations for clinical pathology testing but occasionally contain outdated analytes and do not take into account interspecies physiologic differences that affect the practical selection of appropriate clinical pathology tests. Additionally, strong emphasis is often placed on statistical analysis and use of reference intervals for interpretation of test article-related clinical pathology changes, with limited attention given to the critical scientific review of clinically, toxicologically, or biologically relevant changes. The purpose of this communication from the Regulatory Affairs Committee of the American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology is to provide current recommendations for clinical pathology testing and data interpretation in target animal safety studies and thereby enhance the value of clinical pathology testing in these studies.

Corneal injury to ex vivo eyes exposed to a 3.8-micron laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fyffe, James G.; Randolph, Donald Q.; Winston, Golda C. H.; Johnson, Thomas E.

2005-04-01

As a consequence of the enormous expansion of laser use in medicine, industry and research, specific safety standards must be developed that appropriately address eye protection. The purpose of this study is to establish injury thresholds to the cornea for 3.8 micron 8 microsecond laser light pulses and to investigate a possible replacement model to live animal testing. Previous studies of pulsed energy absorption at 3.8 microns were performed using rhesus monkey cornea and were at pulse durations two orders of magnitude different than the 8 microsecond pulses used in this study. Ex-vivo pig eyes were exposed at varying energies and evaluated to establish the statistical threshold for corneal damage. Histology was used to determine the extent of damage to the cornea. It is expected that the results will be used to assist in the establishment of safety standards for laser use and offer an alternative to future animal use in establishment of safety standards.

University Safety Culture: A Work-in-Progress?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyons, Michael

2016-01-01

Safety management systems in Australian higher education organisations are under-researched. Limited workplace safety information can be found in the various reports on university human resources benchmarking programs, and typically they show only descriptive statistics. With the commencement of new consultation-focused regulations applying to…

Effects of patient safety culture interventions on incident reporting in general practice: a cluster randomised trial

PubMed Central

Verbakel, Natasha J; Langelaan, Maaike; Verheij, Theo JM; Wagner, Cordula; Zwart, Dorien LM

2015-01-01

Background A constructive safety culture is essential for the successful implementation of patient safety improvements. Aim To assess the effect of two patient safety culture interventions on incident reporting as a proxy of safety culture. Design and setting A three-arm cluster randomised trial was conducted in a mixed method study, studying the effect of administering a patient safety culture questionnaire (intervention I), the questionnaire complemented with a practice-based workshop (intervention II) and no intervention (control) in 30 general practices in the Netherlands. Method The primary outcome, the number of reported incidents, was measured with a questionnaire at baseline and a year after. Analysis was performed using a negative binomial model. Secondary outcomes were quality and safety indicators and safety culture. Mixed effects linear regression was used to analyse the culture questionnaires. Results The number of incidents increased in both intervention groups, to 82 and 224 in intervention I and II respectively. Adjusted for baseline number of incidents, practice size and accreditation status, the study showed that practices that additionally participated in the workshop reported 42 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 9.81 to 177.50) times more incidents compared to the control group. Practices that only completed the questionnaire reported 5 (95% CI = 1.17 to 25.49) times more incidents. There were no statistically significant differences in staff perception of patient safety culture at follow-up between the three study groups. Conclusion Educating staff and facilitating discussion about patient safety culture in their own practice leads to increased reporting of incidents. It is beneficial to invest in a team-wise effort to improve patient safety. PMID:25918337

Effects of patient safety culture interventions on incident reporting in general practice: a cluster randomised trial.

PubMed

Verbakel, Natasha J; Langelaan, Maaike; Verheij, Theo J M; Wagner, Cordula; Zwart, Dorien L M

2015-05-01

A constructive safety culture is essential for the successful implementation of patient safety improvements. To assess the effect of two patient safety culture interventions on incident reporting as a proxy of safety culture. A three-arm cluster randomised trial was conducted in a mixed method study, studying the effect of administering a patient safety culture questionnaire (intervention I), the questionnaire complemented with a practice-based workshop (intervention II) and no intervention (control) in 30 general practices in the Netherlands. The primary outcome, the number of reported incidents, was measured with a questionnaire at baseline and a year after. Analysis was performed using a negative binomial model. Secondary outcomes were quality and safety indicators and safety culture. Mixed effects linear regression was used to analyse the culture questionnaires. The number of incidents increased in both intervention groups, to 82 and 224 in intervention I and II respectively. Adjusted for baseline number of incidents, practice size and accreditation status, the study showed that practices that additionally participated in the workshop reported 42 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 9.81 to 177.50) times more incidents compared to the control group. Practices that only completed the questionnaire reported 5 (95% CI = 1.17 to 25.49) times more incidents. There were no statistically significant differences in staff perception of patient safety culture at follow-up between the three study groups. Educating staff and facilitating discussion about patient safety culture in their own practice leads to increased reporting of incidents. It is beneficial to invest in a team-wise effort to improve patient safety. © British Journal of General Practice 2015.

Statistical Performance Evaluation Of Soft Seat Pressure Relief Valves

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

Harris, Stephen P.; Gross, Robert E.

2013-03-26

Risk-based inspection methods enable estimation of the probability of failure on demand for spring-operated pressure relief valves at the United States Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina. This paper presents a statistical performance evaluation of soft seat spring operated pressure relief valves. These pressure relief valves are typically smaller and of lower cost than hard seat (metal to metal) pressure relief valves and can provide substantial cost savings in fluid service applications (air, gas, liquid, and steam) providing that probability of failure on demand (the probability that the pressure relief valve fails to perform its intendedmore » safety function during a potentially dangerous over pressurization) is at least as good as that for hard seat valves. The research in this paper shows that the proportion of soft seat spring operated pressure relief valves failing is the same or less than that of hard seat valves, and that for failed valves, soft seat valves typically have failure ratios of proof test pressure to set pressure less than that of hard seat valves.« less

Engineering evaluation of SSME dynamic data from engine tests and SSV flights

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1986-01-01

An engineering evaluation of dynamic data from SSME hot firing tests and SSV flights is summarized. The basic objective of the study is to provide analyses of vibration, strain and dynamic pressure measurements in support of MSFC performance and reliability improvement programs. A brief description of the SSME test program is given and a typical test evaluation cycle reviewed. Data banks generated to characterize SSME component dynamic characteristics are described and statistical analyses performed on these data base measurements are discussed. Analytical models applied to define the dynamic behavior of SSME components (such as turbopump bearing elements and the flight accelerometer safety cut-off system) are also summarized. Appendices are included to illustrate some typical tasks performed under this study.

Pavement markings and safety : tech transfer summary.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-11-01

Objective: This study explores the statistical relationship between crash occurrence probability and longitudinal pavement marking retroreflectivity. : Problem Statement: Previous research on pavement markings, from a safety perspective, tackled vari...

Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of a standardised intracameral combination of mydriatics and anaesthetics for cataract surgery

PubMed Central

Labetoulle, Marc; Findl, Oliver; Malecaze, François; Alió, Jorge; Cochener, Béatrice; Lobo, Conceição; Lazreg, Sihem; Hartani, Dahbia; Colin, Joseph; Tassignon, Marie-José; Behndig, Anders

2016-01-01

Background/aims To compare the efficacy and safety of intracameral (IC) administration at the beginning of cataract surgery, of Mydrane, a standardised ophthalmic combination of tropicamide 0.02%, phenylephrine 0.31% and lidocaine 1%, to a standard topical regimen. Methods In this international phase III, prospective, randomised study, the selected eye of 555 patients undergoing phacoemulsification with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation received 200 μL of Mydrane (Mydrane group) just after the first incision or a topical regimen of one drop each of tropicamide 0.5% and phenylephrine 10% repeated three times (reference group). The primary efficacy variable was achievement of capsulorhexis without additional mydriatics. The non-inferiority of Mydrane to the topical regimen was tested. The main outcome measures were pupil size, patient perception of ocular discomfort and safety. Results Capsulorhexis without additional mydriatics was performed in 98.9% of patients and 94.7% in the Mydrane and reference groups, respectively. Both groups achieved adequate mydriasis (>7 mm) during capsulorhexis, phacoemulsification and IOL insertion. IOL insertion was classified as ‘routine’ in a statistically greater number of eyes in the Mydrane group compared with the reference group (p=0.047). Patients in the Mydrane group reported statistically greater comfort than the reference group before IOL insertion (p=0.034). Safety data were similar between groups. Conclusions Mydrane is an effective and safe alternative to standard eye drops for initiating and maintaining intraoperative mydriasis and analgesia. Patients who received IC Mydrane were significantly more comfortable before IOL insertion than the reference group. Surgeons found IOL insertion less technically challenging with IC Mydrane. Trial registration number NCT02101359; Results. PMID:26531052

Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of a standardised intracameral combination of mydriatics and anaesthetics for cataract surgery.

PubMed

Labetoulle, Marc; Findl, Oliver; Malecaze, François; Alió, Jorge; Cochener, Béatrice; Lobo, Conceição; Lazreg, Sihem; Hartani, Dahbia; Colin, Joseph; Tassignon, Marie-José; Behndig, Anders

2016-07-01

To compare the efficacy and safety of intracameral (IC) administration at the beginning of cataract surgery, of Mydrane, a standardised ophthalmic combination of tropicamide 0.02%, phenylephrine 0.31% and lidocaine 1%, to a standard topical regimen. In this international phase III, prospective, randomised study, the selected eye of 555 patients undergoing phacoemulsification with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation received 200 μL of Mydrane (Mydrane group) just after the first incision or a topical regimen of one drop each of tropicamide 0.5% and phenylephrine 10% repeated three times (reference group). The primary efficacy variable was achievement of capsulorhexis without additional mydriatics. The non-inferiority of Mydrane to the topical regimen was tested. The main outcome measures were pupil size, patient perception of ocular discomfort and safety. Capsulorhexis without additional mydriatics was performed in 98.9% of patients and 94.7% in the Mydrane and reference groups, respectively. Both groups achieved adequate mydriasis (>7 mm) during capsulorhexis, phacoemulsification and IOL insertion. IOL insertion was classified as 'routine' in a statistically greater number of eyes in the Mydrane group compared with the reference group (p=0.047). Patients in the Mydrane group reported statistically greater comfort than the reference group before IOL insertion (p=0.034). Safety data were similar between groups. Mydrane is an effective and safe alternative to standard eye drops for initiating and maintaining intraoperative mydriasis and analgesia. Patients who received IC Mydrane were significantly more comfortable before IOL insertion than the reference group. Surgeons found IOL insertion less technically challenging with IC Mydrane. NCT02101359; Results. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

The Kaiser Permanente implant registries: effect on patient safety, quality improvement, cost effectiveness, and research opportunities.

PubMed

Paxton, Elizabeth W; Inacio, Maria Cs; Kiley, Mary-Lou

2012-01-01

Considering the high cost, volume, and patient safety issues associated with medical devices, monitoring of medical device performance is critical to ensure patient safety and quality of care. The purpose of this article is to describe the Kaiser Permanente (KP) implant registries and to highlight the benefits of these implant registries on patient safety, quality, cost effectiveness, and research. Eight KP implant registries leverage the integrated health care system's administrative databases and electronic health records system. Registry data collected undergo quality control and validation as well as statistical analysis. Patient safety has been enhanced through identification of affected patients during major recalls, identification of risk factors associated with outcomes of interest, development of risk calculators, and surveillance programs for infections and adverse events. Effective quality improvement activities included medical center- and surgeon-specific profiles for use in benchmarking reports, and changes in practice related to registry information output. Among the cost-effectiveness strategies employed were collaborations with sourcing and contracting groups, and assistance in adherence to formulary device guidelines. Research studies using registry data included postoperative complications, resource utilization, infection risk factors, thromboembolic prophylaxis, effects of surgical delay on concurrent injuries, and sports injury patterns. The unique KP implant registries provide important information and affect several areas of our organization, including patient safety, quality improvement, cost-effectiveness, and research.

2000 Iowa crash facts : a summary of motor vehicle crash statistics on Iowa roadways

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-01-01

All statistics are gathered and calculated by the Iowa Department of Transportations Office of Driver Services. National statistics : are obtained from Traffic Safety Facts 2000 published by the U.S. Department of Transportations National...

76 FR 71076 - Proposed Collection, Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-16

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Bureau of Labor Statistics Proposed Collection, Comment Request ACTION: Notice... requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments on the proposed extension of the ``BLS Occupational Safety and Health Statistics (OSHS...

Child Labor: Labor Can Strengthen Its Efforts To Protect Children Who Work. Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

General Accounting Office, Washington, DC.

Occupational safety and health data and labor statistics were evaluated in order to update a 1991 report on child labor. Data were from the Bureau of Labor Statistics; Department of Health and Human Services; National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH); the Department of Labor's (DOL's) investigations database and individual…

Implementation of a novel taxonomy based on cognitive work analysis in the assessment of safety performance.

PubMed

Niskanen, Toivo

2017-12-12

The aim of this study was to examine how the developed taxonomy of cognitive work analysis (CWA) can be applied in combination with statistical analysis regarding different sociotechnical categories. This study applied a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Workers (n = 120) and managers (n = 85) in the chemical industry were asked in a questionnaire how different occupational safety and health (OSH) measures were being implemented. The exploration of the qualitative CWA taxonomy consisted of an analysis of the following topics: (a) work domain; (b) control task; (c) strategies; (d) social organization and cooperation; (e) worker competencies. The following hypotheses were supported - activities of the management had positive impacts on the aggregated variables: near-accident investigation and instructions (H 1 ); OSH training (H 2 ); operations, technical processes and safe use of chemicals (H 3 ); use of personal protective equipment (H 4 ); measuring, follow-up and prevention of major accidents (H 5 ). The CWA taxonomy was applied in mixed methods when testing H 1 -H 5 . A special approach is to analyze the work demands of complex sociotechnical systems with the taxonomy of CWA. In problem-solving, the CWA taxonomy should seek to capitalize on the strengths and minimize the limitations of safety performance.

Atmospheric effects on laser eye safety and damage to instrumentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zilberman, Arkadi; Kopeika, Natan S.

2017-10-01

Electro-optical sensors as well as unprotected human eyes are extremely sensitive to laser radiation and can be permanently damaged from direct or reflected beams. Laser detector/eye hazard depends on the interaction between the laser beam and the media in which it traverses. The environmental conditions including terrain features, atmospheric particulate and water content, and turbulence, may alter the laser's effect on the detector/eye. It is possible to estimate the performance of an electro-optical system as long as the atmospheric propagation of the laser beam can be adequately modeled. More recent experiments and modeling of atmospheric optics phenomena such as inner scale effect, aperture averaging, atmospheric attenuation in NIR-SWIR, and Cn2 modeling justify an update of previous eye/detector safety modeling. In the present work, the influence of the atmospheric channel on laser safety for personnel and instrumentation is shown on the basis of theoretical and experimental data of laser irradiance statistics for different atmospheric conditions. A method for evaluating the probability of damage and hazard distances associated with the use of laser systems in a turbulent atmosphere operating in the visible and NIR-SWIR portions of the electromagnetic spectrum is presented. It can be used as a performance prediction model for directed energy engagement of ground-based or air-based systems.

Patient safety culture and job stress among nurses in Mazandaran, Iran.

PubMed

Asefzadeh, Saeed; Kalhor, Rohollah; Tir, Mohammad

2017-12-01

Paying attention to patient safety is a basic right and a necessary issue in providing medical care, and failure to observe it leads to irreparable damage. One of the factors affecting an individuals' performance in an organization is stress, which also endangers their health. To determine the relationship between patient safety culture and levels of job stress among the nurses working in the hospitals affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. The present study was carried out using a cross-sectional method in the hospitals affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in 2016. A multistage stratified sampling method using a Morgan Table was employed to select 380 nurses as the study sample from among 3,180 nurses. They were selected by a multistage stratified sampling method. The study instruments were Stinemetz Standard Job Stress Questionnaire and Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC). After the required data were collected, they were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods (Pearson correlation, independent-samples t-test, and ANOVA) through SPSS version 23. The results of the present study showed that 75% of the nurses experienced average and high levels of stress. Among different dimensions of safety culture, organizational learning and handoffs and transitions obtained the highest and the lowest scores, respectively (72.5 and 24.5). The mean score of safety culture dimensions was 51.52. The results of the Pearson correlation test showed that there was a direct significant relationship between different dimensions of safety culture among nurses and the level of stress (p≤0.05). According to the findings, patient safety should be considered as a strategic priority for the senior managers of the health system. In order to enhance patient safety, managers should pay special attention to evaluating safety culture in organizations that deliver health service, especially hospitals.

An Examination of Commercial Motor Vehicle Hours of Service Safety Regulation

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

enough data for a statistical analysis of its effects on truck driver safety. This research found that by comparing truck driving safety data prior...impact on the commercial motor vehicle industry. Research has demonstrated how fatigue leads to increased accident rates by decreasing reaction time

Patient Safety Culture in Intensive Care Units from the Perspective of Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study.

PubMed

Farzi, Sedigheh; Moladoost, Azam; Bahrami, Masoud; Farzi, Saba; Etminani, Reza

2017-01-01

One of the goals of nursing is providing safe care, prevention of injury, and health promotion of patients. Patient safety in intensive care units is threatened for various reasons. This study aimed to survey patient safety culture from the perspective of nurses in intensive care units. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016. Sampling was done using the convenience method. The sample consisted of 367 nurses working in intensive care units of teaching hospitals affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Data collection was performed using a two-part questionnaire that included demographic and hospital survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) questionnaire. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation). Among the 12 dimensions of safety culture, the nurses assigned the highest score to "team work within units" (97.3%) and "Organizational learning-continuous improvement" (84%). They assigned the least score to "handoffs and transitions"(21.1%), "non-punitive response to errors" (24.7%), "Staffing" (35.6%), "Communication openness" (47.5%), and "Teamwork across units" (49.4%). The patient safety culture dimensions have low levels that require adequate attention and essential measures of health care centers including facilitating teamwork, providing adequate staff, and developing a checklist of handoffs and transitions. Furthermore, to increase reporting error and to promote a patient safety culture in intensive care units, some strategies should be adopted including a system-based approach to deal with the error.

Safety and efficacy of rivaroxaban compared with warfarin in patients undergoing peripheral arterial procedures.

PubMed

Talukdar, Anjan; Wang, S Keisin; Czosnowski, Lauren; Mokraoui, Nassim; Gupta, Alok; Fajardo, Andres; Dalsing, Michael; Motaganahalli, Raghu

2017-10-01

Rivaroxaban is a United States Food and Drug Administration-approved oral anticoagulant for venous thromboembolic disease; however, there is no information regarding the safety and its efficacy to support its use in patients after open or endovascular arterial interventions. We report the safety and efficacy of rivaroxaban vs warfarin in patients undergoing peripheral arterial interventions. This single-institution retrospective study analyzed all sequential patients from December 2012 to August 2014 (21 months) who were prescribed rivaroxaban or warfarin after a peripheral arterial procedure. Our study population was then compared using American College of Chest Physicians guidelines with patients then stratified as low, medium, or high risk for bleeding complications. Statistical analyses were performed using the Student t-test and χ 2 test to compare demographics, readmissions because of bleeding, and the need for secondary interventions. Logistic regression models were used for analysis of variables associated with bleeding complications and secondary interventions. The Fisher exact test was used for power analysis. There were 44 patients in the rivaroxaban group and 50 patients in the warfarin group. Differences between demographics and risk factors for bleeding between groups or reintervention rate were not statistically significant (P = .297). However, subgroup evaluation of the safety profile suggests that patients who were aged ≤65 years and on warfarin had an overall higher incidence of major bleeding (P = .020). Patients who were aged >65 years, undergoing open operation, had a significant risk for reintervention (P = .047) when they received rivaroxaban. Real-world experience using rivaroxaban and warfarin in patients after peripheral arterial procedures suggests a comparable safety and efficacy profile. Subgroup analysis of those requiring an open operation demonstrated a decreased bleeding risk when rivaroxaban was used (in those aged <65 years) but an increased risk for secondary interventions. Further studies with a larger cohort are required to validate our results. Copyright © 2017 Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Results of operation and current safety performance of nuclear facilities located in the Russian Federation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuznetsov, V. M.; Khvostova, M. S.

2016-12-01

After the NPP radiation accidents in Russia and Japan, a safety statu of Russian nuclear power plants causes concern. A repeated life time extension of power unit reactor plants, designed at the dawn of the nuclear power engineering in the Soviet Union, power augmentation of the plants to 104-109%, operation of power units in a daily power mode in the range of 100-70-100%, the use of untypical for NPP remixed nuclear fuel without a careful study of the results of its application (at least after two operating periods of the research nuclear installations), the aging of operating personnel, and many other management actions of the State Corporation "Rosatom", should attract the attention of the Federal Service for Ecological, Technical and Atomic Supervision (RosTekhNadzor), but this doesn't happen. The paper considers safety issues of nuclear power plants operating in the Russian Federation. The authors collected statistical information on violations in NPP operation over the past 25 years, which shows that even after repeated relaxation over this period of time of safety regulation requirements in nuclear industry and highly expensive NPP modernization, the latter have not become more safe, and the statistics confirms this. At a lower utilization factor high-power pressure-tube reactors RBMK-1000, compared to light water reactors VVER-440 and 1000, have a greater number of violations and that after annual overhauls. A number of direct and root causes of NPP mulfunctions is still high and remains stable for decades. The paper reveals bottlenecks in ensuring nuclear and radiation safety of nuclear facilities. Main outstanding issues on the storage of spent nuclear fuel are defined. Information on emissions and discharges of radioactive substances, as well as fullness of storages of solid and liquid radioactive waste, located at the NPP sites are presented. Russian NPPs stress test results are submitted, as well as data on the coming removal from operation of NPP units is analyzed.

Injuries Associated With Hazards Involving Motor Vehicle Batteries

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-07-01

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) National Center for : Statistics recently examined data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission's : (CPSC) National Electronic Injury Surveillance (NEISS) on cases involving : injuries burn...

The Efficacy and Safety of Mainstream Medications for Patients With cDMARD-Naïve Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Network Meta-Analysis.

PubMed

Cai, Weiyan; Gu, Youyi; Cui, Huanqin; Cao, Yinyin; Wang, Xiaoliang; Yao, Yi; Wang, Mingyu

2018-01-01

Background: The mainstream medications for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) include conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (cDMARDs), which mostly are methotrexate (MTX), and biologic agents such as adalimumab (ADA), certolizumab (CZP), etanercept (ETN), golimumab (GOL), infliximab (IFX), and tocilizumab (TCZ). This network meta-analysis was aimed at evaluating the efficacy and safety of the medications above and interventions combining cDMARDs and biologic agents for patients with RA. Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched systematically for eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Outcomes concerning efficacy and safety were evaluated utilizing odds ratios (ORs) and 95% credible intervals ( CrI ). The outcomes of efficacy would be evaluated through remission and American College of Rheumatology (ACR) scores. The surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) was calculated to rank each treatment on each index. Results: A total of 20 RCTs with 9,047 patients were included, and the efficacy and safety of the concerning interventions for RA were evaluated. Compared with cDMARDs alone, TCZ+MTX, ETN+MTX, IFX+MTX, TCZ, and ADA+MTX showed significant statistical advantage on ACR20, ACR50, and ACR70. Apart from that, as for remission, TCZ+MTX, IFX+MTX, TCZ, and CZP+MTX performed better compared to cDMARDs alone. The SUCRA ranking also indicated that TCZ+MTX was the intervention with best ranking in the entire four efficacy indexes followed by ETX+MTX and IFX+MTX. However, there was no obvious difference among these medications compared with cDMARDs when it comes to safety, which need more specific studies on that. Conclusion: TCZ+MTX was potentially the most recommended combination of medications for RA due to its good performance in all outcomes of efficacy. ETX+MTX and IFX+MTX, which also performed well, could be introduced as alternative treatments. However, considering the adverse events, the treatments concerning should be introduced with caution.

Application of Bayesian informative priors to enhance the transferability of safety performance functions.

PubMed

Farid, Ahmed; Abdel-Aty, Mohamed; Lee, Jaeyoung; Eluru, Naveen

2017-09-01

Safety performance functions (SPFs) are essential tools for highway agencies to predict crashes, identify hotspots and assess safety countermeasures. In the Highway Safety Manual (HSM), a variety of SPFs are provided for different types of roadway facilities, crash types and severity levels. Agencies, lacking the necessary resources to develop own localized SPFs, may opt to apply the HSM's SPFs for their jurisdictions. Yet, municipalities that want to develop and maintain their regional SPFs might encounter the issue of the small sample bias. Bayesian inference is being conducted to address this issue by combining the current data with prior information to achieve reliable results. It follows that the essence of Bayesian statistics is the application of informative priors, obtained from other SPFs or experts' experiences. In this study, we investigate the applicability of informative priors for Bayesian negative binomial SPFs for rural divided multilane highway segments in Florida and California. An SPF with non-informative priors is developed for each state and its parameters' distributions are assigned to the other state's SPF as informative priors. The performances of SPFs are evaluated by applying each state's SPFs to the other state. The analysis is conducted for both total (KABCO) and severe (KAB) crashes. As per the results, applying one state's SPF with informative priors, which are the other state's SPF independent variable estimates, to the latter state's conditions yields better goodness of fit (GOF) values than applying the former state's SPF with non-informative priors to the conditions of the latter state. This is for both total and severe crash SPFs. Hence, for localities where it is not preferred to develop own localized SPFs and adopt SPFs from elsewhere to cut down on resources, application of informative priors is shown to facilitate the process. Copyright © 2017 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Nursing professionals and health care assistants' perception of patient safety culture in the operating room].

PubMed

Bernalte-Martí, Vicente; Orts-Cortés, María Isabel; Maciá-Soler, Loreto

2015-01-01

To assess nursing professionals and health care assistants' perceptions, opinions and behaviours on patient safety culture in the operating room of a public hospital of the Spanish National Health Service. To describe strengths and weaknesses or opportunities for improvement according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality criteria, as well as to determine the number of events reported. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted using the Spanish version of the questionnaire Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. The sample consisted of nursing professionals, who agreed to participate voluntarily in this study and met the selection criteria. A descriptive and inferential analysis was performed depending on the nature of the variables and the application conditions of statistical tests. Significance if p < .05. In total, 74 nursing professionals responded (63.2%). No strengths were found in the operating theatre, and improvements are needed concerning staffing (64.0%), and hospital management support for patient safety (52.9%). A total of 52.3% (n = 65) gave patient safety a score from 7 to 8.99 (on a 10 point scale); 79.7% (n = 72) reported no events last year. The total variance explained by the regression model was 0.56 for "Frequency of incident reporting" and 0.26 for "Overall perception of safety". There was a more positive perception of patient safety culture at unit level. Weaknesses have been identified, and they can be used to design specific intervention activities to improve patient safety culture in other nearby operating theatres. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

[Relationship between perceptions of safety climate at workplace and depressive disorders in manufacturing workers].

PubMed

Liu, Xu-hua; Xiao, Ya-ni; Huang, Zhi-xiong; Huang, Shao-bin; Cao, Xiao-ou; Guan, Dong-bo; Chen, Wei-qing

2013-04-01

To investigate the risk factors for depressive disorders in manufacturing workers and to provide a basis for developing health promotion measures at workplace. A questionnaire survey was performed in 8085 front-line production workers from 33 manufacturing enterprises in Nanhai District of Foshan, Guangdong Province, China. The questionnaire contained a survey of demographic characteristics, the Safety Climate Scale, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, etc. The multilevel logistic regression analysis was applied to investigate the risk factors for depressive disorders in workers. A total of 6260 workers completed the survey; their mean age was 31.1 ± 8.6 years, and 53.2% of them were males. The multilevel logistic regression analysis showed that after adjustment for sociodemographic factors such as age, sex, and martial status, more depressive disorders were reported in the enterprises with higher score of "production safety training" than in those with lower score (OR = 1.46, 95%CI = 1.07 ∼ 1.97); fewer depressive disorders were reported in the enterprises with higher score of "colleagues concerned about production safety" than in those with lower score (OR = 0.08, 95%CI = 0.03 ∼ 0.26); the relationships of "safety warnings and precautions" and "managers concerned about production safety" with workers' depressive disorders were not statistically significant (OR = 0.78, 95%CI = 0.48 ∼ 1.28; OR = 1.08, 95%CI = 0.68 ∼ 1.72). Depressive disorders in manufacturing workers are related to the safety climate at workplace, which indicates that a good safety climate at workplace should be created to prevent and control depressive disorders in workers.

Food safety attitudes in college students: a structural equation modeling analysis of a conceptual model.

PubMed

Booth, Rachelle; Hernandez, Magaly; Baker, Erica L; Grajales, Tevni; Pribis, Peter

2013-01-30

College students are one of the most at-risk population groups for food poisoning, due to risky food safety behaviors. Using the Likert Scale, undergraduate students were asked to participate in a Food Safety Survey which was completed by 499 students ages 18-25. Data was analyzed using SPSS and AMOS statistical software. Four conceptual definitions regarding food safety were defined as: general food safety, bacterial food safety, produce food safety, and politics associated with food safety. Knowledge seems to be an important factor in shaping students attitudes regarding general and bacterial safety. Ethnicity plays a role in how people view the politics of food safety, and the safety of organic foods.

Application of the Conway-Maxwell-Poisson generalized linear model for analyzing motor vehicle crashes.

PubMed

Lord, Dominique; Guikema, Seth D; Geedipally, Srinivas Reddy

2008-05-01

This paper documents the application of the Conway-Maxwell-Poisson (COM-Poisson) generalized linear model (GLM) for modeling motor vehicle crashes. The COM-Poisson distribution, originally developed in 1962, has recently been re-introduced by statisticians for analyzing count data subjected to over- and under-dispersion. This innovative distribution is an extension of the Poisson distribution. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the application of the COM-Poisson GLM for analyzing motor vehicle crashes and compare the results with the traditional negative binomial (NB) model. The comparison analysis was carried out using the most common functional forms employed by transportation safety analysts, which link crashes to the entering flows at intersections or on segments. To accomplish the objectives of the study, several NB and COM-Poisson GLMs were developed and compared using two datasets. The first dataset contained crash data collected at signalized four-legged intersections in Toronto, Ont. The second dataset included data collected for rural four-lane divided and undivided highways in Texas. Several methods were used to assess the statistical fit and predictive performance of the models. The results of this study show that COM-Poisson GLMs perform as well as NB models in terms of GOF statistics and predictive performance. Given the fact the COM-Poisson distribution can also handle under-dispersed data (while the NB distribution cannot or has difficulties converging), which have sometimes been observed in crash databases, the COM-Poisson GLM offers a better alternative over the NB model for modeling motor vehicle crashes, especially given the important limitations recently documented in the safety literature about the latter type of model.

The value and safety of specific nasal provocation in the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis in mild persistent asthma under inhaled steroid therapy.

PubMed

Tuskan, Tansu Cengiz; Gemicioglu, Bilun; Ikitimur, Hande; Yilmaz, Nail; Tuskan, Kemal; Oz, Ferhan; Can, Gunay

2010-01-01

Although specific nasal provocation is an objective diagnostic test for allergic rhinitis, it can also increase the lower airway responsiveness in asthmatic patients. Our goal was to determine the value and safety of specific nasal provocation test for the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis in mild persistent asthmatic patients under low-dose inhaled steroid therapy. The study was performed on 32 mild persistent, stable, mite-sensitive allergic asthmatics (group 1), 9 mild persistent nonallergic asthmatics (group 2) and 9 healthy non-smokers (group 3). Nasal symptoms were noted, paranasal sinus computerized tomography (PNCT) and rhinoscopic evaluations were performed. Cases with pathologic-anatomic changes in PNCT and rhinoscopy were excluded. Symptom scoring, flow-volume, peak expiratory flow (PEF), serum and nasal lavage eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) and nasal lavage eosinophil counts were performed before mite specific nasal provocation test and at the 0th, 4th and 24th hours following the test. No adverse effects were observed in all diagnostic procedures. Total diagnostic value of nasal symptoms were found to be at 92%, while being 70% for rhinoscopy and 88% for specific nasal provocation test respectively in the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis in group 1. Statistically significant differences were found between basal nasal lavage eosinophil values (p < 0.001) and ECP levels (p < 0.05) when group 1 was compared with both group 2 and group 3. In the remaining measured values between three groups, no statistically significant differences were found. Specific nasal provocation test is a safe method for mild house dust mite allergic asthma cases under low-dose inhaled steroid therapy, but history of rhinitis might be sufficient for the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis.

Development of a conceptual integrated traffic safety problem identification database

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-12-01

The project conceptualized a traffic safety risk management information system and statistical database for improved problem-driver identification, countermeasure development, and resource allocation. The California Department of Motor Vehicles Drive...

Calibration of the Louisiana Highway Safety Manual : Research Project Capsule

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-10-01

Louisiana consistently ranks near the : bottom in national statistics regarding : highway safety, particularly traffi c crash : related fatalities. To counter these conditions, the Louisiana Department of : Transportation and Development (LADOTD) has...

Transportation Safety Information Report : 1988 annual summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1989-12-01

The Report is a compendium of selected national-level transportation safety statistics for all modes of transportation and for multimodal transportation of hazardous materials. The report presents and compares data for transportation fatalities, acci...

Injuries Associated With Hazards Involving Motor Vehicle Power Windows

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-05-01

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) National Center for : Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) recently completed a study of data from the : Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) National Electronic Injury : Surveillance System (...

Specific features of goal setting in road traffic safety

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolesov, V. I.; Danilov, O. F.; Petrov, A. I.

2017-10-01

Road traffic safety (RTS) management is inherently a branch of cybernetics and therefore requires clear formalization of the task. The paper aims at identification of the specific features of goal setting in RTS management under the system approach. The paper presents the results of cybernetic modeling of the cause-to-effect mechanism of a road traffic accident (RTA); in here, the mechanism itself is viewed as a complex system. A designed management goal function is focused on minimizing the difficulty in achieving the target goal. Optimization of the target goal has been performed using the Lagrange principle. The created working algorithms have passed the soft testing. The key role of the obtained solution in the tactical and strategic RTS management is considered. The dynamics of the management effectiveness indicator has been analyzed based on the ten-year statistics for Russia.

Automated validation of patient safety clinical incident classification: macro analysis.

PubMed

Gupta, Jaiprakash; Patrick, Jon

2013-01-01

Patient safety is the buzz word in healthcare. Incident Information Management System (IIMS) is electronic software that stores clinical mishaps narratives in places where patients are treated. It is estimated that in one state alone over one million electronic text documents are available in IIMS. In this paper we investigate the data density available in the fields entered to notify an incident and the validity of the built in classification used by clinician to categories the incidents. Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA) software was used to test the classes. Four statistical classifier based on J48, Naïve Bayes (NB), Naïve Bayes Multinominal (NBM) and Support Vector Machine using radial basis function (SVM_RBF) algorithms were used to validate the classes. The data pool was 10,000 clinical incidents drawn from 7 hospitals in one state in Australia. In first part of the study 1000 clinical incidents were selected to determine type and number of fields worth investigating and in the second part another 5448 clinical incidents were randomly selected to validate 13 clinical incident types. Result shows 74.6% of the cells were empty and only 23 fields had content over 70% of the time. The percentage correctly classified classes on four algorithms using categorical dataset ranged from 42 to 49%, using free-text datasets from 65% to 77% and using both datasets from 72% to 79%. Kappa statistic ranged from 0.36 to 0.4. for categorical data, from 0.61 to 0.74. for free-text and from 0.67 to 0.77 for both datasets. Similar increases in performance in the 3 experiments was noted on true positive rate, precision, F-measure and area under curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristics (ROC) scores. The study demonstrates only 14 of 73 fields in IIMS have data that is usable for machine learning experiments. Irrespective of the type of algorithms used when all datasets are used performance was better. Classifier NBM showed best performance. We think the classifier can be improved further by reclassifying the most confused classes and there is scope to apply text mining tool on patient safety classifications.

A phase III, randomized, double-blind, matched-pairs, active-controlled clinical trial and preclinical animal study to compare the durability, efficacy and safety between polynucleotide filler and hyaluronic acid filler in the correction of crow's feet: a new concept of regenerative filler.

PubMed

Pak, Chang Sik; Lee, Jongho; Lee, Hobin; Jeong, Jaehoon; Kim, Eun-Hee; Jeong, Jinwook; Choi, Hyeyeon; Kim, Byunghwi; Oh, Sujin; Kim, Iksoo; Heo, Chan Yeong

2014-11-01

The Rejuran® is a new filler product made from purified polynucleotides. Here we present data from an animal study and a clinical trial to examine the durability, efficacy and safety of the Rejuran® on crow's feet. For the animal study, 25 mice were divided into three groups: Group 1 received phosphate buffered saline (PBS); Group 2 were treated with Yvoire®; and Group 3 were treated with Rejuran®. The durability and efficacy of each treatment were assessed by microscopy and staining. In the clinical trial, 72 patients were randomized to receive Rejuran® treatment for crow's feet on one side and Yvoire-Hydro® on the contralateral side, at a ratio of 1:1. Repeated treatments were performed every two weeks for a total of three times, over a total of 12 weeks' observation. All injections and observations of efficacy and safety were performed by the same two investigators. In the animal study, the Rejuran® group showed similar durability and inflammatory response to the Yvoire® group. Upon efficacy assessment, the Rejuran® group showed the greatest elasticity and collagen composition, and a significant difference in skin surface roughness and wrinkle depth. In the clinical trial, the primary and secondary objective efficacy outcome measure showed no statistical significance between the two groups, and in safety outcomes there were no unexpected adverse effects. Our data suggest that the Rejuran®, as a new regenerative filler, can be useful to reduce wrinkles, by showing evidence for its efficacy and safety.

Railroad safety program, task 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1983-01-01

Aspects of railroad safety and the preparation of a National Inspection Plan (NIP) for rail safety improvement are examined. Methodology for the allocation of inspection resources, preparation of a NIP instruction manual, and recommendations for future NIP, are described. A statistical analysis of regional rail accidents is presented with causes and suggested preventive measures included.

Improved processes for meeting the data requirements for implementing the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) and Safety Analyst in Florida : [summary].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-03-01

Similar to an ill patient, road safety issues can : also be diagnosed, if the right tools are available. : Statistics on roadway incidents can locate areas : that have a high rate of incidents and require : a solution, such as better signage, lightin...

Barriers to Safety Event Reporting in an Academic Radiology Department: Authority Gradients and Other Human Factors.

PubMed

Siewert, Bettina; Swedeen, Suzanne; Brook, Olga R; Eisenberg, Ronald L; Hochman, Mary

2018-05-15

Purpose To investigate barriers to reporting safety concerns in an academic radiology department and to evaluate the role of human factors, including authority gradients, as potential barriers to safety concern reporting. Materials and Methods In this institutional review board-approved, HIPAA-compliant retrospective study, an online questionnaire link was emailed four times to all radiology department staff members (n = 648) at a tertiary care institution. Survey questions included frequency of speaking up about safety concerns, perceived barriers to speaking up, and the annual number of safety concerns that respondents were unsuccessful in reporting. Respondents' sex, role in the department, and length of employment were recorded. Statistical analysis was performed with the Fisher exact test. Results The survey was completed by 363 of the 648 employees (56%). Of those 363 employees, 182 (50%) reported always speaking up about safety concerns, 134 (37%) reported speaking up most of the time, 36 (10%) reported speaking up sometimes, seven (2%) reported rarely speaking up, and four (1%) reported never speaking up. Thus, 50% of employees spoke up about safety concerns less than 100% of the time. The most frequently reported barriers to speaking up included high reporting threshold (69%), reluctance to challenge someone in authority (67%), fear of disrespect (53%), and lack of listening (52%). Conclusion Of employees in a large academic radiology department, 50% do not attain 100% reporting of safety events. The most common human barriers to speaking up are high reporting threshold, reluctance to challenge authority, fear of disrespect, and lack of listening, which suggests that existing authority gradients interfere with full reporting of safety concerns. © RSNA, 2018.

Statistical, epidemiological, and risk-assessment approaches to evaluating safety of vaccines throughout the life cycle at the Food and Drug Administration.

PubMed

Ball, Robert; Horne, Dale; Izurieta, Hector; Sutherland, Andrea; Walderhaug, Mark; Hsu, Henry

2011-05-01

The public health community faces increasing demands for improving vaccine safety while simultaneously increasing the number of vaccines available to prevent infectious diseases. The passage of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Amendment Act of 2007 formalized the concept of life-cycle management of the risks and benefits of vaccines, from early clinical development through many years of use in large numbers of people. Harnessing scientific and technologic advances is necessary to improve vaccine-safety evaluation. The Office of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research is working to improve the FDA's ability to monitor vaccine safety by improving statistical, epidemiologic, and risk-assessment methods, gaining access to new sources of data, and exploring the use of genomics data. In this article we describe the current approaches, new resources, and future directions that the FDA is taking to improve the evaluation of vaccine safety.

Systems Analysis of NASA Aviation Safety Program: Final Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Sharon M.; Reveley, Mary S.; Withrow, Colleen A.; Evans, Joni K.; Barr, Lawrence; Leone, Karen

2013-01-01

A three-month study (February to April 2010) of the NASA Aviation Safety (AvSafe) program was conducted. This study comprised three components: (1) a statistical analysis of currently available civilian subsonic aircraft data from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) system to identify any significant or overlooked aviation safety issues; (2) a high-level qualitative identification of future safety risks, with an assessment of the potential impact of the NASA AvSafe research on the National Airspace System (NAS) based on these risks; and (3) a detailed, top-down analysis of the NASA AvSafe program using an established and peer-reviewed systems analysis methodology. The statistical analysis identified the top aviation "tall poles" based on NTSB accident and FAA incident data from 1997 to 2006. A separate examination of medical helicopter accidents in the United States was also conducted. Multiple external sources were used to develop a compilation of ten "tall poles" in future safety issues/risks. The top-down analysis of the AvSafe was conducted by using a modification of the Gibson methodology. Of the 17 challenging safety issues that were identified, 11 were directly addressed by the AvSafe program research portfolio.

Fact book : statistical information on highway safety

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1979-06-01

The Congress has charged the Department of Transportation with the task of achieving a reduction in traffic accidents and their resulting deaths and injuries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is the Departmental agency which...

Wheelchair User Injuries and Deaths Associated with Motor Vehicle Related Incidents

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-09-01

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's National Center for Statistics : and Analysis (NCSA) recently completed a study of data from the Consumer Product : Safety Commission's (CPSC) National Electronic Injury Surveillance System : (NEISS) o...

29 CFR 2201.10 - Maintenance of statistics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 29 Labor 9 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Maintenance of statistics. 2201.10 Section 2201.10 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION REGULATIONS IMPLEMENTING THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT § 2201.10 Maintenance of statistics. (a) The FOIA Disclosure...

29 CFR 2201.10 - Maintenance of statistics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 9 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Maintenance of statistics. 2201.10 Section 2201.10 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION REGULATIONS IMPLEMENTING THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT § 2201.10 Maintenance of statistics. (a) The FOIA Disclosure...

78 FR 34101 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-06

... and basic descriptive statistics on the quantity and type of consumer-reported patient safety events... conduct correlations, cross tabulations of responses and other statistical analysis. Estimated Annual...

Food Safety Attitudes in College Students: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis of a Conceptual Model

PubMed Central

Booth, Rachelle; Hernandez, Magaly; Baker, Erica L.; Grajales, Tevni; Pribis, Peter

2013-01-01

College students are one of the most at-risk population groups for food poisoning, due to risky food safety behaviors. Using the Likert Scale, undergraduate students were asked to participate in a Food Safety Survey which was completed by 499 students ages 18–25. Data was analyzed using SPSS and AMOS statistical software. Four conceptual definitions regarding food safety were defined as: general food safety, bacterial food safety, produce food safety, and politics associated with food safety. Knowledge seems to be an important factor in shaping students attitudes regarding general and bacterial safety. Ethnicity plays a role in how people view the politics of food safety, and the safety of organic foods. PMID:23364131

Evaluation of World Health Organization Multi-Professional Patient Safety Curriculum Topics in Nursing Education: Pre-test, post-test, none-experimental study.

PubMed

Mansour, Mansour; Skull, Alice; Parker, Michael

2015-01-01

The Multi-professional Patient Safety Curriculum Guide was launched by the World Health Organization to develop a patient safety-friendly curriculum in health education. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of teaching related to two topics from the Patient Safety Curriculum Guide on student nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward patient safety. A pretest, posttest, nonexperimental design was used. Patient safety education questionnaires were distributed to a convenience sample of 181 nursing students before the intervention, and 141 questionnaires after the intervention in one university in the East of England. The intervention consisted of two face-to-face lectures and one facilitated group work discussion. Seventy-one responses from pre- and posttest stages were matched. Paired t test, McNemar's test, and frequency measures were used for data analysis. The findings suggest that there are statistically significant differences in the subscales of the error and patient safety and personal influence over safety. The differences in the students' answers on patient safety knowledge before and after the interventions were not statistically significant. Although the student nurses highly commended the teaching delivered in this study, the use of experimental design in future curriculum evaluation may provide a more complementary insight to the findings of this study. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Illinois crash facts and statistics, 2007

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-01-01

The 2007 Illinois Crash Facts & Statistics includes : data that illustrate these accomplishments and also : provides information about key events in the history of : traffic safety-related legislation. Also included, are : summaries of motorcyc...

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

Gissi, Andrea; Dipartimento di Farmacia – Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”, Via E. Orabona 4, 70125 Bari; Lombardo, Anna

The bioconcentration factor (BCF) is an important bioaccumulation hazard assessment metric in many regulatory contexts. Its assessment is required by the REACH regulation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) and by CLP (Classification, Labeling and Packaging). We challenged nine well-known and widely used BCF QSAR models against 851 compounds stored in an ad-hoc created database. The goodness of the regression analysis was assessed by considering the determination coefficient (R{sup 2}) and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE); Cooper's statistics and Matthew's Correlation Coefficient (MCC) were calculated for all the thresholds relevant for regulatory purposes (i.e. 100 L/kg for Chemicalmore » Safety Assessment; 500 L/kg for Classification and Labeling; 2000 and 5000 L/kg for Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) and very Persistent, very Bioaccumulative (vPvB) assessment) to assess the classification, with particular attention to the models' ability to control the occurrence of false negatives. As a first step, statistical analysis was performed for the predictions of the entire dataset; R{sup 2}>0.70 was obtained using CORAL, T.E.S.T. and EPISuite Arnot–Gobas models. As classifiers, ACD and log P-based equations were the best in terms of sensitivity, ranging from 0.75 to 0.94. External compound predictions were carried out for the models that had their own training sets. CORAL model returned the best performance (R{sup 2}{sub ext}=0.59), followed by the EPISuite Meylan model (R{sup 2}{sub ext}=0.58). The latter gave also the highest sensitivity on external compounds with values from 0.55 to 0.85, depending on the thresholds. Statistics were also compiled for compounds falling into the models Applicability Domain (AD), giving better performances. In this respect, VEGA CAESAR was the best model in terms of regression (R{sup 2}=0.94) and classification (average sensitivity>0.80). This model also showed the best regression (R{sup 2}=0.85) and sensitivity (average>0.70) for new compounds in the AD but not present in the training set. However, no single optimal model exists and, thus, it would be wise a case-by-case assessment. Yet, integrating the wealth of information from multiple models remains the winner approach. - Highlights: • REACH encourages the use of in silico methods in the assessment of chemicals safety. • The performances of nine BCF models were evaluated on a benchmark database of 851 chemicals. • We compared the models on the basis of both regression and classification performance. • Statistics on chemicals out of the training set and/or within the applicability domain were compiled. • The results show that QSAR models are useful as weight-of-evidence in support to other methods.« less

Impact of individual resilience and safety climate on safety performance and psychological stress of construction workers: A case study of the Ontario construction industry.

PubMed

Chen, Yuting; McCabe, Brenda; Hyatt, Douglas

2017-06-01

The construction industry has hit a plateau in terms of safety performance. Safety climate is regarded as a leading indicator of safety performance; however, relatively little safety climate research has been done in the Canadian construction industry. Safety climate may be geographically sensitive, thus it is necessary to examine how the construct of safety climate is defined and used to improve safety performance in different regions. On the other hand, more and more attention has been paid to job related stress in the construction industry. Previous research proposed that individual resilience may be associated with a better safety performance and may help employees manage stress. Unfortunately, few empirical research studies have examined this hypothesis. This paper aims to examine the role of safety climate and individual resilience in safety performance and job stress in the Canadian construction industry. The research was based on 837 surveys collected in Ontario between June 2015 and June 2016. Structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were used to explore the impact of individual resilience and safety climate on physical safety outcomes and on psychological stress among construction workers. The results show that safety climate not only affected construction workers' safety performance but also indirectly affected their psychological stress. In addition, it was found that individual resilience had a direct negative impact on psychological stress but had no impact on physical safety outcomes. These findings highlight the roles of both organizational and individual factors in individual safety performance and in psychological well-being. Construction organizations need to not only monitor employees' safety performance, but also to assess their employees' psychological well-being. Promoting a positive safety climate together with developing training programs focusing on improving employees' psychological health - especially post-trauma psychological health - can improve the safety performance of an organization. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Summary of School Safety Statistics. National Institute of Justice Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carlton, Mary Poulin

2017-01-01

Several high-profile incidents of violence at U.S. schools have, understandably, raised concerns about the safety of students while at school. Just one incident of violence causes significant harm. In light of this, it is important to examine commonly held beliefs about school safety and violence because they sometimes reflect a misperception or…

Public School Safety and Discipline: 2013-14. First Look. NCES 2015-051

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gray, Lucinda; Lewis, Laurie

2015-01-01

This report provides nationally representative data on public school safety and discipline for the 2013-14 school year. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) previously collected data on this topic in the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), which was last conducted in the 2009-10 school year (Neiman 2011). This report presents…

Enhanced Component Performance Study. Emergency Diesel Generators 1998–2013

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

Schroeder, John Alton

2014-11-01

This report presents an enhanced performance evaluation of emergency diesel generators (EDGs) at U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. This report evaluates component performance over time using Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) Consolidated Events Database (ICES) data from 1998 through 2013 and maintenance unavailability (UA) performance data using Mitigating Systems Performance Index (MSPI) Basis Document data from 2002 through 2013. The objective is to present an analysis of factors that could influence the system and component trends in addition to annual performance trends of failure rates and probabilities. The factors analyzed for the EDG component are the differences in failuresmore » between all demands and actual unplanned engineered safety feature (ESF) demands, differences among manufacturers, and differences among EDG ratings. Statistical analyses of these differences are performed and results showing whether pooling is acceptable across these factors. In addition, engineering analyses were performed with respect to time period and failure mode. The factors analyzed are: sub-component, failure cause, detection method, recovery, manufacturer, and EDG rating.« less

Ohio traffic crash facts, 2007

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-05-07

The Ohio Department of Public Safety is pleased to present the 2007 Ohio Traffic Crash : Facts Book, an in-depth highway safety statistical profile and analysis compiled from : data supplied by law enforcement agencies from across the state. : This a...

Ohio traffic crash facts, 2008

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-07-01

The Ohio Department of Public Safety is pleased to present the 2008 Ohio Traffic Crash : Facts Book, an in-depth highway safety statistical profile and analysis compiled from : data supplied by law enforcement agencies from across the state. This ann...

Ohio traffic crash facts, 2009

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-11-01

The Ohio Department of Public Safety is pleased to present the 2009 Ohio Traffic Crash Facts Book, an in-depth highway safety statistical profile and analysis compiled from data supplied by law enforcement agencies from across the state. This annual ...

Prokinetics prescribing in paediatrics: evidence on cisapride, domperidone, and metoclopramide.

PubMed

Mt-Isa, Shahrul; Tomlin, Stephen; Sutcliffe, Alastair; Underwood, Martin; Williamson, Paula; Croft, Nicholas M; Ashby, Deborah

2015-04-01

Domperidone and metoclopramide are prokinetics commonly prescribed off-label to infants and younger children in an attempt to treat gastro-oesophageal reflux symptoms. Another prokinetic drug, cisapride, was used but withdrawn in 2000 in the United Kingdom because of serious arrhythmic adverse events. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency issued safety warnings for domperidone in May 2012 and restricted its indications. We report here national primary care prescribing trends and safety signals of these drugs in children. We used data from the General Practice Research Database between 1990 and 2006 for children <18 years. Descriptive statistics and Poisson regressions were performed to characterise prescribing trends. We examined safety signals in nested case-control studies. The proportion of children <2 years old being prescribed one of the medications doubled during the study period. Prescriptions of domperidone increased 10-fold, mainly following the withdrawal of cisapride in 2000. Prescriptions of metoclopramide did not change significantly. Despite the increase in prescriptions of domperidone, no new safety signals were identified. These data showed dramatic changes in prescribing of cisapride and domperidone despite the lack of good-quality supporting evidence. It is possible that these prescribing trends were influenced by published guidelines. Even if produced without robust efficacy and safety evidence, published guidelines can influence clinicians and consequently affect prescribing. Therefore, improving the evidence base on prokinetics to inform future guidelines is vital. The lack of new safety signals during this period would support the development of suitable powered clinical studies.

Food Safety Knowledge and Practices of Male Adolescents in West of Iran.

PubMed

Mirzaei, Amin; Nourmoradi, Heshmatollah; Zavareh, Mohammad Sadegh Abedzadeh; Jalilian, Mohsen; Mansourian, Morteza; Mazloomi, Sajad; Mokhtari, Neda; Mokhtari, Fariba

2018-05-20

Every year many people around the world become infected with food-borne infections. Insufficient knowledge and skills related to food safety and hygiene are among the factors affecting the incidence of food-borne diseases, especially in adolescents. The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge and practices associated with food safety and hygiene in Ilam city male adolescents. Three hundred and eighty of male adolescents aged 13 to 19 were selected randomly and entered the cross-sectional study. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire From December 2016 to February 2017. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyse the data in SPSS software (version 19.0). The findings of the study showed a positive and significant relationship between knowledge and practices related to food safety and hygiene (r = 0.122; p = 0.018). Also, the findings showed that food safety knowledge and practice of adolescents were significantly affected by the level of their education, parental education level, parental employment status and household economic conditions, (p < 0.005). Also, the results showed that the participants generally obtained 57.74% of the knowledge score and 57.63% of practices score. The subjects had the most knowledge about food supply and storage (60%), and the highest practice was related to personal and environmental hygiene, (61.73%). The inadequacy of knowledge and performance of adolescents about food safety and hygiene shows the need for implementation of health education interventions in this area.

Understanding the relationship between safety investment and safety performance of construction projects through agent-based modeling.

PubMed

Lu, Miaojia; Cheung, Clara Man; Li, Heng; Hsu, Shu-Chien

2016-09-01

The construction industry in Hong Kong increased its safety investment by 300% in the past two decades; however, its accident rate has plateaued to around 50% for one decade. Against this backdrop, researchers have found inconclusive results on the causal relationship between safety investment and safety performance. Using agent-based modeling, this study takes an unconventional bottom-up approach to study safety performance on a construction site as an outcome of a complex system defined by interactions among a worksite, individual construction workers, and different safety investments. Instead of focusing on finding the absolute relationship between safety investment and safety performance, this study contributes to providing a practical framework to investigate how different safety investments interacting with different parameters such as human and environmental factors could affect safety performance. As a result, we could identify cost-effective safety investments under different construction scenarios for delivering optimal safety performance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nonoccupant Fatalities Associated with Backing Crashes

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-02-01

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's National Center for Statistics : and Analysis (NCSA) recently completed a study of data from the National Center : Health Statistics (NCHS) to obtain an estimate of the number of nonoccupant : fataliti...

Transportation statistics annual report 2001

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

This eighth Transportation Statistics Annual Report (TSAR), like : those before it, provides data and analysis on the U.S. transportation : system: its extent and condition, relationship to the : nation's security and economic growth, safety aspects,...

Analysis of cost regression and post-accident absence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wojciech, Drozd

2017-07-01

The article presents issues related with costs of work safety. It proves the thesis that economic aspects cannot be overlooked in effective management of occupational health and safety and that adequate expenditures on safety can bring tangible benefits to the company. Reliable analysis of this problem is essential for the description the problem of safety the work. In the article attempts to carry it out using the procedures of mathematical statistics [1, 2, 3].

Testing and Contrasting Road Safety Education, Deterrence, and Social Capital Theories: A Sociological Approach to the Understanding of Male Drink-Driving in Chile's Metropolitan Region.

PubMed

Nazif, José Ignacio

2011-01-01

Three theories offer different explanations to the understanding of male drink-driving. In order to test road safety education, deterrence, and social capital theories, logistic regression analysis was applied to predict respondents' statements of having or not having engaged in actual drink-driving (DD). Variable for road safety education theory was whether a driver had graduated from a professional driving school or not. Deterrence theory was operationalized with a variable of whether a driver had been issued a traffic ticket or not. Social capital theory was operationalized with two variables, having children or not and having religion identification or not. Since both variables 'years of formal education' and 'years of driving experience' have been reported to be correlated to alcohol consumption and DD respectively, these were introduced as controls. In order to assess the significance of each variable statistically, Wald tests were applied in seven models. Results indicate on the one hand that road safety education variable is not statistically significant; and on the other, deterrence theory variable and social capital theory variable 'having children' were both statistically significant at the level of .01. Findings are discussed in reference to Chile's context. Data were taken from the "Road Users Attitudes and Behaviors towards Traffic Safety" survey from the National Commission of Road Safety of the Government of Chile (2005). The sample size was reported to be 2,118 (N of male drivers was 396). This survey was representative of Chile's Metropolitan Region road users' population.

Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for dizziness and vertigo in emergency department: a pilot cohort study.

PubMed

Chiu, Chih-Wen; Lee, Tsung-Chieh; Hsu, Po-Chi; Chen, Chia-Yun; Chang, Shun-Chang; Chiang, John Y; Lo, Lun-Chien

2015-06-09

Dizziness and vertigo account for roughly 4% of chief symptoms in the emergency department (ED). Pharmacological therapy is often applied for these symptoms, such as vestibular suppressants, anti-emetics and benzodiazepines. However, every medication is accompanied with unavoidable side-effects. There are several research articles providing evidence of acupuncture treating dizziness and vertigo but few studies of acupuncture as an emergent intervention in ED. We performed a pilot cohort study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in treating patients with dizziness and vertigo in ED. A total of 60 participants, recruited in ED, were divided into acupuncture and control group. Life-threatening conditions or central nervous system disorders were excluded to ensure participants' safety. The clinical effect of treating dizziness and vertigo was evaluated by performing statistical analyses on data collected from questionnaires of Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), Visual Analog Scale (VAS) of dizziness and vertigo, and heart rate variability (HRV). The variation of VAS demonstrated a significant decrease (p-value: 0.001 and p-value: 0.037) between two groups after two different durations: 30 mins and 7 days. The variation of DHI showed no significant difference after 7 days. HRV revealed a significant increase in high frequency (HF) in the acupuncture group. No adverse event was reported in this study. Acupuncture demonstrates a significant immediate effect in reducing discomforts and VAS of both dizziness and vertigo. This study provides clinical evidence on the efficacy and safety of acupuncture to treat dizziness and vertigo in the emergency department. ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02358239 . Registered 5 February 2015.

Impact of the Global Food Safety Initiative on Food Safety Worldwide: Statistical Analysis of a Survey of International Food Processors.

PubMed

Crandall, Philip G; Mauromoustakos, Andy; O'Bryan, Corliss A; Thompson, Kevin C; Yiannas, Frank; Bridges, Kerry; Francois, Catherine

2017-10-01

In 2000, the Consumer Goods Forum established the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) to increase the safety of the world's food supply and to harmonize food safety regulations worldwide. In 2013, a university research team in conjunction with Diversey Consulting (Sealed Air), the Consumer Goods Forum, and officers of GFSI solicited input from more than 15,000 GFSI-certified food producers worldwide to determine whether GFSI certification had lived up to these expectations. A total of 828 usable questionnaires were analyzed, representing about 2,300 food manufacturing facilities and food suppliers in 21 countries, mainly across Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and North America. Nearly 90% of these certified suppliers perceived GFSI as being beneficial for addressing their food safety concerns, and respondents were eight times more likely to repeat the certification process knowing what it entailed. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of these food manufacturers would choose to go through the certification process again even if certification were not required by one of their current retail customers. Important drivers for becoming GFSI certified included continuing to do business with an existing customer, starting to do business with new customer, reducing the number of third-party food safety audits, and continuing improvement of their food safety program. Although 50% or fewer respondents stated that they saw actual increases in sales, customers, suppliers, or employees, significantly more companies agreed than disagreed that there was an increase in these key performance indicators in the year following GFSI certification. A majority of respondents (81%) agreed that there was a substantial investment in staff time since certification, and 50% agreed there was a significant capital investment. This survey is the largest and most representative of global food manufacturers conducted to date.

The implementation and assessment of a quality and safety culture education program in a large radiation oncology department.

PubMed

Woodhouse, Kristina D; Volz, Edna; Bellerive, Marc; Bergendahl, Howard W; Gabriel, Peter E; Maity, Amit; Hahn, Stephen M; Vapiwala, Neha

2016-01-01

In 2010, the American Society for Radiation Oncology launched a national campaign to improve patient safety in radiation therapy. One recommendation included the expansion of educational programs dedicated to quality and safety. We subsequently implemented a quality and safety culture education program (Q-SCEP) in our large radiation oncology department. The purpose of this study is to describe the design, implementation, and impact of this Q-SCEP. In 2010, we instituted a comprehensive Q-SCEP, consisting of a longitudinal series of lectures, meetings, and interactive workshops. Participation was mandatory for all department members across all network locations. Electronic surveys were administered to assess employee engagement, knowledge retention, preferred learning styles, and the program's overall impact. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Survey on Patient Safety Culture was administered. Analysis of variance was used for statistical analysis. Between 2010 and 2015, 100% of targeted staff participated in Q-SCEP. Thirty-three percent (132 of 400) and 30% (136 of 450) responded to surveys in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Mean scores improved from 73% to 89% (P < .001), with the largest improvement seen among therapists (+21.7%). The majority strongly agreed that safety culture education was critical to performing their jobs well. Full course compliance was achieved despite the sizable number of personnel and treatment centers. Periodic assessments demonstrated high knowledge retention, which significantly improved over time in nearly all department divisions. Additionally, our AHRQ patient safety grade remains high and continues to improve. These results will be used to further enhance ongoing internal safety initiatives and to inform future innovative efforts. Copyright © 2016 American Society for Radiation Oncology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

RCT: Module 2.03, Counting Errors and Statistics, Course 8768

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

Hillmer, Kurt T.

2017-04-01

Radiological sample analysis involves the observation of a random process that may or may not occur and an estimation of the amount of radioactive material present based on that observation. Across the country, radiological control personnel are using the activity measurements to make decisions that may affect the health and safety of workers at those facilities and their surrounding environments. This course will present an overview of measurement processes, a statistical evaluation of both measurements and equipment performance, and some actions to take to minimize the sources of error in count room operations. This course will prepare the student withmore » the skills necessary for radiological control technician (RCT) qualification by passing quizzes, tests, and the RCT Comprehensive Phase 1, Unit 2 Examination (TEST 27566) and by providing in the field skills.« less

A comprehensive study on pavement edge line implementation.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-04-01

The previous 2011 study Safety Improvement from Edge Lines on Rural Two-Lane Highways analyzed the crash data of : three years before and one year after edge line implementation by using the latest safety analysis statistical method. It : concl...

Enforcing Job Safety: A Managerial View

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnako, Frank R.

1975-01-01

The views of management or of employees regarding enforcement of the job safety law range from general satisfaction to calls for repeal of the act. The complexity of standards, statistics and recordkeeping, and enforcement procedures are major areas of concern. (MW)

Development and Calibration of Highway Safety Manual Equations for Florida Conditions

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-08-31

The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) provides statistically-valid analytical tools and techniques for quantifying the potential effects on crashes as a result of decisions made in planning, design, operations, and maintenance. Implementation of the new te...

Development and calibration of highway safety manual equations for Florida conditions.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-08-31

The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) provides statistically-valid analytical tools and techniques for : quantifying the potential effects on crashes as a result of decisions made in planning, design, : operations, and maintenance. Implementation of the ne...

State traffic safety information : current as of January 1, 1998

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-12-01

The data and information contained in these fact sheets were obtained from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NRD-30), Plans and Policy (NPP 01), State and Community Services (NSC...

Crash analysis, statistics & information notebook 1996-2003

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-11-01

The Department of Motor Vehicle Safety is proud to present the Crash Analysis, Statistics & : Information (CASI) Notebook 1996-2003. DMVS developed the CASI Notebooks to provide : straightforward, easy to understand crash information. Each page or ta...

Safety Management Information Statistics (SAMIS) - 1990 Annual Report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1992-04-01

The report is a compilation and analysis of mass transit accident and casualty statistics reported by transit systems in the United States during 1990, under the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA's) Section 15 reporting system.

Rear-End Crashes: Problem Size Assessment And Statistical Description

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1993-05-01

KEYWORDS : RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OR R&D, ADVANCED VEHICLE CONTROL & SAFETY SYSTEMS OR AVCSS, INTELLIGENT VEHICLE INITIATIVE OR IVI : THIS DOCUMENT PRESENTS PROBLEM SIZE ASSESSMENTS AND STATISTICAL CRASH DESCRIPTION FOR REAR-END CRASHES, INC...

The National Football League Combine: performance differences between drafted and nondrafted players entering the 2004 and 2005 drafts.

PubMed

Sierer, S Patrick; Battaglini, Claudio L; Mihalik, Jason P; Shields, Edgar W; Tomasini, Nathan T

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine performance differences between drafted and nondrafted athletes (N = 321) during the 2004 and 2005 National Football League (NFL) Combines. We categorized players into one of 3 groups: Skill, Big skill, and Linemen. Skill players (SP) consisted of wide receivers, cornerbacks, free safeties, strong safeties, and running backs. Big skill players (BSP) included fullbacks, linebackers, tight ends, and defensive ends. Linemen (LM) consisted of centers, offensive guards, offensive tackles, and defensive tackles. We analyzed player height and mass, as well as performance on the following combine drills: 40-yard dash, 225-lb bench press test, vertical jump, broad jump, pro-agility shuttle, and the 3-cone drill. Student t-tests compared performance on each of these measures between drafted and nondrafted players. Statistical significance was found between drafted and nondrafted SP for the 40-yard dash (P < 0.001), vertical jump (P = 0.003), pro-agility shuttle (P < 0.001), and 3-cone drill (P < 0.001). Drafted and nondrafted BSP performed differently on the 40-yard dash (P = 0.002) and 3-cone drill (P = 0.005). Finally, drafted LM performed significantly better than nondrafted LM on the 40-yard dash (P = 0.016), 225-lb bench press (P = 0.003), and 3-cone drill (P = 0.005). Certified strength and conditioning specialists will be able to utilize the significant findings to help better prepare athletes as they ready themselves for the NFL Combine.

The disparity of frontline clinical staff and managers' perceptions of a quality and patient safety initiative.

PubMed

Parand, Anam; Burnett, Susan; Benn, Jonathan; Pinto, Anna; Iskander, Sandra; Vincent, Charles

2011-12-01

Arguably, a shared perspective between managers and their clinical staff on an improvement initiative would allow for most effective implementation and increase programme success. However, it has been reported that research has failed to differentiate between managers and line employees on quality management implementation and examine their differences in perceptions of quality and safety initiatives. The aim of this study was to compare clinical frontline staff and senior managers' perceptions on the importance of an organization-wide quality and safety collaborative: the Safer Patients Initiative (SPI). A quantitative study obtained 635 surveys at 20 trusts participating in SPI. Participants included the teams and frontline staff involved within the programme at each organization. Independent T-tests were carried out between frontline staff and senior managers' perceptions of SPI programme elements, success factors and impact & sustainability. Statistically significant differences were found between the perceptions of frontline staff and senior managers on a wide number of issues, including the frontline perceiving a significantly larger improvement on the timeliness of care delivery (t = 2.943, P = 0.004), while managers perceived larger improvement on the culture within the organization for safe, effective and reliable care (t = -2.454, P = 0.014). This study has identified statistically significant disparities in perceptions of an organization-wide improvement initiative between frontline staff and senior managers. This holds valuable implications for the importance of getting both frontline and management perspectives when designing such interventions, in monitoring their performance, and in evaluating their impact. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Comparative efficacy and safety of two 0.025% tretinoin gels: results from a multicenter double-blind, parallel study.

PubMed

Lucky, A W; Cullen, S I; Jarratt, M T; Quigley, J W

1998-04-01

The addition of polyolprepolymer-2 in tretinoin formulations may reduce tretinoin-induced cutaneous irritation. This study compared the efficacy and safety of a new 0.025% tretinoin gel containing polyolprepolymer-2, its vehicle, and a commercially-available 0.025% tretinoin gel in patients with mild to moderate acne vulgaris. In this 12-week multicenter, double-blind, parallel group study, efficacy was evaluated by objective lesion counts and the investigators' global evaluations. Subjective assessment of cutaneous irritation by the investigators and patients evaluated safety. The efficacy of the two active treatments in this 215 patient study was comparable, and both treatments were statistically significantly more effective than vehicle. When compared with the commercially-available tretinoin gel, the formulation containing polyolprepolymer-2 demonstrated statistically significantly less peeling at days 28, 56, and 84, statistically significantly less dryness by day 84, and statistically significantly less itching at day 14. Irritation scores for the formulation containing polyolprepolymer-2 were numerically lower but not statistically different from those of the commercially-available gel for erythema and burning. The number of cutaneous and noncutaneous adverse events were similar for both active medications. The two 0.025% gels studied demonstrated comparable efficacy. However, the gel formulation containing polyolprepolymer-2 caused significantly less peeling and drying than the commercially-available formulation by day 84 of the study.

Young worker safety in construction: do family ties and workgroup size affect hazard exposures and safety practices?

PubMed

Rauscher, Kimberly J; Myers, Douglas J; Runyan, Carol W; Schulman, Michael

2012-01-01

Little is known about how social aspects of the work environment influence exposures or safety practices affecting young construction workers. Our objective was to investigate whether working on a construction site with a small number of workers (≤10 vs. 11-50) or having a family-firm connection (working in a family-owned firm or one in which a family member also works) impacts hazard exposures and safety practices. Participants included 187 North Carolina construction workers 14 to 17 years old who were surveyed about their jobs. We conducted stratified analyses using cross-tabulations and chi-square statistics to measure associations between workgroup size (i.e., the total number of workers on a jobsite) and family-firm connections (yes/no) and hazard exposures (e.g., saws) and safety practices (e.g., supervision). Having a family-firm connection was associated with fewer hazard exposures and greater safety practices. Youth who worked on jobsites with a larger workgroup (11-50 workers) reported more hazards but also more safety practices. Family-firm connections, in particular, may have a protective effect for youth in construction. Even though the statistical significance of our findings on workgroup size was limited in places, the pattern of differences found suggest that further research in this area is warranted.

The association between patient safety culture and burnout and sense of coherence: A cross-sectional study in restructured and not restructured intensive care units.

PubMed

Vifladt, Anne; Simonsen, Bjoerg O; Lydersen, Stian; Farup, Per G

2016-10-01

To study the associations between registered nurses' (RNs) perception of the patient safety culture (safety culture) and burnout and sense of coherence, and to compare the burnout and sense of coherence in restructured and not restructured intensive care units (ICUs). Cross-sectional study. RNs employed at seven ICUs in six hospitals at a Norwegian Hospital Trust. One to four years before the study, three hospitals merged their general and medical ICUs into one general mixed ICU. The safety culture, burnout and sense of coherence were measured with the questionnaires Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture, Bergen Burnout Indicator and Sense of Coherence. Participant characteristics and working in restructured and not restructured ICUs were registered. In total, 143/289(49.5%) RNs participated. A positive safety culture was statistically significantly associated with a low score for burnout and a strong sense of coherence. No statistically significant differences were found in burnout and sense of coherence between RNs in the restructured and not restructured ICUs. In this study, a positive safety culture was associated with absence of burnout and high ability to cope with stressful situations. Burnout and sense of coherence were independent of the restructuring process. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Predicting motor vehicle collisions using Bayesian neural network models: an empirical analysis.

PubMed

Xie, Yuanchang; Lord, Dominique; Zhang, Yunlong

2007-09-01

Statistical models have frequently been used in highway safety studies. They can be utilized for various purposes, including establishing relationships between variables, screening covariates and predicting values. Generalized linear models (GLM) and hierarchical Bayes models (HBM) have been the most common types of model favored by transportation safety analysts. Over the last few years, researchers have proposed the back-propagation neural network (BPNN) model for modeling the phenomenon under study. Compared to GLMs and HBMs, BPNNs have received much less attention in highway safety modeling. The reasons are attributed to the complexity for estimating this kind of model as well as the problem related to "over-fitting" the data. To circumvent the latter problem, some statisticians have proposed the use of Bayesian neural network (BNN) models. These models have been shown to perform better than BPNN models while at the same time reducing the difficulty associated with over-fitting the data. The objective of this study is to evaluate the application of BNN models for predicting motor vehicle crashes. To accomplish this objective, a series of models was estimated using data collected on rural frontage roads in Texas. Three types of models were compared: BPNN, BNN and the negative binomial (NB) regression models. The results of this study show that in general both types of neural network models perform better than the NB regression model in terms of data prediction. Although the BPNN model can occasionally provide better or approximately equivalent prediction performance compared to the BNN model, in most cases its prediction performance is worse than the BNN model. In addition, the data fitting performance of the BPNN model is consistently worse than the BNN model, which suggests that the BNN model has better generalization abilities than the BPNN model and can effectively alleviate the over-fitting problem without significantly compromising the nonlinear approximation ability. The results also show that BNNs could be used for other useful analyses in highway safety, including the development of accident modification factors and for improving the prediction capabilities for evaluating different highway design alternatives.

Safety performance evaluation of cable median barriers on freeways in Florida.

PubMed

Alluri, Priyanka; Haleem, Kirolos; Gan, Albert; Mauthner, John

2016-07-03

This article aims to evaluate the safety performance of cable median barriers on freeways in Florida. The safety performance evaluation was based on the percentages of barrier and median crossovers by vehicle type, crash severity, and cable median barrier type (Trinity Cable Safety System [CASS] and Gibraltar system). Twenty-three locations with cable median barriers totaling about 101 miles were identified. Police reports of 6,524 crashes from years 2005-2010 at these locations were reviewed to verify and obtain detailed crash information. A total of 549 crashes were determined to be barrier related (i.e., crashes involving vehicles hitting the cable median barrier) and were reviewed in further detail to identify crossover crashes and the manner in which the vehicles crossed the barriers; that is, by either overriding, underriding, or penetrating the barriers. Overall, 2.6% of vehicles that hit the cable median barrier crossed the median and traversed into the opposite travel lane. Overall, 98.1% of cars and 95.5% of light trucks that hit the barrier were prevented from crossing the median. In other words, 1.9% of cars and 4.5% of light trucks that hit the barrier had crossed the median and encroached on the opposite travel lanes. There is no significant difference in the performance of cable median barrier for cars versus light trucks in terms of crossover crashes. In terms of severity, overrides were more severe compared to underrides and penetrations. The statistics showed that the CASS and Gibraltar systems performed similarly in terms of crossover crashes. However, the Gibraltar system experienced a higher proportion of penetrations compared to the CASS system. The CASS system resulted in a slightly higher percentage of moderate and minor injury crashes compared to the Gibraltar system. Cable median barriers are successful in preventing median crossover crashes; 97.4% of the cable median barrier crashes were prevented from crossing over the median. Of all of the vehicles that hit the barrier, 83.6% were either redirected or contained by the cable barrier system. Barrier crossover crashes were found to be more severe compared to barrier noncrossover crashes. In addition, overrides were found to be more severe compared to underrides and penetrations.

The Level of Awareness of Safety Measures Practiced in School Laboratories among Pre-Service Science Teachers at Najran University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fagihi, Yahea Ali

2018-01-01

This study is an attempt to identify the level of awareness of safety measures practiced in school laboratories among pre-service Science teachers at Najran University. It also aims to identify the sources of safety measures awareness and the statistically significant differences among the sample responses due to specialization and grade…

Determining the causal relationships among balanced scorecard perspectives on school safety performance: case of Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Alolah, Turki; Stewart, Rodney A; Panuwatwanich, Kriengsak; Mohamed, Sherif

2014-07-01

In the public schools of many developing countries, numerous accidents and incidents occur because of poor safety regulations and management systems. To improve the educational environment in Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Education seeks novel approaches to measure school safety performance in order to decrease incidents and accidents. The main objective of this research was to develop a systematic approach for measuring Saudi school safety performance using the balanced scorecard framework philosophy. The evolved third generation balanced scorecard framework is considered to be a suitable and robust framework that captures the system-wide leading and lagging indicators of business performance. The balanced scorecard architecture is ideal for adaptation to complex areas such as safety management where a holistic system evaluation is more effective than traditional compartmentalised approaches. In developing the safety performance balanced scorecard for Saudi schools, the conceptual framework was first developed and peer-reviewed by eighteen Saudi education experts. Next, 200 participants, including teachers, school executives, and Ministry of Education officers, were recruited to rate both the importance and the performance of 79 measurement items used in the framework. Exploratory factor analysis, followed by the confirmatory partial least squares method, was then conducted in order to operationalise the safety performance balanced scorecard, which encapsulates the following five salient perspectives: safety management and leadership; safety learning and training; safety policy, procedures and processes; workforce safety culture; and safety performance. Partial least squares based structural equation modelling was then conducted to reveal five significant relationships between perspectives, namely, safety management and leadership had a significant effect on safety learning and training and safety policy, procedures and processes, both safety learning and training and safety policy, procedures and processes had significant effects on workforce safety culture, and workforce safety culture had a significant effect on safety performance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Safety and Biocompatibility of a New High-Density Polyethylene-Based Spherical Integrated Porous Orbital Implant: An Experimental Study in Rabbits

PubMed Central

Fernandez-Bueno, Ivan; Di Lauro, Salvatore; Alvarez, Ivan; Lopez, Jose Carlos; Garcia-Gutierrez, Maria Teresa; Fernandez, Itziar; Larra, Eva; Pastor, Jose Carlos

2015-01-01

Purpose. To evaluate clinically and histologically the safety and biocompatibility of a new HDPE-based spherical porous orbital implants in rabbits. Methods. MEDPOR (Porex Surgical, Inc., Fairburn, GA, USA), OCULFIT I, and OCULFIT II (AJL Ophthalmic S.A., Vitoria, Spain) implants were implanted in eviscerated rabbis. Animals were randomly divided into 6 groups (n = 4 each) according to the 3 implant materials tested and 2 follow-up times of 90 or 180 days. Signs of regional pain and presence of eyelid swelling, conjunctival hyperemia, and amount of exudate were semiquantitatively evaluated. After animals sacrifice, the implants and surrounding ocular tissues were processed for histological staining and polarized light evaluation. Statistical study was performed by ANOVA and Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results. No statistically significant differences in regional pain, eyelid swelling, or conjunctival hyperemia were shown between implants and/or time points evaluated. However, amount of exudate differed, with OCULFIT I causing the smallest amount. No remarkable clinical complications were observed. Histological findings were similar in all three types of implants and agree with minor inflammatory response. Conclusions. OCULFIT ophthalmic tolerance and biocompatibility in rabbits were comparable to the clinically used MEDPOR. Clinical studies are needed to determine if OCULFIT is superior to the orbital implants commercially available. PMID:26689343

Apollo Quality Program.

PubMed

Sibal, Anupam; Dewan, Shaveta; Uberoi, R S; Kar, Sujoy; Loria, Gaurav; Fernandes, Clive; Yatheesh, G; Sharma, Karan

2012-01-01

Ensuring patient safety is a vital step for any hospital in achieving the best clinical outcomes. The Apollo Quality Program aimed at standardization of processes for clinical handovers, medication safety, surgical safety, patient identification, verbal orders, hand washing compliance and falls prevention across the hospitals in the Group. Thirty-two hospitals across the Group in settings varying from rural to semi urban, urban and metropolitan implemented the program and over a period of one year demonstrated a visible improvement in the compliance to processes for patient safety translating into better patient safety statistics.

Statistical Literacy: Data Tell a Story

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sole, Marla A.

2016-01-01

Every day, students collect, organize, and analyze data to make decisions. In this data-driven world, people need to assess how much trust they can place in summary statistics. The results of every survey and the safety of every drug that undergoes a clinical trial depend on the correct application of appropriate statistics. Recognizing the…

Inpatient Choledocholithiasis Requiring ERCP and Cholecystectomy: Outcomes of a Combined Single Inpatient Procedure Versus Separate-Session Procedures.

PubMed

Passi, Monica; Inamdar, Sumant; Hersch, David; Dowling, Oonagh; Sejpal, Divyesh V; Trindade, Arvind J

2018-03-01

Separate-session endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERCP) and laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is the usual method for management of inpatient choledocholithiasis. Our goal was to compare single operative-session LC and ERCP to a multi-session approach for both the same hospitalization and within 30 days after; there is limited data comparing the three groups. A retrospective review on inpatients with choledocholithiasis that underwent ERCP and LC was performed. Single operative-session ERCP + LC (SOS group) and separate hospitalization ERCP + LC (DH group) were compared against the control cohort: separate-session ERCP + LC performed during the same hospitalization (SH group). Among the 214 cases, 37 (17%) had LC + ERCP performed under a single operative session (SOS), 130 (60.7%) cases had LC + ERCP performed in separate operative sessions during the same hospitalization (SH), and 47 (22%) cases had LC + ERCP performed in different hospitalizations, within 30 days (DH). There was no statistically significant difference in efficacy or adverse events. The SOS group had a statistically significant mean shorter length of hospital stay as compared to the SH and DH groups (5.46 vs 7.15 vs 9.38; p = 0.05 and 0.02). There was a statistically significant reduction in the total cost of care in the SOS group versus the SH group ($59,221 vs $75, 808; p = 0.007). The SOS approach is safe, efficacious, and cost-efficient when compared to separate operative sessions. This approach can be considered in situations where it is preferable for the patient to undergo a single session of anesthesia, without compromising technical success and safety.

Updated Interim Efficacy Analysis and Long-term Safety of Abiraterone Acetate in Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer Patients Without Prior Chemotherapy (COU-AA-302)

PubMed Central

Rathkopf, Dana E.; Smith, Matthew R.; de Bono, Johann S.; Logothetis, Christopher J.; Shore, Neal D.; de Souza, Paul; Fizazi, Karim; Mulders, Peter F.A.; Mainwaring, Paul; Hainsworth, John D.; Beer, Tomasz M.; North, Scott; Fradet, Yves; Van Poppel, Hendrik; Carles, Joan; Flaig, Thomas W.; Efstathiou, Eleni; Yu, Evan Y.; Higano, Celestia S.; Taplin, Mary-Ellen; Griffin, Thomas W.; Todd, Mary; Yu, Margaret; Park, Youn C.; Kheoh, Thian; Small, Eric J.; Scher, Howard I.; Molina, Arturo; Ryan, Charles J.; Saad, Fred

2015-01-01

Background Abiraterone acetate (an androgen biosynthesis inhibitor) plus prednisone is approved for treating patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Study COU-AA-302 evaluated abiraterone acetate plus prednisone versus prednisone alone in mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic patients with progressive mCRPC without prior chemotherapy. Objective Report the prespecified third interim analysis (IA) of efficacy and safety outcomes in study COU-AA-302. Design, setting, and participants Study COU-AA-302, a double-blind placebo-controlled study, enrolled patients with mCRPC from April 2009 to June 2010. A total of 1088 patients were stratified by Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (0 vs 1). Intervention Patients were randomised 1:1 to abiraterone 1000 mg plus prednisone 5 mg twice daily by mouth versus prednisone. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis Co–primary end points were radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) and overall survival (OS). Median times to event outcomes were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were derived using the Cox model, and treatment comparison used the log-rank test. The O’Brien-Fleming Lan-DeMets α-spending function was used for OS. Adverse events were summarised descriptively. Results and limitations With a median follow-up duration of 27.1 mo, improvement in rPFS was statistically significant with abiraterone treatment versus prednisone (median: 16.5 vs 8.2 mo; HR: 0.52 [95% CI, 0.45–0.61]; p < 0.0001). Abiraterone improved OS (median: 35.3 vs 30.1 mo; HR: 0.79 [95% CI, 0.66–0.95]; p = 0.0151) but did not reach the prespecified statistical efficacy boundary (α-level: 0.0035). A post hoc multivariate analysis for OS using known prognostic factors supported the primary results (HR: 0.74 [95% CI, 0.61–0.89]; p = 0.0017), and all clinically relevant secondary end points and patient-reported outcomes improved. While the post hoc nature of the long-term safety analysis is a limitation, the safety profile with longer treatment exposure was consistent with prior reports. Conclusions The updated IA of study COU-AA-302 in patients with mCRPC without prior chemotherapy confirms that abiraterone delays disease progression, pain, and functional deterioration and has clinical benefit with a favourable safety profile, including in patients treated for ≥24 mo. Trial registration Study COU-AA-302, ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00887198. PMID:24647231

From empirical Bayes to full Bayes : methods for analyzing traffic safety data.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-10-24

Traffic safety engineers are among the early adopters of Bayesian statistical tools for : analyzing crash data. As in many other areas of application, empirical Bayes methods were : their first choice, perhaps because they represent an intuitively ap...

Alcohol & highway safety laws : a national overview.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1980-02-01

The problems associated with alcohol and highway safety laws can be measured statistically in terms of the number of traffic deaths per day across the nation, or financially in terms of the billions of dollars in lost income from death and disability...

Improve safety of workers during highway construction and maintenance.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-06-01

This study will focus on highway construction worker safety. Most all statistical data gathered will be from Kentucky construction workers, although the study is not limited by this. Studies of this nature have been completed previously, but most stu...

Safety belt and motorcycle helmet use in Virginia : the December 2003 update.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-01-01

The Virginia Transportation Research Council has been collecting safety belt use data in Virginia since 1974. Beginning in 1992, the data gathering methodology was changed to a statistically valid probability-based sampling plan in accordance with fe...

The Range Safety Debris Catalog Analysis in Preparation for the Pad Abort One Flight Test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kutty, Prasad M.; Pratt, William D.

2010-01-01

The Pad Abort One flight test of the Orion Abort Flight Test Program is currently under development with the goal of demonstrating the capability of the Launch Abort System. In the event of a launch failure, this system will propel the Crew Exploration Vehicle to safety. An essential component of this flight test is range safety, which ensures the security of range assets and personnel. A debris catalog analysis was done as part of a range safety data package delivered to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico where the test will be conducted. The analysis discusses the consequences of an overpressurization of the Abort Motor. The resulting structural failure was assumed to create a debris field of vehicle fragments that could potentially pose a hazard to the range. A statistical model was used to assemble the debris catalog of potential propellant fragments. Then, a thermodynamic, energy balance model was applied to the system in order to determine the imparted velocity to these propellant fragments. This analysis was conducted at four points along the flight trajectory to better understand the failure consequences over the entire flight. The methods used to perform this analysis are outlined in detail and the corresponding results are presented and discussed.

Attitude and awareness of general dental practitioners toward radiation hazards and safety.

PubMed

Aravind, B S; Joy, E Tatu; Kiran, M Shashi; Sherubin, J Eugenia; Sajesh, S; Manchil, P Redwin Dhas

2016-10-01

The aim and objective is to evaluate the level of awareness and attitude about radiation hazards and safety practices among general dental practitioners in Trivandrum District, Kerala, India. A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 general dental practitioners in Trivandrum District, Kerala, India. Postanswering the questions, a handout regarding radiation safety and related preventive measures was distributed to encourage radiation understanding and protection. Statistical analysis were done by assessing the results using Chi-square statistical test, t -test, and other software (Microsoft excel + SPSS 20.0 trail version). Among 300 general practitioners (247 females and 53 males), 80.3% of the practitioners were found to have a separate section for radiographic examination in their clinics. Intraoral radiographic machines were found to be the most commonly (63.3%) used radiographic equipment while osteoprotegerin was the least (2%). Regarding the practitioner's safety measures, only 11.7% of them were following all the necessary steps while 6.7% clinicians were not using any safety measure in their clinic, and with respect to patient safety, only 9.7% of practitioners were following the protocol. The level of awareness of practitioners regarding radiation hazards and safety was found to be acceptable. However, implementation of their knowledge with respect to patient and personnel safety was found wanting. Insisting that they follow the protocols and take necessary safety measures by means of continuing medical education programs, pamphlets, articles, and workshops is strongly recommended.

Healthy Choices for Every Body Adult Curriculum Improves Participants' Food Resource Management Skills and Food Safety Practices.

PubMed

Adedokun, Omolola A; Plonski, Paula; Jenkins-Howard, Brooke; Cotterill, Debra B; Vail, Ann

2018-06-01

To evaluate the impact of the University of Kentucky's Healthy Choices for Every Body (HCEB) adult nutrition education curriculum on participants' food resource management (FRM) skills and food safety practices. A quasi-experimental design was employed using propensity score matching to pair 8 intervention counties with 8 comparison counties. Independent-samples t tests and ANCOVA models compared gains in FRM skills and food safety practices between the intervention and comparison groups (n = 413 and 113, respectively). Propensity score matching analysis showed a statistical balance and similarities between the comparison and intervention groups. Food resource management and food safety gain scores were statistically significantly higher for the intervention group (P < .001), with large effect sizes (d = 0.9) for both variables. The group differences persisted even after controlling for race and age in the ANCOVA models. The HCEB curriculum was effective in improving the FRM skills and food safety practices of participants. Copyright © 2018 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Simulating extreme environments: Ergonomic evaluation of Chinese pilot performance and heat stress tolerance.

PubMed

Li, Jing; Tian, Yinsheng; Ding, Li; Zou, Huijuan; Ren, Zhaosheng; Shi, Liyong; Feathers, David; Wang, Ning

2015-06-05

High-temperatures in the cockpit environment can adversely influence pilot behavior and performance. To investigate the impact of high thermal environments on Chinese pilot performance in a simulated cockpit environment. Ten subjects volunteered to participate in the tests under 40°C and 45°C high-temperature simulations in an environmentally controlled chamber. Measures such as grip strength, perception, dexterity, somatic sense reaction, and analytical reasoning were taken. The results were compared to the Combined Index of Heat Stress (CIHS). CIHS exceeded the heat stress safety limit after 45 min under 40°C, grip strength decreased by 12% and somatic perception became 2.89 times larger than the initial value. In the case of 45°C, CIHS exceeded the safety limit after only 20 min, while the grip strength decreased just by 3.2% and somatic perception increased to 4.36 times larger than the initial value. Reaction and finger dexterity were not statistically different from baseline measurements, but the error rate of analytical reasoning test rose remarkably. Somatic perception was the most sensitive index to high-temperature, followed by grip strength. Results of this paper may help to improve environmental control design of new fighter cockpit and for pilot physiology and cockpit environment ergonomics research for Chinese pilots.

Mathematical aspects of assessing extreme events for the safety of nuclear plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Potempski, Slawomir; Borysiewicz, Mieczyslaw

2015-04-01

In the paper the review of mathematical methodologies applied for assessing low frequencies of rare natural events like earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes or tornadoes, floods (in particular flash floods and surge storms), lightning, solar flares, etc., will be given in the perspective of the safety assessment of nuclear plants. The statistical methods are usually based on the extreme value theory, which deals with the analysis of extreme deviation from the median (or the mean). In this respect application of various mathematical tools can be useful, like: the extreme value theorem of Fisher-Tippett-Gnedenko leading to possible choices of general extreme value distributions, or the Pickands-Balkema-de Haan theorem for tail fitting, or the methods related to large deviation theory. In the paper the most important stochastic distributions relevant for performing rare events statistical analysis will be presented. This concerns, for example, the analysis of the data with the annual extreme values (maxima - "Annual Maxima Series" or minima), or the peak values, exceeding given thresholds at some periods of interest ("Peak Over Threshold"), or the estimation of the size of exceedance. Despite of the fact that there is a lack of sufficient statistical data directly containing rare events, in some cases it is still possible to extract useful information from existing larger data sets. As an example one can consider some data sets available from the web sites for floods, earthquakes or generally natural hazards. Some aspects of such data sets will be also presented taking into account their usefulness for the practical assessment of risk for nuclear power plants coming from extreme weather conditions.

Health Status and Working Condition of Migrant Workers: Major Public Health Problems

PubMed Central

Bener, Abdulbari

2017-01-01

Background: Very little research and survey have been performed on the occupational health, hazards, and working condition of urban and rural of workers in Qatar. The aim of the current study is to identify the health status, lifestyle condition, working-related problems, and accidents experienced by Indian subcontinental migrants (ISCM) in Qatar and their access to health-care facilities. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study based on a representative sample of 1186 workers and study covering sociodemographic characteristics, medical conditions, and health-seeking behaviors and personal experience. Results: There were statistically significant differences between semi-urban and urban migrant workers in terms of educational, occupation, income, working hours, and accommodation type (P < 0.001). Furthermore, there were statistically significant differences between migrant workers in terms of body mass index, delay in receiving salary, the right to medical insurance and sick day entitlement, cigarettes and shisha smoking, amenities, having on-site safety measure, and sleeping hours (P < 0.01). Moreover, there were statistically significant differences between semi-urban and urban migrant workers in terms of pain, cardiopulmonary, gastrointestinal, and pseudoneurologic and medical symptoms (P < 0.01). Multiple logistic regression was used for predictors’ health problems in migrant workers such as the absence of drinking water, tap water availability, safety facility tools, occupational status, shisha smoking, toilet facility, working hours, and accommodation type were considered the strong predictors. Conclusions: The current study revealed that there is a lack of insufficient information for the migrants about their lifestyle, medical conditions, health risks, injury, and rights privilege in relation to legal working condition and health services. PMID:28966757

Health Status and Working Condition of Migrant Workers: Major Public Health Problems.

PubMed

Bener, Abdulbari

2017-01-01

Very little research and survey have been performed on the occupational health, hazards, and working condition of urban and rural of workers in Qatar. The aim of the current study is to identify the health status, lifestyle condition, working-related problems, and accidents experienced by Indian subcontinental migrants (ISCM) in Qatar and their access to health-care facilities. This is a cross-sectional study based on a representative sample of 1186 workers and study covering sociodemographic characteristics, medical conditions, and health-seeking behaviors and personal experience. There were statistically significant differences between semi-urban and urban migrant workers in terms of educational, occupation, income, working hours, and accommodation type ( P < 0.001). Furthermore, there were statistically significant differences between migrant workers in terms of body mass index, delay in receiving salary, the right to medical insurance and sick day entitlement, cigarettes and shisha smoking, amenities, having on-site safety measure, and sleeping hours ( P < 0.01). Moreover, there were statistically significant differences between semi-urban and urban migrant workers in terms of pain, cardiopulmonary, gastrointestinal, and pseudoneurologic and medical symptoms ( P < 0.01). Multiple logistic regression was used for predictors' health problems in migrant workers such as the absence of drinking water, tap water availability, safety facility tools, occupational status, shisha smoking, toilet facility, working hours, and accommodation type were considered the strong predictors. The current study revealed that there is a lack of insufficient information for the migrants about their lifestyle, medical conditions, health risks, injury, and rights privilege in relation to legal working condition and health services.

An improved bridge safety index for narrow bridges.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-08-01

In this report, a new bridge safety index is developed based upon an extensive : statistical study of accident data on 78 bridges. A total of 655 accidents : were recorded at these bridges over the six-year period between 1974 and 1979. : Cluster ana...

Health And Safety In Maintenance Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ungureanu, Nicolae Stelian; Daraba, Dinu; Moraru, Roland Iosif

2015-07-01

The paper examines some aspects of health and safety at work in maintenance activities. It was analysed the occurrence of accidents, statistically, in maintenance work. There have been identified a number of causes of accidents and there have been proposed some measures to reduce them.

School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS): 2015-16. Public-Use Data File User's Manual. NCES 2018-107

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Michael; Diliberti, Melissa; Kemp, Jana; Hummel, Steven; Cox, Christina; Gbondo-Tugbawa, Komba; Simon, Dillon

2018-01-01

The School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) is managed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education. SSOCS collects extensive crime and safety data from principals and administrators of public schools in the United States. Data from this collection can be…

Formal testing and utilization of streaming media to improve flight crew safety knowledge.

PubMed

Bellazzini, Marc A; Rankin, Peter M; Quisling, Jason; Gangnon, Ronald; Kohrs, Mike

2008-01-01

Increased concerns over the safety of air medical transport have prompted development of novel ways to increase safety. The objective of our study was to determine if an Internet streaming media safety video increased crew safety knowledge. 23 out of 40 crew members took an online safety pre-test, watched a safety video specific to our program and completed immediate and long-term post-testing 6 months later. Mean pre-test, post-test and 6 month follow up test scores were 84.9%, 92.3% and 88.4% respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in all scores (p

Mental practice with interactive 3D visual aids enhances surgical performance.

PubMed

Yiasemidou, Marina; Glassman, Daniel; Mushtaq, Faisal; Athanasiou, Christos; Williams, Mark-Mon; Jayne, David; Miskovic, Danilo

2017-10-01

Evidence suggests that Mental Practice (MP) could be used to finesse surgical skills. However, MP is cognitively demanding and may be dependent on the ability of individuals to produce mental images. In this study, we hypothesised that the provision of interactive 3D visual aids during MP could facilitate surgical skill performance. 20 surgical trainees were case-matched to one of three different preparation methods prior to performing a simulated Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy (LC). Two intervention groups underwent a 25-minute MP session; one with interactive 3D visual aids depicting the relevant surgical anatomy (3D-MP group, n = 5) and one without (MP-Only, n = 5). A control group (n = 10) watched a didactic video of a real LC. Scores relating to technical performance and safety were recorded by a surgical simulator. The Control group took longer to complete the procedure relative to the 3D&MP condition (p = .002). The number of movements was also statistically different across groups (p = .001), with the 3D&MP group making fewer movements relative to controls (p = .001). Likewise, the control group moved further in comparison to the 3D&MP condition and the MP-Only condition (p = .004). No reliable differences were observed for safety metrics. These data provide evidence for the potential value of MP in improving performance. Furthermore, they suggest that 3D interactive visual aids during MP could potentially enhance performance, beyond the benefits of MP alone. These findings pave the way for future RCTs on surgical preparation and performance.

The effect of safety initiatives on safety performance: a longitudinal study.

PubMed

Hoonakker, Peter; Loushine, Todd; Carayon, Pascale; Kallman, James; Kapp, Andrew; Smith, Michael J

2005-07-01

Construction industry is one of the most dangerous industries, not only in the USA, but worldwide. In this longitudinal study we examined the effects of safety initiatives on the safety performance of construction companies. One of the measures commonly used in the USA to track a company's safety performance is the experience modification rate (EMR). The EMR is based on the company's safety records (injury claims) from the past three full years and is used to calculate the workers' compensation insurance premiums. In a longitudinal study, we studied the effects of safety efforts and initiatives on the EMR. The results show that safety initiatives and money spent on safety do improve safety performance, but only over time.

Multilevel Safety Climate and Safety Performance in the Construction Industry: Development and Validation of a Top-Down Mechanism

PubMed Central

Gao, Ran; Chan, Albert P.C.; Utama, Wahyudi P.; Zahoor, Hafiz

2016-01-01

The character of construction projects exposes front-line workers to dangers and accidents. Safety climate has been confirmed to be a predictor of safety performance in the construction industry. This study aims to explore the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between multilevel safety climate and safety performance. An integrated model was developed to study how particular safety climate factors of one level affect those of other levels, and then affect safety performance from the top down. A questionnaire survey was administered on six construction sites in Vietnam. A total of 1030 valid questionnaires were collected from this survey. Approximately half of the data were used to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the remaining data were submitted to structural equation modeling (SEM). Top management commitment (TMC) and supervisors’ expectation (SE) were identified as factors to represent organizational safety climate (OSC) and supervisor safety climate (SSC), respectively, and coworkers’ caring and communication (CCC) and coworkers’ role models (CRM) were identified as factors to denote coworker safety climate (CSC). SEM results show that OSC factor is positively related to SSC factor and CSC factors significantly. SSC factor could partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and CSC factors, as well as the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance. CSC factors partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance, and the relationship between SSC factor and safety performance. The findings imply that a positive safety culture should be established both at the organizational level and the group level. Efforts from all top management, supervisors, and coworkers should be provided to improve safety performance in the construction industry. PMID:27834823

Multilevel Safety Climate and Safety Performance in the Construction Industry: Development and Validation of a Top-Down Mechanism.

PubMed

Gao, Ran; Chan, Albert P C; Utama, Wahyudi P; Zahoor, Hafiz

2016-11-08

The character of construction projects exposes front-line workers to dangers and accidents. Safety climate has been confirmed to be a predictor of safety performance in the construction industry. This study aims to explore the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between multilevel safety climate and safety performance. An integrated model was developed to study how particular safety climate factors of one level affect those of other levels, and then affect safety performance from the top down. A questionnaire survey was administered on six construction sites in Vietnam. A total of 1030 valid questionnaires were collected from this survey. Approximately half of the data were used to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the remaining data were submitted to structural equation modeling (SEM). Top management commitment (TMC) and supervisors' expectation (SE) were identified as factors to represent organizational safety climate (OSC) and supervisor safety climate (SSC), respectively, and coworkers' caring and communication (CCC) and coworkers' role models (CRM) were identified as factors to denote coworker safety climate (CSC). SEM results show that OSC factor is positively related to SSC factor and CSC factors significantly. SSC factor could partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and CSC factors, as well as the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance. CSC factors partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance, and the relationship between SSC factor and safety performance. The findings imply that a positive safety culture should be established both at the organizational level and the group level. Efforts from all top management, supervisors, and coworkers should be provided to improve safety performance in the construction industry.

Safety and feasibility of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with sensorimotor retraining in chronic low back pain: a protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Ouellette, Adam Louis; Liston, Matthew B; Chang, Wei-Ju; Walton, David M; Wand, Benedict Martin; Schabrun, Siobhan M

2017-08-21

Chronic low back pain (LBP) is a common and costly health problem yet current treatments demonstrate at best, small effects. The concurrent application of treatments with synergistic clinical and mechanistic effects may improve outcomes in chronic LBP. This pilot trial aims to (1) determine the feasibility, safety and perceived patient response to a combined transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and sensorimotor retraining intervention in chronic LBP and (2) provide data to support a sample size calculation for a fully powered trial should trends of effectiveness be present. A pilot randomised, assessor and participant-blind, sham-controlled trial will be conducted. Eighty participants with chronic LBP will be randomly allocated to receive either (1) active tDCS + sensorimotor retraining or (2) sham tDCS + sensorimotor retraining. tDCS (active or sham) will be applied to the primary motor cortex for 20 min immediately prior to 60 min of supervised sensorimotor retraining twice per week for 10 weeks. Participants in both groups will complete home exercises three times per week. Feasibility, safety, pain, disability and pain system function will be assessed immediately before and after the 10-week intervention. Analysis of feasibility and safety will be performed using descriptive statistics. Statistical analyses will be conducted based on intention-to-treat and per protocol and will be used to determine trends for effectiveness. Ethical approval has been gained from the institutional human research ethics committee (H10184). Written informed consent will be provided by all participants. Results from this pilot study will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals. ACTRN12616000624482. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

External Tank Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) Prepress Regression Analysis Independent Review Technical Consultation Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parsons, Vickie s.

2009-01-01

The request to conduct an independent review of regression models, developed for determining the expected Launch Commit Criteria (LCC) External Tank (ET)-04 cycle count for the Space Shuttle ET tanking process, was submitted to the NASA Engineering and Safety Center NESC on September 20, 2005. The NESC team performed an independent review of regression models documented in Prepress Regression Analysis, Tom Clark and Angela Krenn, 10/27/05. This consultation consisted of a peer review by statistical experts of the proposed regression models provided in the Prepress Regression Analysis. This document is the consultation's final report.

Automatic Bone Drilling - More Precise, Reliable and Safe Manipulation in the Orthopaedic Surgery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boiadjiev, George; Kastelov, Rumen; Boiadjiev, Tony; Delchev, Kamen; Zagurski, Kazimir

2016-06-01

Bone drilling manipulation often occurs in the orthopaedic surgery. By statistics, nowadays, about one million people only in Europe need such an operation every year, where bone implants are inserted. Almost always, the drilling is performed handily, which cannot avoid the subjective factor influence. The question of subjective factor reduction has its answer - automatic bone drilling. The specific features and problems of orthopaedic drilling manipulation are considered in this work. The automatic drilling is presented according the possibilities of robotized system Orthopaedic Drilling Robot (ODRO) for assuring the manipulation accuracy, precision, reliability and safety.

Indoor Soiling Method and Outdoor Statistical Risk Analysis of Photovoltaic Power Plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rajasekar, Vidyashree

This is a two-part thesis. Part 1 presents an approach for working towards the development of a standardized artificial soiling method for laminated photovoltaic (PV) cells or mini-modules. Construction of an artificial chamber to maintain controlled environmental conditions and components/chemicals used in artificial soil formulation is briefly explained. Both poly-Si mini-modules and a single cell mono-Si coupons were soiled and characterization tests such as I-V, reflectance and quantum efficiency (QE) were carried out on both soiled, and cleaned coupons. From the results obtained, poly-Si mini-modules proved to be a good measure of soil uniformity, as any non-uniformity present would not result in a smooth curve during I-V measurements. The challenges faced while executing reflectance and QE characterization tests on poly-Si due to smaller size cells was eliminated on the mono-Si coupons with large cells to obtain highly repeatable measurements. This study indicates that the reflectance measurements between 600-700 nm wavelengths can be used as a direct measure of soil density on the modules. Part 2 determines the most dominant failure modes of field aged PV modules using experimental data obtained in the field and statistical analysis, FMECA (Failure Mode, Effect, and Criticality Analysis). The failure and degradation modes of about 744 poly-Si glass/polymer frameless modules fielded for 18 years under the cold-dry climate of New York was evaluated. Defect chart, degradation rates (both string and module levels) and safety map were generated using the field measured data. A statistical reliability tool, FMECA that uses Risk Priority Number (RPN) is used to determine the dominant failure or degradation modes in the strings and modules by means of ranking and prioritizing the modes. This study on PV power plants considers all the failure and degradation modes from both safety and performance perspectives. The indoor and outdoor soiling studies were jointly performed by two Masters Students, Sravanthi Boppana and Vidyashree Rajasekar. This thesis presents the indoor soiling study, whereas the other thesis presents the outdoor soiling study. Similarly, the statistical risk analyses of two power plants (model J and model JVA) were jointly performed by these two Masters students. Both power plants are located at the same cold-dry climate, but one power plant carries framed modules and the other carries frameless modules. This thesis presents the results obtained on the frameless modules.

Association between workplace and housing conditions and use of pesticide safety practices and personal protective equipment among North Carolina farmworkers in 2010.

PubMed

Levesque, D L; Arif, A A; Shen, J

2012-04-01

There are inconsistencies about the effects of farmworker housing and workplace conditions and use of self-protective behavior practices and personal protective equipment (PPE). To investigate the association between workplace and housing conditions and farmworker use of pesticide safety practices and PPE. This study was conducted in 4 counties in North Carolina, USA, from July to October, 2010, during the agricultural growing season. Farmworkers working in agriculture aged 18 to 62 (n = 187) were administered a structured questionnaire to collect self-reported measures on housing and workplace conditions. Use of pesticide safety and PPE were examined by asking questions about wearing gloves, wearing socks, and wearing a hat. Chi-square and multiple logistic regression analyses were used for statistical analyses. Farmworkers reporting availability of enough hot and cold water for bathing and doing laundry were 13.6 times more likely to use pesticide safety practices (adjusted OR: 13.6, 95% CI: 1.4-135.4), whereas, those who reported that soap for handwashing was always or usually available while doing agricultural work were 7.8 times more likely to use pesticide safety practices (adjusted OR: 7.8, 95% CI: 3.3-18.5). Farmworkers that reported access to water to wash their hands with while performing agricultural work were more likely to use PPE (adjusted OR: 3.4, 95% CI: 1.3-9.2). Some migrant farmworker labor camps are not supplying acceptable housing conditions such as 1 handwashing sink per 6 people (n = 10, 5.4%). Use of pesticide safety practices and PPE is greater when farmers provide decontamination supplies. Improvement of housing and workplace conditions are crucial to increase use of pesticide safety practices and PPE.

Safety of fenbendazole in common peafowl (Pavo cristatus).

PubMed

Umar, Sajid; Abbas, Seema; Khan, Muhammad Irfan; Nisa, Qamarun; Younus, Muhammad; Aqil, Kiran; Qayyum, Rizwan; Yaqoob, Muhammad; Ali, Asif; Yaseen, Muhammad Asif; Shah, Muhammad Ali

2018-01-01

The present study was undertaken to find out the safety levels of fenbendazole in common peafowl. This bird, raised on aviaries and zoos, can be severely parasitized with Ascaridia galli (enteric worms) and Syngamus trachea (gapeworm) along with other parasitic worms. Fenbendazole is a highly effective benzimidazole-class anthelmintic in animals. The objective of this work was to provide target animal safety data in young peafowl and to demonstrate reproductive safety in adult birds. During the experimental study, diets containing fenbendazole at 0, 100, 200 and 300 ppm were fed for 21 days (three times the normal treatment duration). Data for feed consumption, feed conversion rate, and body weights were recorded for each bird in each group. Drug concentrations in different tissues of birds were determined to correlate concentrations with clinical observations, clinical pathology, and histologic findings. There were no morbidities or mortalities after study day 21. Additionally, there were no statistically significant treatment-related differences among above mentioned parameters. Analysis of fenbendazole concentrations in kidney, liver, leg/thigh, and breast muscle and skin with associated fat revealed that, even at the highest dose level used and with no feed withdrawal, fenbendazole concentrations were relatively low in these tissues. These findings indicate that fenbendazole has a relatively wide margin of safety in young peafowl and that the proposed dose of 100 ppm in the feed for 7 consecutive days is well within the margin of safety. In the reproductive safety study, five breeder peafowl farms fed fendbendazole at 100ppm for 7 days and collected data on hatching percentage of peahen eggs before and after treatment. Reproductive performance in peahen was not adversely affected.

Investigating the potential benefits of on-site food safety training for Folklorama, a temporary food service event.

PubMed

Mancini, Roberto; Murray, Leigh; Chapman, Benjamin J; Powell, Douglas A

2012-10-01

Folklorama in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is a 14-day temporary food service event that explores the many different cultural realms of food, food preparation, and entertainment. In 2010, the Russian pavilion at Folklorama was implicated in a foodborne outbreak of Escherichia coli O157 that caused 37 illnesses and 18 hospitalizations. The ethnic nature and diversity of foods prepared within each pavilion presents a unique problem for food inspectors, as each culture prepares food in their own very unique way. The Manitoba Department of Health and Folklorama Board of Directors realized a need to implement a food safety information delivery program that would be more effective than a 2-h food safety course delivered via PowerPoint slides. The food operators and event coordinators of five randomly chosen pavilions selling potentially hazardous food were trained on-site, in their work environment, focusing on critical control points specific to their menu. A control group (five pavilions) did not receive on-site food safety training and were assessed concurrently. Public health inspections for all 10 pavilions were performed by Certified Public Health Inspectors employed with Manitoba Health. Critical infractions were assessed by means of standardized food protection inspection reports. The results suggest no statistically significant difference in food inspection scores between the trained and control groups. However, it was found that inspection report results increased for both the control and trained groups from the first inspection to the second, implying that public health inspections are necessary in correcting unsafe food safety practices. The results further show that in this case, the 2-h food safety course delivered via slides was sufficient to pass public health inspections. Further evaluations of alternative food safety training approaches are warranted.

Quantifying Pilot Contribution to Flight Safety During Dual Generator Failure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Etherington, Timothy J.; Kramer, Lynda J.; Kennedy, Kellie D.; Bailey, Randall E.; Last, Mary Carolyn

2017-01-01

Accident statistics cite flight crew error in over 60% of accidents involving transport category aircraft. Yet, a well-trained and well-qualified pilot is acknowledged as the critical center point of aircraft systems safety and an integral safety component of the entire commercial aviation system. No data currently exists that quantifies the contribution of the flight crew in this role. Neither does data exist for how often the flight crew handles non-normal procedures or system failures on a daily basis in the National Airspace System. A pilot-in-the-loop high fidelity motion simulation study was conducted by the NASA Langley Research Center in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to evaluate the pilot's contribution to flight safety during normal flight and in response to aircraft system failures. Eighteen crews flew various normal and non-normal procedures over a two-day period and their actions were recorded in response to failures. To quantify the human's contribution, crew complement was used as the experiment independent variable in a between-subjects design. Pilot actions and performance when one of the flight crew was unavailable were also recorded for comparison against the nominal two-crew operations. This paper details diversion decisions, perceived safety of flight, workload, time to complete pertinent checklists, and approach and landing results while dealing with a complete loss of electrical generators. Loss of electrical power requires pilots to complete the flight without automation support of autopilots, flight directors, or auto throttles. For reduced crew complements, the additional workload and perceived safety of flight was considered unacceptable.

Va-Room: Motorcycle Safety.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keller, Rosanne

One of a series of instructional materials produced by the Literacy Council of Alaska, this booklet provides information about motorcycle safety. Using a simplified vocabulary and shorter sentences, it offers statistics concerning motorcycle accidents; information on how to choose the proper machine; basic information about the operation of the…

The role of control groups in mutagenicity studies: matching biological and statistical relevance.

PubMed

Hauschke, Dieter; Hothorn, Torsten; Schäfer, Juliane

2003-06-01

The statistical test of the conventional hypothesis of "no treatment effect" is commonly used in the evaluation of mutagenicity experiments. Failing to reject the hypothesis often leads to the conclusion in favour of safety. The major drawback of this indirect approach is that what is controlled by a prespecified level alpha is the probability of erroneously concluding hazard (producer risk). However, the primary concern of safety assessment is the control of the consumer risk, i.e. limiting the probability of erroneously concluding that a product is safe. In order to restrict this risk, safety has to be formulated as the alternative, and hazard, i.e. the opposite, has to be formulated as the hypothesis. The direct safety approach is examined for the case when the corresponding threshold value is expressed either as a fraction of the population mean for the negative control, or as a fraction of the difference between the positive and negative controls.

Note on evaluating safety performance of road infrastructure to motivate safety competition.

PubMed

Han, Sangjin

2016-01-01

Road infrastructures are usually developed and maintained by governments or public sectors. There is no competitor in the market of their jurisdiction. This monopolic feature discourages road authorities from improving the level of safety with proactive motivation. This study suggests how to apply a principle of competition for roads, in particular by means of performance evaluation. It first discusses why road infrastructure has been slow in safety oriented development and management in respect of its business model. Then it suggests some practical ways of how to promote road safety between road authorities, particularly by evaluating safety performance of road infrastructure. These are summarized as decision of safety performance indicators, classification of spatial boundaries, data collection, evaluation, and reporting. Some consideration points are also discussed to make safety performance evaluation on road infrastructure lead to better road safety management.

Improved statistical signal detection in pharmacovigilance by combining multiple strength-of-evidence aspects in vigiRank.

PubMed

Caster, Ola; Juhlin, Kristina; Watson, Sarah; Norén, G Niklas

2014-08-01

Detection of unknown risks with marketed medicines is key to securing the optimal care of individual patients and to reducing the societal burden from adverse drug reactions. Large collections of individual case reports remain the primary source of information and require effective analytics to guide clinical assessors towards likely drug safety signals. Disproportionality analysis is based solely on aggregate numbers of reports and naively disregards report quality and content. However, these latter features are the very fundament of the ensuing clinical assessment. Our objective was to develop and evaluate a data-driven screening algorithm for emerging drug safety signals that accounts for report quality and content. vigiRank is a predictive model for emerging safety signals, here implemented with shrinkage logistic regression to identify predictive variables and estimate their respective contributions. The variables considered for inclusion capture different aspects of strength of evidence, including quality and clinical content of individual reports, as well as trends in time and geographic spread. A reference set of 264 positive controls (historical safety signals from 2003 to 2007) and 5,280 negative controls (pairs of drugs and adverse events not listed in the Summary of Product Characteristics of that drug in 2012) was used for model fitting and evaluation; the latter used fivefold cross-validation to protect against over-fitting. All analyses were performed on a reconstructed version of VigiBase(®) as of 31 December 2004, at around which time most safety signals in our reference set were emerging. The following aspects of strength of evidence were selected for inclusion into vigiRank: the numbers of informative and recent reports, respectively; disproportional reporting; the number of reports with free-text descriptions of the case; and the geographic spread of reporting. vigiRank offered a statistically significant improvement in area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) over screening based on the Information Component (IC) and raw numbers of reports, respectively (0.775 vs. 0.736 and 0.707, cross-validated). Accounting for multiple aspects of strength of evidence has clear conceptual and empirical advantages over disproportionality analysis. vigiRank is a first-of-its-kind predictive model to factor in report quality and content in first-pass screening to better meet tomorrow's post-marketing drug safety surveillance needs.

The roles and functions of safety professionals in Taiwan: Comparing the perceptions of safety professionals and safety educators.

PubMed

Wu, Tsung-Chih

2011-10-01

The perspectives of both internal and external members have to be considered when developing safety curricula. This study discusses perceptional differences between safety educators (SEs) and safety professionals (SPs) regarding the function of SPs. The findings will serve as a reference framework for the establishment of core safety competencies and the development of safety curricula for SPs. 248 respondents, including both SEs and SPs, completed self-administered questionnaires, which included the 45-item safety function scale (SFS). Nine factors were extracted from the scale using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), namely inspection and research, regulatory tasks, emergency procedures and settlement of damage, management and financial affairs, culture change, problem identification and analysis, developing and implementing solutions, knowledge management, and training and communications. Descriptive statistical results indicated that SPs and SEs hold differing views on the rank of the frequency of safety functions. MANOVA results indicated that SPs' perceptions of developing and implementing solutions, training and communications, inspection and research, and management and financial affairs were significantly higher than that of SEs. On the other hand, SE's perceptions regarding participation in regulatory tasks were significantly higher than those of SPs. Based on these results, the author suggests that a clear communication channel should be established between universities and industry to reduce the gap between the perceptions of SEs and SPs. The results of the study are statistically and practically significant. In addition to serving as a reference for the development of safety curricula, the results are also conducive to the establishment of SP roles and functions. Ultimately the development of more suitable safety curricula would open up employment competition for students who graduate from safety-related programs. SPs, on the other hand, can correctly recognize their roles and functions so as to realize the safety expectations invested in them by organizations. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fatalities Associated with Carbon Monoxide Poisoning from Motor Vehicles in 1993

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-12-01

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's National Center for Statistics : and Analysis (NCSA) recently completed a study of data from the National Center : for Health Statistics (NCHS) to obtain an estimate of the number of persons : killed a...

Statistical Approaches to Assess Biosimilarity from Analytical Data.

PubMed

Burdick, Richard; Coffey, Todd; Gutka, Hiten; Gratzl, Gyöngyi; Conlon, Hugh D; Huang, Chi-Ting; Boyne, Michael; Kuehne, Henriette

2017-01-01

Protein therapeutics have unique critical quality attributes (CQAs) that define their purity, potency, and safety. The analytical methods used to assess CQAs must be able to distinguish clinically meaningful differences in comparator products, and the most important CQAs should be evaluated with the most statistical rigor. High-risk CQA measurements assess the most important attributes that directly impact the clinical mechanism of action or have known implications for safety, while the moderate- to low-risk characteristics may have a lower direct impact and thereby may have a broader range to establish similarity. Statistical equivalence testing is applied for high-risk CQA measurements to establish the degree of similarity (e.g., highly similar fingerprint, highly similar, or similar) of selected attributes. Notably, some high-risk CQAs (e.g., primary sequence or disulfide bonding) are qualitative (e.g., the same as the originator or not the same) and therefore not amenable to equivalence testing. For biosimilars, an important step is the acquisition of a sufficient number of unique originator drug product lots to measure the variability in the originator drug manufacturing process and provide sufficient statistical power for the analytical data comparisons. Together, these analytical evaluations, along with PK/PD and safety data (immunogenicity), provide the data necessary to determine if the totality of the evidence warrants a designation of biosimilarity and subsequent licensure for marketing in the USA. In this paper, a case study approach is used to provide examples of analytical similarity exercises and the appropriateness of statistical approaches for the example data.

Fatal falls in the US construction industry, 1990 to 1999.

PubMed

Derr, J; Forst, L; Chen, H Y; Conroy, L

2001-10-01

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) database allows for the detailed analysis of risk factors surrounding fatal occupational events. This study used IMIS data to (1) perform a risk factor analysis of fatal construction falls, and (2) assess the impact of the February 1995 29 CFR Part 1926 Subpart M OSHA fall protection regulations for construction by calculating trends in fatal fall rates. In addition, IMIS data on fatal construction falls were compared with data from other occupational fatality surveillance systems. For falls in construction, the study identified several demographic factors that may indicate increased risk. A statistically significant downward trend in fatal falls was evident in all construction and within several construction categories during the decade. Although the study failed to show a statistically significant intervention effect from the new OSHA regulations, it may have lacked the power to do so.

A Safety Index and Method for Flightdeck Evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Latorella, Kara A.

2000-01-01

If our goal is to improve safety through machine, interface, and training design, then we must define a metric of flightdeck safety that is usable in the design process. Current measures associated with our notions of "good" pilot performance and ultimate safety of flightdeck performance fail to provide an adequate index of safe flightdeck performance for design evaluation purposes. The goal of this research effort is to devise a safety index and method that allows us to evaluate flightdeck performance holistically and in a naturalistic experiment. This paper uses Reason's model of accident causation (1990) as a basis for measuring safety, and proposes a relational database system and method for 1) defining a safety index of flightdeck performance, and 2) evaluating the "safety" afforded by flightdeck performance for the purpose of design iteration. Methodological considerations, limitations, and benefits are discussed as well as extensions to this work.

Current practice patterns of drain usage amongst UK and Irish surgeons performing bilateral breast reductions: Evidence down the drain.

PubMed

Sugrue, Conor M; McInerney, Niall; Joyce, Cormac W; Jones, Deidre; Hussey, Alan J; Kelly, Jack L; Kerin, Michael J; Regan, Padraic J

2015-01-01

Bilateral breast reduction (BBR) is one of the most frequently performed female breast operations. Despite no evidence supporting efficacy of drain usage in BBRs, postoperative insertion is common. Recent high quality evidence demonstrating potential harm from drain use has subsequently challenged this traditional practice. The aim of this study is to assess the current practice patterns of drains usage by Plastic & Reconstructive and Breast Surgeons in UK and Ireland performing BBRs. An 18 question survey was created evaluating various aspects of BBR practice. UK and Irish Plastic & Reconstructive and Breast Surgeons were invited to participate by an email containing a link to a web-based survey. Statistical analysis was performed with student t-test and chi-square test. Two hundred and eleven responding surgeons were analysed, including 80.1% (171/211) Plastic Surgeons and 18.9% (40/211) Breast Surgeons. Of the responding surgeons, 71.6% (151/211) routinely inserted postoperative drains, for a mean of 1.32 days. Drains were used significantly less by surgeons performing ≥20 BBRs (p = 0.02). With the majority of BBRs performed as an inpatient procedure, there was a trend towards less drain usage in surgeons performing this procedure as an outpatient; however, this was not statistically significant (p = 0.07). Even with the high level of evidence demonstrating the safety of BBR without drains, they are still routinely utilised. In an era of evidence- based medicine, surgeons performing breast reductions must adopt the results from scientific research into their clinical practice.

An empirical Bayes safety evaluation of tram/streetcar signal and lane priority measures in Melbourne.

PubMed

Naznin, Farhana; Currie, Graham; Sarvi, Majid; Logan, David

2016-01-01

Streetcars/tram systems are growing worldwide, and many are given priority to increase speed and reliability performance in mixed traffic conditions. Research related to the road safety impact of tram priority is limited. This study explores the road safety impacts of tram priority measures including lane and intersection/signal priority measures. A before-after crash study was conducted using the empirical Bayes (EB) method to provide more accurate crash impact estimates by accounting for wider crash trends and regression to the mean effects. Before-after crash data for 29 intersections with tram signal priority and 23 arterials with tram lane priority in Melbourne, Australia, were analyzed to evaluate the road safety impact of tram priority. The EB before-after analysis results indicated a statistically significant adjusted crash reduction rate of 16.4% after implementation of tram priority measures. Signal priority measures were found to reduce crashes by 13.9% and lane priority by 19.4%. A disaggregate level simple before-after analysis indicated reductions in total and serious crashes as well as vehicle-, pedestrian-, and motorcycle-involved crashes. In addition, reductions in on-path crashes, pedestrian-involved crashes, and collisions among vehicles moving in the same and opposite directions and all other specific crash types were found after tram priority implementation. Results suggest that streetcar/tram priority measures result in safety benefits for all road users, including vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. Policy implications and areas for future research are discussed.

The dread factor: how hazards and safety training influence learning and performance.

PubMed

Burke, Michael J; Salvador, Rommel O; Smith-Crowe, Kristin; Chan-Serafin, Suzanne; Smith, Alexis; Sonesh, Shirley

2011-01-01

On the basis of hypotheses derived from social and experiential learning theories, we meta-analytically investigated how safety training and workplace hazards impact the development of safety knowledge and safety performance. The results were consistent with an expected interaction between the level of engagement of safety training and hazardous event/exposure severity in the promotion of safety knowledge and performance. For safety knowledge and safety performance, highly engaging training was considerably more effective than less engaging training when hazardous event/exposure severity was high, whereas highly and less engaging training had comparable levels of effectiveness when hazardous event/exposure severity was low. Implications of these findings for theory testing and incorporating information on objective risk into workplace safety research and practice are discussed.

A comparison of different statistical methods analyzing hypoglycemia data using bootstrap simulations.

PubMed

Jiang, Honghua; Ni, Xiao; Huster, William; Heilmann, Cory

2015-01-01

Hypoglycemia has long been recognized as a major barrier to achieving normoglycemia with intensive diabetic therapies. It is a common safety concern for the diabetes patients. Therefore, it is important to apply appropriate statistical methods when analyzing hypoglycemia data. Here, we carried out bootstrap simulations to investigate the performance of the four commonly used statistical models (Poisson, negative binomial, analysis of covariance [ANCOVA], and rank ANCOVA) based on the data from a diabetes clinical trial. Zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) model and zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) model were also evaluated. Simulation results showed that Poisson model inflated type I error, while negative binomial model was overly conservative. However, after adjusting for dispersion, both Poisson and negative binomial models yielded slightly inflated type I errors, which were close to the nominal level and reasonable power. Reasonable control of type I error was associated with ANCOVA model. Rank ANCOVA model was associated with the greatest power and with reasonable control of type I error. Inflated type I error was observed with ZIP and ZINB models.

49 CFR 385.337 - What happens if a new entrant refuses to permit a safety audit to be performed on its operations?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... safety audit to be performed on its operations? 385.337 Section 385.337 Transportation Other Regulations... TRANSPORTATION FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY REGULATIONS SAFETY FITNESS PROCEDURES New Entrant Safety Assurance Program § 385.337 What happens if a new entrant refuses to permit a safety audit to be performed on its...

Impact of texting on young drivers' behavior and safety on urban and rural roads through a simulation experiment.

PubMed

Yannis, George; Laiou, Alexandra; Papantoniou, Panagiotis; Christoforou, Charalambos

2014-06-01

This research aims to investigate the impact of texting on the behavior and safety of young drivers on urban and rural roads. A driving simulator experiment was carried out in which 34 young participants drove in different driving scenarios; specifically, driving in good weather, in raining conditions, in daylight and in night were examined. Lognormal regression methods were used to investigate the influence of texting as well as various other parameters on the mean speed and mean reaction time. Binary logistic methods were used to investigate the influence of texting use as well as various other parameters in the probability of an accident. It appears that texting leads to statistically significant decrease of the mean speed and increase of the mean reaction time in urban and rural road environment. Simultaneously, it leads to an increased accident probability due to driver distraction and delayed reaction at the moment of the incident. It appeared that drivers using mobile phones with a touch screen present different driving behavior with respect to their speed, however, they had an even higher probability of being involved in an accident. The analysis of the distracted driving performance of drivers who are texting while driving may allow for the identification of measures for the improvement of driving performance (e.g., restrictive measures, training and licensing, information campaigns). The identification of some of the parameters that have an impact on the behavior and safety of young drivers concerning texting and the consequent results can be exploited by policy decision makers in future efforts for the improvement of road safety. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Outcomes by sex following treatment initiation with atazanavir plus ritonavir or efavirenz with abacavir/lamivudine or tenofovir/emtricitabine.

PubMed

Smith, Kimberly Y; Tierney, Camlin; Mollan, Katie; Venuto, Charles S; Budhathoki, Chakra; Ma, Qing; Morse, Gene D; Sax, Paul; Katzenstein, David; Godfrey, Catherine; Fischl, Margaret; Daar, Eric S; Collier, Ann C

2014-02-01

We aimed to evaluate treatment responses to atazanavir plus ritonavir (ATV/r) or efavirenz (EFV) in initial antiretroviral regimens among women and men, and determine if treatment outcomes differ by sex. We performed a randomized trial of open-label ATV/r or EFV combined with abacavir/lamivudine (ABC/3TC) or tenofovir/emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) in 1857 human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected, treatment-naive persons enrolled between September 2005 and November 2007 at 59 sites in the United States and Puerto Rico. Associations of sex with 3 primary study endpoints of time to virologic failure, safety, and tolerability events were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models. Model-based population pharmacokinetic analysis was performed using nonlinear mixed effects modeling (NONMEM version VII). Of 1857 participants, 322 were women. Women assigned to ATV/r had a higher risk of virologic failure with either nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor backbone than women assigned to EFV, or men assigned to ATV/r. The effects of ATV/r and EFV upon safety and tolerability risk did not differ significantly by sex. With ABC/3TC, women had a significantly higher (32%) safety risk compared to men; with TDF/FTC, the safety risk was 20% larger for women compared to men, but not statistically significant. Women had slower ATV clearance and higher predose levels of ATV compared to men. Self-reported adherence did not differ significantly by sex. This is the first randomized clinical trial to identify a significantly earlier time to virologic failure in women randomized to ATV/r compared to women randomized to EFV. This finding has important clinical implications given that boosted protease inhibitors are often favored over EFV in women of childbearing potential. NCT00118898.

Effect of motivational group interviewing-based safety education on Workers' safety behaviors in glass manufacturing.

PubMed

Navidian, Ali; Rostami, Zahra; Rozbehani, Nasrin

2015-09-19

Worker safety education using models that identify and reinforce factors affecting behavior is essential. The present study aimed to determine the effect of safety education based on motivational interviewing on awareness of, attitudes toward, and engagement in worker safety in the glass production industry in Hamedan, Iran, in 2014. This was a quasi-experimental interventional study including a total of 70 production line workers at glass production facilities in Hamedan. The workers were randomly assigned to either an intervention or a control group, with 35 workers in each group. Participants in the control group received four one-hour safety education sessions, in the form of traditional lectures. Those in the intervention group received four educational sessions based on motivational group interviewing, which were conducted in four groups of eight to ten participants each. The instruments used included a researcher-developed questionnaire with checklists addressing safety awareness, and attitude and performance, which were completed before and 12 weeks after the intervention. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent and paired t-tests, and chi-squared tests. Having obtained the differences in scores before and after the intervention, we determined mean changes in the scores of awareness, attitude, and use of personal protective equipment among workers who underwent motivational group interviewing (3.74 ± 2.16, 1.71 ± 3.16, and 3.2 ± 1.92, respectively, p < 0.05). These scores were significantly greater than those of control workers who underwent traditional educational sessions (1.28 ± 1.93, 1.1 ± 3.07, and 0.2 ± 1.26, respectively). Our findings revealed that incorporation of motivational interviewing principles into safety education programs had the positive effect of enhancing workers' knowledge, attitude, and, particularly, implementation of safe behaviors. The application of this advisory approach is recommended to increase workplace safety and minimize occupational hazards in the work environment.

Investigating systematic individual differences in sleep-deprived performance on a high-fidelity flight simulator.

PubMed

Van Dongen, Hans P A; Caldwell, John A; Caldwell, J Lynn

2006-05-01

Laboratory research has revealed considerable systematic variability in the degree to which individuals' alertness and performance are affected by sleep deprivation. However, little is known about whether or not different populations exhibit similar levels of individual variability. In the present study, we examined individual variability in performance impairment due to sleep loss in a highly select population of militaryjet pilots. Ten active-duty F-117 pilots were deprived of sleep for 38 h and studied repeatedly in a high-fidelity flight simulator. Data were analyzed with a mixed-model ANOVA to quantify individual variability. Statistically significant, systematic individual differences in the effects of sleep deprivation were observed, even when baseline differences were accounted for. The findings suggest that highly select populations may exhibit individual differences in vulnerability to performance impairment from sleep loss just as the general population does. Thus, the scientific and operational communities' reliance on group data as opposed to individual data may entail substantial misestimation of the impact of job-related stressors on safety and performance.

Complication Rates, Hospital Size, and Bias in the CMS Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program.

PubMed

Koenig, Lane; Soltoff, Samuel A; Demiralp, Berna; Demehin, Akinluwa A; Foster, Nancy E; Steinberg, Caroline Rossi; Vaz, Christopher; Wetzel, Scott; Xu, Susan

In 2016, Medicare's Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program (HAC-RP) will reduce hospital payments by $364 million. Although observers have questioned the validity of certain HAC-RP measures, less attention has been paid to the determination of low-performing hospitals (bottom quartile) and the assignment of penalties. This study investigated possible bias in the HAC-RP by simulating hospitals' likelihood of being in the worst-performing quartile for 8 patient safety measures, assuming identical expected complication rates across hospitals. Simulated likelihood of being a poor performer varied with hospital size. This relationship depended on the measure's complication rate. For 3 of 8 measures examined, the equal-quality simulation identified poor performers similarly to empirical data (c-statistic approximately 0.7 or higher) and explained most of the variation in empirical performance by size (Efron's R 2 > 0.85). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could address potential bias in the HAC-RP by stratifying by hospital size or using a broader "all-harm" measure.

Statewide traffic safety study phase II : identification of major traffic safety problem areas in Louisiana.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-04-01

This report summarizes a study that seeks to identify the factors leading to the high crash rate experienced on Louisiana highways. Factors were identified by comparing statistics from the Louisiana Crash Database with those from peer states using th...

Statistical analysis of an inter-laboratory comparison of small-scale safety and thermal testing of RDX

DOE PAGES

Brown, Geoffrey W.; Sandstrom, Mary M.; Preston, Daniel N.; ...

2014-11-17

In this study, the Integrated Data Collection Analysis (IDCA) program has conducted a proficiency test for small-scale safety and thermal (SSST) testing of homemade explosives (HMEs). Described here are statistical analyses of the results from this test for impact, friction, electrostatic discharge, and differential scanning calorimetry analysis of the RDX Class 5 Type II standard. The material was tested as a well-characterized standard several times during the proficiency test to assess differences among participants and the range of results that may arise for well-behaved explosive materials.

78 FR 24138 - Implementing Public Safety Broadband Provisions of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-24

... Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2011, Table 427 (2007). \\28\\ The 2007 U.S Census data.... (U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED STATES 2011, Table 428.) The criterion by... Statistical Abstract of the U.S., that inference is further supported by the fact that in both Tables, many...

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2009. NCES 2010-012/NCJ 228478

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dinkes, Rachel; Kemp, Jana; Baum, Katrina

2009-01-01

A joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics, this annual report examines crime occurring in school as well as on the way to and from school. It provides the most current detailed statistical information to inform the Nation on the nature of crime in schools. This report presents data on crime at…

Improving clinical handover in a paediatric ward: implications for nursing management.

PubMed

Mannix, Trudi; Parry, Yvonne; Roderick, Allison

2017-04-01

To describe how nursing staff in a paediatric ward improved the conduct of clinical handover, using a practise development approach. ISBAR (Identify, Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation) is a mnemonic tool to aid the safe transfer of patient information in clinical handover. The nurses identified the need to improve the use of ISBAR, and other issues related to handover that could compromise patient safety and constrain family-centred care. Sixty-one percent of nurses on the ward contributed to issue identification and the design of the educational material, including a set of written and video resources and incorporating the role of a handover coach. Staff performance was evaluated before and after access to the resources using self-administered Likert scales, observation and a focus group. After the intervention, there was a stronger relationship between the participants' understanding of ISBAR and their application of it in handover. Further, there were statistically significant increases in improved handover practises, including family inclusion and safety checks. A practise development approach is useful in the provision of education to guide clinical performance in patient handover. Nurse managers can use this approach to empower their staff to make positive changes to practise. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Organizational factors affecting safety implementation in food companies in Thailand.

PubMed

Chinda, Thanwadee

2014-01-01

Thai food industry employs a massive number of skilled and unskilled workers. This may result in an industry with high incidences and accident rates. To improve safety and reduce the accident figures, this paper investigates factors influencing safety implementation in small, medium, and large food companies in Thailand. Five factors, i.e., management commitment, stakeholders' role, safety information and communication, supportive environment, and risk, are found important in helping to improve safety implementation. The statistical analyses also reveal that small, medium, and large food companies hold similar opinions on the risk factor, but bear different perceptions on the other 4 factors. It is also found that to improve safety implementation, the perceptions of safety goals, communication, feedback, safety resources, and supervision should be aligned in small, medium, and large companies.

Safety Management Information Statistics (SAMIS) - 1992 Annual Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-06-01

This SAMIS 1992 annual report, now in its third year of publication, is a compilation and analysis of mass transit accident and casualty statistics reported by 600 transit systems in the United States under the FTA Section 15 reporting system. This r...

78 FR 23158 - Organization and Delegation of Duties

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-18

... management actions of major significance, such as those relating to changes in basic organization pattern... regard to rulemaking, enforcement, vehicle safety research and statistics and data analysis, provides... Administrator for the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, and the Associate Administrator for Vehicle...

49 CFR Appendix B to Part 222 - Alternative Safety Measures

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... statistically valid baseline violation rate must be established through automated or systematic manual... enforcement, a program of public education and awareness directed at motor vehicle drivers, pedestrians and..., a statistically valid baseline violation rate must be established through automated or systematic...

49 CFR Appendix B to Part 222 - Alternative Safety Measures

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... statistically valid baseline violation rate must be established through automated or systematic manual... enforcement, a program of public education and awareness directed at motor vehicle drivers, pedestrians and..., a statistically valid baseline violation rate must be established through automated or systematic...

Postmarket Safety Events Among Novel Therapeutics Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration Between 2001 and 2010

PubMed Central

Downing, Nicholas S.; Shah, Nilay D.; Aminawung, Jenerius A.; Pease, Alison M.; Zeitoun, Jean-David; Krumholz, Harlan M.

2017-01-01

Importance Postmarket safety events of novel pharmaceuticals and biologics occur when new safety risks are identified after initial regulatory approval of these therapeutics. These safety events can change how novel therapeutics are used in clinical practice and inform patient and clinician decision making. Objectives To characterize the frequency of postmarket safety events among novel therapeutics approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and to examine whether any novel therapeutic characteristics known at the time of FDA approval were associated with increased risk. Design and Setting Cohort study of all novel therapeutics approved by the FDA between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2010, followed up through February 28, 2017. Exposures Novel therapeutic characteristics known at the time of FDA approval, including drug class, therapeutic area, priority review, accelerated approval, orphan status, near–regulatory deadline approval, and regulatory review time. Main Outcomes and Measures A composite of (1) withdrawals due to safety concerns, (2) FDA issuance of incremental boxed warnings added in the postmarket period, and (3) FDA issuance of safety communications. Results From 2001 through 2010, the FDA approved 222 novel therapeutics (183 pharmaceuticals and 39 biologics). There were 123 new postmarket safety events (3 withdrawals, 61 boxed warnings, and 59 safety communications) during a median follow-up period of 11.7 years (interquartile range [IQR], 8.7-13.8 years), affecting 71 (32.0%) of the novel therapeutics. The median time from approval to first postmarket safety event was 4.2 years (IQR, 2.5-6.0 years), and the proportion of novel therapeutics affected by a postmarket safety event at 10 years was 30.8% (95% CI, 25.1%-37.5%). In multivariable analysis, postmarket safety events were statistically significantly more frequent among biologics (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.93; 95% CI, 1.06-3.52; P = .03), therapeutics indicated for the treatment of psychiatric disease (IRR = 3.78; 95% CI, 1.77-8.06; P < .001), those receiving accelerated approval (IRR = 2.20; 95% CI, 1.15-4.21; P = .02), and those with near–regulatory deadline approval (IRR = 1.90; 95% CI, 1.19-3.05; P = .008); events were statistically significantly less frequent among those with regulatory review times less than 200 days (IRR = 0.46; 95% CI, 0.24-0.87; P = .02). Conclusions and Relevance Among 222 novel therapeutics approved by the FDA from 2001 through 2010, 32% were affected by a postmarket safety event. Biologics, psychiatric therapeutics, and accelerated and near–regulatory deadline approval were statistically significantly associated with higher rates of events, highlighting the need for continuous monitoring of the safety of novel therapeutics throughout their life cycle. PMID:28492899

Postmarket Safety Events Among Novel Therapeutics Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration Between 2001 and 2010.

PubMed

Downing, Nicholas S; Shah, Nilay D; Aminawung, Jenerius A; Pease, Alison M; Zeitoun, Jean-David; Krumholz, Harlan M; Ross, Joseph S

2017-05-09

Postmarket safety events of novel pharmaceuticals and biologics occur when new safety risks are identified after initial regulatory approval of these therapeutics. These safety events can change how novel therapeutics are used in clinical practice and inform patient and clinician decision making. To characterize the frequency of postmarket safety events among novel therapeutics approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and to examine whether any novel therapeutic characteristics known at the time of FDA approval were associated with increased risk. Cohort study of all novel therapeutics approved by the FDA between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2010, followed up through February 28, 2017. Novel therapeutic characteristics known at the time of FDA approval, including drug class, therapeutic area, priority review, accelerated approval, orphan status, near-regulatory deadline approval, and regulatory review time. A composite of (1) withdrawals due to safety concerns, (2) FDA issuance of incremental boxed warnings added in the postmarket period, and (3) FDA issuance of safety communications. From 2001 through 2010, the FDA approved 222 novel therapeutics (183 pharmaceuticals and 39 biologics). There were 123 new postmarket safety events (3 withdrawals, 61 boxed warnings, and 59 safety communications) during a median follow-up period of 11.7 years (interquartile range [IQR], 8.7-13.8 years), affecting 71 (32.0%) of the novel therapeutics. The median time from approval to first postmarket safety event was 4.2 years (IQR, 2.5-6.0 years), and the proportion of novel therapeutics affected by a postmarket safety event at 10 years was 30.8% (95% CI, 25.1%-37.5%). In multivariable analysis, postmarket safety events were statistically significantly more frequent among biologics (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.93; 95% CI, 1.06-3.52; P = .03), therapeutics indicated for the treatment of psychiatric disease (IRR = 3.78; 95% CI, 1.77-8.06; P < .001), those receiving accelerated approval (IRR = 2.20; 95% CI, 1.15-4.21; P = .02), and those with near-regulatory deadline approval (IRR = 1.90; 95% CI, 1.19-3.05; P = .008); events were statistically significantly less frequent among those with regulatory review times less than 200 days (IRR = 0.46; 95% CI, 0.24-0.87; P = .02). Among 222 novel therapeutics approved by the FDA from 2001 through 2010, 32% were affected by a postmarket safety event. Biologics, psychiatric therapeutics, and accelerated and near-regulatory deadline approval were statistically significantly associated with higher rates of events, highlighting the need for continuous monitoring of the safety of novel therapeutics throughout their life cycle.

Testing and Contrasting Road Safety Education, Deterrence, and Social Capital Theories: A Sociological Approach to the Understanding of Male Drink-Driving in Chile’s Metropolitan Region

PubMed Central

Nazif, José Ignacio

2011-01-01

Three theories offer different explanations to the understanding of male drink-driving. In order to test road safety education, deterrence, and social capital theories, logistic regression analysis was applied to predict respondents’ statements of having or not having engaged in actual drink-driving (DD). Variable for road safety education theory was whether a driver had graduated from a professional driving school or not. Deterrence theory was operationalized with a variable of whether a driver had been issued a traffic ticket or not. Social capital theory was operationalized with two variables, having children or not and having religion identification or not. Since both variables ‘years of formal education’ and ‘years of driving experience’ have been reported to be correlated to alcohol consumption and DD respectively, these were introduced as controls. In order to assess the significance of each variable statistically, Wald tests were applied in seven models. Results indicate on the one hand that road safety education variable is not statistically significant; and on the other, deterrence theory variable and social capital theory variable ‘having children’ were both statistically significant at the level of .01. Findings are discussed in reference to Chile’s context. Data were taken from the “Road Users Attitudes and Behaviors towards Traffic Safety” survey from the National Commission of Road Safety of the Government of Chile (2005). The sample size was reported to be 2,118 (N of male drivers was 396). This survey was representative of Chile’s Metropolitan Region road users' population. PMID:22105406

Effect of nandrolone decanoate therapy on weight and lean body mass in HIV-infected women with weight loss: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial.

PubMed

Mulligan, Kathleen; Zackin, Robert; Clark, Rebecca A; Alston-Smith, Beverly; Liu, Tun; Sattler, Fred R; Delvers, Thomas B; Currier, Judith S

2005-03-14

Weight loss is associated with accelerated mortality and disease progression in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Although studies have examined a variety of anabolic therapies in HIV-infected men, the safety and efficacy of such treatments in women have not been adequately studied. In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter, phase I/II study, 38 HIV-infected women with documented weight loss of 5% or greater in the preceding year or a body mass index of less than 20 kg/m(2) were randomized to receive nandrolone decanoate (100 mg) or an equivalent volume of placebo every other week by intramuscular injection. Subjects received blinded treatment for 12 weeks, followed by open-label therapy for 12 weeks. Lean body mass and fat (bioelectrical impedance analysis) and weight were measured at baseline and at weeks 6, 12, 18, and 24. Biochemical assessments of safety (hematologic analyses, liver function tests, and sex hormone measurements) were performed at these same time points. Clinical signs and symptoms were monitored biweekly. Subjects randomized to receive nandrolone had significant increases in weight and lean body mass during blinded treatment (4.6 kg [9.0%] and 3.5 kg [8.6%], respectively; P<.001 vs baseline and placebo in each case). Fat mass did not change statistically significantly in either group. Although there were no statistically significant differences between groups in biochemical measures, the number of grade 3 or greater toxicities, or reports of virilizing effects, a full assessment of safety cannot be made in a trial of this size. Nandrolone decanoate therapy may prove to be generally safe and beneficial in reversing weight loss and lean tissue loss in women with HIV infection and other chronic catabolic diseases.

Postural Stability of Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen With Tactical Gear.

PubMed

Morgan, Paul M; Williams, Valerie J; Sell, Timothy C

The US Naval Special Warfare's Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen (SWCC) operate on small, high-speed boats while wearing tactical gear (TG). The TG increases mission safety and success but may affect postural stability, potentially increasing risk for musculoskeletal injury. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of TG on postural stability during the Sensory Organization Test (SOT). Eight SWCC performed the SOT on NeuroCom's Balance Manager with TG and with no tactical gear (NTG). The status of gear was performed in randomized order. The SOT consisted of six different conditions that challenge sensory systems responsible for postural stability. Each condition was performed for three trials, resulting in a total of 18 trials. Overall performance, each individual condition, and sensory system analysis (somatosensory, visual, vestibular, preference) were scored. Data were not normally distributed therefore Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare each variable (ρ = .05). No significant differences were found between NTG and TG tests. No statistically significant differences were detected under the two TG conditions. This may be due to low statistical power, or potentially insensitivity of the assessment. Also, the amount and distribution of weight worn during the TG conditions, and the SWCC's unstable occupational platform, may have contributed to the findings. The data from this sample will be used in future research to better understand how TG affects SWCC. The data show that the addition of TG used in our study did not affect postural stability of SWCC during the SOT. Although no statistically significant differences were observed, there are clinical reasons for continued study of the effect of increased load on postural stability, using more challenging conditions, greater surface perturbations, dynamic tasks, and heavier loads. 2016.

Structural health monitoring feature design by genetic programming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harvey, Dustin Y.; Todd, Michael D.

2014-09-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems provide real-time damage and performance information for civil, aerospace, and other high-capital or life-safety critical structures. Conventional data processing involves pre-processing and extraction of low-dimensional features from in situ time series measurements. The features are then input to a statistical pattern recognition algorithm to perform the relevant classification or regression task necessary to facilitate decisions by the SHM system. Traditional design of signal processing and feature extraction algorithms can be an expensive and time-consuming process requiring extensive system knowledge and domain expertise. Genetic programming, a heuristic program search method from evolutionary computation, was recently adapted by the authors to perform automated, data-driven design of signal processing and feature extraction algorithms for statistical pattern recognition applications. The proposed method, called Autofead, is particularly suitable to handle the challenges inherent in algorithm design for SHM problems where the manifestation of damage in structural response measurements is often unclear or unknown. Autofead mines a training database of response measurements to discover information-rich features specific to the problem at hand. This study provides experimental validation on three SHM applications including ultrasonic damage detection, bearing damage classification for rotating machinery, and vibration-based structural health monitoring. Performance comparisons with common feature choices for each problem area are provided demonstrating the versatility of Autofead to produce significant algorithm improvements on a wide range of problems.

Topical tranexamic acid in total knee replacement: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Panteli, Michalis; Papakostidis, Costas; Dahabreh, Ziad; Giannoudis, Peter V

2013-10-01

To examine the safety and efficacy of topical use of tranexamic acid (TA) in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). An electronic literature search of PubMed Medline; Ovid Medline; Embase; and the Cochrane Library was performed, identifying studies published in any language from 1966 to February 2013. The studies enrolled adults undergoing a primary TKA, where topical TA was used. Inverse variance statistical method and either a fixed or random effect model, depending on the absence or presence of statistical heterogeneity were used; subgroup analysis was performed when possible. We identified a total of seven eligible reports for analysis. Our meta-analysis indicated that when compared with the control group, topical application of TA limited significantly postoperative drain output (mean difference: -268.36ml), total blood loss (mean difference=-220.08ml), Hb drop (mean difference=-0.94g/dL) and lowered the risk of transfusion requirements (risk ratio=0.47, 95CI=0.26-0.84), without increased risk of thromboembolic events. Sub-group analysis indicated that a higher dose of topical TA (>2g) significantly reduced transfusion requirements. Although the present meta-analysis proved a statistically significant reduction of postoperative blood loss and transfusion requirements with topical use of TA in TKA, the clinical importance of the respective estimates of effect size should be interpreted with caution. I, II. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Physical Activity and Safety From Crime Among Adults: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

da Silva, Inacio C; Payne, Valerie L; Hino, Adriano Akira; Varela, Andrea Ramirez; Reis, Rodrigo S; Ekelund, Ulf; Hallal, Pedro C

2016-06-01

The aim of this study was to review the evidence to date on the association between physical activity and safety from crime. Articles with adult populations of 500+ participants investigating the association between physical activity and safety from crime were included. A methodological quality assessment was conducted using an adapted version of the Downs and Black checklist. The literature search identified 15,864 articles. After assessment of titles, abstracts and full-texts, 89 articles were included. Most articles (84.3%) were derived from high-income countries and only 3 prospective articles were identified. Articles presented high methodological quality. In 38 articles (42.7%), at least one statistically significant association in the expected direction was reported (ie, safety from crime was positively associated with physical activity). Nine articles (10.1%) found an association in the unexpected direction and 42 (47.2%) did not find statistically significant associations. The results did not change when we analyzed articles separately by sex, age, type of measurement, or domains of physical activity evaluated. The current evidence, mostly based on cross-sectional studies, suggests a lack of association between physical activity and safety from crime. Prospective studies and natural experiments are needed, particularly in areas with wide crime variability.

Strategies for improving safety performance in construction firms.

PubMed

Alarcón, Luis Fernando; Acuña, Diego; Diethelm, Sven; Pellicer, Eugenio

2016-09-01

Over the years many prevention management practices have been implemented to prevent and mitigate accidents at the construction site. However, there is little evidence of the effectiveness of individual or combined practices used by companies to manage occupational health and safety issues. The authors selected a sample of 1180 construction firms and 221 individual practices applied in these companies to analyze their effectiveness reducing injury rates over a period of four years in Chile. Different methods were used to study this massive database including: visual analyses of graphical information, statistical analyses and classification techniques. Results showed that practices related to safety incentives and rewards are the most effective from the accident rate viewpoint, even though they are seldom used by companies; on the other hand, practices related to accidents and incidents investigation had a slight negative impact on the accident rate because they are frequently used as a reactive measure. In general, the higher the percentage of prevention practices implemented in a strategy, the lower the accident rate. However, the analysis of the combined effect of prevention practices indicated that the choice of the right combination of practices was more important than just the number of practices implemented. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A new approach to managing work-related road traffic injury: The development of a health investment framework.

PubMed

Warmerdam, Amanda; Newnam, Sharon; Sheppard, Dianne; Griffin, Mark; Stevenson, Mark

2017-08-18

Statistics indicate that employees commuting or traveling as part of their work are overrepresented in workplace injury and death. Despite this, many organizations are unaware of the factors within their organizations that are likely to influence potential reductions in work-related road traffic injury. This article presents a multilevel conceptual framework that identifies health investment as the central feature in reducing work-related road traffic injury. Within this framework, we explore factors operating at the individual driver, workgroup supervisor, and organizational senior management levels that create a mutually reinforcing system of safety. The health investment framework identifies key factors at the senior manager, supervisor, and driver levels to cultivating a safe working environment. These factors are high-performance workplace systems, leader-member exchange and autonomy, trust and empowerment, respectively. The framework demonstrates the important interactions between these factors and how they create a self-sustaining organizational safety system. The framework aims to provide insight into the future development of interventions that are strategically aligned with the organization and target elements that facilitate and enhance driver safety and ultimately reduce work-related road traffic injury and death.

Analysis of human factors effects on the safety of transporting radioactive waste materials: Technical report

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

Abkowitz, M.D.; Abkowitz, S.B.; Lepofsky, M.

1989-04-01

This report examines the extent of human factors effects on the safety of transporting radioactive waste materials. It is seen principally as a scoping effort, to establish whether there is a need for DOE to undertake a more formal approach to studying human factors in radioactive waste transport, and if so, logical directions for that program to follow. Human factors effects are evaluated on driving and loading/transfer operations only. Particular emphasis is placed on the driving function, examining the relationship between human error and safety as it relates to the impairment of driver performance. Although multi-modal in focus, the widespreadmore » availability of data and previous literature on truck operations resulted in a primary study focus on the trucking mode from the standpoint of policy development. In addition to the analysis of human factors accident statistics, the report provides relevant background material on several policies that have been instituted or are under consideration, directed at improving human reliability in the transport sector. On the basis of reported findings, preliminary policy areas are identified. 71 refs., 26 figs., 5 tabs.« less

Role of the law in ensuring work related road safety.

PubMed

Griffith, Richard; Tengnah, Cassam

2007-12-01

Some 150 deaths and serious injuries are caused each week by people who were driving in the course of their work. The police, health and safety executive and government are seeking to improve this startling statistic by ensuring that organizations, including NHS Trusts, comply with health and safety law and fulfil their duty to carry out an assessment of risks associated with work related driving and implement a policy to minimize those risks. Failing to comply could result in prosecution by the police and health and safety executive.

Unannounced versus announced hospital surveys: a nationwide cluster-randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Ehlers, Lars Holger; Simonsen, Katherina Beltoft; Jensen, Morten Berg; Rasmussen, Gitte Sand; Olesen, Anne Vingaard

2017-06-01

To evaluate the effectiveness of unannounced versus announced surveys in detecting non-compliance with accreditation standards in public hospitals. A nationwide cluster-randomized controlled trial. All public hospitals in Denmark were invited. Twenty-three hospitals (77%) (3 university hospitals, 5 psychiatric hospitals and 15 general hospitals) agreed to participate. Twelve hospitals were randomized to receive unannounced surveys (intervention group) and eleven hospitals to receive announced surveys (control group). We hypothesized that the hospitals receiving the unannounced surveys would reveal a higher degree of non-compliance with accreditation standards than the hospitals receiving announced surveys. Nine surveyors trained and employed by the Danish Institute for Quality and Accreditation in Healthcare (IKAS) were randomized into teams and conducted all surveys. The outcome was the surveyors' assessment of the hospitals' level of compliance with 113 performance indicators-an abbreviated set of the Danish Healthcare Quality Programme (DDKM) version 2, covering organizational standards, patient pathway standards and patient safety standards. Compliance with performance indicators was analyzed using binomial regression analysis with bootstrapped robust standard errors. In all, 16 202 measurements were acceptable for data analysis. The risk of observing non-compliance with performance indicators for the intervention group compared with the control group was statistically insignificant (risk difference (RD) = -0.6 percentage points [-2.51-1.31], P = 0.54). A converged analysis of the six patient safety critical standards, requiring 100% compliance to gain accreditation status revealed no statistically significant difference (RD = -0.78 percentage points [-4.01-2.44], P = 0.99). Unannounced hospital surveys were not more effective than announced surveys in detecting quality problems in Danish hospitals. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02348567, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02348567?term=NCT02348567. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care.

An integrative model of organizational safety behavior.

PubMed

Cui, Lin; Fan, Di; Fu, Gui; Zhu, Cherrie Jiuhua

2013-06-01

This study develops an integrative model of safety management based on social cognitive theory and the total safety culture triadic framework. The purpose of the model is to reveal the causal linkages between a hazardous environment, safety climate, and individual safety behaviors. Based on primary survey data from 209 front-line workers in one of the largest state-owned coal mining corporations in China, the model is tested using structural equation modeling techniques. An employee's perception of a hazardous environment is found to have a statistically significant impact on employee safety behaviors through a psychological process mediated by the perception of management commitment to safety and individual beliefs about safety. The integrative model developed here leads to a comprehensive solution that takes into consideration the environmental, organizational and employees' psychological and behavioral aspects of safety management. Copyright © 2013 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Initial empirical analysis of nuclear power plant organization and its effect on safety performance

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

Olson, J.; McLaughlin, S.D.; Osborn, R.N.

This report contains an analysis of the relationship between selected aspects of organizational structure and the safety-related performance of nuclear power plants. The report starts by identifying and operationalizing certain key dimensions of organizational structure that may be expected to be related to plant safety performance. Next, indicators of plant safety performance are created by combining existing performance measures into more reliable indicators. Finally, the indicators of plant safety performance using correlational and discriminant analysis. The overall results show that plants with better developed coordination mechanisms, shorter vertical hierarchies, and a greater number of departments tend to perform more safely.

Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of intrathecally administered Xen2174, a synthetic conopeptide with norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor and analgesic properties

PubMed Central

Hay, Justin L.; Sitsen, Elske; Dahan, Albert; Klaassen, Erica; Houghton, William; Groeneveld, Geert Jan

2016-01-01

Aim Xen2174 is a synthetic 13‐amino acid peptide that binds specifically to the norepinephrine transporter, which results in inhibition of norepinephrine uptake. It is being developed as a possible treatment for moderate to severe pain and is delivered intrathecally. The current study was performed to assess the pharmacodynamics (PD) and the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pharmacokinetics (PK) of Xen2174 in healthy subjects. Methods This was a randomized, blinded, placebo‐controlled study in healthy subjects. The study was divided into three treatment arms. Each group consisted of eight subjects on active treatment and two or three subjects on placebo. The CSF was sampled for 32 h using an intrathecal catheter. PD assessments were performed using a battery of nociceptive tasks (electrical pain, pressure pain and cold pressor tasks). Results Twenty‐five subjects were administered Xen2174. CSF PK analysis showed a higher area under the CSF concentration–time curve of Xen2174 in the highest dose group than allowed by the predefined safety margin based on nonclinical data. The most common adverse event was post‐lumbar puncture syndrome, with no difference in incidence between treatment groups. Although no statistically significant differences were observed in the PD assessments between the different dosages of Xen2174 and placebo, pain tolerability in the highest dose group was higher than in the placebo group [contrast least squares mean pressure pain tolerance threshold of Xen2174 2.5 mg–placebo (95% confidence interval), 22.2% (−5.0%, 57.1%); P = 0.1131]. Conclusions At the Xen2174 dose level of 2.5 mg, CSF concentrations exceeded the prespecified exposure limit based on the nonclinical safety margin. No statistically significant effects on evoked pain tests were observed. PMID:27987228

Comparison of 5468 retreatments after laser in situ keratomileusis by lifting the flap or performing photorefractive keratectomy on the flap.

PubMed

Ortega-Usobiaga, J; Llovet-Osuna, F; Katz, T; Djodeyre, M R; Druchkiv, V; Bilbao-Calabuig, R; Baviera, J

2018-02-01

To assess visual outcomes of retreatment after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) by lifting the flap or performing photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) on the flap, as well as to establish whether there was an increased risk of epithelial ingrowth (EIG) when LASIK and lifting of the flap are separated by a long time interval and to determine the incidence of corneal haze after PRK. Retrospective study of 4077 patients (5468 eyes) who underwent LASIK and subsequent retreatment were reviewed in order to study their visual results and identify cases of EIG and corneal haze. Enhancements included 5196 eyes from 3876 patients that were retreated by lifting the flap, and 272 eyes from 201 patients that were retreated by PRK on the flap. No statistically significant differences were found between the retreatments in terms of predictability, efficacy, and safety. A total of 704 cases of EIG were found after lifting the flap, for which surgical cleansing was necessary in 70. Surgical cleansing decreased the efficacy index when compared with patients with EIG who did not need cleansing (P=.01). Differences in terms of safety and predictability were not statistically significant. The incidence of corneal haze after ablation of the surface of the previous flap was 14.34%, although none of these cases were clinically relevant. Visual outcomes were similar between patients who were retreated by lifting the flap and those who underwent PRK. The incidence of EIG when the flap was lifted was 13.55%. The incidence of EIG increases with the time elapsed between the primary procedure and retreatment. Copyright © 2017 Sociedad Española de Oftalmología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

A structural equation modelling approach examining the pathways between safety climate, behaviour performance and workplace slipping

PubMed Central

Swedler, David I; Verma, Santosh K; Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Lombardi, David A; Chang, Wen-Ruey; Brennan, Melayne; Courtney, Theodore K

2015-01-01

Objective Safety climate has previously been associated with increasing safe workplace behaviours and decreasing occupational injuries. This study seeks to understand the structural relationship between employees’ perceptions of safety climate, performing a safety behaviour (ie, wearing slip-resistant shoes) and risk of slipping in the setting of limited-service restaurants. Methods At baseline, we surveyed 349 employees at 30 restaurants for their perceptions of their safety training and management commitment to safety as well as demographic data. Safety performance was identified as wearing slip-resistant shoes, as measured by direct observation by the study team. We then prospectively collected participants’ hours worked and number of slips weekly for the next 12 weeks. Using a confirmatory factor analysis, we modelled safety climate as a higher order factor composed of previously identified training and management commitment factors. Results The 349 study participants experienced 1075 slips during the 12-week follow-up. Confirmatory factor analysis supported modelling safety climate as a higher order factor composed of safety training and management commitment. In a structural equation model, safety climate indirectly affected prospective risk of slipping through safety performance, but no direct relationship between safety climate and slips was evident. Conclusions Results suggest that safety climate can reduce workplace slips through performance of a safety behaviour as well as suggesting a potential causal mechanism through which safety climate can reduce workplace injuries. Safety climate can be modelled as a higher order factor composed of safety training and management commitment. PMID:25710968

School Safety Handbook. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association of School Business Officials International, Reston, VA.

The revised edition of this handbook represents a concerted effort to bring school safety to the forefront of business managers' daily and long-range planning activities. Although statistics show few fatalities on school grounds, schools appear to have a high frequency and incident rate of nonfatal injuries. According to the introduction, school…

Safety in numbers : using statistics to make the transportation system safer : safety data action plan

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-09-13

Deaths and injuries are a major cost in transportation. Transportation fatalities rank third as the cause of lost years of life in the U.S. (behind heart disease and cancer. But the Department of Transportation has not yet responded to this public he...

Nursing home safety: does financial performance matter?

PubMed

Oetjen, Reid M; Zhao, Mei; Liu, Darren; Carretta, Henry J

2011-01-01

This study examines the relationship between financial performance and selected safety measures of nursing homes in the State of Florida. We used descriptive analysis on a total sample of 1,197. Safety information was from the Online Survey, Certification and Reporting (OSCAR) data of 2003 to 2005, while the financial performance measures were from the Medicare cost reports of 2002 to 2004. Finally, we examined the most frequently cited deficiencies as well as the relationship between financial performance and quality indicators. Nursing homes in the bottom quartile of financial performance perform poorly on most resident-safety measures of care; however, nursing homes in the top two financial categories also experienced a higher number of deficiencies. Nursing homes in the next to lowest quartile of financial performance category best perform on most of these safety measures. The results reinforce the need to monitor nursing home quality and resident safety in US nursing homes, especially among facilities with poor overall financial performance.

Static test induced loads verification beyond elastic limit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Verderaime, V.; Harrington, F.

1996-01-01

Increasing demands for reliable and least-cost high-performance aerostructures are pressing design analyses, materials, and manufacturing processes to new and narrowly experienced performance and verification technologies. This study assessed the adequacy of current experimental verification of the traditional binding ultimate safety factor which covers rare events in which no statistical design data exist. Because large high-performance structures are inherently very flexible, boundary rotations and deflections under externally applied loads approaching fracture may distort their transmission and unknowingly accept submarginal structures or prematurely fracturing reliable ones. A technique was developed, using measured strains from back-to-back surface mounted gauges, to analyze, define, and monitor induced moments and plane forces through progressive material changes from total-elastic to total-inelastic zones within the structural element cross section. Deviations from specified test loads are identified by the consecutively changing ratios of moment-to-axial load.

Static test induced loads verification beyond elastic limit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Verderaime, V.; Harrington, F.

1996-01-01

Increasing demands for reliable and least-cost high performance aerostructures are pressing design analyses, materials, and manufacturing processes to new and narrowly experienced performance and verification technologies. This study assessed the adequacy of current experimental verification of the traditional binding ultimate safety factor which covers rare events in which no statistical design data exist. Because large, high-performance structures are inherently very flexible, boundary rotations and deflections under externally applied loads approaching fracture may distort their transmission and unknowingly accept submarginal structures or prematurely fracturing reliable ones. A technique was developed, using measured strains from back-to-back surface mounted gauges, to analyze, define, and monitor induced moments and plane forces through progressive material changes from total-elastic to total inelastic zones within the structural element cross section. Deviations from specified test loads are identified by the consecutively changing ratios of moment-to-axial load.

Use of a surgical rehearsal platform and improvement in aneurysm clipping measures: results of a prospective, randomized trial.

PubMed

Chugh, A Jessey; Pace, Jonathan R; Singer, Justin; Tatsuoka, Curtis; Hoffer, Alan; Selman, Warren R; Bambakidis, Nicholas C

2017-03-01

OBJECTIVE The field of neurosurgery is constantly undergoing improvements and advances, both in technique and technology. Cerebrovascular neurosurgery is no exception, with endovascular treatments changing the treatment paradigm. Clipping of aneurysms is still necessary, however, and advances are still being made to improve patient outcomes within the microsurgical treatment of aneurysms. Surgical rehearsal platforms are surgical simulators that offer the opportunity to rehearse a procedure prior to entering the operative suite. This study is designed to determine whether use of a surgical rehearsal platform in aneurysm surgery is helpful in decreasing aneurysm dissection time and clip manipulation of the aneurysm. METHODS The authors conducted a blinded, prospective, randomized study comparing key effort and time variables in aneurysm clip ligation surgery with and without preoperative use of the SuRgical Planner (SRP) surgical rehearsal platform. Initially, 40 patients were randomly assigned to either of two groups: one in which surgery was performed after use of the SRP (SRP group) and one in which surgery was performed without use of the SRP (control group). All operations were videotaped. After exclusion of 6 patients from the SRP group and 9 from the control group, a total of 25 surgical cases were analyzed by a reviewer blinded to group assignment. The videos were analyzed for total microsurgical time, number of clips used, and number of clip placement attempts. Means and standard deviations (SDs) were calculated and compared between groups. RESULTS The mean (± SD) amount of operative time per clip used was 920 ± 770 seconds in the SRP group and 1294 ± 678 seconds in the control group (p = 0.05). In addition, the mean values for the number of clip attempts, total operative time, ratio of clip attempts to clips used, and time per clip attempt were all lower in the SRP group, although the between-group differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS Preoperative rehearsal with SRP increased efficiency and safety in aneurysm microsurgery as demonstrated by the statistically significant improvement in time per clip used. Although the rest of the outcomes did not demonstrate statistically significant between-group differences, the fact that the SRP group showed improvement in mean values for all measures studied suggests that preoperative rehearsal may increase the efficiency and safety of aneurysm microsurgery. Future studies aimed at improving patient outcome and safety during surgical clipping of aneurysms will be needed to keep pace with the quickly advancing endovascular field.

Are all quantitative postmarketing signal detection methods equal? Performance characteristics of logistic regression and Multi-item Gamma Poisson Shrinker.

PubMed

Berlin, Conny; Blanch, Carles; Lewis, David J; Maladorno, Dionigi D; Michel, Christiane; Petrin, Michael; Sarp, Severine; Close, Philippe

2012-06-01

The detection of safety signals with medicines is an essential activity to protect public health. Despite widespread acceptance, it is unclear whether recently applied statistical algorithms provide enhanced performance characteristics when compared with traditional systems. Novartis has adopted a novel system for automated signal detection on the basis of disproportionality methods within a safety data mining application (Empirica™ Signal System [ESS]). ESS uses two algorithms for routine analyses: empirical Bayes Multi-item Gamma Poisson Shrinker and logistic regression (LR). A model was developed comprising 14 medicines, categorized as "new" or "established." A standard was prepared on the basis of safety findings selected from traditional sources. ESS results were compared with the standard to calculate the positive predictive value (PPV), specificity, and sensitivity. PPVs of the lower one-sided 5% and 0.05% confidence limits of the Bayes geometric mean (EB05) and of the LR odds ratio (LR0005) almost coincided for all the drug-event combinations studied. There was no obvious difference comparing the PPV of the leading Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) terms to the PPV for all terms. The PPV of narrow MedDRA query searches was higher than that for broad searches. The widely used threshold value of EB05 = 2.0 or LR0005 = 2.0 together with more than three spontaneous reports of the drug-event combination produced balanced results for PPV, sensitivity, and specificity. Consequently, performance characteristics were best for leading terms with narrow MedDRA query searches irrespective of applying Multi-item Gamma Poisson Shrinker or LR at a threshold value of 2.0. This research formed the basis for the configuration of ESS for signal detection at Novartis. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

From Here to There: Lessons from an Integrative Patient Safety Project in Rural Health Care Settings

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-05-01

errors and patient falls. The medication errors generally involved one of three issues: incorrect dose, time, or port. Although most of the health...statistics about trends; and the summary of events related to patient safety and medical errors.12 The interplay among factors These three domains...the medical staff. We explored these issues further when administering a staff-wide Patient Safety Survey. Responses mirrored the findings that

A review on the benchmarking concept in Malaysian construction safety performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishak, Nurfadzillah; Azizan, Muhammad Azizi

2018-02-01

Construction industry is one of the major industries that propels Malaysia's economy in highly contributes to our nation's GDP growth, yet the high fatality rates on construction sites have caused concern among safety practitioners and the stakeholders. Hence, there is a need of benchmarking in performance of Malaysia's construction industry especially in terms of safety. This concept can create a fertile ground for ideas, but only in a receptive environment, organization that share good practices and compare their safety performance against other benefit most to establish improvement in safety culture. This research was conducted to study the awareness important, evaluate current practice and improvement, and also identify the constraint in implement of benchmarking on safety performance in our industry. Additionally, interviews with construction professionals were come out with different views on this concept. Comparison has been done to show the different understanding of benchmarking approach and how safety performance can be benchmarked. But, it's viewed as one mission, which to evaluate objectives identified through benchmarking that will improve the organization's safety performance. Finally, the expected result from this research is to help Malaysia's construction industry implement best practice in safety performance management through the concept of benchmarking.

Comparative efficacy and safety of antibiotics used to treat acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections: Results of a network meta-analysis.

PubMed

Guest, Julian F; Esteban, Jaime; Manganelli, Anton G; Novelli, Andrea; Rizzardini, Giuliano; Serra, Miquel

2017-01-01

This NMA compared the efficacy and safety between IV antibiotics that are used in the current standard of care for managing adult patients (≥18 years of age) with ABSSSI. Comparators were chosen on the basis that both direct and indirect comparisons between the interventions of interest could be performed. Outcomes of the analysis were selected on the basis that they are frequently measured and reported in trials involving ABSSSI patients, and only published randomised control trials of any size and duration and with any blinding status were eligible for inclusion in the analysis. The NMA was performed using both a fixed-effect and random-effect model. Efficacy-related endpoints were (1) clinical treatment success and (2) microbiological success at TOC visit. Safety-related endpoints were (1) number of discontinuations due to AEs/SAEs, (2) patients experiencing AEs, (3) patients experiencing SAEs and (4) all-cause mortality. Study interventions included daptomycin, dalbavancin, linezolid and tigecycline. Vancomycin was the comparator in all studies, except in two where it was linezolid and teicoplanin. The NMA showed that irrespective of patient subgroup, the likelihood of clinical and microbiological success with dalbavancin was statistically similar to the comparators studied. No statistically significant differences were observed between dalbavancin and any of the comparators in the discontinuation rate due to AEs/SAEs. In contrast, dalbavancin was associated with a significantly lower likelihood of experiencing an AE than linezolid, a significantly lower likelihood of experiencing a SAE than vancomycin and daptomycin, and a significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality than vancomycin, linezolid and tigecycline. Dalbavancin affords a promising, new alternative IV antimicrobial agent which is as effective as traditional therapies, but with the added benefit of enabling clinicians to treat patients with ABSSSI in different organisational settings. Notwithstanding, any introduction of an effective treatment with a differential mode of administration into healthcare systems must be followed by a change in clinical practice and patient management in order to fully achieve desirable economic outcomes.

Comparative efficacy and safety of antibiotics used to treat acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections: Results of a network meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Esteban, Jaime; Manganelli, Anton G.; Novelli, Andrea; Rizzardini, Giuliano; Serra, Miquel

2017-01-01

Objective This NMA compared the efficacy and safety between IV antibiotics that are used in the current standard of care for managing adult patients (≥18 years of age) with ABSSSI. Methods Comparators were chosen on the basis that both direct and indirect comparisons between the interventions of interest could be performed. Outcomes of the analysis were selected on the basis that they are frequently measured and reported in trials involving ABSSSI patients, and only published randomised control trials of any size and duration and with any blinding status were eligible for inclusion in the analysis. The NMA was performed using both a fixed-effect and random-effect model. Efficacy-related endpoints were (1) clinical treatment success and (2) microbiological success at TOC visit. Safety-related endpoints were (1) number of discontinuations due to AEs/SAEs, (2) patients experiencing AEs, (3) patients experiencing SAEs and (4) all-cause mortality. Results Study interventions included daptomycin, dalbavancin, linezolid and tigecycline. Vancomycin was the comparator in all studies, except in two where it was linezolid and teicoplanin. The NMA showed that irrespective of patient subgroup, the likelihood of clinical and microbiological success with dalbavancin was statistically similar to the comparators studied. No statistically significant differences were observed between dalbavancin and any of the comparators in the discontinuation rate due to AEs/SAEs. In contrast, dalbavancin was associated with a significantly lower likelihood of experiencing an AE than linezolid, a significantly lower likelihood of experiencing a SAE than vancomycin and daptomycin, and a significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality than vancomycin, linezolid and tigecycline. Conclusion Dalbavancin affords a promising, new alternative IV antimicrobial agent which is as effective as traditional therapies, but with the added benefit of enabling clinicians to treat patients with ABSSSI in different organisational settings. Notwithstanding, any introduction of an effective treatment with a differential mode of administration into healthcare systems must be followed by a change in clinical practice and patient management in order to fully achieve desirable economic outcomes. PMID:29136035

Transformational leadership and safety performance among nurses: the mediating role of knowledge-related job characteristics.

PubMed

Lievens, Ilse; Vlerick, Peter

2014-03-01

To report the impact of transformational leadership on two dimensions of nurses' safety performance (i.e. safety compliance and safety participation) and to study the mediating role of knowledge-related job characteristics in this relationship. Safety performance refers to the behaviours that employees exhibit to adhere to safety guidelines and to promote health and safety at their workplace. Nurses' safety performance is a major challenge for healthcare settings, urging the need to identify the key determinants and psychological mechanisms that influence it. A cross-sectional survey study. The study was carried out in September 2010 in a large Belgian hospital. We used self-administered questionnaires; 152 nurses participated. The hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression analyses. In line with our first hypothesis, the results show that transformational leadership exerted a significant positive impact on both dimensions of nurses' safety performance. This positive relation was mediated by knowledge-related job characteristics, supporting our second hypothesis. Head nurses' transformational leadership can enhance nurses' compliance with and participation in safety. Furthermore, transformational head nurses are able to influence the perception that their nurses have about the kind and amount of knowledge in their job, which can also lead to increases in both dimensions of nurses' safety performance. This study therefore demonstrates the key impact that transformational head nurses have, both directly and indirectly, on the safety performance of their nurses. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Placebo controlled, prospectively randomized, double-blinded study for the investigation of the effectiveness and safety of the acoustic wave therapy (AWT(®)) for cellulite treatment.

PubMed

Russe-Wilflingseder, Katharina; Russe-Wilfingsleder, Katharina; Russe, Elisabeth; Vester, Johannes C; Haller, Gerd; Novak, Pavel; Krotz, Alexander

2013-06-01

Placebo controlled double-blinded, prospectively randomized clinical trial with 17 patients (11 verum, 5 placebo) for evaluation of cellulite treatment with Acoustic Wave Therapy, (AWT(®)) was performed. The patients were treated once a week for 7 weeks, a total of 8 treatments with the D-ACTOR(®) 200 by Storz Medical AG. Data were collected at baseline, before 8th treatment, at 1 month (follow-up 1) and at 3 months (follow-up 2) after the last treatment with a patients' questionnaire, weight control, measurement of circumference and standardized photography. Treatment progress was further documented using a specially designed 3D imaging system (SkinSCAN(3D), 3D-Shape GmbH) providing an objective measure of cellulite (primary efficacy criteria). Patient's questionnaire in the verum group revealed an improvement in number and depth of dimples, skin firmness and texture, in shape and in reduction of circumference. The overall result (of skin waviness, Sq and Sz, surface and volume of depressions and elevations, Vvv and Vmp) at two follow-up visits indicates a more than medium sized superiority (MW = 0.6706) and is statistically significant (pWei-Lachin = 0.0106). The placebo group revealed no statistical significance. No side effects were seen. This indicates the efficacy and safety of AWT(®) for patients with cellulite.

Risk is not our business: safety of thoracic surgery in patients using antiplatelet therapy.

PubMed

Bertolaccini, Luca; Terzi, Alberto; Rizzardi, Giovanna; Gorla, Alberto; Viti, Andrea; Palmisano, Sarah; Coletta, Giuseppe

2012-02-01

American Heart Association recommendations have changed preoperative management of patients with antiplatelet therapy (APT). We assessed safety and outcomes of surgery in patients who were receiving APT. A prospective study of patients operated on while receiving APT was matched with those with no APT (ratio 1:4), using the propensity score method. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify covariates among imbalanced baseline patient variables. Both χ(2) test and Fisher's test were used to calculate the probability value for the comparison of dichotomous variables. Between January 2008 and December 2010, 38 patients who received APT at the time of surgery were matched with 141 patients who had not received APT. APT indications were a history of myocardial infarction, coronary artery by-pass graft and/or valve replacement (19), coronary artery stent (11) and severe peripheral vascular disease (8). None of the patients required re-operation for bleeding. Two patients received blood transfusions. The amount of chest tube drainage was not statistically significantly different. There were no statistically significant differences between the outcomes for the operative time, length of hospital stay, estimated blood loss or morbidity. The results show that thoracic surgical procedures can safely be performed in patients receiving APT at the time of surgery, with no increased risk of bleeding or morbidity and no differences in the operative time and the length of hospital stay.

Lactobacillus for preventing recurrent urinary tract infections in women: meta-analysis.

PubMed

Grin, Peter M; Kowalewska, Paulina M; Alhazzan, Waleed; Fox-Robichaud, Alison E

2013-02-01

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common infections affecting women, and often recur. Lactobacillus probiotics could potentially replace low dose, long term antibiotics as a safer prophylactic for recurrent UTI (rUTI). This systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to compile the results of existing randomized clinical trials (RCTs) to determine the efficacy of probiotic Lactobacillus species in preventing rUTI. MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched from inception to July 2012 for RCTs using a Lactobacillus prophylactic against rUTI in premenopausal adult women. A random-effects model meta-analysis was performed using a pooled risk ratio, comparing incidence of rUTI in patients receiving Lactobacillus to control. Data from 294 patients across five studies were included. There was no statistically significant difference in the risk for rUTI in patients receiving Lactobacillus versus controls, as indicated by the pooled risk ratio of 0.85 (95% confidence interval of 0.58-1.25, p = 0.41). A sensitivity analysis was performed, excluding studies using ineffective strains and studies testing for safety. Data from 127 patients in two studies were included. A statistically significant decrease in rUTI was found in patients given Lactobacillus, denoted by the pooled risk ratio of 0.51 (95% confidence interval 0.26-0.99, p = 0.05) with no statistical heterogeneity (I2 = 0%). Probiotic strains of Lactobacillus are safe and effective in preventing rUTI in adult women. However, more RCTs are required before a definitive recommendation can be made since the patient population contributing data to this meta-analysis was small.

Is there agreement between worker self and supervisor assessment of worker safety performance? An examination in the construction industry.

PubMed

Xia, Nini; Griffin, Mark A; Wang, Xueqing; Liu, Xing; Wang, Dan

2018-06-01

Individual safety performance (behavior) critically influences safety outcomes in high-risk workplaces. Compared to the study of generic work performance on different measurements, few studies have investigated different measurements of safety performance, typically relying on employees' self-reflection of their safety behavior. This research aims to address this limitation by including worker self-reflection and other (i.e., supervisor) assessment of two worker safety performance dimensions, safety compliance and safety participation. A sample of 105 workers and 17 supervisors in 17 groups in the Chinese construction industry participated in this study. Comparisons were made between worker compliance and participation in each measurement, and between workers' and supervisors' assessment of workers' compliance and participation. Multilevel modeling was adopted to test the moderating effects on the worker self-reflection and supervisor-assessment relationship by group safety climate and the work experience of supervisors. Higher levels of safety compliance than participation were found for self-reflection and supervisor assessment. The discrepancy between the two measurements in each safety performance dimension was significant. The work experience of supervisors attenuated the discrepancy between self- and supervisor-assessment of compliance. Contrary to our expectations, the moderating effect of group safety climate was not supported. The discrepancy between worker self- and supervisor-assessment of worker safety performance, thus, suggests the importance of including alternative measurements of safety performance in addition to self-reflection. Lower levels of participation behavior in both raters suggest more research on the motivators of participatory behavior. Practical applications The discrepancy between different raters can lead to negative reactions of ratees, suggesting that managers should be aware of that difference. Assigning experienced supervisors as raters can be effective at mitigating interrater discrepancy and conflicts in the assessment of compliance behavior. Copyright © 2018 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ab externo trabeculectomy performed under topical anesthesia supplemented by conscious sedation.

PubMed

Cortés-Gastélum, Marco Antonio; Paczka-Zapata, José Antonio; Mendoza-Barbosa, Jossué Fernando

2011-01-01

Ab externo trabeculectomy (AET) is the most common surgical procedure to treat glaucoma; topical anesthesia supplemented by conscious sedation is one of the diverse anesthetic methods to perform such type of surgery. The efficacy and safety of using topical anesthesia supplemented with conscious sedation for performing trabeculectomy were assessed in this prospective study. Twenty-six eyes of 26 consecutive patients underwent trabeculectomy under the effect of topical anesthesia and sedation. All cases were prospectively assessed during five different intra-operative times in which the degree of pain was measured using a visual analog scale (VAS). One patient was excluded from the study due to excessive somnolence. Performing the iridectomy caused less tolerance (p = 0.03) but with acceptable scores according to the VAS (score 2 = minimal and tolerable pain; p = 0.02), followed by conjunctival closure (nonsignificant p values). The entire procedure did not cause either moderate to extreme pain (scores 4 and 5 of the scale, respectively) in any of the patients. Levels of pain, blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation were compared among the different intra-operative times. No statistically significant (p >0.05) differences were demonstrated. Eighty percent (n = 4) of the patients with green or blue iris had symptoms during the surgery, but this was of borderline statistical significance (p = 0.053). No ocular or systemic side effects appeared related to the reported anesthesia regime. Topical anesthesia associated with conscious sedation seems to be efficacious and safe and can be recommended for performing trabeculectomy.

An empirical analysis of thermal protective performance of fabrics used in protective clothing.

PubMed

Mandal, Sumit; Song, Guowen

2014-10-01

Fabric-based protective clothing is widely used for occupational safety of firefighters/industrial workers. The aim of this paper is to study thermal protective performance provided by fabric systems and to propose an effective model for predicting the thermal protective performance under various thermal exposures. Different fabric systems that are commonly used to manufacture thermal protective clothing were selected. Laboratory simulations of the various thermal exposures were created to evaluate the protective performance of the selected fabric systems in terms of time required to generate second-degree burns. Through the characterization of selected fabric systems in a particular thermal exposure, various factors affecting the performances were statistically analyzed. The key factors for a particular thermal exposure were recognized based on the t-test analysis. Using these key factors, the performance predictive multiple linear regression and artificial neural network (ANN) models were developed and compared. The identified best-fit ANN models provide a basic tool to study thermal protective performance of a fabric. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

Preclinical Evaluation of Efficacy and Safety of an Improved Lentiviral Vector for the Treatment of β-Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease

PubMed Central

Negre, Olivier; Bartholomae, Cynthia; Beuzard, Yves; Cavazzana, Marina; Christiansen, Lauryn; Courne, Céline; Deichmann, Annette; Denaro, Maria; de Dreuzy, Edouard; Finer, Mitchell; Fronza, Raffaele; Gillet-Legrand, Béatrix; Joubert, Christophe; Kutner, Robert; Leboulch, Philippe; Maouche, Leïla; Paulard, Anaïs; Pierciey, Francis J.; Rothe, Michael; Ryu, Byoung; Schmidt, Manfred; von Kalle, Christof; Payen, Emmanuel; Veres, Gabor

2015-01-01

A previously published clinical trial demonstrated the benefit of autologous CD34+ cells transduced with a self-inactivating lentiviral vector (HPV569) containing an engineered β-globin gene (βA-T87Q-globin) in a subject with β-thalassemia major. This vector has been modified to increase transduction efficacy without compromising safety. In vitro analyses indicated that the changes resulted in both increased vector titers (3 to 4 fold) and increased transduction efficacy (2 to 3 fold). An in vivo study in which 58 β-thalassemic mice were transplanted with vector- or mock-transduced syngenic bone marrow cells indicated sustained therapeutic efficacy. Secondary transplantations involving 108 recipients were performed to evaluate long-term safety. The six month study showed no hematological or biochemical toxicity. Integration site (IS) profile revealed an oligo/polyclonal hematopoietic reconstitution in the primary transplants and reduced clonality in secondary transplants. Tumor cells were detected in the secondary transplant mice in all treatment groups (including the control group), without statistical differences in the tumor incidence. Immunohistochemistry and quantitative PCR demonstrated that tumor cells were not derived from transduced donor cells. This comprehensive efficacy and safety data provided the basis for initiating two clinical trials with this second generation vector (BB305) in Europe and in the USA in patients with β-thalassemia major and sickle cell disease. PMID:25429463

Benchmarking Global Food Safety Performances: The Era of Risk Intelligence.

PubMed

Valleé, Jean-Charles Le; Charlebois, Sylvain

2015-10-01

Food safety data segmentation and limitations hamper the world's ability to select, build up, monitor, and evaluate food safety performance. Currently, there is no metric that captures the entire food safety system, and performance data are not collected strategically on a global scale. Therefore, food safety benchmarking is essential not only to help monitor ongoing performance but also to inform continued food safety system design, adoption, and implementation toward more efficient and effective food safety preparedness, responsiveness, and accountability. This comparative study identifies and evaluates common elements among global food safety systems. It provides an overall world ranking of food safety performance for 17 Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries, illustrated by 10 indicators organized across three food safety risk governance domains: risk assessment (chemical risks, microbial risks, and national reporting on food consumption), risk management (national food safety capacities, food recalls, food traceability, and radionuclides standards), and risk communication (allergenic risks, labeling, and public trust). Results show all countries have very high food safety standards, but Canada and Ireland, followed by France, earned excellent grades relative to their peers. However, any subsequent global ranking study should consider the development of survey instruments to gather adequate and comparable national evidence on food safety.

Safety and operational performance evaluation of four types of exit ramps on Florida's freeways (final report).

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-12-01

This project mainly focuses on exit ramp performance analysis of safety and operations. In addition, issues of advance guide sign for exit ramp are also mentioned. : Safety analysis evaluates safety performances of different exit ramps used in Florid...

Mindfulness for palliative care patients. Systematic review.

PubMed

Latorraca, Carolina de Oliveira Cruz; Martimbianco, Ana Luiza Cabrera; Pachito, Daniela Vianna; Pacheco, Rafael Leite; Riera, Rachel

2017-12-01

Nineteen million adults worldwide are in need of palliative care. Of those who have access to it, 80% fail to receive an efficient management of symptoms. To assess the effectiveness and safety of mindfulness meditation for palliative care patients. We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, LILACS, PEDro, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Opengrey, ClinicalTrials.gov and WHO-ICTRP. No restriction of language, status or date of publication was applied. We considered randomised clinical trials (RCTs) comparing any mindfulness meditation scheme vs any comparator for palliative care. Cochrane Risk of Bias (Rob) Table was used for assessing methodological quality of RCTs. Screening, data extraction and methodological assessments were performed by two reviewers. Mean differences (MD) (confidence intervals of 95% (CI 95%)) were considered for estimating effect size. Quality of evidence was appraised by GRADE. Four RCTs, 234 participants, were included. All studies presented high risk of bias in at least one RoB table criteria. We assessed 4 comparisons, but only 2 studies showed statistically significant difference for at least one outcome. 1. Mindfulness meditation (eight weeks, one session/week, daily individual practice) vs control: statistically significant difference in favour of control for quality of life - physical aspects. 2. Mindfulness meditation (single 5-minute session) vs control: benefit in favour of mindfulness for stress outcome in both time-points. None of the included studies analysed safety and harms outcomes. Although two studies have showed statistically significant difference, only one showed effectiveness of mindfulness meditation in improving perceived stress. This study focused on one single session of mindfulness of 5 minutes for adult cancer patients in palliative care, but it was considered as possessing high risk of bias. Other schemes of mindfulness meditation did not show benefit in any outcome evaluated (low and very low quality evidence). © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Endoscopic needle-knife treatment for symptomatic esophageal Zenker's diverticulum: A meta-analysis and systematic review.

PubMed

Li, Lian Yong; Yang, Yong Tao; Qu, Chang Min; Liang, Shu Wen; Zhong, Chang Qing; Wang, Xiao Ying; Chen, Yan; Spandorfer, Robert M; Christofaro, Sarah; Cai, Qiang

2018-04-01

The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety following endoscopic management of Zenker's diverticulum (ZD) using a needle-knife technique. A systematic search of PubMed, Embase and Cochrane library databases was performed. All original studies reporting efficacy and safety of needle-knife technique for treatment of ZD were included. Pooled event rates across studies were expressed with summative statistics. Main outcomes, such as rates of immediate symptomatic response (ISR), adverse events and recurrence, were extracted, pooled and analyzed. Heterogeneity among studies was assessed using the R statistic. The random effects model was used and results were expressed with forest plots and summative statistics. Thirteen studies included 589 patients were enrolled. Pooled event rates for ISR, overall complication, bleeding and perforation were 88% (95% confidence interval [CI] 79-94%), 13% (95% CI 8-22%), 5% (95% CI 3-10%) and 7% (95% CI 4-12%), respectively. The pooled data demonstrated an overall recurrence rate of 14% (95% CI 9-21%). Diverticulum size of at least 4 cm and less than 4 cm demonstrated pooled adverse event rates of 17% (95% CI 10-27%) and 7% (95% CI 2-18%), respectively. When using diverticuloscope as an accessory, pooled ISR and adverse events rates were 84% (95% CI 58-95%) and 10% (95% CI 3-26%), respectively. Flexible endoscopic procedures using needle-knife offers a relatively safe and effective treatment of symptomatic ZD, especially for ZD of <4 cm in diameter. © 2018 Chinese Medical Association Shanghai Branch, Chinese Society of Gastroenterology, Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Frequency of adverse events in plateletpheresis donors in regional transfusion centre in North India.

PubMed

Patidar, Gopal Kumar; Sharma, Ratti Ram; Marwaha, Neelam

2013-10-01

Although automated cell separators have undergone a lot of technical refinements, attention has been focused on the quality of platelet concentrates than on donor safety. We planned this prospective study to look into donor safety aspect by studying adverse events in normal healthy plateletpheresis donors. The study included 500 healthy, first-time (n=301) and repeat (n=199) plateletpheresis donors after informed consent. The plateletpheresis procedures were performed on Trima Accel (5.1 version, GAMBRO BCT) and Amicus (3.2 version FENWAL) cell separators. The adverse events during procedure were recorded and classified according to their nature. The pre and post procedure hematological and biochemical profiles of these donors were also assessed with the help of automated cell counter and analyser respectively. A total of 18% (n=90) adverse events were recorded in 500 plateletpheresis donors, of which 9% of were hypocalcaemia in nature followed by hematoma (7.4%), vasovagal reaction (0.8%) and kit related adverse events in (0.8%). There was significant post procedure drop in Hb, Hct, platelet count of the donors (p<0.0001) whereas WBC count showed a statistically significant rise (p<0.0001). Divalent cations (iCa(+), TCa(+), TMg(+)) also showed a statistically significant decline after donation (p<0.0001). However there were no statistically significance difference between adverse events in Trima Accel (5.1 version, GAMBRO BCT) and Amicus (3.2 version FENWAL) cell separators. Donor reactions can adversely affect the voluntary donor recruitment strategies to increase the public awareness regarding constant need for blood and blood products. Commonly observed adverse events in plateletpheresis donors were hypocalcemia, hematoma formation and vasovagal reactions which can be prevented by pre-donation education of the donors and change of machine configuration. Nevertheless, more prospective studies on this aspect are required in order to establish guidelines for donor safety in apheresis and also to help in assessing donor suitability, especially given the present trend of double product apheresis collections. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Involvement of local dietetics professionals in risk communication program on food safety in municipal governments and their attitude towards the program].

PubMed

Akamatsu, Rie; Nomura, Marika; Horiguchi, Itsuko; Tanaka, Hisako; Marui, Eiji

2009-01-01

The objective of this study is to gather statistical references on food safety education that encourages competence of food choice from the view-point of food safety. A survey on the involvement of the risk communication program on food safety in municipal governments and the attitude of local dietetics professionals towards the program was conducted. In November, 2006, self-reported questionnaires were mailed to 1990 local dietetics professionals who worked in municipal governments in Japan. Descriptive statistics and cross tables were used for data analysis. 1162 questionnaires were mailed and 1130 available surveys were returned. Among the respondents, 41.5% answered that they inform the community about food safety, but 49.9% answered that they did not get information from the community. Most of the respondents answered that risk communication of food safety was important; 21.8% answered "extremely agree" and 62.3% answered "rather agree" on a scale of four from "extremely agree" to "do not agree". More than one-half of the dietetics professionals answered that their confidence in conducting risk communication was low; 20.5% answered "no confidence" and 52.5% answered "hardly have confidence" on a scale of four from "without confidence" to "with confidence". More than 80% of the respondents answered that they needed "professional knowledge" and "support from professional agencies". This study suggests that educating local dietetics professionals about professional knowledge on food safety, and obtaining support from special agencies will be essential in the upgrade of risk communication program on food safety in a community.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Healthcare Managers to Medical Waste Management and Occupational Safety Practices: Findings from Southeast Nigeria.

PubMed

Anozie, Okechukwu Bonaventure; Lawani, Lucky Osaheni; Eze, Justus Ndulue; Mamah, Emmanuel Johnbosco; Onoh, Robinson Chukwudi; Ogah, Emeka Onwe; Umezurike, Daniel Akuma; Anozie, Rita Onyinyechi

2017-03-01

Awareness of appropriate waste management procedures and occupational safety measures is fundamental to achieving a safe work environment, and ensuring patient and staff safety. This study was conducted to assess the attitude of healthcare managers to medical waste management and occupational safety practices. This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 54 hospital administrators in Ebonyi state. Semi-structured questionnaires were used for qualitative data collection and analyzed with SPSS statistics for windows (2011), version 20.0 statistical software (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp). Two-fifth (40%) of healthcare managers had received training on medical waste management and occupational safety. Standard operating procedure of waste disposal was practiced by only one hospital (1.9%), while 98.1% (53/54) practiced indiscriminate waste disposal. Injection safety boxes were widely available in all health facilities, nevertheless, the use of incinerators and waste treatment was practiced by 1.9% (1/54) facility. However, 40.7% (22/54) and 59.3% (32/54) of respondents trained their staff and organize safety orientation courses respectively. Staff insurance cover was offered by just one hospital (1.9%), while none of the hospitals had compensation package for occupational hazard victims. Over half (55.6%; 30/54) of the respondents provided both personal protective equipment and post exposure prophylaxis for HIV. There was high level of non-compliance to standard medical waste management procedures, and lack of training on occupational safety measures. Relevant regulating agencies should step up efforts at monitoring and regulation of healthcare activities and ensure staff training on safe handling and disposal of hospital waste.

Occupational accidents in Russia and the Russian Arctic.

PubMed

Dudarev, Alexey A; Karnachev, Igor P; Odland, Jon Øyvind

2013-01-01

According to official statistics, the rate of occupational accidents (OAs) and fatal injuries in Russia decreased about 5-fold and 2-fold, respectively, from 1975 to 2010, but working conditions during this period had the opposite trend; for example, the number of people who work in unfavourable and hazardous conditions (particularly since 1991) has increased significantly. This review summarises the results of a search of the relevant peer-reviewed literature published in Russia and official statistics on OAs and occupational safety in Russia and the Russian Arctic in 1980-2010. The occupational safety system in Russia has severely deteriorated in the last 2 decades, with legislators tending to promote the interests of industry and business, resulting in the neglect of occupational safety and violation of workers' rights. The majority of workers are employed in conditions that do not meet rules of safety and hygiene. More than 60% of OAs can be attributed to management practices--violation of safety regulations, poor organisation of work, deficiency of certified occupational safety specialists and inadequate personnel training. Research aimed at improving occupational safety and health is underfunded. There is evidence of widespread under-reporting of OAs, including fatal accidents. Three federal agencies are responsible for OAs recording; their data differ from each other as they use different methodologies. The rate of fatal OAs in Russia was 3-6 times higher than in Scandinavian countries and about 2 times higher compared to United States and Canada in 2001. In some Russian Arctic regions OAs levels are much higher. Urgent improvement of occupational health and safety across Russia, especially in the Arctic regions, is needed.

78 FR 65426 - Technical Report: Evaluation of the Certified-Advanced Air Bags

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-31

... INFORMATION CONTACT: Nathan K. Greenwell, Mathematical Statistician, Evaluation Division, NVS-431, National Center for Statistics and Analysis, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Room W53-438, 1200... bags at all for children, using occupant detection sensors to suppress the air bags. Statistical...

Youth Violence: Facts at a Glance

MedlinePlus

... Musu-Gillette L, and Oudekerk BA. Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2015 (NCES 2016-079/ NCJ 249758). National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice ... During the 2012-2013 school year, 31 homicides of school-age youth ages ...

Crew fatigue safety performance indicators for fatigue risk management systems.

PubMed

Gander, Philippa H; Mangie, Jim; Van Den Berg, Margo J; Smith, A Alexander T; Mulrine, Hannah M; Signal, T Leigh

2014-02-01

Implementation of Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS) is gaining momentum; however, agreed safety performance indicators (SPIs) are lacking. This paper proposes an initial set of SPIs based on measures of crewmember sleep, performance, and subjective fatigue and sleepiness, together with methods for interpreting them. Data were included from 133 landing crewmembers on 2 long-range and 3 ultra-long-range trips (4-person crews, 3 airlines, 220 flights). Studies had airline, labor, and regulatory support, and underwent independent ethical review. SPIs evaluated preflight and at top of descent (TOD) were: total sleep in the prior 24 h and time awake at duty start and at TOD (actigraphy); subjective sleepiness (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale) and fatigue (Samn-Perelli scale); and psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) performance. Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric ANOVA with post hoc tests was used to identify significant differences between flights for each SPI. Visual and preliminary quantitative comparisons of SPIs between flights were made using box plots and bar graphs. Statistical analyses identified significant differences between flights across a range of SPls. In an FRMS, crew fatigue SPIs are envisaged as a decision aid alongside operational SPIs, which need to reflect the relevant causes of fatigue in different operations. We advocate comparing multiple SPIs between flights rather than defining safe/unsafe thresholds on individual SPIs. More comprehensive data sets are needed to identify the operational and biological factors contributing to the differences between flights reported here. Global sharing of an agreed core set of SPIs would greatly facilitate implementation and improvement of FRMS.

Johnson Space Center's Risk and Reliability Analysis Group 2008 Annual Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Valentine, Mark; Boyer, Roger; Cross, Bob; Hamlin, Teri; Roelant, Henk; Stewart, Mike; Bigler, Mark; Winter, Scott; Reistle, Bruce; Heydorn,Dick

2009-01-01

The Johnson Space Center (JSC) Safety & Mission Assurance (S&MA) Directorate s Risk and Reliability Analysis Group provides both mathematical and engineering analysis expertise in the areas of Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA), Reliability and Maintainability (R&M) analysis, and data collection and analysis. The fundamental goal of this group is to provide National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) decisionmakers with the necessary information to make informed decisions when evaluating personnel, flight hardware, and public safety concerns associated with current operating systems as well as with any future systems. The Analysis Group includes a staff of statistical and reliability experts with valuable backgrounds in the statistical, reliability, and engineering fields. This group includes JSC S&MA Analysis Branch personnel as well as S&MA support services contractors, such as Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and SoHaR. The Analysis Group s experience base includes nuclear power (both commercial and navy), manufacturing, Department of Defense, chemical, and shipping industries, as well as significant aerospace experience specifically in the Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS), and Constellation Programs. The Analysis Group partners with project and program offices, other NASA centers, NASA contractors, and universities to provide additional resources or information to the group when performing various analysis tasks. The JSC S&MA Analysis Group is recognized as a leader in risk and reliability analysis within the NASA community. Therefore, the Analysis Group is in high demand to help the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) continue to fly safely, assist in designing the next generation spacecraft for the Constellation Program (CxP), and promote advanced analytical techniques. The Analysis Section s tasks include teaching classes and instituting personnel qualification processes to enhance the professional abilities of our analysts as well as performing major probabilistic assessments used to support flight rationale and help establish program requirements. During 2008, the Analysis Group performed more than 70 assessments. Although all these assessments were important, some were instrumental in the decisionmaking processes for the Shuttle and Constellation Programs. Two of the more significant tasks were the Space Transportation System (STS)-122 Low Level Cutoff PRA for the SSP and the Orion Pad Abort One (PA-1) PRA for the CxP. These two activities, along with the numerous other tasks the Analysis Group performed in 2008, are summarized in this report. This report also highlights several ongoing and upcoming efforts to provide crucial statistical and probabilistic assessments, such as the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) PRA for the Hubble Space Telescope service mission and the first fully integrated PRAs for the CxP's Lunar Sortie and ISS missions.

Modeling motor vehicle crashes using Poisson-gamma models: examining the effects of low sample mean values and small sample size on the estimation of the fixed dispersion parameter.

PubMed

Lord, Dominique

2006-07-01

There has been considerable research conducted on the development of statistical models for predicting crashes on highway facilities. Despite numerous advancements made for improving the estimation tools of statistical models, the most common probabilistic structure used for modeling motor vehicle crashes remains the traditional Poisson and Poisson-gamma (or Negative Binomial) distribution; when crash data exhibit over-dispersion, the Poisson-gamma model is usually the model of choice most favored by transportation safety modelers. Crash data collected for safety studies often have the unusual attributes of being characterized by low sample mean values. Studies have shown that the goodness-of-fit of statistical models produced from such datasets can be significantly affected. This issue has been defined as the "low mean problem" (LMP). Despite recent developments on methods to circumvent the LMP and test the goodness-of-fit of models developed using such datasets, no work has so far examined how the LMP affects the fixed dispersion parameter of Poisson-gamma models used for modeling motor vehicle crashes. The dispersion parameter plays an important role in many types of safety studies and should, therefore, be reliably estimated. The primary objective of this research project was to verify whether the LMP affects the estimation of the dispersion parameter and, if it is, to determine the magnitude of the problem. The secondary objective consisted of determining the effects of an unreliably estimated dispersion parameter on common analyses performed in highway safety studies. To accomplish the objectives of the study, a series of Poisson-gamma distributions were simulated using different values describing the mean, the dispersion parameter, and the sample size. Three estimators commonly used by transportation safety modelers for estimating the dispersion parameter of Poisson-gamma models were evaluated: the method of moments, the weighted regression, and the maximum likelihood method. In an attempt to complement the outcome of the simulation study, Poisson-gamma models were fitted to crash data collected in Toronto, Ont. characterized by a low sample mean and small sample size. The study shows that a low sample mean combined with a small sample size can seriously affect the estimation of the dispersion parameter, no matter which estimator is used within the estimation process. The probability the dispersion parameter becomes unreliably estimated increases significantly as the sample mean and sample size decrease. Consequently, the results show that an unreliably estimated dispersion parameter can significantly undermine empirical Bayes (EB) estimates as well as the estimation of confidence intervals for the gamma mean and predicted response. The paper ends with recommendations about minimizing the likelihood of producing Poisson-gamma models with an unreliable dispersion parameter for modeling motor vehicle crashes.

Application of the statistical process control method for prospective patient safety monitoring during the learning phase: robotic kidney transplantation with regional hypothermia (IDEAL phase 2a-b).

PubMed

Sood, Akshay; Ghani, Khurshid R; Ahlawat, Rajesh; Modi, Pranjal; Abaza, Ronney; Jeong, Wooju; Sammon, Jesse D; Diaz, Mireya; Kher, Vijay; Menon, Mani; Bhandari, Mahendra

2014-08-01

Traditional evaluation of the learning curve (LC) of an operation has been retrospective. Furthermore, LC analysis does not permit patient safety monitoring. To prospectively monitor patient safety during the learning phase of robotic kidney transplantation (RKT) and determine when it could be considered learned using the techniques of statistical process control (SPC). From January through May 2013, 41 patients with end-stage renal disease underwent RKT with regional hypothermia at one of two tertiary referral centers adopting RKT. Transplant recipients were classified into three groups based on the robotic training and kidney transplant experience of the surgeons: group 1, robot trained with limited kidney transplant experience (n=7); group 2, robot trained and kidney transplant experienced (n=20); and group 3, kidney transplant experienced with limited robot training (n=14). We employed prospective monitoring using SPC techniques, including cumulative summation (CUSUM) and Shewhart control charts, to perform LC analysis and patient safety monitoring, respectively. Outcomes assessed included post-transplant graft function and measures of surgical process (anastomotic and ischemic times). CUSUM and Shewhart control charts are time trend analytic techniques that allow comparative assessment of outcomes following a new intervention (RKT) relative to those achieved with established techniques (open kidney transplant; target value) in a prospective fashion. CUSUM analysis revealed an initial learning phase for group 3, whereas groups 1 and 2 had no to minimal learning time. The learning phase for group 3 varied depending on the parameter assessed. Shewhart control charts demonstrated no compromise in functional outcomes for groups 1 and 2. Graft function was compromised in one patient in group 3 (p<0.05) secondary to reasons unrelated to RKT. In multivariable analysis, robot training was significantly associated with improved task-completion times (p<0.01). Graft function was not adversely affected by either the lack of robotic training (p=0.22) or kidney transplant experience (p=0.72). The LC and patient safety of a new surgical technique can be assessed prospectively using CUSUM and Shewhart control chart analytic techniques. These methods allow determination of the duration of mentorship and identification of adverse events in a timely manner. A new operation can be considered learned when outcomes achieved with the new intervention are at par with outcomes following established techniques. Statistical process control techniques allowed for robust, objective, and prospective monitoring of robotic kidney transplantation and can similarly be applied to other new interventions during the introduction and adoption phase. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of safety motivation and climate on safety behaviour and outcomes: evidence from the Saudi Arabian construction industry.

PubMed

Panuwatwanich, Kriengsak; Al-Haadir, Saeed; Stewart, Rodney A

2017-03-01

Over the last three decades, safety literature has focused on safety climate and its role in forecasting injuries and accidents. However, research findings regarding the relationships between safety climate and other key outcome constructs are somewhat inconsistent. Recent safety climate literature suggests that examining the role of safety motivation may help provide a better explanation of such relationships. The research presented in this article aimed to empirically analyse the relationships among safety motivation, safety climate, safety behaviour and safety outcomes within the context of the Saudi Arabian construction industry. A conceptual model was developed to examine the relationships among four main constructs: safety motivation, safety climate, safety behaviour and safety outcomes. Based on the survey data collected in Saudi Arabia from site engineers and project managers (n = 295), statistical analyses were carried out, including confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis, and structural equation modelling to assess the model and test the hypotheses. The main results indicated that safety motivation could positively influence safety behaviour through safety climate, which plays a mediating role for this mechanism. The results also confirmed that safety behaviour could predict safety outcomes within the context of the Saudi Arabian construction industry.

Comparative efficacy and safety of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors in older adults: a network meta-analysis.

PubMed

Thorlund, Kristian; Druyts, Eric; Wu, Ping; Balijepalli, Chakrapani; Keohane, Denis; Mills, Edward

2015-05-01

To establish the comparative efficacy and safety of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors in older adults using the network meta-analysis approach. Systematic review and network meta-analysis. Individuals aged 60 and older. Data on partial response (defined as at least 50% reduction in depression score from baseline) and safety (dizziness, vertigo, syncope, falls, loss of consciousness) were extracted. A Bayesian network meta-analysis was performed on the efficacy and safety outcomes, and relative risks (RRs) with 95% credible intervals (CrIs) were produced. Fifteen randomized controlled trials were eligible for inclusion in the analysis. Citalopram, escitalopram, paroxetine, duloxetine, venlafaxine, fluoxetine, and sertraline were represented. Reporting on partial response and dizziness was sufficient to conduct a network meta-analysis. Reporting on other outcomes was sparse. For partial response, sertraline (RR=1.28), paroxetine (RR=1.48), and duloxetine (RR=1.62) were significantly better than placebo. The remaining interventions yielded RRs lower than 1.20. For dizziness, duloxetine (RR=3.18) and venlafaxine (RR=2.94) were statistically significantly worse than placebo. Compared with placebo, sertraline had the lowest RR for dizziness (1.14) and fluoxetine the second lowest (1.31). Citalopram, escitalopram, and paroxetine all had RRs between 1.4 and 1.7. There was clear evidence of the effectiveness of sertraline, paroxetine, and duloxetine. There also appears to be a hierarchy of safety associated with the different antidepressants, although there appears to be a dearth of reporting of safety outcomes. © 2015, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2015, The American Geriatrics Society.

Quantifying Pilot Contribution to Flight Safety during Drive Shaft Failure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kramer, Lynda J.; Etherington, Tim; Last, Mary Carolyn; Bailey, Randall E.; Kennedy, Kellie D.

2017-01-01

Accident statistics cite the flight crew as a causal factor in over 60% of large transport aircraft fatal accidents. Yet, a well-trained and well-qualified pilot is acknowledged as the critical center point of aircraft systems safety and an integral safety component of the entire commercial aviation system. The latter statement, while generally accepted, cannot be verified because little or no quantitative data exists on how and how many accidents/incidents are averted by crew actions. A joint NASA/FAA high-fidelity motion-base simulation experiment specifically addressed this void by collecting data to quantify the human (pilot) contribution to safety-of-flight and the methods they use in today's National Airspace System. A human-in-the-loop test was conducted using the FAA's Oklahoma City Flight Simulation Branch Level D-certified B-737-800 simulator to evaluate the pilot's contribution to safety-of-flight during routine air carrier flight operations and in response to aircraft system failures. These data are fundamental to and critical for the design and development of future increasingly autonomous systems that can better support the human in the cockpit. Eighteen U.S. airline crews flew various normal and non-normal procedures over a two-day period and their actions were recorded in response to failures. To quantify the human's contribution to safety of flight, crew complement was used as the experiment independent variable in a between-subjects design. Pilot actions and performance during single pilot and reduced crew operations were measured for comparison against the normal two-crew complement during normal and non-normal situations. This paper details the crew's actions, including decision-making, and responses while dealing with a drive shaft failure - one of 6 non-normal events that were simulated in this experiment.

49 CFR 385.333 - What happens at the end of the 18-month safety monitoring period?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... SAFETY REGULATIONS SAFETY FITNESS PROCEDURES New Entrant Safety Assurance Program § 385.333 What happens at the end of the 18-month safety monitoring period? (a) If a safety audit has been performed within... the same basis as any other carrier. (d) If a safety audit or compliance review has not been performed...

Active Learning with Rationales for Identifying Operationally Significant Anomalies in Aviation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sharma, Manali; Das, Kamalika; Bilgic, Mustafa; Matthews, Bryan; Nielsen, David Lynn; Oza, Nikunj C.

2016-01-01

A major focus of the commercial aviation community is discovery of unknown safety events in flight operations data. Data-driven unsupervised anomaly detection methods are better at capturing unknown safety events compared to rule-based methods which only look for known violations. However, not all statistical anomalies that are discovered by these unsupervised anomaly detection methods are operationally significant (e.g., represent a safety concern). Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) have to spend significant time reviewing these statistical anomalies individually to identify a few operationally significant ones. In this paper we propose an active learning algorithm that incorporates SME feedback in the form of rationales to build a classifier that can distinguish between uninteresting and operationally significant anomalies. Experimental evaluation on real aviation data shows that our approach improves detection of operationally significant events by as much as 75% compared to the state-of-the-art. The learnt classifier also generalizes well to additional validation data sets.

Traffic safety facts 1996 : a compilation of motor vehicle crash data from the fatality analysis reporting system and the general estimates system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-12-01

This annual report presents descriptive statistics about traffic crashes of all severities, from those that result in property damage to those that result in the loss of human life. Information from two of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administ...

Safety Measures of L-Carnitine L-Tartrate Supplementation in Healthy Men.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rubin, Martyn R.; Volek, Jeff S.; Gomez, Ana L.; Ratamess, Nicholas A.; French, Duncan N.; Sharman, Matthew J.; Kraemer, William J.

2001-01-01

Examined the effects of ingesting the dietary supplement L- CARNIPURE on liver and renal function and blood hematology among healthy men. Analysis of blood samples indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the L-CARNIPURE and placebo conditions for any variables examined, suggesting there are no safety concerns…

Planning to Ensure Our Schools Are Safe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dillon, Naomi

2007-01-01

Statistically, school violence is rare and declining, but emotionally it is difficult to reconcile with the fact that anyone would purposefully inflict harm on schools and students. Safety experts advocate a thoughtful approach to the problem, noting that much of the information to base school safety policies upon is already out there. Last…

34 CFR 668.49 - Institutional fire safety policies and fire statistics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... fire. Fire safety system: Any mechanism or system related to the detection of a fire, the warning resulting from a fire, or the control of a fire. This may include sprinkler systems or other fire extinguishing systems, fire detection devices, stand-alone smoke alarms, devices that alert one to the presence...

34 CFR 668.49 - Institutional fire safety policies and fire statistics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... fire. Fire safety system: Any mechanism or system related to the detection of a fire, the warning resulting from a fire, or the control of a fire. This may include sprinkler systems or other fire extinguishing systems, fire detection devices, stand-alone smoke alarms, devices that alert one to the presence...

34 CFR 668.49 - Institutional fire safety policies and fire statistics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... fire. Fire safety system: Any mechanism or system related to the detection of a fire, the warning resulting from a fire, or the control of a fire. This may include sprinkler systems or other fire extinguishing systems, fire detection devices, stand-alone smoke alarms, devices that alert one to the presence...

34 CFR 668.49 - Institutional fire safety policies and fire statistics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... fire. Fire safety system: Any mechanism or system related to the detection of a fire, the warning resulting from a fire, or the control of a fire. This may include sprinkler systems or other fire extinguishing systems, fire detection devices, stand-alone smoke alarms, devices that alert one to the presence...

Traffic safety facts 2005 : a compilation of motor vehicle crash data from the fatality analysis reporting system and the general estimates system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-01-01

This annual report presents descriptive statistics about traffic crashes of all severities, from those that result in property damage to those that result in the loss of human life. Information from two of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administ...

Traffic safety facts 2006 : a compilation of motor vehicle crash data from the fatality analysis reporting system and the general estimates system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-01-01

This annual report presents descriptive statistics about traffic crashes of all severities, from those that result in property damage to those that result in the loss of human life. Information from two of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administ...

Traffic safety facts 2000 : a compilation of motor vehicle crash data from the fatality analysis reporting system and the general estimates system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-12-01

This annual report presents descriptive statistics about traffic crashes of all severities, from those that result in property damage to those that result in the loss of human life. Information from two of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administ...

Traffic safety facts 2001 : a compilation of motor vehicle crash data from the fatality analysis reporting system and the general estimates system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-12-01

This annual report presents descriptive statistics about traffic crashes of all severities, from those that result in property damage to those that result in the loss of human life. Information from two of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administ...

Traffic safety facts 1998 : a compilation of motor vehicle crash data from the fatality analysis reporting system and the general estimates system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-10-01

This annual report presents descriptive statistics about traffic crashes of all severities, from those that result in property damage to those that result in the loss of human life. Information from two of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administ...

Traffic safety facts 2002 : a compilation of motor vehicle crash data from the fatality analysis reporting system and the general estimates system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-01-01

This annual report presents descriptive statistics about traffic crashes of all severities, from those that result in property damage to those that result in the loss of human life. Information from two of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administ...

Traffic safety facts 2003 : a compilation of motor vehicle crash data from the fatality analysis reporting system and the general estimates system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-01-01

This annual report presents descriptive statistics about traffic crashes of all severities, from those that result in property damage to those that result in the loss of human life. Information from two of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administ...

Traffic safety facts 1999 : a compilation of motor vehicle crash data from the fatality analysis reporting system and the general estimates system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-12-01

This annual report presents descriptive statistics about traffic crashes of all severities, from those that result in property damage to those that result in the loss of human life. Information from two of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administ...

Traffic safety facts 1994 : a compilation of motor vehicle crash data from the fatality analysis reporting system and the general estimates system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-08-01

This annual report presents descriptive statistics about traffic crashes of all severities, from those that result in property damage to those that result in the loss of human life. Information from two of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administ...

Traffic Safety Facts, 2001: Occupant Protection.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT), Washington, DC.

This document provides statistical information on the benefits of occupant restraint systems in U.S. motor vehicle accidents. Data tables include: (1) estimated number of lives saved by restraint systems (seat belts, air bags, child restraints), 1975-2001; (2) cumulative estimated number of lives saved by safety belt use, 1975-2001; and (3)…

Occupant Protection. Traffic Safety Facts, 2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT), Washington, DC.

This document provides statistical information on the benefits of occupant restraint systems in U.S. motor vehicle accidents. Data tables include: (1) estimated number of lives saved by restraint systems (seat belts, air bags, child restraints), 1975-2000; (2) cumulative estimated number of lives saved by safety belt use, 1975-2000; and (3)…

How Safe Is a School? An Exploratory Study Comparing Measures and Perceptions of Safety

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hernandez, Diley; Floden, Lysbeth; Bosworth, Kris

2010-01-01

This exploratory study investigates the relation between incident reports to local law enforcement, and students' and teachers' perceptions of school safety. Using a combination of grounded theory and statistics, we compared quantitative data collected from law enforcement agencies with qualitative data provided by students and teachers during…

Methodology to assess clinical liver safety data.

PubMed

Merz, Michael; Lee, Kwan R; Kullak-Ublick, Gerd A; Brueckner, Andreas; Watkins, Paul B

2014-11-01

Analysis of liver safety data has to be multivariate by nature and needs to take into account time dependency of observations. Current standard tools for liver safety assessment such as summary tables, individual data listings, and narratives address these requirements to a limited extent only. Using graphics in the context of a systematic workflow including predefined graph templates is a valuable addition to standard instruments, helping to ensure completeness of evaluation, and supporting both hypothesis generation and testing. Employing graphical workflows interactively allows analysis in a team-based setting and facilitates identification of the most suitable graphics for publishing and regulatory reporting. Another important tool is statistical outlier detection, accounting for the fact that for assessment of Drug-Induced Liver Injury, identification and thorough evaluation of extreme values has much more relevance than measures of central tendency in the data. Taken together, systematical graphical data exploration and statistical outlier detection may have the potential to significantly improve assessment and interpretation of clinical liver safety data. A workshop was convened to discuss best practices for the assessment of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) in clinical trials.

Detecting GNSS spoofing attacks using INS coupling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanil, Cagatay

Vulnerability of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) users to signal spoofing is a critical threat to positioning integrity, especially in aviation applications, where the consequences are potentially catastrophic. In response, this research describes and evaluates a new approach to directly detect spoofing using integrated Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) and fault detection concepts based on integrity monitoring. The monitors developed here can be implemented into positioning systems using INS/GNSS integration via 1) tightly-coupled, 2) loosely-coupled, and 3) uncoupled schemes. New evaluation methods enable the statistical computation of integrity risk resulting from a worst-case spoofing attack - without needing to simulate an unmanageably large number of individual aircraft approaches. Integrity risk is an absolute measure of safety and a well-established metric in aircraft navigation. A novel closed-form solution to the worst-case time sequence of GNSS signals is derived to maximize the integrity risk for each monitor and used in the covariance analyses. This methodology tests the performance of the monitors against the most sophisticated spoofers, capable of tracking the aircraft position - for example, by means of remote tracking or onboard sensing. Another contribution is a comprehensive closed-loop model that encapsulates the vehicle and compensator (estimator and controller) dynamics. A sensitivity analysis uses this model to quantify the leveraging impact of the vehicle's dynamic responses (e.g., to wind gusts, or to autopilot's acceleration commands) on the monitor's detection capability. The performance of the monitors is evaluated for two safety-critical terminal area navigation applications: 1) autonomous shipboard landing and 2) Boeing 747 (B747) landing assisted with Ground Based Augmentation Systems (GBAS). It is demonstrated that for both systems, the monitors are capable of meeting the most stringent precision approach and landing integrity requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The statistical evaluation methods developed here can be used as a baseline procedure in the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) certification of spoof-free navigation systems. The final contribution is an investigation of INS sensor quality on detection performance. This determines the minimum sensor requirements to perform standalone GNSS positioning in general en route applications with guaranteed spoofing detection integrity.

Relationship between preventable hospital deaths and other measures of safety: an exploratory study.

PubMed

Hogan, Helen; Healey, Frances; Neale, Graham; Thomson, Richard; Vincent, Charles; Black, Nick

2014-06-01

To explore associations between the proportion of hospital deaths that are preventable and other measures of safety. Retrospective case record review to provide estimates of preventable death proportions. Simple monotonic correlations using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient to establish the relationship with eight other measures of patient safety. Ten English acute hospital trusts. One thousand patients who died during 2009. The proportion of preventable deaths varied between hospitals (3-8%) but was not statistically significant (P = 0.94). Only one of the eight measures of safety (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia rate) was clinically and statistically significantly associated with preventable death proportion (r = 0.73; P < 0.02). There were no significant associations with the other measures including hospital standardized mortality ratios (r = -0.01). There was a suggestion that preventable deaths may be more strongly associated with some other measures of outcome than with process or with structure measures. The exploratory nature of this study inevitably limited its power to provide definitive results. The observed relationships between safety measures suggest that a larger more powerful study is needed to establish the inter-relationship of different measures of safety (structure, process and outcome), in particular the widely used standardized mortality ratios. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care; all rights reserved.

Relationships between organizational and individual support, nurses' ethical competence, ethical safety, and work satisfaction.

PubMed

Poikkeus, Tarja; Suhonen, Riitta; Katajisto, Jouko; Leino-Kilpi, Helena

2018-03-12

Organizations and nurse leaders do not always effectively support nurses' ethical competence. More information is needed about nurses' perceptions of this support and relevant factors to improve it. The aim of the study was to examine relationships between nurses' perceived organizational and individual support, ethical competence, ethical safety, and work satisfaction. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted. Questionnaires were distributed to nurses (n = 298) working in specialized, primary, or private health care in Finland. Descriptive statistics, multifactor analysis of variance, and linear regression analysis were used to test the relationships. The nurses reported low organizational and individual support for their ethical competence, whereas perceptions of their ethical competence, ethical safety, and work satisfaction were moderate. There were statistically significant positive correlations between both perceived individual and organizational support, and ethical competence, nurses' work satisfaction, and nurses' ethical safety. Organizational and individual support for nurses' ethical competence should be strengthened, at least in Finland, by providing more ethics education and addressing ethical problems in multiprofessional discussions. Findings confirm that organizational level support for ethical competence improves nurses' work satisfaction. They also show that individual level support improves nurses' sense of ethical safety, and both organizational and individual support strengthen nurses' ethical competence. These findings should assist nurse leaders to implement effective support practices to strengthen nurses' ethical competence, ethical safety, and work satisfaction.

Investigation of injury/illness data at a nuclear facility. Part II

DOE PAGES

Cournoyer, Michael E.; Garcia, Vincent E.; Sandoval, Arnold N.; ...

2015-07-01

At Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), there are several nuclear facilities, accelerator facilities, radiological facilities, explosives sites, moderate- and high-hazard non-nuclear facilities, biosciences laboratory, etc. The Plutonium Science and Manufacturing Directorate (ADPSM) provides special nuclear material research, process development, technology demonstration, and manufacturing capabilities. ADPSM manages the LANL Plutonium Facility. Within the Radiological Control Area at TA-55 (PF-4), chemical and metallurgical operations with plutonium and other hazardous materials are performed. LANL Health and Safety Programs investigate injury and illness data. In this study, statistically significant trends have been identified and compared for LANL, ADPSM, and PF-4 injury/illness cases. A previouslymore » described output metric is used to measures LANL management progress towards meeting its operational safety objectives and goals. Timelines are used to determine trends in Injury/Illness types. Pareto Charts are used to prioritize causal factors. The data generated from analysis of Injury/Illness data have helped identify and reduce the number of corresponding causal factors.« less

[Career concerns among occupational physicians serving on the Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health in Tunisia].

PubMed

Merchaoui, Irtyah; Chouchène, Asma; Bouanène, Ines; Chaari, Néila; Zrafi, Wassim; Henchi, Adnène; Akrout, Mohamed; Amri, Charfeddine

2017-01-01

Career dissatisfaction among occupational physicians (OP) may affect their performance and the quality of healthcare services provided. Our study aims to assess the job satisfaction of OP serving on the Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health(IOSH) in Tunisia and to identify the determinant factors. We conducted a national cross-sectional validated SAPHORA JOB survey among all the OP serving on 22 IOSH. 58% of OP serving on the IOSH were dissatisfied with their career. Career satisfaction was statistically influenced by the number of healthcare facilities for which they were responsible (p=0.016), the work organisation (p=0.010), the work impact (p=0.011), the salary (p‹10-3) and knowledge on current regulation (p=0.047). The standardisation of pay scale and career ladders for OP serving on the IOSH based on a revision of legislative texts is recommended. Improving organization and working conditions may allow success in the workplace and benefit enhancement.

Baby-Crying Acceptance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martins, Tiago; de Magalhães, Sérgio Tenreiro

The baby's crying is his most important mean of communication. The crying monitoring performed by devices that have been developed doesn't ensure the complete safety of the child. It is necessary to join, to these technological resources, means of communicating the results to the responsible, which would involve the digital processing of information available from crying. The survey carried out, enabled to understand the level of adoption, in the continental territory of Portugal, of a technology that will be able to do such a digital processing. It was used the TAM as the theoretical referential. The statistical analysis showed that there is a good probability of acceptance of such a system.

Modified gastroduodenostomy in laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy: a 'tornado' anastomosis.

PubMed

Kubota, Keisuke; Kuroda, Junko; Yoshida, Masashi; Okada, Akihiro; Nitori, Nobuhiro; Kitajima, Masaki

2013-01-01

This study was to examine the utility of a modified double-stapling end-to-end gastroduodenostomy method ('Tornado' anastomosis) compared to a method with an additional gastrotomy ('Anterior Incision' method) in laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy. Forty-two patients with gastric cancer who underwent laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy were analyzed retrospectively. Billroth-I using an additional gastrotomy was performed in 24 patients (AI group) and Billroth-I without an additional gastrotomy was performed in 18 (TOR group). Clinicopathological features, operative outcomes (lymph node dissection, operative time, operative blood loss) and postoperative outcomes (complications, postoperative hospital stay, and body weight loss at one year after surgery) were evaluated and compared between groups. Operative time was significantly shorter in the TOR group (251 min) than in the AI group (282 min) (p < 0.01). There were no statistically significant differences in operative blood loss, postoperative complications, and hospital stay between the 2 study groups. Body weight loss at one year after surgery was -5.8 kg in the TOR group and -6.5 kg in the AI group, without a statistically significant difference. Completion time for Billroth-I anastomosis was significantly shorter with Tornado anastomosis than with the Anterior Incision method, with safety equal between the two methods.

Physical fitness profile of professional Italian firefighters: differences among age groups.

PubMed

Perroni, Fabrizio; Cignitti, Lamberto; Cortis, Cristina; Capranica, Laura

2014-05-01

Firefighters perform many tasks which require a high level of fitness and their personal safety may be compromised by the physiological aging process. The aim of the study was to evaluate strength (bench-press), power (countermovement jump), sprint (20 m) and endurance (with and without Self Contained Breathing Apparatus - S.C.B.A.) of 161 Italian firefighters recruits in relation to age groups (<25 yr; 26-30 yr; 31-35 yr; 36-40 yr; 41-42 yr). Descriptive statistics and an ANOVA were calculated to provide the physical fitness profile for each parameter and to assess differences (p < 0.05) among age groups. Anthropometric values showed an age-effect for height and BMI, while performances values showed statistical differences for strength, power, sprint tests and endurance test with S.C.B.A. Wearing the S.C.B.A., 14% of all recruits failed to complete the endurance test. We propose that the firefighters should participate in an assessment of work capacity and specific fitness programs aimed to maintain an optimal fitness level for all ages. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Biosimilarity and Interchangeability: Principles and Evidence: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

McKinnon, Ross A; Cook, Matthew; Liauw, Winston; Marabani, Mona; Marschner, Ian C; Packer, Nicolle H; Prins, Johannes B

2018-02-01

The efficacy, safety and immunogenicity risk of switching between an originator biologic and a biosimilar or from one biosimilar to another are of potential concern. The aim was to conduct a systematic literature review of the outcomes of switching between biologics and their biosimilars and identify any evidence gaps. A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library from inception to June 2017. Relevant societal meetings were also checked. Peer-reviewed studies reporting efficacy and/or safety data on switching between originator and biosimilar products or from one biosimilar to another were selected. Studies with fewer than 20 switched patients were excluded. Data were extracted on interventions, study population, reason for treatment switching, efficacy outcomes, safety and anti-drug antibodies. The systematic literature search identified 63 primary publications covering 57 switching studies. The reason for switching was reported as non-medical in 50 studies (23 clinical, 27 observational). Seven studies (all observational) did not report whether the reasons for switching were medical or non-medical. In 38 of the 57 studies, fewer than 100 patients were switched. Follow-up after switching went beyond 1 year in eight of the 57 studies. Of the 57 studies, 33 included statistical analysis of disease activity or patient outcomes; the majority of these studies found no statistically significant differences between groups for main efficacy parameters (based on P < 0.05 or predefined acceptance ranges), although some studies observed changes for some parameters. Most studies reported similar safety profiles between groups. There are important evidence gaps around the safety of switching between biologics and their biosimilars. Sufficiently powered and appropriately statistically analysed clinical trials and pharmacovigilance studies, with long-term follow-ups and multiple switches, are needed to support decision-making around biosimilar switching.

Statistical fluctuations in pedestrian evacuation times and the effect of social contagion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicolas, Alexandre; Bouzat, Sebastián; Kuperman, Marcelo N.

2016-08-01

Mathematical models of pedestrian evacuation and the associated simulation software have become essential tools for the assessment of the safety of public facilities and buildings. While a variety of models is now available, their calibration and test against empirical data are generally restricted to global averaged quantities; the statistics compiled from the time series of individual escapes ("microscopic" statistics) measured in recent experiments are thus overlooked. In the same spirit, much research has primarily focused on the average global evacuation time, whereas the whole distribution of evacuation times over some set of realizations should matter. In the present paper we propose and discuss the validity of a simple relation between this distribution and the microscopic statistics, which is theoretically valid in the absence of correlations. To this purpose, we develop a minimal cellular automaton, with features that afford a semiquantitative reproduction of the experimental microscopic statistics. We then introduce a process of social contagion of impatient behavior in the model and show that the simple relation under test may dramatically fail at high contagion strengths, the latter being responsible for the emergence of strong correlations in the system. We conclude with comments on the potential practical relevance for safety science of calculations based on microscopic statistics.

Patterns of use and impact of standardised MedDRA query analyses on the safety evaluation and review of new drug and biologics license applications.

PubMed

Chang, Lin-Chau; Mahmood, Riaz; Qureshi, Samina; Breder, Christopher D

2017-01-01

Standardised MedDRA Queries (SMQs) have been developed since the early 2000's and used by academia, industry, public health, and government sectors for detecting safety signals in adverse event safety databases. The purpose of the present study is to characterize how SMQs are used and the impact in safety analyses for New Drug Application (NDA) and Biologics License Application (BLA) submissions to the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). We used the PharmaPendium database to capture SMQ use in Summary Basis of Approvals (SBoAs) of drugs and biologics approved by the USFDA. Characteristics of the drugs and the SMQ use were employed to evaluate the role of SMQ safety analyses in regulatory decisions and the veracity of signals they revealed. A comprehensive search of the SBoAs yielded 184 regulatory submissions approved from 2006 to 2015. Search strategies more frequently utilized restrictive searches with "narrow terms" to enhance specificity over strategies using "broad terms" to increase sensitivity, while some involved modification of search terms. A majority (59%) of 1290 searches used descriptive statistics, however inferential statistics were utilized in 35% of them. Commentary from reviewers and supervisory staff suggested that a small, yet notable percentage (18%) of 1290 searches supported regulatory decisions. The searches with regulatory impact were found in 73 submissions (40% of the submissions investigated). Most searches (75% of 227 searches) with regulatory implications described how the searches were confirmed, indicating prudence in the decision-making process. SMQs have an increasing role in the presentation and review of safety analysis for NDAs/BLAs and their regulatory reviews. This study suggests that SMQs are best used for screening process, with descriptive statistics, description of SMQ modifications, and systematic verification of cases which is crucial for drawing regulatory conclusions.

Patterns of use and impact of standardised MedDRA query analyses on the safety evaluation and review of new drug and biologics license applications

PubMed Central

Chang, Lin-Chau; Mahmood, Riaz; Qureshi, Samina

2017-01-01

Purpose Standardised MedDRA Queries (SMQs) have been developed since the early 2000’s and used by academia, industry, public health, and government sectors for detecting safety signals in adverse event safety databases. The purpose of the present study is to characterize how SMQs are used and the impact in safety analyses for New Drug Application (NDA) and Biologics License Application (BLA) submissions to the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). Methods We used the PharmaPendium database to capture SMQ use in Summary Basis of Approvals (SBoAs) of drugs and biologics approved by the USFDA. Characteristics of the drugs and the SMQ use were employed to evaluate the role of SMQ safety analyses in regulatory decisions and the veracity of signals they revealed. Results A comprehensive search of the SBoAs yielded 184 regulatory submissions approved from 2006 to 2015. Search strategies more frequently utilized restrictive searches with “narrow terms” to enhance specificity over strategies using “broad terms” to increase sensitivity, while some involved modification of search terms. A majority (59%) of 1290 searches used descriptive statistics, however inferential statistics were utilized in 35% of them. Commentary from reviewers and supervisory staff suggested that a small, yet notable percentage (18%) of 1290 searches supported regulatory decisions. The searches with regulatory impact were found in 73 submissions (40% of the submissions investigated). Most searches (75% of 227 searches) with regulatory implications described how the searches were confirmed, indicating prudence in the decision-making process. Conclusions SMQs have an increasing role in the presentation and review of safety analysis for NDAs/BLAs and their regulatory reviews. This study suggests that SMQs are best used for screening process, with descriptive statistics, description of SMQ modifications, and systematic verification of cases which is crucial for drawing regulatory conclusions. PMID:28570569

The Surgical Safety Checklist and Teamwork Coaching Tools: a study of inter-rater reliability.

PubMed

Huang, Lyen C; Conley, Dante; Lipsitz, Stu; Wright, Christopher C; Diller, Thomas W; Edmondson, Lizabeth; Berry, William R; Singer, Sara J

2014-08-01

To assess the inter-rater reliability (IRR) of two novel observation tools for measuring surgical safety checklist performance and teamwork. Data surgical safety checklists can promote adherence to standards of care and improve teamwork in the operating room. Their use has been associated with reductions in mortality and other postoperative complications. However, checklist effectiveness depends on how well they are performed. Authors from the Safe Surgery 2015 initiative developed a pair of novel observation tools through literature review, expert consultation and end-user testing. In one South Carolina hospital participating in the initiative, two observers jointly attended 50 surgical cases and independently rated surgical teams using both tools. We used descriptive statistics to measure checklist performance and teamwork at the hospital. We assessed IRR by measuring percent agreement, Cohen's κ, and weighted κ scores. The overall percent agreement and κ between the two observers was 93% and 0.74 (95% CI 0.66 to 0.79), respectively, for the Checklist Coaching Tool and 86% and 0.84 (95% CI 0.77 to 0.90) for the Surgical Teamwork Tool. Percent agreement for individual sections of both tools was 79% or higher. Additionally, κ scores for six of eight sections on the Checklist Coaching Tool and for two of five domains on the Surgical Teamwork Tool achieved the desired 0.7 threshold. However, teamwork scores were high and variation was limited. There were no significant changes in the percent agreement or κ scores between the first 10 and last 10 cases observed. Both tools demonstrated substantial IRR and required limited training to use. These instruments may be used to observe checklist performance and teamwork in the operating room. However, further refinement and calibration of observer expectations, particularly in rating teamwork, could improve the utility of the tools. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Prospective safety performance evaluation on construction sites.

PubMed

Wu, Xianguo; Liu, Qian; Zhang, Limao; Skibniewski, Miroslaw J; Wang, Yanhong

2015-05-01

This paper presents a systematic Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based approach for Prospective Safety Performance Evaluation (PSPE) on construction sites, with causal relationships and interactions between enablers and the goals of PSPE taken into account. According to a sample of 450 valid questionnaire surveys from 30 Chinese construction enterprises, a SEM model with 26 items included for PSPE in the context of Chinese construction industry is established and then verified through the goodness-of-fit test. Three typical types of construction enterprises, namely the state-owned enterprise, private enterprise and Sino-foreign joint venture, are selected as samples to measure the level of safety performance given the enterprise scale, ownership and business strategy are different. Results provide a full understanding of safety performance practice in the construction industry, and indicate that the level of overall safety performance situation on working sites is rated at least a level of III (Fair) or above. This phenomenon can be explained that the construction industry has gradually matured with the norms, and construction enterprises should improve the level of safety performance as not to be eliminated from the government-led construction industry. The differences existing in the safety performance practice regarding different construction enterprise categories are compared and analyzed according to evaluation results. This research provides insights into cause-effect relationships among safety performance factors and goals, which, in turn, can facilitate the improvement of high safety performance in the construction industry. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Job Demands-Control-Support model and employee safety performance.

PubMed

Turner, Nick; Stride, Chris B; Carter, Angela J; McCaughey, Deirdre; Carroll, Anthony E

2012-03-01

The aim of this study was to explore whether work characteristics (job demands, job control, social support) comprising Karasek and Theorell's (1990) Job Demands-Control-Support framework predict employee safety performance (safety compliance and safety participation; Neal and Griffin, 2006). We used cross-sectional data of self-reported work characteristics and employee safety performance from 280 healthcare staff (doctors, nurses, and administrative staff) from Emergency Departments of seven hospitals in the United Kingdom. We analyzed these data using a structural equation model that simultaneously regressed safety compliance and safety participation on the main effects of each of the aforementioned work characteristics, their two-way interactions, and the three-way interaction among them, while controlling for demographic, occupational, and organizational characteristics. Social support was positively related to safety compliance, and both job control and the two-way interaction between job control and social support were positively related to safety participation. How work design is related to employee safety performance remains an important area for research and provides insight into how organizations can improve workplace safety. The current findings emphasize the importance of the co-worker in promoting both safety compliance and safety participation. Crown Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Food safety hazards lurk in the kitchens of young adults.

PubMed

Byrd-Bredbenner, Carol; Maurer, Jaclyn; Wheatley, Virginia; Cottone, Ellen; Clancy, Michele

2007-04-01

Food mishandling in home kitchens likely causes a significant amount of foodborne disease; however, little is known about the food safety hazards lurking in home kitchens. The purposes of this study were to audit the kitchens of young adults with education beyond high school to identify food safety problems and develop recommendations for education efforts. Researchers developed a criterion-referenced home kitchen observation instrument to assess compliance of home food storage and rotation practices (e.g., temperature), sanitation and chemical storage, and general kitchen condition (e.g., infestation) with recommended practices. The instrument contained seven scales: Kitchen Cleanliness (eight items), Appliance Cleanliness (three items), Cleaning Supplies Availability (eight items), Temperatures (Food Thermometer Access & Refrigerator/Freezer Temperatures) (five items), Cold Food Storage (seven items), Dry Food Storage (eight items), and Poisons Storage (two items). Descriptive statistics were conducted to describe the study population, as a whole, and by gender. A total of 154 young adults (mean age, 20.7+/- 1.3 SD) enrolled in a northeastern university participated. Participants scored 70% or higher on Poisons Storage, Dry Food Storage, Kitchen Cleanliness, and Cleaning Supplies Availability scales but less than 60% on the Appliance Cleanliness and Cold Food Storage scales. Performance was lowest on the Temperatures scale. Females scored significantly higher than males on the Kitchen Cleanliness and Cleaning Supply Availability scales. Average refrigerator and freezer temperatures were higher than recommendations. Food safety education targeted at this young adult population needs to evolve into focused messages pertaining to the key food safety violations in this population.

Comparison of safety, efficacy and tolerability of dexibuprofen and ibuprofen in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the hip or knee.

PubMed

Zamani, Omid; Böttcher, Elke; Rieger, Jörg D; Mitterhuber, Johann; Hawel, Reinhold; Stallinger, Sylvia; Eller, Norbert

2014-06-01

In this observer-blinded, multicenter, non-inferiority study, 489 patients suffering from painful osteoarthritis of the hip or knee were included to investigate safety and tolerability of Dexibuprofen vs. Ibuprofen powder for oral suspension. Only patients who had everyday joint pain for the past 3 months and "moderate" to "severe" global pain intensity in the involved hip/knee of within the last 48 h were enrolled. The treatment period was up to 14 days with a control visit after 3 days. The test product was Dexibuprofen 400 mg powder for oral suspension (daily dose 800 mg) compared to Ibuprofen 400 mg powder for oral suspension (daily dose 1,600 mg). Gastrointestinal adverse drug reactions were reported in 8 patients (3.3 %) in the Dexibuprofen group and in 19 patients (7.8 %) in the Ibuprofen group. Statistically significant non-inferiority was shown for Dexibuprofen. Comparing both groups by a Chi square test showed a statistical significant lower proportion of related gastrointestinal events in the Dexibuprofen group. All analyses of secondary tolerability parameters showed the same result of a significantly better safety profile in this therapy setting for Dexibuprofen compared to Ibuprofen. The sum of pain intensity, pain relief and global assessments showed no significant difference between treatment groups. In summary, analyses revealed at least non-inferiority in terms of efficacy and a statistically significant better safety profile for the Dexibuprofen treatment.

Making work safer: testing a model of social exchange and safety management.

PubMed

DeJoy, David M; Della, Lindsay J; Vandenberg, Robert J; Wilson, Mark G

2010-04-01

This study tests a conceptual model that focuses on social exchange in the context of safety management. The model hypothesizes that supportive safety policies and programs should impact both safety climate and organizational commitment. Further, perceived organizational support is predicted to partially mediate both of these relationships. Study outcomes included traditional outcomes for both organizational commitment (e.g., withdrawal behaviors) as well as safety climate (e.g., self-reported work accidents). Questionnaire responses were obtained from 1,723 employees of a large national retailer. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques, all of the model's hypothesized relationships were statistically significant and in the expected directions. The results are discussed in terms of social exchange in organizations and research on safety climate. Maximizing safety is a social-technical enterprise. Expectations related to social exchange and reciprocity figure prominently in creating a positive climate for safety within the organization. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Urban and suburban arterial safety performance functions : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-06-30

This report documents findings from a comprehensive set of safety performance functions developed for the entire urban-suburban : arterial road segment system on the state highway system in Washington. Conventional urban suburban safety performance :...

Using Space Syntax to Assess Safety in Public Areas - Case Study of Tarbiat Pedestrian Area, Tabriz-Iran

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cihangir Çamur, Kübra; Roshani, Mehdi; Pirouzi, Sania

2017-10-01

In studying the urban complex issues, simulation and modelling of public space use considerably helps in determining and measuring factors such as urban safety. Depth map software for determining parameters of the spatial layout techniques; and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software for analysing and evaluating the views of the pedestrians on public safety were used in this study. Connectivity, integration, and depth of the area in the Tarbiat city blocks were measured using the Space Syntax Method, and these parameters are presented as graphical and mathematical data. The combination of the results obtained from the questionnaire and statistical analysis with the results of spatial arrangement technique represents the appropriate and inappropriate spaces for pedestrians. This method provides a useful and effective instrument for decision makers, planners, urban designers and programmers in order to evaluate public spaces in the city. Prior to physical modification of urban public spaces, space syntax simulates the pedestrian safety to be used as an analytical tool by the city management. Finally, regarding the modelled parameters and identification of different characteristics of the case, this study represents the strategies and policies in order to increase the safety of the pedestrians of Tarbiat in Tabriz.

Reduction of adult fingers visualized on pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) chest radiographs after radiation technologist and PICU staff radiation safety education.

PubMed

Tynan, Jennifer R; Duncan, Meghan D; Burbridge, Brent E

2009-10-01

A recent publication from our centre revealed a disturbing finding of a significant incidence of adult fingers seen on the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) chest radiographs. This is inappropriate occupational exposure to diagnostic radiation. We hypothesized that the incidence of adult fingers on PICU chest radiographs would decline after radiation safety educational seminars were given to the medical radiation technologists and PICU staff. The present study's objectives were addressed by using a pretest-posttest design. Two cross-sectional PICU chest radiograph samples, taken before and after the administration of radiation safety education for our medical radiation technologists and PICU staff, were compared by using a chi2 test. There was a 61.2% and 76.9% reduction in extraneous adult fingers, directly exposed to the x-ray beam and those seen in the coned regions of the film, respectively, on PICU chest radiographs (66.7% reduction overall). This reduction was statistically significant (chi2 = 20.613, P < .001). Limiting unnecessary occupational radiation exposure is a critical issue in radiology. There was a statistically and clinically significant association between radiation safety education and the decreased number of adult fingers seen on PICU chest radiographs. This study provides preliminary evidence in favour of the benefit of radiation safety seminars.

Safety of SSRIs during pregnancy: a controlled study.

PubMed

Altamura, A C; De Gaspari, I F; Rovera, C; Colombo, E M; Mauri, M C; Fedele, L

2013-01-01

The objective of our study was to analyze the efficacy and the safety of SSRIs during pregnancy. A group of 30 pregnant women affected by Major Depressive Disorder by SCID I interview (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition Text Revision criteria) and treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) were included in the study. They were matched to a comparison group of 26 pregnant women. There were no statistically significant differences in any of the pregnancy outcomes of interest between the treated women and comparison group. There was no statistically significant association in newborns of women treated with an SSRI and the control group in the first and fifth minute Apgar score, and no newborns were admitted to neonatal Intensive Care Units. No definitive association between use of SSRIs during pregnancy and an increased risk of birth defects or other adverse outcomes could be found. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Differences in Hospital Managers’, Unit Managers’, and Health Care Workers’ Perceptions of the Safety Climate for Respiratory Protection

PubMed Central

Peterson, Kristina; Rogers, Bonnie M. E.; Brosseau, Lisa M.; Payne, Julianne; Cooney, Jennifer; Joe, Lauren; Novak, Debra

2017-01-01

This article compares hospital managers’ (HM), unit managers’ (UM), and health care workers’ (HCW) perceptions of respiratory protection safety climate in acute care hospitals. The article is based on survey responses from 215 HMs, 245 UMs, and 1,105 HCWs employed by 98 acute care hospitals in six states. Ten survey questions assessed five of the key dimensions of safety climate commonly identified in the literature: managerial commitment to safety, management feedback on safety procedures, coworkers’ safety norms, worker involvement, and worker safety training. Clinically and statistically significant differences were found across the three respondent types. HCWs had less positive perceptions of management commitment, worker involvement, and safety training aspects of safety climate than HMs and UMs. UMs had more positive perceptions of management’s supervision of HCWs’ respiratory protection practices. Implications for practice improvements indicate the need for frontline HCWs’ inclusion in efforts to reduce safety climate barriers and better support effective respiratory protection programs and daily health protection practices. PMID:27056750

Differences in Hospital Managers', Unit Managers', and Health Care Workers' Perceptions of the Safety Climate for Respiratory Protection.

PubMed

Peterson, Kristina; Rogers, Bonnie M E; Brosseau, Lisa M; Payne, Julianne; Cooney, Jennifer; Joe, Lauren; Novak, Debra

2016-07-01

This article compares hospital managers' (HM), unit managers' (UM), and health care workers' (HCW) perceptions of respiratory protection safety climate in acute care hospitals. The article is based on survey responses from 215 HMs, 245 UMs, and 1,105 HCWs employed by 98 acute care hospitals in six states. Ten survey questions assessed five of the key dimensions of safety climate commonly identified in the literature: managerial commitment to safety, management feedback on safety procedures, coworkers' safety norms, worker involvement, and worker safety training. Clinically and statistically significant differences were found across the three respondent types. HCWs had less positive perceptions of management commitment, worker involvement, and safety training aspects of safety climate than HMs and UMs. UMs had more positive perceptions of management's supervision of HCWs' respiratory protection practices. Implications for practice improvements indicate the need for frontline HCWs' inclusion in efforts to reduce safety climate barriers and better support effective respiratory protection programs and daily health protection practices. © 2016 The Author(s).

Transportation safety data and analysis : Volume 2, Calibration of the highway safety manual and development of new safety performance functions.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-03-01

This report documents the calibration of the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) safety performance function (SPF) : for rural two-lane two-way roadway segments in Utah and the development of new models using negative : binomial and hierarchical Bayesian mod...

25 CFR 170.142 - How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety... WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Highway Safety Functions § 170.142 How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects? There are two...

25 CFR 170.142 - How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety... WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Highway Safety Functions § 170.142 How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects? There are two...

25 CFR 170.142 - How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2012-04-01 2011-04-01 true How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety... WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Highway Safety Functions § 170.142 How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects? There are two...

25 CFR 170.142 - How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety... WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Highway Safety Functions § 170.142 How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects? There are two...

25 CFR 170.142 - How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety... WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Highway Safety Functions § 170.142 How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects? There are two...

Efficacy and Safety of a Chewable Methylphenidate Extended-Release Tablet in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

PubMed Central

Childress, Ann; Berry, Sally A.; Belden, Heidi; Walters, Faith; Chappell, Phillip; Sherman, Nancy; Orazem, John; Palumbo, Donna

2017-01-01

Abstract Objective: This phase 3, laboratory classroom study assessed the efficacy and safety of methylphenidate hydrochloride extended-release chewable tablets (MPH ERCT) compared with placebo in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods: Following a 6-week, open-label, dose-optimization period, children 6–12 years of age (n = 90) with ADHD were randomly assigned to double-blind MPH ERCT at the final optimized dose (20–60 mg/day) or placebo. After 1 week of double-blind treatment, efficacy was assessed predose and 0.75, 2, 4, 8, 10, 12, and 13 hours postdose in a laboratory classroom setting. The primary efficacy measure was the average of postdose Swanson, Kotkin, Agler, M-Flynn, and Pelham (SKAMP) Rating Scale-Combined scores, analyzed using a mixed-model, repeated-measures analysis. Secondary efficacy measures included Permanent Product Measure of Performance (PERMP) total number of problems attempted and total number of problems correct. Safety assessments included adverse event (AE) monitoring and the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Results: MPH ERCT treatment statistically significantly reduced the average of all postdose SKAMP-Combined scores versus placebo (least-squares mean difference [95% confidence interval], −7.0 [−10.9, −3.1]; p < 0.001). Statistically significant treatment differences in SKAMP-Combined scores were observed at 2 hours postdose through 8 hours postdose (p-values <0.001). Statistically significant differences between MPH ERCT and placebo in PERMP total number of problems attempted and total number of problems correct were observed at 0.75 hours postdose through 8 hours postdose (p-values ≤0.049). Common AEs in the open-label period (≥5%) were decreased appetite, upper abdominal pain, mood swings, irritability, insomnia, upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), dysgeusia, and headache; URTI was the only AE reported by >1 subject receiving MPH ERCT in the double-blind period (placebo: URTI, contusion, wound, and initial insomnia). No suicidal ideation or behavior was reported on the C-SSRS at baseline or at any postbaseline assessment. Conclusions: MPH ERCT 20–60 mg significantly improved ADHD symptoms compared with placebo at 2 hours postdose through at least 8 hours postdose. MPH ERCT was generally safe and well tolerated, with a safety profile consistent with other MPH ER formulations. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01654250. www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01654250. PMID:28557548

Key performance outcomes of patient safety curricula: root cause analysis, failure mode and effects analysis, and structured communications skills.

PubMed

Fassett, William E

2011-10-10

As colleges and schools of pharmacy develop core courses related to patient safety, course-level outcomes will need to include both knowledge and performance measures. Three key performance outcomes for patient safety coursework, measured at the course level, are the ability to perform root cause analyses and healthcare failure mode effects analyses, and the ability to generate effective safety communications using structured formats such as the Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation (SBAR) situational briefing model. Each of these skills is widely used in patient safety work and competence in their use is essential for a pharmacist's ability to contribute as a member of a patient safety team.

Work support, psychological well-being and safety performance among nurses in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Wong, Kenchi C K

2018-02-06

This study investigated the mediating role of psychological well-being between work support and safety performance of 314 Hong Kong nurses, using self-reported questionnaires. Results showed that psychological well-being mediated the effects of work support on safety performance. The findings illustrate that work support was an important element to improve psychological well-being. This could generate better safety performance of the nurses. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Home Safety, Safe Behaviors of Elderly People, and Fall Accidents At Home

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erkal, Sibel

2010-01-01

The present study analyzed home safety and safe behaviors against fall accidents of elderly people living at home. The study group comprised 121 people aged 65+ living in the catchment area of Ankara Mamak Halil Ulgen Health Center. Data were collected via a personal information form and Home-Screen Scale. Statistical analysis used an independent…

Fieldcrest Cannon, Inc. Advanced Technical Preparation. Statistical Process Control (SPC). Safety Section: Modules 1-3. Instructor Book.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Averitt, Sallie D.

These three modules, which were developed for use by instructors in a manufacturing firm's advanced technical preparation program, contain the materials required to present the safety section of the plant's adult-oriented, job-specific competency-based training program. The 3 modules contain 12 lessons on the following topics: lockout/tagout…

The Effect of Automobile Safety on Vehicle Type Choice: An Empirical Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCarthy, Patrick S.

An analysis was made of the extent to which the safety characteristics of new vehicles affect consumer purchase decisions. Using an extensive data set that combines vehicle data collected by the Automobile Club of Southern California Target Car Program with the responses from a national household survey of new car buyers, a statistical model of…

Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 1999.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaufman, Phillip; Chen, Xianglei; Choy, Susan P.; Ruddy, Sally A.; Miller, Amanda K.; Chandler, Kathryn A.; Chapman, Christopher D.; Rand, Michael R.; Klaus, Patsy

This report provides detailed statistical information on crime in schools. It is a companion document to the "Annual Report on School Safety: 1999," which offers an overview of the nature and scope of school crime. This report is organized as a series of indicators, with each indicator presenting data on a different aspect of school crime and…

Efficacy and Safety of Doxepin 1 mg, 3 mg, and 6 mg in Adults with Primary Insomnia

PubMed Central

Roth, Thomas; Rogowski, Roberta; Hull, Steven; Schwartz, Howard; Koshorek, Gail; Corser, Bruce; Seiden, David; Lankford, Alan

2007-01-01

Study Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of doxepin 1, 3, and 6 mg in insomnia patients. Design: Adults (18-64 y) with chronic primary insomnia (DSM-IV) were randomly assigned to one of four sequences of 1 mg, 3 mg, and 6 mg of doxepin, and placebo in a crossover study. Treatment periods consisted of 2 polysomnographic assessment nights with a 5-day or 12-day drug-free interval between periods. Efficacy was assessed using polysomnography (PSG) and patient-reported measures. Safety analyses included measures of residual sedation and adverse events. Measurements and Results: Sixty-seven patients were randomized. Wake time during sleep, the a priori defined primary endpoint, was statistically significantly improved at the doxepin 3 mg and 6 mg doses versus placebo. All three doses had statistically significant improvements versus placebo for PSG-defined wake after sleep onset, total sleep time, and overall sleep efficiency (SE). SE in the final third-of-the-night also demonstrated statistically significant improvement at all doses. The doxepin 6 mg dose significantly reduced subjective latency to sleep onset. All three doxepin doses had a safety profile comparable to placebo. There were no statistically significant differences in next-day residual sedation, and sleep architecture was generally clinically preserved. Conclusions: In adults with primary insomnia, doxepin 1 mg, 3 mg, and 6 mg was well-tolerated and produced improvement in objective and subjective sleep maintenance and duration endpoints that persisted into the final hour of the night. The side-effect profile was comparable to placebo, with no reported anticholinergic effects, no memory impairment, and no significant hangover/next-day residual effects. These data demonstrate that doxepin 1 mg, 3 mg, and 6 mg is efficacious in improving the sleep of patients with chronic primary insomnia. Citation: Roth T; Rogowski R; Hull S; Schwartz H; Koshorek G; Corser B; Seiden D. Efficacy and safety of doxepin 1 mg, 3 mg, and 6 mg in adults with primary insomnia. SLEEP 2007;30(11):1555-1561. PMID:18041488

International Cooperation in the Field of International Space Station (ISS) Payload Safety

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grayson, C.; Sgobba, T.; Larsen, A.; Rose, S.; Heimann, T.; Ciancone, M.; Mulhern, V.

2005-12-01

In the frame of the International Space Station (ISS) Program cooperation, in 1998 the European Space Agency (ESA) approached the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with the unique concept of a Payload Safety Review Panel (PSRP) "franchise" based at the European Space Technology Center (ESTEC), where the panel would be capable of autonomously reviewing flight hardware for safety. This paper will recount the course of an ambitious idea as it progressed into a fully functional reality. It will show how a panel initially conceived at NASA to serve a national programme has evolved into an international safety cooperation asset. The PSRP established at NASA began reviewing ISS payloads approximately in late 1994 or early 1995 as an expansion of the pre- existing Shuttle Program PSRP. This paper briefly describes the fundamental Shuttle safety process and the establishment of the safety requirements for payloads intending to use the Space Transportation System and ISS. The paper will also offer some historical statistics about the experiments that completed the payload safety process for Shuttle and ISS. The paper then presents the background of ISS agreements and international treaties that had to be considered when establishing the ESA PSRP. The paper will expound upon the detailed franchising model, followed by an outline of the cooperation charter approved by the NASA Associate Administrator, Office of Space Flight, and ESA Director of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity. The paper will then address the resulting ESA PSRP implementation and its success statistics to date. Additionally, the paper presents ongoing developments with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The discussion will conclude with ideas for future developments, such to achieve a fully integrated international system of payload safety panels for ISS.

Occupational accidents in Russia and the Russian Arctic

PubMed Central

Dudarev, Alexey A.; Karnachev, Igor P.; Odland, Jon Øyvind

2013-01-01

Background According to official statistics, the rate of occupational accidents (OAs) and fatal injuries in Russia decreased about 5-fold and 2-fold, respectively, from 1975 to 2010, but working conditions during this period had the opposite trend; for example, the number of people who work in unfavourable and hazardous conditions (particularly since 1991) has increased significantly. Methods This review summarises the results of a search of the relevant peer-reviewed literature published in Russia and official statistics on OAs and occupational safety in Russia and the Russian Arctic in 1980–2010. Results The occupational safety system in Russia has severely deteriorated in the last 2 decades, with legislators tending to promote the interests of industry and business, resulting in the neglect of occupational safety and violation of workers’ rights. The majority of workers are employed in conditions that do not meet rules of safety and hygiene. More than 60% of OAs can be attributed to management practices – violation of safety regulations, poor organisation of work, deficiency of certified occupational safety specialists and inadequate personnel training. Research aimed at improving occupational safety and health is underfunded. There is evidence of widespread under-reporting of OAs, including fatal accidents. Three federal agencies are responsible for OAs recording; their data differ from each other as they use different methodologies. The rate of fatal OAs in Russia was 3–6 times higher than in Scandinavian countries and about 2 times higher compared to United States and Canada in 2001. In some Russian Arctic regions OAs levels are much higher. Conclusions Urgent improvement of occupational health and safety across Russia, especially in the Arctic regions, is needed. PMID:23519652

International Cooperation in the Field of International Space Station (ISS) Payload Safety

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heimann, Timothy; Larsen, Axel M.; Rose, Summer; Sgobba, Tommaso

2005-01-01

In the frame of the International Space Station (ISS) Program cooperation, in 1998, the European Space Agency (ESA) approached the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with the unique concept of a Payload Safety Review Panel (PSRP) "franchise" based at the European Space Technology Center (ESTEC), where the panel would be capable of autonomously reviewing flight hardware for safety. This paper will recount the course of an ambitious idea as it progressed into a fully functional reality. It will show how a panel initially conceived at NASA to serve a national programme has evolved into an international safety cooperation asset. The PSRP established at NASA began reviewing ISS payloads approximately in late 1994 or early 1995 as an expansion of the pre-existing Shuttle Program PSRP. This paper briefly describes the fundamental Shuttle safety process and the establishment of the safety requirements for payloads intending to use the Space Transportation System and International Space Station (ISS). The paper will also offer some historical statistics about the experiments that completed the payload safety process for Shuttle and ISS. The paper 1 then presents the background of ISS agreements and international treaties that had to be taken into account when establishing the ESA PSRP. The detailed franchising model will be expounded upon, followed by an outline of the cooperation charter approved by the NASA Associate Administrator, Office of Space Flight, and ESA Director of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity. The resulting ESA PSRP implementation and its success statistics to date will then be addressed. Additionally the paper presents the ongoing developments with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The discussion will conclude with ideas for future developments, such to achieve a fully integrated international system of payload safety panels for ISS.

Safe summers: Adapting evidence-based injury prevention into a summer curriculum.

PubMed

Schaeffer, Melody; Cioni, Claire; Kozma, Nicole; Rains, Catherine; Todd, Greta

2017-11-01

Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death for those aged 0 years to 19 years. St. Louis Children's Hospital created Safety Land, a comprehensive injury prevention intervention which is provided during summer months. This program uses a life-size board game to teach safety education to children in ages 5 years to 11 years. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Safety Land on safety knowledge in children that participated in the intervention. St. Louis Children's Hospital identified ZIP codes with the highest use of the emergency room for injury. Daycares and summer camps within these ZIP codes were targeted for the Safety Land intervention. A multiple choice pretest and posttest survey was designed to measure knowledge change within program participants. Students were selected for testing based on site availably. Within these sites, a convenience sample of children was selected for pretesting and posttesting. Safety Land staff conducted the pretest a week before the intervention, and the posttest was administered the week after the intervention. A total knowledge score was calculated to determine overall knowledge change. Descriptive statistics and independent-samples t tests were conducted to determine statistical significance of change in knowledge (p < 0.05) for each question. Between May 2014 and August 2016, 3,866 children participated in Safety Land. A total of 310 children completed the pretest and 274 completed the posttest. Mean test scores increased from 66.7% to 85.1% and independent-samples t test of the total knowledge score was significant (p < 0.05) between pretest and posttest values. Findings suggest that this intervention is effective in increasing the knowledge of safety behaviors for children receiving the curriculum during the summer months. Further research should focus on long-term behavior changes in these youth.

Comparisons of Wilks’ and Monte Carlo Methods in Response to the 10CFR50.46(c) Proposed Rulemaking

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

Zhang, Hongbin; Szilard, Ronaldo; Zou, Ling

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing a new rulemaking on emergency core system/loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) performance analysis. In the proposed rulemaking, designated as 10CFR50.46(c), the US NRC put forward an equivalent cladding oxidation criterion as a function of cladding pre-transient hydrogen content. The proposed rulemaking imposes more restrictive and burnup-dependent cladding embrittlement criteria; consequently nearly all the fuel rods in a reactor core need to be analyzed under LOCA conditions to demonstrate compliance to the safety limits. New analysis methods are required to provide a thorough characterization of the reactor core in order to identify the locations of themore » limiting rods as well as to quantify the safety margins under LOCA conditions. With the new analysis method presented in this work, the limiting transient case and the limiting rods can be easily identified to quantify the safety margins in response to the proposed new rulemaking. In this work, the best-estimate plus uncertainty (BEPU) analysis capability for large break LOCA with the new cladding embrittlement criteria using the RELAP5-3D code is established and demonstrated with a reduced set of uncertainty parameters. Both the direct Monte Carlo method and the Wilks’ nonparametric statistical method can be used to perform uncertainty quantification. Wilks’ method has become the de-facto industry standard to perform uncertainty quantification in BEPU LOCA analyses. Despite its widespread adoption by the industry, the use of small sample sizes to infer statement of compliance to the existing 10CFR50.46 rule, has been a major cause of unrealized operational margin in today’s BEPU methods. Moreover the debate on the proper interpretation of the Wilks’ theorem in the context of safety analyses is not fully resolved yet, even more than two decades after its introduction in the frame of safety analyses in the nuclear industry. This represents both a regulatory and application risk in rolling out new methods. With the 10CFR50.46(c) proposed rulemaking, the deficiencies of the Wilks’ approach are further exacerbated. The direct Monte Carlo approach offers a robust alternative to perform uncertainty quantification within the context of BEPU analyses. In this work, the Monte Carlo method is compared with the Wilks’ method in response to the NRC 10CFR50.46(c) proposed rulemaking.« less

The perceived compatibility of safety and production expectations in hazardous occupations.

PubMed

McLain, David L; Jarrell, Kimberly A

2007-01-01

Safety hazards are unavoidable in many work environments. Employees must be both productive and safe, however, conflicting safety and production demands can negatively affect safety, production, or both. The employee's perception of the compatibility of management's safety and production expectations is a possible predictor of such consequences. This paper defines "safety-production compatibility" and describes how measures of safety-production compatibility, as well as safety pressure and production pressure, were developed. We used LISREL structural equation modeling to test the influences of safety-production compatibility, safety pressure, and production pressure on safe work behavior and interference with performing other work tasks. The 239 study participants were workers employed in diverse but hazardous occupations. Pressure to work safely was positively associated with safe work behavior. The perceived compatibility of safety and production demands positively influenced safe work behavior and reduced the interference of safety hazards performing other tasks. Safety-production compatibility was also found to mediate the relationship between trust in management and safe work behavior. The results of this field study suggest increased compatibility, and thus less conflict, between safety and production demands influences safe work behavior and the interference of safety hazards with performing other work tasks. More broadly, the worker's reaction to multiple work demands is a safety and performance influence. Safety management efforts that focus only on the hazards fail to eliminate many accidents because accidents arise from many factors including technology, safety climate, social influences, production, and safety demands. This study suggests that workers differ in their perception of the compatibility of safety and production demands. These differences will show up in safe work behavior, influencing the effectiveness of safety management efforts and the trust workers have in management's concern for safety.

Measurable improvement in patient safety culture: A departmental experience with incident learning.

PubMed

Kusano, Aaron S; Nyflot, Matthew J; Zeng, Jing; Sponseller, Patricia A; Ermoian, Ralph; Jordan, Loucille; Carlson, Joshua; Novak, Avrey; Kane, Gabrielle; Ford, Eric C

2015-01-01

Rigorous use of departmental incident learning is integral to improving patient safety and quality of care. The goal of this study was to quantify the impact of a high-volume, departmental incident learning system on patient safety culture. A prospective, voluntary, electronic incident learning system was implemented in February 2012 with the intent of tracking near-miss/no-harm incidents. All incident reports were reviewed weekly by a multiprofessional team with regular department-wide feedback. Patient safety culture was measured at baseline with validated patient safety culture survey questions. A repeat survey was conducted after 1 and 2 years of departmental incident learning. Proportional changes were compared by χ(2) or Fisher exact test, where appropriate. Between 2012 and 2014, a total of 1897 error/near-miss incidents were reported, representing an average of 1 near-miss report per patient treated. Reports were filed by a cross section of staff, with the majority of incidents reported by therapists, dosimetrists, and physicists. Survey response rates at baseline and 1 and 2 years were 78%, 80%, and 80%, respectively. Statistically significant and sustained improvements were noted in several safety metrics, including belief that the department was openly discussing ways to improve safety, the sense that reports were being used for safety improvement, and the sense that changes were being evaluated for effectiveness. None of the surveyed dimensions of patient safety culture worsened. Fewer punitive concerns were noted, with statistically significant decreases in the worry of embarrassment in front of colleagues and fear of getting colleagues in trouble. A comprehensive incident learning system can identify many areas for improvement and is associated with significant and sustained improvements in patient safety culture. These data provide valuable guidance as incident learning systems become more widely used in radiation oncology. Copyright © 2015 American Society for Radiation Oncology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The potential application of behavior-based safety in the trucking industry

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-04-01

Behavior-based safety (BBS) is a set of methods to improve safety performance in the workplace by engaging workers in the improvement process, identifying critical safety behaviors, performing observations to gather data, providing feedback to encour...

Perceived driving safety and estimated blood alcohol concentration (BAC) the morning after drinking amongst young Australians attending a music festival: a cross-sectional survey.

PubMed

Fernando, Mario; Buckland, Johanna; Melwani, Prashina; Tent, Vanessa; Preston, Philip; Pit, Sabrina Winona

2018-06-20

Alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes remain a significant and costly public health issue globally. Particularly young people are over-represented in these incidents. This study set out to explore the factors that influence individuals' perceptions of their safety to drive, and the factors related to a change in intention to drive. Four hundred nine young people aged 18-40 attending an Australian multi-day music festival completed a survey measuring demographics, alcohol use, amount of sleep obtained the previous night, intention to drive, number of passengers, perceived safety to drive, estimated BAC (measured in g/210 L) and change in intention to drive following a BAC measurement via breathalysers. Statistical analyses involved univariate tests of association and multivariate logistic regression. Only one in five participants felt they were completely safe to drive. Males self-rated as less safe to drive than females. Multivariate analyses showed that licence class, sleep hours, units of alcohol consumed in the past 24 h and estimated BAC had statistically significant associations with driving safety perception. Participants who slept for greater than seven hours the previous night were three times more likely to feel safe to drive than those who had less than five hours of sleep (OR 3.05 (95% CI 1.25, 7.45)). Forty-one percent of participants changed their intended time of driving after having their BAC measured with a breathalyser. There was a statistically significant association between changing the intention to drive to a later time with an increase in each extra passenger in a participant's vehicle (OR 1.53 (95% CI 1.02, 2.30)). Whilst concerning behaviours relating to high-risk alcohol consumption were found, the study uncovered promising findings about young peoples' perceptions of their safety to drive, and their propensity to change their driving intention. The strong correlation between hours of sleep, estimated BAC, units of alcohol consumed and license class with perception of driving safety suggests an increased awareness among young people and promotion of these factors may potentially improve actual driver safety. The influence of number of passengers on intention to drive later is another important consideration for future road safety research or promotion.

Does stent strut design impact clinical outcomes: comparative safety and efficacy of Endeavor Resolute versus Resolute Integrity zotarolimus-eluting stents.

PubMed

Di Santo, Pietro; Simard, Trevor; Ramirez, F Daniel; Pourdjabbar, Ali; Harnett, David T; Singh, Kuljit; Moreland, Robert; Chong, Aun-Yeong; Dick, Alexander; Labinaz, Marino; Froeschl, Michael; Froeschl, Michael; Le May, Michael R; So, Derek Y; Hibbert, Benjamin

2015-10-07

Percutaneous coronary intervention is the most commonly performed method of revascularizing obstructive coronary artery disease. The impact of stent strut design on clinical outcomes remains unclear. The Endeavour Resolute (ER-ZES) and the Resolute Integrity (RI-ZES) zotarolimus-eluting stents utilize identical polymers and anti-proliferative agents, differing only in their respective strut design. This study assessed the comparative safety and efficacy of these two stents in unrestricted contemporary real-world practice. A total of 542 patients were identified, corresponding to 340 ER-ZES and 480 RI-ZES. The primary endpoint was major adverse cardiac events (MACE) defined by a composite of death, nonfatal myocardial infarction and stroke. Secondary endpoints included post-procedural length of stay, in-stent restenosis, target lesion revascularization, target vessel revascularization, coronary artery bypass grafting and stent thrombosis. MACE occurred in 3.2% of the ER-ZES cohort and 5.0% of the RI-ZES cohort (p= 0.43). Adjusted analysis utilizing propensity score-adjusted odds ratio for MACE, was 1.37 (95% CI 0.46-4.07, p=0.57). The mortality rate (0.9% ER-ZES vs. 1.9% RI-ZES, p=0.59), non-fatal MI (2.3% ER-ZES vs. 3.1% RI-ZES, p=0.75) and stroke (0.0% ER-ZES vs. 0.3% RI-ZES, p=0.85) were not different. Additionally, there was no difference in any of secondary outcomes. The clinical performance and safety of both ER-ZES and RI-ZES were not statistically different, despite differences in stent strut design.

Use of the bootstrap method to develop a physical fitness test for public safety officers who serve as both police officers and firefighters

PubMed Central

Cheng, Dunlei; Lee, John; Shock, Tiffany; Kennedy, Kathleen; Pate, Scotty

2014-01-01

Physical fitness testing is a common tool for motivating employees with strenuous occupations to reach and maintain a minimum level of fitness. Nevertheless, the use of such tests can be hampered by several factors, including required compliance with US antidiscrimination laws. The Highland Park (Texas) Department of Public Safety implemented testing in 1991, but no single test adequately evaluated its sworn employees, who are cross-trained and serve as police officers and firefighters. In 2010, the department's fitness experts worked with exercise physiologists from Baylor Heart and Vascular Hospital to develop and evaluate a single test that would be equitable regardless of race/ethnicity, disability, sex, or age >50 years. The new test comprised a series of exercises to assess overall fitness, followed by two sequences of job-specific tasks related to firefighting and police work, respectively. The study group of 50 public safety officers took the test; raw data (e.g., the number of repetitions performed or the time required to complete a task) were collected during three quarterly testing sessions. The statistical bootstrap method was then used to determine the levels of performance that would correlate with 0, 1, 2, or 3 points for each task. A sensitivity analysis was done to determine the overall minimum passing score of 17 points. The new physical fitness test and scoring system have been incorporated into the department's policies and procedures as part of the town's overall employee fitness program. PMID:24982558

Social Indicators, 1973. Selected Statistics on Social Conditions and Trends in the United States.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC. Statistical Policy Div.

The book contains statistics selected and organized to describe social conditions and trends in the United States. Most of the data was compiled through Federal Government surveys. The following eight major social areas are examined: health, public safety, education, employment income, housing, leisure and recreation, and population. Within each…

Statistics in the Speed Cameras Debate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Girard, Jean Claude

2013-01-01

This article illustrates how statistical arguments can be used to influence public policy... for better or for worse. Road safety has improved in a signi?cant way since the 1970s in developed countries. If road casualties and number of killed have decreased, there are many reasons for this, including improvement in roads, building of motorways,…

The Dread Factor: How Hazards and Safety Training Influence Learning and Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke, Michael J.; Salvador, Rommel O.; Smith-Crowe, Kristin; Chan-Serafin, Suzanne; Smith, Alexis; Sonesh, Shirley

2011-01-01

On the basis of hypotheses derived from social and experiential learning theories, we meta-analytically investigated how safety training and workplace hazards impact the development of safety knowledge and safety performance. The results were consistent with an expected interaction between the level of engagement of safety training and hazardous…

Safety leadership in the teaching laboratories of electrical and electronic engineering departments at Taiwanese Universities.

PubMed

Wu, Tsung-Chih

2008-01-01

Safety has always been one of the principal goals in teaching laboratories. Laboratories cannot serve their educational purpose when accidents occur. The leadership of department heads has a major impact on laboratory safety, so this study discusses the factors affecting safety leadership in teaching laboratories. This study uses a mail survey to explore the perceived safety leadership in electrical and electronic engineering departments at Taiwanese universities. An exploratory factor analysis shows that there are three main components of safety leadership, as measured on a safety leadership scale: safety controlling, safety coaching, and safety caring. The descriptive statistics also reveals that among faculty, the perception of department heads' safety leadership is in general positive. A two-way MANOVA shows that there are interaction effects on safety leadership between university size and instructor age; there are also interaction effects between presence of a safety committee and faculty gender and faculty age. It is therefore necessary to assess organizational factors when determining whether individual factors are the cause of differing perceptions among faculty members. The author also presents advice on improving safety leadership for department heads at small universities and at universities without safety committees.

Safety and Efficacy of Cortisol Phosphate in Hyaluronic Acid Vehicle in the Treatment of Dry Eye in Sjogren Syndrome.

PubMed

Rolando, Maurizio; Vagge, Aldo

2017-06-01

Evaluation of 0.3% cortisol phosphate eye drops in hyaluronic acid vehicle in the treatment of dry eye in Sjogren Syndrome. This prospective, single-center, masked (single blind), randomized controlled study included 40 female patients divided into 2 groups, group 1 treated with Idracemi, 0.3% cortisol phosphate eye drops twice a day, and group 2 treated with Cortivis, 0.3% cortisol phosphate in hyaluronic acid vehicle, with the same posology. Screening (day -7), randomization (day 0), follow-up (day 7), and termination (day 28) visits were conducted. Symptoms (VAS) questionnaire, tear film breakup time, corneo-conjunctival stain, intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement, and fundus examination were performed at each visit. Conjunctival impression cytology for human leukocyte antigen-DR (HLA-DR) expression at visit 1 and 4 was also performed. No changes in IOP or fundus examination were observed in either group at each time point. Group 1 showed at day 28 a statistically significant amelioration of symptoms and reduction of HLA-DR expression. Group 2 showed at day 7 statistically significant improvement of corneal and conjunctival stain versus baseline and versus group 1; the symptom score was statistically significantly better than baseline and versus group 1 after 28 days too. The HLA-DR expression and the epithelial cell area were statistically significantly reduced versus baseline and versus group 1 at the same time. Cortisol phosphate proved to be safe and effective in treating dry eye in Sjogren Syndrome patients in both formulations. However, the formula with hyaluronic acid vehicle proved to be more effective. Both formulations were very well tolerated.

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

Unwin, Stephen D.; Lowry, Peter P.; Layton, Robert F.

This is a working report drafted under the Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization pathway of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program, describing statistical models of passives component reliabilities.

Accidents in Malaysian construction industry: statistical data and court cases.

PubMed

Chong, Heap Yih; Low, Thuan Siang

2014-01-01

Safety and health issues remain critical to the construction industry due to its working environment and the complexity of working practises. This research attempts to adopt 2 research approaches using statistical data and court cases to address and identify the causes and behavior underlying construction safety and health issues in Malaysia. Factual data on the period of 2000-2009 were retrieved to identify the causes and agents that contributed to health issues. Moreover, court cases were tabulated and analyzed to identify legal patterns of parties involved in construction site accidents. Approaches of this research produced consistent results and highlighted a significant reduction in the rate of accidents per construction project in Malaysia.

Integration of Occupational Safety to Contractors` or Subcontractors` Performance Evaluation in Construction Projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kozlovská, Mária; Struková, Zuzana

2013-06-01

Several factors should be considered by the owner and general contractor in the process of contractors` and subcontractors` selection and evaluation. The paper reviews the recent models addressed to guide general contractors in subcontractors' selection process and in evaluation of different contractors during the execution of the project. Moreover the paper suggests the impact of different contractors' performance to the overall level of occupational health and safety culture at the sites. It deals with the factors influencing the safety performance of contractors during construction and analyses the methods for assessing the safety performance of construction contractors. The results of contractors' safety performance evaluation could be a useful tool in motivating contractors to achieve better safety outcomes or could have effect on owners` or general contractors' decision making about contractors suitability for future contracting works.

Assessment of the efficacy and safety profiles of aspirin and acetaminophen with codeine: results from 2 randomized, controlled trials in individuals with tension-type headache and postoperative dental pain.

PubMed

Gatoulis, Sergio C; Voelker, Michael; Fisher, Matt

2012-01-01

Aspirin is a widely used NSAID that has been extensively studied in numerous conditions. Nonprescription analgesics, such as aspirin, are frequently used for a wide variety of common ailments, including conditions such as dental pain and tension-type headache. We sought to compare the efficacy and safety profiles of aspirin, acetaminophen with codeine, and placebo in the treatment of post-operative dental pain and tension-type headache. These were 2 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single-dose clinical trials that assigned participants (2:2:1) to receive either aspirin (1000 mg), acetaminophen (300 mg) with codeine (30 mg), or placebo. The primary efficacy end point was the sum of pain intensity differences from baseline (SPID) over 6 hours for the dental pain study and over 4 hours for the tension-type headache study. Other common analgesic measures, in addition to safety, were also evaluated. The results of the dental pain study for aspirin and acetaminophen with codeine suggest statistically significant efficacy for all measures compared with placebo at all time points. Aspirin provided statistically significant efficacy compared with acetaminophen with codeine for SPID(0-4) (P = 0.028). In the tension-type headache study, aspirin and acetaminophen with codeine provided statistically significant efficacy compared with placebo for SPID(0-4) and SPID(0-6) (P < 0.001) and for total pain relief (P < 0.001). There were no significant differences between aspirin and acetaminophen with codeine at any evaluation of SPID (P ≥ 0.070), complete relief (P ≥ 0.179), or time to meaningful relief (P ≥ 0.245). Regarding safety, there were no statistically significant differences between treatment groups in the incidence of adverse events in the dental pain and tension-type headache studies. These 2 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies demonstrate that treatment with aspirin (1000 mg) provides statistically significant analgesic efficacy compared with placebo use and comparable efficacy with acetaminophen (300 mg) with codeine (30 mg) therapy after impacted third molar extraction and in tension- type headache. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier HS Journals, Inc. All rights reserved.

Meeting the ambition of measuring the quality of hospitals' stroke care using routinely collected administrative data: a feasibility study.

PubMed

Palmer, William L; Bottle, Alex; Davie, Charlie; Vincent, Charles A; Aylin, Paul

2013-09-01

To examine the potential for using routinely collected administrative data to compare the quality and safety of stroke care at a hospital level, including evaluating any bias due to variations in coding practice. A retrospective cohort study of English hospitals' performance against six process and outcome indicators covering the acute care pathway. We used logistic regression to adjust the outcome measures for case mix. Hospitals in England. Stroke patients (ICD-10 I60-I64) admitted to English National Health Service public acute hospitals between April 2009 and March 2010, accounting for 91 936 admissions. The quality and safety were measured using six indicators spanning the hospital care pathway, from timely access to brain scans to emergency readmissions following discharge after stroke. There were 182 occurrences of hospitals performing statistically differently from the national average at the 99.8% significance level across the six indicators. Differences in coding practice appeared to only partially explain the variation. Hospital administrative data provide a practical and achievable method for evaluating aspects of stroke care across the acute pathway. However, without improvements in coding and further validation, it is unclear whether the cause of the variation is the quality of care or the result of different local care pathways and data coding accuracy.

Evaluating the effectiveness of risk minimisation measures: the application of a conceptual framework to Danish real-world dabigatran data.

PubMed

Nyeland, Martin Erik; Laursen, Mona Vestergaard; Callréus, Torbjörn

2017-06-01

For both marketing authorization holders and regulatory authorities, evaluating the effectiveness of risk minimization measures is now an integral part of pharmacovigilance in the European Union. The overall aim of activities in this area is to assess the performance of risk minimization measures implemented in order to ensure a positive benefit-risk balance in patients treated with a medicinal product. Following a review of the relevant literature, we developed a conceptual framework consisting of four domains (data, knowledge, behaviour and outcomes) intended for the evaluation of risk minimization measures put into practice in the Danish health-care system. For the implementation of the framework, four classes of monitoring variables can be named and defined: patient descriptors, performance-related indicators of knowledge, behaviour and outcomes. We reviewed the features of the framework when applied to historical, real-world data following the introduction of dabigatran in Denmark for the prophylactic treatment of patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. The application of the framework provided useful graphical displays and an opportunity for a statistical evaluation (interrupted time series analysis) of a regulatory intervention. © 2017 Commonwealth of Australia. Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. © 2017 Commonwealth of Australia. Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Safety evaluation of Elixir Paregorico in healthy volunteers: a phase I study.

PubMed

de Moraes, Mea; Bezerra, Mm; Bezerra, Faf; de Moraes, Ra; Cavalcanti, Pp; Uchoa, Cra; Lima, Fav; Odorico de Moraes, M

2008-10-01

A liquid alcoholic extract of Papaver somniferum named Elixir Paregorico is extensively used for diarrheal diseases in Brazil. Its increased popularity has brought concerns and fears over the safety of this herbal product. Given the lack of investigative clinical studies, in this regard, this study investigated whether Elixir Paregorico administration causes any noticeable toxic effects in healthy volunteers. In all, 28 middle-aged healthy male (n = 14) and female (n = 14) were enrolled. After screening and a washout period, eligible subjects received four oral doses per day of Elixir Paregorico (3 mL diluted in 30 mL of water) over a 10-day period. Altogether, all 28 participants completed the study. The results of hematological and biochemical tests performed pre and post-treatment were within the normal range. In both male and female volunteers, there were no statistical differences (P > 0.05) in the results of clinical and laboratory tests performed at screening, on 5th and 10th day visits, and at final assessment. Although mild adverse events were related, which subsided spontaneously, no serious untoward reactions were reported following Elixir Paregorico administration. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that Elixir Paregorico administered four times a day for 10 days is safe and does not cause any noticeable toxic effect in healthy volunteers.

Probabilistic Design Analysis (PDA) Approach to Determine the Probability of Cross-System Failures for a Space Launch Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shih, Ann T.; Lo, Yunnhon; Ward, Natalie C.

2010-01-01

Quantifying the probability of significant launch vehicle failure scenarios for a given design, while still in the design process, is critical to mission success and to the safety of the astronauts. Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) is chosen from many system safety and reliability tools to verify the loss of mission (LOM) and loss of crew (LOC) requirements set by the NASA Program Office. To support the integrated vehicle PRA, probabilistic design analysis (PDA) models are developed by using vehicle design and operation data to better quantify failure probabilities and to better understand the characteristics of a failure and its outcome. This PDA approach uses a physics-based model to describe the system behavior and response for a given failure scenario. Each driving parameter in the model is treated as a random variable with a distribution function. Monte Carlo simulation is used to perform probabilistic calculations to statistically obtain the failure probability. Sensitivity analyses are performed to show how input parameters affect the predicted failure probability, providing insight for potential design improvements to mitigate the risk. The paper discusses the application of the PDA approach in determining the probability of failure for two scenarios from the NASA Ares I project

Safe semi-supervised learning based on weighted likelihood.

PubMed

Kawakita, Masanori; Takeuchi, Jun'ichi

2014-05-01

We are interested in developing a safe semi-supervised learning that works in any situation. Semi-supervised learning postulates that n(') unlabeled data are available in addition to n labeled data. However, almost all of the previous semi-supervised methods require additional assumptions (not only unlabeled data) to make improvements on supervised learning. If such assumptions are not met, then the methods possibly perform worse than supervised learning. Sokolovska, Cappé, and Yvon (2008) proposed a semi-supervised method based on a weighted likelihood approach. They proved that this method asymptotically never performs worse than supervised learning (i.e., it is safe) without any assumption. Their method is attractive because it is easy to implement and is potentially general. Moreover, it is deeply related to a certain statistical paradox. However, the method of Sokolovska et al. (2008) assumes a very limited situation, i.e., classification, discrete covariates, n(')→∞ and a maximum likelihood estimator. In this paper, we extend their method by modifying the weight. We prove that our proposal is safe in a significantly wide range of situations as long as n≤n('). Further, we give a geometrical interpretation of the proof of safety through the relationship with the above-mentioned statistical paradox. Finally, we show that the above proposal is asymptotically safe even when n(')

Comparative performance of two quantitative safety signalling methods: implications for use in a pharmacovigilance department.

PubMed

Almenoff, June S; LaCroix, Karol K; Yuen, Nancy A; Fram, David; DuMouchel, William

2006-01-01

There is increasing interest in using disproportionality-based signal detection methods to support postmarketing safety surveillance activities. Two commonly used methods, empirical Bayes multi-item gamma Poisson shrinker (MGPS) and proportional reporting ratio (PRR), perform differently with respect to the number and types of signals detected. The goal of this study was to compare and analyse the performance characteristics of these two methods, to understand why they differ and to consider the practical implications of these differences for a large, industry-based pharmacovigilance department. We compared the numbers and types of signals of disproportionate reporting (SDRs) obtained with MGPS and PRR using two postmarketing safety databases and a simulated database. We recorded signal counts and performed a qualitative comparison of the drug-event combinations signalled by the two methods as well as a sensitivity analysis to better understand how the thresholds commonly used for these methods impact their performance. PRR detected more SDRs than MGPS. We observed that MGPS is less subject to confounding by demographic factors because it employs stratification and is more stable than PRR when report counts are low. Simulation experiments performed using published empirical thresholds demonstrated that PRR detected false-positive signals at a rate of 1.1%, while MGPS did not detect any statistical false positives. In an attempt to separate the effect of choice of signal threshold from more fundamental methodological differences, we performed a series of experiments in which we modified the conventional threshold values for each method so that each method detected the same number of SDRs for the example drugs studied. This analysis, which provided quantitative examples of the relationship between the published thresholds for the two methods, demonstrates that the signalling criterion published for PRR has a higher signalling frequency than that published for MGPS. The performance differences between the PRR and MGPS methods are related to (i) greater confounding by demographic factors with PRR; (ii) a higher tendency of PRR to detect false-positive signals when the number of reports is small; and (iii) the conventional thresholds that have been adapted for each method. PRR tends to be more 'sensitive' and less 'specific' than MGPS. A high-specificity disproportionality method, when used in conjunction with medical triage and investigation of critical medical events, may provide an efficient and robust approach to applying quantitative methods in routine postmarketing pharmacovigilance.

[Use of complementary tests in emergencies and their relation with patient safety incidents].

PubMed

Alcaraz-Martínez, J; Aranaz-Andrés, J M; Cantero-Sandoval, A; Piñera-Salmerón, P; Mas-Luzón, J; Serrano-Martínez, J A; González Garro, E

To analyse the use of complementary tests and their relationship with safety incidents in hospital emergency departments. An analysis was performed on 935 patients seen in the 9 hospital emergency departments. The source of data used for the detection of incidents were: emergency department clinical record and reports, together with face-to-face observation in the department, plus a telephone survey of the patient or family member at one week after the care. Statistical tests used: The Student t test for quantitative variables, Chi squared test for qualitative variables, and the ANOVA test. A peripheral venous catheter was used in 397 patients (42.4% (95% CI; 39.3-45.5%)), with a variability with significant differences between hospitals (P<.01), with a range of use from 37% to 81.8%. It was also observed that in 23.4% (95% CI; 19.2-27.6%) of the cases, the catheter was not used after the first blood draw. Radiological tests were requested for 351 patients, 37.7% (95% CI; 34.6-40.8%), also with significant differences between hospitals (P<.01), ranging from 24.6 to 65, 1%. Incidents were detected in 95 (10.2%) patients (95% CI; 8.3-12.1%) in the all the study centres. A higher proportion of safety incidents have been observed in patients where peripheral venous catheter has been used (12.8%) than in those in whom they had not been used (8.5%) (P=.03), as well as in patients on whom an x-ray was requested (12.8%) compared to those who did not (8.64%) (P=.04). A longer stay was also observed in cases with an incident (mean 248.9minutes) than in those where there were none (mean 164.1minutes) (P<.001). No statistically significant differences were found in the other parameters studied. A relationship was observed between the use of a peripheral venous catheter (many of them without use) and radiological tests and the occurrence of safety incidents in the Emergency Departments. Copyright © 2018 SECA. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Food hygiene and safety measures among food handlers in street food shops and food establishments of Dessie town, Ethiopia: A community-based cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Adane, Metadel; Teka, Brhanu; Gismu, Yirga; Halefom, Goitom; Ademe, Muluneh

2018-01-01

In sub-Saharan Africa foodborne disease and foodborne disease outbreaks are frequently ascribed to poor personal hygiene of street food vendors and food handlers in food establishments. Evidence on the level of food hygiene practices and food safety measures among food handlers is required for proper planning and implementation of targeted interventions. In this study, we aimed to determine the level of food hygiene and safety measures among street food vendors and food handlers in food establishments of Dessie Town, Ethiopia. A community-based cross-sectional study was performed in Dessie town, Ethiopia from December 2013 to June 2014. Data were collected using a pre-tested structured questionnaire and an observational checklist by a trained data collector among 116 food handlers from 116 food establishments and 19 food handlers from 19 street food vendors. Multivariable logistic regression analysis with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to identify the factors significantly associated with good level of food hygiene and safety practices. Almost three-quarter (72%; 84/116) of food handlers in food establishments had a good level of food hygiene and safety practices compared to nearly half (53%; 10/19) of street food vendors. However, this difference was not statistically significant. Average monthly income of >$21 US (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 3.2; 95%CI: 1.3-7.7), availability of service training (AOR = 6.7; 95%CI: 1.8-25), wearing a gown during food handling (AOR = 19; 95%CI: 6.8-51) and medical checkup (AOR = 5.2; 95%CI: 2.1-13) were significantly associated with good levels of food hygiene and safety measures. Comprehensive health education and promotion programs through continuous training on food hygiene and safety, with promotion of wearing gown during food handling, regular medical checkups of food handlers and programs that enhance the monthly income of food handlers are promising strategies for promoting proper food handling practices in Dessie town, Ethiopia.

Federal and tribal lands road safety audits : case studies

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-12-01

A road safety audit (RSA) is a formal safety performance examination by an independent, multidisciplinary team. RSAs are an effective tool for proactively improving the safety performance of a road project during the planning and design stages, and f...

Transformational leadership and employee safety performance: a within-person, between-jobs design.

PubMed

Inness, Michelle; Turner, Nick; Barling, Julian; Stride, Chris B

2010-07-01

We investigated the extent to which the safety performance (i.e., self-reported safety compliance and safety participation) of employees with 2 jobs was predicted by their respective supervisors' transformational leadership behaviors. We compared 2 within-person models: a context-specific model (i.e., transformational leadership experienced by employees in 1 context related to those same employees' safety performance only in that context) and a context-spillover model (i.e., transformational leadership experienced by employees in 1 context related to those same employees' safety performance in the same and other contexts). Our sample comprised 159 "moonlighters" (73 men, 86 women): employees who simultaneously hold 2 different jobs, each with a different supervisor, providing within-person data on the influence of different supervisors on employee safety performance across 2 job contexts. Having controlled for individual differences (negative affectivity and conscientiousness) and work characteristics (e.g., hours worked and length of relationship with supervisor), the context-specific model provided the best fit to the data among alternative nested models. Implications for the role of transformational leadership in promoting workplace safety are discussed.

Developing safety performance measures for roundabout applications in the state of Oregon.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-04-01

This report documents the research effort to quantify the safety performance of roundabouts in the State of Oregon. : The primary goal of this research is to provide the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) with safety : performance functions (...

Validation of a modification to Performance-Tested Method 070601: Reveal Listeria Test for detection of Listeria spp. in selected foods and selected environmental samples.

PubMed

Alles, Susan; Peng, Linda X; Mozola, Mark A

2009-01-01

A modification to Performance-Tested Method (PTM) 070601, Reveal Listeria Test (Reveal), is described. The modified method uses a new media formulation, LESS enrichment broth, in single-step enrichment protocols for both foods and environmental sponge and swab samples. Food samples are enriched for 27-30 h at 30 degrees C and environmental samples for 24-48 h at 30 degrees C. Implementation of these abbreviated enrichment procedures allows test results to be obtained on a next-day basis. In testing of 14 food types in internal comparative studies with inoculated samples, there was a statistically significant difference in performance between the Reveal and reference culture [U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Bacteriological Analytical Manual (FDA/BAM) or U.S. Department of Agriculture-Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS)] methods for only a single food in one trial (pasteurized crab meat) at the 27 h enrichment time point, with more positive results obtained with the FDA/BAM reference method. No foods showed statistically significant differences in method performance at the 30 h time point. Independent laboratory testing of 3 foods again produced a statistically significant difference in results for crab meat at the 27 h time point; otherwise results of the Reveal and reference methods were statistically equivalent. Overall, considering both internal and independent laboratory trials, sensitivity of the Reveal method relative to the reference culture procedures in testing of foods was 85.9% at 27 h and 97.1% at 30 h. Results from 5 environmental surfaces inoculated with various strains of Listeria spp. showed that the Reveal method was more productive than the reference USDA-FSIS culture procedure for 3 surfaces (stainless steel, plastic, and cast iron), whereas results were statistically equivalent to the reference method for the other 2 surfaces (ceramic tile and sealed concrete). An independent laboratory trial with ceramic tile inoculated with L. monocytogenes confirmed the effectiveness of the Reveal method at the 24 h time point. Overall, sensitivity of the Reveal method at 24 h relative to that of the USDA-FSIS method was 153%. The Reveal method exhibited extremely high specificity, with only a single false-positive result in all trials combined for overall specificity of 99.5%.

Statistical sensitivity analysis of a simple nuclear waste repository model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ronen, Y.; Lucius, J. L.; Blow, E. M.

1980-06-01

A preliminary step in a comprehensive sensitivity analysis of the modeling of a nuclear waste repository. The purpose of the complete analysis is to determine which modeling parameters and physical data are most important in determining key design performance criteria and then to obtain the uncertainty in the design for safety considerations. The theory for a statistical screening design methodology is developed for later use in the overall program. The theory was applied to the test case of determining the relative importance of the sensitivity of near field temperature distribution in a single level salt repository to modeling parameters. The exact values of the sensitivities to these physical and modeling parameters were then obtained using direct methods of recalculation. The sensitivity coefficients found to be important for the sample problem were thermal loading, distance between the spent fuel canisters and their radius. Other important parameters were those related to salt properties at a point of interest in the repository.

On alternative q-Weibull and q-extreme value distributions: Properties and applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Fode; Ng, Hon Keung Tony; Shi, Yimin

2018-01-01

Tsallis statistics and Tsallis distributions have been attracting a significant amount of research work in recent years. Importantly, the Tsallis statistics, q-distributions have been applied in different disciplines. Yet, a relationship between some existing q-Weibull distributions and q-extreme value distributions that is parallel to the well-established relationship between the conventional Weibull and extreme value distributions through a logarithmic transformation has not be established. In this paper, we proposed an alternative q-Weibull distribution that leads to a q-extreme value distribution via the q-logarithm transformation. Some important properties of the proposed q-Weibull and q-extreme value distributions are studied. Maximum likelihood and least squares estimation methods are used to estimate the parameters of q-Weibull distribution and their performances are investigated through a Monte Carlo simulation study. The methodologies and the usefulness of the proposed distributions are illustrated by fitting the 2014 traffic fatalities data from The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.