Search Results (8)

Ensuring employee safety is a top priority for every enterprise, and it is especially critical in high-risk industries like coal mining. To achieve this goal, it is essential to focus efforts on identifying existing hazards and thoroughly assessing the associated risks. Accurate identification and detailed characterization of occupational hazards play a pivotal role in the occupational risk assessment process, providing the foundation for effective safety strategies. This article presents an analysis of the process of identifying occupational hazards in hard coal mining, based on applicable legal regulations and a review of the relevant literature. The analysis reveals, on the one hand, a diversity of approaches to hazard classification, and on the other, a limited use of the characteristic features of hazards in classification processes. The findings of this review form the basis for proposing a systematic classification of occupational hazards in hard coal mining, taking into account the specific features of hazards in relation to their sources and potential consequences. The proposed classification not only categorizes hazards but also describes the specifics of hazard sources, such as environmental conditions, machinery, chemicals, and human factors, as well as the possible outcomes of these hazards, including physical injury, health impacts, and even fatalities. The aim of this article is to present a proposed classification of occupational hazards in hard coal mining and to provide a detailed characterization of these hazards based on the description of their sources and potential consequences. The proposed approach, grounded in the identification of characteristic features of hazards, facilitates the effective selection of preventive measures that can be implemented to reduce risk and improve workplace safety. Due to the presence of the full spectrum of natural hazards in Polish hard coal mining, the analysis draws on available statistical data, focusing on those hazards that contribute most significantly to fatal accidents and serious injuries. In conclusion, the article emphasizes the importance of a structured and systematic approach to identifying and assessing occupational hazards in the coal mining industry. By drawing on legal and literature-based insights, it aims to contribute to the development of more effective safety practices that protect workers and minimize the occurrence of workplace accidents and illnesses. Full article

Systematic management of corporate safety risks in industrial parks has become a hot topic. And risk prevention and control mutual aid is a brand-new model in the risk and emergency management of the park. In the context of blockchain, how to incentivize enterprises to actively invest in safety risk prevention and control mutual aid has become a series of key issues facing government regulators. This paper innovatively combines Prospect Theory, Mental Accounting, and Evolutionary Game Theory to create a hypothetical model of limited rationality for the behavior of key stakeholders (core enterprises, supporting enterprises, and government regulatory departments) in mutual aid for safety risk prevention and control. Under the static prize punishment mechanism and dynamic punishment mechanism, the evolutionary stabilization strategy of stakeholders was analyzed, and numerical simulation analysis was performed through examples. The results show: (1) Mutual aid for risk prevention and control among park enterprises is influenced by various factors, including external and subjective elements, and evolves through complex evolutionary paths (e.g., reference points, value perception). (2) Government departments are increasingly implementing dynamic reward and punishment measures to address the shortcomings of static mechanisms. Government departments should dynamically adjust reward and punishment strategies, determine clearly the highest standards for rewards and punishments, and the combination of various incentives and penalties can significantly improve the effectiveness of investment decisions in mutual aid for safety risk prevention and control. (3) Continuously optimizing the design of reward and punishment mechanisms, integrating blockchain technology with management strategies to motivate enterprise participation, and leveraging participant feedback are strategies and recommendations that provide new insights for promoting active enterprise investment in mutual aid for safety risk prevention and control. The marginal contribution of this paper is to reveal the evolutionary pattern of mutual safety risk prevention and control behaviors of enterprises in chemical parks in the context of blockchain. Full article

This study aimed to develop a state-of-the-art method for assessing chemical risks in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The method combined desk research findings and the authors’ practical knowledge to identify major shortcomings in performing risk assessments at the workplace. Data were collected from nine SMEs across three sectors: agriculture, laboratory research, and conservation and restoration laboratories. On-site observations, focus group discussions, and textual content analysis of occupational safety and health documentation were used to gather information on chemical risks and workers’ perceptions. The developed method uses numerical factors to account for the level of conformity with regulations and the duration of exposure to support an estimation of the probability of an incident. The method was designed to enhance risk assessment practices and tackle common issues encountered by SMEs, including the lack of data for estimating probability. Feedback from SMEs involved in the study indicated that the method’s performance was satisfactory, with its well-organized information flow and supportive components being particularly valued. The study highlights the importance of effective risk assessment in creating a safer and healthier work environment for workers. Full article

Background and objective: In today’s society, meat and meat products occupy a relatively large share in terms of volume of production and have a serious epidemic potential as a source of disease. Both primary and secondary contamination with microorganisms are possible and, if any deviation in the technological process, the standardization of physico-chemical and microbiological indicators can lead to serious consequences for the health of consumers. The purpose of this study is to assess and analyze the likely medical and health hazards arising from the production, supply and consumption of meat and meat products. Methods: The object of the study is an enterprise for the production of meat and meat products in the territory of the Pleven region. For this purpose, an audit was carried out, based on an algorithm built by us, which corresponds to and is based on the Codex Alimentarius methodology, presented in the document “Food Quality and Safety Systems—A Training Manual on Food Hygiene and the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) System”. Results and discussion: Gaps and inconsistencies were found in the technological documentation, as well as in the HACCP plan in the normalization of the physico-chemical characteristics and the criteria for microbiological safety. These could lead to potential risks and health hazards for consumers of meat and meat products. Quality requirements for meat products should include added soy protein, upper limits of fat content, connective tissue proteins, as well as types and concentrations of added additives. In the developed food safety systems, it is necessary to introduce a total number of mesophilic and psychrotrophic aerobic bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, molds and yeasts, in order to verify the elements that represent the main hazards in the food chain. The conclusions contain specific recommendations for revising the technological documentation and the HACCP system and regulations for optimizing the microbiological requirements with the inclusion of integral indicators of production process hygiene. Full article

Chemical safety is closely related to public health, safety, and environmental concerns. Strengthening chemical safety supervision is not only vital for ensuring safe production but also plays a crucial role in maintaining overall social safety. This paper aims to analyze the evolutionary game strategies between chemical enterprises and government regulators under different regulatory modes, namely, ‘special rectification’ and ‘normal regulation’. The results indicate that under the ‘special rectification’ pattern, the strategic choices of chemical enterprises regarding safety investment rely on the cost–benefit analysis of safety non-investment. Conversely, in the ‘normal regulation’ mode, the decision to invest in safety is based on the comparison between the cost of safety investment and the cost of not investing in safety. Increasing government sanctions encourages chemical enterprises to prioritize safety investment under both supervision modes. Notably, while punishment significantly impacts safety investment behavior under the ‘normal regulation’ mode, it exhibits negligible influence under the ‘special rectification’ pattern. These research findings provide valuable decision-making support for government agencies tasked with effectively supervising the safety production of chemical enterprises. Full article

Background: A national database of work-related injuries has been established in Italy since 2002, collecting information on the injured person, his/her work tasks, the workplace and the risk factors contributing to incident dynamics, according to a model called Infor.Mo. Methods: A descriptive study of occupational fatal injuries, excluding work-related fatal traffic injuries, that occurred in Italy from 2002 to 2016 (15 years) was performed. Results: Among 4874 victims involved, all were males, mainly >51 years of age (43.2%), predominantly self-employed (27.8%) or workers with non-standard contracts (25%). About 18.4% and 17.3% of fatal events occurred in micro-enterprises belonging to, respectively, construction and agriculture. A wide range of nationalities (59 countries in addition to Italy) was identified. Overall, 18.9% of work-related fatal injuries were due to some form of hazardous energy—mechanical, thermal, electrical or chemical—that was normally present in the workplace. Workers’ falls from height (33.5%), heavy loads falling on workers from height (16.7%) and vehicles exiting their route and overturning (15.9%) were the events causing the greatest proportion of occupational fatal injuries in the present study (from 2002 to 2016) and in the initial pilot phase, focused on years 2002–2004, with a similar distribution of fatal events between the two time periods. The activity of the injured person made up 43.3% of 9386 risk factors identified in 4874 fatalities. Less common risk factors were related to work equipment (20.2%), work environment (14.9%), third–party activity (9.8%), personal protective equipment/clothing (8.0%) and materials (3.7%). The activity of the injured person remained the most relevant contributing factor even when the incident was caused by two or more risk factors. Discussion: Occupational fatal injuries occurred mainly in small size firms (up to nine employees) in hazardous workplaces. Small companies, which account for 68% (2888/4249) of all firms in the present study, generally have fewer resources to remain current with the continuously evolving health and safety at work regulations; moreover, these firms tend to be less compliant with health and safety at work regulations since they are less likely to be inspected by occupational vigilance services. Perspectives: An approach being introduced in Italy relies on the use of economic incentives to promote safe and healthy workplaces. The comparison of pre-intervention and post-intervention rates of work-related injuries by means of interrupted time series analyses could detect whether the intervention will have an effect significantly greater than the underlying secular trend. Full article

At present, technical regulations are adopted for furniture products of various types, establishing the protection of human health from the influence of harmful substances in the parts and assemblies of wood products and wood materials. The technical regulation adopted the requirements for ensuring chemical safety in the design and manufacture of furniture. The technical regulation is based on the condition of furniture products, eliminating the risk of harm to human health due to exceeding the maximum permissible concentration of harmful chemicals in indoor air. Such substances include free formaldehyde, migrating from the volume of chipboard and glue interlayers when gluing and veneering furniture parts and assemblies. Harmful chemicals are vapor-gas mixtures of solvents, the migration of which is observed from solid lacquer membrane of protective and decorative coatings of parts and components of furniture into the indoor air environment. These chemicals are present in the construction and auxiliary materials in the development of furniture. It is desirable that manufacturers of furniture products determine in advance, at the stage of its design, the level of safety when using certain raw materials. For this purpose, a technique is proposed that allows us to determine the concentration of harmful substances in the air of the premises with the selected materials, design and manufacturing technology of furniture products. Preliminary calculations based on the proposed method, allows us to determine the life of the furniture, in which the harmful substances migrating into the air environment of the premises will be within the permissible concentrations. This allows certifying the manufactured furniture products for chemical safety with the assignment of certain quality parameters. The proposed technique may be useful for enterprises focused on the production of furniture products. Full article

In recent years, China’s chemical industry has incurred frequent safety accidents which seriously impact the social environment and public safety. Traditional approaches have reached a bottleneck due to a lack of relevant professionals in the government regulation of chemical enterprise safety production. Thus, a new safety regulation mechanism should be conducted. In this paper, we constructed an evolutionary game model of chemical industry safety regulation based on limited rationality, and the influence of main parameters on the equilibrium evolution process is studied by system dynamics simulation. The results show that government regulation authorities play a leading role in the process of chemical industry safety regulation and increasing punishment will help to achieve an evolutionary stable strategy (ESS). What is more, the feasibility and effectiveness of the third-party regulation service mechanism are verified, and the market access threshold of third-party regulation service needs to be improved to stop the occurrence of rent-seeking activities in the regulatory process. In summary, the introduction of third-party regulation service entities to the chemical industry safety regulation process has far-reaching implications for promoting the healthy development of China’s chemical industry. Full article