Search Results (25)

Safety culture is crucial for organisations aiming to enhance safety performance and is challenging in traditional sectors. This study explored the effects of a new near-miss management system (NMS) on safety culture in traditional manufacturing companies. The data collection followed a mixed-methods design: quantitative data were collected through pre- and post-implementation surveys, and qualitative data were derived from focus group discussions (FGDs) developed a year after NMS implementation in two footwear companies. After that period, it is possible to infer that the NMS led to changes in the safety culture. OHS management commitment, accident and near-miss investigation, and OHS meetings and training dimensions were impacted. Employees perceived the NMS introduction as a signal of management′s commitment and the possibility of accessing training and participating in near-miss and accident investigations. In organisations that rely on intensive manual labour, ongoing training is essential to ensure that safety measures are effective and that the organisation′s safety management system (NMS) is sustainable. Although limited by the small sample size and sector focus, the results show that even a simplified NMS procedure adapted to the company and adequate training provided to the workforce significantly impacts the company′s safety culture and workers′ safety behaviour. Full article

In the footwear industry, occupational risks are significant, and work accidents are frequent. Professionals in the field prepare documents and reports about these accidents, but the need for more time and resources limits learning based on past incidents. Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) methods have been applied to analyze data from these documents, identifying accident patterns and classifying the damage’s severity. However, evaluating the performance of these methods in different economic sectors is crucial. This study examined neural and non-neural methods for classifying the severity of workplace accidents in the footwear industry complex. The random forest (RF) and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) methods were the most effective non-neural methods. The neural methods 1D convolutional neural networks (1D-CNN) and bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) showed superior performance, with parameters above 98% and 99%, respectively, although with a longer training time. It is concluded that using these methods is viable for classifying accidents in the footwear industry. The methods can classify new accidents and simulate scenarios, demonstrating their adaptability and reliability in different economic sectors for accident prevention. Full article

Background: In this study, we hypothesized that safety footwear (SF) impacts gait patterns, potentially contributing to the podiatric symptoms reported by workers. The purpose of this work was to compare the gait analyses of workers wearing SF and sneakers using inertial sensors while also examining the occurrence of foot problems. Methods: A consecutive cohort of workers from different occupational sectors who wore SF during their work shifts were prospectively assessed through a gait analysis. The gait analysis was conducted under two conditions: first, while wearing SF, and second, while wearing sneakers. In both conditions, inertial sensors were used (Wiva^® MOB). Participants also underwent a podiatric physical examination to evaluate foot problems. Results: This study shows that SF resulted in a worsening gait pattern compared to sneakers in both genders. The impact was particularly pronounced in female participants, resulting in a significant decline in walking speed and cadence. Discomfort was reported by 83.3% of participants, with a higher prevalence in females (46.6% vs. 36.6%). The SF group exhibited an elevated prevalence of foot problems, with no significant gender variations. It seems that foot problems are more likely to occur when a foot deformity, such as flat or cavus foot or hallux valgus, is present. Conclusions: This study suggests that SF may contribute to the reported podiatric symptoms among workers. Certain footwear characteristics, including weight, mis-fit, and inadequate design, may be factors associated with footwear discomfort and adverse gait patterns, potentially leading to increased foot problems among workers. Full article

Smart shoes have ushered in a new era of personalised health monitoring and assistive technologies. Smart shoes leverage technologies such as Bluetooth for data collection and wireless transmission, and incorporate features such as GPS tracking, obstacle detection, and fitness tracking. As the 2010s unfolded, the smart shoe landscape diversified and advanced rapidly, driven by sensor technology enhancements and smartphones’ ubiquity. Shoes have begun incorporating accelerometers, gyroscopes, and pressure sensors, significantly improving the accuracy of data collection and enabling functionalities such as gait analysis. The healthcare sector has recognised the potential of smart shoes, leading to innovations such as shoes designed to monitor diabetic foot ulcers, track rehabilitation progress, and detect falls among older people, thus expanding their application beyond fitness into medical monitoring. This article provides an overview of the current state of smart shoe technology, highlighting the integration of advanced sensors for health monitoring, energy harvesting, assistive features for the visually impaired, and deep learning for data analysis. This study discusses the potential of smart footwear in medical applications, particularly for patients with diabetes, and the ongoing research in this field. Current footwear challenges are also discussed, including complex construction, poor fit, comfort, and high cost. Full article

Current petrochemical-based adhesives adversely affect the environment through substantial volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions during production, contributing to air pollution and climate change. In contrast, vegetable oils extracted from bio-resources provide a compelling alternative owing to their renewability, abundance, and compatibility with adhesive formulation chemistry. This review aimed to critically examine and synthesize the existing scholarly literature on environmentally friendly, sustainable, and high-performance polyurethane adhesives (PUAs) developed from vegetable oils. The use of PUAs derived from vegetable oils promises to provide a long-term replacement while simultaneously maintaining or improving adhesive properties. This quality renders these adhesives appropriate for widespread use in various sectors, including construction, automotive manufacturing, packaging, textile, and footwear industries. This review intended to perform a comprehensive assessment and integration of the existing research, thereby identifying the raw materials, strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in knowledge concerning vegetable oil-based PUAs. In doing so, it responded to these gaps and proposes potential avenues for future research. Therefore, this review accomplishes more than merely evaluating the existing research; it fosters the advancement of greener PUA technologies by identifying areas for improvement and innovation towards more sustainable industrial practices by showcasing vegetable oil-based PUAs as viable, high-performance alternatives to their petroleum-based counterparts. Full article

Computer technology influences the capability to enhance the functionality of manufacturing and product design technologies. Innovations in computational design and digital manufacturing empower designers and manufacturers to create novel representations and algorithms for designing, analyzing, and planning the production of highly complicated products achievable through state-of-the-art technology. Various principles, including computational physics, geometric reasoning, and automated spatial planning, enable engineers to generate entirely new categories of products in the footwear industry. This study aims to review the methods and tools that have been published in the literature for the last twenty years, and provide a better understanding of the parameters, tools, and controls that contribute to the design and manufacturing processes of shoes. The main focus is on highlighting the product design-related trends within the footwear industry. A structured framework becomes apparent in the literature through the grouping and presentation of information. This framework facilitates drawing conclusions about the trends and existing needs derived from in-depth research in the field of footwear. Additionally, it reveals the upcoming methods and tools that will contribute to the enhancement and development of this emerging and promising industry sector. In conclusion, the categorization limitation within the footwear industry could serve as the foundation for exploring key areas to be analyzed further in other industries, for instance, in furniture, clothing, and packaging. Full article

Despite the remarkable improvements in key economic and social standards, the Indonesian footwear industry still struggles to ensure decent work, particularly for women workers. In this paper, female workers are divided into production and non-production workers. Women production workers are used as a proxy for occupational segregation based on sex, called non-skilled workers, while women non-production workers are used as a proxy for women’s share of work in managerial and administrative work, called skilled workers. This paper examines the close links between decent work (DW) and global production networks (GPNs) in the Indonesian footwear industry. More specifically, this article scrutinizes fair employment treatment for local female employees within the DW framework in the country’s footwear industry with the expansion of GPNs based on Indonesian footwear firm-level panel data from 2001 to 2015. Vertical specialization is a proxy for GPNs and is the main independent variable in this paper. The results show that vertical specialization is in line with the fair treatment indicators and has a significant level for female production workers. In addition, the other independent variable, namely the wages of production workers, has a significant level, and the results are inversely proportional to the fair treatment indicator, while the wages of non-production workers show results that are inversely proportional to female production workers but positive for female non-production workers. This shows that an increase in the wages of production workers is less profitable for female production workers than for female non-production workers. Thus, the results show that the expansion of GPNs in the Indonesian footwear sector has essentially led to improved fair employment treatment, especially for women workers. Full article

The textile industry, known for its significant contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, is increasingly active in exploring techniques and technologies to improve its environmental performance. The main tool to calculate environmental impacts is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, which is standardized and internationally recognized. Specific guidelines for the impact calculation of textile products are under development (Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs) for the category of Apparel and Footwear). In this context, this study contributes to the knowledge in the textile sector through the development of a cradle-to-gate LCA of a woolen undershirt produced in Italy. This study shares robust and recent (2021) primary data for the phases of weaving, cutting, and sewing, obtained from an Italian company. Data from previous studies of the authors, as well as secondary data, are also used to complete the inventory. A further analysis is developed to include the use phase as well. The impact on climate change of one undershirt results in 11.7 kg CO₂ eq, primarily due to the farming phase of sheep, which accounts for 88% of the total emissions. The impact on climate change of energy used in the wool transformation process has a relatively low impact (11%), also thanks to the partial use of electricity produced by photovoltaic panels, while materials (e.g., chemicals) and transportation have negligible contributions. The farming phase, despite relying on secondary data, is identified as the primary contributor for most of the other indicators. Additionally, it has been found that user habits play a key role in the impact related to one wearing of the undershirt. The findings suggest that further work is necessary in the textile sector and emphasize (i) the need for guidelines, enabling the inclusion of the use phase without compromising the comparability between different LCAs of similar textile products; (ii) the need for improved traceability practices in the textile sector, to enhance inventory data collection on the raw material production (wool fibers in the case under analysis). Full article

Administrative data can be precious in connecting information from different sectors. For the first time, we used data from the National Social Insurance Agency (INPS) to investigate the association between the occupational sectors and both non-accidental and accidental mortality. We retrieved information on occupational sectors from 1974 to 2011 for private sector workers included in the 2011 census cohort of Rome. We classified the occupational sectors into 25 categories and analyzed occupational exposure as ever/never have been employed in a sector or as the lifetime prevalent sector. We followed the subjects from the census reference day (9 October 2011) to 31 December 2019. We calculated age-standardized mortality rates for each occupational sector, separately in men and women. We used Cox regression to investigate the association between the occupational sectors and mortality, producing hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). We analyzed 910,559 30+-year-olds (53% males) followed for 7 million person-years. During the follow-up, 59,200 and 2560 died for non-accidental and accidental causes, respectively. Several occupational sectors showed high mortality risks in men in age-adjusted models: food and tobacco production with HR = 1.16 (95%CI: 1.09–8.22), metal processing (HR = 1.66, 95%CI: 1.21–11.8), footwear and wood (HR = 1.19, 95%CI: 1.11–1.28), construction (HR = 1.15, 95%CI: 1.12–1.18), hotels, camping, bars, and restaurants (HR = 1.16, 95%CI: 1.11–1.21) and cleaning (HR = 1.42, 95%CI: 1.33–1.52). In women, the sectors that showed higher mortality than the others were hotels, camping, bars, and restaurants (HR = 1.17, 95%CI: 1.10–1.25) and cleaning services (HR = 1.23, 95%CI: 1.17–1.30). Metal processing and construction sectors showed elevated accidental mortality risks in men. Social Insurance Agency data have the potential to characterize high-risk sectors and identify susceptible groups in the population. Full article

Grounded theory is an inductive research methodology aiming at the construction of new concepts or new theories able to explain emerging phenomena. The objective of this paper is to provide insights on the usage of grounded theory in management research. We showcase how grounded theory can bring light to development modes of Portuguese small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the specific reality of the footwear industry, where a changing and unpredictable environment threatens constant loss of competitive advantage. An interpretive–epistemological research philosophy was adopted, and evidence was gathered through nine semi-structured interviews. Portugal is currently a reference in the international footwear market and the sustainability of the sector plays an important role in the Portuguese industrial structure. This study highlights how the method of grounded theory can add value to research by uncovering complex managerial realities and develop new questions and issues for theory building. Full article

The leather materials are used in a multitude of sectors, including footwear, apparel, handicrafts, and the automotive industry. Due to the radiant heat generated by a laser beam, the laser cutting of leather results in a carbonized cut edge. There is currently no technology available for measuring the carbonization along the contour edges of leather. The purpose of this experimental investigation was to determine the impact of power diode-based laser cutting on the carbonization of machined buffalo leather with the help of a digital microscope to improve the machining process. The ATR-FTIR spectrum was used to analyze the carbon-related functional group in the mid-IR spectrum of carbonized leather samples. It was found that the proposed method can measure the amount of carbon deposition in the cutting zone. The lower amplitude duty cycle with higher feed rate can reduce carbon formation owing to the lower thermal energy distribution. The amplitude (4.5 V), duty cycle (70%) and feed rate (90 mm/s) can produce optimal performance measures. Full article

Sustainable development is a worldwide concern. This paper presents an analysis of the influence of the final consumption expenditure on the total consumption of households in Romania. The regression function of the association between “the amount of municipal waste” and “the total consumption of households” has a direct linear relationship. The regression variable “total household consumption” (X) has a regression coefficient of −0.03031, which indicates that the amount of municipal waste decreases by one unit as household consumption increases by 30.31 units. Therefore, this regression coefficient indicates that the volume of municipal waste decreases by 30.31 tons to an increase in the final consumption expenditure of households of EUR 1 million. The influence of the final consumption expenditure of households by consumption purpose on the quantity of municipal waste is in the following order: health; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; clothing and footwear; miscellaneous goods and services; recreation and culture; food and non-alcoholic goods; restaurants and hotels; furnishing and household equipment and routine household maintenance; alcoholic and tobacco goods; communications; and education. The value of the Significance F must be less than 0.05. In the case of the model, it is found that this value exceeds the threshold of 0.05 in the case of consumption generated by health services, recreation and culture, restaurants and hotels, alcohol and tobacco goods, and communications. Regarding the high value of Significance F in relation to consumption, we find the sectors that generate the least amount of waste (services). In the case of all of the independent variables, we can note that the relationship is a negative one, which proves that an increase in the quantity of any expenditure of the households generates a decrease of the municipal waste quantity. Full article

Background: Child labor remains a health hazard, affecting the mental, physical, and emotional well-being of children. Children engage in waste management through various channels while constantly working to create a healthier and cleaner environment and exposing themselves to numerous health risks. Thus, this scoping review aims to explore the occupational injuries, health hazards, and sufferings of child waste workers in South Asia. Methods: Following the PRISMA guidelines, a scoping review of available relevant scientific literature was completed to comprehensively analyze the extent of child waste workers’ health suffering. Online databases PubMed, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar were searched for predefined criteria. Collected references were screened with Rayyan web tools and Endnote. Based on study inclusion criteria, a thematic synthesis was performed on the findings of 12 articles. Results: This study’s findings provided deep insights into the most prevalent occupational health sufferings among child waste workers, as depicted in the available literature. Prevalence of injuries like cuts and wounds was found predominant. These injuries are caused by the collection, transportation, dumping, and recycling of waste. Respiratory, musculoskeletal, and skin diseases are more prevalent among child waste worker children than in control groups of the same socioeconomic backgrounds. A higher chance of genetic or neuro-degenerative disorder and DNA mutation indicates a long-term effect on the children working in the waste management sector. Psychological sufferings were the least explored, although very common among child laborers. MPD (Minor Psychiatric Disorder) was very high among waste workers. Regarding healthcare-seeking behavior, traditional methods are preferable rather than formal health facilities. More research is required in this area due to a lack of evidence on the health problems of child waste workers. Conclusions: Occupational hazards were myriad among child waste workers. Though many children are involved in waste management, they are typically excluded from mainstream child protection and support systems, making them more exposed to occupational harassment and injury. Policymakers should design specific programs for these vulnerable groups considering the issues below, i.e., provide protective equipment such as facemasks, gloves, footwear, and rag sorting tools to safeguard them from physical damage and illness, ensure access to health care, to school, and provide basic nutrients to them. Furthermore, the authorities should think of alternative income generating programs for these groups of children. Full article

In view of the leather and footwear industry’s declining market share and production activity, our study aims to identify the most important challenges facing the leather and footwear sector related to the decline in its market share and production activity. It also aims to assess government interventions that have sought to enhance the competitiveness of the sector. In this framework, data on the values and quantities of imported shoes for the West Bank during the period 2010–2021 were used to compare the change in their direction relative to another selected commodity under the appropriate conditions for the use of this model, where the study sample included a selected sample of shoe factories and tanneries owners in the city of Hebron, which numbered 232 factories. This study focused on the “Difference in Difference” methodology. The results showed that there are no indications that the import of shoes from China is affected by these politics, and the success of this policy lies in subjecting the flow of imported goods to the scrutiny of the Palestinian customs department. Furthermore, the study also provides a vision for the Palestinian government to create a legislative structure to protect and support the national product. Full article

As interest in sustainable fashion and localism mounts, there is a compelling need to foster purchasers’ trust in claims made by fashion businesses. Geographical indications (GIs) have proven successful not only in reducing consumers’ search costs through reliable labels but also in safeguarding identity and heritage and delivering added value for agricultural products. Building on the EU Commission proposed Regulation to protect craft and industrial products that rely on the originality and authenticity of traditional practices from their regions and drawing on the “fiber follows food” adage, this paper puts forward policy recommendations related to the proposed expansion of GIs to the fashion industry. Through cross-sector and transdisciplinary explorative research, this article provides evidence on how the origin link could be framed to accommodate apparel and footwear items within the scope of protection of the EU sui generis GIs system despite their “non-terroir” character. Key drivers and barriers to harnessing GIs’ potential and enhancing the sustainability of localized fashion production are further explored based on the theoretical insights and comparative practical experience extrapolated from qualitative interviews with GI-protected winemakers in Apulia. Ultimately, the paper increases the understanding of the economic, ecological, social, and governance implications, which need to be addressed to improve the sustainability impact of sui generis GI systems before expanding them to the apparel and footwear domain. Full article