Risk and Safety Analysis of Industry

A special issue of Safety (ISSN 2313-576X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2024 | Viewed by 2973

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Systems Reliability and Industrial Safety Laboratory, National Center for Scientific Research “DEMOKRITOS”, 15310 Agia Paraskevi, Greece
Interests: risk and safety analysis of chemical plants; land use planning around hazardous installations; risk based emergency management and decision making; human factors; virtual reality; risk communication; LNG use as a marine fuel

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Today, the process industry produces a wide variety of substances and preparations that are essential for use in a very broad range of applications in virtually all sectors of the economy. However, some of these substances have hazardous properties, which, in the case of an abnormal event, may be released into the atmosphere or the soil; or, they may be ignited, causing potential harm to the workers, the environment and/or the civilians living in proximity of the industrial site. This is also the case when factories handling or producing hazardous materials are closed down without concerted monitoring of the installation and removal of the hazardous substances. The safety of such installations is a topic that has received global scientific attention in the last 30 years or so, with a consolidated risk analysis methodology expected to be in place. However, a question that remains timely is: “what is the state of the art in this field today, so as to ensure the safe operation of industry and sustainable development of a country without environmental, health and safety issues?”

In this context, this Special Issue covers the following topics:

  • Qualitative and quantitative risk assessment of industrial sites;
  • Accidents consequence modeling of possible accidents;
  • Occupational hazards of workers;
  • Public and industrial safety, and technological/industrial resilience.

Thus scientists and practitioners are encouraged to publish their experimental and applied research relating to industrial safety and technology, with the aim of promoting and improving the current state of the art in industrial safety, the lack of which may affect people, the environment and the economy.

Dr. Zoe Nivolianitou
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Safety is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 2107 KiB  
Article
Development and Reliability Review of an Assessment Tool to Measure Competency in the Seven Elements of the Risk Management Process: Part Three—Evaluation of the Group Results from the RISK Tool
by Garry Marling, Tim Horberry and Jill Harris
Safety 2024, 10(1), 29; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety10010029 - 14 Mar 2024
Viewed by 719
Abstract
This study used ratings to form teams of participants with different risk management competence levels to determine if a collectively optimised team performed a risk management exercise better than a marginally or a sub-optimised team. This paper also determined whether team performance was [...] Read more.
This study used ratings to form teams of participants with different risk management competence levels to determine if a collectively optimised team performed a risk management exercise better than a marginally or a sub-optimised team. This paper also determined whether team performance was better than individual performance on a risk management exercise. An experimental group was split into three teams of six participants based on their individual risk scenario exercise outcomes. The collectively optimised team had at least one member rated as having some high-level or expert competency in one of the seven risk management process elements. So, jointly, the group had this competency level in all elements. Similarly, the marginally optimised team’s members were rated as having just above average or high-level competency in the seven elements. Likewise, the sub-optimised team’s members were rated as having just above average competency, just below average, or no competency in the seven elements. Each team undertook the risk scenario exercise, and two observers rated their performances, as recorded on a video camera. The results were that the collectively optimised team performed better in each of the seven risk management elements than the other teams (the marginally optimised or the sub-optimised team). However, a significant difference was only evident between the collectively optimised and sub-optimised teams across all elements. Also, the teams performed better in each of the seven elements than individuals. These results imply that a team collectively optimised in the seven elements of the risk management process can better perform a risk management process than a sub-optimised team. These competency outcomes could be used to assemble risk management teams that are collectively optimised, leading to better results from the risk management process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk and Safety Analysis of Industry)
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18 pages, 3435 KiB  
Article
The Prevention of Industrial Manual Tool Accidents Considering Occupational Health and Safety
by Ricardo P. Arciniega-Rocha, Vanessa C. Erazo-Chamorro and Gyula Szabo
Safety 2023, 9(3), 51; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety9030051 - 26 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1763
Abstract
The industrial sector is improving its management systems and designing healthy workspaces by focusing on selecting the best ways to reduce accidents and optimize financial and human resources. Hand tools represent the general equipment used in a significant range of industrial jobs. This [...] Read more.
The industrial sector is improving its management systems and designing healthy workspaces by focusing on selecting the best ways to reduce accidents and optimize financial and human resources. Hand tools represent the general equipment used in a significant range of industrial jobs. This research aims to develop a tool selection method to help users, managers, and tool designers ensure awareness and care regarding ergonomics based on the anthropometrics of employees, considering the main risk factors for tool selection. The information, which relates to hand security risk factors and the established parameters set by official international institutions, is evaluated during the study. This paper also presents a safety risk assessment framework based on criteria collected through a survey from 10 experts to rate the initial risk value and determine its importance using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). As a result, the analysis identified the possibility of injury (with 73.06% accuracy) as the biggest concern for companies due to its immediate effects on workers’ health. It provides a decision regimen—a tool for decision-makers to design and plan prevention activities to reduce accidents, injuries, and possible illnesses. It further lays out a methodical and analytical model to be used by managers to ensure correct hand tool selection. This model can be used to reduce the possibility of illnesses or injuries for workers and tailor the ergonomic design of each workstation according to specific hand anthropometric data for the worker. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk and Safety Analysis of Industry)
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