Journal of Health and Safety at Work

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Introduction: The goal of this study is to investigate how the development of technology has affected the industry (especially the mining industry). For this purpose, this paper examines the impact of intelligent mining machinery systems, including tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS), dispatching systems, and vehicle health monitoring systems (VHMS), on health, safety, and environmental parameters and preventative maintenance.
Material and Methods: This study is descriptive-analytical research that was conducted between time intervals before and after employing the intelligent mining machinery systems. Initially, parameters were identified using the Delphi method. These parameters include human accidents, equipment accidents, environmental incidents, warnings and fines in the domains of health, safety, and the environment, tire usage parameters, the shelf life of the tire, oil overfill, fuel consumption, failure rate, mean time between failures, and preventive maintenance compliance schedules in the domain of preventative maintenance. The effectiveness of using these systems was then assessed by comparing the state of the specified parameters before and after the introduction of the intelligent mining machinery systems.
Results: The findings of this research indicate that using intelligent mining machinery systems will decrease equipment accidents by 33.3%, extend the useful life of tires by 7.1%, reduce fuel consumption by 14.6%, cut the mean time required to repair by 25.5%, and enhance preventive maintenance compliance schedules by 5.7%.
The findings showed the effectiveness of the use of intelligent systems of mining machines was obtained as follows: reduction of equipment accidents by 33.3%, increasing the useful life of tires by 7.1%, reducing fuel consumption by 14.6%, reducing the average downtime of the car for repair by 25.5% and increasing compliance with the maintenance program by 5.7%.
Conclusion: Utilizing intelligent mining machinery systems might have a positive impact on the safety of machines, reduce negative environmental effects like fuel consumption, and improve the maintenance of heavy machinery, which would lead to better mining conditions and lower costs.
 

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Introduction: Steel erection is known as one of the most hazardous construction activities. From an occupational health and safety perspective, this process carries high risk. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a qualitative risk analysis of steel structure assembly and model it using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM).
Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the construction site of a high-rise building steel structure was first visited to identify the main processes involved. Then, semi-structured and open-ended interviews were conducted with 33 workers partaking in this process. Data from the interviews and process identification were entered into FRAM Model Visualiser (FMV) software to investigate and model complex relationships and interactions between daily tasks.
Results: Of the 19 major system component functions identified, four functions had potential instability and defects due to complex human, organizational, and technological function interactions. By intensifying the FRAM graphic model, risks may be imposed on the system if the interactions of these four functions are neglected. These include coordination with the experienced rigger, preparation of the tower crane, attachment of parts at the installation site, and execution of the rescue rope.
Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that conducting qualitative risk assessment and modeling the steel frame construction process using FRAM allows for an in-depth understanding of nonlinear conditions and dynamics resulting from escalating technical-social interactions. This approach enables a comprehensive analysis of system safety status.
 

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Introduction: Due to uncertainties regarding the risks of engineered nanomaterials for human health and the environment, different organizations and researchers have developed various management frameworks and assessment tools to mitigate hazards during the procedures and applications of engineered nanomaterials. However, most of these techniques do not meet all the individual requirements. This study provides a review and introduction to the techniques developed for the management of safety, health, and environmental risks associated with engineered nanomaterials.
Material and Methods: In order to find pertinent documents on the safe handling of engineered nanomaterials, a search was conducted using the following keywords: “Engineered nanomaterials”, “Framework”, “Tool”, “Risk management”, “Occupational exposure”, “Environment”, “Risk assessment”, and “Nanotechnology”. The search was conducted on various databases, including Scopus, Web of Science, NIOSH, ECHA, and ISO. Among the search results, tools and frameworks that specifically focus on the safety, health, and environmental risk management or assessment of engineered nanomaterials were selected.
Results: Among the search results, 17 frameworks and 11 developments in the field of managing occupational, environmental, and toxicological risks associated with engineered nanomaterials were discussed. Various frameworks and tools for identifying, evaluating, and managing the potential risks of engineered nanomaterials vary in terms of their scope, goals, risk assessment approaches, and output, offering diverse applications.
Conclusion: Various tools and frameworks, each with unique properties, applications, and limitations, can assist organizations in achieving their goals related to safety, health, and environmental issues in the field of nanotechnology. Currently, there is no consensus on the optimal approach for assessing the risks of nanomaterials, underscoring the necessity for additional research, development, and collaboration in this field.
 

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Introduction: One of the ways to produce electricity in power plants is to use gas turbines and generators. Due to the use of methane gas as the fuel of the burners and the high rotation speed, this equipment has a high DOW index level, therefore, if the hazardous conditions in the gas turbine are not controlled by the safety instrumented system and the process is not directed to a safe state, Catastrophic events will occur such as fire and explosion and damage to property and people as well as interruption of the power generation process will happen in the long term, so gas turbine safety instrumentation systems can be considered as “critical safety systems”. Therefore, the reliability and availability of their function should be evaluated. The purpose of this research is to determine and verify the safety integrity level (SIL) related to the safety instrumented function (SIF) of the gas turbine and generator in a combined cycle power plant.
Material and Methods: In this study, the safety integrity level was determined by using two methods, Calibrated Risk Graph (CRG) and Independent Protection Layer Analysis (LOPA), and to verify the safety integrity level, the requirements related to random hardware failure, hardware failure tolerance, and systematic capability are considered according to IEC 61511 and IEC 61508 standards.
Results: The results of a case study in gas turbine and generator showed that the LOPA method is more quantitative than CRG and provides more details of independent protective layers, so it is a more suitable method for determining SIL. The SIL verification results show the SIL2 level, closer to the LOPA results.
Conclusion: The obtained results show that the function of the studied gas turbine safety instrumentation system has a suitable level of reliability and availability and is well responsive to risky conditions and possible deviations. The present approach helps safety engineers and instrumentation engineers to calculate the reliability and availability of the Function of the safety instrumentation systems of their process equipment and ensure its acceptability or not.

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Introduction: One of the questions that always arises in the minds of researchers, especially young researchers, is what pattern the progress of science follows in their field of expertise and what is the direction of the studies. The purpose of this study is to analyze the content of the studies published from 2011 to 2022 in Persian scientific journals in the field of workplace safety and determine the direction and scientific process of studies in this field.
Material and Methods: All the studies published from the years 2011 to 2022 in the Persian scientific research journals ”Iran Occupational Health”, “Occupational Health and Safety”, “Occupational Health Engineering”, ”Iranian Journal of Ergonomics”, “Occupational Medicine” and “Occupational Health and Health Promotion” were gathered using census method from the websites of the journals. In total, 595 published articles were categorized according to the thematic codes determined by the opinion of experts, the theme of “risk analysis, assessment, and risk management” had the highest percentage of frequency (18.66 percent), while the theme of “safety application in other industries or specific workplaces” had the lowest frequency of percentage (0.34 percent). Approximately 50 percent of the variance of the published studies explained the themes of “risk analysis, risk assessment, and management”, “inspection, analysis and modeling of accidents”, “human error and safety”, “social, organizational factors, culture, safety climate, and behavior-based safety”.
Conclusion: The existing trends emphasize the importance of learning lessons from accidents as a reactive approach and risk management, human factors, and behavioral aspects in safety interventions as a preventive approach. The research development of the country’s safety at the workplace should be further improved with new policies in different fields while taking advantage of international scientific advances on the specific functions and challenges of the country and with a problem-oriented approach.

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Introduction: For years, chemical process industries have reported the unexpected release of highly hazardous liquids and gases. A disaster could not be avoided when these materials were not adequately controlled. The issue of Process Safety Management (PSM) is still being discussed in developing and developed countries. PSM was established to manage the risks of a company’s personnel, properties, products, environment, and credit risks. This study aimed to review the challenges and achievements of PSM implementation and provide recommendations for improvement.
Material and Methods: A collection of scholarly articles published from 2000 to 2023, such as Science Direct, WOS, PubMed, and Scopus, was chosen through a systematic, meticulous review. After thoroughly examining these abstracts, titles, and complete contexts, 49 articles were finally selected for inclusion in the study and classified based on different criteria, such as publication year, authors, achievements, and challenges.
Results: PSM in the United States has been chiefly studied due to the high number of chemical process industries and its presence in the form of OSHA legislation in this country. The areas of operations, audits, and resources have the most challenges in implementing PSM. On the other hand, reducing the severity of incidents in chemical processes and increasing productivity are considered the most significant achievements of PSM implementation.
Conclusion: PSM as an interdisciplinary field has improved  and become more effective over the years.. However, incidents still exist, and the number can increase, considering the growth of industries’ chemical processes. Therefore, a deep look at the issues of risk-based regulations, competency, operational excellence, and learning from incidents is necessary to achieve excellence in PSM.