Organizational culture and safety culture are the subject of study in several scientific fields, including ergonomics. Representatives of these areas are still debating the associated meanings or the exact meaning of the concepts of... more
Organizational culture and safety culture are the subject of study in several scientific fields, including ergonomics. Representatives of these areas are still debating the associated meanings or the exact meaning of the concepts of "organizational culture" and "safety culture", including the interdependent relationships between them. The paper aims to present a framework of the historical incursion and the main attempts in defining the safety culture and its characteristics, having as results the stating of the integration of the safety culture in the general culture of the organizations.
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Aspects are presented on the interpretation of certainties by assessing risks with maximum level in order to establish reasonable limits of acceptance, tolerance or assumption of risks, supplementing environmental risk factors with... more
Aspects are presented on the interpretation of certainties by assessing risks with maximum level in order to establish reasonable limits of acceptance, tolerance or assumption of risks, supplementing environmental risk factors with external, social, financial elements and introducing a category in the work system analysis.Comparative aspects between INCDPM and MEvAR methods are presented as proposals in the associated tables.The conclusions highlight the current aspects implemented in the method and their usefulness.
European legislation stipulates the obligation to carry out a risk assessment for each job, as well as the application of measures to prevent these occupational risks. Therefore, taking into account the importance of risk determination at... more
European legislation stipulates the obligation to carry out a risk assessment for each job, as well as the application of measures to prevent these occupational risks. Therefore, taking into account the importance of risk determination at the workplace for the prevention of work accidents and occupational diseases, this paper proposes the digitization of a risk assessment method. The application of the occupational injury and illness risk assessment method begins with a document that contains a description of the company (name, location, domain of activity, organization chart, etc.), a description of the work system detailing its components and a brief description of the assessment method. Next follows a Microsoft Excel document that performs the actual application of the method. Finally, another document presents the list of measures that lead to the implementation of the prevention and protection plan. This paper presents the code design of the Microsoft Excel document, an essenti...
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Working with video display terminals (VDTs) involves different risk factors, including psychosocial risks, that have been recognized as important causes to employees’ health problems (both mental and physical). This is why one of the... more
Working with video display terminals (VDTs) involves different risk factors, including psychosocial risks, that have been recognized as important causes to employees’ health problems (both mental and physical). This is why one of the employers responsibilities is to change work conditions in order to improve the occupational psychosocial environment of all employees and VDT users as well. This paper aimed to explore how psychosocial and ergonomics aspects of VDT work tasks are related to work related health problems, especially to occupational stress symptoms, as perceived by the employees.
This paper presents the findings of an ongoing National Institute for Research and Development in Occupational Safety “Alexandru Darabont” INCDPM project developed in collaborations with BAUM Engineering SRL that addresses the... more
This paper presents the findings of an ongoing National Institute for Research and Development in Occupational Safety “Alexandru Darabont” INCDPM project developed in collaborations with BAUM Engineering SRL that addresses the occupational safety issues related to workers with disabilities, with emphasis on disability-sensitive risk assessment. In our project we developed a method of occupational risk assessment that is disability-sensitive, in order to help employer and safety professionals. The disability-sensitive risk assessment method will identify all the risk factors in the system that can be the ultimate cause of injury and/or professional illness by means of predefined control lists and quantifying the risk based on the combination of gravity and probability of risk factor manifestation. The main steps in applying the method will be: establishment of the assessment team; description of the analysed system (workplace, installation); identification of risk factors in the syst...
BACKGROUND: The paper presents some results of a field study concerning occupational effort in dispatchers’ activity in gas transport field. The opportunity, aim and necessity of the study resulted from the present occupational safety and... more
BACKGROUND: The paper presents some results of a field study concerning occupational effort in dispatchers’ activity in gas transport field. The opportunity, aim and necessity of the study resulted from the present occupational safety and health (OSH) law requirements. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to assess the occupational effort and its indicators, in order to emphasize the risk /demand factors and to establish measures for occupational safety and health management system in order to protect the employees’ health, safety and well-being at work. METHODS: The methodology had a multidisciplinary, ergonomic character, consisting in: analysis of the work content and conditions; assessment of the effort (mental and physical) and work capacity; assessment of work fatigue. RESULTS: The results showed the levels of mental (neuropsychic) effort in the dispatchers’ studied activity, the risk factors that determine fatigue at work, and the risk factors that cannot be eliminated or reduced. CONC...
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Considering thermal environment aspects have a major impact not only on occupational health and safety (OH&S) performance but also on the productivity and satisfaction of the workers, the aim of the case study was to assess the thermal... more
Considering thermal environment aspects have a major impact not only on occupational health and safety (OH&S) performance but also on the productivity and satisfaction of the workers, the aim of the case study was to assess the thermal comfort of a group of 33 workers in an automotive industry company, starting with collecting data about the thermal environment from different workplaces, continuing with the analytical determination and interpretation of thermal comfort using the calculation of the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD) indices, according to provisions of the standard ISO 7730:2005, and comparing the results with the subjective perception of the workers revealed by applying individual questionnaires. The results of the study represent an important input element for establishing the preventive and protective measures for the analysed workplaces in correlation with the measures addressing other specific risks and, also, could serve as ...
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This paper presents the findings of an ongoing INCDPM project developed in collaborations with BB Computers that addresses the occupational safety issues related to computer equipment installation, maintenance and use, with emphasis on... more
This paper presents the findings of an ongoing INCDPM project developed in collaborations with BB Computers that addresses the occupational safety issues related to computer equipment installation, maintenance and use, with emphasis on risk identification. The method used was The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Using the chart flow and the list of items of this method, a literature search was conducted in Science Direct Freedom Collection, Elsevier database, Web of Science - Core Collection, Springer Link Journals. Keywords such as occupational risks, computer equipment installation, computer maintenance were used to retrieve relevant studies which explicitly reported on occupational risks related to computer equipment installation, maintenance and use. The literature search yielded 900 references, of which 20 articles were selected for full-text screening as specified by the inclusion criteria, and ultimately 10 were included in this rev...
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Evaluation of compliance is one of the most important and efficient instrument in OHS responsibles activity at organization level. Together with risk assessment, it provides a complete workplace image from the point of view of health and... more
Evaluation of compliance is one of the most important and efficient instrument in OHS responsibles activity at organization level. Together with risk assessment, it provides a complete workplace image from the point of view of health and safety. Indirectly, it provides a feedback about the quality of implemented OHS management system. The evaluation of compliance with legislation is a requirement of both Romanian OHS Law no.319/2006 and SR OHSAS 18001:2008. The paper presents a method for evaluation of compliance with legal requirements, complementary to audit methods focused on OHS management systems.
Nowadays, the ergonomic issues become more and more important in all economic activity domains. Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) represent the main problem generated by the poor ergonomic design of the workplaces. The... more
Nowadays, the ergonomic issues become more and more important in all economic activity domains. Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) represent the main problem generated by the poor ergonomic design of the workplaces. The healthcare domain involves high level ergonomic risks related to physical and mental load of the work which could lead to MSDs. The paper presents an analysis of these ergonomic risks for physiotherapy activity and identifies potential measures to improve the health and safety in this domain. The physical load of the physiotherapist’s work is generated by the risk factors such as awkward postures, repetitive movement or working with patients with motor disabilities. The mental load of the physiotherapist’s work depends on risk factors such as working with patients with cognitive impairment and daily or weekly patient flows. The proposed preventive measures are organisational and technical. The organisational measures are based on the requirements of the oc...
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According to the ATEX directive, any personal protective equipment or work equipment intended to be used in a potentially explosive area must be made of materials that cannot be the source of mechanical or static electricity-related... more
According to the ATEX directive, any personal protective equipment or work equipment intended to be used in a potentially explosive area must be made of materials that cannot be the source of mechanical or static electricity-related sparks. The carbon steel is one of the most widely used metallic materials, but the possibility of using it in the manufacture of equipment used in explosive environments is low. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to present an alternative solution to use metal equipment in potentially explosive atmospheres, by depositing a phosphate layer on the surface of the carbon steel. The metal was coated by a simple process, the metal being immersed in a phosphating solution based on zinc. Due to the properties of zinc phosphate deposited on the steel surface, especially electrical insulating, the steel coated with this type of layer can be used in explosive atmosphere.
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This paper presents the preliminary findings of a project still in progress at INCDPM regarding” Knowledge transfer partnership and research development in the assessment and prevention of occupational risks which may conduct to... more
This paper presents the preliminary findings of a project still in progress at INCDPM regarding” Knowledge transfer partnership and research development in the assessment and prevention of occupational risks which may conduct to disaster”. After studying the major industrial disasters of our times, it become clear that even with technological advancement, human error is still the major cause of accidents and incidents. Analysis of human error and their role in accidents is an important part of developing systematic methods for reliability in the industry and risk prediction. To obtain data for predictive analysis is necessary to analyse accidents and incidents to identify its causes in terms of component failures and human errors. Therefore, a proper understanding of human factors in the workplace is an important aspect in the prevention of accidents, and human factors should be considered in any program to prevent those that are caused by human error. The comparison between four ma...
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As employees, the blind and visual disabled peoples face specific occupational risks related to personal safety most of us are usually not aware. Many hazards, easy to avoid for sighted peoples, became extremely dangerous for peoples... more
As employees, the blind and visual disabled peoples face specific occupational risks related to personal safety most of us are usually not aware. Many hazards, easy to avoid for sighted peoples, became extremely dangerous for peoples without visual perception. For example, an electric cable with discontinuous isolation is much easy to be avoided for sighted peoples, while for blind persons could be lethal, especially as they need to touch objects not only to manipulate them, but also to localize and recognize them. Beside orientation problems and obstacles avoidance, other less obvious threats exist. This paper presents the findings of an INCDPM study developed in collaborations with Baum Engineering that addresses the issues of using assistive materials and technologies for blind people at workplace. This assistive technologies, which are a most needed tool for the visually impaired people to access the labour market, could be also a danger if not properly installed and implemented...
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In a continuously changing world where the human operator still plays an important role in most industrial activities, health and safety occupies a fundamental place, with the goal of maintaining workers healthy and in safe condition... more
In a continuously changing world where the human operator still plays an important role in most industrial activities, health and safety occupies a fundamental place, with the goal of maintaining workers healthy and in safe condition during their job activities. One of the means that make this goal achievable is the use of adequate personal protective equipment. The carabiners are connecting parts that link the components quickly and reversibly of personal protective equipment used against falls. Thus shackles can be divided in multiple elements, such as: the gate, which always opens inward and can be provided with or without the locking system, the second and the biggest element is the body which can have different form according to the BS EN 12275:2013 standard, the gate and the body are connected thru the rivet pin and nose. The personal fall arrest system used in areas such as construction, speleology, petroleum industry, includes metal components that must possess high mechanic...
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The paper describes a new method of occupational health and safety risk assessment. This method, called MEVA, unlike the old ones, focuses more on reduce or eliminate subjective issues in determining the probability of manifestation of... more
The paper describes a new method of occupational health and safety risk assessment. This method, called MEVA, unlike the old ones, focuses more on reduce or eliminate subjective issues in determining the probability of manifestation of risk factors and is based on a deductive reasoning, with the help of which is studied the chain between two or more events. The novelty of the method consists in combining risk assessment techniques with evaluation of compliance with legal and other requirements, aiming to provide a more objective results of the risk assessment. In the MEVA method, the risk matrix is defined by 5 classes of severity and 5 probability classes, resulting in 5 levels of risk. After quantifying the risk factors, prevention measures are proposed for all the identified risk factors and each partial risk level is recalculated as a result of the proposed measures. The five levels of risk were grouped into three categories: acceptable, tolerable and unacceptable. The MEVA meth...
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For use of work equipment having the economic performance and the highest level of safety, it must be ensured that it complies with the conditions set by the manufacturer in terms of putting into service, use and maintenance operations,... more
For use of work equipment having the economic performance and the highest level of safety, it must be ensured that it complies with the conditions set by the manufacturer in terms of putting into service, use and maintenance operations, ensuring appropriate technical and environmental requirements, including appropriate measures and means of protection. The research aimed to identify and analyze the occupational hazards associated to maintenance operations, in terms of the history of the adjustments, maintenance, cleaning and repair, including the case that occur after the incidents, capital repairs and upgrades. The results of the research consisted in the development of recommendations on the effective management of maintenance activities of work equipment and a software model to enable an efficient management of maintenance, as a tool for occupational hazards in companies - premise for increasing the competitiveness of employers in the market economy.
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Abstract The paper presents the results of a project implemented at S.C. COMPA S.A., an automotive manufacturing company from Sibiu, Romania. The goal of the project was to develop a practical and sustainable solution for improving the... more
Abstract The paper presents the results of a project implemented at S.C. COMPA S.A., an automotive manufacturing company from Sibiu, Romania. The goal of the project was to develop a practical and sustainable solution for improving the work conditions in the company, by a proactive and systematic evaluation of compliance with national and European OHS legislation. To reach this objective an evaluation methodology was developed and a software system was implemented to support the decisions made by the company and OHS managers to improve work conditions and to grow safety level for the employees. The workplaces problems regarding risks assessment and control are revealed and managers can take measures to reduce or to eliminate them. The software system also permits to the managers and OHS specialists to observe the effects their measures produced in time and to improve their decisions in future.