<p>The subject of this licentiate thesis is experience feedback from accidents and incidents. The thesis aims to contribute to an understanding of how the learning processes within organizations, companies and authorities could be improved.</p><p><i>Essay I </i>(written together with Sven Ove Hansson) reports on an evaluation carried out in 2004 by the Swedish Work Environment Authority’s Accident Investigation Board, called HAKO (Haverikommissionen). An important outcome of this evaluation shows that HAKO have not been able to manage the dissemination of their written reports, which is unfortunate, since the reports are thoroughly written.</p><p><i>Essay II</i> (written with Sven Ove Hansson and Carl Rollenhagen) is an overview of the literature on learning from accidents and incidents. The focus in this essay is on literature that evaluates the effectiveness and usefulness of different methods in accident investigations. The conclusions drawn from this literature review are that the dissemination of results and knowledge from accident investigations must be improved, and experience feedback systems should be integrated into overall systems of risk management.</p><p>The starting point for<i> Essay III </i>was an empirical study conducted in 2005/2006. Twenty-eight supervision cases from eleven local Environment and Health Administrations in Sweden were examined. The overall goal of the study was to find out how, and to what extent, experience feedback occurs between different municipal authorities. Two major problems affecting experience feedback have been found; namely, that the inspectors do not have enough guidance on how to interpret the law, and that they would like more information on what happens to legal cases they have reported to public prosecutors and police.</p>

Reproduction de : Thèse d'exercice : Médecine : Nancy 1 : 2003. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre.

Recent years have seen increasing acknowledgment that aircraft accidents affect not only those who are killed or injured, but also the families and friends of victims. Survivors, victims and their families require sensitive treatment in order to help them cope with what has occurred. Following high profile accidents including USAir 427 and TWA 800, the United State of America started a new program which they call it Family Assistance after Air Disaster. After that a several documents providing guidance for dealing with victims and their families were published in Australia, the UK and the EU. However, in the Middle East, there is no region-specific family assistance guidance for dealing with aircraft accidents. As such, operators tend to use plans which have been designed from a western perspective. This means that the impact of culture, ethical sensitivities and religion have not been addressed fully. This thesis explores the differences in dealing with the families of victims after an accident in the Middle East focusing on the Muslim population. Interviews were conducted with experts from airlines, family assistance providers, religious leaders and victim support groups. These were supplemented by a survey of passengers and family members in USA, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia to compare and contrast the expectations and needs of those who may be affected by an aircraft accident. Over 300 responses were received and the data were validated through further expert interviews. The results supported the findings of the literature review and matched with the bad experiences documented within case study accidents such as the mid-air collision involving Saudi Arabian Airlines flight 763. The study found that the three factors are inextricably linked, with religion being a strong factor in determining individual’s response to their loss; how they relate to others and the type of support they should be given. Suggestions are made regarding the design of a Family Assistance Centre, staff training, words that should / should not be used; and to explain how people may react.

In nuclear power plants, a pipe break in the cooling line releases a jet that damages other equipment in containment, and is known as a loss of coolant accident (LOCA). This report specifically focuses on boiling water reactor (BWR) applications as a guide for future studies with pressurized water reactors (PWRs). This report presents a methodology for characterizing the jet such that, given a set of upstream conditions, the pressure field and damage potential of the jet can be predicted by an end user with a minimum of computation. The resultant model has many advantages over previous models in that it is easily calculated with knowledge readily available to plant operators and it provides new metrics that allow for a quick and intuitive understanding of the damage potential of the jet. / text

This thesis proposes an estimation approach for count data models with endogenous covariates. The maximum approximate composite marginal likelihood inference approach is used to estimate model parameters. The modeling framework is applied to predict crash frequency at urban intersections in Irving, Texas. The sample is drawn from the Texas Department of Transportation crash incident files for the year 2008. The results highlight the importance of accommodating endogeneity effects in count models. In addition, the results reveal the increased propensity for crashes at intersections with flashing lights, intersections with crest approaches, and intersections that are on frontage roads. / text

The UK Civil Aviation Authority has recognised the need for protection against the runway overrun over and above the standard protection recommended by ICAO. Normal protection for the aircraft is provided in ICAO's Annex 14 by the strip at the end of a runway, and a recommendation for the installation of a Runway End Safety Area (RESA). In the UK, the CAA has stated that as part of their safety management system the aerodrome licensee should review the RESA distance requirement for their individual circumstances on an annual basis through a risk assessment. However, current industry knowledge of circumstantial factors in runway overruns is limited. Also, current models that are used to determine likely overrun wreckage locations and RESA dimensions take no account of the operational conditions surrounding the overruns or the aerodrome being assessed. This study has attempted to address these needs by highlighting common factors present in overrun occurrences through the compilation and analysis of a database of runway overruns, and through the construction of a model of wreckage location that takes account of the conditions at an individual aerodrome. A model of overrun probability has been constructed and the consequences of an overrun have been examined. One outcome of the study is an awareness that the industry is in an extremely poor state of knowledge of operational characteristics of non-accident flights, which if not addressed will be a major barrier to future advancement of aviation safety improvement and research.

D. Tech. Policing / The first legislation on accident reporting in South Africa was promulgated in 1913 in an ordinance of Transvaal, one of the four provinces of South Africa at the time. Since then several amendments have been made to legislation on accident reporting, but accident reporting has continued to be time consuming and unnecessarily complicated. It seems that technology is not yet utilised to its full potential. Therefore this study investigates ways in which an online application (app) for accident reporting could be designed and implemented. The development and implementation of a simpler and modern app for online accident reporting could successfully address the problem of unavailable statistics for minor damage-only accidents. By amending the National Road Traffic Act, 1996 (Act 93 of 1996) to accommodate more cost-effective online accident reporting through eAccident, the time spent on compiling the current accident reports could be minimised and costly human resources could be utilised more effectively in core police functions such as law enforcement.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Traffic Safety Management)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2008. / This research explored ways in which the process of road traffic accident reporting in the Johannesburg metropole could be enhanced. The specific objectives were to systematically examine the process of road traffic accident reporting and to focus on an analysis of (1) the time it takes the relevant authorities to complete the various activities involved in reporting road traffic accidents; (2) the quality of completed road traffic accident reports; and (3) the general experiences of drivers involved in road traffic accidents regarding the system of road traffic accident reporting and information retrieval in the Johannesburg metropole; to draft guidelines for strengthening the process of road traffic accident reporting in the research area, based on the mentioned analysis; and to provide pointers for future research. The study adopted a systems perspective on road traffic accident reporting and took cognisance of the wider road traffic safety management and transportation context in South Africa. The findings underlined that (1) the time taken to report road traffic accidents in the Johannesburg metropole tended to be unacceptably long; and that (2) accident reports tended to be inaccurate and/or incomplete. Based on the findings and the conceptual premises of the study, the researcher developed an accident-reporting management model.

Ο τίτλος της διπλωματικής είναι «Κατασκευή συστήματος αναγνώρισης κίνδυνου σύγκρουσης αυτοκίνητου με προπορευόμενο μέσω ψηφιακής επεξεργασίας video». Σκοπός ήταν η κατασκευή ενός συστήματος, το οποίο έχει την ικανότητα να διακρίνει τα αυτοκίνητα από όλα τα αλλά αντικείμενα που εντοπίζονται κατά τη διάρκεια μιας πορείας με αμάξι. Αυτό επετεύχθη με τη χρήση μεθόδων εξαγωγής χαρακτηριστικών, και συγκεκριμένα κυματίδια Haar και φίλτρα Gabor. Η ταξινόμηση έγινε με τη χρήση νευρωνικών δικτύων και μηχανές διανυσμάτων υποστήριξης (Support Vector Machines - SVM). / The subject of this diploma thesis is the manufacturing of a driver assistance system. Robust and reliable vehicle detection from images acquired by a moving vehicle (i.e., on road vehicle detection) is an important problem with applications to driver assistance systems and autonomous, self-guided vehicles. The focus of this diploma is on the issues of feature extraction and classification for rear-view vehicle detection. Specifically, by treating the problem of vehicle detection as a two-class classification problem, we have investigated several different feature extraction methods such as wavelets and Gabor filters. To evaluate the extracted features, we have experimented with two popular classifiers, neural networks and support vector machines (SVMs).

Syfte: Att undersöka vad ambulanssjuksköterskor upplever kan finnas för problemområden vid arbete på skadeplats med maximalt fyra drabbade. Metod: Studien har en kvalitativ ansats. Nio ambulanssjuksköterskor i Uppsala, mellan 27 och 53 år, intervjuades. Ett bekvämlighetsurval gjordes. Tillstånd för studien anskaffades hos ambulansstationens verksamhetschef. Intervjuerna var semistrukturerade och spelades in med ljudupptagning. Intervjuerna transkriberades sedan och analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet gav 11 kategorier och 19 underkategorier.Resultat: Prehospitala problem på skadeplats är mörker, dåligt väder samt trafik. Prehospital sjukvårdsledning används inte i tillräcklig mån. Mental förberedelse är viktigt inför ankomst till skadeplats. Det nya radiosystemet fungerar inte optimalt och därmed försvåras kommunikationen mellan ambulans, räddningstjänst och polis. Samarbetet med räddningstjänst på skadeplats behöver förbättras. Mer interprofessionell övning och utbildning efterfrågas. De svåraste patientgrupperna är barn samt traumafall. Slutsats: Prehospital sjukvårdsledning används för lite vid arbetet på en mindre skadeplats. Radiosystemet fungerar inte optimalt och det försvårar kommunikationen och samarbetet mellan ambulans, polis och räddningstjänst. Mer övning och utbildning behövs kring barn samt trauma. Mer interprofessionell övning och gemensamma utbildningar efterfrågas. / Purpose: To study problems that ambulance nurses experience at the scene of accident with a maximum of four affected persons. Methods: The study is qualitative. Nine ambulance nurses in Uppsala, between 27 and 53 years, were interviewed. A convenience sample was chosen. The semi-structured interviews were sound recorded. Permission was acquired from the ambulance manager. After transcription a qualitative content analysis was performed. 11 categories and 19 subcategories were found. Results: Pre-hospital problems are bad weather and traffic. Pre-hospital leadership is not used enough. Mental preparation is important before arrival at scene of accident. The new radio communication system is not working properly, which hinders interprofessional communication. Collaboration with the rescue service needs to be improved. The ambulance nurses request more training and education together with the other professions. The most demanding patient groups are children and trauma cases. Conclusions: Pre-hospital leadership is not used enough at a small scene of accident. The new radio system is not working properly which hinders the interprofessional communication. More training and education is needed when it comes to children and trauma. The ambulance nurses request more inter professional training and joint education.