Thesis (Ph. D.)--Indiana University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-132). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Indiana University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-132).

Master of Science / Department of Civil Engineering / Sunanda Dissanayake / In the United States, approximately 1,100 people die and 40,000 people are injured annually as a result of motor vehicle crashes in work zones. These numbers may be a result of interruption to regular traffic flow caused by closed traffic lanes, poor traffic management within work zones, general misunderstanding of problems associated with work zones, or improper usage of traffic control devices. In regard to safety of work zones, this study was conducted to identify characteristics and risk factors associated with work zone crashes in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin, states currently included in the Smart Work Zone Deployment Initiative (SWZDI) region. The study was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, characteristics and contributory causes related to work zone crashes such as environmental conditions, vehicles, crashes, drivers, and roadways were analyzed for the five states for the period 2002-2006. An analysis of percentage-wise distributions was carried out for each variable based on different conditions. Results showed that most of the work zone crashes occurred under clear environmental conditions as during daylight, no adverse weather, etc. Multiple-vehicle crashes were more predominant than single-vehicle crashes in work zone crashes. Primary driver-contributing factors of work zone crashes were inattentive driving, following too close for conditions, failure to yield right of way, driving too fast for conditions, and exceeding posted speed limits within work zones. A test of independency was performed to find the relation between crash severity and other work zone variables for the combined states. In the second stage, a statistical model was developed to identify risk factors associated with work zone crashes. In order to predict injury severity of work zone crashes, an ordered probit model analysis was carried out using the Iowa work zone crash database. According to findings of the severity model, work zone crashes involving trucks, light duty vehicles, vehicles following too close, sideswipe collisions of same-direction vehicles, nondeployment of airbags, and driver age are some of the contributing factors towards more severe crashes.

Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Technology: Nursing Sciences, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2012. / Introduction While investigating alleged unprofessional conduct involving nurses, SANC collects a wealth of information which is used as the basis upon which to determine the nurses’ guilt or innocence in respect of unprofessional conduct. No evidence exists that such information is ever used to determine how similar acts of unprofessional conduct could be prevented and/or be used in mitigating the impact of such acts on patient safety. Given that nurses have most interaction with patients, there is much to learn from practice breakdown involving nurses. Methods A four phase cross sectional sequential exploratory mixed method approach using a modified soft system methodology (SSM) methodology was utilised to develop a framework for the integrated management of practice breakdown. Purposive sampling was followed to select five districts in KwaZulu-Natal for inclusion in the study. In addition Operational Nursing Managers, members of the Professional Conduct Committee of the South African Nursing Council, and representatives of organised labour were purposively sampled. Qualitative data regarding causes and current practices in the management of practice breakdown in the nursing profession was gathered from key groups via focus groups, and individual phone calls. Then a survey instrument used to test the elements of the emerging theory was developed. Finally, a framework for integrated management of practice errors is suggested. Results The study found that practice breakdown was a product of both environmental factors such as fallible managerial decisions, and unintended acts committed by nurses. In addition, the types of errors and consequences of error management were identified. Finally, conditions requisite for the integrated approach in the management of practice breakdown were identified and used to develop a framework for an integrated approach in the management of practice breakdown in nursing. Conclusion Creation of a positive practice environment for nurses is requisite for an integrated approach in the management of practice breakdown. / Appendices only available in the Hard copy of the Thesis / D

In 2009 there were 3.28 million non-fatal occupational injuries and illnesses (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010). Of these injuries and illnesses, 965,000 resulted in lost days from work. In addition there were 4,340 workplace fatalities. Given the number of occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities, and the associated direct and indirect costs, organizations have sought to improve safety at work. Safety climate and safety motivation are two variables hypothesized to affect safety behaviors and safety outcomes. Safety climate refers to the shared perceptions of workgroup members, of the organizations' commitment to safety as evidenced by heir immediate supervisors' pattern of implementing safety policies and procedures (Zohar, 2003). Therefore, the workgroup supervisor plays an major role in the development of safety climate. Social exchange theory and previous studies of leadership styles and safety suggest that supervisors who convey concern for subordinates' well-being increase workers' motivation to reciprocate by increasing their safe behaviors at work. However, no research to date has examined the relationship between supervisors' personality and workers perceptions of safety climate, or the effect of Big Five trait-level variables on workers safety motivation. In this study I hypothesize that supervisors' proactive personality and three Big Five traits will be positively related to workers' safety climate perceptions. In addition, I hypothesize that four Big Five traits in workers will be positively related to workers safety motivation. Finally, I hypothesize that group-level safety climate will be significantly related to individual-level safety motivation after controlling for workers' personality. Participants in this study were maintenance and construction workers from a municipal city bureau, in 28 workgroups, totaling 146 workers and 28 supervisors. Workgroup sizes vary but averaged 6.21 members, including the supervisor. The data were collected in small groups (paper-and-pencil) and electronically (on-line); workers and supervisors answered questionnaire items on personality variables, safety climate, safety motivation, safety behaviors, and safety outcomes. In addition, archival data on safety outcomes were collected. The data were analyzed using a combination of multiple regression, multi-level modeling, and path analysis to test hypotheses and answer research questions. Both proactive personality and Big Five traits in supervisors accounted for incremental variance in aggregated workgroup safety climate over controls. In addition, workgroup safety climate and individual workers' cautiousness were significant predictors of workgroup safety motivation in a hierarchical linear model. At the individual level of the model, only the traits of cautiousness and morality were significant predictors of individual safety motivation. Tests of the Neal and Griffin (2004) model showed that safety motivation partially mediated the relationship between individual safety climate and safety participation behaviors. In addition, safety motivation fully mediated the relationships between morality and both safety compliance and safety participation behaviors. Finally, safety motivation partially mediated the relationship between cautiousness and both safety compliance and safety participation behaviors. The results suggest that supervisor personality can have an effect on the on workgroup safety climate perceptions. In addition, this study provided evidence that Big Five traits are useful predictors of the antecedents of accidents and injuries. Suggestions for training managers and future research are also discussed.

Bakgrund: Sociala tillställningar som barer, restauranger och evenemang utgör miljöer med folkansamlingar. Studerat ur ett säkerhetsperspektiv utgör miljöer med folkansamlingar en fara, likt andra platser, men en gemensam faktor är mycket folk vid ett och samma tillfälle. I syfte att minska antalet olyckor och skador är ett säkerhetsarbete en del av samhällets satsning och arbetet styrs initialt av lagar. Det finns inbyggda tekniska åtgärder i lokalens byggnad och verksamheten har ett ansvar för att etablera ett organisatoriskt säkerhetsarbete. Det är inte skrivet i sten hur helheten av ett säkerhetsarbete ska bedrivas men empiri och teorier inom området ger en insikt i tillvägagångssätt. Syfte: Studien undersöker hur verksamheter inom nattlivs- och evenemangsbranschen bedriver ett säkerhetsarbete utifrån fara för personer som besöker lokalen. Specifikt ämnar uppsatsen undersöka metodiken och arbetssättet bakom säkerhetsarbetet samt vilka eventuella teoretiska antaganden som arbetet baserats på. Uppsatsen undersöker eventuella skillnader beroende på verksamhetens omfattning. Metod: Metoden är en kvalitativ deskriptiv studie, induktiv ansats och tillämpar kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Urvalet är strategiskt och utgår från två städer i Sverige. Totalt har sex stycken verksamheter intervjuats med en variation av maximalt antal gäster och typ av tillställning. De benämns som "små verksamheter" maximalt 1500 personer och "stora verksamheter" över 1500 personer. De små verksamheterna är nattklubbar och de stora verksamheterna är en nattklubb med evenemang, en verksamhet med evenemang och en arena. Resultat och slutsats: Studien är en indikation hur ett säkerhetsarbete bedrivs inom nattlivs- och evenemangsbranschen. De små verksamheterna bedriver arbetet utifrån ett vardagligt säkerhetsarbete, i syfte att uppfylla rådande lagar. Organisatoriska barriärerna är beroende av de inbyggda tekniska åtgärderna. Utan ett tekniskt system finns ingen strategi. De saknar barriärer för att hantera oförutsedda händelser. De stora verksamheterna har ett säkerhetsarbete med oberoende barriärer och beslutsfattande på fler nivåer. De har fler barriärer för utförutsedda händelser då organisationen kan agera utan teknik. De två mindre av de stora verksamheterna inte är lika utarbetade som den största, arenan. Den ena hanterar folkmassan innan, under och efter eventet men enbart med ett fokus på brand och utrymning. Den andra kan precis som arenan styra hur människorna rör sig under eventet. Det är dock enbart den största verksamheten (arenan) som följer en teoretisk ram, den så kallade riskhanteringsprocessen. På arenan sker beslut på fler nivåer och de hanterar risker utifrån riskens karaktär. Genomgående finns en bristande insikt i lokalens design och ett gap mellan bygg och förvaltning. Att hantera den mänskliga aspekten är särskilt undermålig i de mindre verksamheterna. Enligt rådande empiri och teorier behöver strategier utarbetas för multipla säkerhetssystem i syfte att hantera oförutsedda händelser. / Background: Public gatherings in confined spaces such as bars, restaurants and events relates to crowds. From a safety focused perspective, environments with crowds carry with them a degree of risk. A work of safety is therefore an effort to recude accidents and injuries. The safety guidelines are initially regulated by laws which contains a mixture of technical systems and a risk management team. There is no step by step guide which details how to set up a safety procedure, rather agreed upon empirics and theories in the field which provides a broad and loosely defined set of terms which can be met. Scope: The aim of the study is to explore the work safety procedures in the field of nightlife and social gatherings. Specifically, this thesis explores the strategy and methods of implementing safety procedures and if they are based on theoretical assumptions. It also explores differences between the size of venues. Method: The study is done in a qualitative nature, using qualitative content analysis with an inductive design. The selection of locations have been strategically chosen from two towns in Sweden. The study contains six objects with an variation of maximum amount of guests and type of event. They are called "small venues" with a maximum of 1500 person and "large venues" with a capacity exceeding 1500 person. In the study small venues are nightclubs while the large venues include a nightclub with event, a venue with musical gathering and an arena. Results and conclusion: The study is represents a small selection of how the work safety procedures are organised in the field of the nightlife and entertainment industry. The safety guidelines of the small venues are made to meet the minimum standards set in place by the law. The safety procedures of these venues primarily rely on technical barriers. These organisations were observed to have very basic emergency procures and very little idea how to handle unknown incidents. The studies large venues have independent safety organizations several levels of independent risk management. These venues have extended their strategies to handle unknown incidents, because they can act independently or interact with technical support. The two smaller of the larger venues, do not have the same established safety strategies in place as the biggest one. They all have a strategy to control crowd movements in case of emergency. The other venue take one more step, and features strategies to handle the movement of the crowd during the event routinely. The biggest venue’s strategies are extrapolated from a basis of one theoretical assumption, a safety management model. Throughout the brand lack of understanding relate to the design of the actual place. There is also a perceived knowledge gap between the buildings design and the management of the venue. There is little effort to manage the behaviour in these venues, especially the small venues observed in the study. According to empirics and theories the venues in the study need to develop strategies to create multiple safety systems (barriers) to handle unknown incidents.

There has been an upward trend of construction injuries and fatalities in the recent decade. Regulatory agencies, such as the NYC Department of Buildings, exist to create and modify construction safety laws, review construction projects, and enforce these laws through site inspections, and often make the data they collect available to the public. However, there is a lack of predictive modeling and a lack of research regarding how to make a proactive prediction of potential injuries and fatalities on construction sites. This study uses public data to predict future construction incidents using leading indicators from information gathered from the NYC permits-issued and complaints-received databases. Results indicate that it is possible to predict future construction incidents over multiple forecast windows using a logistic regression and zero-inflated Poisson model. While previous site incidents alone are significant in predicting future incidents, adding permit and complaint related information increased the true positive rate and decreased the false-negative rate.

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