Pool safety in Queensland

This article examines recent changes to the Building Act 1975 (Qld) intended to promote pool safety in Queensland. The impact of these statutory changes is considered in relation to both compliance obligations and disclosure obligations associated with sale and leasing transactions. The interrelationship of these changes with the operation of standard contractual provisions in Queensland is also examined.

Safety enhancement of operator protection systems on self-propelled mining equipment

In the long term, with development of skill, knowledge, exposure and confidence within the engineering profession, rigorous analysis techniques have the potential to become a reliable and far more comprehensive method for design and verification of the structural adequacy of OPS, write Nimal J Perera, David P Thambiratnam and Brian Clark. This paper explores the potential to enhance operator safety of self-propelled mechanical plant subjected to roll over and impact of falling objects using the non-linear and dynamic response simulation capabilities of analytical processes to supplement quasi-static testing methods prescribed in International and Australian Codes of Practice for bolt on Operator Protection Systems (OPS) that are post fitted. The paper is based on research work carried out by the authors at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) over a period of three years by instrumentation of prototype tests, scale model tests in the laboratory and rigorous analysis using validated Finite Element (FE) Models. The FE codes used were ABAQUS for implicit analysis and LSDYNA for explicit analysis. The rigorous analysis and dynamic simulation technique described in the paper can be used to investigate the structural response due to accident scenarios such as multiple roll over, impact of multiple objects and combinations of such events and thereby enhance the safety and performance of Roll Over and Falling Object Protection Systems (ROPS and FOPS). The analytical techniques are based on sound engineering principles and well established practice for investigation of dynamic impact on all self propelled vehicles. They are used for many other similar applications where experimental techniques are not feasible.

Safety culture research in the construction sector : interlocked projects in safety competency and safety effectiveness indicators

Safety culture is a concept that has long been accepted in high risk industries such as aviation, nuclear industries and mining, however, considerable research is now being undertaken within the construction sector, with varying levels of success. The current paper discusses three recent interlocked projects that have had some success in the Australian construction industry. The first project examined the development and implementation of a safety competency framework targeted at safety critical positions across first tier construction organisations. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, the project: developed a matrix of safety critical positions (n=11) and safety managements tasks (SMTs; n=39); mapped the process steps for their acquisition and ongoing development; detailed the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for all SMTs; and outlined organisational cultural outcomes that could be anticipated in a successful implementation of the framework. The second project extended research on safety competency and leadership to develop behavioural guidelines for leaders to drive safety culture change down to second tier companies. This was designed to assist smaller construction companies to customise their own competency framework and develop implementation guidelines that match their aspirations and resources. The third interlocked project explored the use of safety effectiveness indicators (SEIs) as an industry-relevant assessment tool for reducing risk on construction sites. With direct linkages to safety competencies and safety management tasks, the SEIs are the next step towards an integrated safety cultural approach to safety and extend the concept of positive performance indicators (PPIs) by providing a valid, reliable, and user friendly measurement platform. Taken together, the results of the interlocked projects suggest that safety culture research has many potential benefits for the construction industry, particularly when research is conducted in partnership with industry stakeholders. Suggestions are made for future research, including further application and testing of the safety competency framework and aligning SEIs across construction projects of varying size, location and design.

What do we currently know about designing and evaluating road safety advertising?

Overview: What we currently know - content design and evaluation The direct role (persuasive effects) of advertising Review of some key findings within a conceptual framework of the persuasive process Definitional inconsistencies, methodological limitations, & gaps in existing knowledge Suggested issues/directions for future advertising research

The influence of culture on safety : culture, organisational culture and safety culture

Transport and Storage Sector - Identified as one of 4 primary targets in the National Occupational Health and Safety Strategy 2002-2012 (NOHSS) The Heavy Vehicle Industry -80% of the freight task -29% of the employees in Transport and Storage 5 years on: -Transport and Storage - 22% reduction -Heavy Vehicle Industry - only an 11% reduction Intervention strategies that aren’t targeted to a specific audience may have differing levels of success due to cultural beliefs and values (McLeroy et al., 1994) Research Goal: - To explore the influence of culture on safety in the heavy vehicle industry

Negotiating group dynamics for better safety performance

Safety psychology and workplace safety Commitment, Motivational and attitudinal components of safety Leadership Group Dynamics and Group Change Case Study from Construction

Serious firearm offending in New Zealand : issues for gun controls and public safety

Reducing or preventing the misuse of firearms (whether criminal, suicidal or accidental) is central to gun controls policy. In June 1997 the New Zealand Government received the recommendations of the Review of Firearms Control, an independent inquiry commissioned by the Minister of Police and chaired by Sir Thomas Thorp.The Review comprehensively examined several firearm-related issues, including the nature and extent of serious firearm offending in New Zealand. The research presented in this article was commissioned by the Review. Based on a population of 709 offences for the 12 months ending 30 June 1996, this study provides an analysis of serious firearm offending in New Zealand and discusses the implications of these findings for gun controls policy.

Visualizing safety assessment by integrating the use of game technology

Construction is undoubtedly the most dangerous industry in Hong Kong, being responsible for 76 percent of all fatal accidents in industry in the region – around twenty times more than any other industry. In this paper, it is argued that while this rate can be largely reduced by improved production practices in isolation from the project’s physical design, there is some scope for the design team to contribute to site safety. A new safety assessment method, the Virtual Safety Assessment System (VSAS), is described which offers assistance. This involves individual construction workers being presented with 3D virtual risky scenarios of their project and a range of possible actions for selection. The method provides an analysis of results, including an assessment of the correctness or otherwise of the user’s selections, contributing to an iterative process of retraining and testing until a satisfactory level of knowledge and skill is achieved.

Project 2.7 Leveraging R&D Investment for the Australian built environment : Phase 2 Case Study Report Part 2 - Road Construction Safety

This report discusses findings of a case study into "Road Construction Safety" undertaken as a part of the retrospective analysis component of Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) Project 2.7 Leveraging R&D investment for the Australian Built Environment. The Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (QTMR) has taken a leadership role in developing a safer working environment for road construction workers. In the past decades, a range of initiatives have been introduced to contribute to improved performance in this area. Several initiatives have been undertaken by QTMR as part of their overarching commitment to safety. Three such initiatives form the basis for this case study investigation, in order to better illustrate the nature of R&D investment and its impact on day-to-day operations and the supply chain. These are the development and implementation of: (i) the Mechanical Traffic Aid: (ii) the Thermal Imaging Camera; and (iii) the Trailer-based CCTV (camera). This case study should be read in conjunction with Part 1 of this suite of reports.

Interlocked projects in safety competency and safety effectiveness indicators in the construction sector

Safety culture is a concept that has long been accepted in high risk industries such as aviation, nuclear industries and mining, however, considerable research is now also being undertaken within the construction sector. This paper discusses three recent interlocked projects undertaken in the Australian construction industry. The first project examined the development and implementation of a safety competency framework targeted at safety critical positions (SCP's) across first tier construction organisations. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, the project: developed a matrix of SCP's (n=11) and safety management tasks (SMTs; n=39); mapped the process steps for their acquisition and development; detailed the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for all SMTs; and outlined potential organisational cultural outcomes from a successful implementation of the framework. The second project extended this research to develop behavioural guidelines for leaders to drive safety culture change down to second tier companies and to assist them to customise their own competency framework and implementation guidelines to match their aspirations and resources. The third interlocked project explored the use of safety effectiveness indicators (SEIs) as an industry-relevant assessment tool for reducing risk on construction sites. With direct linkages to safety competencies and SMT's, the SEIs are the next step towards an integrated safety cultural approach to safety and extend the concept of positive performance indicators (PPIs) by providing a valid, reliable, and user friendly measurement platform. Taken together, the results of the interlocked projects suggest that industry engaged collaborative safety culture research has many potential benefits for the construction industry.

Individual differences in drivers’ cognitive processing of road safety messages

Using Gray and McNaughton’s (2000) revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (r-RST), we examined the influence of personality on processing of words presented in gain-framed and loss-framed anti-speeding messages and how the processing biases associated with personality influenced message acceptance. The r-RST predicts that the nervous system regulates personality and that behaviour is dependent upon the activation of the Behavioural Activation System (BAS), activated by reward cues and the Fight-Flight-Freeze System (FFFS), activated by punishment cues. According to r-RST, individuals differ in the sensitivities of their BAS and FFFS (i.e., weak to strong), which in turn leads to stable patterns of behaviour in the presence of rewards and punishments, respectively. It was hypothesised that individual differences in personality (i.e., strength of the BAS and the FFFS) would influence the degree of both message processing (as measured by reaction time to previously viewed message words) and message acceptance (measured three ways by perceived message effectiveness, behavioural intentions, and attitudes). Specifically, it was anticipated that, individuals with a stronger BAS would process the words presented in the gain-frame messages faster than those with a weaker BAS and individuals with a stronger FFFS would process the words presented in the loss-frame messages faster than those with a weaker FFFS. Further, it was expected that greater processing (faster reaction times) would be associated with greater acceptance for that message. Driver licence holding students (N = 108) were recruited to view one of four anti-speeding messages (i.e., social gain-frame, social loss-frame, physical gain-frame, and physical loss-frame). A computerised lexical decision task assessed participants’ subsequent reaction times to message words, as an indicator of the extent of processing of the previously viewed message. Self-report measures assessed personality and the three message acceptance measures. As predicted, the degree of initial processing of the content of the social gain-framed message mediated the relationship between the reward sensitive trait and message effectiveness. Initial processing of the physical loss-framed message partially mediated the relationship between the punishment sensitive trait and both message effectiveness and behavioural intention ratings. These results show that reward sensitivity and punishment sensitivity traits influence cognitive processing of gain-framed and loss-framed message content, respectively, and subsequently, message effectiveness and behavioural intention ratings. Specifically, a range of road safety messages (i.e., gain-frame and loss-frame messages) could be designed which align with the processing biases associated with personality and which would target those individuals who are sensitive to rewards and those who are sensitive to punishments.

Assessing the effectiveness of the child safety net : linkage of hospital and child protection services data on ‘maltreated’ and ‘unintentionally injured' children

-International recognition of need for public health response to child maltreatment -Need for early intervention at health system level -Important role of health professionals in identifying, reporting, documenting suspician of maltreatment -Up to 10% of all children presenting at ED’s are victims and without identification, 35% reinjured and 5% die -In Qld, mandatory reporting requirement for doctors and nurses for suspected abuse or neglect

Efficient safety message dissemination for cooperative collision warning via context modelling

A Cooperative Collision Warning System (CCWS) is an active safety techno- logy for road vehicles that can potentially reduce traffic accidents. It provides a driver with situational awareness and early warnings of any possible colli- sions through an on-board unit. CCWS is still under active research, and one of the important technical problems is safety message dissemination. Safety messages are disseminated in a high-speed mobile environment using wireless communication technology such as Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC). The wireless communication in CCWS has a limited bandwidth and can become unreliable when used inefficiently, particularly given the dynamic nature of road traffic conditions. Unreliable communication may significantly reduce the performance of CCWS in preventing collisions. There are two types of safety messages: Routine Safety Messages (RSMs) and Event Safety Messages (ESMs). An RSM contains the up-to-date state of a vehicle, and it must be disseminated repeatedly to its neighbouring vehicles. An ESM is a warning message that must be sent to all the endangered vehi- cles. Existing RSM and ESM dissemination schemes are inefficient, unscalable, and unable to give priority to vehicles in the most danger. Thus, this study investigates more efficient and scalable RSM and ESM dissemination schemes that can make use of the context information generated from a particular traffic scenario. Therefore, this study tackles three technical research prob- lems, vehicular traffic scenario modelling and context information generation, context-aware RSM dissemination, and context-aware ESM dissemination. The most relevant context information in CCWS is the information about possible collisions among vehicles given a current vehicular traffic situation. To generate the context information, this study investigates techniques to model interactions among multiple vehicles based on their up-to-date motion state obtained via RSM. To date, there is no existing model that can represent interactions among multiple vehicles in a speciffic region and at a particular time. The major outcome from the first problem is a new interaction graph model that can be used to easily identify the endangered vehicles and their danger severity. By identifying the endangered vehicles, RSM and ESM dis- semination can be optimised while improving safety at the same time. The new model enables the development of context-aware RSM and ESM dissemination schemes. To disseminate RSM efficiently, this study investigates a context-aware dis- semination scheme that can optimise the RSM dissemination rate to improve safety in various vehicle densities. The major outcome from the second problem is a context-aware RSM dissemination protocol. The context-aware protocol can adaptively adjust the dissemination rate based on an estimated channel load and danger severity of vehicle interactions given by the interaction graph model. Unlike existing RSM dissemination schemes, the proposed adaptive scheme can reduce channel congestion and improve safety by prioritising ve- hicles that are most likely to crash with other vehicles. The proposed RSM protocol has been implemented and evaluated by simulation. The simulation results have shown that the proposed RSM protocol outperforms existing pro- tocols in terms of efficiency, scalability and safety. To disseminate ESM efficiently, this study investigates a context-aware ESM dissemination scheme that can reduce unnecessary transmissions and deliver ESMs to endangered vehicles as fast as possible. The major outcome from the third problem is a context-aware ESM dissemination protocol that uses a multicast routing strategy. Existing ESM protocols use broadcast rout- ing, which is not efficient because ESMs may be sent to a large number of ve- hicles in the area. Using multicast routing improves efficiency because ESMs are sent only to the endangered vehicles. The endangered vehicles can be identified using the interaction graph model. The proposed ESM protocol has been implemented and evaluated by simulation. The simulation results have shown that the proposed ESM protocol can prevent potential accidents from occurring better than existing ESM protocols. The context model and the RSM and ESM dissemination protocols can be implemented in any CCWS development to improve the communication and safety performance of CCWS. In effect, the outcomes contribute to the realisation of CCWS that will ultimately improve road safety and save lives.