A risk assessment tool for tailings storage facilities

The recent occurrence of several major failures of tailings storage facilities (TSF) has caused the mining industry to focus on significantly improving the engineering and management (design, construction, operation, and monitoring) of these structures to reduce their environmental impact. This effort is led by the Mining Association of Canada, which mandates the application of risk assessment in tailings management. Due to the very complex nature of TSF, such as phased design and construction, continuous operation, and evolving guidelines and practices over many years, the application of traditional risk assessment tools has limitations. A risk assessment tool specifically developed for TSF management is presented. This tool is based on the work of Silva et al. (2008) that relates the annual probability of failure to the factor of safety and the level of engineering. This relationship was modified to reflect current practice. The annual probability of failure was then combined with a consequence rating to produce a rational and quantifiable evaluation of risk. The risk assessment tool provides detailed information on the level of practice of a structure, the corresponding annual probability of failure as well as the associated risk. Validation of the tool included application to a recent well-documented failure.

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Further validation of an opioid risk assessment tool: The Brief Risk Interview

Journal of Opioid Management ◽

10.5055/jom.2014.0226 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 353 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Ted Jones, PhD ◽

Samantha Lookatch, MA ◽

Patricia Grant, MS, ANP-C ◽

Janice McIntyre, MS, ANP-C ◽

Todd Moore, PhD

Keyword(s):

Risk Assessment ◽

Chronic Pain ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Predictive Accuracy ◽

Training Session ◽

Predictive Ability ◽

Standard Of Care ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

Risk Assessment Tool ◽

Aberrant Behavior

Opioids remain a common method of treating chronic pain conditions despite some controversy. In an effort to address some of the risks of opioid medications, opioid risk assessment has become a standard of care when opioids are used to treat a chronic pain condition. Research to date has found that clinical interviews may be superior to currently available patient-completed written questionnaires in identifying patients likely to engage in medication aberrant behavior. The Brief Risk Interview (BRI) has been developed as a risk assessment tool that has the sensitivity of a clinical interview while eliminating the need for the lengthy process of an interview. The current study compared the predictive ability of the BRI with two commonly used patient-completed risk assessment tools: the Opioid Risk Tool (ORT) and the Screener and Opioid Assessment for Patients with Pain-Revised (SOAPP-R). After clinical staff at a pain practice underwent a 1-hour training program, 124 consecutive new patients were evaluated using the BRI, ORT, and SOAPP-R. Follow-up data found that the BRI was a good predictor of medication aberrant behavior and offered better sensitivity and better overall predictive accuracy than the ORT or the SOAPP-R. Overall, it appears that the BRI is a valid risk assessment tool that, after a brief training session, can be used effectively by pain clinicians. Further study is needed in other practice settings and with larger sample sizes.

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A Systematic Review of the Guidelines and Delphi Study for the Multifactorial Fall Risk Assessment of Community-Dwelling Elderly

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17176097 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (17) ◽

pp. 6097

Author(s):

Jieun Kim ◽

Worlsook Lee ◽

Seon Heui Lee

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Risk Assessment ◽

Delphi Study ◽

Fall Risk ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

The Elderly ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

Risk Assessment Tool ◽

Fall Risk Assessment

As falls are among the most common causes of injury for the elderly, the prevention and early intervention are necessary. Fall assessment tools that include a variety of factors are recommended for preventing falls, but there is a lack of such tools. This study developed a multifactorial fall risk assessment tool based on current guidelines and validated it from the perspective of professionals. We followed the Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology’s guidelines in this systematic review. We used eight international and five Korean databases to search for appropriate guidelines. Based on the review results, we conducted the Delphi survey in three rounds; one open round and two scoring rounds. About nine experts in five professional areas participated in the Delphi study. We included nine guidelines. After conducting the Delphi study, the final version of the “Multifactorial Fall Risk Assessment tool for Community-Dwelling Older People” (MFA-C) has 36 items in six factors; general characteristics, behavior factors, disease history, medication history, physical function, and environmental factors. The validity of the MFA-C tool was largely supported by various academic fields. It is expected to be beneficial to the elderly in the community when it comes to tailored interventions to prevent falls.

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Evaluation of a West Nile virus risk-assessment tool used at a local health unit

Environmental Health Review ◽

10.5864/d2020-004 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 63 (1) ◽

pp. 21-26

Author(s):

Manjinder Bamotra ◽

Wendy Pons ◽

Ian Young

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Risk Assessment ◽

West Nile Virus ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

Risk Assessment Tool ◽

Local Health ◽

Health Unit ◽

West Nile ◽

Local Health Unit

In Ontario, public health units collect surveillance data on vector-borne diseases (VBD) to determine emerging trends and develop VBD management strategies. Risk-assessment tools that are simple and easily applied can provide public health practitioners with objective evaluations of the risk of West Nile virus (WNV) activity in their jurisdiction. This study was conducted to evaluate an existing WNV risk-assessment tool used by a public health unit in southern Ontario. The purpose of this study was to: (i) describe the trends for WNV in mosquito and human cases in the Region of Peel, Ontario, Canada, and (ii) investigate the ability of the risk-assessment tool to predict positive human cases and positive mosquito traps in the following weeks. Data were collected from 2011 to 2016 and analysed using simple descriptive statistics and Fisher’s exact tests. This study found the tool includes variables that are not significant in predicting WNV activity in the following weeks. The current tool should be revised to remove variables that are not significant in predicting risk and add additional variables that have been shown to be effective predictors in other studies, such as rainfall and human WNV cases in the previous year.

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