Railroad Yard Safety: Perspectives from Labor and Management

2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (13) ◽  
pp. 1201-1204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Reinach ◽  
Judith B. Gertler
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Safety Climate ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Worker Safety ◽  
Training Methods ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Injury Rates ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Railroad Industry ◽  
The U.S

Safety in the U.S. railroad industry has improved markedly over the last two decades. Train accident and employee injury rates have both declined sharply. While current railroad accident and injury rates are low in comparison to other modes of transportation, these rates in railroad yards far exceed the overall accident and injury rates across the entire railroad industry. To assist the U.S. railroad industry in its efforts to improve safety, the Federal Railroad Administration initiated research to examine worker safety issues in yards. Part of this research effort involved conducting structured interviews with railroad management and focus groups with railroad labor. A number of safety-related topics were addressed, such as overall safety climate, safety incentive programs, and training. Methods of data collection are described, results of the structured interviews and focus groups are presented, and opportunities for improving safety in the railroad industry are identified.

THE END OF BETTERMENT ACCOUNTING: A STUDY OF THE ECONOMIC, PROFESSIONAL, AND REGULATORY FACTORS THAT FOSTERED STANDARDS CONVERGENCE IN THE U.S. RAILROAD INDUSTRY, 1955–1983

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan R. Heier ◽  
A. Lee Gurley
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Interstate Commerce Commission ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Railroad Industry ◽  
Tax Legislation ◽  
Industry Standards ◽  
Securities Industry ◽  
Arthur Andersen ◽  
The U.S

On January 26, 1983, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) announced that it would require all railroads under its regulatory jurisdiction to change from Retirement-Replacement-Betterment (RRB) accounting, to a more theoretically sound depreciation accounting for matching revenues and expenses. The change was needed because RRB did not allow for the recapture of track investment, leaving the railroads with limited capital to replace aging track lines. Over the previous three decades, it had become painfully obvious to everyone that the industry's economic woes were the result of archaic accounting procedures that lacked harmony with the rest of American accounting standards, but the ICC was reluctant to change until new tax legislation in the early 1980s forced the issue. The decision was a culmination of a debate that started in the mid-1950s when Arthur Andersen, with the help of the securities industry, began an effort to harmonize railroad and industry standards using arguments that mirror those supporting the international accounting harmonization efforts of the early 21st century.

scholarly journals An intervention to decrease burnout and increase retention of early career nurses: a mixed methods study of acceptability and feasibility

BMC Nursing ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Brook ◽  
Leanne M. Aitken ◽  
Julie-Ann MacLaren ◽  
Debra Salmon
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Nursing Students ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Healthcare Organisation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Aims To understand the experiences of nursing students and academic staff of an intervention to decrease burnout and increase retention of early career nurses, in order to identify acceptability and feasibility in a single centre. Background Internationally, retention of nurses is a persistent challenge but there is a dearth of knowledge about the perspectives of stakeholders regarding the acceptability and feasibility of interventions to resolve the issue. This study reports an intervention comprising of mindfulness, psychological skills training and cognitive realignment to prepare participants for early careers as nurses. Methods This is an explanatory sequential mixed methods study, conducted by a UK university and healthcare organisation. Participants were final year pre-registration nursing students (n = 74) and academics (n = 7) involved in the implementation of the intervention. Pre and post measures of acceptability were taken using a questionnaire adapted from the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test was used to assess change in acceptability over time. Qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, focus groups and field notes were thematically analysed, adhering to COREQ guidelines. Data were collected February to December 2019. Results One hundred and five questionnaires, 12 interviews with students and 2 focus groups engaging 7 academic staff were completed. The intervention was perceived as generally acceptable with significant positive increases in acceptability scores over time. Student nurses perceived the intervention equipped them with skills and experience that offered enduring personal benefit. Challenges related to the practice environment and academic assessment pressures. Reported benefits align with known protective factors against burnout and leaving the profession. Conclusion Planning is needed to embed the intervention into curricula and maximise relationships with placement partners. Evaluating acceptability and feasibility offers new knowledge about the value of the intervention for increasing retention and decreasing burnout for early career nurses. Wider implementation is both feasible and recommended by participants.

scholarly journals Rethinking success, integrity, and culture in research (part 1) — a multi-actor qualitative study on success in science

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noémie Aubert Bonn ◽  
Wim Pinxten
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Research Integrity ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research Students

Abstract Background Success shapes the lives and careers of scientists. But success in science is difficult to define, let alone to translate in indicators that can be used for assessment. In the past few years, several groups expressed their dissatisfaction with the indicators currently used for assessing researchers. But given the lack of agreement on what should constitute success in science, most propositions remain unanswered. This paper aims to complement our understanding of success in science and to document areas of tension and conflict in research assessments. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups with policy makers, funders, institution leaders, editors or publishers, research integrity office members, research integrity community members, laboratory technicians, researchers, research students, and former-researchers who changed career to inquire on the topics of success, integrity, and responsibilities in science. We used the Flemish biomedical landscape as a baseline to be able to grasp the views of interacting and complementary actors in a system setting. Results Given the breadth of our results, we divided our findings in a two-paper series, with the current paper focusing on what defines and determines success in science. Respondents depicted success as a multi-factorial, context-dependent, and mutable construct. Success appeared to be an interaction between characteristics from the researcher (Who), research outputs (What), processes (How), and luck. Interviewees noted that current research assessments overvalued outputs but largely ignored the processes deemed essential for research quality and integrity. Interviewees suggested that science needs a diversity of indicators that are transparent, robust, and valid, and that also allow a balanced and diverse view of success; that assessment of scientists should not blindly depend on metrics but also value human input; and that quality should be valued over quantity. Conclusions The objective of research assessments may be to encourage good researchers, to benefit society, or simply to advance science. Yet we show that current assessments fall short on each of these objectives. Open and transparent inter-actor dialogue is needed to understand what research assessments aim for and how they can best achieve their objective. Study Registration osf.io/33v3m.

Adaptive clothing features to support daily exercising needs of muscular dystrophy victimized women in Sri Lanka

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niromi Seram ◽  
Rivini Mataraarachchi ◽  
Thanuri Jayaneththi
Keyword(s):  
Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Daily Exercise ◽  
Custom Made

Purpose Exercising is a key approach adopted by muscular dystrophy patients to halt the weakening of muscles as it can eventually lead to serious immobility issues. Though it is essential to exercise on a daily basis for healthy living, there is no mention of any research effort in the current literature regarding the development of an apparel product for these mobility-affected patients that might assist them both in meeting their exercising needs and providing them some comfort in their daily living. Thus, this paper aims to focus on identifying the specific needs of muscular dystrophy victims and proposing special adaptive clothing solutions to support their daily exercise and mobility needs. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the objectives of this study, attention was focused on the muscular dystrophy afflicted women in Sri Lanka. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the female victims of muscular dystrophy and their lifestyles were observed carefully; additional data were gathered by holding semi-structured interviews with their physiotherapists. Further, interviews were conducted with both garment technologists and fabric technologists too. Data gathered through these methods were analyzed qualitatively using the principles of thematic analysis and then aggregate conclusions were drawn. Findings It was observed that the patients were engaged in special activities such as exercising three times a day besides following their normal day-to-day activities to maintain and develop muscle strength. It soon became evident that these women found it difficult to perform their daily exercise routines with their regular clothing and were looking for custom made clothing they could wear all day long in comfort and avoid the problems that arose while exercising. The study specifies the requirements that must be met to satisfy both generic and specific needs. Considering all these aspects some adaptive clothing solutions were proposed to support daily exercising activity with respect to comfort, convenience, health and safety, as well as socio-cultural and psychological needs. Originality/value The area of fusing generic and specific features to support the daily exercising needs of muscular dystrophy victims is an untouched field of experimentation and being a need of the disabled, the present study marks a milestone on the way to a novel area of apparel design, besides exploring a new field of research.

scholarly journals Sensor-Based Safety Performance Assessment of Individual Construction Workers

Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 3897 ◽  
Author(s):  
JeeWoong Park ◽  
Yong K. Cho ◽  
Ali Khodabandelu
Keyword(s):  
Risk Model ◽  
Tracking System ◽  
Field Tests ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Worker Safety ◽  
Well Test ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Monitoring Method ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Automated Method

Over the last decade, researchers have explored various technologies and methodologies to enhance worker safety at construction sites. The use of advanced sensing technologies mainly has focused on detecting and warning about safety issues by directly relying on the detection capabilities of these technologies. Until now, very little research has explored methods to quantitatively assess individual workers’ safety performance. For this, this study uses a tracking system to collect and use individuals’ location data in the proposed safety framework. A computational and analytical procedure/model was developed to quantify the safety performance of individual workers beyond detection and warning. The framework defines parameters for zone-based safety risks and establishes a zone-based safety risk model to quantify potential risks to workers. To demonstrate the model of safety analysis, the study conducted field tests at different construction sites, using various interaction scenarios. Probabilistic evaluation showed a slight underestimation and overestimation in certain cases; however, the model represented the overall safety performance of a subject quite well. Test results showed clear evidence of the model’s ability to capture safety conditions of workers in pre-identified hazard zones. The developed approach presents a way to provide visualized and quantified information as a form of safety index, which has not been available in the industry. In addition, such an automated method may present a suitable safety monitoring method that can eliminate human deployment that is expensive, error-prone, and time-consuming.

scholarly journals Investigating the Relationships between Safety Climate and Safety Performance Indicators in Retrofitting Works

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Alaa Nadhim ◽  
Carol K.H. Hon ◽  
Bo Xia ◽  
Ian Stewart ◽  
Dongping Fang
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Latent Variables ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Safety Climate ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Effective Role ◽  
The Relationship

Retrofitting works has become increasingly important in the construction industry, as it plays an effective role in providing solutions to maintain, upgrade or change the functions to the existing or aged buildings. Very often, safety issues of retrofitting works are underestimated because there may be unreported accidents in small projects and there is no separate classification of accident statistics for the retrofitting works within the construction industry. As safety climate is widely regarded as a contributing factor to safety performance, the aim of this research was to examine the relationship between safety climate and safety performance in retrofitting works context. The safety climate questionnaire NOSACQ-50 has been employed to measure safety climate in retrofitting works. Field patrols were undertaken to distribute the safety questionnaires to the local worksites that undertake retrofits in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. 264 valid questionnaires were collected. SEM was employed to examine the existence and strength of the relationship between safety climate and safety performance. PLS-SEM was utilised to estimate the parameters of the structural model. The model has exposed a positive relationship between safety climate and safety performance in retrofitting context. This research was the first to examine the relationship between the second order latent variables. A positive relationship (0.60 with 36 percent of explained variance) was found between safety climate and safety performance.

scholarly journals Suggested Research Agenda for the Railroad Industry

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-45
Author(s):  
Barton Jennings
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
Degree Programs ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Railroad Industry ◽  
Transportation Infrastructures ◽  
Research Initiatives ◽  
Service Standards

The railroad industry is experiencing a worldwide resurgence. International trade is booming as populations continue to grow and transportation infrastructures are nearing capacity. In the United States, the industry is being pressured to provide more services, while at the same time traffic levels are skyrocketing on a network that is much smaller than it was just fifty years ago. Additionally, security and safety issues are challenging the industry, as well as the regulatory agencies associated with railroading. To help with these problems, the industry is calling for more academic involvement through new degree programs and research initiatives. This paper reviews five major areas where academic research could assist the railroad industry in these challenges: capacity expansion, service standards, safety, security, and data management and analysis.

scholarly journals Travellers of the Caribbean: Positioning Brasília in Haitian migration routes through Latin America

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Dias ◽  
João Carlos Jarochinski Silva ◽  
Sidney Antonio da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Linear Movement ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Border Controls ◽  
Latin America Countries

Abstract This paper examines how Haitian migration connecting Haiti to Brasília is enacted through Latin America. The empirical data come from an ethnographic study of Haitians in Brasilia. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 34 migrants to reconstruct their mobilities. We explore how the Haitians’ historical practice of living on the move has enabled them to deal with border controls and develop tactics to circulate through several Latin America countries, including Brazil. We argue that their migration to the Brazilian capital can neither be understood as a linear movement characterized by an established Haiti-Brasilia connection nor defined as movement to a place where these migrants attempt to settle down. Rather, we show that the recent presence of Brasilia in the mobility of these Haitians has to be understood in the context of a vast dynamic meshwork of places, people and information.

scholarly journals Drinking Carling Out of Stella Glasses: People and Place in the Missing Middle

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn McEwan
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Housing Estate ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Private Housing ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Qualitative Phenomenological ◽  
Missing Middle

As trends of social and economic change allow precarity to inch into the lives of those who may have been more accustomed to security (Standing, 2011, 2014), this paper addresses the response of some young people who are caught “betwixt and between” in potentially liminal states (Turner, 1967). Those whose families have undertaken intra- or intergenerational social mobility and who have made a home in a place, Ingleby Barwick in Teesside, that seems to be of them and for them—an in-between place that is seen as “not quite” middle or working class. This paper draws data from a research project that adopted a qualitative phenomenological approach to uncover the meaning of experiences for participants. Methods included focus groups and semi-structured interviews through which 70 local people contributed their thoughts, hopes, concerns, and stories about their lives now and what they aspire to for the future. Places, such as the large private housing estate in the Northeast of England on which this research was carried out, make up significant sections of the UK population, yet tend to be understudied populations, often missed by a sociological gaze attracted to extremes. It was anticipated that in Ingleby Barwick, where social mobility allows access to this relatively exclusive estate, notions of individualism and deservingness that underlie meritocratic ideology (Mendick et al., 2015; Littler, 2018) would be significant, a supposition borne out in the findings. “Making it” to Ingleby was, and continues to be, indicative to many of meritocratic success, making it “a moral place for moral people” (McEwan, 2019). Consequently, the threat then posed by economic precarity, of restricting access to the transitions and lifestyles that create the “distinction” (Bourdieu, 1984) required to denote fit to this place, is noted to be very real in a place ironically marked by many outside it as fundamentally unreal.

Life Cycle Assessment Framework for the U.S. Bridge Inventory

2018 ◽  
Vol 2672 (12) ◽  
pp. 82-92
Author(s):  
Saeed Babanajad ◽  
Yun Bai ◽  
Helmut Wenzel ◽  
Moritz Wenzel ◽  
Hooman Parvardeh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Effort ◽  
Probabilistic Approach ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
Model Framework ◽  
Basic Model ◽  
Federal Highway ◽  
Realistic Assessment ◽  
Bridge Performance ◽  
The U.S

The effective management of bridges requires a good understanding of their life expectancies. Improved prediction of bridge service life is required to be developed in order to better understand bridge deterioration and to find more effective maintenance and repair strategies. These models are integral components of the Long-Term Bridge Performance Program (LTBP), a 20-year research effort initiated by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to improve the understanding of bridge performance. In this paper, the development of a life expectancy model framework, as part of the research effort in this program, is presented. The framework is established based on a semi-probabilistic approach to adherently maintain the advantages of both deterministic and probabilistic techniques. The modeling follows a step-by-step process which incorporates data collected from historical records, training the data, creating a model based on the most suitable approach, and reducing the associated uncertainties. The basic model is first trained by the network of bridge inventory and the uncertainties are reflected by determining lower and upper margins. Then the model is improved by introducing the new knowledge gained from the external attributes influencing the structure. Finally, the condition states of the bridge components are employed directly to refine the model for realistic assessment. The developed model is later automated into the Bridge Portal, the main core of the bridge-performance data warehouse. A detailed example using the Mid-Atlantic cluster bridge inventory data is presented in this paper to illustrate the application of the method described above.

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