Effects of Safety Zone Implementation on Perceptions of Safety and Well-being When Caring for COVID-19 Patients

Background In March 2020, the caseload of patients positive for COVID-19 in hospitals began increasing rapidly, creating fear and anxiety among health care workers and concern about supplies of personal protective equipment. Objectives To determine if implementing safety zones improves the perceptions of safety, well-being, workflow, and teamwork among hospital staff caring for patients during a pandemic. Methods A safety zone process was implemented to designate levels of contamination risk and appropriate activities for certain areas. Zones were designated as hot (highest risk), warm (moderate risk), or cold (lowest risk). Caregivers working in the safety zones were invited to complete a survey regarding their perceptions of safety, caregiver well-being, workflow, and teamwork. Each question was asked twice to obtain caregiver opinions for the periods before and after implementation of the zones. Results Significant improvements were seen in perceptions of caregiver safety (P < .001) and collaboration within a multidisciplinary staff (P < .001). Significant reductions in perceived staff fatigue (P = .03), perceived cross contamination (P < .001), anxiety (P < .001), and fear of exposure (P < .001) were also seen. Teamwork (P = .23) and workflow (P = .69) were not significantly affected. Conclusions Safety zone implementation improved caregivers’ perceptions of their safety, their well-being, and collaboration within the multidisciplinary staff but did not improve their perceptions of teamwork or workflow.

Correlação entre os escores Surgical Risk Calculator e Safety Zone no pré-operatório de cirurgias não cardíacas

Contexto: A TEV é uma complicação comum em pacientes hospitalizados. Assim, a estratificação do risco tromboembólico é essencial para minimizar complicações e otimizar a condição pré-operatória do paciente antes de cirurgias eletivas. Objetivo:Investigar a correlação entre o escore ACS NSQIP Surgical Risk Calculator e o TEV Safety Zone na avaliação ambulatorial pré-operatória do risco tromboembólico em cirurgias não cardíacas.Métodos: Estudo observacional transversal retrospectivo com análise de prontuários eletrônicos de pacientes atendidos em um ambulatório multidisciplinar de medicina e enfermagem perioperatória no período compreendido entre Janeiro e Dezembro de 2017. Correlacionou-se o escore de risco tromboembólico TEV Safety Zone já aplicado no ambulatório com o risco de tromboembolismo venoso obtido pela calculadora de risco ACS NSQIP Surgical Risk Calculator. Resultados:Foi coletada uma amostra de 416 prontuários. Destes, 197 (47,6%) resultaram em risco equivalente entre os dois escores e 219 divergiram nos resultados. Obteve-se um p<0,001 através do teste de Wilcoxon.Conclusões: Houve correlação entre o ACS NSQIP Surgical Risk Calculator e o TEV Safety Zone (p<0,001).

Influence of Geometry in the Behavior of Disc-Shaped Mechanical Energy Absorbers for Agricultural Tractors

Disc-shaped mechanical energy absorbers (MEAs), in combination with rollover protection structures (ROPSs), may contribute to the prevention of the infringement of the safety zone and the collapse of the ROPS in case of the overturn of an agricultural tractor. An MEA can absorb a significant amount of potential energy of an overturning tractor and its deformation produces a rotation of the ROPS around the safety zone. In this research, MEAs with two different geometries have been developed. Both geometries present common features, such as disc dimensions, number of rings, and number of arms, but the distribution of the arms differs. Additionally, these MEA were manufactured in steel discs of four different thicknesses, ranging from 2 to 6 mm. The manufactured MEAs were tested in a universal testing machine, and their behavior characterized. From this data, linear models of the MEAs were developed. As a consequence, a number of characteristic parameters were selected and calculated, such as the activation load and the strain energy absorbed in a safe range of applied loads. Some patterns and trends were analyzed from the tested MEAs, which enables a better description of their behavior and the extrapolation of this behavior to other non-tested thicknesses and geometries.

Driving Simulator Study for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Virtual Warnings to Improve the Safety of Interaction Between Cyclists and Vehicles

Globally, cyclists account for 3% of all road traffic deaths, with the highest percentage occurring in Europe (8%) where the bicycle is considered a true alternative mode of transport. Among the causes of crashes are vehicles overtaking cyclists, especially on rural roads. In this study, a new application of augmented reality (AR) warnings for connected vehicles is tested by means of a driving simulator. The overall objective of the study consists in assessing the effectiveness of three proposed AR systems in improving the safety of interactions between vehicles and cyclists, especially during overtaking maneuvers. The AR systems were tested on a sample of 46 drivers and provided them with additional virtual visual information aimed at improving the driver’s risk perception and assessment of safe distance from a cyclist. The virtual warning configurations were: (i) a yellow safety zone around the cyclist; (ii) a color-changing safety zone that changes from red to green when the driver has safe lateral space to overtake the cyclist; (iii) the same color-changing security zone but with an additional acoustic warning. The AR warnings were found to be quite effective as they helped drivers overtake cyclists more safely. With AR warnings (especially with the additional audio), it was found that drivers adopted longer distances from cyclists and entered the oncoming lane less frequently, thus lowering the risk of collision with cyclists as well as the risk of head-on collision with oncoming vehicles.

Safety or Efficiency? An ECSO Framework of Traffic Organization Optimization for LNG Carriers Entering and Leaving Port

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is a clean, efficient, and economic energy, which is mainly transported by LNG carriers in the marine industry. Massive storage of LNG has led to public concern about the possible hazards of LNG carriers for people and facilities. This paper aims to determine the appropriate level of a safety zone and to develop an optimized traffic organization scheme. An innovative ECSO framework is proposed to deal with these two tasks. The results of the comparative analysis show that the influence degree of the optimized scheme is 21%, which is distinctly lower than the previous scheme (33%). To some content, the proposed framework can provide meaningful enlightenments for stakeholders to improve port service level and ensure the safe operation of LNG carriers.

Perfilación geográfica del hurtador en Barcelona

El hurto es el delito más recurrente en Barcelona, que causa una percepción de inseguridad ciudadana, y que plantea la necesidad de crear estrategias de prevención e intervención por parte de la policía, siendo de gran ayuda la perfilación geográfica. Así, el objetivo principal de esta investigación es establecer el perfil geoespacial de una muestra de hurtadores, mediante un estudio empírico, descriptivo y aplicado, en el que se empleó el método cuantitativo. Se partió de una muestra inicial de 66 delincuentes, en la cual se analizó la distancia del domicilio al lugar del hurto, y de una segunda muestra de 15, para comparar los perfiles de los commuters y los maraduers y establecer la safety zone y la decay distance. De acuerdo con la teoría; los ladrones nocturnos viven más cerca del lugar del hurto que los diurnos, la mayoría residen en la zona metropolitana y hurtan aproximadamente a unos 5 km de su domicilio. Se distribuyen equitativamente entre commuters y marauders, siendo los marauders los que recorren distancias más cortas y delinquen de forma más recurrente. Concretamente, en Barcelona, tres de cada diez vuelven a delinquir dentro de los 70 días posteriores al hurto; para los marauders se estableció la safety zone a una distancia de 0.36 km y la decay distance a 3 km de su domicilio.

Analisis Potensi Genangan Tsunami dan Penentuan Jalur Evakuasi Berbasis Sistem Informasi Geografis di Desa Daruba Pantai – Kabupaten Pulau Morotai

Tsunami is one of the catastrophic events that threatened coastal areas in Morotai Island Regency. This is partly because the location of the regency is among several active faults. Therefore, the study aims to analyze the tsunami inundation area and determine a tsunami evacuation route in Daruba Pantai Village, South Morotai District. This study begins with the preparation of a digital elevation model and is compiled with other related maps to produce the tsunami inundation area at the study site. The study results show that a tsunami can hit 176.65 ha, with the disastrous and dangerous category being 5.02% and 0.66%. Meanwhile, specifically for the Daruba Pantai Village area with an area of 60.59 ha, the disastrous and dangerous categories are 10.72% and 1.30%, and the safe category is 36.61% and secure 23.07%. Furthermore, the preparation of the evacuation route is based on the scenario that residents from each zone of both the Neighborhood Unit (RT) and Community Unit (RW) are directed to follow the evacuation path to move towards the temporary shelter point and towards the safety zone.

Legal Guarantees for the Safety of China’s Offshore Oil and Gas Facilities: Status, Defects and Countermeasures

The safety of offshore oil and gas facilities is a deep concern in relation to the security of China’s fossil energy supply. At present, there are a series of international law protection systems with the offshore facility safety zone system as the core. Most of world’s major maritime countries have established offshore oil and gas facilities protection systems in the form of domestic legislation in accordance with relevant international law, and some of them have adopted measures expanding the scope of their safety zones to strengthen protection. However, there remain some defects in the existing international law system. Therefore, the Chinese government needs to promptly clarify its position on issues related to the offshore facilities safety zone system, and propose the formulation of a specialised convention.