Defining Food Safety Inspection

Food safety inspections are a key health protection measure applied by governments to prevent foodborne illness, yet they remain the subject of sustained criticism. These criticisms include inconsistency and inadequacy of methods applied to inspection, and ineffectiveness in preventing foodborne illness. Investigating the validity of these criticisms represent important areas for further research. However, a defined construct around the meanings society attributes to food safety inspection must first be established. Through critical examination of available literature, this review identified meanings attributed to food safety inspection and explicates some of the key elements that compose food safety inspection as a social construct. A total of 18 meanings were found to be attributed to food safety inspection. Variation in meanings were found between consumers, food business associates and food safety inspectors. For some, inspection meant a source of assurance, for others a threat to fairness, while most view inspection as a product of resources and inspector training. The meanings were then examined in light of common criticisms directed at food safety inspection, to expound their influence in how food safety inspection is realized, shaped, and rationalized. This review highlights the influence of sociological factors in defining food safety inspection.

Use of drone (UAV) as a tool for work safety inspection for roofing activities in civil construction: a systematic review

Introduction: Falls from heights represent one of the most frequent accidents in civil constructions, mainly caused by different roofing activities. The risks should be first evaluated by conducting safety inspections, and then implementing adequate control measures to eliminate or reduce the risks of accidents. New technologies facilitate those inspections and make the processes much more efficient. The objective of this study was to make a systematic review to analyse works which used a drone as a visual tool for such safety inspection activities, systematize main information needed to consider in developing future drone research in civil construction. Methodology: The research was carried out on the Brazilian platform for scientific journals and conferences called “CAPES Portal”through the Preferred Report for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyzes (PRISMA) methodology. Several keywords were used for searching, including: "Construction", "Construction Safety", "Safety Inspection", "Safety Management", "Drone", "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles". Results and Discussion: In total, 102 articles were identified through the searching. After applying all the inclusion and exclusion criteria (published in the last 10 years, published in English or Portuguese language), In addition, the articles were included only if related to the use of drones in civil construction and if had some relationship with work safety inspection. A total number of 15 articles fulfilled the selection criteria’s and were included in this review. Theinformation about the analysed studies included information such as author/reference, the objective of the study, the country where the study was conducted, the activities which were analysed, conclusions, limitations and the type of the drone which was used in the research. In total, 8 of the 15 studies were developed in the United States, representing 53% of the total, while other studies are from Germany (4), Brazil (2), Australia (1) and Spain (1). Most studies analysed the inspection ofbridges and roofs. Conclusions: Studies have shown that there is evidence of the advantages of using drones to assist in safety inspections in civil construction, especially in bridges and roofs.

The Improvement of Safety Inspection Policies for Passenger Ships, Excursion Ships, and Ferries through Safety Management Analysis and On-site Inspections

In contrast to land, sea routes are exposed to many dangers due to certain conditions on the surface of the water. In the wake of the Sewol ferry disaster in April, 2014, ferry and other ship-related systems were improved. Experts from related organizations have since conducted safety inspections on passenger ships, excursion ships, and ferries in accordance with the National Security Agency and individual laws. These inspections were introduced after the public's attention was raised from not only the Sewol incident but also from the sinking of the cruise ship Hableány, which happened in Budapest, Hungary on May 29, 2015. Accordingly, this study presents measures to improve the safety management of passenger ships, excursion ships, and ferries such as facility standards, inspection regulations, and safety management regulations. These tasks will be accomplished by comprehensively analyzing problems through on-site inspections combined with safety management initiatives which will identify safety issues regarding passenger ships, excursion ships, and ferries.

How Scheduling Can Bias Quality Assessment: Evidence from Food-Safety Inspections

Accuracy and consistency are critical for inspections to be an effective, fair, and useful tool for assessing risks, quality, and suppliers—and for making decisions based on those assessments. We examine how inspector schedules could introduce bias that erodes inspection quality by altering inspector stringency. Our analysis of thousands of food-safety inspections reveals that inspectors are affected by the inspection outcomes at their prior-inspected establishment (outcome effects), citing more violations after they inspect establishments that exhibited worse compliance levels or trends. Moreover, consistent with negativity bias, the effect is stronger after observing compliance deterioration than improvement. Inspection results are also affected by when the inspection occurs within an inspector’s day (daily schedule effects): Inspectors cite fewer violations after spending more time conducting inspections throughout the day and when inspections risk prolonging their typical workday. Overall, our findings suggest that currently unreported violations would be cited if the outcome effects—which increase scrutiny—were triggered more often and if the daily schedule effects—which erode scrutiny—were reduced. For example, our estimates indicate that if outcome effects were doubled and daily schedule effects were fully mitigated, 11% more violations would be detected, enabling remedial actions that could substantially reduce foodborne illnesses and hospitalizations. Understanding and addressing these inspection biases can help managers and policymakers improve not only food safety but also process quality, environmental practices, occupational safety, and working conditions. This paper was accepted by Serguei Netessine, operations management.