Bouncing Back: Resilient Human Factor Management

Due to the fourth industrial revolution employees in high-risk environments are confronted with increasing complexity and thus, the need to make ever greater and faster adaptations. As a consequence, the importance of efficient and safe human-machine interactions – in other words, human factors – is constantly growing. In this context, one skill is becoming increasingly relevant: resilience. This ability to react appropriately in difficult situations, recognize mistakes and ‘bounce back’ from adverse or altering circumstances, increasing challenges and possible setbacks is of enormous value, especially for employees in high-risk environments. The basic prerequisite of resilience is considered to be balance of a person’s life energy among the various areas of life – a basic principle of Positive Psychotherapy. In addition, there are several personality traits, competencies and psychosocial factors that have been shown to help improve resilience. Both aspects will be examined in the following article. Also, the article invites self-reflection on one’s own life balance, personality traits and competencies central to resilience. For the encouraging and interesting message is: Resilience can be developed and promoted – and can thereby contribute to increasing safety in high-risk environments as well as to promoting the employees’ health.

Spatial spillover and COVID-19 spread in the U.S.

Background This research estimates the effects of vulnerability on the spread of COVID-19 cases across U.S. counties. Vulnerability factors (Socioeconomic Status, Minority Status & Language, Housing type, Transportation, Household Composition & Disability, Epidemiological Factors, Healthcare system Factors, High-risk Environments, and Population density) do not only influence an individual’s likelihood of getting infected but also influence the likelihood of his/her neighbors getting infected. Thus, spatial interactions occurring among individuals are likely to lead to spillover effects which may cause further virus transmission. Methods This research uses the COVID-19 community index (CCVI), which defines communities likely vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic and captures the multi-dimensionality of vulnerability. The spatial Durbin model was used to estimate the spillover effects of vulnerability to COVID-19 in U.S. counties, from May 1 to December 15, 2020. Results The findings confirm the existence of spatial spillover effects; with indirect effects (from neighboring counties) dominating the direct effects (from county-own vulnerability level). This not only validates social distancing as a strategy to contain the spread of the pandemic but also calls for comprehensive and coordinated approach to fight its effects. By keeping vulnerability factors constant but varying the number of reported infected cases every 2 weeks, we found that marginal effects of vulnerability vary significantly across counties. This might be the reflection of both the changing intensity of the pandemic itself but also the lack of consistency in the measures implemented to combat it. Conclusion Overall, the results indicate that high vulnerability in Minority, Epidemiological factors, Healthcare System Factors, and High-Risk Environments in each county and adjacent counties leads to an increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases.

Incidents and Disaster Avoidance: The Role of Communication Management and the Organizational Communication Climate in High-Risk Environments

Health, safety and the working environment are of paramount importance, especially in the high-risk environments found at facilities in the oil and gas industry, where hazards are inevitable and accidents may lead to regrettable situations such as explosions, oil spills and other disasters. The high number of accidents and disasters at such facilities bring safety-related matters to the fore. The complexity of the communication process is very often underestimated, where failures in communication could lead to major disasters. This paper investigates the role of communication management and the organizational communication climate and their impact on incidents and disaster avoidance. This study embarks on a quantitative approach involving 260 personnel from high-risk workplaces at oil and gas facilities, based on purposive sampling. Hypotheses were tested using PLS-SEM to identify causal relationships and for mediation analysis. The findings of this study show that communication management and the organizational communication climate have a significant impact on disaster avoidance. The organizational communication climate is also found to be a significant mediator for the relationship between communication management and disaster avoidance. Communication management and the organizational communication climate need to be enhanced and to be integrated with other technology and innovation to improve safety regulation adherence in the oil and gas industry.

Predator-induced maternal effects determine adaptive antipredator behaviors via egg composition

In high-risk environments with frequent predator encounters, efficient antipredator behavior is key to survival. Parental effects are a powerful mechanism to prepare offspring for coping with such environments, yet clear evidence for adaptive parental effects on offspring antipredator behaviors is missing. Rapid escape reflexes, or “C-start reflexes,” are a key adaptation in fish and amphibians to escape predator strikes. We hypothesized that mothers living in high-risk environments might induce faster C-start reflexes in offspring by modifying egg composition. Here, we show that offspring of the cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher developed faster C-start reflexes and were more risk averse if their parents had been exposed to cues of their most dangerous natural predator during egg production. This effect was mediated by differences in egg composition. Eggs of predator-exposed mothers were heavier with higher net protein content, and the resulting offspring were heavier and had lower igf-1 gene expression than control offspring shortly after hatching. Thus, changes in egg composition can relay multiple putative pathways by which mothers can influence adaptive antipredator behaviors such as faster escape reflexes.

Effects of Human-Likeness on Robot Use in High-Risk Environments

Previous research has shown that the design of robots can impact the level of trust, liking, and empathy that a user feels towards a robot. Additionally, this empathy can have direct impacts on users’ interactions with the system. Existing research has looked at how empathy can influence user willingness to, for example, put the robot in harm’s way or to destroy the robot. However, these studies have been inherently reliant upon narrative driven manipulations, which may result in experimental demands which could have influenced the results. As such, we provide a human-likeness manipulation in order to evaluate the impacts of design which may evoke empathy, on use of robots in high-risk environments. Results indicate no significant difference in robot use between conditions. These results are in conflict with previous research. More research is needed to understand when users are/are not willing to use a robot in a high-risk environment.

Walking on Thin Ice: How and Why Frontline Officers Cope With Managerialism, Accountability, and Risk in Probation Services

Probation officers (POs) operate in a high-risk environment. They are vulnerable to mediatic and political backlash and are confronted with managerial innovations that can conflict with their values. A thematic analysis of 29 interviews with Belgian POs reveals that classical coping mechanisms caused by time shortages, such as rationing and prioritization, are amplified by managerialism. POs also break rules which present limited meaningfulness and routinize offender control to alleviate pressure from accountabilities to both managers and the general public. The study demonstrates that managerialism and accountabilities to the managers, the public, and the politicians model coping mechanisms in high-risk environments.