Functional Resonance Analysis in an Overtaking Situation in Road Traffic: Comparing the Performance Variability Mechanisms between Human and Automation

Automated driving promises great possibilities in traffic safety advancement, frequently assuming that human error is the main cause of accidents, and promising a significant decrease in road accidents through automation. However, this assumption is too simplistic and does not consider potential side effects and adaptations in the socio-technical system that traffic represents. Thus, a differentiated analysis, including the understanding of road system mechanisms regarding accident development and accident avoidance, is required to avoid adverse automation surprises, which is currently lacking. This paper, therefore, argues in favour of Resilience Engineering using the functional resonance analysis method (FRAM) to reveal these mechanisms in an overtaking scenario on a rural road to compare the contributions between the human driver and potential automation, in order to derive system design recommendations. Finally, this serves to demonstrate how FRAM can be used for a systemic function allocation for the driving task between humans and automation. Thus, an in-depth FRAM model was developed for both agents based on document knowledge elicitation and observations and interviews in a driving simulator, which was validated by a focus group with peers. Further, the performance variabilities were identified by structured interviews with human drivers as well as automation experts and observations in the driving simulator. Then, the aggregation and propagation of variability were analysed focusing on the interaction and complexity in the system by a semi-quantitative approach combined with a Space-Time/Agency framework. Finally, design recommendations for managing performance variability were proposed in order to enhance system safety. The outcomes show that the current automation strategy should focus on adaptive automation based on a human-automation collaboration, rather than full automation. In conclusion, the FRAM analysis supports decision-makers in enhancing safety enriched by the identification of non-linear and complex risks.

Reversing Poor Safety Records: Identifying Best Practices to Improve Fleet Safety

Commercial motor vehicle safety is of utmost importance, as crashes involving commercial motor vehicles often result in significant property damage, injuries, fatalities, and financial loss for fleets. However, fleet managers are often unsure what strategies other fleets have used to successfully improve safety. To identify best practices, researchers completed case studies with nine commercial motor vehicle fleets that successfully improved their safety performance. A content analysis was performed, and the successful strategies were organized into the Haddon Matrix. Results showed that there was no one single strategy that fleets used to improve safety. Instead, fleets relied on a comprehensive approach focusing on pre-crash countermeasures, including addressing hiring practices, driver training, fleet safety culture, safety technologies, scheduling, and maintenance. However, an enhanced safety culture and advanced safety technology were identified as critical components to their safety improvement. Results from this study may help fleets understand what their peers have used to successfully improve safety and which strategies may not be as helpful.

Using Tolerance Bounds for Estimation of Characteristic Fatigue Curves for Composites with Confidence

Fatigue S–N curves provide the number of stress cycles that result in fatigue failure at stress range S and need to be measured for new engineering materials where data are not as readily available as they are for well-characterized and widely used metals. A simple statistical method for the estimation of characteristic fatigue curves defined in terms of lower-tail quantiles in probability distributions of dependent variables is presented. The method allows for the estimation of such quantiles with a specified confidence level, taking account of the statistical uncertainty caused by a limited number of experimental test results available for the estimation. The traditional general approach for estimating characteristic S–N curves by tolerance bounds is complicated and is not much used by engineers. The presented approach allows for calculating the curves with a simple spreadsheet. The only requirement is that the experimental log S data for the S–N curve are fairly uniformly distributed over a finite logS interval, where S denotes the stress range. Experimental fatigue test programs are often designed such that test data fulfil this assumption. Although developed with fatigue of composite laminates in mind, the presented statistical procedure and the presented associated charts are valid for fatigue curve estimation for any material.

A Study on Single Pilot Resource Management Using Integral Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process

This research aims to help develop aviation safety policies for the general aviation industry, especially for flight training schools. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP), fuzzy AHP, and fuzzy integral methods were used to find variables that impact aviation safety for training pilots in Korea and the United States using survey participants’ experience and perceptions. The results represent the circumstances of aviation safety in the real world where single pilot resource management, especially situational awareness, is crucial. The authors find that integral fuzzy AHP provides more explicit considerations, making up for the ambiguity of the linguistic responses caused by the AHP and fuzzy AHP.

Older Driver Safety: A Renewed Perspective in a Survey Study in Illinois, U.S

Older adults (aged 65 or older) are at higher risk of involvement in motor vehicle crashes. Many studies have been conducted on older road users’ safety, but how older people’s driving behavior and demographic characteristics, and warnings of side effects of prescription medication, are associated with their crash risk has not been fully investigated. Aimed to address this knowledge gap, a mail survey of older drivers in Illinois, U.S. was conducted. Information on respondents’ driving behaviors, demographic characteristics, physical conditions, medication use, crash experience, etc. was gathered. Response distributions, odds ratios, and logistic regression models were employed to analyze the survey data. The results showed that most respondents kept a high level of mobility despite driving difficulty and medication use. Older drivers’ crash risk is mainly affected by external factors (driving exposure, alcohol consumption, and medication use) rather than their demographic characteristics and driving difficulty. Warnings from physicians on the side effects of prescription drugs had no significant effects on older drivers’ crash risk. Given the importance of mobility to older adults, the focus needs to be placed on providing a safe roadway system and safe driving advice for older drivers, particularly those who are on medication.

A Brief Report of Hotel Collapse Causing Casualties in Suzhou, China

The collapse of a 30-year-old hotel building in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province on 12 July 2021 raised legitimate questions about the identification of old buildings’ condition and risks stemming from remedial operations. This short communication reports and investigates the causes of this accident, which led to 17 deaths and 5 injuries. Subsequently, it describes the rescue actions undertaken, including logistic means, operational strategies, and procedure sequencing. The causes of the accident were attributed to: (i) the poor quality and fragility of the building, (ii) illegal renovations and extensions, as well as (iii) the laxism of relevant departments that failed to timely check the risk level of the building before these renovations. Thanks to efficient organization and management, the rescue operations were completed within 42 h. Based on this preliminary analysis, some recommendations are proposed to prevent similar incidents in the future.

A Brief Report on the Explosion on 13 June 2021 at a Market in Shiyan, China

A huge gas explosion occurred on 13 June 2021 in Shiyan City, China, resulting in 25 casualties and serious injuries to 37 people. The main victims of this explosion were stall keepers and customers buying breakfast and fresh vegetables in the food market. There is a continuous need to enhance the understanding of such unfortunate events, given the dangers they pose. This study analyzes the causes of this accident considering the general background and scenes of the explosion, and then describes the rescue operations undertaken. The investigation results revealed that the explosion was caused by the poor maintenance of gas facilities and negligence of safety regulations. It is, therefore, recommended that the control of these two main aspects be strengthened to reduce the recurrence of such unfortunate accidents.

Safety and Reliability Analysis of an Ammonia-Powered Fuel-Cell System

Recently, the shipping industry has been under increasing pressure to improve its environmental impact with a target of a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, compared to the 2008 levels. For this reason, great attention has been placed on alternative zero-carbon fuels, specifically ammonia, which is considered a promising solution for shipping decarbonisation. In this respect, a novel ammonia-powered fuel-cell configuration is proposed as an energy-efficient power generation configuration with excellent environmental performance. However, there are safety and reliability concerns of the proposed ammonia-powered system that need to be addressed prior to its wider acceptance by the maritime community. Therefore, this is the first attempt to holistically examine the safety, operability, and reliability of an ammonia fuel-cell-powered ship, while considering the bunkering and fuel specifications. The proposed methodology includes the novel combination of a systematic preliminary hazard identification process with a functional and model-based approach for simulating the impact of various hazards. Furthermore, the critical faults and functional failures of the proposed system are identified and ranked according to their importance. This work can be beneficial for both shipowners and policymakers by introducing technical innovation and for supporting the future regulatory framework.

Characterization of the Safety Profile of Sweet Chestnut Wood Distillate Employed in Agriculture

In organic agriculture, synthetic pesticides and treatments are substituted by natural remedies with interesting success for product yield and environmental outcomes, but the safety of these bio-based products needs to be assessed in vertebrate and human models. Therefore, in this paper we assessed the safety profile of sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) wood distillate (WD) on the different cellular components of tissues implied in transcutaneous absorption. We investigated the viability of different cell lines mimicking the skin (HaCaT keratinocytes), mucosa (A431), connective (normal human dermal fibroblasts, NHDF) and vascular (human umbilical vein endothelial cells, HUVEC) tissues after exposure to increasing concentrations (0.04–0.5%, v/v, corresponding to 1:2800–1:200 dilutions) of WD. A short exposure to increasing doses of WD was well tolerated up to the highest concentration. Instead, following a prolonged treatment, a concentration dependent cytotoxic effect was observed. Notably, a different behavior was found with the various cell lines, with higher sensitivity to cytotoxicity by the cells with higher proliferation rate and reduced doubling time (human keratinocytes). Moreover, to exclude an inflammatory effect at the not cytotoxic WD concentrations, the expression of the main inducible markers of inflammation, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1), were assessed, and no improvement was found both after brief and prolonged exposure. In conclusion, our data exclude any inflammatory and cytotoxic effect at the lowest WD concentrations, namely 0.07% and 0.04%, mimicking some recommended dilutions of the product and the potential exposure doses for the operators in agriculture. Nevertheless, higher concentrations showed a safe profile for short time usage, but caution should be used by farmers following persistent product exposure.

A Framework to Strengthen Learning Culture and Safeguards

Strengthening the learning culture and the safeguards in organizations can enhance safety and performance in preventing incidents. The effective implementation of human performance improvement and operational learning can support the organization in achieving these goals. However, there is no streamlined implementation framework that considers the alignment of strategic and tactical actions in the management system cycle to implement human performance improvement and operational learning. This paper presents an implementation framework that fills the above gaps. It consists of four steps: (1) establish/validate a strategic objective, (2) conduct an assessment, (3) develop a plan, and (4) execute the plan. The proposed framework also includes a site tour phase during operational learning as an alternative to storytelling, which has an inherent bias. This framework was tested in the land transportation system of one of Indonesia’s biggest oil producers.