A path model approach to safety compliance and personal factors among electrical workers in India.

This article reports the findings from a safety research survey conducted among the employees of a large public-sector electrical utility in the state of Kerala, India. Responses from 3017 employees were collected by one-to-one interaction using the developed instrument. Personal factors like self-esteem, job stress, personal stress, social support and fatigue of the targeted population were measured. Personal safety climate factors of the utility were accessed by modifying the existing safety climate scales. Statistical analysis confirmed the reliability and validity of the factors in the study. A significant path model of personal and safety climate factors was developed. Seven research hypotheses were validated using statistical analysis. The results of the study highlighted the need for safety participation, safety knowledge, safety training and interventions to reduce personal issues in the workplace. These findings provide valuable insights for safety professionals for implementing novel methods to ensure workplace safety.

Two-dimensional fuzzy fault tree analysis for chlorine release from a chlor-alkali industry using expert elicitation.

The hazards associated with major accident hazard (MAH) industries are fire, explosion and toxic gas releases. Of these, toxic gas release is the worst as it has the potential to cause extensive fatalities. Qualitative and quantitative hazard analyses are essential for the identification and quantification of these hazards related to chemical industries. Fault tree analysis (FTA) is an established technique in hazard identification. This technique has the advantage of being both qualitative and quantitative, if the probabilities and frequencies of the basic events are known. This paper outlines the estimation of the probability of release of chlorine from storage and filling facility of chlor-alkali industry using FTA. An attempt has also been made to arrive at the probability of chlorine release using expert elicitation and proven fuzzy logic technique for Indian conditions. Sensitivity analysis has been done to evaluate the percentage contribution of each basic event that could lead to chlorine release. Two-dimensional fuzzy fault tree analysis (TDFFTA) has been proposed for balancing the hesitation factor involved in expert elicitation.