System safety information resources

The third and fourth disks include Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) information. These disks contain data bases on Resource Organizations, Resource People, Case Law, Jurisprudence, Fatalities, Mining Incidents, and ADISCAN. Furthermore, information on Noise Levels, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSHTEC) Non-Ionizing Radiation Levels, and a Document Information Directory System is readily retrievable. These CD-ROM materials are available from the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety, 250 Main Street East, Hamilton, Ontario L8N 1H6. 

The desire to predict the future often leads to collecting a large amount of information based on the hope that something useful will be obtained and noticed. The NASA Space Shuttle program was collecting six hundred metrics a month before the loss of Columbia. Companies often collect data on occupational safety, such as days without a lost time accident, and they assume that these data reflect on system safety [17], which of course it does not. Not only is this misuse of data potentially misleading, but collecting information that may not be indicative of real risk diverts limited resources and attention from more effective risk-reduction efforts. 

An Internet Resource. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. is one of the world s largest and most diverse providers of professional technical services. Jacobs Sverdmp is its technology company, and its staff is extensively involved in system safety. Many of its publications are available on the Internet and are downloadable, free, in accord with Terms of Use. Freely providing this resource and literature for interested persons is an impressive public service. I was encouraged by Pat Clemens of Jacobs Sverdmp to provide access information. 

Without these assurances in place, as a minimum commitment from organizational management, the system safety effort will not succeed. It can be said that the very reason system safety is utilized is to facilitate the decisionmaking process regarding risk or potential risk of failure. Therefore, management must not only provide the necessary resources and companywide commitment needed to accomplish the system safety objectives but also stand ready to accept the results of the system safety process and ensure that appropriate, responsible decisions are made on the basis of all available information. 

For information, support, and assistance, we thank Pamela M. Barnard, A.H.I.E, M.L.S., Allina Health Systems Library Services Holly Ann Burt, M.L.S., Information Resource Center, National Patient Safety Foundation Sara Tompson, Packer Engineering Library John R. Combes, M.D., Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania Diane Cousins, U.S.Pharmacopeia and Linda Williams, R.N., Veterans Administration National Center for Patient Safety. We also thank the editorial team from Jossey-Bass, Andy Pasternack, Seth Schwartz, and Gigi Mark, who made the project flow smoothly. 

Security of data has become an important consideration. With the expanded use of the Internet, unauthorized individuals may gain access to private and confidential information found in safety software and applications. It is illegal to make some personal information available. Examples are human resource information, medical information, and other data that may link to accident and injury or illness cases. One kind of security involves keeping secure data and information on computers that do not link to other applications. Another kind of security involves encryption techniques for secure data and information. When data and applications reside in other locations, the communicafion interfaces must be secure along with the remote computer systems themselves. 

Dekker (2003) presented a summary of the some of the more prominent problems associated with the use of procedures in safety-critical systems. First, there is often a mismatch between procedures and actual practice, and this mismatch is not unique to accident sequences. Second, work takes place within a context of limited resources and multiple goals and pressures the corollary of this is that it can often be impossible to strictly follow procedures and get the job done satisfactorily, so informal work systems are used instead. Third, procedure following can be antithetical to safety. By way of example, Dekker described the Mann Gulch fire that occurred... 

By establishing a curation process for safety system resources and history, information resources can be used to establish more effective action plans, job improvement goals and objectives. The JHA process should have a built-in method to ensure they are updated and kept current as changes are made in the workplace. 

Management policies are the source of many of the preconditions that give rise to systems failures. For example, if no explicit policy exists or if resources are not made available for safety critical areas such as procedures design, the effective presentation of process information, or for ensuring that effective communication systems exist, then human error leading to an accident is, at some stage, inevitable. Such policy failures can be regarded as another form of latent human error, and will be discussed in more detail in Section 2.7. 

Since the resources for data collection systems will be provided by senior management it is essential that information from the system is fed back to policy makers at this level. It is also important that the system indicates the problem areas as well as the successes. Many organizations have drifted to a state where safety standards have fallen to below acceptable levels over time as a result of suppression of information feedback to senior managers. This may be carried out with good intentions, but its long-term effect can be disastrous. 

EL = emissions level ERA = Environmental Protection Agency HSDB = Hazardous Substances Data Bank lARC = International Agency for Research on Cancer IRIS = Integrated Risk Information System NIOSH = National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health OEL = occupational exposure limit OSHA = Occupational Safety and Health Administration PEL = permissible exposure limit RAC = reference air concentration REL = recommended exposure limit RCRA = Resource Conservation and Recovery Act RfD = reference dose TLV = threshold limit value TWA = time-weighted average WHO = World Health Organization... 

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